Thursday, February 9, 2012

28 Days of Things I Love; #8


I love  what I do every day.  I love to help students find the perfect book choice.  I love to ask students if they finished the chapter book they are turning in only to be treated to a childish glare that says "of course, I did-I loved it, where's the next one in the series."  I love to have my kid's book clubs make remarkable discoveries as they read something like Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever, 1793.  I had one group this week put together a slide show about yellow fever and the book.  It was impressive stuff and secretly it felt good to know that their tech skills came from a library lesson.  I love connecting a teacher to a book for a  literacy lesson and hearing later that it went great.

As the roles of librarians emerge and change we have a wide array of duties that fit in our hats.  We feel, at times, out of place.  We can learn a lot from teacher's collaborative meetings but rarely get the opportunity to go.  As our district buys into reading plans we don't feel needed in a meeting about reading.  Our role is ever more crucial to guide students into independent thinking, decision-making, and to nurture life-long readers.  It is a struggle to get administrators at the highest level to understand it is much greater and as simple as picking a book.  Long live librarians!

2 comments:

Debbie greene said...

You can tell the love of your job in the way you do it. And you are great at collaborating with teachers! :)

Peaceful Reader said...

Thank you, Debbie! So great to hear from a former colleague! We did work together very well.