Who are my Students?

Yesterday was a little difficult. The question arose as to whether or not I am a teacher. After all, I am the librarian. Don't I just check out books?

Fortunately, the question did not come from the other teachers on my campus. After three years they understand. I have the biggest classroom in the school. I teach the greatest number of students. Who are my students?

I teach the seventh and eighth graders on campus, all of them. Every child comes in the library for instruction or I go to the smaller classroom. I teach them with the rest of a particular class. I teach them before school as individuals or in small groups. I teach them in the hallways. I teach them in the cafeteria. I teach them at volleyball games. I teach them from home with my IM (Instant Messaging) accounts. I teach them through my school blog. I am taking graduate courses so I can teach them more effectively using the Internet.

I tailor my lesson plans to meet the needs of these students. The students in the functional living class learn to put bar code stickers on books, stamp due date cards, sort book club flyers, stamp books. I spend hours teaching how to find the best information, print or electronic. I tailor the search for information to the individual class. For some classes we use only print resources, for others a combination of print and electronic. For still others only subscription databases. For others only websites. I teach how to determine the validity of a source, be it print or Internet. When students have research to do I grade the citations. Making sure the students enter the ninth grade able to turn in a bibliography in the correct format is important.

I teach the faculty and staff on campus, all of them. Every teacher, administrator, or custodian is taught by me. I teach through staff development. I teach through modeling ethical behavior. I teach by recommending websites, activities, books, magazine and journal articles. I teach by opening the library to the students of staff. I teach through collaboration.

I teach the other librarians in the district, all of them. I teach through emails. I teach through district staff development. I teach through collaboration. I teach through district meetings. I teach through blogs and wikis.

I teach the district administration, as many as I can reach. I serve on committees. I share articles and books. I share the research demonstrating the effectiveness of a quality library program. I question the library resources of other districts when we are compared. I wonder (and then find out) where District X is in terms of the Texas library standards when an administrator comments on the TAKS results, Blue Ribbon schools, number of National Merit Finalists, etc. from District X as opposed to our district.

I teach the parents of my seventh and eighth graders. I send home a library column in the PTA newsletter. I invite the parents to the library. I share what I am reading, what the students are reading, and about intellectual freedom. I am a member of the PTA advisory board and I attend the meetings and participate.

Don't tell me I'm not a teacher. I am perhaps the most influential teacher on the campus. After all, don't you remember your school librarians?

Debbie