it's time to share some positives!
Highlights include:
- the students and I experienced a new level of mutually cooperative learning as we all worked together, trying to figure out this online learning model;
- joy rekindled when we were together (even if it's only virtually); see one example pictured above, where a student pranked me by using her younger brother's tablet to enter the library Zoom with two selves, one of them in virtual animal ears & nose;
- students shaped the schedule, and created virtual learning spaces I hadn't dreamed of. Thanks to the support of my principal and administration, our first quarter was an open library Zoom time, to be molded as the students needed. Over time, one block became Maker Mondays; another, Book Talk Tuesdays; Wednesdays became a chapter book club (reading & discussing Pippi Longstocking), while Thursdays remained a virtual walk-in time, for research questions, chit-chat, book talk and reading recommendations--whatever the students wanted;
- "Specialists" became "Essentialists;" our schools reaffirmed the importance of art, music, physical education, and library services in the school experience for all ages; librarians rose to the challenge and used their creativity and determination to ensure safe access to materials for all;
- Our circulation statistics reaffirmed the essentialness of getting books into children's hands; our small rural school library had 899 circulations for the first quarter (out of a population of approximately 175 students working virtually);
- Finally, observing what happens when students access our collection through the online catalog only has opened my eyes to possible barriers in how they access it in person. One example: in previous years our 700s books have languished (aside from 741.5 graphic novels). With the online catalog use, suddenly the 700s books are circulating more than in the previous four years combined. Why? It could be because everyone's at home trying to learn how to make things, but I've realized that another cause may be that I need to move that chess table out of the way . . . it is the most cramped section of the library;
- moving to a virtual-only space has made me realize I need to entirely rethink the existing physical space.
A student read aloud one chapter of the prequel to Pippi Longstocking that she is writing and illustrating. This included a detailed backstory on how Pippi gets her super strength.
Images: McGill, J. (2020). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC.