Component A

Component A: Instructional Capacity 

A highly effective teacher librarian has the schedule flexibility and capacity to collaboratively plan instruction, co-teach, and lead professional learning.

Flexible Schedule & Capacity

Castle View High School is a building where many people wear many hats. I, like some of our administrators, carry a teaching load on top of my full-time library position.  

In the 2023-2024 school year, I worked as our Teacher Librarian with extra responsibilities including: 

1. Serving as the English Department Chair

2. Teaching an Advisement/Home Room section of seniors

3. Teaching a section of AP Literature and Composition 

The workload was untenable and left me spread thin. I passed off the English leadership position to another department member and graduated my Advisement students in May. We could not find another teacher willing to go to AP Literature training in the summer, so I agreed to keep one section of this course but advocated that my section get moved to the morning (1st period instead of the last period of the day) to help me chunk my working responsibilities more easily. I am currently the only high school Teacher Librarian in our district that has a permanent teaching load and I know that, to do my library work to its full potential, I will ultimately have to give up a permanent course on my schedule.

When I have needed to work as a Teacher Librarian during my own class period, I have generally been able to find coverage from our administrative team or from our Professional Learning Specialists. 

By having full-time coverage in the library with my two assistants, Abbi and Gillian, I am granted flexibility to go out into the building and co-teach and plan with our students and educators. Their presence in the library allows me to: 

• Attend PLCs weekly with the English department (supporting my current collaboration with English 9, English 10, and our AP Seminar program)

• Attend Building Leadership Team bi-weekly

• Eat lunch (occasionally) with different offices and departments to get a sense of the needs of our building, increase face-time with teachers, and build relationships with our faculty

• Attend all district-provided Librarian Professional Development 

• Co-teach and plan with teachers, as needed

Collaboration

My collaboration as Teacher Librarian takes a plethora of forms. I love that this role is in direct service to the needs of my building. By having a library that is staffed -- full-time -- by my assistants, I am able to work across our building to support teachers and classrooms without guilt or neglecting the library. 

In the fall of 2024, I worked with more than 50 classes (in addition to teaching my own course three time a week), either inviting them into the library or pushing into their classrooms to provide instructional support. Here is some of the regular ways I collaborate across our building:

Co-Teaching

I regularly prepare lessons on research skills (database usage, lateral reading, finding credible and reliable sources) and teach collaboratively with teachers in their classrooms. I typically work with a class for 30 to 95 minutes, depending on the needs of the class.

Building Lessons for Classroom Use

Sometimes, I am unable to meet the co-teaching needs of multiple classes at the same time. Instead of teaching in each classroom, I sometimes build instructional materials (slide decks, graphic organizers, etc.) for the teacher to use to support instruction in their own classroom. 

Cultivating Resources and Readings for Teachers

One of the favorite ways I can support teachers is by finding readings and resources for them to use in their classrooms. Teachers frequently need an article that "does this one thing" or a poem that "discusses this topic." I am a voracious reader and love digging into databases, news sources, and other resources to help teachers use the best texts in their classrooms. My teachers appreciate that I am able to vet articles and readings before they have to put them in front of students. 

Supporting Choice Reading/Book Circles

Many of our English teachers do choice reading or literature circles in their classes. Supporting this work is one of my favorite parts of my job. Sometimes this work looks like screening/vetting new titles and making recommendations to our teachers based on what I read (Ex: Last year, a 9th grade English wanted to add a YA novel that was about sports. After reading 4 titles, I suggested Rez Ball  by Byron Graves and it has now become a staple book choice in our English 9 classes). 

Another teacher facilitated literature circles in a co-taught English 9 course as a way to differentiate for the various reading levels in the room. He wanted each book club to get the chance to work one-on-one with an adult, so I pushed into his class periods once a week to lead and facilitate the book club discussion. With three educators in the room, we were able to ensure that each group (full of reluctant and struggling readers) got individualized attention. This is one of my favorite collaborative experiences.

