procedures | Expect the Miraculous

Each year I ponder what to do for the first of the year library orientation. Once again, it’s a time where you want to talk about procedures, expectations, etc, but I think more and more about what message I really want students to take away.

This year we are fortunate to have author and illustrator Mike Curato coming to visit our school in October. His book Little Elliot, Big City has so many positive messages for students to start off their year. I decided to use this book as a conversation starter about problem solving, helping one another, being a good friend, and feeling welcome in such a big place.

As students entered the library, I played the book trailer.

Then, we opened with the story. Little Elliot, Big City has very few words on a page, but the discussions that can blossom from those simple words and powerful illustrations are priceless. Over the course of reading the book to students, there were certain pages that started to stand out as the pages I wanted to pause on in order to connect the book with the first visit to the library.

First, we paused here:

Students imagined an elephant in their mind based on what they had seen in a book, movie, or real life. Then, they talked with a partner about all of the differences. We could connect this to all kinds of library ideas such as how different we all are as readers: our interests, our stamina, our favorite authors, and more.

Next, we paused here:

I loved hearing students talk about this page and how Little Elliot was a problem solver. Even though things were challenging, he found ways to persevere. Again, there were so many was to connect to the library and school. We talked about the importance of not giving up, taking a deep breath, trying what seemed impossible, and the more classes I talked to the more ideas surfaced that I hadn’t even thought of.

Probably the most powerful page to talk about was here:

We saw Elliot struggle to be noticed as he went into the city to buy a cupcake. Students came up with all kinds of ways that Elliot could get his cupcake, but then he leaves with nothing. We pondered the question, “Why was Elliot able to be a problem solver at home, but not in the bakery?” Students amazed me with what they said. At home, Elliot was alone and could be brave. In the city, he was shy and scared. Students also talked about how he knew how to use all the tools at his house like his chair, his books, and his broom. However, in the city, he didn’t know how to use things, so he felt helpless. Wow! The conversations just kept coming and each class had a statement that stood out. I wish I had captured the brilliance. It really made me think about all the tools students really need in order to use the library and how that can be a little scary even though I have no intention for it to feel that way. It reminded me of the importance of smiling and patience as students ask over and over how to do things like check out their own books.

Our library really is a massive place, especially for a Kindergarten through second grade student. I don’t want them to ever feel like Elliot did in the cupcake store, so we had some honest conversation about what we could all do to make sure that happened. I was honest with them about how I work alone in the library so there are times that I can’t leave a class to come over and help them. I truly want to, but sometimes it’s just hard for me to do.

Suddenly, those rules and procedures for using a shelf marker had a purpose. I wasn’t just giving students a rule for the library during orientation. I was giving them a tool just like Elliot had his broom. The shelf marker was a strategy for those times that students were unsure. We talked about going to a section of the library and really examining the books on the shelf with a shelf marker rather than searching on the computer.

We also talked about how Elliot was a helper to mouse in the story and that we really all have to be like Elliot at some point. We have to help one another. We can’t wait on one person to be the person to help us. Whether it’s another adult roaming the library, a student from another class, or a volunteer, we can ask anyone in the library to help us access what we want.

I really didn’t plan for Elliot to have so many connections to library orientation, but he did. It just evolved. Students left with a positive story, a strategy for finding books, and I hope a sense that the library is a welcoming place where we all take responsibility to help one another.

Last year, I decided to try something new for my library orientation. Rather than have students sit and listen to me go on and on about how the library works, I let them explore the library with QR codes. I loved this change so much that I decided to try this again this year and add some new twists.

First, I thought about all of the main questions that pop up during the year about using the library and made a list. Then, I took this list and tried to make videos that were concise and addressed one task rather than weaving in multiple topics into one video. This included topics such as how to search in Destiny, how to check out with and without a student id, how to check in, how to use a shelf marker, how to place a hold, and where supplies are located. I also had some pieces of the library that I wanted students to know about such as areas where participatory opportunities would be displayed and what was new in our makerspace.

