The New Librarian/Media Specialist

"Go paperless," proclaims the computer technician in my school district. I asked him recently if he planned to come by our fall book fair (knowing what kind of answer he would give). "Do you have ebooks?" he, indeed, did ask.

That's a good question to ask a librarian in the 21st Century, for the librarian's role has changed in the last ten years. And either we change with the times or we walk into the deep freezer and join the frozen meat or step into that gummy residue that preserves insects on trees. In plain language, do we remain "librarians" (as I am in my little parochial school location--the library and the one classroom not technology rich) or do we embrace and embolden ourselves to become Media Specialists, as my colleagues call themselves in the public domain?

What finally pulled me out of Fossil Land is this four-day workshop for librarians/media specialists. Previous to this one, I have participated in two other workshops: "Online Resources" and "Thinkfinity," another website-rich educational experience. For the hundredth time in the past five years or so, I wish I were young and starting over now, at this point in time, with all we know about cyberspace and its connective webs and machines, about methods of teaching/collaborating/facilitator of learning. It's a new world in education. (I'm blatantly and blythly ignoring the silliness and waste of NCLB.)

After a day of introductions to mind-boggling lists of websites for media specialists to use in their own instruction and ones to share with their teacher-colleagues, we were given several assignments in preparation for tomorrow's class. One asked us to read an article, now four years old, and respond to it. This blog is my response.

Three Roles for the 21st-Century Teacher-Librarian

"Three Roles for the 21st-Century Teacher-Librarian" by Michael B. Eisenberg (copyright privilege forbids my posting this article or the website from which it is taken) clarifies the role of the librarian in this new age of cyberspace, the clouds, "out there." Is my response paperless? Indeed, it is. As for "out there," for those who are just about clueless about the vastness, think about this. See that little blinking character that sits next to the spot of the page where you type. Well, imagine it offpage, out of sight. How do you get it back on the screen? What I'm asking is that you think of how lost your little blinker can become if you don't know which direction to take it. That becomes a description of patrons in your library who don't know how rich in resources your library really is and the terrible responsibility it is to show them

That responsibility is exactly what Eisenberg writes about. In a sentence, his thesis is that librarians of the 21st century should be instructors, facilitators, advocates, and managers with the direct purpose of ensuring "that students...are effective users of ideas and information" (from page one of his article).

Specifically, the media specialist now has (or should have) three functions: as information literacy instructor, as reading advocate, and as information manager. In providing this information, the media specialist no longer is a lecturer, but a facilitator. The student is an active participant in his/her own acquisition of ideas and information.

So just how does the librarian accomplish these goals? By taking charge of her own library program, making it indispensable to users, and promoting that necessity to one and all.  How do we do this? By rethinking what we do, finding ways to provide what is needed for patrons, and changing perceptions of what a library should be and provide.

The library as a favorite place

Several years ago, I worked part-time at night at my local branch library. I had not much used my local public library since childhood. What I found really was surprising. For example--get ready for this!--on Saturday mornings, at nine a.m., at opening time, people were jammed around the front door, eagerly awaiting those magic doors to be opened to a magic land. When the doors were finally unlocked--gasp!--those people rushed to the computers. People were clamoring to get into the library! Why? They had important missions to accomplish using cyberspace, the clouds, out there! As part of its program, our local public libraries hold regulary scheduled classes to teach patrons how to use word documents, search engines, and valuable websites.

What about my little parochial school library? Six years ago, when I was hired, my library was a dingy, dusty warehouse. I did the first thing any self-respecting librarian would do: I made that place into a magic kingdom--clean, bright, colorful, comfortable, inviting. All it lacked was a serious weeding of ancient books and a generous addition of new books. Six years later I'm still working on both.

But now, today, after one day of this workshop, I have been given a mask of oxygen, a burst of new life, a yearning and burning to  bring my little parochial school library into the 21st century. Even retirement-age librarians can be rejuvenated to become cyber-savy, technologically adept with a deep need to pass on this excitement to teachers and students, to become their partner in becoming effective users of ideas and information.

