This week we introduced the Kentucky Bluegrass awards to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.
"The Kentucky Bluegrass Award is a student choice program.
The KBA promotes and encourages Kentucky students in kindergarten through grade
12 to read a variety of quality literature. All Kentucky public and private
schools, as well as public libraries, are welcome to participate in the
program."
A committee creates a list of books each year and students are able to read the the books throughout the year and vote on which title they liked the best. Many schools in Kentucky participate in the program to encourage student reading and engagement. I like the program because only Kentucky students can vote on titles, making them feel special! I've been attempting to read as many KBA books as possible, so far I've read Crossover and The Boundless and both have been wonderful!
The Crossover / Kwame Alexander –
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
Fourteen-year-old
twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off
the court as their father ignores his declining health.
The Boundless/ Kenneth Oppel.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014.
The Boundless, the greatest train ever built, is on its maiden voyage
across the country, and first-class passenger Will Everett is about to embark
on the adventure of his life as he enlists the aid of a traveling circus to
save the train from villains.
The Crossover is written in verse, one of my favorite styles as it is emotional and succinct. The Boundless is an adventure novel about a young boy who witnesses a murder and now finds himself hunted on the strongest, fastest moving train in the country during the time when settlement and exploration were still alive in young America.
The full list of titles for KBA books can be found at: http://kba.nku.edu/
In other classes Mrs. Jennings started an author study with Pete the Cat and Eric Litwin. I love Pete the Cat books- I'm not sure of anyone who doesn't! The class listened to The New Guy and then watched a video of the story.
With second grade classes Mrs. Jennings is continuing to teach about fables and tall tales. We worked together on this lesson, I was able to introduce and remind the class about key characteristics of a fable- that they normally have animal characters and teach a lesson or moral. Then we read the story Mr. Murry and Thumbkin about a mouse who worries too much and a mouse who worries too little, Each were able to meet in the middle and become best of friends. Mrs. Jennings jokes with students that one character is her, and one character is her husband and students are asked to guess which character they think Mrs. Jennings it- Thumbkin who never worries or plans, or Mr. Murry who worries all the time. It was funny to see what student's thought!
CEBS Dispositions:
Values diversity - Willingly works with others from
different ability, race, gender, or ethnic groups. Welcomes feedback and
interaction with others. Listens carefully to others and respects the views of
those perceived as different from self.
Values collaboration. Actively seeks out and incorporates
ideas of others. Takes leadership in working with others to improve the overall
environment. Regularly share information and ideas.
This week was extremely busy! Most exciting, and a bit terrifying was teaching my first lesson today. Mrs. Jennings and I collaborated to plan a lesson to help first graders learn how to choose a book that is just right for them. This means it isn't too hard, too easy, but is just right. On Monday Mrs. Jennings modeled how she normally presents the lesson, and today I took a turn reading to the class and explaining the five finger test. We read a book called "We're going on a book hunt"
Then I talked with students about the five finger test. This is to be used when looking for a just right book. Students open a book they think they might be interested in to any page and start reading, if they get to a word they don't understand, they put up a finger. If they have put up five fingers by the time they've reached the end of the page, the book is too difficult and they should try another. Most students should look for books where two or three fingers are raised by the time they finish a page. This means the book is challenging but not too difficult. Next students watched a video that talked more about the five finger test and finding a just right book.
Finally students were giving an extension exercise to help them remember what we talked about.
After students colored their extension sheets they were allowed to check out using the five finger test. Once they chose their books and had checked out, they received a bookmark to help them remember.
It is seems impossible that week six of school is already here! What a busy week this will be! Working as a public children's librarian I've always wondered how school librarians teach catalog searching. This week is all about learning to search the OPAC, a refresher for 4th and 5th graders but a brand new lesson to 3rd graders.
Professional Development
Also this week I attended a very interesting professional development class with Mrs. Jennings. I learned a great deal about the poverty facing those 18 and under. The PD was called What Is Poverty? given to educate participants on their role as educators in teaching students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. We learned what poverty truly means, local and national statistics related to poverty, and also the risk factors associated with poverty. For example, 46% of youth 18 and under are living in poverty nation wide. In Jefferson county, 67% of Louisville students are living in poverty and we have 10,000 displaced/homeless students. I knew that Kentuckians were struggling, especially in Appalachian towns or coal mining towns because of lower demands for coal, but I had no idea that so many students in Louisville suffered from lack of basic needs. More startling is the fact that these students have a much higher risk of suicide and shorter life expectancy because of their economic situation.
