Musings from the Front Porch

    Jordan Henry White Knoll Middle School Lexington, SC https://www.lexington1.net/domain/1442   “Key Commitment – Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing,  and sharing resources of personal relevance” (AASL 2018, 94) .   Mr. Henry is in his first year as librarian at White Knoll Middle School. Previously, he was a chorus and art teacher at the same school. When he examined the circulation data from the 2021-2022 school year, he found out less than 4,000 books had circulated in a school of about 800 students. Although the school was still recovering from pandemic restrictions, he knew the numbers should be higher and set about revamping the collection and the culture of the learning commons.   Mr. Henry has been working on genrifying the collection since he began his new position. Around the perimeter of the library books are grouped by such genres as historical fiction, science fiction, mystery...

Suzanne Brooks Midway Elementary School Lexington, SC https://sites.google.com/lexington1.net/meslearningcommons/home   “Key Commitment – Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed  through experience and reflection” (AASL 2018, 104) .   This is Ms. Brooks second year as the school librarian at Midway. Covid restrictions were still in place when she began so this school year has required her to introduce the library to many students for the first time. Students in kindergarten and first grade have not had experience in the library, while the older students had not been in for a couple of years. Much of the work she has done this year has been to teach the students how to use the library space. Ms. Brooks has focused a lot on the collection at Midway. Since arriving, approximately 20,000 items have been weeded. Many of these items removed were old and not useful. She is currently trying to purchase more items to increase the average number of ...

  Stacey Merritt River Bluff High School Lexington, SC https://www.lexington1.net/domain/1812      “Key Commitment – Demonstrate safe, legal, and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world” (AASL 2018, 112)   As the school librarian, Mrs. Merritt implements this standard when she teaches proper citation. Depending on the subject matter the citation technique may be different. For example, when collaborating with the English classes, Mrs. Merritt teaches MLA citation. In contrast, she teaches APA citation when working with the law and business classes. She also teaches students to find proper citation for resources by using Purdue's OWL website  https://owl.purdue.edu/ .   Every student at River Bluff High School is assigned to a “Crew" for two years; a small group of students with a faculty member (e.g. Mrs. Merritt). Each cr...

  Regina Taylor Saxe Gotha Elementary School Lexington, SC https://www.lexington1.net/domain/1047   “Key Commitment – Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community (AASL, 2018, 76).   As the school librarian Mrs. Taylor provides a range of activities and displays in the learning commons for the students of Saxe Gotha. For example, for students who speak Spanish there is a bookcase of bilingual books near the center of the library and bilingual eBooks available. She places a couple dozen pre-selected picture books for the preschool students on a bookcase she can pull over to the class when they visit. This practice enables these young students to easily pick something to check out to look through.   The main programming in the library consists of centers each class participates in when they visit the library. These centers consist of various activities the students ...