I took each video, improved the sound quality in iMovie, and uploaded to Youtube. Using Kaywa QR Code generator, I made a QR code to each video, labeled it, printed it, and put it in a sleeve to hang in the library.

When 2nd-5th grade came to the library, they entered to a rolling slideshow of our 4 library goals.

I wanted our first focus to be what we hope our library is about this year. The procedures are important because they affect the flow of the year, but the goals are what drive us every day.

After talking about the 4 goals, I showed students how the orientation would work. Each student would have an iPad with headphones. Using the Layar app, students would scan each QR code and tap on the video to begin listening. There were 4 videos that I wanted every student to review: how to check out, how to check in, how to use Destiny, and a tour of the library sections. I placed these 4 codes on 4 tables so that students could easily keep track of which videos they needed to watch first. Following the 4 videos, students could scan a QR code on the project board that took them to a playlist so that they could choose any of the other videos to watch.

Once students scanned a video, I encouraged them to carry their iPad and go to that section of the library so that they could physically see the things that I was talking about in the video. Once again, this was a wonderful experience because it allowed students to move, replay videos if needed, and actually see the library spaces rather than sit and listen.

This worked beautifully some of the time, but here’s where the failure comes in. On the 2nd week of school, our district implemented a new filter. Filters can be wonderful things to protect our students, but anytime something new is implemented the bugs have to be worked out. On day 1, every Youtube video was blocked on the iPads. As soon as students started scanning, they got the no access screen. Luckily, I could still access Youtube on my own computer so I decided we could just watch some of the videos on the projector. Then, the internet speed became so slow that no videos would work. Finally, we just got in a line and did an old-fashioned tour around the library. The coolness of the QR codes was gone, but we still accomplished learning about the library.

While this experience was very frustrating, it allowed me to model what it means to not give up, to persevere through failures, and to expect that great things will happen even when things don’t work. Rather than bottle all of my thinking in my head, I began to share it with the kids. I said things like, “This was an epic failure, so let me back up and rethink this” and “Why don’t we try…”. In future lessons, I built this conversation into our mini-lesson. I prepped the kids by sharing the failures we had already encountered and how we worked through them together. What I started to see was kids who were being more patient and were trying different strategies when the internet was slow or a code didn’t scan rather than kids who were giving up or kids who were yelling out about something not working and asking for an adult’s help. I was reminded of the importance of sharing that it’s ok to fail as long as you use that failure to learn what you might do differently.

In Kindergarten and 1st grade, we used the book Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall. I chose this book because Dawson is a “maker”. I felt like he embodied what I hoped that all of us would consider ourselves across the course of the year. During our reading of this book, we paused to notice how Dawson never gave up. We pointed out his epic failures along the way and how he took those failures, backed up, and tried something new. He never lost his cool. Instead, he took a different path or split a huge invention into 3 smaller ones. As we made these noticings, we made connections to our own learning and the goals that we had for this year in the library.

Following our read aloud and/or QR code tour, we used Kahoot to review a few of the library procedures. I chose Kahoot for a few reasons. One was to put it in front of teachers at the very beginning of the year as an engaging tool to use with students to check for understanding. Several teachers were eager to try it in their classrooms. Another reason was to make the really boring topic of library procedures fun and get us all on the same page. It worked. Even another reason was to throw a tool at students that was new to just about all of them and once again practice our acceptance of failure. Several students couldn’t login. Others had games that didn’t load as fast as other i Pads. Still others got kicked out in the middle of the game and had to log back in. Did any of these failures stop of us from learning? No. We used each and every barrier, glitch, and student error as a learning tool for how we will work together this year.

Now that our orientations are over. We are ready for a year of miraculous projects. The QR codes are now hanging all over the library for students to continue to reference throughout the year as they forget how to check out or place a hold. The videos are also being sent to all of the library volunteers so that they can also review the different ways the library works before assisting students and shelving books.

I’m sure I will make even more changes to next year’s orientation, but I love how this one set the stage for our year.