Auntie Librarian

I have been faced with several instances of blatant plagiarism in the past few weeks. I have always thought that a good solution to plagiarism is required note taking as part of the research and writing process. Most Language Arts teachers do require students to submit handwritten notes as part of their research projects. When other subject area teachers do not require students to submit notes, a breakdown occurs.

At the middle school level, most students are not going to take notes if they are not built into the assignment. I see more plagiarism in assignments that do not require notes, rough drafts and other inherent elements of the writing and researching process than those that require and grade the final product as well as the notes, rough draft and more. This makes sense to me.  Will recommending the adoption of a school or district "style guide" be helpful in bringing consistency to expectations of student work and assignments? I know this certainly is not going to eradicate plagiarism, but it might be a good start.

Diverse and alternative assignments are great and may be a deterrent to plagiarism. I have heard many people say that book reports should be banned. I believe that students need to know how to write research papers and reports, especially without plagiarizing. There is a place for them in our inventory of assignments. Overuse of the report is another story. We should aim for assignments with higher level learning goals in blooms taxonomy, but not all assignments are going to have high level blooms.

If all research assignments across the curriculum required students to take and submit hand written notes, I believe it would be more likely for good habits to be formed and possibly for plagiarism to be curtailed.

Agree? Disagree? I welcome questions and feedback. Discussion benefits everyone.

This week and next week I will be working with our sixth grade students, preparing them for their research projects by teaching them how to take notes, evaluate websites and cite sources. All of this comes, of course, after I have worked with them on several occasions with other teachers. Every time I work with students I tell them that our State Library's DISCUS databases and digital offerings are the best sources for them to use while looking for information online.

While I was working with another class I looked across the library to see what the class in the computer lab was doing. I noticed that the students in the lab were visiting the sites: wiki answers, and yahoo answers to get the answers to their research questions. I listened closely to the teacher as the next class began to see if she recommended certain sites to the students. I was relieved to hear her tell the class that they should try DISCUS, but disappointed when I saw them go right to wiki and yahoo answers. It reminded me of the time when my three-year-old niece asked me for some money. I gave her a dollar and she ripped it up saying, "This isn't money! This paper! I want real money!" I handed her a handful of nickles and she was happy as a clam.

Today, this same group of students was sitting in front of me as I presented a note taking lesson to them.  I asked them, "Why? Why, after I have explained to you that DISCUS has THE BEST online resources, do you choose to visit sites such as wiki and yahoo answers?" Their answer was, "Because it is easier. The answer just comes right up. I don't have to read and scroll as much to get the answer." I am not surprised. If all they need is a short answer to a question like, "How far is the sun from the earth?"  of course they will choose the path of least resistance.

Next week's lesson, where I will give explicit examples of misinformation on wiki and yahoo answers and examples of bogus sites will hopefully give them some incentives to use better online resources. But should I be concerned about their use of these sites for simple assignments? Is it truly a problem for students to choose sites like wiki answers and yahoo answers over better resources if they get the right answers in the end? Am I wasting my time?  Of, course it might be wise to build site quality requirements into assignments as well. Should I try that route? Maybe I will ask for wiki and yahoo answers to be blocked.  Suggestions or comments? Guidance? I'd love to hear from you.

The T&L Virtual Cafe came to my rescue last month, now a new e-book is out that I have been turning to for inspiration without disappointment. Talk about shameless sharing: the book is free.  

School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come

Don't sweat the small stuff?

A year ago, the sight of an overflowing book return bin would send me into a stress fit. Letting these kind of things bother me is not an option anymore because they are going to happen a lot more than they used to. I have decided to focus on the people that I serve and let a few things go. So far, it looks like my library program is going to be better off for it.


Is an overflowing book return bin what the students and teachers who pass through my library will remember about their experiences there? No. I hope not. What they will remember is how I helped them and what they learned and whether I was happy about helping them or not, smiling, or not, whether they felt welcome.


Students are running my library more than ever before, since the library assistant position was cut. They are  shelving the books, checking books in and out, creating book displays, organizing games, loading programs in the computer lab and dusting. I now depend on them.  The books are not always shelved in the correct location, but that is not as important to me as it used to be. It is one of the many details I am now dismissing. Gone is the idea that my library has to be an orderly place. It certainly has never been a quiet one. I quit date stamping books. Last year, I did not scan an inventory of the collection.


