Journal

Journal

WEEK1: Monday April 28th to Friday May 2nd

Monday April 28th

Professional Development Day  (PRO-D Day)

Administration guided day, however because of Job action (Stage 1 of strike) à turned into a self-directed / optional study day.

During this professional day development I attended/ sat in on 2 sessions

 

Morning session: Session 1 à digital citizenship (digital tattoo & BYOT: Bring your own technology)

This session was hosted by Chriss Wong

  • The bulk of the session focussed on ways to generate awareness on the topic and incorporate concepts school/district wide.
  • Teachers collaborated in small groups and as a whole on ways that a foundation could be set (common baseline) for the purposes for teachers to reach out to /for topic support and guidance.
  • Talked about our experiences with technology and background with technology
  • Code of conduct

 

Afternoon Session: Session 2 à Library commons inquiry project

This session was hosted by Pat Parungao

  • This has been a 2 year project in the works that is approaching completion (final stages of its proposal). It deals with the library and its uses/functions.
  • Librarians from different schools attended to discuss the ongoing progress of the project.
  • Majority of the time was spent on refining details and working on the documentation they wish to publish.  Converting word documents to publisher, working on presentation elements

 

Homework: Learn Voice thread to help a class with their project next day

 

Tuesday April 29th

Regular school day: 2 Main focuses

  1. First was getting prepared for classes that have booked the library and its services
  2. Second was resolving overdue book problem (special case due to computer failure)

 

There were 2 library space reservations on this day:

  1. Grade 8 applied skill class. Topic was Digital Tattoo and digital awareness. Teacher was Ms. Rommel Campos.
  2. Grade 11 civics class. Topic was voice thread project and presentation preparation. Teacher was Mr. Bruce Russell.

 

Digital Tattoo:

  • The digital tattoo session started with a talk on digital tattoos and the potential damage caused by them. I shared a story regarding the recent LA Lakers team owner and added to the conversation some stories learned at UBC.
  • The teacher then guided the students through a tour of Gladstone’s website that contained information regarding digital tattoo and citizenship (definitions, guidelines, and description).
  • Primarily the talk focussed on awareness through discussions , online surveys and videos
  • The class ended with students googling themselves and learning about their own digital tattoo

 

Civics 11:

  • The project was about racism and allowed students to focus on specific injustices of their choice.
  • i.e.: Japanese internment during WWII, the holocaust, Indians in residential schools, Komagata Maru
  • Students are required to submit a voice thread presentation. Based on 8 pictures ≈ 8 minutes in length
  • My job was to help students with voice thread
  • I gave a small presentation on some of the functions/features of voice thread

 

Rest of the Day:

  1. Hung up grade 8 art on the wall (Paper Mache masks)
  2. Pulling books for Psychology 11/12 class project
  3.  Dealt with overdue books
  • Normally there are between 100 and 200 books overdue at any given time, however, because of the district wide network malfunction that occurred near the end of spring break a problem occurred with the library systems & database.
  • Book were potentially in the library , but were considered to be signed out or vice versa.
  • We had to resolve the status regarding ≈ over 400 books. This involved searching for books, compiling accurate student overdue lists and giving notices out to homeroom teachers (day 1 period 1 teachers).

 

 

Homework: Think of some ideas for a contest for students to engage with the artwork

 

Wednesday April 30th

Collaboration day: 5 Main focuses

  1. First was getting prepared for classes that have booked the library and its services
  2. Second formal orientation with Pat (during collaboration time)
  3. Third was a follow up talk with Chriss Wong about Digital Citizenship (during collaboration time)
  4. Fourth was continuation with resolving the overdue book problem (special case due to computer failure)
  5. Fifth was a field trip to Trout Lake.

 

There were 3 library space reservations on this day:

  1. Grade 8 applied skill class. Topic was Digital Tattoo and digital awareness. Teacher was Ms. Rommel Campos. (a repeat of the above but for a different class section)
  2. Grade 11 civics class. Topic was voice thread project and presentation preparation. Teacher was Mr. Bruce Russell. (a repeat of the above but for a different class section)
  3. English 11 Project/report. Teacher was Ms. Bobby Loo

 

Collaboration Time:

During the morning collaboration time I met with Pat Parungao. We talked about the daily duties in the library (pulling and shelving books, preparing for and assisting classes with their work, the use of webcat and horizon software systems, the fact that this is a teaching library and that librarians collaborate, work with and help teachers with their classes/duties), the effect of the recent job action on the library hours and our expectations from the CFE (mine was to learn the things necessary to be able to TOC in a library)

 

The second part of the collaboration period was spent with Chriss Wong. This was a follow up to his digital citizen workshop and was more intimate setting in which we expressed our view on the topic and specific questions. I focussed on what my experiences were at David Thompson (long practicum).

