Today I had the wonderful opportunity to spend an entire day with Mrs. Joan Anderson, the library media specialist at Elm Lawn Elementary School in the Middleton-Cross Plains School District. Her son, Ben, is a coworker of mine at Hale, and he suggested I contact his mother when I was considering possibilities for my elementary practicum hours.
I arrived before the school day began and Joan gave me a tour of her library and the school itself. The LMC is located in the center of the building in an open concept format. While it is not "walled off" from other areas of the school, it does manage to be its own space. The school serves 475 students in grades K - 5. Joan sees every class once a week as well as special requests for classroom projects.
Today, I observed and assisted with fourth grade, fifth grade, kindergarten, second grade, and first grade library classes. Joan worked on OPAC searching skills with the 4/5 grades, read aloud to the kindergartners, supported a classroom Beatrix Potter unit for the 1st grade, and practiced subject searches with 2nd grade. Each class' library time is 30-40 minutes with the final 10 minutes of each visit reserved for individual book selection and check out.
I helped monitor and assisted as needed with all classes as well as working with Destiny during check out time. Between class visits, Joan showed me MCP's district interlibrary loan practice and we process books for shipping to other school's libraries. I checked in and shelved a pile of books. Joan showed me her system for new book processing and I prepped new paperbacks for circulation. I also helped repair some damaged books.
I was absolutely enthralled with the pace and the energy of the day. I have never spent an entire day in an elementary school before (save for my student years :) and this was an incredibly eye-opening experience. I was very impressed with Joan's ability to shift from one level to another seamlessly. She works with an aide who shares time between the library, recess duty, and kindergarten support.
After school, Joan invited me to the district LMS meeting. We drove to Middleton High School and joined ten other librarian's who discussed many issues: technical issues with Destiny, the 3-yr technology plan, and the severe budget crisis the district is facing as it relates to library services. I was very grateful for the opportunity to eavesdrop on the district interworkings.
My day was exhausting, but so incredibly informative. Since my goal is to work in an elementary library, I learned more from this one long day than I can even describe.
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