Library Aides

Library Aides can help give your library a book store look by displaying books facing out to create interest

The library is frequently the place where teachers or office staff send students to "help" when students have time on their hands. And there are almost always tasks to be performed in the library, but what many educators don't realize is that a number of those tasks need some kind of training. And training takes time. I imagine most all librarians have created extra work for themselves when a student claimed to know how to shelve books, and then proceeded to shelve them incorrectly. Sometimes it took weeks before I realized that it wasn't always irresponsible library patrons re-shelving books haphazardly, but rather some of my student aides who actually didn't know how to shelve books correctly.

The librarians in my previous school district never had adult aides to work alongside them. We did everything ourselves, from managing the circulation desk and collection development to teaching lessons on researching and information literacy, so we often depended on student help to keep up. Twice a year - right before the Christmas break and before inventory in May - I put the books in correct order so for a brief moment in time, all was right in the world. Just kidding, but it sure felt good to have everything in order. I wanted to make sure when those parents called to tell me, "Junior said he turned that book in," that I could confidently say, "I'm sorry, but it's not in the library shelves," because I knew every book was where it was supposed to be and not lost/mis-shelved at that particular time.

Through the years I've had a number of student library aides assigned to me. Some of the students created a lot more work for me, but most of them proved helpful. The gamut ranged from self-starters (too few) all the way to the ones I had to tell when to breathe, but most were scattered between those two extremes. Too often I learned things the hard way when working with student library aides, so if you are new to having student helpers, keep in mind the following:

• In choosing or accepting a library aide, make sure they actually want to work. I've had some student aides that I would've liked the authority to fire because I had to stay on them constantly to do their work. One student would take some books to shelve, and then hide in the stacks to read. I'm glad she loved reading, but she had the attitude that library work was interfering with her favorite past-time. Another came in day after day to sit down at a table waiting for me to tell him what to do, like he assumed he didn't have to do anything until I told him each day. I talked to him regularly about what it meant to show some initiative. 
• Assume new library aides know nothing about working in a library. Even though they've been coming to the library for years, that doesn't mean they're trained in library work. 
• If a student claims to know how to shelve books, let them demonstrate those skills to you so you can confirm it. 
• Whenever possible, SHOW them how to do something, don't just tell them. I learned that even honor students often misinterpreted what I said when I just "told" them what to do.
• Have a written list of expectations for your library aides, and go over each one. That way if they come in and see work that needs to be done within their realm of responsibilities, they can start immediately instead of waiting for you to tell them what to do. 
• Train them in whatever tasks they are capable of doing - shelving books, processing books, helping with inventory, displays & decorations, dusting shelves, etc. 

Some librarians have very capable students who can handle the circulation desk. That was an area I rarely handed over to students because I could find mistakes that students would overlook. Last year I managed two middle school libraries, which meant I was at one library for two weeks and would switch with a paraprofessional to be at the other one for two weeks. My para and I used student aides at the circ desk occasionally because the workload was so heavy, or to cover while I was teaching a class a lesson, but the potential for mistakes was magnified since I was only at each school half the time.  For example, I thought a student had lost an expensive inter-library loan book during the first month of the school year. He kept telling me he had turned it in, but he had a history of being loose with the truth so I really didn't believe him. In December, another student checked out this particular book, and when my student aide scanned it, I just happened to be standing there and noticed the title didn't match the book. It ended up being the lost ILL book, which had been checked out constantly since the original student returned it because its bar code number was the same as another little-used book's bar code number in our library. My student aides would never have noticed the discrepancy since the computer scanned the bar code correctly.

One of the most exciting times for my student aides was when we received new books. I let them use the packing list to check off each title to confirm that all the books had arrived, and they stamped them with the school stamp and displayed them in the new books cart. They were the first ones to peruse and choose what new books they wanted to check out, and they loved that privilege.

Working in the library is a great way for students to learn skills they may use in a job later: good organizational skills, becoming proficient in numerical and alphabetical order,  public relations, personal service, good job etiquette, showing initiative, marketing, helping with equipment, and more. Your library aides should demonstrate improved levels of skills at the end of the year, and if they don't, remind them that the habits they learn in school-- good or bad, are the habits they will take into the workplace. They're already revealing what kind of employee they will make later.

