More reflection on placement

Today was very straightforward, with lots of time spent standing behind the counter with a husky voice and a knife...

Let me explain! I caught a cold over the weekend, and last night 'lost' my voice, so talking today was very difficult, and perhaps entertaining. The knife was for creative purposes - I was making wintry trees to go with the snowflakes, and finally managed to get the library's junior school classroom decorated. It took me so much time, and has made me think about how I would decorate if I was working in a library on my own (as I will be soon) with limited time; I am guessing I will have longer days than I have been having, and I will have to think more carefully about decorations that can be created by students at lunchtime (the snowflakes would work, the trees would not be ideal). The other thing it has made me think about is what I will be able to do on a tighter budget. I really do not know how much money I will have to spend, but I know I will need to carefully work out my priorities.


cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by sant.o

As the decorating took all day, the only other things I got to do were some returns, putting some texts away, and printing and applying some spine labels (which it was good to review). I am glad I got to decorate, and I feel like I've contributed to the library and learned from the experience, but I do hope that I can focus on the processes I will need at a TL in the three days I have left. I have a day off tomorrow, working at my other job, and when I return to the library on Friday it will be to Oliver, not Alice. I am very interested to see how that system works, and how the library staff are coping with it considering they haven't had any training and will just be working from the manuals.

Once again, I had a great day and am feeling relaxed overall, and excited about the future. Also, a little sad that my placement is nearly over already...

Reflective zone: Be warned

As I have mentioned, I am on placement at the moment. I have realised that it makes sense to do a daily reflection, thinking over the things I have learned. I reflect best by putting it in words, either on paper or screen. So I have decided: why not bore whoever might happen across this little blog with more details of my learning! Because I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes, I am starting this way too late and will only be able to reflect on 5 of the 10 wintry days this way. Here goes.


cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by CaptPiper

Today disappeared super quickly, as have the others, and I am sad to think that this placement is going to be over before I am ready for it to be. I only taught one lesson today. It was one I planned myself sticking with the TLs theme of children in stories. I read "Imagine" to them, my favourite Alison Lester picture book. I then had them lay on the floor, with peaceful music playing, and to imagine a place that would make them happy and relaxed. They then drew beautiful pictures of their places. Even though time was tight, I was really happy with how this lesson went. I love the idea of using books to encourage children to use their imaginations. I think imagination is so important, and needs to be fostered. As I have been doing in my other lessons, I had the children do their borrowing etc first. I feel that it is more tidy this way as a lesson, though it may make the time a little bit tighter. I am beginning to think that perhaps I should once again try to do it the other way around.

Today I was very excited to be able to help one of the teachers with a technology matter! She was talking about referencing pictures, and I told her about FlickrCC and showed it to her as well as the TL. They were very interested and it was a nice feeling to be able to share some of the wonderful things I have learned this year. I also gave her this blog address so that if she thinks it would be helpful she can learn about Greasemonkey and how to make it easier to attribute images like I have.

I covered a new kind of book today (learned to cover paperback and hardcover books last week): the book with a dust jacket. The covering is so simple and clever; I found it a very exciting experience! Easily amused, I know.

I spent some more time doing the basic library processes using "Alice". Hoping to have confidence and understanding before I come back on Friday to a new operating system - "Oliver". I feel reasonably confident doing the processes, but not confident in my ability to retain the information in the long term at this stage. I am hoping if I do need to use these operating systems again I will have some support. I am concerned that I am not getting practice with OASIS which is the system I will be using in terms 3 and 4, but I'm sure I will pick it up.

What else happened today... I shared my homemade soup and it appeared to be a hit - I hope they weren't just being nice! I made one more tree to decorate the windows with, and the kids made lots more snowflakes (and mess). Pretty wintry classroom here we come. Oh, the TL showed me the budget she uses, and I will be able to get a copy of it to use in the future which is great. And I finished the day with a bit of food/sleep deprived delirium - I hope my reputation isn't ruined!

Looking forward to another fun day in the library tomorrow :)

Reflecting and evaluating

I have finally had a day to spend how I please! I decided to evaluate the subjects I did this semester, because I feel the two amazing lecturers I had deserved that small effort from me after all the work they put in supporting us students. It has been great doing these evaluations, as it has encouraged me to reflect on the learning I have done this semester. I have to say, while I am not super happy with the amount of time I managed to put into my studies this semester, I am very impressed with what I have managed to get out of the experience. Such a range of things! From the kind of apostrophes to use when using APA referencing, to how to create a more interesting slideshow presentation and make it available online, to creating an information policy, and understanding research concepts at a Master level.

The biggest, and most satisfying thing I have learned this semester however, is that I am on the right career path for me. I am on placement at the moment, and thoroughly enjoying myself, and this combined with all the things I have learned is making the fire in my TL belly grow and grow. I am so excited about all the things I will be able to do as a teacher librarian. I am excited about the two days a week I will have in a little school library for terms 3 and 4, about how I will be able to make a difference to the information literacy skills of those students, and just generally about working in a library environment...

Ok, I shall leave it at that for now! It is obvious that I am excited. I will try to blog more often from now on, and share the things I am learning and doing. Perhaps one day I will be sharing things that are of use to other people. I have a lot to live up to...