Eisenberg also points out that the blame game simply won't work here. Tsk, I intended to whine and carry on about how my library has only one computer, that I have no projector or whiteboard to at least show students how to use various websites that they can navigate at home. No, he says, rethink your options. It is the librarian's responsibility to create "active, vibrant, engaged, and meaningful" library programs. I have not done that.

Three roles

First, let's look at the three roles that Eisenberg sees for media specialists. Information literacy is a huge responsibility, encompassing print, non-print, and electronic information. Add to that the types of outcomes found in the standards for the library program. In addition to information literacy, students should know how to pursue independent learning and social responsibility concerning that information.

As a reading advocate, the librarian has a huge role. Eisenberg states that "reading proficiency is ...the number one predictor of student success."  As information instructor and manager, the librarian has the huge responsibility of showing students and teachers alike how to find and access information, then use it effectively. Our future depends upon it.

Where is the justice?

When I "retired" over seven years ago, I thought I would relax and do whatever I wanted. I have in some ways but have worked part-time as a children's librarian in a small Catholic school , now in my sixth year. What kind of retirement is that? I always tell the greeter at my local Wal-Mart: "Better watch out. I may get your job some day!"

As for blogging, when I began, I thought--At last a vehicle for my rants. Yet--look at the time between entries. It is now October 8 and I last published a blog on September 4. That's over a month ago!! I have not had anything to say--or say publicly--in a month.  I could continue to rant about this particular crazy woman, chronic liar, and general wacko I met on Amazon, but I won't. Said enough, didn't make any difference. I could rant about my mean-spirited great-niece who bites all the hands who feed her, but she's still just a child at twelve. Maybe she will learn kindness and fair play one day. I just hope it won't be too late. Or I could rant about--well, any number of things, but just don't have it in me.

What I will write about is the unfairness of life. Case in point: My sister and her husband--all those years ago--decided mutually that she would quit working at her job after she had children and be a stay-home mom. She loved it, threw herself over 100% into it, was gung-ho, finding things for them to do, places to go, activities for participation. She was one of those moms you always see around school, helping here, then there, always of great use.

Her husband is a control freak, my sister is an independent thinker--clashes began at once. He wanted the dishes arranged on the shelves in the cabinets in a certain way--What?! declared my sister. It's a kitchen, I'm a woman, now let me be! Nope, no deal. His way or well, no other way. Nothing on the cabinet tops, nothing on the walls, not one decorative thing, not even pictures of their children, nothing. One rare visitor (he didn't like to have company because he began drinking as soon as he hit the threshhold) asked where they had just moved from. His mother was a dirty housekeeper and clutter nut, so he allowed nothing to look like his childhood home. Thus the bare bones, unlived-in look.

His power of persuasion extended to his kids. They, too, came to believe that, since he worked and made the money, everything was his, not their mom's. In the current, ongoing divorce, they think it unfair that he is not getting everything. So, what kind of impression did she make on them? Neither child, both adults, one married with two children, respects their mother and are just as rude to her as the husband was. He is currently living with another woman, awaiting divorce to marry her. He never needed Viagra with my sister, but he does now. Guilt? Older body?

At least he moved on with his life and is not stuck in the past, harboring resentment. He was not generous in the settlement but agreed to more than I imagined possible. My sister is in poor health now, way overweight with bad knees, intestines, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pain, and heartache. The heartache is not from losing her husband--she was glad when he moved out a number of years ago, but from mistreatment by her family who are supposed to love and cherish her, especially now in her need.

I just wanted to write this, not that I have any great point to make. I don't. My life isn't much better, but at least I don't have to worry about mistreatment by people who are supposed to love me. (I don't have children.)

I will say that breaking the bonds of childhood, of home treatment, of parental influence are almost impossible....

A slant of poetry...

As a 30-year veteran teacher of English at the high school level, I was genuinely surprised to learn that middle school students think a poem must rhyme to be called a poem. We all had a meeting of the minds this week in discovering types of poetry together and that a library class can feature poetry.

It was not even necessary for me to explain a poetry lesson in a library class. As one girl pointed out to the dismayed boy who considers poetry somewhere between Sasquatch and Jaws (it's gonna getcha!!) that the library has ALL kinds of books, including poetry! Good girl, Coco!