 

English 11:

  • During Ms. Bobby Loo’s class my duty was to circulate the room and aid students with the use of webcat, pulling books and the computers if need be.
  • I watched Ms. Hillary Montroy give a talk on the works cited portion of the project and how references should be made.
  • I watched Ms. Bobby Loo introduce a selection of books to the students and talk about the project and its requirements.

 

Field Trip:

After school I attended a mini field trip with Pat Parungao and Ms. Sing Hei Ho a science teacher at Gladstone. The purpose of the field trip was to do the ground work for a project and future field trip that Ms. Ho would like to have with her science 9 classes. Trout Lake is a Bog and she wishes the students to map out the bog and find native bog specimens (distinguish from those put there by us). Our purpose was to assess the project’s viability and to take and catalogue some specimens.

 

Thursday May 1st

Regular School Day: 2 Main focuses

  1. First was getting prepared for classes that have booked the library and its services
  2. Pulling books for tomorrow’s library reservations

 

There were 3 library space reservations on this day, a last minute drop in :

  1. Last minute drop in à Grade 11 civics class. Allow students access to computers so as to continue with their voice thread project and presentations. Teacher was Mr. Bruce Russell.
  2. Grade 9/10 Social Studies class (Mini or gifted students). Inquiry project. Teacher was a TOC Mr. Conrad
  3. English 11 Project/report. The purpose was to allow students to check out books. Teacher was Ms. Bobby Loo
  4. Grade 11/12 Psychology 11/12.  Project research. Teacher was Shelly McPherson

 

Civics 11:

  • Russell called down in the morning to see if the computers were available for use. There were no reservations, so Russell’s class dropped in. They wanted to use the computer portion of the library. Assistance was minimal. No teaching involved. It was more of a work period. Students continued to work on their projects. I assisted students with voice thread as needed.

English 11:

  • During 2 periods of the day Ms. Bobby Loo brought down her class to check out books (no lesson, no computers). The students circulated through the library finding resources. I helped students find and check out books.

Socials Studies 9/10:

  • These gifted students in the mini program at Gladstone were engaged in a self-directed inquiry project. Students were given the option to research any topic and present that topic in any fashion. This was the 2nd of many classes that the students will be down in the library.
  • The students were in the investigation or research stage of their project. Most had already developed and refined their research questions. For the majority of the period students were looking through data bases on webcat, creating google drive documents and pulling books for their project.
  • My job was to assist the students with the project as need be. However the students were quite motivated and did not need too much attention. Only a few were off task and required some supervision.

Grade 11/12 Psychology Project:

  • The psychology project was based on the textbook. Student were to write a report on 1 of the 7 unit taught during the year.
  • My job was to pull books related to the 7 chapters covered by their textbook
  • When the class arrived at Parungao, Jenny Wang and I, introduced a selection of the books that we pulled.
  • The books were organized such that 1 table had the corresponding books for a specific unit. 7 units à 7 tables.
  • A carousel activity revolved around the books that were pulled. Students were allowed 5-10 minutes per table and were allowed to go through the books and talk about the project with respect to the books pulled. The idea was for students to find some research material for their project, narrow down a topic (if not chosen already) and to discuss the project with peers.

 

Rest of the Day:

  1. Pulling books for English 8 Mythology class project for Ms.Loo

 

Homework: Learn Prezi to help a class with their project next day

 

Friday May 2nd

Regular School Day: 3 Main focuses

  1. First was getting prepared for classes that have booked the library and its services
  2. Fire Drill
  3. An Elementary level inquiry program

 

There were 3 library space reservations on this day:

  1. English 11 Project/report. The purpose was to allow students to check out books research (a repeat of the above but for a different class section). Teacher was Ms. Bobby Loo
  2. Grade 11/12 Psychology 11/12.  Project research (a repeat of the above but for a different class section). Teacher was Shelly McPherson
  3. Grade 8 English Greek Mythology project. Teacher was Bobby Loo.

 

Elementary Level Inquiry program:

It was interesting to see that teachers from the elementary level preferred to host their inquiry project at a different school. And a secondary one at that. Librarians from an assortment of elementary schools came together in an attempt to identify good resources to be used in their schools t their level. The librarians said that there is a plethora of material at their disposal, but that the material is not suitable for or entirely relevant to their students of interest. The purpose of the inquiry project was to identify resources that could be used for specific grades and subjects. To my understanding it is a large undertaking and important in order to ensure that their libraries remain relevant (to the school).

 

Fire Drill:

The school had a fire drill rehearsal this afternoon. It was nice to see how the school conducted their fire drill. It was even better for me as this was the first time the drill was run utilizing the newly implement routines/procedures (student placement, organization and roll call). Because it was the first time there was a lot of chatter surrounding its execution.  This allowed me to be involved in conversations and also allowed me to assess the differences/changes in the procedures for myself due to my exposure to the opinions of others around me.  Conclusion: the new drill seems much better.

