What is a Librarian's Job?

Okay, this is NOT a complaint. What it is, however, is a description of the various things I spent my day on. Some of them clearly fall under my other job--Special Programs--but I find that my days are not what many outside the field would envision.


Today I:

• worked on creating a template in Davkah (which supports Hebrew and English) for a booklet that will contain text and artwork by our 5th grade students when they read Torah for the first time.
• designed a Publisher template for an invitation to an event celebrating the learning of our 1st and 2nd graders--the illustration on the invitation will be created by the students using KidPix
• added a new category and link to our staff wiki to help teachers work with special needs students
  
• worked with a teacher and afternoon school principal on creating and finding materials to use on the SMART board--included teaching how to do a screenshot
• helped 5th graders use their personal log on for one of the first times
• worked with a teacher to create a few shelves of "good books" for 7th and 8th graders
• worked on a SMART board lesson on "Ben's Dream," a Chris Van Allsburg picture book
• planned my lessons for the week, which includes having 3rd and 4th graders begin to do basic research on some popular children's authors
• took down a display case on the Bubble festival which we did about 6 weeks ago

Gee, I'm tired just looking at the list! No wonder I come home and want to take a nap. I confess, if someone had told me 10 to 15 years ago that my job would involve so much time on the computer, I would have laughed. But I find myself energized by the interaction between reading and using technology--I enjoy the daily complexity I encounter. Now if only someone could invent a book that puts itself away....

A Perfect Day for Reading

It's rainy, and an autumn chill is in the air. I want nothing more than to curl up with a book, a cup of tea or coffee in my hand, with some music in the background.

Instead, it is computers, lunch duty (with 7th and 8th graders), and maybe a couple of stories for the smaller ones. Sigh. I least I get to be NEAR books, if not amusing myself with them.

dreams of autumn

I am so happy that is at least technically autumn. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur should come when it is cool, when the apples are fresh and numerous and varied, and when baking a pie is a pleasant thing. I made my first pie of the new season this past weekend, and it was a thing of beauty. (It also tasted pretty darn good!) Today I think I will branch out into making an apple cake, one that also looks fun from the bundt pan.

My house has Cortlands, Haralsons, Honey Crisp, and Ginger Golds right now. And still I want more varieties and more options.

I was going to paste in photos of the varieties, but instead I include a link to the Minnesota Apple Growers Association. Look, drool, bake.

Happy Autumn!

Bubble Festival Redux

Well, I now have seen some of the wonderful photos from our school bubble festival. I won't post the ones that are appearing in the local neighborhood paper out of courtesy, but here are some that one of our teachers took.

Even though everything did NOT go according to plan, children learned and had fun. What more can you ask of a special, whole school event?

Too Many Balls in the Air

I had forgotten how much attention everything at school can take. While the bubble festival went quite well, I still had classes to plan and teach, a SMART board to learn how to use, a back-to-school night for parents to prepare for, and also a new special project to plan, organize, and shop for. I am, quite simply, exhausted. And we've only finished two weeks of school. Sigh.

On top of all that, I had wanted to keep up my so-called professional development, with writing here and at my book review site, Book Frontiers. I managed to get two reviews posted this weekend, but it is hard to have time to read and write if you are lurching from special project to special project. I need to get organized again. And, not surprisingly, I haven't written any poetry lately, since contemplation seems to have evaporated from my life.

But even given all that, I wouldn't trade working in education for anything else. It is what I am meant to do.