Library+Programming+Discussion

**Hi VietLib People!**
I was so happy to get responses about programming that I thought you might like to hear what others have to say too!

**//__Here's what we asked for__//**
 * 1) We'd love it if people could tell us the situation in their schools with library programming.
 * 2) For example: at the Elementary Level - Flex vs fixed scheduling?
 * 3) What does your daily / weekly timetable look like? How many lessons a day / week?
 * 4) What grade levels do you teach?
 * 5) Does anyone else help you teach those classes?
 * 6) What is the level of collaboration between you and the class teacher?
 * 7) Do you have curricular documents and / or use a model for information literacy? What does that look like in the curriculum? For example, is it integrated, or is it 'stand alone'?

Below are the responses we received as of today.Thank you so much!! Diane DePauw

Rachella Simon- british International School - Ho Chi Minh City

I'm at the primary librarian at BIS. We have 2 primary campuses and I spend 4 days at the D3 campus and 1 day at D2. Peter, the Assistant Librarian, is also at D2 and each primary campus has 1 library assistant. I have a total of 25 classes and they are all fiixed schedule as it's a release time for teachers. Early childhood/Foundation comes for 20 min, the rest (KG - Gr 5/Y1-Y6) come for 30 min and each come 1 time a week although extra time is available if the teacher requests it.

The primary BIS libraries are definitely in the development stages and the program reflects that. I am the first primary librarian at BIS (and the first native English speaker at the D3 library) and when I started last year, virtually nothing of the primary collection was catalogued - and D3 was basically just a storeroom for 9,000 books. I've completed the NF but the rest is still in the works. So you can imagine how difficult (irrational?) it is to try teach students to search for books - a basic skill - when there are no subject heads for the vast majority of said books and typos all over the place. If the word is not in the title, it can still be hard to find at this point. We actually just got computers into the library a few months ago so the idea of an OPAC is new to the school. Because of all the foundational work that I'm doing, my time with students has really been focused on literature appreciation - read alouds, book talks, etc. as well as working to change the perception and environment of the library to be a place where they are excited to come. I do expect that next year IL lessons will happen as the library foundation will be in place.

I wouldn't say that there is much collaboration for classroom teachers but some do send me topics and ask for resources which I think is a great start. I've really tried to focus on marketing and building trust with teachers as well as giving them amazing "customer service". I feel like I'm starting to see the returns of that but there's no co-teaching and, to be fair, there is not much formal teaching going on on my part anyway.

We don't have curricular documents or, actually, even policies. They've been promised. Rachella


 * From Diane DePauw**

**//__Here's what we asked for__//**

ALA and NETS standards are supposedly in place and planning to integrate.
 * 1) For example: at the Elementary Level - Flex vs fixed scheduling? Fixed but thinking about flex
 * 2) What does your daily / weekly timetable look like? How many lessons a day / week? See 6 day cycle below- EC3 come twice a week for 20 minutes, others 40 minutes once a cycle
 * 3) What grade levels do you teach? EC3-Grade 5
 * 4) Does anyone else help you teach those classes? No I have one assistant and depend on volunteers for shelving and other tasks
 * 5) What is the level of collaboration between you and the class teacher? Pulling books, tmaking lists,I try to help out with resources and lessons but hit and miss, unable to attend planning meetings
 * 6) Do you have curricular documents and / or use a model for information literacy? What does that look like in the curriculum? For example, is it integrated, or is it 'stand alone'?

8:15-8:55 ||  || 5Rachel Gabbart 8:15-8:55 || __4Melanie Cottrell__ 8:15-8:55 ||  || __EC4-Tina Ratliff__ 8:15-8:55 || 9:00-9:40 ||  ||   || __4Blair Doty__ 9:00-9:40 ||  || __4Kevin Hale__ 9:00-9:40 || 10:05-10:45 || __KG-Noah Flesher__ 10:15-10:55 || KG-Amina La Cour ||  ||   ||   || 12:30-1:10 || __1Heather MacMichael__ 12:30-1:10 || __1Elizabeth Buglya__ ||  ||   ||   || 1:15-1:55 || __2Kari Perkin__ 1:15-1:55 || __2Mike Jackson__ 1:15-1:55 ||  ||   ||   || 1:20-2:00 ||   || 2:05-2:45 || __3Melissa Wolslegel__ 2:05-2:45 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5 || Day 6 ||
 * __5Shane Sullivan__
 * __5 Karen Rayle__
 * __5 Karen Rayle__
 * Recess || Recess || Recess || Recess || Recess || Recess ||
 * __KG-Chris Colquhoun__
 * __KG-Chris Colquhoun__
 * ^  ||^   || 10:05-10:45 ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  || EC3-Diana Kincaid 11:00-11:20 Lesson Day ||   || EC4-Elaine Eastwood 10:50-11:30 || EC3-Diana Kincaid 10:50-11:10 Book Exchange Day ||
 * Lunch ||
 * __1Marsha Faires__
 * __1Marsha Faires__
 * ^  ||^   || 12:30-1:10 ||   ||   ||   ||
 * __2Mike Gallagher__
 * ^  ||^   ||^   ||   || __3Anita Gallagher__
 * __3Trish Markowitz__
 * __3Trish Markowitz__
 * ^  ||   || __EC3-Amanda Daley__ ||   ||   || __EC3-Amanda Daley__ ||
 * ||  || 2:30-2:45 Lesson Day ||   ||   || 2:30-2:45 Book Exchange Day ||
 * ||  || 2:30-2:45 Lesson Day ||   ||   || 2:30-2:45 Book Exchange Day ||


