In this class, Resource Alignment for School Librarians, we will be working through the resource alignment process developed by Karen R. Lowe as outlined in her book Resource Alignment: Providing Curriculum Support in the School Library Media Center. Resource Alignment is a library collection development process that includes collection analysis, weeding, curriculum matching, and the development of a 3-5 year library collection development plan.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
January 5, 2012 -- Introduce Yourself
Get to know other people in your class! Briefly introduce yourself by giving your name, school district(s), and grades served. You may also want to share how long you've been at your district and why you decided to take this course.
Hi, I'm Jolene. I'm in my 2nd year as K-12 teacher-librarian at CAL school; I'm also the 9-12 special ed. teacher. Our HS non-fiction is terrible - lots of books from the 1960's & 70's. I pulled a bunch of books this summer, the oldest and rattiest ones. I need to know more about weeding to take care of the rest of the library & what I should replace.
Hello all! I'm Sarah Fink from Harlan. This is my 7th (or 8th...I lose track) year in the library, having moved from a 3rd grade classroom before that. I teach K-5 in a preschool thru 5th building (this is my first year of not doing preschool as I've picked up more responsibility with teaching technology). I'm taking this class to hopefully get the library put on a rotating schedule for weeding as I feel it's been pretty sketchy the last few years. Also, as we move into teaching from the Iowa Core, I think it will help with being able to recommend resources for teachers and students as well as finding areas of our collection that have gaps.
Hi. I'm Cindy. I am the Teacher-Librarian at Table Mound School, a K-5 school in the Dubuque Community Schools. This is my 5th year in this position. I was introduced to this method through discussions with co-workers in my district who have taken the class. I look forward to experiencing the process, and making our library more relevant to student learning by filling in some of the gaps that we have.
Hello, my name is Linda Kirkland and I am the librarian at Waukee High School. This is my fifth year in this district and 6th as a teacher-librarian. I was a public librarian for 3 years before that. The district is building a new addition to our high school, and with it comes a new library. Perfect time to seriously weed and align my collection more closely with the curriculum!
Hi. My name is Keri Annis and I am the teacher librarian at 2 elementary schools (K-5)in the Cedar Rapids Community School District - Nixon and Garfield. This is my third year in the position. I have done some weeding, but I'm looking forward to some "guidance" as I go about this process some more to update both collections.
Hi, my name is Alicia Patten and I am the Teacher Librarian at Fisher Elementary in Marshalltown, IA. This is my second year in this position. Previously I taught elementary special edication. Right now our school is also in the midst of construction. With our new library coming soon I want to make sure we are moving in the right direction to update our collection.
Hello, My Name is Deb Wegmann and I am a teacher librarian at Westfield Elementary in the Linn-Mar School District. This is my 5th year in the library and my 16th year of teaching. I have not done a ton of weeding. I need some help getting started and working on making a stronger collection for our students/ staff.
Hi, my name is Jill and I am the teacher librarian at Pella High School. I am currently in my 5th year in this building. I did spend some time last school year weeding, but I feel I only touched the top layer and I need to dig deeper to do a more thorough job. I am also looking for ways to make our collection more in sync with the Iowa Core.
Hi, my name is Heather Hansen and I am a teacher librarian in the Monticello School District. I teach PreK-4 at two buildings, Shannon Elementary and Carpenter Elementary. This is my third year teaching and in this position. I have weeded the fiction section of the libraries but need help to weed the non-fiction area. I have heard this class is very helpful so I am looking forward to it!
Hi, my name is Rachel Burrow. I am currently at Norwalk Middle School as the teacher librarian where I work with 6th-8th grade students. I was the k-12 teacher librarian for the past 4 years in Earlham. I am looking forward to this course on how to be more efficent and effective with weeding. Also since I am new in this district and postion, what a wonderful way to get to know the collection.
Hi! My name is Sandy Antons I am the K-12 teacher librarian for Anamosa Community School District. Prior to this year and for 11 years I was working with K-5 in various capacities including library, technology and Reading Recovery. Then last year I got the news that I would be the K-12 teacher librarian. So now I have 3 schools and around 1300 students. I have weeded the high school library and I am currently tackling the middle school. I can use help in this area as I proceed. I also want to know how to efficiently get the library aligned with the curriculum. I am excited to gain new knowledge and put it use!
Hello all, my name is Shelley Sweeney and I am the teacher-librarian at North Middle in Sioux City. I've been at all grade levels as a librarian and a para before that. I went to a Karen Lowe ICN session several years ago on Resource Alignment but did not totally follow through with the process. This is my second year at NMS where the library collection, especially non-fiction, needs some serious weeding and aligning with the curriculum!
Hi, my name is Kris Moser and I am a K-5 Elementary teacher-librarian serving 8 elementary schools in Sioux City, Iowa. This is my 12th year with this school district. I am taking this class because I am in the process of weeding two of my elementary school collections so that I can merge them in a couple years when those schools close and become one new big elementary school.
Hi, I’m Ann Reynolds, Teacher Librarian at Crestview Elementary School in Clive (WDM Schools) – half time TL, half time Title 1 Math. My background was in Special Ed, so I completed my masters in School Media from UNI in December 2010. I’m married with 3 grown children and a standard poodle. My mother lives close by and I’m a full time multi-tasker. Our school is heavily into iPads, love them! I just finished the book, “Catching up or Leading the Way” by Yong Zhao – keynote speaker at the upcoming Title 1 conference in Seattle, WA. (I get to go and am so excited!) Zhao’s book has caused me to think more about my instruction and will affect how I select materials for our library – not based on the argument that an improved collection will mean higher test scores, but that an improved collection will inspire creative learners. Here’s a clip, but there are many more of Zhao out there. I like what he says, it’s caused me to re-think some things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOXAJzqm2Rw
Hi, I'm Becky Schaller from Rockwell City. I am the teacher-librarian/technology integrationist at the two pk-4 schools in Rockwell City and Lohrville. This is my first year in the district and I am still very steep on the learning curve. I would have chosen to wait to take this course, but it's looking increasingly likely that the Lohrville School will close and the students will be coming to Rockwell City. Next year we'll only be going up till third grade. So somehow before this fall, I'm going to need to choose the books from both collections that will best serve our needs into the space of the smaller library. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have this help.
Hi, I am Kristi Anhalt from Cedar Falls High School Library. This is my third year. Before moving back to the school setting I worked at the Waterloo Public Library and the Regional Libraries. I am taking this class because of the great advertising and I think our non-fiction needs some improvement. I am also planning on using an electronic copy of our shelf list to complete this class.
Hi, I'm Pat Hunsberger from the North Fayette Schools serving Fayette, West Union and Hawkeye in northeast Iowa. I am the district K-12 Librarian and Curriculum Director - a combination job that occurred last year. I had previously been a 24-year gifted and talented teacher/coordinator. My learning curves have been very high, but I knew right away that I wanted this class last year. I'm glad we finally have enough participants to make it fly.
Last year, our district closed one building, so one library needed to be absorbed into the now-remaining 4 libraries. I have an elementary library serving PK-K, 3, 4, 5 & 6. A bit tricky. Another elementary library serves just grades 1 & 2. The Middle School library is a 7 & 8 library and the high school serves 9-12. My target for this class is the high school library, especially the nonfiction. I have already weeded a great deal and suspect that it will look like the library Cheryl showed us the first night.
At the same time, I have an excellent student library advisory group, which I enjoy. They recommend titles, activities to hold in the library, design READ posters, and helped to propose a new reading corner last year. This year will be another great step forward in furnishings (while trying to think of technology needs as we move into 1:1 computing next year.) Much to do, much to do.
From Joyce VonGlan : Hi, my name is Joyce and I am the teacher-librarian at Ar-We-Va Community School. In 1964 Arcadia, Westside and Vail consolidated to form our district. Currently we have an elementary building in Arcadia and Vail, and the Westside building contains 6-12. Each building has a library. After completion of our addition to the Westside building in the fall of 2012, K-12 will be in one location with one new library. As I am sure you can understand, the job of condensing and combining three collections is rather overwhelming. Hopefully, the Resource Alignment class will help the process.
From Jeni Sloan: My name is Jeni Sloan. I have been the teacher librarian for Hoglan Elementary in Marshalltown for 3 years. I have been a TL for 6 total. I am excited to take this class, because it has been highly recommended to me by colleagues who have taken it.
I am looking to tailor my collection to recent changes in curriculum.
I'm Amy Lamfers and am on my 13th year at Virgil Grissom Elementary (part of North Scott). I do have a confession....I LOVE to weed. I grew up as a reluctant reader and really want my students to have great resources for pleasure reading and for academics. I am taking this class to give me encouragement as I throw away materials and have to explain the "deselecting" process to my constituents.
I'm Jenni Olson and I'm in my 4th year as the K-12 Librarian at West Branch Schools. I have three building that are all in the process of collection updates. I'm planning to focus on the High School for this class.
Hi! I am Kathy Barnett, the teacher librarian from the Clay Central Everly School District. Fifteen years ago I was hired as a library assistant at Clay Central Everly High School, when the district librarian left about six years ago I became a half time library associate and half time teacher librarian at the high school building. Our district had some unexpected financial difficulties last year that resulted in major cutbacks. Because of this, I am now the district teacher librarian with a one day a week contract. There is a full time study hall monitor in the high school library (no library associate), a building associate that spends just a few minutes a day in the grades 5-6 library to shelve books and I am attempting to do the vast majority of high school duties. There is a library associate that spends about 5 hours per day in the elementary library; she does an excellent job of working with the elementary students and teachers. I stop once a week to touch base with her and do ordering etc. I am also working with the school lunch program 3.5 hours per day now. We have realigned out students this year and had major teacher cutbacks. We have been a laptop high school for five or six years. I am trying to figure how to realign library materials, keep up with daily activities and just survive (all staff members are stretched to the limit.) I have three libraries with an aide in the elementary library. Hope this class will give guidance for future decision making for materials in the district libraries.
Hi, I'm Jolene. I'm in my 2nd year as K-12 teacher-librarian at CAL school; I'm also the 9-12 special ed. teacher. Our HS non-fiction is terrible - lots of books from the 1960's & 70's. I pulled a bunch of books this summer, the oldest and rattiest ones. I need to know more about weeding to take care of the rest of the library & what I should replace.
ReplyDeleteHello all! I'm Sarah Fink from Harlan. This is my 7th (or 8th...I lose track) year in the library, having moved from a 3rd grade classroom before that. I teach K-5 in a preschool thru 5th building (this is my first year of not doing preschool as I've picked up more responsibility with teaching technology). I'm taking this class to hopefully get the library put on a rotating schedule for weeding as I feel it's been pretty sketchy the last few years. Also, as we move into teaching from the Iowa Core, I think it will help with being able to recommend resources for teachers and students as well as finding areas of our collection that have gaps.
ReplyDeleteHi. I'm Cindy. I am the Teacher-Librarian at Table Mound School, a K-5 school in the Dubuque Community Schools. This is my 5th year in this position. I was introduced to this method through discussions with co-workers in my district who have taken the class. I look forward to experiencing the process, and making our library more relevant to student learning by filling in some of the gaps that we have.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Linda Kirkland and I am the librarian at Waukee High School. This is my fifth year in this district and 6th as a teacher-librarian. I was a public librarian for 3 years before that. The district is building a new addition to our high school, and with it comes a new library. Perfect time to seriously weed and align my collection more closely with the curriculum!
