Sept 11-29

Sept 11
We commemorated 9/11 with a special display of books and Linda's memorabilia. Kids could wear bracelets with the names of victims and read a brief bio of the person in a book in Linda's private collection.

Sep 15
A semi-solo day! Linda was out, so I got to handle a few classes on my own (with a sub and the classroom teacher). I had two social studies classes with Mr. Harper, who should be sainted for putting up with me! One was History Makers, about comparing two very different figures in history, so I got to talk about the different history databases and reference books. As always, we went over Google Advanced Search. Later, we had Harper's Road to Revolution, so I presented that pathfinder and Google Advanced, and some books as well.

Sept 16
Today I worked on displays. I put together read-alike lists for Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Crank. When done, I had space to create three book displays. Linda also showed me how to update the catalog with the display locations. Then, we got prepped for Teen Read Week, with a Read Beyond Reality theme. I chose some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi books to put out, with a combination of new and old books. THEN, I got out the Banned Books Week info and created a display of books that have been challenged, and clipped little blurbs about why the book had been challenged.

Sept 18
I presented my own Learn about the LRC to 2 groups of freshmen. The freshmen class did not get a library orientation as others have in the past, so I went over the rules and the expectations. I also presented the Chicago pathfinder to a Chicago Lit class, and gave them the tour of the Chicago collection and reference books.

Sept 21
Worked with Jane Wisdom on her Definition Paper, where the students pick an abstract noun and find various ways to define it. In addition to the OED, she also has the students use various concordances. I updated the pathfinder with an online version of Shakespeare's concordance, as well as updating the links to the Bible concordance. Again gave the students a brief overview on how to use the pathfinder.
Sept 22
Did Definition Paper again, and started prepping for more book talks.

Sept 23
Updated the WWII pathfinder for Mrs. Roemer's history class. They are working in groups to create a WWII era newspaper. I provided a cart of books with a sample of the WWII collection, including some biographies. I also went over the pathfinder with them so they could see where to find images and other relevant media. After the presentation, I gave a brief tour of the 940s to students who were unsure how to find books in the non-fiction area. I started to prep for the book talks on Thursday with Mrs. Avodek's classes by using the study carrels as a display area again, dividing books by genre or interest, as well as an area for Abe Lincoln nominees and Read for a Lifetime 2010.

Sept 24
Observation Day!Did book talks first with Geralyn and then with Linda for my observation by Juanita Sigg. Luckily, most of my favorite books to talk were in, and YouTube worked correctly. I alternated between talking about books and showing trailers online for others. As a rule, I talk about books I love, and ones I either don't adore or haven't read, I use a trailer. The trailers are quite successful, but I worry that sometimes they seem cheesy to the kids. I even remembered to talk about the non-fiction books. Luckily, I forgot to be nervous and I think it went pretty well.

Sept 25
Unluckily, Linda is a taskmaster and still made me work. Three boxes of books came in, and we got them all cataloged. I was happy, but the library secretary Anna wasn't!! Sept 28More book talks, this time for junior classes over the course of three periods. Geralyn was being observed by the principal one period, so I stayed in the background and assisted on the fantasy genre only.


Sept 29
In between the party the ladies threw me, I scheduled a few more book talks for Linda and Geralyn. I filled a book cart of high interest/low level books for the next book talks so it would be ready for them. We went over the statistics of library usage for the 5 weeks I was there, and we saw 38 classes, and over 700 students. Circulation was more than double what it had been the previous September. I was so sad to leave Maine West. I loved the teachers, the students and most of all the people in the library.