Interview III

 For my third interview, I opted to speak again with Mrs. Vasquez, librarian at McBean Elementary, who had graciously hosted me for my final day of in-person internship.  Mrs. Vasquez has only been in her position for a few years, but carries with her over a decade of classroom experience, and is quickly distinguishing herself as a Media Specialist to watch in Richmond County. 

As we began our interview, I once more decided to open by gauging her familiarity with AASL standards.  She was pensive for a moment, as if searching for the knowledge, before nodding affirmatively.  She explained that she was largely familiar with the standards, though she was having trouble recalling them directly- even so, she noted, her work was in alignment with them, she was certain.   

For context, Mrs. Vasquez is a certified school librarian, but she does not possess an MLIS- her route to certification came through a degree in Information Technology, and so she, in her words, focuses “less on the theory,” and more on the practical results of daily library operations. 

With this established, we began our talk about the standard of Curation.  How did she, at her grade levels, create opportunities for students to engage with and explore relevant resources?  She responded that, at library orientation, each class was given a library card containing their Lexile growth band, which was color-coded to match labels on books around the Media Center.  We spoke for a while about the concerns surrounding this- I pointed out that many thought such labels would be stigmatizing.  Her response, however, was that in practical terms, it meant that students were constantly aware of those works that would best suit their ability, and it helped to keep them from becoming overwhelmed by choice as they explored the topics that mattered to them.  When asked about students curating materials for themselves, she noted the use of Destiny Discover, which she advertised heavily.  This allowed students to find and preselect books of interest to them, as well as to create “wish lists” for their teachers to manage.   

Satisfied with her answer, we moved on to our next topic- How did she curate resources for her colleagues?  This, she responded, was done largely with pathfinders.  She had put together a number of resource “kits,” both physical and digital, that teachers could access, guiding them to resources like relevant websites, standards-based videos or articles, and even pre-built activities that could be done in class.  In this way, she said, she made sure her teachers were “taken care of,” and had everything they needed to focus on instruction. 

Finally, I shifted our focus back to the students; As part of this standard, students are meant to evaluate the resources they found.  I knew how that looked at the High School level- I'd taught such lessons myself- but I wondered how she implemented that kind of activity in the lower grades.  She excused herself for a moment, returning with a small, pre-cut slip, attractively decorated and printed on colorful paper.  “We want to encourage those higher-order thinking skills,” she said, holding the slip up to the camera for me to see, “so we ask our students to discuss the things they read.  On turning in a book, they can win a treat if they fill out one of these slips, but they have to go deeper than whether or not they thought the book was good.” As she spoke, I couldn't help but feel my mind wander, imagining the different ways I could implement such a review system to bolster those all-important skills.

The slips varied by grade level in terms of complexity, with 4th and 5th graders expected to write at least 3-5 sentences to earn their peppermint.  She went on to elaborate that this helped to encourage students to really dig into what they read, and examine why they liked the things they liked.  We both agreed that the fostering of those kinds of critical and self-analytical skills was paramount at their age. 

Finally, we wrapped up our discussion, and as she signed off, I found myself impressed by the differences in approach between the librarians I had interviewed thus far.  Some, like Mrs. Streets, had focused heavily on theory, while others, like Mrs. Vasquez, emphasized pragmatism.  Neither approach, I feel, is necessarily better than the other; indeed, I believe that both are valuable ways to interpret the larger standards, and putting them into play for the betterment of our students.