In June of 2015, we had the good fortune of having the amazing Pam Harland come speak to the media specialists of Washington County. I bought her book - The Learning Commons: Seven Simple Steps to Transform Your Library - at the professional development. What a GREAT book! It is a short read packed full of lots of ideas for transforming your library into a "Learning Commons".
Being new to middle school, I knew I wanted to make some big changes in the library and really take ownership of the space. The first part was done for me by the awesome media specialist whose shoes I had to fill this year... she moved all the shelving to the current configuration, opening up the space and making it more user-friendly. She also rearranged the fiction shelves at the end of the year, weeding heavily to make space. Here is a general idea of what the space looks like now: My amazing supervisor assisted me with moving and re-shelving over 8,000 books to get them where they are currently located. We:
She also purchased for me 8 awesome tables with wheels on one end and legs on the other - easily movable to make the space more flexible! Next, I re-labeled all the shelving with Aisle Numbers... like my favorite store, TARGET! The idea is to be able to tell patrons who ask for books to go to an aisle number to speed up the process of locating the materials they are searching for! Finally, I created a check-out station where the students are able to check out their own materials. Per Pam's suggestion, I do not limit them on what they can check out at one time. Most students are checking out 2-4 books at once. All students circulated through the media center with their ELA teachers for a "quick and dirty" training on how to use the checkout system. So far, so good! These changes may be small, but they are fundamental to our program here at SPMS! I am excited to begin the next phase of our Learning Commons transformation... our MakerSpace!!
1 Comment
9/1/2015 10:41:51 pm
Wow! Christine, your learning commons looks fantastic! I'm thrilled to see all of the student-centered changes you have made. I hope to be back soon. Keep in touch!
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About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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