 * From Julia Sarazin Canadian International School Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam **

Hello All, We are a K - 11 school but scheduled classes are for JK - grade 8. Grade 7 and 8 come once in 10 days, the rest every week. I integrate what I am doing as much as possible with the classroom teachers. So that could be a theme, a specific skill or a topic that the grade has asked me to focus on. Often it is initiated by me. We don't meet formally, but often they send me themes or I ask the grade chair to let me know before a new topic begins. The teacher accompanies the class but I do all of the teaching. I have 54 scheduled classes in a 10 day cycle, leaving me very little time for incidental lessons or planning. I like the idea of "lesson day and book exchange day".

I have doubled up classes to give me a bit more time to breathe. I have a full time assistant.

I am also busy trying to design a space for secondary for next year and also buy books and databases appropriate for high school kids.


 * From Maureen McCann ay HKIS**

For example: at the Elementary Level - Flex vs fixed scheduling?

What does your daily / weekly timetable look like? How many lessons a day/ week? My MS Library schedule is flexible and depending on the inquiry projects or Language Arts units currently happening, I teach from anywhere from 1-10 lessons a week.

What grade levels do you teach? Grades 6,7,8

Does anyone else help you teach those classes? What is the level of collaboration between you and the class teacher? I both teach solo lessons as well as co-teach with classroom teachers as appropriate. I collaborate most successfully with Language Arts and Social Studies teachers. I attend their weekly curriculum planning meetings and am part of the teams.

Do you have curricular documents and / or use a model for information literacy? What does that look like in the curriculum? For example, is it integrated, or is it 'stand alone'? See attached docs for what we mean.

All of the teacher librarians are working on this school-wide 21C Scope and Sequence document. It is a work in progress at HKIS this year. Currently in MS, the technology facilitator and I work collaboratively to integrate 21 Century Skills into core classes, especially during project work. I have used the Grades 6-8 Information Fluency Continuum Skills based on NYC Dept. of Education's Information Fluency publication to inform this scope and sequence work for the 6-8 grades.


 * Philip Williams Vientiane International School **

We are a growing K-12 school currently with 380 students. I am the only teacher-librarian and I have 2 assistants who do not teach or take classes.

We have two schedules: 1. a fixed check in/out schedule for primary grades: this is a weekly time to ensure that the classes have a time they can come to the library to drop off books and collect new ones. This occurs independent of me. 2. we have a flexible schedule for me and all other library spaces (computer lab, class area and 1 to 1 spaces). No standing bookings can occur for these bookings, so all bookings need to be task specific. These lessons may involve me at different levels. eg. from co-teaching the lesson with the teacher to me just being available like a reference librarian.

Lessons I take are always co-planned and co-taught but this takes many forms. Sometimes I meet with the teachers to develop an indepth lesson while other times it is via a series of emails. Once again, never a standing weekly lesson which can become a release time for teachers. So, right from the start, if they would like me to have some kind of input, it is always to meet a specific need. This has been possible because I have been taking leadership in areas of the school such as academic honesty, use of technology and information literacy integration. This has been and continues to be a gradual process as staff gain confidence that I can offer skills, knowledge and resources that are useful to them and they can see the positive outcomes for their students. I teach all grade levels depending on the needs. The result is that some weeks I am busy while others not so much. It depends on where the classes are at in their units of inquiry and other projects.

For administration, I have needed to give myself time to do a collection analysis, develop projections for the next 5 years, recruit and train new assistants, get up to speed on the PYP, MYP and DP curriculi (being familiar with the curriculum has been key to becoming more integrated into the life of the school) and develop new library policies and procedures. While a teaching librarian is very important, it is also equally important for the librarian to be at the forefront of providing resources to teachers and students. This means time must be available for the librarian to plan, purchase and assist the implementation of teaching resources. Eg. time to research and select an appropriate electronic database then teach and support classes to place that resource at the disposal of the teachers and students. The outcome being, less reliance on the librarian and greater independent access.

I don't use any curricular documents at the moment which is an area I would be very interested in others' comments. I am leading a group in our that is developing an Information Literacy curriculum that will begin with the MYP but extend to the DP and PYP as a continuum. The result, I hope, will be a more cohesive and better planned framework to build info lit into the life of the students. Any ideas and susggestions would be warmly welcomed (I'd buy you a box of chocolates and a coffee if I could). I am also part of a greater integration of academic honesty principles into the curriculum with improved classroom practices and resources. Also, if you have any suggestions, I would be very greatful. I am hoping that all these elements, while defined and thought out separately, will in classroom practice not be stand alone but an ingrained part of all subject areas and grades. As it is, I can be teaching tech, info lit or other areas, in any subjecct area - science, math, humanities, arts, or anything else.