At a minimum, my team gets to support choice reading and literature circles by attending and hosting "Book Tastings" where we can book talk and answer questions about the various choice reading options. And, of course, we support the inventorying and purchasing of these texts to ensure that each student can borrow a book that they want to read!

Collaborative Planning Sessions

This year, I've been working intensively with our AP Seminar teachers to support research and presentation skills. I am the only person in our building who has taught AP Seminar and AP Research, so I've worked to build a collaborative partnership with our two, new AP Seminar teachers. We frequently meet to discuss student progress, score assignments collaboratively to ensure consistency of rigor, and look at student research feedback. 

Additionally, I've worked with pockets of our English department to support the addition of new texts. This year, two of our teachers are teaching Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. Together, we've collaborated around some mini research tasks and an original podcast final assessment to make this new title fit in their course progressions. I love being a thought-partner with teachers across our building. 

Recently, I got to collaborate with one of our teachers as she prepares to conduct graduate-level action research in her classroom. She is studying how AI tools can be used to improve the revision experience for students on academic writing. Together, we were able to ask questions, anticipate issues and needs, and share resources about AI in educational spaces. 

Presentation Panelist

This spring, I will serve as a panelist for the 102 AP Seminar presentations and will be able to use those projects as feedback on how to improve our research instruction at CVHS. Because I've pushed into these AP Seminar classrooms so consistently this semester, I've become a trusted adult for these students and will be a familiar face during their high-stakes College Board presentations. 

Denver-Metro Area Librarian Collaboration

In my cousework with the University of Colorado Denver's Teacher Librarian Certificate Program, I have gotten the chance to meet and collaborate with other librarians in the Denver-Metro area. It's rewarding to share our best practices, programming successes, and teacher collaborations. This coursework has provided me with great resources in my professors (both former public school Teacher Librarians) and classmates.

Some favorite recent collaborations:

Leading Professional Learning

This is an area of my professional work where I would like to grow. I have not pursued leading professional learning as I get my feet under me in this position. Here are some examples of ways that I have engaged in leading professional learning over the last 15 months:

Presenting to New Teachers

In July, I come into work early to present to our new teachers. When teachers are overwhelmed, they often make their way to the library to get help. Each year, I pull together an informational handout to let new teachers know how I can support them in their work. I try not to overwhelm them with detailed information (that they'll inevitably forget in the overwhelm of the transition to a new school) and instead try to make myself a familiar and approachable face and let them know how I can partner with them. 

Collaborating around CVHS PD

I am a thought-partner for our Professional Learning Specialists and frequently get to collaborate and offer feedback around Professional Learning days and activities. Currently, I am partnering with our PLS and principal to select our summer staff book. I am researching and pre-reading several nonfiction books that we will ultimately purchase and give to our staff to read over the summer. 

Planning & Facilitating AI Listening Sessions 

I collaborated with one of our PLS to organize lunch listening sessions to learn about AI usage in our building. We wanted to learn:

• How are you using AI in your teaching workflow?

• Are you explicitly using AI in your classroom with classroom?

• What excites you about AI? What scares you?

• What actions/thinking have you had to change to anticipate student use of AI?

• What AI resources are you using most frequently?

• What support do you need?

We learned so much about the struggles and excitement surround AI use in our building. While many people have fears about the unknowns of AI, a lot of our educators are also taking time to teach themselves how to utilize different AI tools in the classroom. After these listening sessions, my PLS and I plan to:

1. Organize AI Learning Sessions where teachers who are using AI in really cool, innovative ways can demonstrate how they utilize these tools in their work

2. Draft Syllabus Language to empower teachers to include clear, transparent guidelines about appropriate use of AI in their class

3. Draft Student and Staff Handbook Language to make clear, transparent expectations about what appropriate use of AI looks like for our students and teachers

This work will be ongoing and require collaboration between teachers, students, departments and administration. I'm excited to be a leader of this work in our building. 

NCTE Co-Presenter

The National Council of Teachers of English conference is coming to Denver in 2025! Our principal is sending me, alongside all of our English teachers to engage in professional development. 

