A Magical Reinvention – One Teacher Librarian’s Journey

It has been far too long since my last post.  However, the journey I have been on has been so thrilling and fast-paced that perhaps the gap in time was meant to be.

The journey I am referring to is the opening of a new school in a community I love as teacher librarian/support teacher.  Returning to the role of teacher librarian after a few years back in the role of purely student support has been a tremendous gift.  Not only because of my passion for books, technology and inspiring the love of reading in all learners, but also the opportunity to be part of the revolutionary changes in the world of school libraries.

The old days of libraries have transformed into a fluid, flexible and potentially innovative library learning commons.  The chance to do this with a “from scratch” mentality has be a true privilege.  Rather than needing to replace/adapt existing systemic rules and routines we have the chance to experiment, establish new protocols and create a new way of thinking about the library learning commons space in our school community.

The learning commons movement is not new.  The draft version the the Together for Learning (published by the Ontario School Library Association with some funding from the Ministry of Education) was initially presented in 2008.  The conversation about changing school libraries and advocating to keep them and teacher librarians as essential and valuable assets to schools has been going on for years.  But for me, the time to challenge myself to push the library learning commons vision further than I ever have before is right now.

So what have I tried differently than in the past?

  • a completely independent, open book exchange program for students of all ages vs. whole class book exchange on “library day” only
  • children of all grade levels able to take home 2 books vs restricting younger students on the assumption that they cannot “handle” more than 1 book at a time
  • access to a wide variety of technology tools, including BYOD vs a traditional lab or commitment to one type of technology
  • a totally online booking system vs. a binder in the library office
  • my workstation/desk out in the open library space & the creation of a small collaborative staff workspace vs a teacher librarian office
  • unrestricted access to all materials for students of all ages vs restricting younger students to picture books/board books only
  • the initial planning and inclusion of a “makerspace” vs booking the library for special “creative events” only as needed
  • the use of large mounted TVs on two walls vs 1 pull down screen and projector for whole class presentations/lessons
  • the opportunity to purchase each book in the collection vs inheriting a pre-existing collection
  • student created signs/labels vs pre bought/teacher created signs/labels
  • daily meetings with “Library Leaders” (grades 5-7) during nutrition break vs. during class time with older students only
  • a stronger online presence (Twitter, Forest of Reading book club blogs) vs paper communication

So what is the impact thus far?

  • daily visits from children of all ages which allows me to get to know them on a much deeper and more individual level
  • children having the opportunity to read up to 10 new books in a week (unlike the old model where they had the same two books for over a week at a time)
  • a significant decrease in over due and lost books
  • a huge wave of student excitement and ownership each day when they can use and contribute to the library based on their needs/interests
  • observable growth in self-regulation and independence amongst students of all ages as library users
  • a more effective and consistent use of the space and myself as a small group inquiry and learning resource for staff and students
  • the opportunity to discuss, introduce and teach about technology tools based on individual student need/comfort
  • the ability to communicate with the school community after hours as needed

So what is still missing?

The short answer is LOTS!

But the long answer is that as a new school (we actually moved into our building in November 2015) and as a reflective practitioner there is so much I feel I need to improve/develop.

  • establish the “makerspace”
  • help our tech team complete the “tech lounge” set up and implementation
  • include a “genius hour” and school wide “wonder wall”
  • increase the impact of collaborative instruction with staff/students
  • develop a new name for the space as created by students to further extend their sense of ownership
  • include the parent community in a more meaningful and effective manner

However, I can say that I feel that the foundation we have created with our changes from the traditional library model have set us up for future success in establishing these and many other initiatives throughout the upcoming years. I also feel confident enough to take risks and admit when things are not working.

This is, in many ways, the true lesson that we want our students to gather from every space in the school – experiment, challenge and try new things – we will support and love you in both success and failure – we will learn and grow together!

 

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