Don't forget to thank and reward your library aides at the end of the semester or school year. I usually had a lot of leftover items from Book Fair displays that they were thrilled to choose something from. And I usually wrote them a personal letter in which I praised their strengths, mentioned any areas they needed to work on, and encouraged them in their educational and job endeavors in the future.

Fighting Fatigue

The older I get, the more of a battle it is to have to deal with fatigue because of my age, but when working with high-energy students, it's doubly difficult. It's so important for educators to get enough sleep at night, but there are other ways during the school day to find some relief from fatigue, too.

Look at your tasks throughout the day. If any of them can be done by students, let them. That gives them a sense of responsibility and investment in their education, as well as building a feeling of partnership with you. For a librarian in a library or a teacher in a classroom, students can:

• help decorate or change bulletin boards
• do any monotonous cutting out of anything needed for the classroom or assignments
• collate papers
• keep bookshelves organized
• clean whiteboards
• take roll
• tutor or help other students
• let students who've mastered a concept help teach some of the lessons 
• dust and/or clean furniture, floors, etc. (our school reduced its custodial staff to two during the day for a campus of 900 students, which included prepping and clean-up for three separate lunch periods, so any help we could give them was much appreciated)
• disinfect anything that students handle regularly, including doorknobs and computer equipment
• maintain equipment 
• help you carry things to and from your vehicle or between classes
• stamp books; add genre labels to fiction books
• process books (after training)
• clean book covers or do minor book repairs
• shelve books in the library (after training)
• do themed displays in the library
• help with inventory in the library
• write book reviews

I tended to be very particular with my displays and wanted things done well, so over the years I've really had to fight the urge to do everything myself, and unfortunately, too often I did. I finally learned to pay attention and ask myself if what I was doing could be done by a student, and if it could, I set it in an area designated for tasks students could help with. 

Most students love the opportunity to help educators with tasks they are capable of doing, and they're learning something at the same time. The jobs may not be done as perfectly as we would do it, but for us to do it all and not let them help is denying them the opportunity to learn and improve and be proud of their work. And I was guilty of that on many occasions. 

I know too many teachers who work through their lunch, or use that time for detention or rewarding students. I'm amazed at their commitment. But if mental and physical fatigue is getting the best of you, take back that time for yourself to relax and rejuvenate yourself. I've even gone to my car and shut my eyes for fifteen minutes during really busy or stressful days. Or I'd turn off the light in the library office and shut my eyes for a few minutes, and I'm not ashamed to say I had to hide. If students could see me, they would knock on the library door until I came and answered it. Some teachers would come hide, I mean, work or eat undisturbed in the library office, too, which provided a little respite from their hectic days. The teachers' lounge should be a place of refuge for educators in schools, but sometimes it's more like Grand Central Station. Listening to relaxing music (with no lyrics to contemplate) is also another way to rest the mind.

Fatigue takes its toll mentally and physically, and the job and students suffer when fatigue is in charge. Take the time to slow down and find ways to reduce it during your work day. 

Tough Love

"Would you please come tell my son to sit down and be quiet? Maybe he'll listen to you; I can't make him mind me," a mother said to me one day as she was waiting for an interview in the library's meeting room.

I walked over to the roaring tornado, leaned down and calmly told him that he had to be quiet when he was in the library, and that he was going to sit down and look at a picture book. He smiled at me and sat down.

The tornado was all of four years old.

What I really wanted to say to the mother was that if she couldn't control her son at the age of four, what was she going to do with him at the age of fourteen?

I didn't do anything magical with him. He just hadn't known me long enough to test me. He knew his mother. Either she had never set any expectations or boundaries of behavior for him, or she'd set boundaries and never enforced them. Children are smart. If there are never any consequences to misbehavior, why bother behaving?

Maybe he's learned that if he creates enough noise or chaos in a public place, he will be rewarded with candy or a toy. How many times have we seen parents give in to a child throwing a tantrum in a store? They've just reinforced that bad behavior, which means they've guaranteed a repeat performance the next time the child desires something.

Some children have learned that a parent or even a teacher isn't serious about getting them to do something until he or she has asked them at least five times and the last request is screaming at the top of their lungs. If the parent/teacher would ask once in a normal tone of voice and give a time frame (immediately, five minutes, thirty minutes, etc.) when something should end or be completed, and administer the consequences if disobedient, then the child would soon learn that the parent/teacher was serious on the first request. It's just as important, though, to reinforce or reward children's obedience and good behavior so they know they're doing something right.

