As the students at North View Junior High flooded the halls
every morning during the first three weeks of school, they walked past my
colleague, Anna, the Library Media Specialist and me, the Literacy Coach, asking the same question over and over again.
“Is the library open, yet??”
It broke our hearts every time to say, “No, sorry. We hope
it will be open by the end of the week!”
After a week of this, one regular passerby responded with,
“You’re killing me!” Ouch.
Then, the bell would ring, students would head to class, and
Anna and I would return to the empty, lifeless Media Center. This is not what
we had in mind.
Last spring, Anna and I received a $5000 grant from Lowe’s
to complete the North View Knights Medieval Makeover project in our media center.
Although there were always handfuls of kids hanging out in the Media Center
space, it was primarily a room full of long rows of book shelves with an area
of about 20 square tables and chairs. Much to Anna’s chagrin, the table space
was rarely used by classes of students and instead, was the location of our
monthly staff meetings. The objective of the makeover was to transform the media
center into a lively, student-centered, teen-friendly space.
As is to be expected when doing a project like this, we
experienced a few setbacks. The extra sides and tops to the book shelves that
were supposed to arrive the first week of August showed up on the second day of
teacher workshop week—a time when our building custodial staff has about two
million other jobs to do. The summer construction in the science labs one floor
below resulted in ventilation pipes jutting out of the floor of the Media
Center and holes being cut into the pillars that had been newly painted over the
summer in bright, fun colors. The new furniture Anna and I had made three trips
to purchase from IKEA was now covered in dust from the sheetrock, mudding, and
sanding. We started to come to the realization that we may not be able to open
the media center on the first day of school.
After two trips to the hardware store, a re-order of the correct
shelf parts, and a day of listening to our IB Coordinator/resident handyman
using his power saw to cut shelf tops, we were finally able to put the books back
in place. It was starting to look like a library once again. Final touches
included hanging framed chalkboards and bulletin boards in the cozy spaces
around the room. Our new book display area near the entrance and exit of the
Media Center boasted fiction and nonfiction books with the theme of ‘Heroes and
Villains.’ Lastly, we invited all staff to write on our chalkboard wall
answering the question, “Why read?”
When we were finally able to open the media center at the end
of the third week of school, the students came in droves. They literally ran
from cozy corner to cozy corner trying out all the new places to sit—from the
couches to lounge chairs to the bean bags—in an effort to discover their new
favorite spots.
“The new furniture and books are nice! I’ll come here more
now because of this stuff,” said 8th grader, Halima.
Another 8th grader, Anita, said, “The new stuff
is cool! And the [touch-screen] computer is fun!”
Reese, a 7th grader, said, “There’s a whole bunch
of genres and not a lot of ‘kid-books’ like in elementary. I can find books I
actually like!”
When the bell rang to warn students they had 4 minutes to
get to their first hour classes, a lengthy check-out line formed at the
circulation desk.
Creating a culture of
reading
As excited as we were about finally being open, we now had a
new dilemma. There was only one week left until the kick-off of reading zone
time in advisory (one day a week when all teachers and students in our school
read for 20 minutes). A key to successful reading zone time is for all students
to have in their possession reading material they have chosen for themselves.
When our building started this initiative last year, we had three full weeks to
organize Media Center visits for approximately 700 students and to have them
select a book or magazine to be placed in a bag for their advisory teacher to
pick up. Now we had one.
In addition, to prevent students from missing reading zone
time because they needed to pick out a new book, we also implemented a weekly
departmental rotation. Departments are assigned certain weeks of the school
year (about every 7-8 weeks per department) when they are expected to bring all
their classes in for 10-15 minutes to return and check-out books. This rotation
serves two purposes. First, it takes the pressure off of a single department,
usually Language Arts, to always be the ones using instructional time to bring
students to the media center. Additionally, it sends the message that reading
is important to all teachers and all content areas. Second, it ensures students
have weekly opportunities to browse and checkout books—especially important for
those who will not choose to come in on their own time.
So, with one week until the kick-off of reading zone and
about 65 empty advisory bags, we made a plea to the science department, whose
week it was for media center visits, to please be diligent in making their
visits and encourage every student to check out at least one book. All four
science teachers decided to make their visits on Thursday or Friday of that
week.
So, it was all hands on deck! For two days straight, Anna
and I mingled with kids, directed them towards the books they wanted, or helped
them use the wall-mounted touch-screen monitor to look up a title or author in
our online catalog. Two other staff members checked out books and set one per
student aside to be placed in the advisory bags.
As I attempted help one student who needed a book, I was
striking out. He looked at me patiently as I held up book suggestions and then
he beckoned me to follow him saying, “Here, let me show you an example of what
I’m looking for.” I think we have a future Library Media Specialist on our
hands…
In two days, we checked out 919 books to approximately 700
students. The following week, advisory teachers picked up bags full of books
(plus a few extras, just in case) and started our second year of the
school-wide reading zone initiative.
After just a few weeks, we are seeing an increased energy
around reading and talking about books with peers. It has reaffirmed what we
knew intuitively—environment matters! An inviting space designed with kids in
mind is an essential part of creating and fostering engagement in reading. We
are looking forward to seeing the new ways teachers and students will interact
and learn in our new media center environment this year.
