Journal

Please enjoy my journal entries that will be entered for every day that I accumulate hours. I will be focusing on my learning experiences, unexpected realities, interpersonal relationships and insights.

~4/29/11~ Last Day of Internship! I can't believe that I'm almost done with my internship. It has been a long time coming working full-time and working on completing an internship. What an amazing experience this has been. I have learned so many things. The biggest thing I learned is that I thought I saw myself as a high school librarian and I don't anymore. I am geared more towards middle school and elementary. I would not have known this if I hadn't gone through this whole experience.

~4/28/11~ Another day of foreign language testing and clothing class. Ms. Green is going to do a few work cited reminders but won't be teaching an entire class. It's more of a reminder for the students writing their clothing papers. I plan to finish up labeling and then rework the videos so they are all in dewey order. This project has been a great learning experience. I have found a couple helpful websites that I will absolutely use when I become a librarian.

~4/27/11~ It's been a while since I've been here and it's nice to be back. I have three days left and I'm sad for it to end. Today the library is very busy with foreign language testing going on in the back and a clothing class using the reference books in the front. I dewey-ized most of the video collection by labeling them with the proper dewey number. Will finish up the day looking for 11 dewey numbers that weren't on my original list but are in the collection.

~4/1/11~ A little more work to be done on the dewey numbers and plan to print up labels today. Yesterday a science teacher came in and wanted to collaborate on a project for her 7th grade class. Mrs. Green gave her a few ideas of what they could do and later in the day she came back for them to finalize the plans. They decided on showing the students two databases which they would use to do research on for a class project.

~3/31/11~ Today I am going to focus on finishing up finding the dewey numbers for my project. I'd like to start putting labels on the videotapes tomorrow since I only have a few days left in the library.

~3/24/11~ 7th grade Science honors class is using the library today. They are using the macs to look up some websites and answer questions on a worksheet. The assignment looked like a webquest type of lesson. Study halls and students from one other class will be coming down to finish up a project.

~3/23/11~ Today there aren't any classes coming into the library. It will be just study hall students which can always lead to an interesting day. I will spend most of the day working on the project that I am doing for this part of the internship. It is also snowing so we may leave early today. If we do, it will be my first early dismissal :)

~3/17/11~ Happy St Patrick's Day! There is a Spanish teacher in the library today for foreign language month. She is talking about Spanish history and ties it into Ernest Hemingway. After the Spanish teacher goes over Spanish history she hands off the class to Mrs. Green to talk about The Sun Also Rises (this book was picked by the teacher and not the library), Bull Fighting and Ernest Hemingway. She gives a background on Ernest Hemingway, reads a appropriate page from The Sun Also Rises about Bull Fighting and then shows a Bull Fighting video which the students enjoy.

~3/11/11~ Today there was a bullying assembly. Matt Morgan a professional wrestler came in and spoke to the 7th and 8th graders about bullying. The 7th graders did much better than the 8th graders. The 8th graders were less interested and didn't participate as much as the 7th graders. It was interesting to watch. There is one class coming into the library today to do presentations and the rest of the day there will be students coming and going but not with a class. We currrently have CNN on the smartboard so we can watch what is going on with the Earthquake and Tsunami's around the world.

~3/10/11~ 7th grade health is in the library today. They are working on environmental issues. After a presentation about how the envrionment can affect your health they are then dirrected to pick out a book or article regarding things like cancer, acid rain and carbon footprints. After they pick out their topic they are then instructed to answer a bunch of questions regarding their topic. Also previewed a new math dvd that will be used by the math classes for pre-algebra and algebra.

~3/9/11~ There weren't any classes that came into the library today. There was a health class that was scheduled to be here the entire day but they had to cancel. Instead groups of students came in during their lunch period to watch a mandatory bullying dvd. Spent a good part of the day working on project for this part of my internship looking up the dewey decimal number for various vhs tapes.

~3/2/11~ Today there will be a science class coming in for most of the day. There will also be a couple classes that students will be coming in to watch a bullying video. I assisted with the processing of the Junior Library Guild books that come in every month. I will also be helping out with cataloging these books. A bunch of books were also pulled to be designated as quick reads better known to us as easy read, high interest. After labeling these books and changing their MARC records they are now on display to encourage circulation.

~2/23/11~ There will be classes in the library today working on a project for their foods class. They pick a country and gather information that they will put in a travel brochure for thier final project. The students will be looking up religion, currency, food, climate, etc for the country they pick. They will be required to use at least 3 sources and will have 3 days in the library to do their research.

~2/11/2011~ 8th graders will be using the library today to start their careers project. They do research on 3 careers and write about them using a handout that the teacher provides.

~2/10/2011~ Classes today will be coming in learning about works cited for the paper they were doing research on yesterday. Went over the learning contract with Mrs. Green. We also discussed calendar and the project that I will be doing while I am here.

~2/9/2011~ First day of Internship #2. Getting myself organized and discussing what potential projects I can work on while I'm here. Classes have been coming in. One is working on a clothing lesson...doing research and writing a paper. The other class is working on poetry. They are using books in the library as references to find different types of poetry examples.