ReplyDeleteHi. My name is Keri Annis and I am the teacher librarian at 2 elementary schools (K-5)in the Cedar Rapids Community School District - Nixon and Garfield. This is my third year in the position. I have done some weeding, but I'm looking forward to some "guidance" as I go about this process some more to update both collections.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Alicia Patten and I am the Teacher Librarian at Fisher Elementary in Marshalltown, IA. This is my second year in this position. Previously I taught elementary special edication. Right now our school is also in the midst of construction. With our new library coming soon I want to make sure we are moving in the right direction to update our collection.
ReplyDeleteHello, My Name is Deb Wegmann and I am a teacher librarian at Westfield Elementary in the Linn-Mar School District. This is my 5th year in the library and my 16th year of teaching. I have not done a ton of weeding. I need some help getting started and working on making a stronger collection for our students/ staff.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Jill and I am the teacher librarian at Pella High School. I am currently in my 5th year in this building. I did spend some time last school year weeding, but I feel I only touched the top layer and I need to dig deeper to do a more thorough job. I am also looking for ways to make our collection more in sync with the Iowa Core.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Heather Hansen and I am a teacher librarian in the Monticello School District. I teach PreK-4 at two buildings, Shannon Elementary and Carpenter Elementary. This is my third year teaching and in this position. I have weeded the fiction section of the libraries but need help to weed the non-fiction area. I have heard this class is very helpful so I am looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Rachel Burrow. I am currently at Norwalk Middle School as the teacher librarian where I work with 6th-8th grade students. I was the k-12 teacher librarian for the past 4 years in Earlham. I am looking forward to this course on how to be more efficent and effective with weeding. Also since I am new in this district and postion, what a wonderful way to get to know the collection.
ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Sandy Antons I am the K-12 teacher librarian for Anamosa Community School District. Prior to this year and for 11 years I was working with K-5 in various capacities including library, technology and Reading Recovery. Then last year I got the news that I would be the K-12 teacher librarian. So now I have 3 schools and around 1300 students. I have weeded the high school library and I am currently tackling the middle school. I can use help in this area as I proceed. I also want to know how to efficiently get the library aligned with the curriculum. I am excited to gain new knowledge and put it use!
ReplyDeleteHello all, my name is Shelley Sweeney and I am the teacher-librarian at North Middle in Sioux City. I've been at all grade levels as a librarian and a para before that. I went to a Karen Lowe ICN session several years ago on Resource Alignment but did not totally follow through with the process. This is my second year at NMS where the library collection, especially non-fiction, needs some serious weeding and aligning with the curriculum!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Kris Moser and I am a K-5 Elementary teacher-librarian serving 8 elementary schools in Sioux City, Iowa. This is my 12th year with this school district. I am taking this class because I am in the process of weeding two of my elementary school collections so that I can merge them in a couple years when those schools close and become one new big elementary school.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI’m Ann Reynolds, Teacher Librarian at Crestview Elementary School in Clive (WDM Schools) – half time TL, half time Title 1 Math. My background was in Special Ed, so I completed my masters in School Media from UNI in December 2010. I’m married with 3 grown children and a standard poodle. My mother lives close by and I’m a full time multi-tasker. Our school is heavily into iPads, love them! I just finished the book, “Catching up or Leading the Way” by Yong Zhao – keynote speaker at the upcoming Title 1 conference in Seattle, WA. (I get to go and am so excited!) Zhao’s book has caused me to think more about my instruction and will affect how I select materials for our library – not based on the argument that an improved collection will mean higher test scores, but that an improved collection will inspire creative learners. Here’s a clip, but there are many more of Zhao out there. I like what he says, it’s caused me to re-think some things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOXAJzqm2Rw
☺
Thanks for sharing this link!
DeleteHi, I'm Becky Schaller from Rockwell City. I am the teacher-librarian/technology integrationist at the two pk-4 schools in Rockwell City and Lohrville. This is my first year in the district and I am still very steep on the learning curve. I would have chosen to wait to take this course, but it's looking increasingly likely that the Lohrville School will close and the students will be coming to Rockwell City. Next year we'll only be going up till third grade. So somehow before this fall, I'm going to need to choose the books from both collections that will best serve our needs into the space of the smaller library. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have this help.