KLA/KASL 2015 Joint Conference
On top of all the other exciting things this week- I also lucky enough to be selected to present at this year;s Kentucky Library Association joint conference held in Louisville each year.
http://www.kww.net/kla/myscheduleall.php
I, along with my three other managers presented on building our new regional library, it's opening to the public, and the adventures we've had while adjusting to a new work environment. Our presentation was titles "Standing out when you can barely stand up after becoming the most popular library in town." I have never presented at a library conference before so it was a great experience. Louisville Free Public Library is a large organization- with 18 locations and many levels of administration. My fellow managers and I were consulted during the design process, but overall we had little control over decisions that were made towards the new building. Moving into a space that designed by others was difficult- there's no way around that. The work flow was entirely new and often clunky, much of the building still needed finishing touches, and even now a year later they are still fixing things. Staff were miserable because of the increased work- we went from an average day of 300 patrons to now over a 1000. Our book drop went quickly to completely unmanageable and was often overflowing when we arrived each morning. Patron's complained of the new technology they were asked to use, staff complained about everything, and managers were working double shifts late into the night just to try and get the book drop under control.
It was a rough time. I also spoke about my ordering experience with Baker and Taylor the book publishing company. Moving from a smaller building to a large we had to have more items to fill it! We went from 70,000 items to around 140,000 and of that I was in charge of ordering all new teen and children's items totaling around 23,000 items and about 300,000 dollars. The catch was I only had 4 months to order everything! This on top of all of my normal duties being one of two branch managers and one of two children's and teen staff in the building. It was quickly realized that a team was needed and after working with other system managers I was able to divide up the work and get everything done, it was a challenging learning experience! We grew in staff- going to four managers and a youth staff of five instead of two and that took organization, patience, flexibility, and communication! Sharing our experiences with attendees at the conference was a wonderful experience. I can only hope that others found it interesting and can learn something from our professional growth and transition!
CEBS Dispositions:
Values diversity - Willingly works with others from
different ability, race, gender, or ethnic groups. Welcomes feedback and
interaction with others. Listens carefully to others and respects the views of
those perceived as different from self.
Values collaboration. Actively seeks out and incorporates
ideas of others. Takes leadership in working with others to improve the overall
environment. Regularly share information and ideas.
EPSB Code of Ethics
Values professionalism: Commitment to self reflection and
growth. Recognizes personal limitations and strengths and uses them to best
professional advantage. Actively seeks suggestions and constructive criticism.
Regularly practices critical thinking. Regularly engages in learning through
self-reflection.
Values professionalism: Professional development and
involvement. References and makes use of professional organizations or
publications. Willingly participates in professional activities or events that
promote professional development.
The Jefferson County Public School system is located in Louisville Kentucky and is a huge district. With around 172 schools, 101,000+ students, and over 54,000 teachers. JCPS is the 27th largest school district in the United States and has more than 18,000 employees. With so many employees the odds are high that each year they will need to fill employment positions. What better way to recruit teachers than to market themselves to a captive audience- their student teachers. Each semester JCPS holds two informational sessions for their student teachers. I attended the first informational session of the semester on September 8th 2015. The faculty discussed what pay scales would be like working for JCPS, how many days a year teachers work, how many PTO days are offered, medical benefits, who you would interview with depending on your certification, etc.
As I have never been through a recruitment process, it was an interesting experience. Every job I have been lucky enough to be hired for followed the typical process- fill out an application, go for the interview, get hired. I've never had to go through a process where you might possibly be interviewed several times. I was glad that I attended this event. I know some might look at it as a waste of time, especially if they do not plan to teach within JCPS, but I would still urge people to go. There is no such thing as being too prepared when it comes to job search. Even if a person who student teaches within Jefferson County does not plan to work within JCPS, I still wouldn't discredit the preparation they are offering for free. Mock interviews and discussion of the hiring process can give someone an invaluable leg up in the job market. There's always something to learn and I found it wise to take advantage of opportunities offered. I'm not sure where my teaching future will lead me, there are pros and cons of working for a large system such as JCPS, but I'm grateful they take the time to invest in their student teachers.
