Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Elementary
Date: 4-8-13
Time: 4hrs
Activities
Standard
Today was the first day of my field experience at the elementary. I came into the library right
before lunch and met up with the librarian, Mrs. Cosby. She told me about the library and gave me
a quick introduction about their procedures. She only had a minute and then came 25 energetic
kindergartners. This was my day of observation. Mrs. Cosby is the only person in the library with
those 25 kindergartens who all need her attention at one time. I observed during that class to see
how everything worked. I was taking note of her procedures. All the students come in and drop
their library books off at her desk and then sit quietly until she calls their names. She checks the
books in the computer one at a time and pulls out a card with their name on it. She then reads the
names off the cards and the students come up to her desk and grab a ruler. Students are then
allowed to go peruse the library and find a book in their reading level. Once all the students have
their books, the class sits at the tables for a few minutes reading their books. They stayed for about
30minutes. As that class was walking out, another was walking in.
19,13,14
For the rest of my time, class after class filed in one after the other. Once I got the hang of her
procedure, I began helping a few students find books, the best I could. After the classes left, she
showed me their procedure for organizing, and shelving the books that were returned that
afternoon. We organized them into fiction and non-fiction piles. After that step, we alphabetized
the fiction books by author’s last name and put the books on a cart to be shelved. We put the nonfiction books in order based on the Dewey decimal system. We then put them on a cart to be
shelved. This took up the last hour.
Reflection:
Wow. That was a whirlwind. The time just flew by. Talk about a completely different experience
from a HS library. It was so crazy. The students are filled with energy. You never get a chance to
stop and think. You’re busy from the minute you step foot in there until you leave. I was amazed at
how busy this librarian was. The library is really small and the collection is small as well so the
librarian wants to shelf as many books as she can after each class leaves. I’ve never seen anyone
shelf books so fast in my life. She checks books in, checks them out and shelves them all within
thirty minutes. There wasn’t much talking today. Talk about hitting the ground running!
12,16,17
16
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-9-13
Time: 4hrs
Reflection:
Activities
Today we had classes scheduled to come in all afternoon. There were two kindergarten and two
first grade classes scheduled to check out AR books. We were to check in their books and then
give them time to check out another book. I helped check in books and walked around helping
students find their new books. The classes come in one after the other. You have about five to ten
minutes in between classes to get ready. We would reshelf the books from each class during those
five minutes. Most of the time was spent interacting with students at the book shelves.
It’s really helpful walking around assisting students because you get to learn your collection
quickly. One thing that I found from the observation today is that these young students love to
talk. We had several long conversations with students about books. There were a few students
who just hung out at the counter for a while wanting to talk. This was nice talking to students, but
it did take a lot of our time. It’s a real time management balancing act during the day. These young
students ask for the craziest things about books. One kid asks, “Do you have a book about a kid
that eats clay pancakes?” or “Do you have a book about mommies on Valentine’s Day?” This
makes it difficult to help them find the right book. You have to really know all the books in your
collection in order to know which book they’re talking about.
Standards
15,16,19
12,16
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-10-13
Time: 4hrs
Reflection:
Activities
When I first arrived in the library, there were fifth grade students coming in a few at a time
to check out AR books. There trickled in for the next thirty minutes and I walked around
helping students find books.
Since no other classes were scheduled during the rest of the time I was there, we went out
into the library to re-shelf non-fiction books that had been returned that day. During the
process, she explained to me how the non-fiction section is organized. We started at the
beginning of the Dewey system- 0 -and worked our way up to the 900’s. We had about 25
books to reshelf. This process took us about an hour to complete. Each time we would put a
book away we would find that several of the books had been moved; they had been pulled
off the shelf and stacked out of order. We would have to fix the books that were out of place
and then continue.
Shelving books was a time-consuming task, but helpful also. You really get to know the
collection by shelving. I did make some interesting observations about the way the nonfiction books were organized and managed. The librarian puts labels on each shelf so
students could easily find a subject. For example, she labeled the 588 section with a tags
that read “Whales/Dolphins/Manatees and 970 section with tags that read “Native
Americans/South +Central American Countries. She labeled sections so students could find
their books more easily. I thought it was a great idea and something I would incorporate.
Standards
13, 14
16,21
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-11-13
Time: 4hrs
Activities
When I got there today, we had about an hour before classes were scheduled to come in,
so the librarian brought out a stack of books that needed to be repaired. She walked me
through their process for repairing books. We got some plastic glue from Demco and
started by simply just putting a bead of glue down the middle spine of books and putting
rubber bands around them to hold them in place overnight. We had great discussion
during this process about their weeding/repairing policies. They are on a very
limited/fixed budget and get most of their funds from book fairs. So, she does quite a lot
of repair- it is part of her weekly routine. We fixed books with tape, cleaned, glued, and
stapled for a good 60 minutes.