~1/20/2011~ Last day of Internship #1 :( I will really miss both the librarian and library clerk. They were both so helpful and generous with their time and knowledge. One last 4th grade class to teach and I observed two 6th grade classes that were learning about note taking. Also observed one 5th grade class learning more about the Dewey Decimal System. This year Ms. Inkeles is using a new way for the students to relate real life info to the DDS. It's interesting and the students seem to like it.

~1/19/2011~ Today there was a two hour delay. Two 4th grade classes came in and I taught them their intro to the Dewey Decimal System. Each student was given a name tag so I would be able to call on them. They also received a handout that was used in conjunction with the class. It was great experience and as always Ms. Inkeles was a great help.

~12/17/2010~ Snowflake Bingo Day! The 4th graders loved the snowflake bingo. Some were grossed out by the marshmallows and how white powder was left on their fingers after they touched them. Others loved it and thought it was great that they were going to be able to take the baggie of marshmallows home with them.

~12/16/2010~ More Dewey Decimal Bingo today along with preparing Snowflake Bingo. Ms. Inkeles prepared the grids for the bingo game. Then she printed out snowflake borders and cut blue construction paper. We ended up having a nice craft project where we taped the grid to the snowflake border sheet and then that to the blue construction paper. Then we laminated them! The paper even ran out on the laminator so I was able to see what it was like to have to change the paper.

~12/15/2010~ Dewey Decimal Bingo Day! The students really enjoy playing bingo. They get very excited when they win and it's fun to watch their excitement. After school I was able to attend a department meeting. In this district there are 10 elementary schools so the meeting included 10 librarians and their director. Budgets, events, grants, databases and reports were some of the many things discussed. The department seems to really work together as a team. The atmosphere was upbeat and positive. I'm glad I was able to attend and thanked the Director for allowing me to do so.

~12/14/2010~ Today there is a two hour delay so the schedule will be slightly different than normal. One class came in and they watched the narrated version of The Polar Express. After the 10 minute clip they playing a round of Library Math which was based on the movie. The kids enjoyed it.

~11/19/2010~ Today is a 1/2 day for students because of parent teach conferences. It's also FEMA training. Yay! The rest of the day we spent working on Letters for Literature. I was able to help the Literacy team narrow the letters down to the finalist. I also helped with the Literacy Bulletinboard. All in all a very good week. I feel like I am really learning so much.

~11/18/2010~ Today I helped teach a 4th grade class. They were discussing authors and how to look up their names in the computer catalog. The part I helped with was an exercise on how to write the authors names as they appear in the computer catalog. Also spent time working on my intern project and that is almost completed.

~11/17/2010~ Library club met this morning before school and the topic of discussion was books to movies. The group talked about their likes/dislikes surrounding books that have been made into movies. They also reviewed books that were in the library that were made into movies, commenting on what they liked better about the book or movie. Three classes came in the morning and discussed evaluating websites. The Battle of the Books group came in as well to practice. They all have to read 10 books for the Battle of the Books in April 2011. They meet twice a week to practice for the contest. Seeing the students in a less formal environment is fun to watch.

~11/16/2010~ With the library clerk out today I was able to continue assisting with the returns, renewals and loaning of books on OPALS. I also have been able to shelf many of the books that were returned today. This allowing myself to become more and more familiar with the collection. Finished writing up the Letters about Literature entry coupons that needed to be filled out for all the students participating in the contest. Was able to listen in on a grade 5 department meeting. Lunch in the faculty room continues to be an interesting experience.

~11/15/2010~ A class of 4th grade students came into the library today to learn about author's first and last names. During book time I was able to help check the students out. My first solo time using OPALS for checking out books. Much more stressful than I thought trying to get all those books checked out in such a short period of time. At this point I've had experience renewing, loaning, returning and running reports on the library computer catalog.

~10/29/2010~ Today started out with a Literary Club Meeting. Students are contributing to Letters About Literature due in November. There is a family book night in December that participants are reading Nightmare at the Book Fair for. There is also a new event Poets and Presidents coming up in January that the 6th grade may participate in. The students are excited about Halloween :)

~10/28/2010~ Classes came in to learn about using the internet and databases to include World Book and Searchasaurus. Ms. Inkeles showed me a great website www.CopyrightFoundation.org that has lesson plans and other helpful information about copyrights. Becoming more familiar with OPALS and assisting the student in returning, renewing and checking out books.

~10/27/2010~ Library Club started the day off today with Halloween Jeopardy! What a hoot! Websites for kids to include Ask Kids, ipl2 for kids, Kids Click! and Yahoo kids were discussed during class today. Google was also mentioned to make the kids aware of the wonder wheel and the time line. A 4th grade class came in to watch Scholastic Read Now with Taylor Swift. It was a 30 minute live webcast of Taylor Swift talking about reading and then she sang a song. The kids enjoyed it and the show had a really nice message about reading.

~10/26/2010~ Today at Kinry Ms.Inkeles had a 5th grade class and spoke about copyrights. One of her 4th grade classes came in and she started a lesson on genres. I was introduced to Tagxedo today which is similar to Wordle but seems to be more user friendly. The computer was also on the fritz in the morning so the librarian had to quickly re-work her lesson plan to work without using the computer. It ended up being a pretty good lesson and day overall.

~10/25/2010~ First day of internship worked on weeding project and researching for lesson plan on Caldecott and Newbery winners. There was a bullying assembly in the morning so no morning classes came into the library.