Freedom to Read Stations

 The month of September I like to celebrate Banned Books Week. I feel like this year was more important that ever with the amount of book challenges we have seen in our state. Thankfully, we have a district that follows policy and has a committee decide instead of just pulling books. 

I wanted the students to understand what was going on with the book challenges. Most of the time, this encourages them to read. When they find out adults are trying to take books away, they want to read them. You would think adults would figure that out by now. 

Banned Books Week Stations 

I found stations on Twitter that @Mrs_Bongi had created. I took hers and changed them up to fit my students and time restraints. She had 6 stations, but since I only see the classes for 45 minutes, I knew I wouldn't be able to do all 6. 

Station 1

At station 1, students looked at the Pros and Cons of books being challenged. I explained that no matter the issue, and no matter our opinion, we should always have an open mind and hear the other side. You probably won't change your mind, but at least you looked at both sides. 

I copied an article from our Gale Opposing Viewpoints database in TexQuest. Students read the article, then formed their own opinions. 

Station 2 

For station 2 I created ten cards with book summaries. Eight of the books had been challenged, and two had not been challenged. The students' task was to decide which two had not been challenged. They were surprised to find out some of the books that had been challenged and the reasons. 

Station 3 

At station 3 students had a choice between two articles: Police protests two novels on summer reading list and Texas banned more books than any other state. 

After reading their choice of article, they were to write their reactions on post-it notes and stick to the poster. 

Banned Books Week Stations by Joni Harris

Our Banned Books Weeks display

FREADOM bulletin board outside the library. 

Citations and Curation

The past two weeks have been fun, seeing all of 7th grade and all of 8th grade English classes. Collaborating with the teachers is a favorite part of my job! 

Digital Book Portfolios  

The eighth grade teachers asked me to help them come up with a place where the students can write about what they are reading this school year. So, we came up with digital book portfolios using a Google Site. 

The main goal when they visited the library was to set up the Google Site and learn how to write a good book review. The students spent about 10 miintues setting up their site, exploring the themes and fonts, and choosing background photos. They also spent a little time coming up with a title: some were simple titles and others were really creative. One student name her site Book-Tacular! 

Next, we learned what to include in a good book review. 

Coming up with creative titles for their book portfolio sites. 

Citations 

The 7th grade English teachers asked me to teach citations because they will be doing research this year. A requirement is MLA citation page. I didn't want to just teach them to go to Citation Machine or another site that creates it for them, but instead I want them to start to understand the format 

I did tell them they won't memorize this format until using it a lot, and that I still have to look up using MLA citations sometimes when I cite my sources. 

We first talked about the importance of citing our sources and why we do so. Most of them said plagiarism, and a couple said so we don't go to jail. We talked about the reality of the consequences, especially how it can affect you in your higher education. We then looked at 4 types of citations: book, magazine, website, and online database. 

I wanted to make the practice fun, so I decided we would use manipulatives. I created citations for the four types that we discussed that day. I then cut up the citations and put them in bags. Each group had a set, and they were color coded so they knew which parts went together. 

The students' challenge was to put the citations back in order correctly within their groups. I think it went well. Even though they didn't have it memorized, they now have a better understanding of citations and sources to look at when they have to create their works cited page. 

National Dog Day

While my dog doesn't visit my school library, I can't leave her out on National Dog Day. This is our cutie, Bellatrix. She is a silky wire haired miniature dachshund, and spoiled rotten by every member of our family. And  YES, she is a slytherin. 

Sometimes it is OK to Shhhhh!

 Morning in the library

Our middle school first period class starts at 8:50, but many of our students arrive around 8 a.m. most days. Students wait in the cafeteria for the most part. If you are a band student, orchestra student, or art student you can go down to those rooms when the teachers come pick you up. When the cafeteria starts filling up, students are taken to the hallway to wait. 

