Work has officially started! Last week I had new
employee orientation, convocation, and a work day. This week has been
inservices and open house. I forget how exhausting these things can be!
I’m coming into a library program that has been
well-established with certain procedures and programs. I would have been more
than happy to keep things the way they are, but I felt a little staff input
would be helpful. As a result, I created a teacher survey with Google Forms
asking teachers if they utilized the library programs in the past and would
they want to continue doing them. For those of you who haven’t used Google Forms before, do it! It provides instant feedback and can give it to you in a spreadsheet, graph, etc… As soon as I sent it out I had my computer open so I could
keep checking for responses J
Here’s a glimpse of the survey I sent out:
Out of the 40 or so teachers this would have applied to, I
heard back from 33 teachers! I received a lot of good feedback and everyone was
so open to new ideas. I’d like to do this every year to keep the program
evolving.
When I first came into the library this summer, I found binders of notes waiting for me. In those notes were schedules of past years. I noticed that the younger grades came in once a week, older grades came in once every 2 weeks...some lessons were 25 minutes long, some were 55 minutes long. I decided for the sake of the kids and teachers my goal was to simplify things a bit. I met with my principal, AP, and counselor, a few weeks ago to talk about my vision and they were open to EVERYTHING. Seriously, I’m beyond blessed to have a leadership team that listens to me ramble off ideas, sometimes very quickly, and say, “Go for it”. My administration has been amazing.
Once I got feedback I was able to figure out what activities
worked, and which ones didn’t. Luckily, as I was going through that data and
making decisions I was sent a copy of the coveted MASTER SCHEDULE. For real y’all,
this is a HUGE deal. Getting an elementary campus and intermediate campus to
merge into one has been a big task and everyone was sitting on pins and needles
waiting to see what their day looked like. I was just as eager as well because
I’ve never been a part of a departmentalized campus where kids rotate classes,
so I had no idea what my day was going to look like. After looking at feedback
I decided (if possible) I would have all reading classes come in once a week
for a 30-minute block. Kinder-2nd will have a 15 minute mini-lesson,
15 minute check-out. 4th-6th will have alternating weeks.
One week they’ll have a 30 minute lesson, the next they’ll have a 30 minute
check-out. That way, the older kiddos will get to hold onto their books a bit
longer.
So, with the master schedule in my hands, I made my day into
blocks of 30 minutes. I tried to give myself and my assistants a set lunch time
(something they requested after not having one before) and tried to get
everyone in during the first part of their reading class or the last part. It
took a few hours and me whining a bit at the kitchen counter (sorry Chad) but I
did it. I’ve taken out the teachers names, but each color symbolizes a
different grade level. I’m meeting with 42 different classes, 42!!! That’s not
even counting the 4 Pre-K classes I still need to squeeze in. I sent it off to
my principal who gave me the OK, and sent it out to the grade levels. So far (knock on wood) I haven’t had any
complaints other than misspelling someone’s name (whoops). Everyone who’s
approached me has been really excited about the new structured schedule and has had only positive things to say. Again, I’m SO lucky to have a staff who embraces
change and is willing to try something new.
Speaking of change, here are some pictures of new library
décor. It’s not where I want it yet, but it’s getting there!
Our school is doing a college theme, so this is our entry way into the library. All done by one of my assistants, she did great!
The easy wall. Look at all of those books!
The other easy wall. It's a daily battle keeping those letters glued to the wall.
Story corner where I get to do lessons!
My Twitter board where I'll post announcements for the older kiddos.
The bulletin board in the entryway. Again, my assistants did that one. They're amazing!
