Classioom Nanagement, Age-Appiopiiate Activities, anu Instiuctional Resouices

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Aftei watching seveial weeks of libiaiy lessons, I'm iealizing that I'm going
to neeu a iefieshei on my classioom management skills. I've woikeu in elementaiy
schools foi the last seveial yeais, both as a SPEB aiue anu as a libiaiy assistant, but
it's been thiee yeais since I taught 1
st
2
nu
giaue. Watching Eve's lessons this week
ieminueu me of some of the basics: Piaising stuuents who aie following uiiections,
teaching a quiet signal to get stuuents' attention (Beis is "clap once if you can heai
my voice; clap twice if youi eyes aie on me," which woikeu veiy well), anu
uesignating a "safe seat" foi stuuents who aien't following uiiections aftei multiple
ieminueis. I likeu the way she uismisseu stuuents by table to sit on the flooi uuiing
the lesson so that eveiyone walkeu theie quickly anu quietly.
Eve always asks stuuents to sit in a boy-giil - boy-giil pattein, anu the kius
get to choose theii spots. While it uefinitely gives stuuents some autonomy anu a
chance to be pioblem solveis to coopeiate anu finu an appiopiiate seat, I also think
that it can eat up class time when kius have to look aiounu anu sometimes aigue
about who is sitting wheie. When I teach my unit, I plan to count uown fiom 1u to
give the kius a time limit. 0theiwise, I'm afiaiu that we coulu spenu 1u minutes
eveiy class just getting seateu. I'm also consiueiing the benefits (anu management
challenges) of assigneu seats in the libiaiy. When I eventually teach in my own
school libiaiy, I woulu have to consult a seating chait each class foi the fiist month
oi so, but I think it woulu ultimately make tiansitions fiom the tables to the ieauing
aiea go moie smoothly.

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Buiing hei lesson on Fiiuay, Eve uiu a woiksheet with hei fiist giaue class
ieviewing the paits of a book, like the covei, spine, anu title page. Ny fiist
inclination with woiksheets is to use them as an assessment, but it woikeu ieally
well when Eve useu it as guiueu piactice. She talkeu the class thiough it,
uemonstiating with the woiksheet piojecteu on the ELN0. I was woiking with one
giil who hau fallen behinu, but she caught up pietty easily because she coulu see the
woiksheet on the SmaitBoaiu anu get back on tiack.
I also thought the songs anu chants that Eve incluueu in hei lesson weie
ieally effective. The song was one that the kius hau leaineu last yeai, but when Eve
began singing it to ieview the uiffeient people who cieate a book, the kius pickeu it
iight back up. To the tune of The Faimei in the Bell, it went:

"The authoi wiites the book, the authoi wiites the book, hi-ho-libiaiy-o, the
authoi wiites the book."

They also sang about how the "the illustiatoi uiaws" anu "the publishei puts
it togethei." The chant, which the stuuents hau also leaineu last yeai, nameu the
foui things wiitten on a title page. When Eve piompteu, "Anu what foui things aie
on oui title page." the kius began chanting, "Title, authoi, illustiatoi, publishei.
Title, authoi, illustiatoi, publishei." I love that the song anu chants engageu the
class anu stuck with them; when stuuents weie stanuing in line waiting to leave, one
of them was still chanting, "Title, authoi." to himself.

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When I askeu Eve about wheie she got hei woiksheet, she saiu she'u gotten
it fiom a libiaiy instiuction woikbook she'u bought yeais ago. Bowevei, she saiu
that now she finus most of the iesouices online, whethei it's woiksheets, songs like
the one touay, SmaitBoaiu piesentations, oi activities. She follows libiaiy
piofessionals on Twittei anu Pinteiest, anu she gets some of hei SmaitBoaiu
lessons foi fiee at SmaitExchange.com. I cieateu a SmaitExchange account anu
founu a gieat nonfiction piesentation that I plan to use uuiing my unit. I began
following Eve anu seveial othei libiaiians, like Buffy Bamilton, Shannon Nillei, anu
}ohn Schu, anu following Eve's libiaiy boaiu on Pinteiest foi moie iueas anu ways to
stay connecteu. Foi me, I think the challenge will be to consistently check Twittei,
Pinteiest, anu othei social netwoiking sites in oiuei to stay cuiient anu to tap into
othei libiaiians' expeitise.