Giving in to a misbehaving child isn't a sign of love, but rather defeat. Love means setting reasonable boundaries and having the patience and strength to stick to those rules. It's tough and exhausting at times, but parents/teachers are the ones in charge, and they have to be the stronger ones. And know that children will test those rules and boundaries-- no matter what age. Every time the parent or teacher gives in, their credibility is damaged and the child has been taught a lesson in disrespect and rebellion. Love means disciplining your children whenever they defy the rules.

A wonderful illustration of this battle of wills happened with my niece in her first grade class back when she was teaching in public school. A young man refused to do his homework of writing his spelling words three times, and Katherine would make him miss P.E. (which he loved) in order to write those spelling words. The first time he refused, she made him write them six times each; the second day he refused, nine times each, the third day he refused, twelve times each. Katherine kept telling him he could do this the easy way, which meant writing them only three times each for homework, or the hard way, which was what he was experiencing.

The light finally came on, and the boy started doing his homework and was allowed to go to P.E. again. He drew his teacher a heart that said, "Now that you love me, I love you, too."

To which she replied, "I've always loved you, and that's why I made you do those things."

Ways to Help Kids Connect Book Knowledge to Real Life

If you are in charge of raising a child, I believe that you are the link that will most effectively connect book knowledge to real life for your child. As hard as educators work to provide the best education for your children, there is often a huge disconnect with school learning and real life. Students become masters at making the grade by whatever means possible, but miss meaningful learning in the pursuit of the grade. Too many students graduate from high school and fall flat on their faces when it comes to functioning well in college or life on their own. And few high schools are taking note of that. Parents and guardians can play a big role in helping kids survive and thrive in life by staying connected with their education and providing opportunities for kids to apply book knowledge and skills in real life situations throughout their school years.

The following are a few ideas (and there are so many more out there) of ways to reinforce the lessons taught at school: 

Math

•At the grocery store, ask your child which size of the same product is the better buy based on the cost per ounce; ask them to figure out if using a coupon on a name brand product is a better buy than the generic equivalent

•At a fast food restaurant, make it a habit for you and your child to estimate what the total would be to make sure it’s correct (& often you'll discover errors on the cashier's part)

•Let your child learn measurements by using a recipe to make some- thing from scratch; doubling the recipe is good practice, too

•Show your teen how much money is wasted in interest paid when the credit card isn’t paid off at the end of each month

•Tell them about the different taxes you pay & the percentages of your salary

•Show your teen how to use a budget & get them in the habit of saving money (the lack of a budget usually hides overspending)

•Make sure they know their multiplication tables

•Make sure they understand decimal fractions; if you teach it using money, they’ll get it

•If you see your child struggling with a certain concept, you make sure they get it so they won’t have gaps in their math

•In a retail store, have them figure out how much an item is on sale, whatever the percentage is

•Have them estimate how much it’ll cost to put a certain amount of gallons in the vehicle when filling up

*If you are planning to provide your teen with a car, require them to earn the first $1,000; they'll take better care of something they've invested in

*Let them experience earning money with a job inside or outside the home

Communication (Reading, Writing, Speaking, Comprehension)

•When your child (at any age) receives a gift, have them write a thank you note to the giver

•Have your child order for themselves at a restaurant

•Have your child handle their purchases in a store themselves, including speaking with the cashier

•If your child makes a mistake, allow them to apologize and make it right

•You and your child read the same book and discuss it with each other (Rotate picking a title)

•Talk about movies you’ve seen, or a current event or social issue to see if they have a good grasp of what’s going on

•See how well your child can write & if it’s not acceptable, do something about it

•From an early age, find opportunities for your child to speak  in front of a group

•Talk about potential jobs & careers;  make sure they know what subjects they need to master in order to be successful in those careers

•Make sure they know the positives & negatives of using technology to communicate, & make them aware of the digital footprints they are creating when using the Internet

•Don’t allow phones, iPads, & iPods at the dinner table

•Assume they know nothing about something they need to know about life until they prove otherwise

•Have them write letters to your elected representatives about issues that concern them (education, for one)

•Be there when they’re talking to you

Social Studies (History & Geography)

•Talk about meaningful historical events, holidays, etc.

