We are now getting into the rhythm of the 2021-2022
school year. Although it is tempting
just to forge ahead, I believe it is important to take time to reflect upon
some key takeaways from 2020-2021. That
year was a year unlike any other in teaching.
It’s easy to pinpoint the many negatives, but there were also bright
spots as well as the opportunity to establish new connections with
students. As I continue to plan for this
school year, I’ll be leaning on experiences from our unusual past year to
improve library offerings (both in-person and virtual).
Here are some of the top happenings of 2020-2021:
#11: New Circulation Strategies
The COVID safety measures in place at the beginning of
September 2020 necessitated a different approach to library circulation. At this time, students were not traveling to
different classrooms (the library included) and it was determined that browsing
the library shelves would not be safe. Several
ideas took hold to continue to get reading materials into the hands of our
Iroquois readers.
Morning Delivery Service: Taking the library mobile via a
traveling book cart was a first for me!
As students entered the building in the morning, I visited various wings
with new and interesting books. This
gave students the opportunity to select library books. It was also a perfect time to chat with
educators about library offerings and services.
The time in the morning to discuss books led to some collaborative
lesson opportunities.
Sora: Our Sora usage really took off as a direct result
of the pandemic. Since our school offers
1:1 devices, Sora was a perfect fit for providing students with ebooks and
audiobooks. At the beginning of the year,
I made sure to visit (either virtually or in-person) each ELA class to avail
students of the Sora service. Access to
the digital collection through the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library greatly
expanded students’ ability to find excellent reading materials.
BookHub: Although the morning book delivery and Sora
helped fill the reading needs of students, more access to books was still
needed. The BookHub service provided
students with different avenues to request titles directly from the physical
library. This offered students the
option to place holds in the library catalog or request a surprise delivery of
books. Students in Ms. Beauchamp’s
seventh grade ELA class even designed a logo for the BookHub service!
#10: Virtual Battle of the Books
The regional Battle of the Books competition is always a
source of anticipation for area middle schools.
A fantastic group of middle school librarians affiliated with the School
Librarians’ Association of Western New York (SLAWNY) selects five books and
then creates trivia questions for the books.
Participating middle schools can host an in-school competition to crown
the winning team in their district. At
Iroquois Middle, four teams participated.
Our winning team consisted solely of sixth grade students! The regional finals, which would normally
take place at an area middle school, were held virtually using Socrative. The SLAWNY librarians did an excellent job making
the virtual experience special for all participating teams. The Iroquois Middle team fell short of first
place, tying for second with Orchard Park.
The team is looking forward to trying for first place again this
upcoming year!
#9: District DIY Contest
Over the fall and winter of 2020, the increase in COVID
cases required taking a pause from in-person learning. As our families were spending more time at
home, the Iroquois Library Department found this to be the perfect opportunity
to host a DIY contest for families. This
contest highlighted the large collection of DIY/Maker resources available
digitally through Sora. Winning projects
were awarded prizes. It was wonderful to
see the creativity of our Iroquois families on display!
#8: Nonfiction Revamp
Folks unfamiliar with library work might be surprised to
know just how much effort and attention is required behind the scenes. I had long hoped to update the organization
of the library’s nonfiction section, but this required recataloging,
relabeling, and reshelving thousands of books.
The 2020-2021 year allowed me the opportunity to forge ahead with this
laborious project, given the fact that the library space itself was without
foot traffic. The work that went into
this overhaul has certainly paid dividends, as students can browse nonfiction
with increased ease! A grant from SLAWNY
helped pay for the cataloging supplies needed for the project. This blog post outlines the specifics of the
revamp.
#7: Increased Emphasis on Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship has long been a topic championed by
school librarians. However, time
shortage in an already-packed curriculum is a barrier for classroom teachers to
bring students into the library for digital citizenship instruction. The increased emphasis on digital skills
brought on by the pandemic created an opportunity to prioritize digital
citizenship. Teachers for seventh grade
ELA and sixth through eighth grade STREAM booked multiple digital citizenship
classes throughout the year. These
classes provided students with instruction on topics such as finding media
balance, staying safe online, and confronting cyberbullying. The excellent resources provided through
Common Sense Media and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum were
readily used in lesson design.
