June 4-11, '10 -- 5 hrs

Over the course of our final week at school, I offered my help to Diane in our library however and whenever I could for my remaining five hours. I assisted students using computers in the LMC; I helped Diane scan books for end of the year inventory (whenever Alex wasn't down :(... frustrating!); I helped track down overdue/missing books from students; I assisted with parents who came in to pay student fines.

I had to opportunity to meet with my principal to discuss a possible duty assignment in the library for me next year. He seemed open to this idea and told me he would consider this placement for me. Should I ever have the opportunity to become a teacher librarian in a WAWM school, this would be an excellent opportunity for me have regular contact with the daily happenings in the LMC at Hale.

MAY/JUNE 2010 -- 14 ELEMENTARY HOURS; 5 SECONDARY HOURS
RUNNING TOTAL -- 50 SECONDARY + 40 ELEMENTARY = 90 TOTAL HOURS

June 9 '10 -- 6 hrs

From 9:30 - 3:30, I spent the day with Mark Cohen, the LMS at Jefferson Elementary School. I jumped right in helping Mark work with students in the computer lab. They were using EduPlace and Think Math! which are great sites that I will probably introduce to my own children. Mark is the school's webmaster and very tech savvy. I also got to spend time with Mark Scheiber, the LMC from Walker Elementary who spends Wednesday mornings at Jefferson. This collaboration time is helpful, they both report, but the bouncing between schools is a challenge for Mark S.

Throughout my day at Jefferson, I helped with all classes in large group and individual student settings. I also pitched in with the weeding Mark C. was working on while completing inventory for the end of the year. It really was a full day, complete with a fire drill (very different at an elementary school versus my typical high school environment!) and a meeting of the safety cadets, whom Mark advises. We had a busy day that was great for me to experience the normal hustle and bustle of a day at Jefferson.

May 13 '10 -- 1 hr

Diane asked me to help her with a new organizational approach for the use of the laptop carts. They are in pretty sad shape and Diane wanted to change the way they were being signed out for student use to make kids more accountable for the way they used them. I developed several formats of Word table documents to use with each cart so that students have to sign out which exact computer they are using, rather than just signing the entire cart out to a teacher. We tried out a variety of styles until we settled on one Diane thought would work the best for the needed purpose.

May 6 '10 -- 8 hrs

I spent the entire work day with Mrs. Michele Gruenberg, the teacher librarian at Wilson Elementary School. After having spent three consecutive days in an elementary school outside of my district, I was excited to learn more and compare practices from a school in my own district. Michele was a gracious hostess and we spent much time talking as we worked throughout the day. She gave me a tour of the school and told me about reading initiatives at each grade and what she tried to achieve in the library to support these.

When I arrived in the morning, I helped check in the crates of books that came in from each class. I also checked out a group of books that a teacher had pulled for classroom use. I tried to help out with shelving to give Michele some extra time for other tasks she usually has to wait for outside of school for. We worked with five different classes (one class had to be split into two visits, so there were actually six class slots) at all levels. The variety of activity throughout the classes was impressive: state research projects using Kidspiration, nonfiction reading skills, younger student read alouds, and book checkout for all grades.

Students were enthusiatic and, for the most part, well behaved. They appeared to really enjoy coming to the library and have a good relationship with Mrs. Gruenberg. In terms of the library space itself, it was a sharp contrast to the environment at Elm Lawn where I visited over spring break. Wilson's library is in its own classroom space at the end of a hallway, whereas Elm Lawn's is really at the heart of the school. Elm Lawn's building is also much newer than Wilson's so it's obvious that a different architechtural approach was considered.

I hope to be able to go back for another day (or at least a part of a day) before the end of the school year.

April 30 '10 -- 1 hour

I spent an hour today coaching a teacher through the use of online resources and multimedia software she hopes to use for an upcoming project. We talked about copyright friendly internet use and the blending of online/print resources for her upcoming poetry project.

APRIL 2010 -- 26 ELEMENTARY HOURS / 3 SECONDARY HOURS
RUNNING TOTAL -- 45 SECONDARY + 26 ELEMENTARY = 71 TOTAL HOURS

April 21 '10 -- 30 minutes

I assisted with student check out while Diane was pulling a cart of books for a teacher. It was nice to allow her the ability to continue with her work without being interuppted and I was happy to have the working knowledge of Alex to help out.

I also updated the library's web page by adding the new acquisitions information for DVD.

April 19 '10 -- 30 min

I assisted with student check out while Diane was working with MAPS testing. It was a spontaneous practicum experience and I was happy to have the working knowledge of Alex to help out.