•Do a family tree; record family stories

•Create a timeline, or if you have the space, a stack of timelines which stacks the following timelines: world history, U.S. history, community or state history, & family history

•Watch or play Jeopardy together

•Study your community’s history & then visit the local museum, cemeteries, or historical markers

•Talk about countries in the news & their  history

•Learn about new cultures & how they live differently than you do

•Teach your children to appreciate the price of freedom by visiting memorials and events that honor veterans and those who died in service to our country

•Keep a globe or world map displayed somewhere in your home where you can find or mark the countries they are learning about or hearing about on the news (or if someone they know is living abroad or serving abroad in the military)

•Learn about a place before you travel there

•Have your elected representatives’ names posted & write letters/email together expressing your views about certain social issues

Science & Technology

•Talk about how to use technology well & safely

•Try to stay up with your kids; let them teach you, if need be

•Teach them to be their own best filter for the Internet & why they should guard their eyes

•Help them to practice looking outside the box for solutions to problems

•Give them a safe place to brain- storm their ideas

•Give them the space & permission to dream & invent & then go after them

•Help them learn to not give up; that the most important skill when achieving great things is perseverance

•Talk about the problems & needs in the world; in their country, or community, or home, & brainstorm potential ways to remedy them

*Spend time out in nature with your children; watch the bugs and birds and flora; star gaze at night

*Model and teach them to respect nature and to be good caretakers

*Plant a tree or bush or garden together

The Arts

Don't forget to expose your child(ren) to the arts, especially music, art and drama. They open up areas of the brain to the imagination and creative thinking, and tend to improve learning in the other subject areas. 

There are so many other ways to help your kids to learn to think critically, to speak for themselves, and to apply the knowledge and skills learned in school by using them in real life. I've barely scratched the surface! Feel free to share other ideas with me and I'll add them to the post: donna@donnavancleve.com  [And please don't submit as "Anonymous" as my filter deletes them as spam]. Thanks!

The Ones Who Came Before

I drove the van of students to the next historical marker around town, something I had passed by time and time again without a thought to what it was about. We had just completed a study of our county and community's history, which concluded with a field trip to the local cemetery to find the headstones of the pioneers and founders of our town. The children weren't afraid of the cemetery; they were meeting old friends, people they had come to know in the stories they had heard.

I wanted the children to imagine what it must've been like to settle this land before there were decent roads and towns built-- before there were lumber yards and dry goods and grocery stores to provide for folks' needs. I wanted them to know and begin to appreciate all of those who came before who built what we take for granted now: roads, power lines, water and sewer systems, telephone services, school facilities, garbage collection, laws and the court system, businesses to provide goods and services for most every need, houses to live in, churches in which to worship God and love and support each other, and so on. I lived in twelve different houses in my growing up years-- every one of them was built by someone else.

And even though I researched and taught the local history lessons, I hadn't realized how much I had been taking for granted all that came before. Even though we see technological advances, we just assume the infrastructure in our community, state, and country has always been there. Pioneer history seemed so far away. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that the history of our country could be measured in three person's lifetimes, and that's not a very long time. My grandmother came to Texas in a covered wagon, and before she was sixty years old, man had landed on the moon. The technological advances in just her lifetime is astounding.

A while back I did some research on the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I thought I'd really do my homework and read some of the previous writings that fanned the flame of freedom, which brought the colonists to the decision to break from England. I learned what the definition of verbose was-- using more words than are needed-- [my dad thinks that describes my writing], but I don't hold a candle to those guys. By the time I got to the end of a sentence, I couldn't remember what the beginning was about. But I'm grateful those men and women had the gumption to stick with their quest for freedom, and we all are the benefactors of their hard-earned efforts.

Braveheart is on my top movies list, but it's painful to watch. I cry every time I see it, but probably not for the reasons you'd think. What brings me to tears is the depth of William Wallace's desire for freedom, and what he was willing to do to attain and keep it.

I fear too many of us know little of that kind of dedication. My generation and younger are entirely too comfortable with complacency. We're too busy chasing the American dream to be bothered by decaying values and eroding foundations. But there won't be another house to move on to if these walls collapse around us.

Every generation must learn the value of freedom and be given the tools and motives to maintain it. Otherwise, the sacrifices of our own countless brave hearts who came before us were for naught.