#6: Updates to Library Website
Although an accessible and functional library website has
always been important, the rise in online learning made the library website a
crucial tool for learning. Throughout
the year, improvements were made to the website’s appearance and function. A Bitmoji library adorned the welcome
page. A virtual makerspace, complete
with clickable activities, were added. Book
promotion pages featuring book trailers and student recommendations provided
new reading inspiration. Since students
needed assistance with their devices while at home, a link was provided for the
district’s technology help pages. As
COVID restrictions changed, the COVID-19 procedures portion of the website was
continuously updated.
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| The main page of the library website. |
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| The virtual makerspace, with clickable activities. |
#5: Virtual Wednesday Events
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, the learning model
changed. One aspect that remained consistent for the first half of the year was some unstructured time on
Wednesday afternoons. This provided the
perfect opportunity for virtual programming through the library. On Wednesdays, students were encouraged to
visit the library’s Microsoft Teams page for a variety of events. These events included pre-recorded author
visits, book chats, trivia contests using Gimkit, and even an advanced writing
workshop with author Judy Bradbury.
These events helped build the library’s community atmosphere, just in
the virtual space! It was wonderful to
be able to check in with students for fun activities and discussions.
#4: Virtual Author Visit with Gordon Korman
A yearly author visit is always an event to look forward
to. The benefits to students are
numerous: the ability to hear about the writing/publishing processes, to learn
about new and interesting titles, and to have a VIP-type connection with a
stellar writer. After an author visit,
the author’s books remain popular checkouts for years to come. Even though COVID threw many curveballs, the
Iroquois Library Department knew that missing out on the yearly author visit
was not an option.
An author with wide appeal across all buildings is Gordon
Korman, writer of nearly 100 books for children. Gordon got his start as a published author
when a manuscript he wrote as a seventh grader was published three years
later. Mr. Korman was eager to hold
virtual visits. Students in grades 4-12
were inspired to hear of Gordon’s early start as an author and loved the
ability to ask him questions. Ever since
the author visit, Korman books have been flying off the shelves at all Iroquois
schools! This proved to be a valuable opportunity
for our community of readers.
#3: Girls’ STEM Leadership Group Meetings
In 2019, our school was fortunate to receive a generous
$50,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to fund STEM learning
for girls. A variety of delays meant
that we still had funds to spend during the 2020-2021 year. COVID restrictions did not allow for
in-person meetings across grade levels, so meetings were relegated to the
online environment. This proved to be beneficial
as it allowed for more students to participate without the barriers of needing
rides home. Our group met on select Wednesdays
after the school day. Activities hosted
during the meetings included a movie night, trivia competition, and building
Tinkercrate engineering projects. We
were also fortunate to host two author visits with women who wrote STEM-focused
books: Lynne Kelly, author of Song for a Whale, and Melissa Sarno, author of Just
Under the Clouds.
#2: Virtual STEM Night
A major focus of the STEM leadership funding was the
planning and implementation of a district-wide STEM event for Iroquois families. Possibly the biggest challenge of the year
was how to pull off an event without the ability to host in person! Members of the Girls’ STEM Leadership Group
tackled this challenge head-on and delivered an amazing virtual STEM
experience. The finished product, an
at-home event accessible anytime, is a website filled with STEM goodness. A variety of hands-on experiments were
planned. Girls created written
directions, materials lists, and videos for each experiment. Other group members interviewed women in STEM
fields. To make the virtual event even
more exciting, supply bags for 200 families were prepared and distributed. This demonstrated students’ ability to carry
out a largescale project, even under difficult circumstances.
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| The contents of the STEM Night supply bags. |
#1: Friendships Formed
Undoubtedly the biggest takeaway from this past school
year was that students were still able to form new, lasting friendships. Although we hadn’t been used to communicating
mostly through technology, the hardships of last year meant that students who
normally wouldn’t meet during a school day now had the ability to connect. Library events and STEM events brought
together students from different teams and grade levels. A group of three students who met at a
virtual library event later went on to write a book together! It’s important to acknowledge the positive
role that technology can play in relationship building.
I’m glad to see 2020-2021 in the rearview. The challenges were many, but the positives will help bolster future library offerings.
