Auntie Librarian

 Our district is the recipient of a National Writing Project Grant. This is very exciting. Of course I feel compelled to attend the meeting for the Language Arts Teachers. There are many reasons the school librarian should be in attendance. We do lots of writing and publishing in the library! Research and writing, go hand in hand. As a matter of fact, we've been writing thesis statements in the library all week. One of the activities we did at this meeting was a free write on our "teaching place". We could fantasize or describe reality. Here's my freewrite:

Dr. Keith Curry Lance presented a large amount of intriguing research that left me dazed and confused. I tried to take notes during the address, but it was all I could do to keep up with the fast pace of the analysis of numbers and statistics. I need to go through his slides later and really take time to look at the numbers again. I think I will need someone handy to help me make the best use of the information he presented. Like, maybe one of my SLIS professors. I left feeling that school librarians are proven to be important to student success, but that this particular librarian is no statistical wizard.
I truly appreciate that there is data that supports the presence of school librarians making an impact on student achievement. I need to harness that information.

From my notes:

• staffing and certification are directly related to increases in student achievement
• schools with certified librarians have a higher percentage of advanced students
• librarians positively impact writing scores
• providing librarians with support staff positively impacts student achievement. 

It was day two of our read-aloud.Our school district's superintendent was in our building to meet with the principal. Of course, this is when we are reading the story of Auggie's birth, over the intercom. Those of you who have read this book will probably remember the farting nurse. Did I tell you we were reading over the intercom and the Superintendent was there?

It was so funny, but I was so afraid! Were we going to get in trouble? How could I have forgotten about this part?  I thought about it some more. That's when I remembered how important it is for our students to see reading as something that can be hysterically funny and entertaining one minute and serious or sad the next. Reading is not boring! We used that part and the part about Mr. Butt and Mr. Tushman to discuss comic relief with our students. How heavy would this story be if there weren't some really good funny parts mixed in?

Going Long
We had 20 minutes each morning for reading Wonder. This is our school's SSR time. We decided to read for as close to 15 minutes as possible to allow time for discussion. One day, one of our two awesome readers, who are now known as "The Wonder Girls", said she wanted to read up to a certain point in the book, the part where Auggie and Jack end up getting in a fight while they are at camp. She said we might end up going over our time. I knew this might be trouble. But, how could I say no? How could we stop at such a pivotal point? Big mistake. Never mess with teacher's planning time. At least give advanced notice if you are going to eat into someone's planning period. Everyone knows that! When our time was up, even though we were still reading, one or two teachers released their classes. I was so mad. How could they?  I composed an angry email, Before I sent it, I asked my teacher-friend Ruth to read it.

Ruth read it and turned to me. She said two words, "Choose Kind." Then she giggled.

I said, "Yeah, they should have!" I put my hands on my hips and turned to look at her, nodding. Righteous.

She said, "No, you should."

What could I say to that? This middle-aged Jedi still has a lot to learn. Wonder has been great for me. I deleted the email and felt better immediately. Yes, I am the owner of several Wayne Dyer books and CDs. I guess it's time to re-visit them!

The End
We finished the book this past Friday, September 27th. We had outstanding teacher and student participation. The book got rave reviews. The readers got rave reviews. Students and teachers are blogging about the book on our Wonder Blog. Reading those last few chapters was not easy for the Wonder girls. Such an awesome, moving ending. We played snips of the songs that Auggie mentions, like "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" and "Light and Day" it was beautiful. Will we ever do anything that awesome again?

Now, our teachers are returning their copies of Wonder and students are clamoring to check them out.
To read the book again. To bring it home to their family. To share it. They are still talking about this book. They want a sequel. They are asking me for "books like Wonder." Is that a Nerdy Blog post yet?

They are still writing about this book. Many teachers had their students journaling in reader's response journals. Now, we are having a writing contest called "The Daisy Chapter". Students are writing a chapter from Daisy the dog's point of view.  This was a student's idea! How awesome is that?

The goodness of Wonder lives on, even after we are finished reading it. We are all better for having read it.
Having read it together, like a family, makes us even better still. The world would be a better place if we were all #Wonder Schools.

The mornings are a crazy time at my library. Crazy in a good way. Busy. Busy with students using their library in ways they choose. I wish we could accommodate more students. With MAP testing and classes, and oh my! here comes the book fair next week, sometimes students don't get an opportunity to come check out a book. I thought I would try sending a book cart full of books down the hallways during that oh-so boring time in the morning before homeroom starts.

I heard another librarian mention this on Twitter, Facebook or a list-serve somewhere, so it is not an original idea. This is how our new "book mobile" was born. We have a two sided, six shelf book cart and library helpers push the cart down the halls in the mornings. They also have a wheeled crate-style basket that we are using as a mobile book return bin. Check outs are recorded by hand and transferred into the computer by me, later. The students and teachers like this.

Might I lose a book or two in this process? Yes. Might I gain more readers and keep my students supplied with books? Yes. Getting books into students hands is always going to trump the possibility of loss.

The library helpers love running the book mobile and have even decorated it with duct tape. When the newly remodeled book mobile debuted, the library helpers told me some of the students applauded them! Wow! How awesome is that?

The book mobile also helps divert some of the books that are waiting to be shelved to another "purpose".

Here is an update on our school-wide read aloud of Wonder.

A student said, "Wouldn't it be neat if there were a chapter from Daisy's point of view?"

Of course! What a wonderful idea?  And who would be the perfect people to write that chapter?
Our students!

And so, "The Daisy Chapter" Writing Contest was born. We have already received one entry!

This year is off to a great start. Showing the laminator who's boss certainly helped get things going in the right direction. But, I have to say the one thing that has truly made a difference to me this year is our school-wide reading of the book Wonder. I simply cannot say enough about it, and it is all good. Deep down good, warm fuzzy good, jump up and holler good, macaroni and cheese good.

I start off every school day with pure, wide-spread goodness. It is so awesome.

You think I am over-reacting don't you? That's okay, because you don't know the details. Why am I so happy about a school-wide read aloud?

I think it is because I work in a middle school. Do you know how hard it is to impress middle schoolers? With anything? And unfortunately, for the most part, the magic of read-aloud fades away at this level.
There are many reasons for this.

The Wonder Girls

But, at my school, every morning for twenty minutes, it is story time. And I am a kid again.

And it's magic.

Because so is everyone else.

The story, of course, is great and perfect and powerful. But, I think much of the credit for the success of our particular project goes to the two teachers who are reading to us each morning.

It just so happens that two of the most amazing read-out-loud teachers on the planet work at my school. (pictured)
I begged them to read Wonder for us because I know how incredibly important delivery is when someone is reading aloud. They are doing a phenomenal job. I don't think a day has gone by since we began reading four weeks ago, that someone hasn't said something positive about the read-aloud. It makes my heart sing to hear people say these things. We cry and we laugh. We talk about it at lunch and in the halls.


I am not forgetting the teachers who dutifully follow along with their books in the classrooms. The whole idea would go kaput if they didn't do their part.  ELA teachers are using the book in their lessons. The students are listening and following along. It's all so yummy good.


This is probably one of the coolest things I have ever done at school. Ma would be so proud. She would cry if I told her about this. Happy tears. We used to watch Oprah! together and just boo-hoo over all kinds of stuff. Ma would know that Mr. Browne's first precept about choosing kind is from Wayne Dyer whom she loved.

If you've read Wonder you may know the song that August and his dad sing together in the car. "I'm the luckiest guy on the lower east side."

Well, I'm the luckiest girl in the upstate, cause  I've got a story and you want to read for a while.