May! An assortment of random thoughts.

May has arrived!

My seniors walk a month from today.

My baby girl turns 7 on the 17th.

Spring is truly here, as is all the rain.  ALL.THE. RAIN.

All of the winding up of the year begins in earnest.

A new writing challenge has begun, and it is time to sign up for one of my faves. 

If you don't know about the YA Buccaneers spring writing challenge, you should absolutely check them out. You set your own goals and they provide scaffolding for reaching them.  

AND...

Teachers Write is my most favorite summer professional development on the planet.  It is an amazing community of teacher-writers, FREE, and I always come away having grown in my writing.  It starts in June, but sign up now and you'll be in the drawing for an incredible prize.

I'm sending extra love to all the students involved in the dreaded testing this month.  I'm sending extra love out to all the teachers and parents of those students, too.  Surely this madness has reached its climax and we can start to reclaim these days for actual awesome learning, right?  

I hope your May is magical, friends.  Make it so!

What makes a school library GREAT?

I think about this a lot--how to achieve GREATNESS for my library.
Okay, according to Pottermore I am a Slytherin.
And...I am Head of Slytherin House in our HS MAGIC club.
(so this is where I mention Merlin was in Slytherin, Snape was actually a hero, and we are not all evil, btw)

So GREATNESS is important to me...but *mostly* I ponder this in terms of how can best propel my library into heights of awesomeness for my patrons.  ;)

Here are 5 thoughts of MANY on this topic. Please know that I put these out into the universe NOT to bash anyone who is not doing these things, or who disagree with me, but rather to work out my thoughts and invite discussion that can hopefully make us ALL better.
I am not yet GREAT, but I am committed to working my bootie off to get there, y'all.

1. Be open.  Literally.  Open the library doors---best if it happens the very first day of school, but I get that sometimes you have no control of that.  If you DO have control over it, then by all means open the library for circulation day one even if that means you are doing checkouts old-school by hand and adding them to the computer later. Not only does being closed give the opportunity for resentment to build from the classroom teachers who are expected to be on point day one (and if you want to be seen as a member of the instructional team it is good to NOT build resentments) but it is just better for our kids if we are ready to roll day one. If we are going to soapbox about how important school libraries are then OPEN UP and show the world just how awesome we are. If you aren't opening up the library for weeks---why?
2. Be open.  To new ideas. To change. To shift. To listening. To thinking outside the box.
3. Know your priorities and live them. If you are there to support the curriculum then do everything in your power to make that happen.  If you are there to create a literary safe haven for kids then DO it.  I know we are all there for many reasons, but pick a focus and go for it. None of us should be there just to make a mean cheese dip on potluck day. 
4. Don't get so consumed by the "library things" that you forget we are in a service industry.  We are a concierge business, friends.  I know we want the books shelved, but take a step back and remember why we have this amazing job---the people we serve need us. BREATHE deeply and remember that honestly----if you aren't helping the people WANT to be there it won't matter that the books are all shelved before you go home, or if everyone has the Dewey Decimal system memorized.
5. Love your calling & have FUN.  If you are no longer loving the library life seek the reasons why and make changes, if necessary. It is too easy to get stuck in a rut, and it is too easy to become a complainer. If you see this happening to you, then by all means FIX IT. 

Thoughts?  What are the ways in which you make your library GREAT?  I'd love to hear from you.

Tired Tuesday?

Yes, it is Tired Tuesday.
Normally Tuesdays are the days we wear tiaras (just because, you know) but instead--in this get-everything-done-before-the-kids-come-back mode today was a day for getting things DONE.

Y'all know about Glennon Melton, right?  She's the guru behind Momastery and the author of incredible book Carry On, Warrior.  She is one of those folks in the world that help make me okay with me.  Anyhow, one of her posts this summer kept flashing through my head all day today (it was just that kind of day, as some of them are, you know) and I kept wanting to shout,

"I am totally NOT freaking out! I am Suzanne!"

because today was the day the maintenance guys came over to move the right bookshelves--not the ones they moved in June back when I first asked.  

Y'all, these bookshelves are serious.  It took 5 strong men and a dolly and they still struggled with moving them into place.  Fast Forward to TA DA when all was finished and I thank them & am grateful (despite their mention that they had moved them before and they were not wanting to move them again. despite my sugar-sweetened reply that indeed they had not moved these shelves before, but rather the ones I didn't ask to be moved and how much I sure appreciated the right ones getting moved.  you know the ones I asked to be moved in the first place.) 

