All in all, I definitely believe that I took a lot away from this experience in the Library Commons at Gladstone Secondary that contributed to the broadening of my educational experiences, goals and knowledge as should be required by an incoming teacher colleague.
During my 3 week community field experience I was able to see how a school operates from outside of a classroom and how the different parts of a school interact. There are many parts to a school, besides the classrooms we teach, which attract students due to the valuable resources they possess. The library is one of these places that brings students and teachers together regardless of discipline through their offerings. Besides the obvious access to traditional bound books, desktop computers and a place to study, the library at Gladstone sponsors events like coffee house, poetry competition, and a grade 8 art competition. The library is a place where clubs meet up at and teachers hold inquiry projects and departmental meetings. Many schools now hold silent reading in which the librarians work with some of the teachers to ensure that students utilize this time well. Also because of the library’s capacity to loan items, the library is often the designated location to keep track of or disseminate products and services throughout a school. For example, the laptop and i-pad carts are signed out from the library as well as different types of projectors, screens, smart boards and SOW units (systems on wheels) for teachers to use in their classrooms.
Being a teacher candidate, of primary interest is the expansion of my options for when I become a TOC (Teacher-on-call). Now that I have spent 3 weeks in the library I am better qualified to fill a position in the library if need be. I spent a lot of time during my 3 weeks learning the Horizon and Webcat resource management systems, which are crucial for a Library TOC to understand. I also spent time learning about how the different filing and catalogue systems worked and how to take inventory, weed and order books. In doing this, I received exposure and began to learn about the budget and accounting procedures of the library.
Because there is always a lot going on in the library, important to the job of a teacher librarian is their time management skills. Over the 3 weeks spent in the library I learned the basics regarding the opening and closing procedures and the running of the library’s functions, which included handling of CS and volunteer students and managing the expectations of teachers who booked the library for use. In addition, because the library is often used by classes for projects I learned a lot about using web 2.0 programs like Voicethread, Prezi, Notebook 12.0 & Smartboard, Blogger, WordPress, Wikispaces and Google Docs just to name a few.
I am glad I spent my Community Field Experience in the library at Gladstone Secondary as I feel even more prepared to enter the profession of teaching.
