Reflection Journal

Librarian: Katie Curry

Campus: Lee Elementary

Date: 9-19-08

SECTION ONE

Respond to the following:

If ‘Resilience’ is the measure of a student’s capacity to meet sustained challenges, complex tasks and new information, how does your library contribute to building greater resilience?

I think my library could contribute to building greater resilience in the same way any teacher could contribute to greater resilience-by doing less “telling” and creating more scenarios that force students to do the discovering and learning themselves.

Last year I collaborated with the 3rd grade teachers on a research unit. I was heavily involved in writing the mini-lessons for the unit including how to select topics, how to write research questions and how to glean information from a source without plagiarizing. Students then spent an entire week researching self-selected topics using print and online resources. I think that this activity contributed to students’ resiliency in several ways:

SECTION ONE, cont.

Response continued:

•Students set their own purpose for research by creating their own questions they wanted answers to

•Students chose their preferred not taking method

•Students were exposed to a variety of resources, both familiar and unfamiliar

•Students had to evaluate information and its applicability to their topics

I felt that this approach to research was extremely effective as students were more engaged in research than they would have been if their topics and questions had been given to them. They genuinely cared about their topics and had burning questions they wanted answers to. As a result they were more willing to forge into unfamiliar territory with resources they hadn’t had much experience in using. This project exposed them to skills, habits and resources that will help them for years to come.

SECTION ONE, cont.

Response continued:

One thing I struggle with is finding the time to build in experiences for the students that will build resilience. I serve approximately 1150 students. I am only allowed to take 20 minutes from each class per week, and it is important to me for the students to leave with books in their hands. If I book talk, the students are only left with about 15 minutes to find a just-right book; yet we are teaching them that finding a just-right book does take time and should be thoughtful and purposeful. So where is the time to engage students in resilience building activities? It is a super-human task trying to meet the expectations of the students, teachers, administration and myself in 20 minutes time.

Yet, even now as I write this, I realize that I can provide these experiences by influencing the teachers and their lesson planning. I can suggest activities and ways to teach concepts that will build resilience when I don’t always have time to do it in the library. And if nothing else, forcing students to think and problem-solve for themselves will go a long way to helping them be successful in the future.

SECTION TWO

Respond to the following:

Much discussion has taken place about technology integration in 21st century schools. How are CFISD libraries changing to be integral to the core instructional and behavioral practices that lead to student success?

I think it is very helpful that most of the CFISD librarians are a bit pushy and refuse to be told no We are not content to sit on the sidelines or stay in our offices-instead we invite ourselves into planning sessions, classrooms, administrative meetings, district in-services, and state conferences. We are becoming integral to core instructional and behavioral practices because we refused to be ignored!

I also think that the librarian is often the one on the cutting edge of technology. Because we house and maintain much of the technological hardware on our campuses, we know how to use what we have.

SECTION TWO, cont.

Response continued:

The library is a place where teachers and students come to see the newest technology in action. What we do in the library influences what happens in the classrooms, and knowing that has caused librarians to become even more purposeful in their planning and execution.

Finally, our technology itself is cutting edge. With the addition of Destiny Quest, we now have an interface that is user friendly and similar to what the majority of our patrons use in other facets of their life. We subscribe to the top online resources and teach students and teachers how to use them.

SECTION THREE

Respond to the following:

Compare your school library to the Resiliency model and identify the tipping point, the first small change that will bring about great change that will recreate your library as the heart beat of the school and create change in the building.

I think that many of my at-risk students don’t view the library as a place for them, but instead as a place they are forced to come. I think they go through the motions of getting books, knowing deep down they probably won’t read them. I worry that they feel the collection doesn’t speak to them, that it isn’t what they want to read about. And that this white lady who is their librarian is only interested in kids who do like to read.

So the tipping point for me will be “treating all students warmly and compassionately, addressing them by their first name, and engaging them in conversation about their interests” (Jones and Zambone, 73).

SECTION THREE, cont.

Response continued:

I will make a point to ask all students what they would like to see in the library, and I will seek out the “difficult” ones to build relationships with first. I know that I have never purposefully ignored or left out these students, but I also know that I am drawn toward students who are like me, which causes me to leave out a large group of students unintentionally.

In changing the way I interact with the students, I hope also to change how the teachers interact with them. I would like to think that my shining example would be enough, but I also predict that I will have to have some fierce conversations with teachers who berate or belittle students in the library. If the library is to be a place for everyone, I can’t allow anyone to come in and tear down the students that so desperately need building up.

The heart pumps blood to all the organs and extremities. It cannot leave out a body part, otherwise that part will wither and die. For the school library to be the heartbeat of the school, it much reach out to all the parts-lest any of them wither and die.