3 Years Later: A Reflection
Reflection
Alma Ramos-McDermott, Library Teacher
Pollard Middle School
February 2011
Introduction
Librarian Stereotypes and Me
I will reflect on what I have learned and accomplished during my first three years at Pollard and link my thoughts/ideas to my Library Blog, where readers are urged to supplement this Reflection with the online information contained within the Blog. My Blog is divided into many categories, searchable via the Tag Cloud on the right, a General Search using the Search Bar on the top of the page, or via Categories/Subject Titles and Archives, located on the bottom right.
As I finished my second Masters, I was told my new job would be lonely because no one would understand what I do in my work as a School Librarian. In addition, I was also told I would have to combat Librarian Stereotypes including:
- Everything is online
- Kids already know how to search online
- Nobody reads books
- Librarians sit around stamping books all day
- Librarians don’t teach
When I became a School Librarian, I came from the best of both worlds because I had been a classroom teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y. for 21 years, as well as teaching Library and Technology skills for the last 5 years of my career. In addition, I have a Masters in Education as well as one in Library Science, and 30 credits above my two Masters degrees. Thus, since I had 21 years of experience and knew how to teach, as well as how to be a School Librarian, I decided it was up to me to break Librarian Stereotypes when I graduated.
Reaching out to the School Community
Showing others what I do, and becoming part of the School Community
To help the Pollard School Community learn the value of the Library, as well as making sure I broke the Stereotypes mentioned earlier, I immersed myself in learning as much as I could about the school. I talked to teachers and learned about their curriculum so my lessons and outreach would be a natural outgrowth of their lessons along with the district’s Library Media Standards. I learned what was available in the Library’s collection and, several times a year, spoke to those in leadership about my role. At the end of the school year, I gave the Superintendent, Principal, my Secondary Evaluator, and my Director detailed Annual Reports on my work in the Library and what had been accomplished during that school year.
There were many ways to reach out but I wanted to do so in uniquely different ways, incorporating technology and librarianship across all grades and subjects, making sure as many people as possible knew who I was, what I did, and how I could be helpful to them. To incorporate the Library, my teaching, and my work into student, teacher, staff and parent life, I created a Library Blog titled “Your School Library.” Several times a week, for the next 3 years, I wrote about a variety of topics and ideas, including my lessons and outreach to the school community (located under the Student Learning category), as well as school events, which you can read about under various Categories on the right hand side of the Blog’s Home Page.)
My Goal to be seen as part of the school community was slowly being met day by day through interactions with staff, word of mouth, and through the Library Blog. Difficulties were still faced, as I could see that Librarian Stereotypes held by many were tough to break, but I continued to work hard at meeting my goals each year.
Diversity
Why it’s important to me
I am Latina, the product of NYC inner city schools, and taught in inner city schools my entire career. Coming to teach in Needham was culture shock for me, as I’d never taught where Latino/a, African American or other cultural student groups were in the minority, where students/teachers didn’t know much about how to work with diverse groups, and where I, myself, was in the minority as both a Latina and in my role in the building.
As a result of all this culture shock, I felt the need to educate students about myself and other diverse cultures, as they would not be living/teaching in Needham for the rest of their lives. I wanted to help educate both teachers and students on Diversity issues, as I felt it was important to have them learn about the differences represented by not only METCO students but by students of color who lived in Needham, as there were many stereotypes I noticed associated with students of color such as:
- If you were African American or Latino/a you lived in the “bad” part of Boston
- If you were a student of color you must see gangs every day and maybe be a gang member too
- If you were African American, you must know how to play basketball
- If you were a student of color you must be a slow learner
- If you were a student of color you must be from Boston
- If you were Latino/a, you must be illegal
- If you were Latino/a, you must be Mexican
Since I was in the role of delivering information, I decided I needed to work on delivering information on Diversity. Thus, clicking on the tag “Diversity“ in the Blog’s Tag Cloud will showcase examples of how I worked to bring Diversity to Pollard. You can also read on how I worked on Diversity issues with Local and National groups, and applied my work with these organizations to my role at Pollard (see Professional Work and Conferences). In my role as a Librarian, who also happens to be Hispanic, I have helped educate the school and the Pollard community about issues of Diversity they may not otherwise have learned about in this setting.
The Future
Plans for the next phase of my Career
I feel I have gone a long way towards breaking Librarian Stereotypes held by members of the Needham community. As in all stereotypes, some are long held and take time to break. It is difficult to make personal inroads with teachers, but I’ve made some inroads, thanks to a handful of other teachers/staff members also interested in the same issues of Diversity.
Through my work these past 3 years, I hope that teachers, students and the community have seen I played an important role educating students not only in Diversity issues but in preparing them to face the 21st century. I worked hard helping students navigate and seek out pearls of wisdom located among online flotsam and jetsam, teaching how to avoid plagiarizing, how to negotiate between print and online resources, creating a new library website to help them navigate through various forms of information, and showing students when and how to use each type of resource as I prepared them for the research skills required for a seamless entry into high school and on to college.
I worked on leading students towards the world of literature; encouraging them to read as much as they could, while reading hundreds and hundreds of books so I could book talk titles knowledgeably to them. Over my 3 years at Pollard, I donated almost 1000 books and audiobooks to the library that I purchased or received at Library Conferences. I also donated hundreds of books to ELA teachers, as I wanted to make sure I was able to lead more students towards books of interest by making some available to their teachers. In addition, I used personal funds to purchase items to decorate the Library and make it a visually stimulating place, which students and teachers would enjoy visiting.
During my time at Pollard, I applied for several grants. With one, I purchased High Interest-Low Level (Hi-Lo) books for students in special education and regular education who weren’t reading on grade level. With another grant, to help combat the National and State problem of Bullying, I purchased both fiction and non-fiction books in groups of threes so students could read with classmates and learn about ways to stem the “bullying tide.” I also used a grant to invite Charles R. Smith, Jr., a Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Winner, to travel to Pollard to speak to students about the writing process.
My three years at Pollard can be summarized with the word “Changes.” I worked hard to help teachers/staff/administrators change their outlook towards the role of School Librarians. I changed as I did my best to adapt to teacher/student/staff needs in my lessons and outreach. I worked at adapting to having my formerly full-time Library helper be cut to part-time and, as a result of this cut, having more responsibilities added to my plate. I tried to adapt to teaching daily Advisory lessons to a group of 7th graders while still engaged in teaching Library and Research skills in the course of my everyday job. Being the only Librarian, not having full-time help, teaching Advisory classes, working on Diversity issues, staying Professionally trained and well-versed, and meeting the needs of 830 students and 125 faculty/staff is a tall order I constantly worked to fill.
Through reading this Reflection and visiting my Library Blog I hope I helped you dismiss any Librarian Stereotypes you may have held and see that School Librarians hold a major role in preparing our students for the 21st century.
