It has been a year of walking barefoot on broken glass. It is why I have not written much. Since writing exposes our deepest despair or highest hopes, such exposure seemed like a bad idea, and there have been few posts.Thursday when I was helping fourth graders use the figurative language of metaphor, it fell from my head. This metaphor describes how I felt about this year's work in my elementary school library. A school library serves many functions. Independent reading, reinforcing literary concepts, (like figurative language), using technology, helping students learn to question, to think, to evaluate sources of information for validity...encouraging and coaching! Really that is it! That is all! ENCOURAGE AND COACH.
To know this and to not fulfill the mission is walking on broken glass. I walk on the glass not because I am ill-prepared, not eager, not willing. My feet bleed because I have failed to impress those who control funds with the value of a school library done well.
- A good library program requires planning time to carefully craft, in collaboration with teachers, the shape of student experience with data and analysis, their individual interaction with literature, their independent use of technology to achieve their goals.
- A good library program requires support staff to do the clerical work (shelving - repair-processing-cleaning checking in and out) as the librarian works with students or does planning and coaching.
So far this is pretty drenched in despair, right? That is where the metaphor takes over my thinking. What can I do with broken glass? For the next few days I will reflect on individual pieces of broken glass and maybe I will find my way through the metaphor to hope.
1 comment:
It probably doesn't make you feel any better to know that you are not the only one but I certainly feel the pain as well. The only reason I haven't put up posts like yours in my blog is because this year is actually a little better than last year. I don't know why administrators don't understand that we can't spend all our time with students and still have time to run the library or collaborate with other teachers. Now my worry is that with the current economy, my assitant's time will be cut back further, leaving me trying to do two jobs badly.
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