This (half) day was spent putting the bookfair away. We boxed up all the items out on tables, closed up the crates, and moved all the furniture back to where it belonged. Because the crates were up against some bookcases we needed to do a lot of shelving and straightening as well.
When we had some free time Marian showed me how to do the end of year reports for the county.
Both of these experiences have shown me how important fundraising and record keeping is.
Without visiting them each week I would have never felt as prepared to run my own media center. These lessons are invaluable and I don't know what I would have done without Marian and Lizzy to help me learn all of them. I will be sad that next week is my last week, but I hope to visit them, and keep in touch.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Days 11-14: 4/16 - 4/19
I spent this last week at the media center. I wanted to see how to run a bookfair, and it was a great way to see the media center for a number of days in a row.
It was originally overwhelming. Each class came in for 20 minutes and browsed around. It was 25 to 30 students everywhere all at once. We had to keep everything organized, stocked, and straightened. Once I had a chance to learn where everything was it ran much smoother.
I had a chance to see how to manage volunteers, and the difference between a useful helper and a helper who is more work than it is worth. We also worked with student volunteers who advertised the fair at the carpool line, as well as the parent's night luau.
I was disappointed by the number of students who chose to buy pencils, eraser, and other silly little things rather than books. I have come to understand that in times when there are tight budgets, any money is helpful. This is the only fundraiser for the media center, and will be there primary source of funds for next year. There were a number of students who did by books, but they were always outweighed by "stuff".
We received new shipments each day, and I had a chance to see how to order more material, and how to receive the incoming items.
My time there also allowed Marian time to work on other lessons and daily items that she normally would not have time for during the fair. I saw how difficult it is to manage all of the people involved as well as keep up with circulation and anything other than the fair.
A large amount of time is also spent planning and presenting parent's night, which provides a large part of the funds. It is important to include a number of school groups; in this case the band (who played music) and drama (who acted out portions of different books that were on sale!). The parents will come in to see their child, and then purchase books for them.
Teachers were able to buy books at a small discount as well, which helped to bring in more revenue.
I am so glad I had this opportunity, I think I would have been very overwhelmed if I had to run a bookfair without having every experience one.
** I would like to note that they made their goal and will be adding a great number of books to their collection!!
It was originally overwhelming. Each class came in for 20 minutes and browsed around. It was 25 to 30 students everywhere all at once. We had to keep everything organized, stocked, and straightened. Once I had a chance to learn where everything was it ran much smoother.
I had a chance to see how to manage volunteers, and the difference between a useful helper and a helper who is more work than it is worth. We also worked with student volunteers who advertised the fair at the carpool line, as well as the parent's night luau.
I was disappointed by the number of students who chose to buy pencils, eraser, and other silly little things rather than books. I have come to understand that in times when there are tight budgets, any money is helpful. This is the only fundraiser for the media center, and will be there primary source of funds for next year. There were a number of students who did by books, but they were always outweighed by "stuff".
We received new shipments each day, and I had a chance to see how to order more material, and how to receive the incoming items.
My time there also allowed Marian time to work on other lessons and daily items that she normally would not have time for during the fair. I saw how difficult it is to manage all of the people involved as well as keep up with circulation and anything other than the fair.
A large amount of time is also spent planning and presenting parent's night, which provides a large part of the funds. It is important to include a number of school groups; in this case the band (who played music) and drama (who acted out portions of different books that were on sale!). The parents will come in to see their child, and then purchase books for them.
Teachers were able to buy books at a small discount as well, which helped to bring in more revenue.
I am so glad I had this opportunity, I think I would have been very overwhelmed if I had to run a bookfair without having every experience one.
** I would like to note that they made their goal and will be adding a great number of books to their collection!!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Day 10: 4/9/12
I was lucky enough to enjoy an extra day off last week during spring break, it was wonderful! I missed everyone, but I definitely need this time to catch up with other work.
Today was also relaxing. Everyone was getting used to being back in school after a week of sleeping in. There weren't any classes coming through today, so it was lesson planning and catch up day. [I failed to mention before that they do have fixed circulation days for teachers, but they are Tuesday through Thursday, so I haven't seen those in work yet.]