I am in the process of submitting a proposal to present at NCTE alongside one of our English teachers. We want to talk about the value of leveraging a relationship between classroom teachers and librarians to engage students in contemporary literature and make students lifelong readers. We will discuss the barriers that exist for classroom teachers when trying to add new books to their curriculum and provide strategies and actionable steps about how to collaborate with a librarian to reimagine the classics, include choice reading in the classroom, and add new titles to the curriculum. I'm really excited about this partnership and the opportunity to share our successes with other English teachers and educators. 

Component B

Component B: Library Support Staff Management and Supervision 

A highly effective teacher librarian creates a positive work climate for library support staff, volunteers, and student aides by consistently providing meaningful, strengths-based guidance and modeling effective self-advocacy and interpersonal communication skills.

Student Aids (TAs)

Current TA Work

We have some of the best students who volunteer to work in the library during their off hours. Some of our TAs have worked in the library with us for multiple semesters in a row, indicating the great experience they have working in our space and with our team. 

Many of our TAs take a heavy course load, so we always give them the opportunity to work on urgent homework first and then ask them to help us keep the library in order. 

Currently, our TAs work through these tasks each day: 

• Shelve books (on the library floor and in the textbook/novel storage room)

• Wipe down tables

• Filling copy machines with printer paper

• Keeping printer paper storage cabinet full

• Tidy shelves, use shelf lists to check book order, fill in display shelves when books get checked out

• Run and cut lamination requests, deliver to teacher mailboxes

• Assist in the weeding process (blacking out barcodes, moving books to storage room, stamping with "discard" stamp, etc.) 

We're lucky to have a few TAs who are native Spanish speakers, so they also jump in to help with interpreting and help us make some of our library signage and bookmarks in Spanish for our Spanish readers/speakers. 

Component C

Component C: Collection Development 

A highly effective teacher librarian builds an appealing, balanced and inclusive library collection that aligns with curriculum and school goals, reflects students’ needs and interests, and is guided by input from the school community. 

Additional criteria of an appealing, balanced, and inclusive collection: 

● engages students, facilitates student agency, and motivates reading 

● presents accurate and current information from reliable sources 

● presents a variety of viewpoints 

● authentically represents the cultures and groups that comprise the school community and society 

● responsive to the language needs of the school community 

● represents a variety of formats and reading levels that meet students’ diverse learning needs

Collection Status: August 2023 (My first month as Teacher Librarian)

Collection Status: January 2025 (after 18 months as Teacher Librarian)

Other Considerations for Purchasing

While purchasing, we also consider:

• What areas of our library (genres) have the best circulation and might need new titles for students to explore?

• How can we purchase titles that students might want to read if they like what they're studying in class? (Example: we built up our poetry/novels in verse section this year, since so many of our 9th graders love reading Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds in class.) This kind of purchasing allows us to build robust Bookmobile carts for specific classes.

• What replacements do we need to purchase? Are there newer editions of titles that circulate and are now in poor condition? (Example: Lord of the Rings or some of the John Green titles)

• What types of books do students ask for, consistently? (Example: we have lots of boys who want wilderness/adventure/Western-type novels that are more accessible than Lonesome Dove. We've worked to add more contemporary Westerns for our rural-adventure-minded readers.)

• What titles are highlighted in the School Library Journal? 

• What areas of our library are looking light after weeding? 

• Do we have any series that need to be completed or updated? Are we missing any books in a series that circulates?

• Does this title fill a need in our collection? Are we representing multiple sides and perspectives? (Example: in preparation for the 2024 Presendential election, we purchased biographies of each of the candidates, including a variety of perspectives on the candidates. These titles circulated.)

Our library team reads voraciously. In 2024, our team collectively read more than 200 books, most of which are in our library collection. We share the work of building purchasing lists, as we're all familiar with different titles and genres. By collaborating around purchasing, I believe we purchase more holistically and avoid bias and self-censorship. 