Actually, I have an ulterior motive (or several) in offering three poems for discussion on this second library lesson of the year. I'm going to do some oral reading to the middle school students, in fact, "Hate That Cat,"

Hate That Cat: A Novel

To do it justice, I needed to introduce some of the poetry as integral units of the novel. Creech's novel is completely written in journal form by a young boy, possible fifth or sixth grade, very bright and utterly creative. Part of the assignments are his responses to poetry his teacher introduces. This happens to be one of the most joyous books I have ever read for many reasons: the character, the style, the content, the creativity, and the deep compassion and love the boy reveals toward his mother. 

Anyway, the poems are printed in the back of the book. However, in my oral reading, I wanted the students to have prior knowledge of those poems. (Note: Prior knowledge is one of the keystones for comprehension of what one reads.  And according to Mem Fox in "Reading Magic," reading aloud to students should continue all through school. Our ancestors listened to the tribal storyteller; such storytelling is ingrained and needs to be revitalized.  

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever

Here's the first one: "The Red Wheelbarrow"

(Note: Many learned that the word is "barrow," not "barrel"-an interesting factoid.)

"The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Standard response: "That's not a poet--a poem is supposed to rhyme!"

Look at that red wheelbarrow! What does it look like? This:

or this:

It's that simple! "So much depends" upon how you see things, your imagination, your viewpoint  of simple things. Students came away with a new understanding of poetry, I think.

Or: "The Eagle" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.


The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls;
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Fascinating observations on this traditional, but intense poem: An eagle is hunting; Zeus on his throne, throwing a thunderbolt; an old eagle dying and falling, and so on.

And the last, which is explanatory:

"Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Love that boy,

like a rabbit loves to run
I said I love that boy
like a rabbit loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
“Hey there, son!”

This one was a given for middle school students.
Great discussions! Fun classes!

Next week: "Hate That Cat" by Sharon Creech--

Each new school year brings new experiences!

I realize my title is a duh! Of course, a new year brings new experiences. This is just to introduce my new and wonderful experience. This is my sixth year in elementary/middle school. Prior to five years ago my total educational experience was with high school students. Each of my preceding five years at this small Catholic school, I would have one, maybe two really serious readers, that is, middle schoolers who would read

Lord of the Flies, Educational Edition

or

or

Pride and Prejudice

The sixth grade girls had a class visit on Friday. After our road trip with Dewey, they began looking around for books to check out. I heard one girl say, "I've read Pride and Prejudice. Have you read Sense and Sensibility?" The answer: "No, but I've seen the movie. Is the book here?"

So, what have I discovered? It's time to add more classics to our collection. One had checked out a collection of short stories by a Victorian writer. I told her the vocabulary was fairly difficult . Her indignant response: "Mrs. Polhemus, this is the Claire! You know I can read this!"

See that blur? That was I, speeding to discover from my books and internet, proper choices for this band of girls. Let's see: Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa Alcott, all of Austen, better copies of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I might as well get them a hard copy of Silas Marner (Signet Classics). They keep asking for romance. Yes, there's a lovely, little romance  woven into this novel of Victorian sensibilities and woe. Let's see--what else?

Sidenote: It was "the Claire" who introduced me to Caroline Cooney's [The Face on the Milk Carton]{Cooney, Caroline B.][Paperboundmassmarket] and the following books in the series.

What about Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly as romance book (a modern classic)?

More to come--

Classic Literature Reading List for Middle School Students

By: LuAnn Schindler
Many middle school students enjoy the connection with a young adult novel, but classic literature never goes out of style. Several humanities organizations have established a classic literature reading list that emphasizes the importance of reading timeless books.
This list introduces new characters and alien worlds to the middle school set. Several of these books are commonly taught in middle school English classes, so adding them to a summer reading list can give your child an advantage when they come up during the school year.

