What was most surprising to me was the amount of digital tools that there are out there in the world.  We are so lucky to have all of these websites and platforms.  There are so many new ways to make our lessons interactive and engaging.  So many ways to collate and curate information for our students and patrons.  Before graduate school, I had no idea about ⅓ of these sites.  My lessons have evolved so much from what I have learned.  So basically, 2 years ago, Google Classroom was my way to curate resources.  But now, I use Padlets, Wakelets, Smore, and Pearltrees just to name a few.  

This course has given so much real down to earth advice.  That alone had prepared me for the real world. The textbook by  Woolls, Valenza & Dawkins, The School Library Manager, was the perfect handbook for us as we are all about to enter the world of school librarianship.  Each chapter added a layer or a new aspect of our job that we might not have thought about.  I know that I will be referring back to a lot of the text as I go on in my career. 

 

One last thing, thank you all for your inspiring words.  Your thoughts, your comments, your advice, and your real life sharing all helped to make this class so informative.  I will miss you all and hope that we can stay in touch.  Best of luck to everyone! Jacquie

I used to think the librarian and library were in their own little world but now I think it is a vital and central part of the school community and the librarian is an important leader in that work. That realization really scared me at first because I’ve never really seen myself as a leader. However, now I’m actually excited about the possibilities of making changes for the better in a school library.

I really liked how every theory we learned we then had to turn around and apply it into an activity, an assignment or in our field experience.  It was very helpful to see the direct application of digital tools (Canva, Google Sites, Google Forms, etc.) into daily library tasks and to experience the process of a Strategic Plan process. The course was a great overview and synthesis of everything we’ve learned in all our courses and how it aligns with the AASL standards framework.

This course and the whole MI program has been a wonderful place to learn and expand my thinking. It’s been challenging and rewarding. I won’t miss the work load but I will miss the level of learning and collaboration with all of you and others in the program. I hope to keep in touch with everyone. If you are on Twitter, I’m at @DionneSilver4.

This course itself has prepared me for the real world in so many ways by covering the most important topics to leading a library from collection management, advocacy, reading culture, planning, budgeting, and so much more. I think the projects were well designed to get us thinking about these important topics as well as getting us to learn how to plan for the future. I think the field experience aspect of this course is extremely helpful because learning on the job is the best kind of “sticky” learning you could have!

I also think the most valuable thing I learned through experience while in this course was to keep improving. I have always been very critical of myself, sometimes to an extreme, but I have been very grateful to the feedback from my classmates, Dr. V., my cooperating librarian James, my administrators, fellow staff members, and students as well that encourage me to keep learning and pushing myself to improve and be the best I can be. Something that stuck with me that one of the guidance counselors at my school said to me one day when I was really upset with myself for forgetting something important was: “Did you forget that you’re great?” and I was so confused. He said again “Did you forget that you are great at what you do?” and I sat there dumbfounded but he was trying to tell me that it is okay to make mistakes sometimes because I work hard and always do my best. I think about that when I get hard on myself because I know I am still at the beginning of my career and I still have a lot to learn but I am doing my best and I am going to keep seeking opportunities to grow and learn.

The biggest surprise to me was that I used to think that well funded libraries were lucky. The library in which I served is in one of the best and wealthiest districts in our state yet the librarians still worked to get grants and they both were not allowed to attend the spring conference for our professional library association. One was allowed to go because she is the lead librarian in the district and was the former president of the organization, and she had to fight for that. There is no doubt that this district sees the benefit and contributions of the librarians to the communities, but that should mean that they are supported in every way they can be. To truly be successful, not within just the libraries, educators have to be trusted, supported, and feel that we are an investment in the education of our students. I now think that it is another thing I will happily advocate for, but thought in districts where librarians and libraries are supported, one would not have to try so hard to get professional experiences. 

When experiencing some of what my cooperating librarians had to face, such as the coverage of classes, restructuring of the administration of school, minimization of the library space, and challenges to their collections, I felt a little overwhelmed. What I quickly reminded myself of was that we may work in isolation as one person in a library, but we are not alone  The biggest real world dilemma in my state is the challenge to texts within our library and school, especially after a house bill passed in September of 2022 that fines and jails teachers for using “sexually explicit material,” I realized I need to be more aware of law regarding my rights and that of our patrons. After Amanda Jones was our guest in office hours a few weeks ago, and I reviewed the book challenge policies both in my FE and future school, I not know that I can’t just be aware of the law and the rights of our patrons, but I have to be prepared and poised to fight. I have attached a PearlTree with articles about the Senate bill and the Missouri Association of School Librarian's response.