My first year at this campus, I opened up the library with games for the students. I didn't mind that it was loud because they were having fun. As the weeks went by, I noticed fewer and fewer students coming in the morning. I went out to the hallway where I noticed one of the regular morning visitors was sitting with a book looking very frustrated. I asked him why he didn't come to the library to read. He said it was too loud in the library in the mornings. I then started surveying some of the other students that came the first week, but then stopped coming. The majority of them told me they were hoping for a quiet place. All the other rooms were noisy, and they needed a quiet calming place to stay in the mornings. 

So, I decided to change up the library in the morning. It is now a quiet place, and the rule is to respect others and not be above a whisper. In my three years I only had to send a group out one time that was not following the rule and being extremely loud and watching videos on their phones. I have over 40 students in the library most mornings that come to read, study, or just be in the quiet before class. In my tiny library, 40 is A LOT! 

The moral of my story -- You have to get to know your students and find out what they need. In my case, my students needed a quiet place, so I provided that for them. 

Back to School 2022

 How did this happen? I am starting my 24th year in education, 8th year as a librarian. I spent 16 years in an elementary classroom, then 4 years as an elementary librarian, and now I'm in my 4th year as a middle school librarian. I still think I have the BEST JOB in the world! 

First day of school 

August 8th we welcomed our students back on campus. The first day of school I usually only see the kids in the hallways. I spend passing periods helping the 6th graders and new students find their way in this new building that is twice the size, or more, of their elementary school. Most of the students are looking for a smiling face. 

Teachers are setting the procedures in the classroom, so students don't get to come check out the first day, which is fine. There is usually still lots to do to get ready. I spent the day finishing up the new library passes and creating book lists for students. 

I got the idea for the book lists and this display from Melissa Corey and LibrarianBookEnds on Twitter. If you don't follow them yet, you should! They have tons of ideas for school libraries. 

Check out the books 

On the second day of school, students were starting to come visit since the teachers now had their library passes. My goal the first week of school is to get books into the hands of as many students as possible. In order to do this, I make a video with library procedures and send to the classroom teachers. The teachers show the video in class, then come for a 20 minute check out. This allows me to book more than one class in a period. This week, I had over 500 students visit to check out books. This is a little over half of our student body, so I call this a SUCCESS! 

Another goal my first week with students is to train my student aides. In our middle schools, we do not have paraprofessionals to help us in our libraries, so we have student aides. These student aides help me check in the book, shelf the books, and make book displays. I have a great group this year, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with for book displays. 

Bulletin boards 

I have 2 bulletin boards outside the library in the main hallways. This year I got an idea from pinterest and took an idea from a recent TikTok trend. 

My Pinterest find was a cute welcome board that I think I will keep up all year. It has a word cloud of all the things you can find and do in the library. 

The second bulletin board was an idea from the recent TikTok trend "He's a 10 but... " I wasn't really keen on the idea of our students rating each other, so I changed it to be "They are a good friend but...". So far it has been a hit and students have even requested some of the books. 

How is your first week going? What success did you have this week?

March Madness in the AAE Library

 March was a short month for our district. This school year we had 2 weeks for Spring Break, then the last week of March had 4 testing days which shut down the library for the entire mornings of all 4 days. When I ran the statistics for this month, I was surprised that we still had almost as many books checked out as last month! 

March Madness 

One of my favorite activities in the month of March is our Tournament of Books. We base this around the college basketball March Madness bracket. It is really simple if you want to run your own Book tournament, and it fosters a lot of literacy conversation in the hallway. 

To get started, I look up the top 16 books that have been checked out for the school year. If there are duplicates, such as 2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, then I skip the second one in that series and just go down to the next top book. I match them up in the bracket: book 1 with book 16, book 2 with book 15, etc... 

I create a google form for students, teachers, and staff to vote in each round. You can get your copy of the google form and just add your books for voting! 

I create a bracket online to share in the daily campus announcements using Google Slides. 

I also put the bracket just outside the library, which is in the main hallway. I love it when the kids stop and discuss which book they think will win. I also very often hear them convincing others to read and vote for certain books. This is a great way to build a community of readers. 