EPSB Code of ethics
Values Professionalism: Professional development and involvement
All week long we have a special guest at the library- book fair!
Librarians have choices when it comes to book fairs. Most librarians I've talked with use a company called Scholastic when offering a book fair at their school. Mrs. Jennings is the first librarian I've known to use a company called Backyard Book Fair. There are different benefits to using one company over the other. Scholastic, for example, does not offer any school level support while Backyard Book Fair sends staff members along and runs the entire book fair leaving the media specialist free for lessons and classroom management. Also, Scholastic gives a bigger percentage of profits back to the media specialist than Backyard Book Fair. I personally feel that both have equal amounts of positive and negative- Backyard Book Fair has limited title availability for book fairs but Scholastic materials tend to fall apart easier. Media Centers that do not have support staff such as a clerk or an active PTA would find the benefits of having Backyard Book Fair staff available to handle the whole process a huge positive while those in schools that have a large support network would see the return profits on Scholastics as the bigger positive.
Because each media center and school environment is unique I found it very helpful to learn different options when approaching book fairs. Previously, I really only knew about Scholastic and it was nice to learn a little more about different companies available.
Because book fair runs all week long that is the main focus of each class. Students are allowed to check out as quickly as possible at the start of each class and then students are allowed to watch a Jeff Corwin movie about frogs while taking turns with their classmates to shop. Students make a wish list during their class time which lists the title and price for each item they'd like to buy. Then their parents either approve or deny the purchase, giving their child money to come back during the week. Mrs. Jennings normally does not allow students to come into the library when it is not their normally scheduled class time, but during book fair week students are allowed to come after they have had their initially wish list visit to purchase approved items.
I greatly enjoyed watching the book fair process. I had no idea that so many aspects had to be approved and organized. I think it has helped prepare me for when all of these responsibilities fall to me.
CEBS Dispositions:
Values professionalism: Respect for school rules, policies,
and norms Knows school rules and policies. Follows them consistently.
Understands the purpose of regulations and respects their intent. Accepts
responsibility for personally following them in patterns of dress, behavior,
etc.
EPSB Code of Ethics
Values professionalism: Professional development and
involvement. References and makes use of professional organizations or
publications. Willingly participates in professional activities or events that
promote professional development.
This week in the library I was able to be a fly on the wall while Mrs. Jennings attended an all day training for OPGES, the new system used to evaluate other professionals within the education field.
OPGES is designed and built by the school districts. It is always growing and evolving to continue to improve the way other professionals are evaluated. Because other professionals do not interact with students in the same manner as teachers, and on many levels give support to teacher's primary role, a new way to evaluate these professionals had to be created.
Mrs. Jennings is the team leader for the special areas at Trunnell Elementary. Attending this training allows her to better prepare the special area teachers (art, PE, computers/technology, and media center) for the process they will be completing this year for their evaluation.
Some parts of the evaluative process will include a self-reflection, professional growth plan, student voice, student growth plan, overall performance rating, and peer observation.
Since my hope is to eventually be hired into a JCPS school, this was an informative training to attend and gave me a sneak peak of how I might be evaluated soon.
CEBS dispositions covered in this interaction:
Values professionalism: Respect for school rules, policies, and norms. Knows school rules and policies. Follows them consistently. Understands the purpose of regulations and respects their intent. Accepts responsibility for personally following them in patterns of dress, behaviors, etc.
Values professionalism: Commitment to self reflection and growth. Recognizing personal limitations and strengths and uses them to the best of your professional advantage. Actively seeks suggestions and constructive criticism. Regularly practices critical thinking. Regularly engages in learning through self reflection.
Values Professionalism: Professional development and involvement. References and makes use of organizations or publications. Willingly participates in professional activities or events that promote professional development.
Values professionalism: professional responsibility. Accepts responsibility for own actions and for helping all student learning and actively seeks self-improvement.