ReplyDeleteHi, I am Kristi Anhalt from Cedar Falls High School Library. This is my third year. Before moving back to the school setting I worked at the Waterloo Public Library and the Regional Libraries. I am taking this class because of the great advertising and I think our non-fiction needs some improvement. I am also planning on using an electronic copy of our shelf list to complete this class.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Pat Hunsberger from the North Fayette Schools serving Fayette, West Union and Hawkeye in northeast Iowa. I am the district K-12 Librarian and Curriculum Director - a combination job that occurred last year. I had previously been a 24-year gifted and talented teacher/coordinator. My learning curves have been very high, but I knew right away that I wanted this class last year. I'm glad we finally have enough participants to make it fly.
ReplyDeleteLast year, our district closed one building, so one library needed to be absorbed into the now-remaining 4 libraries. I have an elementary library serving PK-K, 3, 4, 5 & 6. A bit tricky. Another elementary library serves just grades 1 & 2. The Middle School library is a 7 & 8 library and the high school serves 9-12. My target for this class is the high school library, especially the nonfiction. I have already weeded a great deal and suspect that it will look like the library Cheryl showed us the first night.
At the same time, I have an excellent student library advisory group, which I enjoy. They recommend titles, activities to hold in the library, design READ posters, and helped to propose a new reading corner last year. This year will be another great step forward in furnishings (while trying to think of technology needs as we move into 1:1 computing next year.) Much to do, much to do.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom Joyce VonGlan : Hi, my name is Joyce and I am the teacher-librarian at Ar-We-Va Community School. In 1964 Arcadia, Westside and Vail consolidated to form our district. Currently we have an elementary building in Arcadia and Vail, and the Westside building contains 6-12. Each building has a library. After completion of our addition to the Westside building in the fall of 2012, K-12 will be in one location with one new library. As I am sure you can understand, the job of condensing and combining three collections is rather overwhelming. Hopefully, the Resource Alignment class will help the process.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jeni Sloan:
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jeni Sloan. I have been the teacher librarian for Hoglan Elementary in Marshalltown for 3 years. I have been a TL for 6 total. I am excited to take this class, because it has been highly recommended to me by colleagues who have taken it.
I am looking to tailor my collection to recent changes in curriculum.
I'm Amy Lamfers and am on my 13th year at Virgil Grissom Elementary (part of North Scott). I do have a confession....I LOVE to weed. I grew up as a reluctant reader and really want my students to have great resources for pleasure reading and for academics. I am taking this class to give me encouragement as I throw away materials and have to explain the "deselecting" process to my constituents.
ReplyDeleteI'm Jenni Olson and I'm in my 4th year as the K-12 Librarian at West Branch Schools. I have three building that are all in the process of collection updates. I'm planning to focus on the High School for this class.
ReplyDeleteHi! I am Kathy Barnett, the teacher librarian from the Clay Central Everly School District. Fifteen years ago I was hired as a library assistant at Clay Central Everly High School, when the district librarian left about six years ago I became a half time library associate and half time teacher librarian at the high school building. Our district had some unexpected financial difficulties last year that resulted in major cutbacks. Because of this, I am now the district teacher librarian with a one day a week contract. There is a full time study hall monitor in the high school library (no library associate), a building associate that spends just a few minutes a day in the grades 5-6 library to shelve books and I am attempting to do the vast majority of high school duties. There is a library associate that spends about 5 hours per day in the elementary library; she does an excellent job of working with the elementary students and teachers. I stop once a week to touch base with her and do ordering etc. I am also working with the school lunch program 3.5 hours per day now. We have realigned out students this year and had major teacher cutbacks. We have been a laptop high school for five or six years. I am trying to figure how to realign library materials, keep up with daily activities and just survive (all staff members are stretched to the limit.) I have three libraries with an aide in the elementary library. Hope this class will give guidance for future decision making for materials in the district libraries.
ReplyDelete