Making our Way into May!

As I took down our poetry displays for April this week, it struck me how fast my first year as our school's librarian flew by.  

In August and September, I was barely keeping my head above water as I adjusted to a completely new rhythm and routine for work.  Transitioning out of the kindergarten classroom where I had spent twenty-five years teaching didn't require me to leave all of my early-childhood/developmentally appropriate practice pedagogy behind, thank goodness, and so much of it was put to good use with grades K-6.  Silly, sing-song-y and "happy to share books" are how many students have described me this year, along with "nice," "awesome," and "a teacher who really means it when she says she's happy to see us." I'll take that.  I'll take that every day, thank you very much. 

I AM happy to see them, and can I tell you, whether I see them perking up as they enter the library, or letting their guard down and relaxing, or morphing from serious to silly and back again, I have loved getting to know my students' personalities and their interests. Despite never being asked about my week-long absence when my mother passed away in February, several students out of blue walked up to me and gave me long-held hugs, whispering through their masks "I'm sorry about your mom." Friends who experienced occasional meltdowns in our space were able to return unashamed to talk things out with me or reconnect with a discreet squeeze of my hand. I love the reciprocity of trust between us.

October through December saw me starting to feel more settled (I take a lonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg time to find my new comfort zone after a change), at which point I felt better able to really start identifying the needs of students, colleagues, and the library program, of which, there turned out to be p-l-e-n-t-y. Shock, rage, disbelief, confusion, panic, and finally, inspiration and a purposeful need to intervene grounded me and my new mission.  It hasn't been pretty, evidenced by my emotional and ranty blog posts, overeating, advocacy bordering on pushiness, irregular sleep, and too many hours away from the library spent... doing... work... for... the... library... but this process has been necessary. I continue to find it difficult to ask for, hope for, and wait for change because it's often gradual and never guaranteed.  Meanwhile, the immediate need for it stares me and many others in the face.  So I try, as others have tried, and those who have needed our help see us trying, and we all... wait.  Connection can be a painful process, and commitment can be tested. 

In January I was finally able to work ahead a bit, getting two weeks' worth of lesson plans and instructional slides/resources prepped, which as it turns out may have been a type of divine intervention as Mom passed suddenly in early February. Having the time and space to grieve and process without having to worry about recreating the wheel for a substitute librarian or panicking my principal truly provided some relief.  Having sub plans and procedures in place just in case continues to be best practice for me.

February's memories are understandably hazy, while March, full of library advocacy came in like a lion, and well, carried on roaring throughout April. I've got quite the to-do list as I wrap up the school year, including my first-ever inventory that will take place hand-in-hand with some minor organizational adjustments.  I'm already looking forward to planning for next year's library instruction and themes, too.  For now, we are making our way into May, which has started with our bulletin board displays:

Brad Buffalo has kept me and our readers company all year, so if he seems overly enthusiastic about the start of summer, I can't really blame him.

He's encouraging readers to return all of our library books by May 13 so that I can start our inventory.  To help celebrate the start of summer (when we get a LOT of use out of our water bottles), every student will be invited to choose a sticker to decorate their jug or thermos.

By the way, check EVERY sticker that comes in a pack if you've ordered some from Amazon like I did because there may be some very cheerful and silly stickers that are NOT APPROPRIATE for school or students included in them. Trust me on this one- I don't want that email or phone call and neither do you.

I'm hoping to add more Star Wars themed decor to our hallway and glass display cases on Monday, but for now here's the last message for the year on the black sentence strip pocket chart displayed near our SMART Board:

What a year it's been.