Collaboration or plain old help

  Classroom and special area teacher have hard jobs.  You may know this is you were formally a teacher. I myself was only educated to be a librarian, but I did turn into a teacher for a few years when I taught at a Catholic school.
  Anyway m if you provide extra help to your teachers , they will think you are a rock star! So how can you help them?
  If they need an extras set of eyes, ears, or hands when they are doing an activity or perhaps when they are using computers or laptop , your' in!  Maybe they need a few quick copies if  you have a printer in your space. Do they need a larger area/ work space for their students when they are doing a project based learning activity? Do they need an extra set of hands when they are doing a breakout box or a maker space activity? If you make yourself and your space available you become a partner in the classroom learning.

True Collaboration

 So far I have written about  ways for us librarians to introduce our teachers to true collaboration. As you know collaboration is when the librarian and teacher work together to develop  units and lessons that bring our resources into the teachers curriculum.  Librarians are the rock stars here when this happens . The students benefit  in their leaning .

  By working with teachers , and helping develop project based lessons or research unites or inquiry units, the librarian brings the 21st learning skills into play. More and more the student needs these skills to keep up with the expanding information. The databases , online resources  and other  library sources are continually updated with the expanding information.

 When you as librarian collaborate with just one teacher, more will follow when they see how the students are learning , and the teachers are getting a helping hand as the librarian partners with the staff,

Collaboration - Online Resources

   School librarians can also collaborate with teachers by promoting and teaching about the databases and pathfinders. The databases and online resources are usually tailored to specific grade and reading levels for ease of use  by the students.
  Librarians need to be available to instruct students and teachers how to locate where the databases are, include the log in and passwords if necessary, and then teach how to best use them.
  Librarians can collect ( curate) pathfinders for specific classes and students. A pathfinder is just a collection of reliable websites for students to use.  You can use Destiny to do this also.  Students then can then work closely with students and teachers in the use of these online resources.

December Bulletin Boards

Some ideas for you!

  December Bulletin Boards

 Seasons Readings - Put a wreath in the middle with students favorites all around. I use scanned covers.

 LOL- Place large letters in the center, Place names or covers of books jokes and riddles.

 Mittens-  make large mittens out of construction paper, Have students write their favorite books on the mitten. Slogan: Keep Warm With Great Books

 Battle of the Books: Place  photos of teams on the board with Team names and date of competition.

Books Are Gifts You Give Yourselves.

Monthly Report- Part 4

  What else can  you include in your Monthly report? Here are some additional suggestions you might want to consider.
  Do you do a newsletter for your teachers- I  did a monthly one- sometimes in print- some online. Attach a hard copy into your monthly report package.
  How about bulletin boards or book displays? Take a quick clear shot and put that into your monthly report. Insert captions with each one.
   How do you announce new books? I send a "New Book list" .  Then I would Print out and attach to  the  monthly report package/
  All of these showcase some of the things you do for the staff and students at your  school.

Collaboration- lessons

  There are man different ways librarians collaborate with teachers and students. These lessons can be  customized to the teacher/ student  needs and requirements. Many times , lessons are based on research projects or project based learning activities.

  Librarians can develop lessons with teachers on databases  your school district has access to. Pathfinders can be constructed  by librarians for student use which helps direct the student to reliable , safe, and accurate information which saves the student time .

  Librarians can show students how to use the databases and include passwords and log in's if needed, Other lessons can include use of the school online card catalog and library website , which usually contains many helpful mites for students and teachers

Monthly Report- Part 3

  So  you are doing a monthly report to submit to your administration- you have circulation records and book stats. So what else should you include?

  Here are a few ideas.

  If on a flex schedule ,you could include : the classes that came to the library for books, the classes that came for a lesson on research skills, the classes that came to use the resources for a project , the classes that came to use the computers.
  I would list the teachers name,  name of lesson I taught  , or type of research they were doing. ( and how many classes for each since middle school teachers had 5 or 6 classes each day.) I would also include if I went into a classroom for a lesson or with the laptop cart, or I assisted a class in the computer lab with research or writing projects.

