Specials rotation. The very words strike fear in the heart of elementary librarians. If you're a secondary librarian, a new elementary librarian, or a really fortunate experienced elementary librarian, let me explain.
Specials rotation is the infamous fixed scheduling you heard about in library school. Specials are the classes where the kids go while their teachers are having conference periods. Generally the specials schedule rotates between art, music, P.E., and sometimes computers. In a large elementary or if numbers at certain grade levels are high, the library may be placed in the specials rotation.
What does this mean? It means that every single day one or more classrooms of students will be dropped off at the library for a 45 minute block while their teacher has planning time with the team. It means that the librarian will not be able to plan collaboratively with these teams. It means that the library schedule will be driven by these fixed blocks of time. And it also means that the quality of the entire library program suffers because the librarian is not able to serve students and staff at the point of need.
If you are attempting to fend off being in the specials rotation, I would suggest that you read the following:
AASL Position on Flexible Scheduling
School Libraries Work
AASL Resource Guides for School Library Program Development
If you have already lost the battle and are in specials rotation, I would encourage you to document instances when the fixed schedule bumps research projects and spontaneous opportunities to meet needs. Talk with administrators, teachers, and parents about why a flexible schedule is best. Be sure to frame your reasons in terms of student needs or it may sound self serving.
In the meantime, what should you do during specials rotation?
Be positive and professional. Don't make the kids pay for a scheduling issue.
Resist the temptation to kill time with arts and crafts or worksheeets.
Ditto (double ditto) for library lessons such as learning about Dewey, how to use the almanac, etc. ICK!!
Ok, so that was what NOT to do. How about some things TO do...
If it were me, I would implement Reader's Workshop. The goal of reader's workshop is to foster a love of reading, and tons of research supports the fact that the more kids read, the better readers they are. Reader's Workshop is something meaningful that students can do during specials rotation, and it has the added benefit of requiring little planning from you. DEFINITELY prefererable to busy work.
Set the tone for reading each day by reading aloud. Read a chapter a day from a novel that will hold the attention of your students. If you need suggestions, try Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook. Alternate the types of books you read but make sure they are ones that your students will enjoy. Have fun with the reading and avoid the temptation of "making a lesson" out of everything. Just have fun with the book and your kids.
After reading aloud, each student should settle down with a good book(s) to read. Kindergarteners and other students with limited reading skills can enjoy all types of books with illustrations and photographs. You should always model reading. The importance of this can't be overstated. If you're up doing something else, it tells the kids that reading isn't important.
You can find all kinds of information about Reader's Workshop online. You won't need to take grades, of course, but tips on managing RW may be helpful.
If you'd like an occasional change of pace, you could intersperse I-Search research projects. Again, even the youngest of students can choose and research a simple topic with assistance.
Although specials rotation isn't what's best for kids, you can make the best of the situation with meaningful learning in a positive environment.
I am of the opinion that the LMS can do all these wonderful things you suggest, but it also has to be a campaign of the classroom teachers. So I would suggest working with at least one teacher to implement a dynamic collaborative project, and let that teacher be the one who complains about not being able to work with you due to the schedule. Also make sure the collaborative project is dynamic enough to garner attention school wide, from students, to teachers, to even parents Then others will ask when can you work with their classes on a similar project--which in turn will lead to the teachers' voices (a critical element) asking why is the library in the rotation?
ReplyDeleteI do agree that point of need is the best practice for working w/ students, but I'm in a district that practices fixed scheduling, and I do see advantages to it. You get to see ALL the kids and develop relationships with every class, instead of just those classes run by teachers who really see the need to use the library, its resources, and me as a resource. So I love that aspect of it; there aren't any classes I seldom or never see. Our district has also attempted to foster better collaboration by having every teacher do at least one Super 3 or Big 6 project in collaboration w/ me every year; those projects have gone well and are great places to earn those "wins" we could build on if we ever did move to flex scheduling.
ReplyDeleteIn our district at the Intermediate Level they are starting to call Specials, Encore. I beleive the library is more vital than encore! I am an elementary librarian in the rotation and our students do not have a technology special. In the library students never have time for busy work, if they are not learning the library skills I am required to teach, I am doing technology projects using library skills. I agree with Cathy, work on collaborative projects with your student's teacher. I for one do not believe collaboration means the teacher has to be in the library while you are teaching their students. In the 21st Century there are ways to collaborate without being in the same room!
ReplyDeleteHi Leigh Ann,
ReplyDeleteDon't drink the AASL Kool-aid without some consideration. FOr another POV:
http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/real-flexibility.html
Doug
In addition to everything Doug has to say in his article (which I ardently agree with), there's another piece that's missing. If you rely on elementary teachers to collaborate on projects, then you have, perhaps, 15 or 16 "different" library experiences going on in an elementary building at any given time. This means that each child will only experience the library--and its materials--in the way that their teacher believes to be important...which means that Susie who has a teacher that collaborates with you will have a whole different "library" experience than Mary whose third grade teacher doesn't think it's important. When Susie and Mary are in the same class in 4th or 5th grade, they have no "common" library knowledge...and everyone--you and their teacher--have to start from scratch to bring everyone up to speed. What a horribly fragmented way to teach.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is right or fair.
From the standpoint of making sure that all students have access to the library, a fixed schedule at the elementary level is the only way to make that happen. Remember, at the elementary level you are developing habits and skills for a lifetime, and these need to be practiced on a regular basis.
From a purely selfish standpoint, there's a benefit here for librarians as well. If our job is a "pass through" where we are only relevant when we collaborate with the "real" teachers, we completely devalue ourselves. We don't expect art teachers to always collaborate. We don't expect gym teachers to always collaborate. We don't expect music teachers to always collaborate. We respect those disciplines as relevant learning experiences all on their own. It's great when art or music or gym or library can connect with some aspect of the curriculum and integrate learning across disciplines. But it doesn't always have to be that way.
If you never teach those "icky" library skills to your elementary students, they will never go into any library (yours, the public library, another school library) with a clue about how to use it. I worked as a public librarian for years before taking a position in a school. Most kids who came in had no clue how to use the library; we were "teaching" library skills each and every time a kid came to the reference desk. If students don't get regular practice using a library in school...every week of their elementary years...just where are they going to get that learning? Where are they going to appreciate how to use a library? If we truly believe that the library is a relevant, important place in our communities, then we need to validate that concept by giving our students regular, weekly opportunities to learn how to use both the space and the materials in the space.
We need to teach them how to fish. Does it have to be worksheets? No. Does it have to be icky? No. Can it be engaging and interactive? Absolutely yes. Does that take a lot of creativity and work on the part of the librarian? YES!
I'm tired of hearing that those of us who work in elementary buildings with a fixed schedule should be pitied. Whether teachers collaborate with me or not (and I do go the extra miles to collaborate within the fixed schedule), my goal is for EVERY child in my building to go off to middle school knowing how to find a book in a Dewey library, knowing how to use reference materials like dictionaries, encyclopedias and almanacs, and knowing how to use an OPAC. In addition to this, my students hear and read tons of great literature. And I am their guide to all things library--for each and every one of them...every week..and I, for one, wouldn't want it any other way.