NEWSFLASH! EXCITEMENT IN THE LIBRARY!
For the first time in the history of Ulei JSS library, a book was put away in its appropriate location, according to the Dewey Decimal System, by a student, without me asking, showing or pushing! YAY! And it’s all due to ‘Library Studies’ class.
I just taught my second class and it went really well. There were games (very important) and the kids learned stuff (also important). The first class didn’t work fabulously, so I changed my lesson plan accordingly. So, now I can RANT. While I was back in Australia last week I told someone that I had set up the library and was ready to start teaching Library Studies. The person I was speaking to said, “That’s a bit like the blind leading the blind” and I laughed in response (I wasn’t really paying attention). But later, I thought about it, and I got quite angry because you know what? I am TOTALLY QUALIFIED to teach Library Studies to high school students. I have a Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary). I have a Graduate Diploma in Information Management. I have more than two years experience teaching, and all of it was with students who were learning English as a second language. I have been a librarian at this school for four months now and I know the kids. GRR! Don’t make me take my earrings out! (Hat tip to Grandmom.)
Having said that, I have to admit I don’t like teaching, and I never have. It scares me. It feels too much like performing a tap dance routine: even if I practice and practice, it will never feel natural to me. No, I don’t want to work in another school library after this year and I don’t want to be a youth librarian.
However it is perfectly obvious to me that there can be no such thing as a “successful” library without library training. The users must know HOW to find the information (and entertainment) and they must know WHY the library is set up the way it is. Furthermore, I think it’s just as important at academic libraries and public libraries because not everybody has a TOTALLY QUALIFIED TEACHER-LIBRARIAN to teach them in school.
ANYWAY… In other news, the first boxes of new books have arrived (I sent them from Melbourne – they’re the books that the Library Girls donated – thanks girls!) and the kids have gone NUTS. Seriously. Like seagulls over hot chips. New books really do make a difference. Who wants to read Mary Grant Bruce? Nobody at this school. Who wants to read J.K. Rowling, Markus Zusak, Nick Earls and John Marsden? EVERYBODY!
BORROWING STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR SO FAR:
March: 0 loans
April: 12 loans
May: 26 loans
June: 69 loans and counting…
What the rats have eaten this week: Scotch brand Book Tape (Very expensive. Those rats have excellent taste. I salvaged half the roll. Those bastards are in the library now. If they develop a taste for 70s pulp fiction, we’re doomed.)
Totally awful quote from a book in the collection (not spoken ironically): “Oh Daddy,” Donna giggled, “You know girls don’t play football.” Donna Parker Special Agent, Marcia Martin, 1952. (This book also described a helicopter as a “tiny, queer-looking plane” LOL!)
What I’m reading this fortnight:
The library at night, Alberto Manguel. (Two very enthusiastic thumbs up! Thanks Angus!)
5 comments:
:) these stories keep me awake! lovely to read on a slow friday afternoon where i am lost in what computerish work to do & my eyes hurt from too much screen.
I like the good taste of the rats & the quote from the 50s book (more of these please!)
love nys
yay for book!! i hope they don't take too long to process.
as for the 'blind' comment. somehow I think very few people are going to agree a four year degree in education is necessary to show kids how to use a library. i could rant but i've beeen doing enough of that at my own blog!
Hmm, LuLu, you make me think. No, I don't think my arts degree is helping me teach, but I think that dip ed and info man were absolutely crucial. I've seen people try to teach (in japan and Oz, in classroom situations, not Nova lessons) without having studied teaching, and it seriously doesn't work. Although I hated being a student teacher and having people watch me, it taught me to analyse my delivery (to kids, mind you) and to plan a unit of work. I hate teaching because it's hard. Not everyone can do it, and not everyone can do it well. So yes, I think you need at least two years of study to show kids how to use a library. But it's also not as simple as that. These kids not only have no experience in libraries, many are also illiterate, or barely literate (in English) and require different approaches... I'm gonna go consider it some more.
"Don't make me take my earrings out!" CLASSIC. Presumably that is a quote from Grandmom. If so, Grandmom is officially awesome.
Thank you for reminding me of the library teacher I had from prep to grade 3.
Aside from teaching us how to use the library, Mr D. showed us how to make pop-up 'cards' about books we liked, and encouraged us to colour in his hand-drawn (and -written) worksheets. Even 17+ years later, I vividly remember listening to him reading Thiele's Storm Boy to us in class.
You sound perfectly qualified to teach library studies, by the way. I'm sure the children love having you as their librarian.
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