Alongside our purchasing, we continue to build Collections in Destiny that will help our students (and us) find the "perfect" book recommendation. As we purchase with specific types of students in mind, we try to build collections to reference later. Recently, I built an "Adventure Wilderness" collection with new titles that will take students on river adventures, wild fire devastation, and hunting excursions. Abbi recently built a "So You Want to Read Colleen Hoover" collection to give us a starting place for students who want to read popular books that we don't own (due to district purchasing policies). Gillian recently built a dragon-specific fantasy collection for students who expect fantastical creatures in their fantasy reading. This practice helps us document some of our thinking as we purchase to help us circulate new titles. 

Component D

Component D: Weeding

A highly effective teacher librarian develops and implements an ongoing plan to weed library materials that meet district policy criteria for removal.

The teacher librarian educates the school community about district policy on the removal of library materials and the importance of weeding to maintain an appealing, balanced, and inclusive library collection.

Weeding Policy

Weeding is an essential and ongoing part of library management. Our students deserve access to new, relevant, and high-interest books. 

At CVHS, we follow all DCSD policies surrounding weeding and the responsible disposal of library materials. Before beginning a weeding project, I meet proactively with my principal, as well as the DLMC, to make sure that everyone is aware of the weeding project and goals.

Weeding Eligibility

We follow the CREW protocol (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding), along with MUSTIE to determine what in our library is eligible for removal. 

M = Misleading-factually inaccurate

U = Ugly - worn beyond mending or rebinding

S = Superseded - by a new edition of or a much better book on the subject

T = Trivial - of no discernible literary or scientific nature

I = Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library’s community

E = Elsewhere - the material is easily obtainable from another library or source.

We use "15/5/MUSTIE" as a guide while weeding. This means that we look at the age of the item (15 years or older are eligible for weeding), we look at the circulation data from the last five years, and then use MUSTIE to determine other weeding criteria. 

DCSD Recycling Guidelines and Procedures

We coordinate our yearly book recycling pick up with our representative from Dream Books. Each November, we recycle our weeded library materials, as well as any outdated or unused school curriculum based on department request. 

Weeding Plan

We have completed our weeding in three phases:

1. Nonfiction Weeding (spring 2024)

• In the 2023-2024 school year, I attended a DLMC professional development session about the weeding process. 

• In the spring of 2024, we collaborated with the DLMC to strategize how to go about weeding our nonfiction section. Together, we looked at the statistics of my collection and discussed areas of the nonfiction section that were eligible for weeding (you can see our nonfiction shelf list of eligible titles to weed here). The DLMC identified 3,000 titles that were eligible for weeding and my team and I weeded around 2,000 titles in our first year in the library. (You can see some of the collection data in Component C above.) We thoughtfully went through each recommended title, considering the text's circulation history, publication date, and its value in our building (curriculum usage, relevancy for students, interest level, etc.). 

• We also relied heavily on this CREW/MUSTIE Weeding Guideline document from the DLMC as we worked through the nonfiction section. 

• In the spring, I also had to weed hundreds of math textbooks that are being phased out for new curriculum. This textbook weeding will be a multi-year process. 

2. Fiction Weeding (fall 2024)

• This fall, I reached out to the DLMC again to see if we could schedule a time to discuss weeding the fiction section of our library. Before our meeting, I completed a Collection Alignment Plan. While I knew where a lot of my collection data stood, it was a valuable exercise to reflect on our data, ask questions, and identify areas of growth and goals. 

• The DLMC came to our meeting with a fiction shelf list of eligible titles to weed. We worked swiftly to weed our fiction section in time for our yearly book recycling date with Dream Books in November. 

• Fiction weeding was more challenging for us than our previous nonfiction weeding project. Some of the challenges included:

  • When gentrifying the library, my predecessor split up series into different genres so we had to carefully consider each and every title (is it in a series? do we have the second book somewhere? Did I accidentally weed a middle book in the series?). 

  • There are emotional ties to many fiction books and we had to get rid of titles that don't circulate but that we personally loved when we were young readers.

  • The classics subsection was challenging! Lots of books in this section don't circulate but I felt as though we "should" own some of them as a high school. 

