May 21, 2008 Plan for school "C"

I am going to incorporate as much "Library 2.0" into my schools as possible. Many of the items are found on this blog in earlier posts. I hope to procure Mr. J. Moon's help, with collaboration and implementation.
Things to do for next year:

• Electronic lockers for students
• Individual wikis for students
• Revolving classroom libraries
• Boolean training for students and teachers
• Young Authors Workshop for students: Writers workshop, Publishing, Book binding
• Web evaluation
• Website construction
• Internet safety
• Internet searching
• Reading circles
• "I" searches
• keyboarding
• kindergarten

In addition, I would like to update our collection development policy and add ebooks to our collection.

Week of May 26, 2008

Spanish

One of my schools is primarily Hispanic. We have 95% Hispanic with English as a second language, and 92% free breakfast and lunch. This has been our last year as a "Reading First" school. Administration at our site is moving us in a "Bilingual" school direction. There have been no formal announcements, however, I am able to read the "unspoken" sign posts. Those who are proactive will not be caught, when the shift happens.

I personally have decided to work even harder on my Spanish. I have a subscription to Rosetta Stone, which has been a life saver. The program is everything they say it is. I am surprised that I am able to manipulate the vocabulary as quickly as I'm able. I am planning on an hour a day throughout the summer, and to continue through the next year.

My plan is not to advertise my learning a second language. It is simply to do it. This new skill should enrich my interaction with my students and their families, and help me gain additional understanding of their individual needs.

5/13/08 Finished- time to fly

This has been a very rewarding experience. Now it is time to decide what to do with this blog. I am thinking ... I am thinking I will continue to use it to not only to explore new 2.0 tools, but also, my new 2.0 librarian challenges. With budgets being cut, teachers receiving pink slips, and libraries being closed, we are working in difficult times. My mission, if I choose to accept it, is to maneuver through all of these obstacles and come out on the other side with a better program, a better library, and be a better librarian. I hope to bring some of my fellow librarians along with me.



Right now, I need a time for refection and a plan.



There are several challenges that are facing me right now. The first is that another school has been added to my schedule for next year. The second is my hours are being cut by a half day a week. The third is the use of Spanish as the primary language at one of my schools.



Two schools per week:



Hours being cut:

The schedule needs to reflect students' needs, teachers' prep needs, and workability for me. In the past, it seems only the classroom teacher's needs were addressed. There is a good reason why, as librarians, we don't think it is the most beneficial or in the best interest of the students, to see fourth and fifth graders as the "last prep" at the end of a day or week.



Spanish:

Spanish as the primary language at one of my schools and creeping in that direction at my second school. The handwriting is on the wall. In order to survive I need to become more proficient in Spanish for the betterment of myself as a librarian with my patrons, but also for survival in my position at both sites.



The Plan:

How can I make these new transitions seamless, without losing any substance? I have a few ideas swimming in my head.



The first is my Cambridge Library Portal website. I am thinking that it will be necessary to change it to reflect both school sites, with the least amount of tinkering. That is to say, make it "generic" enough to satisfy both sites, but at the same time make it site specific to accommodate the "uniqueness" of both sites.



I need to change the name. I have thought about my options, and I think I am going to call it "The School Library Portal." Just making this one change, means I will need to change all of my website pathfinders to reflect this new name.



Site specific links will have to be changed. I can either eliminate all site specific, or I can double link, which means adding additional pages. An example might be... Site B students click here ...or...Site C students click here.