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store

The following are educational products I've created for TPT, which include lessons and informational material on Library Skills & Information Literacy:

  

*4 Research Ideas Planning Forms

*Citing Sources PowerPoint lesson

*Easy Bibliographic Information Collector

*Fiction Genre Chart

*Finding & Citing Sources - MLA Style - Worksheet & Sample Bibliography

*Library Literacy Posters
*Library Literacy Worksheets

*My Research Sources Fill-in-the-Blanks Worksheet

*Practice Citing Print & Web Sources MLA Style

*Research Project Planning Packet

*Shelf Mouse “Just in Case You Haven’t Heard” Posters on:

          -Black History

          -Character

          -Eating

          -Fashion

          -Internet

          -Learning
          -Relationships

          -Research

          -Smoking

*Sorry, Mr. Dewey! A Tale of Messing Up the Dewey Decimal System PowerPoint

*Sorry, Mr. Dewey! Student Worksheet to Accompany PowerPoint

*Stacking Timelines

*Unlikely Leader Research Packet

*Ups & Downs: A Fable about Politics (free)

*What is it? A Guessing Game on:

          -African Animals

          -Farm Symbols

          -Halloween Symbols

          -Thanksgiving Symbols

*YEKS - “Your Essential Knowledge & Skills” for Life Poster

Click on the links, or go to Teachers Pay Teachers Website & type "Donna Van Cleve" in the search box to bring up these products, which also include sample portions you can download. 

Education is Anemic without the Creative Arts

My niece watched me draw a longhorn steer and asked if drawing had always come easy to me. I thought I'd always had a knack for it, but now I'm convinced someone must've led me to believe that I could draw at some time or other. I didn't start off drawing any better than other children my age, but like athletics or anything else, I improved gradually according to the amount of effort I put into it. Some may start off more observant or having a good eye for details and perspective, but for most everyone, the eye can be trained to see better as well.

Some people truly have a gift of certain talents or abilities. When I was doing my student teaching in Lockhart years ago, I remember two students that I believe were truly gifted in art. Neither had training prior to their art class in high school, but their skills were beyond many established artists twice their age. One of the students had already mastered the human body and began painting surrealistic art along the lines of Salvador Dali. The other student had one of the most creative and whimsical minds I had ever seen. She saw imagined things in still life assignments that no one else pictured. I wonder what paths they chose to take in their careers. They should be around age forty today. Both students amazed me.

But for most of the rest of us, the extent of our talents and abilities is directly related to the amount of time and effort we are willing to invest in them. No telling how many talents remain locked inside students and adults because they either never had the opportunity for them to be exposed and expressed, or someone discouraged them in the early development of that talent.

It takes a strong belief in self to continue to develop a talent in the midst of little or no encouragement nor outlet to develop it.

It's so important for parents, schools, and communities to provide those programs that allow our children to put creative application behind those rote skills learned in schools. I was so fortunate to be in several elementary schools that had strong music and art programs, which was the foundation of so much I'm involved in today. One of the schools I attended in Dell City in far West Texas was so small, it only had a six-man football team. But it also had art and music classes which I loved. Our music and art teacher, Mrs. Huffman, taught us how to sing songs in four-part harmony, and provided us the opportunity to compete in UIL meets.

UIL competitions with events such as poetry and prose, voice and instrumental solos and ensembles, improvisational speaking and acting, one-act play, debate, and many others provide wonderful outlets for developing talent and skill. Sadly, athletic competitions far over-shadow the scholastic competitions in schools today when it comes to promotion and funding. But which type of competition actually benefits us more later in life?

An elective course that involves more opportunities to creatively apply learned skills than any other subject in school is journalism, especially in the course of publishing a school newspaper and yearbook. Unfortunately, journalism has fallen by the wayside in too many school districts because students cannot fit this elective into their already burdened schedules, or journalism is assigned to an already over-burdened English teacher. My daughter and niece don't even have a yearbook for their senior year, and it still breaks my heart that the school let it fall by the wayside.

Some consider music, art, and other forms of creative expression as expendable luxuries that are easy to cut funding or even eliminate during budget crunching years. But I believe the arts are the keys that unlock the imagination and enable our children to put meaning and purpose beyond the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were for me, they were for my children, and I'm already seeing amazing benefits in my grandchildren's lives.

I can't remember who encouraged me along the way, but I do remember the creative opportunities that were available for me in my younger years, which planted seeds fertile enough to last throughout the lean years in the upper grades. I'm so grateful to those school administrators and teachers who also recognized their importance and safe-guarded the existence of the arts.