Marion needed to finish modifying an old lesson on non-fiction for the students to move to core curriculum. We changed each station, in some cases removing ones that did not work, and modified others for students with special needs. It was nice having each other to bounce ideas off of, and to fix small mistakes that we would have missed otherwise. It is being taught to 8th grade LA classes again all week, so it was important to finish up asap.
The rest of the time was spent preparing for the book fair (I'm spending Monday through Thursday there for it and am so excited!), printing out fine paperwork to put in with report cards, and processing books that they got from the county public library book-sale. The students were helpful in preparing the library for the bookfair, they made posters and put up decorations. The number of books they got from the book-sale was great! Many of them will end up on the "take it, or leave it" shelf, but the point is to get the books in students hands. There were a number of items that were in exceptionally great condition, so I watched how to enter them into the system and label them. Then Lizzy and I spent at least an hour mylar wrapping a bunch.
As nice as it was to have a "quiet" day, I missed the normally crazy pace and student interactions. Today motivated me to work on more lesson plans in the future, because the more I have under my belt, the more likely that teachers will want to work with me!
Today was also relaxing. Everyone was getting used to being back in school after a week of sleeping in. There weren't any classes coming through today, so it was lesson planning and catch up day. [I failed to mention before that they do have fixed circulation days for teachers, but they are Tuesday through Thursday, so I haven't seen those in work yet.]
Marion needed to finish modifying an old lesson on non-fiction for the students to move to core curriculum. We changed each station, in some cases removing ones that did not work, and modified others for students with special needs. It was nice having each other to bounce ideas off of, and to fix small mistakes that we would have missed otherwise. It is being taught to 8th grade LA classes again all week, so it was important to finish up asap.
The rest of the time was spent preparing for the book fair (I'm spending Monday through Thursday there for it and am so excited!), printing out fine paperwork to put in with report cards, and processing books that they got from the county public library book-sale. The students were helpful in preparing the library for the bookfair, they made posters and put up decorations. The number of books they got from the book-sale was great! Many of them will end up on the "take it, or leave it" shelf, but the point is to get the books in students hands. There were a number of items that were in exceptionally great condition, so I watched how to enter them into the system and label them. Then Lizzy and I spent at least an hour mylar wrapping a bunch.
As nice as it was to have a "quiet" day, I missed the normally crazy pace and student interactions. Today motivated me to work on more lesson plans in the future, because the more I have under my belt, the more likely that teachers will want to work with me!
Day 9: 3/26/12
The morning was greeted with the teacher in charge of group pictures for the yearbook coming in and letting us know they would be taking pictures in the media center shortly. Half of the media center was taken up by the 8th grade LA class working on the poetry lesson we made last week. The announcement was made for all students in 6 or 7 clubs to come to the media center. They weren't stagger, or told where to go or what to do. The photographer (who was a teacher in the school) had no directions at all. It was mayhem. Finally, after all the groups had their pictures taken most of the students left. One group with their adviser, decided to have an impromptu meeting in the middle of class. All of these students were missing part of their lesson for the morning, I didn't understand how this was a positive event.
Moving forward. The poetry stations were interesting. For the most part the students were self sufficient. There were two stations that one of us talked to the students about because the instructions on one table did not explain what simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia and hyperbole are so we made sure they understood the definitions. The other station discussed Harlem renaissance poetry; the table instructions directions said that it took place 40 years after the end of the Civil War, but we wanted to clarify that this was one of the first times that the stories of slavery and strife of African Americans was written down and distributed to the masses. I think that these clarifications helped the students with these stations, perhaps we could modify the instructions to include these in the future. The other modification I would make is the amount of time at each station. They were given 20 minutes, which seemed very long for most of the tables. They really only needed 10 to 15 minutes. I would watch this for all classes, poll the students and teachers, and then make a decision.
I also had a chance to see some housekeeping issues. They received a few items in that were ordered, and I watched what they do and how they are processed. I also had a chance to watch while they learned what to do when a teacher damages and loses materials (technology items that are class items, but over all watched by the media specialist because she is also the technology coordinator). These were both important to experience because I am sure they will come up in the future and it is good to see examples of how they are handled.