3. Light weeding of individual aged sections (current)

• Now, we are weeding in much smaller numbers. In some Dewey ranges or genre subsections, I am taking a bit of a "one in one out" approach as we purchase new books and can update the collection. For example, we've purchased some new titles on mythology and have been able to get rid of a few beloved but old titles in that section of Dewey. 

• Gillian has done a great job organizing updates of Follett-bound books that are in need of repair and they have sent us free replacements (oftentimes with newer publication dates) to get our worn books in better condition. 

"Why We Weed" Examples

I keep a small list of examples of books that we have weeded, should I ever need to provide an example of the types of books we weed. Here are some of the titles I weeded recently. 

Educating the Community on Weeding

I, along with some of my colleagues, was invited to pitch a story to the student media journalists in the fall. They were looking for stories that were important to cover in our school community. I told them about our weeding process, the value of keeping a school library up-to-date, and the responsible ways that we dispose of books in DCSD. One of our student journalists covered this work and helped us educate our community about our work and its importance. You can see the article below.

Component E

Component E: Policies and Procedures

A highly effective teacher librarian ensures school library policies and procedures align with best practices, including selection of library materials, reconsideration of challenged materials, weeding library materials, evaluating library material gifts and donations, protecting student privacy (i.e. library records and student data), and protecting students’ equitable access to library resources (i.e. eliminating fines).

Following DCSD Policies and Procedures

We are lucky to have an incredible team of librarians at the DLMC. They are always willing to answer questions and provide support. I know that they are only a phone call away if we have questions or concerns about a policy or how to respond to a community complaint. 

Each year, we print the updated District Media Policy to keep in a binder in our library. We do our best to know this information and use it to inform our practice, but the binder is always nearby for reference as we navigate leading our library responsibly. 

Selection of Library Materials

We follow all DCSD Policies for the selection and purchasing of library materials. We're lucky that the DLMC provides cultivated purchasing lists for us to consider as we purchase, to help us get started. 

Objectives for Selection of Library Materials (From District Media Policy)

• To provide materials that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the varied interest, abilities, and maturity levels of the students served.

• To provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical standards.

• To provide materials on opposing sides of controversial issues within the collection so that young citizens may develop the practice of critical analysis of all media.

• To provide materials representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to our American heritage.

• To place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to ensure a comprehensive collection appropriate for the users of the library media center.

• To provide materials that encourage not only the enjoyment of reading but also lead to the creation of lifelong readers. 

• To provide materials for the school staff and community that represent timely educational and community issues.

Materials are considered for purchase on the basis of: (From District Media Policy)

• Overall purpose

• Timeliness / Permanence

• Importance of the subject matter

• Quality of the writing

• Quality of the production

• Quality of the medium selected

• Readability and popular appeal

• Authority

• The reputation of the publisher or producer

• Format and price

• Requests from students and staff

• Avoidance of stereotypes

• Two Age-appropriate and positive reviews

  • Titles should be appropriate for the students in your school.

Criteria for Selection Nonfiction and Reference Materials: (From District Media Policy)

• Accuracy / Authority / Organization

• Written by a qualified author or specialist

• Accurate, current information

• Avoidance of stereotypes

• Generalizations supported by facts

• A clear distinction between fact, theory, opinion

• Adequate coverage for intended audience and purpose

Overall Criteria for Purchasing

• Age of Publication: We strive to purchase titles that are newer than 5 years (there are a few exceptions to this measure, but we do our best to purchase newer titles over aged titles). 

• Professional Reviews: When purchasing fiction, we are required to select titles that have two professional reviews. When purchasing nonfiction, we need at least one positive professional review. This includes reviews from: School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Horn, or Kirkus. 

• Age-Appropriate Titles: As a high school, we try our best to provide titles that are engaging and appropriate for our building. Occasionally, I purchase middle-year titles for some of our struggling readers in high-interest sections. Additionally, I do believe in purchasing adult fiction, as we have students who read adult fiction for pleasure and in class (especially our ambitious readers who are enrolled in AP and ACC English courses). 

• Approved Vendors: We purchase all library materials through the list of Approved Vendors provided by the district. My team primarily purchases through Follett, as there is no shipping cost and items typically come fully shelf-ready, requiring little to no processing on our end. 

