The Full Librarian Experience

"We are the Great Everything."

There is something incredible about the modern educator, and it has everything to do with adaptability and the grit required to re-form underneath the pressures and needs of students and the system.

Classroom teachers often receive less support than ever before while being asked to do increasingly more.  New teachers are told that all teachers must spend hours beyond contract time to be considered "good" or even proficient, and while this isn't exactly false, it's an incredibly toxic message to come from someone in leadership.  Leadership.  More on that in a minute - it's time for a wildly positive moment.

Today, I welcomed another high school English class into the library for a quick resource and digital catalog tutorial.  Super basic, but something I appreciate being given time for.  I'd been emailing sporadically with this particular teacher, trying to help launch a weekly video newscast with her journalism class and finally came across a few promising resources that gave me some hope for her particular situation.  We planned to do the student tutorial at the beginning of class, and then set the students loose to begin research while we met to talk digital tools on the back half. 
I shared a thoroughly linked document that I'd prepared earlier - pulling resources from professional development sessions I've attended, to tools and teaching resources that I began collecting and using years ago.  She got The Full Librarian Experience.

The reaction from my colleague was of gratitude and relief the likes of which I haven't seen since my early days of Librarianship.

I realized that it's been half a decade since I felt truly appreciated for my skills and work. 

To myself, I often under-sell how significant this work is because I've gotten so fast at sorting, compiling, and annotating relevant resource lists over the years.  I forget that I am a trained expert, and with experience comes efficiency - so the fact that the list only took 30-45 minutes to prep doesn't make it less worthy.  I also understand that I was doing this kind of work on demand for years with zero gratitude.  My Library colleagues did the same - book recommendations, classroom library evaluation tools, class reading sets, leveled reading resources for intervention, annual state testing administration support, creative technology solutions and work-arounds, enrichment experiences, intervention support, SEL support, extracurricular activities, and on and on and on demand.  We broadened our content knowledge to better support multidisciplinary units, and offered a diverse array of experiences while shifting our own class lessons to support classroom initiatives.  It was exhausting but necessary in the journey to developing young critical thinkers.  We began to call ourselves "The Great Everything," because our skills were applicable in every classroom, if only we were allowed over the threshold.  

And for most of my tenure, I was rarely thanked, applauded, or given feedback at all (my last supervisor routinely canceled my teaching observations for nearly four years, if that says anything).  

So today, as I sat with an exhausted but highly capable colleague, sharing reassurance and passing along a nugget of hope, I finally felt something click into place.  Yes, I can teach you how to use this video editing software; yes, I can connect you with local teachers who have done video newscasting; yes, I'd love to support in your classroom as these students get started.  For the second time this year, a colleague looked at me and said "I can't believe this, I could cry."

As the bell rang and everyone left, she thanked me one more time and sped out the door.  I felt effective, efficient, and appreciated.

Then my boss, the HS principal, came in.

Apparently, my colleague immediately accosted him in the hallway, sharing her gratitude for my help and her renewed excitement for the newscasting project that they had both wanted to implement this year for the school community.  He made a direct detour to the library to piggyback his own thanks and pride.

Today, I got a double dose of gratitude for simply doing my normal job.  

It felt good.  

Today, I finally felt what it's like to work with colleagues who understand the value of what a Library Media Specialist can bring to the table, and what it's like for an administrator to support their staff in small but significant ways.

And I'm eager for more.