As exhausting as it is to spend a 6th day of my week working, I enjoy going in so much more! The collaboration with teachers is amazing, and the media center overall is very inspiring.
Moving forward. The poetry stations were interesting. For the most part the students were self sufficient. There were two stations that one of us talked to the students about because the instructions on one table did not explain what simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia and hyperbole are so we made sure they understood the definitions. The other station discussed Harlem renaissance poetry; the table instructions directions said that it took place 40 years after the end of the Civil War, but we wanted to clarify that this was one of the first times that the stories of slavery and strife of African Americans was written down and distributed to the masses. I think that these clarifications helped the students with these stations, perhaps we could modify the instructions to include these in the future. The other modification I would make is the amount of time at each station. They were given 20 minutes, which seemed very long for most of the tables. They really only needed 10 to 15 minutes. I would watch this for all classes, poll the students and teachers, and then make a decision.
I also had a chance to see some housekeeping issues. They received a few items in that were ordered, and I watched what they do and how they are processed. I also had a chance to watch while they learned what to do when a teacher damages and loses materials (technology items that are class items, but over all watched by the media specialist because she is also the technology coordinator). These were both important to experience because I am sure they will come up in the future and it is good to see examples of how they are handled.
As exhausting as it is to spend a 6th day of my week working, I enjoy going in so much more! The collaboration with teachers is amazing, and the media center overall is very inspiring.
Day 8: 3/19/12
(I knew I wouldn't keep current with these! that's why I keep a written journal!)
The morning was spent working on a pre-test of the EOGs. It lets teachers, students, and parents know what each individual student needs to work on in preparation of the EOGs. I can understand why the schools would want to do this, but the amount of time and money spent could be spent in better places.
Marion had 7 students to test (6th graders in Language Arts), while Lizzy only had one (also 6th grade LA). They were in the media center because they had modifications for alternate settings, extended time, and in Lizzy's student's case read-aloud for all instructions. Two other elective teachers also were assigned to test in the media center which made for tight quarters.
It was interesting to see this from an observers position. I had given these types of tests before, but never just sat and watched what goes on for these types of tests. Students had to be kept independent, but reminding them about the time remaining. We couldn't not watch them completely but we didn't want to hover. We spent most of the time shelf reading while keeping an eye on the students.
Later I helped Marion work on a lesson plan on poetry for 8th grade language arts classes. We enjoy creating lessons together and work well with different ideas and technologies.
I had a chance to work with some of the students as well. I helped one to find a book on origami that he would enjoy. Student volunteers created posters for the book fair. This was interesting to watch, because often they would make mistakes, so time saved on having them do the work, was turned into time spent fixing the errors.
Lastly we had a book display on women for March, but there weren't many books circulating from it. I suggested a "March Madness" theme, and Lizzy and I pulled a number of books on basket ball. Non-fiction, biographies, and even fiction books were included. By the end of the day students were already checking books out! I was so excited!
The overall lesson for the day was that you never know what you will get. We didn't know other teachers would be giving tests with us. Students can make mistakes that we need to spend time fixing, or have other students fix. And you never know what type of book display works, and what doesn't.
The morning was spent working on a pre-test of the EOGs. It lets teachers, students, and parents know what each individual student needs to work on in preparation of the EOGs. I can understand why the schools would want to do this, but the amount of time and money spent could be spent in better places.
Marion had 7 students to test (6th graders in Language Arts), while Lizzy only had one (also 6th grade LA). They were in the media center because they had modifications for alternate settings, extended time, and in Lizzy's student's case read-aloud for all instructions. Two other elective teachers also were assigned to test in the media center which made for tight quarters.
It was interesting to see this from an observers position. I had given these types of tests before, but never just sat and watched what goes on for these types of tests. Students had to be kept independent, but reminding them about the time remaining. We couldn't not watch them completely but we didn't want to hover. We spent most of the time shelf reading while keeping an eye on the students.
Later I helped Marion work on a lesson plan on poetry for 8th grade language arts classes. We enjoy creating lessons together and work well with different ideas and technologies.
I had a chance to work with some of the students as well. I helped one to find a book on origami that he would enjoy. Student volunteers created posters for the book fair. This was interesting to watch, because often they would make mistakes, so time saved on having them do the work, was turned into time spent fixing the errors.