Instead of being upset by change: crying, eating an enire bag of peanut M&Ms, throwing temper tantrums, and then apologizing for my  bad behavior, or being depressed,  resentful and wallowing in self pity, I have decided to keep moving, one day at a time, toward being the librarian that I have always wanted to be. I find that I  am using my time more effectively, and I am focused more on professional development for myself and the faculty.   I find myself asking, "How can I improve?"   Should I reserve one day a week for collection work? Should I set up a self check-out kiosk for students to use when I am busy with another class? Last year when someone suggested a self check-out kiosk I looked at them as if they just suggested that I let students shelve books.


I often wonder, what would my mother do in the face of all this change? Thinking of how she would react helps me put so many things into their little boxes and gain perspective. I know she would make the best of what she is given to work with. She would, "grow where she was planted" as she used to say.  I am going to smile and be happy in these tumultuous times because my happiness in my job influences an entire school to some degree. Like it or not I am the weather in my library.  Ma and I listened to a book by Mark Matousek, titled, When You're Falling, DIVE, on one of our many road trips.  I have never forgotten the passage in which a woman on her deathbed tells her daughter that dying is


Everything is easier when you let go. Let go of the way you have always done things. Dive into the future. Change. Stop complaining and Grow.

I love my job as a middle school librarian. Middle School students are energetic and entertaining. But, I was feeling lousy about work and things have been different since my mother passed away. Overwhelmed and disenchanted, I was depressed at having my assistant cut, wanting to be a good librarian, but feeling uninspired and worn out. How in the world would I be able to keep this energy level up in the library when I now have so much more work?  The students have come to expect a certain level of customer service and I enjoy bringing that energy and level of excitement to my students everyday. It is what makes me love my job. It is contagious. 

Not knowing how I would be able to make it all work, I put on a happy face and kept on with the daily grind. I spoke to my friend and colleague Ruth, who teaches English, about feeling so blah and passionless only to discover that she was feeling the same way. She said she was struggling to reach one particular class, and having frustrations getting them to write for her. We have done countless projects, presentations and parent nights together over the years and we feed off of each other's creative energies. I said to her, "I saw a call for presentations e-mail and felt terrible that I am not doing anything worth sharing!"  She said she felt the same way. What to do? Usually when a teacher tells me he or she is looking for a new way to teach something I have tons of ideas to suggest, and enough energy and excitement to reel them in. Honestly, this is what happens when you don't go to conferences for two or three years.

The same day I chatted with Ruth, Cathy Jo Nelson sent out a reminder that there would be a T&L Virtual Cafe Webinar on Monday October 3rd. Ah, Cathy Jo! She has been my inspiration on several occasions. Her Facebook and SCASL listserv posts are great. Amazingly, she never stops pushing it out. The voice of Cathy Jo sounds something like this to me: "Hey! Check this out! Look! Over here! A great article, blog or app! You should try THIS!" A GURU-COACH, that is what she is for me.

I go to the T&L Virtual Cafe Webinar that Cathy Jo posted about.  Tamara Cox and Tiff Whitehead knock my socks off. There's a great vibe going on there, and I needed that. Joyce Valenza was there! She inspired me at ISTE in Chicago years ago.  I have been a big fan ever since. At this T&L Virtual Cafe webinar, one of the many awesome things I am introduced to is Comic Life. Wow! Such amazing graphics! So visually appealing! I can't wait to tell Ruth! That night, I could not sleep. I was too excited and inspired!

On Tuesday I sneak out of the library and burst into Ruth's classroom with loud excitement (during her planning time) to tell her I have found exactly what we need. I can tell she is a little skeptical because I am acting like a wide-eyed, sleep deprived, coffee fueled spaz talking fast and excitedly commandeering her computer.  She looks at me like I am crazy. I show her Comic Life. Although Comic Life has been around a while, it is new to us. And, we're excited about it. We schedule the lab for her classes. The students love Comic Life and now not only are we both doing something exciting and worth sharing, but we are planning more exciting things like presenting our experience with Comic Life at the Spartanburg Writing Project's Fall Conference, and making cake pops at family write night at the library! The great thing about this inspiration is that it impacts not only me, but also two other teachers (so far) and ALL OF THEIR STUDENTS. Since I work with the entire student body, this inspiration will probably reach even more students. Everyone wins.

I still don't know how I will be able to make it all work, and maybe I won't be able to make it all work. That's okay. Things are changing. I am taking it one day at a time.  Because of T&L Virtual Cafe and my collaboration with Ruth I FEEL better and my work feels more meaningful and worth sharing.  And that's a start!