So we all made it through it and I spent the rest.of.the.day putting books back on the shelves. They were stacked on 7 tables.  I return tomorrow morning to face 3 tables, each down to just one layer of books.  This is progress!  My little freshman will have places to sit for FISH camp this Friday!  I just feel so much better without all those piles of books covering the tables and back in their happy homes waiting patiently to be picked up and share their magic with their people.  

Life is so good!

It's time for a epsom salt soak and some time to relax in my jammies.  

Library Page Boot Camp

Over the past couple of weeks, I've started developing my new-and-improved training for my library pages. I've done a lot of brainstorming and have asked an awesome librarian friend of mine to brainstorm with me because I really, really want to get this right this year. 

The one thing I've totally committed to doing is to refer to them as Library Pages--mainly because it tickles me. I mean, seriously doesn't Page just feel more bookish than Aide or Assistant or Clerk?  So, Page it is. Whew! It feels so good to have that major point settled! ;)

Last year, while I loved my students and appreciate what they did do, the training I provided was severely lacking.  This became more apparent as time went on, and I'm determined to make some serious changes in my training program so that the library runs more smoothly and we are all um...on the same page, as it were.  

(Yes, I have the Nerdy Humor Sickness.  It's a Thing and I totally have it.)

If any of y'all out there have some great suggestions you'd love to share I'm all ears, by the way--but here are the nuts & bolts of my thoughts at this point of my work-in-progress:

1. My goal is to train them & treat them in a way that encourages a strong work ethic.  I don't want a lot of sitting around or staring at screens.  We have student pages because we need them to do work.
2. I want it to be FUN.  Okay, so we know a training (and the work itself) won't be Broadway show fun or county fair fun, but you know what I mean, right?
3. I want the expectations to be crystal clear.
4. I want a working environment that encourages self-motivated workers, but also is a safe place to ask questions without fear of appearing dumb.
5. I want to reward a job well done. 
6. The basics they need to know are: shelving fiction, shelving non-fiction, shelf-reading, keeping the library organized, neat & pretty, and working the circ desk.
7. The second-tier skills they need are working the copier and processing magazines and books.
8. These can be "boring" skills to learn, so I want to add some interesting ways to impart the knowledge--some video, something interactive, etc.

I want them to know that I love to be able to write strong recommendation letters for both scholarship and work opportunities for my kids.  I want them to know that hard work pays off. I want them to take pride in a job well done and feel a strong connection to the library being amazing in part because of all they do.

I am looking for ideas I can incorporate specifically from companies who are well-known for creating awesome work environments for their employees.  It isn't enough for me to have kids who are just assigned to work in the library for a class period their senior year--ultimately, I want pages who LOVE to be there. 

What are YOUR thoughts?

image from http://crossfitliger.com/boot-camp/

Sharing our words and our heart

A student I've known for years (since she was in middle school, actually) shares her writing with me often.  I am one of the sponsors of the Teen Writers Alliance, but I am also one of her main Beta readers outside the group.  She stops by often with bits of her Fan Fic (mostly Avengers related) and sometimes her original work.  She pops in when she updates her work and is really happy about it, or when she wants some gentle critique. 

But sometimes she comes in with her poems. These are words that pour out of her when her emotions are eating her alive and threatening to devour her very soul.

Writing these words--these angsty, angry, dark and dank words--is cathartic for her.  They are often painful to read, and I am honored that she trusts me with them. 

She does see someone official to deal with her issues--and she absolutely gave me permission to share this poem marked with her initials. 

Writing is important.  Reading is important.  Sharing is important.  All on so very many levels. 

The End is Near

Here is my latest video for the NHS Library.  These are shown during Advisory classes--and this one in particular is a reminder to the kids to get their books turned in and fines paid.

These videos are something I'm super proud of because I've stretched myself to learn a new-to-me techie tool (imovie app) and am reaching out to my stakeholders in new and hopefully exciting (or semi-exciting? not horrid?) ways.  In the beginning, I was helped by our great yearbook teacher, but I've moved into having my own "channel" and producing them myself.

My goal is to continue to improve them, and get back to making it a weekly video podcast.
Let me know what you think--and just maybe it will inspire you to try something new, too!


May 10, 2015 from Sonja Schulz on Vimeo.