Our two small library spaces were converted to teacher work spaces and
break-out space for one-one-one work with students. I have continued
weekly library classes with K-5 via Zooming into homes and classrooms all
year (plus a weekly video for PK, and a weekly Book Club elective for
middle school); due to not having an on-campus space to Zoom from, I have
been doing so from home, going in weekly to pull books for teachers or my
own lessons as needed. Checkout, where continuing, has happened from carts
in classrooms managed by teachers; we upped our ebook holdings and added a
lot of new class reads (physical books for groups or whole grades in
English and Spanish).
I am happy Zooming has allowed me to have continued contact with every
grade all year long. Kids and parents have appreciated it as a constant. So
many read-alouds! I'm looking forward to being in person with classes in
the Fall, fingers crossed.
In elementary, our specialists taught all grades all year, but rotated
which grade got them in person vs Zoomed into classrooms, on a monthly
basis. In Middle, Specialists were on a quarterly rotation per grade
pre-Covid, and that continued. Even in person, only one pod at a time could
have the live specialist, but multiple pods have specialists at one time,
so I know it is a huge challenge to engage the kids who have different
teachers assisting the "broadcast" of the live class. That was the
challenge for all of our teachers, across the boards.
--
Riva Pollard, M.S.I, M.A. (she/her/hers)
Librarian / Bibliotecaria
Escuela Bilingüe Internacional
Oakland and Emeryville, CA
(510) 652-7094 x634
On Sun, Apr 18, 2021 at 12:28 PM Susanne DeRisi <sderisi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
During hybrid learning and online learning, our schedule was set up so
that student cohort A had core classes on Monday and Thursday and
specialist classes (virtually) on Tuesday and Friday, and the opposite for
student cohort B. That way, whether we were in hybrid or online learning,
the specialist schedule would remain the same and the specialists would
remain virtual.
I saw all grades TK-8 at some point in the week, all virtually. I will
also mention that we developed a four-week rotation for Middle School so
that students have just two core classes for a four week period (two
teachers together with the same group of kids for four weeks at a time). We
are finishing out the school year with full-time, in-person learning now
and sticking to the same four-week rotation of core classes for middle
school. Specialists are now plugged in wherever makes sense in the
schedule, and seeing all grades in-person.
I think the plan was a good one because it allowed us to pivot from hybrid
to online and back and forth as needed.
-Susanne
On Sun, Apr 18, 2021 at 10:59 AM Alli Decker <decker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
At Cathedral we rotated every 6 weeks and taught 2 cohorts everyday. K-4!
We also absorbed a lot of the duties of co-teacher and support teacher. I
lost my library space to make room for cohort classrooms, but in fairness
we were going to anyways this year due to construction.
It's been intense. I'm exhausted, but I have learned so much about the
teachers I work with, their curriculum, and the students. Dare I say, I
think I'll be a better teacher next year as a result.
Alli
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 7:55 PM Warren Wright <warrenwwright38@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The Chinese American International School had the library, art, music
and Chinese specialists rotating between K and 1st twice this year for a
month each time.
The school had 2nd-5th rotate between art, music, Chinese, science,
coding and dance this past year for a month each time.
Some of the distance education sections were on Zoom during the year
because not all students were on campus.
The specialists vacated their rooms to allow for more
student classrooms, and moved into temporary partitioned offices in the
library space. It created very close quarters in the library.
It was intense to have the same grade every day for a month rather than
once a week as before.
Warren W. Wright | 韋懷人
他 he/him/his
School Library Media Specialist
Chinese American International School | www.cais.org
415-865-6014
w_wright@xxxxxxxx
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 9:57 AM Lisa Levin <llevin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All our specialists, except for library was on a 3 week rotation and I
don't think it was liked by the specialists. It was a challenge with I'm
sure a few positives and more negatives. For the library, I saw all my
students each week. I came to campus to meet with K and 1 outside and
zoomed with all the rest of the students from home. It has been very hard.
Now I'm going to start to see 2nd and 3rd grade outside as well and zoom
with just 4th and 5th graders as I'm vaccinated. I have continued with
checkout and creating virtual shelves but really hope that life can resume
some normalcy next year. I also lost half my library space to a classroom
and that has been very difficult and not sure that will change for next
year either. Would love to hear what other schools will be doing for next
year. :) Lisa
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 8:52 AM Maeve Knoth <mknoth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi all,
As schools came back to campus this past fall, we each handled our
specialist teachers differently in response to the issue of "cross
infecting" and maintaining stable cohorts. I know some schools just gave
up
specialists for the year. We did a specialist-in-residence model and a
group of students had one specialist teacher daily for three weeks and
then
moved on to a different specialist. Most of us hope this model never has
to
happen again! As we do scenario planning for next year, and decide on a
"worst case" plan in which we have to be restrictive again next year, we
are looking for other possible models.
What did your school do? Was it workable? I appreciate your collective
wisdom and experience!!
best,
Maeve
--
*Maeve Knoth (she/her ℹ️
<https://www.phillipsbrooks.org/why-pronouns>)*
*Librarian*
*Phillips Brooks School*
2245 Avy Avenue • Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-854-4545 • mknoth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web <https://www.phillipsbrooks.org/> • Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/phillipsbrooksschool/> • Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/phillipsbrooksschool/> • 10 Things We
Know and Love <https://www.phillipsbrooks.org/admission/10-things>
--
Lisa Levin
Mt. Tamalpais Librarian
llevin@xxxxxxxxx
--
*Alli Decker*
*Librarian*
decker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
415.614.5117 <(415)%20614-5117>
www.cathedralschool.net