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
• A Stranger Came Ashore by Mollie Hunter
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
• Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Amos Fortune, Free Man
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
• Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
• Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
• Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
• Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
• Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl
• The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Ghost Belonged To Me by Richard Peck
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Horatio Hornblower Series by C.S. Lewis
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
• Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
• Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell
• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
• Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling
• The Last Mission by Harry Mazer
• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
• Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Irving Washington
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
• My Brother Sam Is Dead by James and Christopher Collier
• My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
• National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• The Pigman by Paul Zindel
• The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
• Poems by Robert Frost
• The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
• Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• Shane by Jack Schaefer
• Story of My Life by Helen Keller
• To Be a Slave by Julius Lester
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
• War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera Cleaver
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• The White Mountains by John Christopher
• The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Childrens Philosophy

Childrens Philosophy

If you (as teacher or librarian) are seeking a little something different, try this link for some thoughts on philosophy as found in children's literature.

GOING A RAMBLING WITH POOH AND ROO

God bless A.A. Milne, for I am sure he is in a special place in heaven where children's writers are given a proper acknowledgment. Milne created those wondrous characters: Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh (Pooh Bear), Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Roo, and all the others--those lovely, lovely characters. In stuffed, plush form, they come alive for children to enact stories from the book, to invent their own stories, to work out their own problems. (A child's fantasy life is rich and full, dark and deep, magical and scary.) Plush animals are simply vehicles to get to those places in the psyche.

 Winnie The Pooh Bean Plush Set (3 pcs) - Pooh Eeyore & Tigger
As for Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore, they will always remain in that Hall of the Greats, specially loved. I recently gave this trio to my two great-nieces with birthdays just four days apart (plus three years), one three, one six. Their mother absolutely loved the Pooh when she was the same age, so I am sure the tradition will continue.

As described in Amazon's product information, each stuffed animal is 12-13 inches, soft and plush, with no dangerous external parts that can come off. The only way that these animals can be destroyed is to love them to pieces (much like the Velveteen Rabbit,
another perennial favorite) Bunglie Bunny Plush Toy (Colors May Vary)--this is the closest I could find to the rabbit in the Amazon storehouse.) Case in point: The three year old insisted that I tie her helium balloon with colorful ribbon streamers to her Pooh. So I tied them to an arm. "No, neck," she indignantly told me. "Neck?" I quizzed. "He will choke with ribbons tied around his neck." "Neck," she insisted. So, neck it was. Then up and down, up and down, she tossed poor ol' Pooh. He'll survive. He always does.

Technically, this is not the exact trio I bought for my nieces, but it is close. Actually, Kohl's department store is continuing its campaign of offering special books for $5 accompanied by special plush toys, each for $5. Money goes toward a children's health and education fund. This campaign features three new and beautiful stories about Pooh and friends created by the Disney team (I also could not find any of these at Amazon. Maybe soon.)  For more information about the plush toys, books, and Kohl's contribution:  http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kids/kck.jsp

Not only did I buy a set of animals and books for my nieces, but also for my school library. This week I have girls (the boys and girls alternate weeks between Art and Library for smaller classes in each subject). I read "Winnie the Pooh: Nature's True Colors" while the girls held the three plush animals. Every couple of minutes I would have the girls pass the animals to another so that by the end each girl had held all three.

In this particular book Pooh and Roo went "a rambling" (for a non-directed walk in nature, but more directed to experiencing whatever they encountered: sky colors, wind rustling, brown toads, and so on).

At the conclusion I told them we were going "a rambling" (actually, next door to our Catholic school is the cathedral and a lovely prayer garden with benches in quiet nooks. So, despite the 100 degree heat, we went "a rambling." Perhaps it might have gone better if one of the girls wasn't all id (Freud) and concerned that she be the first to hold Pooh, the first to have a bench and oh, so and so MUST sit with her, and "Oh, I saw that bench first! I'm sitting there." Somewhere our rambling lost its focus.

Yes, thank you, most of the other girls enjoyed this quiet, simple endeavor: smelled the flowers, admired the bees buzzing around the water flowing over the rocks in the water fountain. In fact, they (we) were fascinated by all the bees landing on the thin layer of water flowing over the watermelon-sized rocks surrounding the base of the actual fountain. One group quietly found the only bench in the shade and quietly sat and listened to the wind blowing through the leaves and tall, decorative grasses. I was delighted that they made the connection with the story of the ssshhhhhhh sound of the rustling.

I look forward to trying this experiment with the fourth and fifth grade girls Friday afternoon and will report then its success or lack thereof.

At any rate: Live long, Pooh!