  One of the other items I always included is  a listing of teachers whom I provided with books for their classrooms or if I curated a list of websites for them to use with students.

 This information  showed that I was working closely with the staff and students to support the learning goals of the school.

  

November Library Bulletin Boards

           November  Bulletin Board Ideas:

   Elect to read!-  Election decor
   Children's Book Week - Have students make covers of their favorite books or put up covers of books.
   Don't be a turkey, Read!- Make a turkey with feathers - print out titles on the feathers.
   Be Thankful for great books.
   What are you Thankful for?- have students write down on slips what they are thankful for. Put on bulletin board. Color code by class.
   Gobble up these  great books - turkey with book covers of book chosen by you or students
   Pick a winner- football theme

Collaboration- Begin with Books!

     When you have true collaboration with your teachers, it is the most ideal situation for your students and your teachers. I think most everyone knows that. There are many different ways librarians can collaborate with their staff. If you are just beginning and trying to get teachers to collaborate  with you, one way to start if with books.
    If you can provide books for students and teachers  for teachers to use is just one way to start the process. Books can go to the classroom or stay in the library, depending on where the class will meet,         
    Books can be on display or for use to support teacher units. Books can be used to help with project research, fact finding, or extended information, or further enrichment/ engagement. They can be used to expand on units studied. 
    If teachers or students need books you don't have, many librarians can do inter library loan to get them. If I have book requests from teachers for units, I usually put them on the purchase list for the following year, if I know they will do the unit the next year.  I also keep lists of books that go with units so I have it the next year.  

Monthly Report- What should I include?

    What are the basics you should include in your Monthly Report?  First and Foremost  , your circulation shows what books and another items( eBooks, audio books, other items you circulate and are in charge of)  went out during the month.
   Another stat to show would be how many students came in during the month to check out books, or even in your classes. This shows how much student contact you have during the month. If you have a sign in ( sheet or log in)  to account for student use.
   Just these two items will show how many students you see each day. In a basic report like this , you could also indicate the number of new books that are received and processed each month.  You could also report funds spent on books and materials.
 See Part 1 of Why should I do a monthly report in my last post.

 If you do a monthly report, what do to include? Leave a comment below - join the conversation! When you follow me or leave a comment you will be entered to receive a copy of "The Organized Librarian"- Drawing to be held at the end of the month.

Monthly Report- should I do one?- Book Giveaway!

   I think every librarian should do a monthly report.  Even if you have loads of classes,  maybe no help, and are crunched for time, make time to at least do a brief report.  I am suggesting that a basic simple report  to administration leads to greater understanding of what librarians do.
    Why? First of all, doing a monthly report  demonstrates that you do more than just classes  or just book check out.   Many Administrators and staff   have no  idea of what is involved in running a library. If you give even the basic details you can show what else you are doing to maintain the library
  It is our job as librarians to  educate our Administrators and staff of what librarians can do and should be doing!
  If you do a monthly report, what do to include? Leave a comment below - join the conversation! When you follow me or leave a comment you will be entered to receive a copy of "The Organized Librarian"- Drawing to be held at the end of the month/1

Library Bulletin Boards for October

  These are just a few ideas for October:

 Fall in love with reading!  leaves falling down to the ground from a bare tree- could put titles of books on the leaves

Scare up some good books- ghosts with titles on it

Pick of the patch- lots of pumpkins!( include book titles / authors)

Reading is a Scream - put up covers of
scary or horror  books all around the letters!

 Have students create starting in early Oct. Make a whole bunch of plain orange pumpkins- Have them write on a good scary book that they would recommend.

Six steps to Processing new books

  The new books are rolling in . What do you have to do to get them ready for the shelves?? In case you have them come processed, there are still a few things  you need to do before you put them on display or on the shelves.
  1. Property Stamp
  2. Gentrify- If your fiction are arranged this way-We use opaque colored labels to go over the spine label. We also change the spine label in Destiny so it signified where the book is located.
  3. Cover the books if needed.
  4. attach labels if not complete
  5. Load mar records intro your system if not completed,
  6. Adjust records in your system: price, vendor, funding
  Display them in a new book section!!