Saturday, June 20, 2009

This week I...

MONDAY... it must have been as it is Tuesday today. I got my first confirmed hit on the after Twilight display I put up. A student wanted to reserve a book they had seen on the display board and it wasn’t on the shelf. ‘Um... Harris. With the face and the blood dripping.’ Am Happy.

Will add a photo soon... er or later.

Have told myself no reading novels until my uni work is finished and out of the way. Am just under an average of 2 per week since school went back.

TUESDAY

Started building another blog but a professional one, one I can put my name to and have more interesting pictures on. I will keep this one for personal reflection and whinging.

WEDNESDAY did the reading the net lesson with a year 10 group on the other campus. Worked really well. Spent some time chatting with a group of girls who wanted to finish and read a book. After they did the survey I put them on to FML a life experiences website that some year 9s we into last time I did this lesson. It is very entertaining and makes you feel better about your own life. It’s not appropriate for juniors and can be sorted to show just those with sexual content (which they did, of course!) but all three were crowded around the computer reading and laughing. It felt good to have engaged them.

THURSDAY

Doing ok this week. I just walked out at recess when I tried to get students to leave and the shadow had given them permission to be there and gave all their excuses. Grrr. I am going to try to have more morning tea times in the staff room. It might help the growing feeling of isolation. I was actually scared to go to work today, worried that the things I'd said that the Bear had backed up would result in another unprofessional blow up from the Shadow.

Had an English teacher comment that the After Twilight display looks good and is useful for the kids. It isn’t as pretty as I’d like coz I had a brain fade and forgot the backing paper. I may get around to it one arvo next week after my assignment is finished. There are usually some of the titles shown or similar under the display but I have to move pretty fast to replace them, if there are any still on the shelves.

FRIDAY

Lifelong learning... sometimes it starts with me saying ‘no, you can’t have a piece of blank paper. You are in year 9 and need to be more organised. Think of a way around it. Print yourself a sheet of blank paper.’ Some kids genuinely think we are the school stationary store, where everything is free. The looks I get when I tell them they need to get something for themselves is amazing! I remember when* I was at school I had a few sheets of blank paper in my folder in case, I’d go to the newsagents with my parents to buy big sheets of coloured paper or card for projects. You wouldn’t dare ask the library. Kids these days* expect everything handed to them with no effort on their parts.

We are going to try the carrot with use of student cards for borrowing. On our side we have lost the habit of this and the kids know it. If the other campus can manage it, so can we. So, pinching ideas from other places to do with encouraging reading we are going to run a competition where each borrowed book with student card gets you an entry. Prizes will be a bit random (as suggested somewhere else good stuff and a toothbrush or similar) and lucky dip. Will try for a big ad campaign!

The Bear told me all sorts of things that the Shadow has been doing but not bothered to tell me about. Nothing big, just library stuff that I could do with knowing about. We are having a meeting next week, with the Bear running the agenda and the comment on the email “there will not be time for extensive discussion”. This will be interesting.

*Proof I am getting old and grumpy. Maybe the library IS the right spot for me!


Need some pseudonyms for the other people I work with...

Technicians- Speedy, Bee (as in queen bee or wannabe)... there's 2 out of 6...

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