Lastly we had a book display on women for March, but there weren't many books circulating from it. I suggested a "March Madness" theme, and Lizzy and I pulled a number of books on basket ball. Non-fiction, biographies, and even fiction books were included. By the end of the day students were already checking books out! I was so excited!
The overall lesson for the day was that you never know what you will get. We didn't know other teachers would be giving tests with us. Students can make mistakes that we need to spend time fixing, or have other students fix. And you never know what type of book display works, and what doesn't.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Day 7: 3/12/12
Today was almost identical to last week. There were four classes of 7th graders coming in for their first Gandhi research. They are the third class, and the last (i believe). The class had a substitute teacher, but she has substituted these students many times, so they were fairly well behaved.
I am unsure if they were all better because of my low expectations, the different teacher, or that we explained why they were working on this project specifically. One class was so well behaved that each one got a prize for being the best class yet. They were all fairly quiet, respectful and on task the entire period. The last two classes were a little rougher, but most of the groups worked hard and did their research.
With the rest of the day quiet in the media center we worked on a lesson plan for "The Hunger Games". It was fun to work together on such an fun and interesting lesson, it all came together so nicely! We started working on promoting the book fair. Marian worked on the website while Lizzy and I counted handouts and put them in the homeroom teachers' mail boxes.
I'm excited to see how the book fair goes, I plan on being there for most of the fair. I didn't learn anything big today, other than I am definitely where I want to be. I'd love to stay here permanently, but I think the key is the camaraderie. Finding the people who you can collaborate with, and who make your day that much easier and more special. Each day I spend at my regular job is just one more that makes me realize I want to help the kids before they come to college. To prepare them for what is yet to come.
On an exciting note, I only have 47 more days until classes are over!! Cannot wait!
Day 6! 3/5/12
(I'm almost caught up!!!)
So today we had a chance to see our Gandhi lesson in action. We had 5 seventh grade classes come in today (wow!) to work on these lessons.
The first thing we learned by the end of the day is that we needed to explain why they are doing this research. In NC students take a writing test in grades 4, 7 and 10. This assessment by the state sticks with them through their school lives. We are given the prompt early so they may do the research and practice writing what they plan on writing. Some of the students still didn't care after we explained this, and of course were off task most of the time.
The Gandhi lesson was very interesting, I actually learned a few things that I didn't know before. Their prompt is : "How did Gandhi help the people of India overcome the problems they faced? Were his methods effective?" We broke down the lesson into 6 stations to help them learn different parts of his method; into beliefs, humility and influence. They took notes on each item and answered questions. They will then take these notes and start drafting a paper in class.
Overall it was interesting and fun. There were of course a few students who needed to be talked to or quieted down, but that was to be expected. Even when they are rowdy like this, i still enjoy the lessons. I think I would be more likely to call their parents (which Marion said she did a lot of the rest of the week when the students were misbehaving) only because of my experience as a 7th grade teacher. Once you let them walk on you, the continue to do so, and do not listen to anything constructive you have to say.
We also worked on updating the blog for the library with a few Manga Mania items. I created a budget spreadsheet for the media and technology to keep track of what was purchased or requested, but not paid for yet. I had a chance to experience a large number of 8th graders coming in to take a test. Their teachers just sent them over without any hall pass or agenda and expected us monitor them. We sent them back and made them get their agendas and sign in to the library as expected. We spread them through the room and let them work on their tests. Because there are a number of 8th grade classroom directly across from the media center the teacher forget they have to follow the rules for their students.
Oh! I forgot to mention that Lizzy was moved from part time to full time, so now there are three of us around on Mondays! It is amazingly helpful to have an assistant, I can't quite imagine what Marian would have to give up to take on the duties that Lizzy handles for her. She is great, friendly and intelligent; loves working with the students and is also fun to talk to. I know she will make a great teacher soon.
I really do love spending the day here, I feel spoiled when I leave and have to go back to my job. As exhausting as it is to work 6 days a week (and school work the other day!) I am happy I get one day with other media center folk. I will be quite sad when this experience is over.
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