Fire Drill Summary:

OLD: students used to exit the school through the front doors, however students would be confined to a narrow sidewalk and could often be found blocking/obstructing the road. It was also harder to control the students. To take roll call. Students could leave unnoticed easier.

NEW: Now students exit in a fashion that directs them to the back of the school where they now wait on the field. Home room flags are hung from the field fence. Students report to their designated home room stations. Due to the openness of the field and surrounding fence, it is easier to visually assess the situation (students’ behavior and intentions).

 

English 8:

This was a new class where I could have some more interaction. The materials were pulled and prepared days in advance. This class was nice due to the mandatory requirement that students use print sources. Often I find that kids shy away from books and use unreliable web sources for their projects. This project was set up in a way to reward (through marks) valid resources. One part of my rewarding experience is that it is discouraging to spend hours pulling books that are not used. Second was my familiarity of the topic, as a child I loved Greek mythology, which I was able to talk about. Third, I did some teaching along with Pat Parnugao and Jenny Wang regarding the use of resources and their citations in which I found an amazing resource that the kids liked (Story Nory under eboooks in webcat).

 

Rest of the Day:

Spent learning about horizon, webcat and the data bases. In terms of Horizon, I started to go through the user manual and perform more administrative functions like creating, editing, verifying  and deleting user’s accounts to name a few.

 

Week 2: Monday May 5th to Friday May 9th

Week 2 has come and gone and I have gotten a feel for the library’s regular duties with respect to pulling and shelving books and the classroom reservations. Now and I am seeking more information regarding expectations and possibilities in the library.

 

Last week I focused primarily on how the library interacted and collaborated with the teachers and students in the rest of the school; how the library fits into the curriculum and the identity of the school. This week my focus was primarily internal and behind the scenes. I became more concerned with the operations of the library itself and the expectations and duties of a librarian outside of my previous experiences aforementioned.

 

With regards to the classroom visits, the library is generally booked for 2 of the 4 classes each day.  Of those, 80% of the visits are prearranged or booked with the remaining dropping in (generally a teacher will call in advance or pop in in the morning and check out availability for later on in that day). With regards to the library, generally classes come down to use the computers. It seems that it is the prerogative of the library to push book usage as “students avoid books like the plague” (a comical quote from my Student Advisor Pat Parungao). The duties of the librarian in these situations are parallel those mentioned in week 1. I believe it would be accurate to extend those duties to include the prerogative of capitalizing on opportunities to promote literacy. Now that I have been in the library, I see how silent reading is important to the livelihood of the library and how it can be integrated into my classroom etiquette and management of it.

This week I have had the opportunity to look through the 2013-2014 calendar, I notice some patterns emerging with regards to discipline-library connection. The arts utilize the library to a much larger degree than the sciences do. Also, teachers that are involved with lower performing students (i.e. classes called STEP program in Gladstone and CORE at David Thompson as well as special needs and counselors) will use the library services more than the regular classes. So will the highly motivated and advanced students (i.e. classes called mini schools at Gladstone or the GOLD program at David Thompson) take advantage of the library and its services.  Usually classes come down for project research or to have a change in scenery. A lot of meetings can be held in the library too. Part of my understanding of the library’s usage has come from the first of two large tasks undertaken this week. The first being the organization and filing of notes (snippets of the past projects, inquiries and bookings) from collaboration sessions with teachers over library usage; a year in review. The extent of the paper work viewed (time range) was from June 2013 to today.

 

 

Moving on to this week’s focus, I spent a lot of time on the technology aspect of the library and the difficulties associated with it. The computers are slow, there were many network difficulties and the computers would often crash and/or will not boot up. Both at Gladstone and David Thompson, there seems to be lack of technical support and more than not the teachers were on their own to resolve their problems or were at the mercy of the technician and the VSB for support (Many teachers made comments that those responsible for technology are like ghosts. They are never around when needed). It does not seem that the systems were built or integrated properly (overloaded). It does not seem that the systems are maintained properly either. The teachers or users are not trained to handle or care for the services that are being used. Definitely more can be done in this area. Because I have some computer background and skills I spent time trying to find easy fixes to the problems being encountered. I tried to find ways to make the computers boot up (using various safe modes) that were unwilling and ways to circumvent the network problems (switching the idle ports, rebooting the connections).

Due to the importance of technology in schools, glitches and problems should not occur so regularly or be tolerated as much they are (common occurrence common place). Systems should be built with overhead (room to grow) and people should know what to do when technological mis-incidents occur.