Women's History Month Breakouts 

Our students LOVE ❤️ breakouts. This month I had digital breakouts for them to complete over exceptional women in history. While solving the clues to break out of each lock, students learned about Bessie Coleman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Carolyn Keene, Serena Williams, Amanda Gorman, and Eugenie Clark. It was lots of fun, especially seeing how excited they were when they solved all of the locks! 

March Statistics 

March was a short month for sure, but we were still busy. The circulation was a little down from other months, but we were only in school 3 weeks during March. One of the weeks was a testing week, so the library was closed every morning for 4 days in a row. 

1,647 books were checked out from the library this month and 21,000 minutes were read on myON eBooks. 2, 219 student patrons visited the library to check out, read, study, or get tech support. 45 classes came to the library for lessons. The lessons this month were Digital Breakouts, Read Across America diverse books, Women's history month research, and Historical Fiction. 

We ❤️ Books in February

 February is one of my favorite months in the library. I could do without the middle school pre-teen dating drama, but there are so many fun activities to do the month of February. 

Speed Dating with Books 

One of our favorite activities is Speed Dating with Books, also known as Book Tasting. Same concept, I just call it speed dating because I do it in February. 

Each table is a different genre, and students rotate around to each table. They have about 3 minutes at each table to browse the books. They can keep the book if they are interested to check out at the end of classtime.  

This is really easy to set up. I cover the tables with pink and red tablecloths, and put a small centerpiece in the middle of the table. The centerpiece isn't necessary, but I found some cute ones at the Dollar Tree. Each table had a sign with the name of the genre and a definition of the genre. The morning of, I set the books out, but have a cart of books set aside to replenish the tables throughout the day. 

During the event, it's fun to play Oldies Love songs to listen to while they browse the books. The students love it, and most of them find a book from the tables that they are excited about. 

Blind Date with a Book 

This one is a little more difficult to set up, but it is worth it! The students get so excited about the mystery! 

I've seen this done up more fancy with actual wrapping paper, but I don't have time for that. So, we just use a brown paper bag and decorate it with markers. One year I used the white paper bags, but this year I couldn't find them. It was just as popular as any other year with just the brown paper bags. 

One the pink label, I put words and phrases that describe the book. This helps the students pick out which one they want. I also print out the barcode label without the title to put on the outside of the bag so it can be checked out. 

After they read the book, students fill out a review and their name is entered into a drawing. 

Monthly Statistics 

New School Year

 ** I forgot to post this back in September, so here it is late. 

Adjusting to a new school year 

Last school year was a huge adjustment with over fifty percent of our students learning from home. This school year, everyone is back at school in person. It was like the first year teaching again in some ways. Adjusting back to lessons in person instead of on a screen, and back to a full house in the library was necessary for all. 

I open up the library every morning before the first class begins. Together, the students and I decided that we needed it to be a quiet space in the mornings. The majority of students coming in were wanting to get away from the loud noises in the cafeteria each morning. Other rooms, such as the band hall and theatre room, were also loud. We discussed it, and it was decided that the library would provide a quiet area. I think it is important that I let the students help me make that decision. 

Banned Books Week

During the last half of September, we celebrated Banned Books Week. This year I teamed up with the 6th grade Social Studies teachers and tied it in with the Nazi Book Burnings. We disussed reasons why Hitler wanted to burn the books and why some people try to ban books from libraries. There were some really good conversations. The the kids are always really surprised to find out that Captain Underpants from their elementary years had been challenged multiple times. 

October

October is one of my favorite months! I like to highlight the scary books that we have, even though it is my least favorite genre. Middle school students just seem to flock to the scary books, and some of my reluctant readers get excited about the scary books. 

With the classes I did a lesson over Edgar Allan Poe. Together we researched his life, but then groups had to solve the mystery of his death. We learned in our research that his cause of death is unknown, but there are several theories of how Poe died. Groups took the clues from their research and came up with the theory they agreed with based on their information. They had loads of fun! This is definitely an activity I will repeat in the future.