Five Days Reflection on Central High School

1. I am surprised most by how little classroom teaching the librarians do. They are only required to teach for evaluations that take place at least once a year. All other teaching is optional and only takes place when a teacher wants to collaborate with them. I feel that the students miss out on valuable lessons with this set up. They are less likely to receive proper instruction on information science standards. (What has surprised you most as you worked in the library? Explain.)

2. Yes, and more than I even knew. I was aware of the the daily responsibilities such as checking in and out items, overseeing texts books and helping teachers find materials. I was not expecting them to oversee copiers, an I.D. station for students and teachers, peer tutoring, and laminating for teachers. There is such a wide array of responsibilities that thinking about all of it makes my head spin. I can see why they employ two full time librarians at Central. There is no way that one person could get everything done at the pace it needs to be completed. (Does the supervising librarian do the types of activities that you expected? Explain.)

3. My least favorite experience is one that happens continuously throughout the day, foul language. Some people may say that it’s just part of being in a high school. That is true, of a public high school. I work full time in a private school that is Church of Christ affiliated and foul language is not allowed. It was an adjustment working in a school where foul language is used without a second thought. (What has been your least favorite experience so far? Explain.)

4. My favorite experience was having the same three classes for two different lessons. This allowed me the opportunity to build relationships with the students. Even though my time here is short, seeing them for two lessons allowed us to have a background. I had one student talk about football with me and another tell me that I need to come teach at Central. It reminded me how important first impressions are.

I think my webquest focused lesson went really well. The students were engaged and self motivated (for the most part). The lesson covered civil rights heroes and heroines from the 1800’s to the present. Once students completed the webquest they were asked to create a PowerPoint presentation about the civil rights activist they had. Everyone finished the webquest, but not everyone finished the PowerPoint. If I taught this lesson again I would make it a two day lesson to give the students plenty of time to complete the presentation.

My lesson that utilized the Civil Rights Learning Centers was not received as well by the students. They had a hard time staying on task even though I made everyone number off to prevent best friends from being together. If I use these centers again I would just use the activity that is provided with each center. I feel this would give the students a background of the content and we could then build off of with more in depth, specific lessons.

(What has been your favorite experience so far? Explain.

• §  What were your feelings, not the chronology of what you did!
• §  What went well, what did not?)