In addition to my technological quest, I also tried to tackle a printer/scanner problem that the library had. The primary printer in the library has a scanner built in, but the librarians were not able to use it (not set up properly). The literature associated with and technological understanding required to make this scanner work is a lot for any non-technical person to deal with (I have not been able to fix it yet and I foresee a lot or reading and trial and error before I will be able to get it to work). Besides attempting to fix this scanner problem, I began to strip down the SOW units (mobile projectors on loan for teachers to use) and refix (connect) them for better, more efficient use and I am in the process of learning how to use a SMART board.

 

This week I also learned a little about how the library works with regards to the greater picture of the school and its budget; the cans and cannots and what the library has to do to raise funds and make purchases.  It is amazing the limits put on the library from the VSB and from its donations/support (funds from PAC and bursaries). It is also amazing the limits put on the library in terms of what it can and cannot do with its stock (or discarded items). The monetary knowledge accrued came from the second of the two larger projects undertaken this week: the classification and organization of last year’s library receipts (accounting and book keeping). The extent of the paper work viewed (time range) was from June 2013 to today.

 

The last thing done this week was the reorganization of the store room and the main office space. By Friday this week the store room had been completely emptied, shelves reorganized and built. Many items (outdated, old and broken) were discarded and everything re-boxed and labelled. Next week the focus will switch to the main office space and what can be done there.

 

Week 3: Monday May 12th to Friday May 16th

Primarily this week was a combination of the first 2 weeks (≈60%). By this time I have become familiar with the operations of the Library Commons. More or less I have come to understand the opening and closing procedures and the basics behind the daily operation (running) of the library.

In terms of the ordinary, I know how to use the library’s daily agenda/calendar books and filing systems. In terms of supporting the library, I have an understanding behind the CS students, their contributions and expectations, whereas in terms of library support I know what I can expect from the teachers in the school as well as what they expect from me. With regards to the daily operations of the library I have seen a few cycles in play and understand the high and low times and have learned to manage my time in order to accommodate needs. Of major importance to a library commons is its extension into the school (does not want to be a mere isolated room with books for use) and key to that success is through teacher collaboration on projects and through utilizing the library for silent reading (acknowledgement and utilization by teachers and students). To this end, I know where the teacher and lesson collaboration materials are kept, how to use and file the information gathered, how to set up class (the location of materials within the library commons as well as those commonly used/booked outside of the library commons) and the kinds of micro lessons that are expected for me to teach.

In terms of the extreme, I know the procedures for earthquakes, fire and code red. I know where all the safety and emergency equipment is located and what to do (procedures & protocol). I have also learned about the low basin that the library is situated in and the occasional flooding concerns/impacts them. In addition I have learned about the strides made by other libraries in the VSB; their successes and failures.

 

Outside of this, time was given to me to start to reach outward into the school. I started to make some classroom observations and talk more with the staff and administration in the school. This was helpful in seeing how things in general are run, developing a sense of the school’s culture/atmosphere/environment and in how this impacts the library (amongst students and other working professionals). Of interest to me was the time spent with the life skills classes. Several periods were devoted to understanding those more challenged in the school, which altogether allowed me to piece together a day in the life for those with special needs. As I have never worked with students requiring such support before (behavioral, physical and mental), it proved to be an eye opener. By the same token, this exposure allowed me to understand the subtle differences between students, their conditions and the programs they are in. As nothing is black or white, this time allowed me to notice (understand more) the transitional students who are nowhere (a student’s unique condition that causes them to not definitively belong in any program; i.e. they are bordering between programs; not really special needs, but in the STEP program or transitioning to a normal program but with varying degrees of support).

 

This week I was able to complete the tasks regarding the library’s storage rooms, office space and main floor (fiction & non-fiction areas). In addition, the technology problems, while not permanently solved, were thoroughly explored and remedies (quick fixes to get though a class) discovered. Beyond those tasks discussed last week, 2 additional tasks were undertaken: Establishing more space for 10 new incoming computers and finding (creating) a home for a set of misplaced books that have bounced around the library for the past many years.

 

A new topic of interest in which we began to touch upon, but never had to opportunity to completely exhaust, was regarding the vision and future of a Library Commons. During this week we began to talk more about the vision and mission of a Library Commons, we talked about how to better integrate and develop the resources of a Library Common to meet the needs of a school and began to develop resources for the library (primarily website tools for student use) to use. We began to talk about the apparent difficulty of integrating or meeting the needs of some of the disciplines (i.e Sciences, Business and Tech-Ed). We began to talk about how my discipline could be better integrated with the library. Hillary and Pat began to tap into my teaching area and asking me to think of possible collaborative units of study. Furthermore we began to discuss ways to promote Library Commons Advocacy. In this department I turned to my wife’s expertise as she is an active volunteer in the Vancouver Public Library System, where advocacy programs are extensive.

 

All in all, I definitely believe that I took a lot away from his experience in the Library Commons that contributed to the broadening of my educational experiences, goals and knowledge as should be required by an incoming teacher colleague.