Saturday, September 29, 2007

What's the definition of success?

I saw glimpses of what I want to have happen in the library this week and it was wonderful. The hard work and planning are paying off. I can see us building on the work of one week in the next and see where we could go in the future. (It would be easier with a scope and sequence or continuum of skills. I have found several examples from other school and need to do some work in this area.)
1) Students were excited about this last batch of books that arrived. Some students are bringing me the names of books they would like me to order.
2) All the students from grades 1 to 3 are participating in my first planned unit on Flat Stanley.
3) I felt some small success with the grade sevens and their blogs and am confident enough to try it with the grade eights.
4) In some classes I am seeing students choose to take out the books which I introduced to them two weeks ago. As one student brings in one of these book another student signs it out. Students are excited and tell me about reading them at home.
5) There are several students who are making more appropriate reading selections for their ability and age. In one case a young boy is choosing to take out books rather than magazines which are to hard for him to read. I hope I have been a using a light touch in encouraging and presenting books and magazines to him which meet the criteria of "the right book". It has been a pleasure to see students sign out books which have more depth than the ones they first signed out this year. I am pleased with the number of books the younger students are signing out and returning. However, not all students at the older grades are signing out books.
6) As I learn the names of students and clarify the expectations for the library it becomes easier to "teach". I so want students to see the value of what we do in the library.
Is this the library program I hope to develop? No, but I can start to see the possibilities and for today that is my definition of success.

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