The next hour was spent helping students find AR books. We checked books in, helped
students find books they needed for AR, and then checked out new ones. Students are
limited books they can check out so it takes a while for a student to find the right book.
First graders can only read books with blue or red AR stickers.
The next two hours were spent getting ready for reading week. We were putting together
a book display for an author that was coming to their school. It’s a local author who writes
picture books about pelicans and other animals at the beach. So, we made a display in the
library with her books, and some other ‘beachy’ items. We added flip flops, sunblock,
sunglasses, and other fun beach items and we hung beach balls from the ceiling in the
library to celebrate their beach reading week. We decorated the library as much as we
could with items and books to represent the beach and animals at the beach.
Reflection:
Fun, eventful day. I got the chance to do a lot of different tasks for the first time. I was
very surprised that repairing books is a part of their weekly routine. They have a tape
machine to help repair the spines of books that I was quite impressed with. I really
enjoyed having the time to decorate the library. It was a fun, creative project that seems
to be great for book promotion. The kids loved it!
Standards
12,13,
14,15
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-12-13
Time: 4hrs
Activities
Standards
I came into the library to find that there were three classes scheduled to come in and
check out AR books and do other projects. I started checking the carts for books that
needed to be re-shelved and cleaned up the shelves while I was putting books back. While
doing this one, I had to repair one of the shelves. They made rectangular boxes to fit
behind the books so you can’t push the books all the way to the back of the shelf. The
librarian likes the books to sit at the front of the shelf and students push them to the
back, so they made a cardboard strip to run behind the books to keep them from being
pushed to the back. One of those strips was broken, so I took out all the books, fixed the
stopper and then put them back.
16
Classes were coming in today to check out books about insects and spiders. Students
needed to find books on different insects/spiders – scorpions, black widows, tarantulas,
ants, crickets, beetles, etc… They were going to share important facts about their
insect/spider. Each student was partnered up with another student and they were to find
a book on their selected insect and sit at the tables with their partners. I went around and
helped students find their books and then helped them find important/surprising facts to
write down that they could share with the class.
Reflection:
I loved the interaction with these students. They get excited about the smallest things.
They were so anxious to show me everything in their books. They are fascinated with
insects/spiders. They loved looking through the books and the pictures and learning what
those animals could do. I was also surprised at how well they stayed entertained with the
books. It was also a good learning experience for me. It was a nice refresher course. I
learned a lot of things about spiders that I never knew before.
16
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-15-13
Time: 4hrs
Activities
Standards
Monday’s are the libraries busiest day for classes to check out AR books and take AR quizzes.
Students can read their books over the weekend and then take AR tests on Monday. We had
several classes coming in to check out books and take AR quizzes.
13, 14
Most of the time was helping students check out books and find ones that met their needs.
Each class has different reading requirements, so you have to know which grades can read
which books. The first graders and fifth graders are at completely different levels. One can
read blue labeled AR and one grade can only read green labeled books. It gets a bit
confusing especially when you’re not sure which grade the student is in. Not only do they
have a certain color they have to meet, they have to meet a certain level. For example, a
student can only read a green labeled book with a reading level of 3.2.
Towards the last hour of the day, the librarian got a call from the PE teacher. It was too hot
for students to run during their Run Across America fundraiser, so she had to bring the
students into the library. The librarian was not prepared for this and not expecting it. She
had about 45 students come in the library for the last 45min of school with no teacher and
nothing planned. We quickly called the office to send someone to help. We decided to read
aloud to the students from some large picture books she had. We read together.
Reflection:
I realized today how important classroom management skills are. Part of the job
requirement for a TL includes monitoring a rather large group of students at one time and
maintaining some kind of order. It’s difficult as a teacher to manage a classroom full of 30
students, but having twice that many in the library was quite a difficult task. Having a large
amount of students with only one supervising teacher was pretty overwhelming. You have
to be able to monitor behavior and assist students at the same time….tricky sometimes. You
also have to always be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.- have a plan B.
15, 16,17,19
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-22-13
Time: 7hrs
Reflection:
Activities
Today I spent most of the time helping students find AR books. I also wanted to make an
effort to talk to the teachers while they were there and ask them questions about their
thoughts about the library. I would help students and then talk with teachers when I had a
free minute. The library is mostly used for just checking out books. The teachers do their
lessons in the classroom and not in the library. So, the librarian is mostly used to help them
find books and assist the students. As teachers come in with their classes, they talk with the
librarian about books they would like to read with their classes. A couple of teachers had the
librarian check out a class set of Magic Tree House books after discussion with them. The
teacher and librarian would discuss which books are best for their grade level because the
books have to be a certain reading level.
