Growing Readers and Relationships

We are now six weeks into our school year and it is time to reflect on the whirlwind that was "back to school."  I am making a concerted effort to "make my yeses count" (thank you, Matthew Winner).  This means I am carefully making choices so I can focus my time and energy on the items most important to me, my students, and our library program. 

Relationships


Developing relationships with students is first and foremost on my mind.  My goal is to love them first and teach them second.  Actions I have taken this year to do this:
  • I asked for "breakfast duty."  Every morning you will find me in our cafeteria, sitting at a different table of students talking about anything and everything.  (Thanks to my 10-year-old son, I was able to hold my own in a WWE conversation last week).  Here I can find out what makes students tick and what really matters to them.
  • I started a binder of notes about what students are reading.  Inspired by Melanie Roy I am keeping notes on the book conversations I have with students.  This will help me to help them find books.
  • One of the first activities I had students do was share with me something they were proud of or something I wouldn't know.  They wrote or drew this on a bookmark.  I read these and wrote back.  I learned a lot about my students that I didn't know before! 


Growing Readers 


I am a librarian because I love books.  I believe in the power of reading.  I wanted to capture this in a way that would be easy to communicate and share with students, staff, and parents.  I created a logo and tagline that would do just that.


This image can be found on our library brochure, newsletter, on the doors to our library, and at my desk.  I want to be very clear about what we do here.

Welcoming


Last year I focused on creating a welcoming space and environment, but I don't consider that kind of job ever done.  I made a few additions/tweaks this summer:
  • With the help of my children, student-teacher, and trusty volunteer, we moved and genre-fied the graphic novel section.  The growing collection was in a very unfortunate location, down a narrow aisle.  The new spacious area gives students more room to browse.  The bins had a huge impact on circulation.  At only $.99 each, these were well worth the investment.  



  • New signs greet you at the door.  These were free and communicate exactly what I want everyone to know - you are welcome here.


  • Technology adjustments help not only those with visual impairments.  Our two self-checkout stations see a lot of use.  I adjusted the size of mouse, made it contrast with the white background, and created a thicker blinking cursor.  The 300+ individuals who use these over the course of the week will find it easier to SEE what they need.

My takeaways


Setting the tone for the year and laying the groundwork was time-intensive, but I consider it an investment.  The goal for the year is to develop relationships and grow readers.   We are back in the swing of things and I am excited to see where a newly focused program will take us.

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