One teacher came in and had half of her students taking AR quizzes and the other half of her
students were checking out books. This became quite a juggle because you had to be in two
places and perform two jobs at the same time. The teacher kept needing help with the
computers and the students kept needing help with the books. One student needed book
about snakes and one needed a book at a reading level of 3.5. Students needed passwords to
the computer and help printing. This was the schedule for the rest of the afternoon. I was
helping students find books and helping them take AR quizzes.
I was involved with some great discussions about which classroom novels teachers should
read with their students. The teacher would share her criteria (reading level, genre, etc.) and
the librarian would offer suggestions for her. Then, they would discuss the advantages of one
book over the other and so on. I loved being a part of those discussions and being able to help
teachers find the right book for their class. Having a daughter in third grade, I’m familiar with
some books that she’s read, so I was able to give them advice from a parent’s perspective as
well, which they appreciated. One interesting thing I took away from the discussion is how
influential parents are in the process of choosing novels for the class.
Standards
13, 14,16,
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-23-13
Time: 7hrs
Reflection:
Activities
Today was pretty much another repair day. The librarian had a huge stack of library books
that needed repair before the end of the year. She hasn’t had a lot of time to do this. Since I
was there, she thought it would be good practice for me and help her at the same time. Their
books are so old that they frequently tear apart. The librarian said that a lot of their books
have been donated from parents, so most of their books are used. She feels that it’s
important to use the books as much as possible and try to repair them. She said students at
this age don’t pay much attention to the quality of the book, so they don’t mind if the book
appears old or used. Students at this age are very good about letting the librarian know about
damages to books. We would help with classes that came in and repair books when we had a
few minutes in between. We put them in different stacks. We had a stack for books that
needed to just be taped, books that needed to have the spine repaired and books that
needed to be glued. I had the stack that needed to be glued and the librarian had the stack
that needed to be taped. At the end of the day, she showed me how to use the tape in the
book spine machine. We successfully repaired the spines to a stack of books before we left.
I realized the importance of taking time to repair books. It’s a simple task that saves a lot of
money. There are so many kinds of tapes, glues and machines available that make book repair
doable and easy. I was surprised at how many books we saved by taking the time to fix them
with some glue and tape. I was actually impressed with how good the librarian was at doing
this and how she enjoys saving books. She even had books that come back eaten by dogs that
she managed to save. I would have looked at most of these books and immediately thrown
them away. I realized that books can be saved and it doesn’t take much effort to do so. I
learned so easy tricks and techniques to making a used book look new. I also now have a list
of products that I can but to help make the repair process easier.
Standards
17,19
15,16,18
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log
Site/Date/Hour
Site: Suburu
Date: 4-24-13
Time: 7hrs
Reflection:
Activities
Since we’re getting near to the end of the school year, the librarian wanted to start weeding
out some books and some old videos that she’s had for years. She wanted me to get
experience with their weeding process. She says she mostly does her informal weeding
throughout the year as students check out books, but she does a large formal weeding at the
end of the year as well. She had sent out a request to the teachers asking for their help with
this process before she began. She had asked them to give her an updated list of class books
and videos that they’re using or will be using in the future. She also asked for an updated
course outline or courses of study that she could look at for each grade level. She wanted to
make room for more non-fiction books because of the implementation of common core
standards. She pretty much used the MUSTIE process for weeding. One additional criterion
was the reading level and illustrations. She’s very familiar with her collection so she knew
exactly which sections needed weeding. So, we started with a curriculum map to see what is
actually being taught. We then looked at the statistics from the automated system, we
considered the demographics of the community, and then we considered teacher input. The
library is very small and there’s not much money available to replace many discarded books.
We had to be very diligent about the books we discarded. We went through most of the nonfiction and fiction sections that she had pulled. Most of the discarded materials were old VHS
tapes that teachers no longer used. She had bookcases and bookcases of VHS tapes that she
had collected for years. She put all the materials in boxes and then shared them with
teachers. They were to have first grabs at the books.
Weeding is definitely an eye-opening experience. You don’t realize how important it is to do
this step. You have to make sure your resources are useful and up-to-date. It’s more
important now than ever to make sure libraries maintain relevant materials. The most
important thing I took away from this experience is that it doesn’t matter how many books
you have, it matters if they’re useful. If the library has shelves of useless books that are of no
interest to the students, then you might as well not have a library. The other interesting thing
was that you shouldn’t discard books that have been donated and many of them have been.
Standards
15, 18,20
16,17,19
Victoria Schooler
580 Fieldwork Log