• Quality of Book Binding: Whenever possible, we purchase library-bound texts. Occasionally, if there are no alternative formats, we have had to purchase and wrap paperbacks. This includes a few titles in our Spanish section, where publishers don't necessarily translate into hardcover. 

You can see more of our library's philosophy and considerations while purchasing in Component C: Collection Development (above).

Evaluating Library Material Gifts and Donations

We currently do not receive gifts or donations to the library. Occasionally we have had elderly members of the community reach out to ask about book donations and we encourage them to donate their unwanted books at one of the Dream Books donation boxes around our community. 

If we were to receive gifts or donations, they would also go through the Selection Process. 

Protecting Student Privacy

We follow all District policies surrounding the protection of student privacy.

Privacy of User Records

• We do not disclose records about which students use particular library materials or the library space (unless it's necessary information for library operation, we have written consent of the student, or are required to disclose the records by law).

Colorado State Patron Confidentiality Law

• We cannot legally reveal the name of individuals who have specific library materials checked out to them, unless requested by the DCSD School District Attorney to release student checkout records to the parents of a child. 

Protecting Equitable Access

Should our library come under scrutiny for a specific title in our library, we would follow the District Media Policy for Library Book Challenge Procedures:

1. Listen carefully to the person’s complaint. Do not take the complaint personally. Try to resolve this complaint at this level before moving to step 2. 

2. Notify your Administrator and the District Library Program Director that there has been a complaint about a resource held in the library.

3. DO NOT PULL THE BOOK/MATERIAL FROM THE SHELVES UNLESS THE ADMINISTRATOR WISHES TO REVIEW THE MATERIAL.  All materials remain on the shelf until a decision is made through the proper public complaint procedure.

4.  Please view KEC-R above for steps to take to resolve the issue before you have the person fill out the Citizen’s Request for Reconsideration.

5. When the complainant returns the filled-out form, give the form to the principal so that they may know precisely what the objections to the material are. Also, make a copy to send to the District Library Program Director so that they know the objections and can assist in the proper gathering of data. 

6. Once the principal and the District Library Program Director discuss the objections, the material is taken back through the district’s selection of learning resources policy to see if the material is still appropriate for inclusion in your school library.

7. The school principal and the District Library Program Director can decide together to keep, move, or deselect the material.

8. Once the decision is made, the principal, school librarian, and the District Library Program Director should meet with the complainant to discuss the decision. If the complainant decides to further pursue the matter, it is now the principal’s responsibility to take the complaint through the rest of the procedure. 

Some of the other ways that our library protects equitable access for our students include:

• We do not charge late fees for overdue items. 

• We continue to advocate for more equitable access to required school materials. Our school requires students to provide their own AP textbooks and graphing calculators. I work directly with our AP coordinator and department leads to advocate for more copies of required textbooks for students who are eligible for financial assistance. Similarly, I'm currently working with the math department to provide additional graphing calculators or, at the very least, batteries to distribute to our students in need of financial assistance. 

  • • Our building AP Coordinator and I would like to have 10-15 copies of each required AP Textbook available in the library. Currently, only one AP course fulfills this requirement. My goal is that in the next few budget cycles, we will have enough of every AP textbook to supplement students who have financial need. 

• We collaborate with our building IT to ensure students who need access to a school computer are able to apply for one. 

Goals & next steps for our library management

• This semester, I am enrolled in a graduate class at the University of Colorado Denver. This course is titled "Managing School Libraries" and will help me set concrete goals about how to improve my practice at CVHS.

• Increase our book per student ratio to be closer to proficiency by district standards -- this will take ongoing purchasing and budgeting conversations with administration

• Strengthening our website/Canvas page for building and community communication and transparency about the work we do in the library

• Finalize TA Canvas Training Modules and build a student-led tech support team

• Find an effective newsletter format to update faculty on library news to help me streamline communication between my team and the rest of the building

• Expand and systematize book recycling to help teachers remove clutter from their classroom/offices 

• Remove a permanent class from my teaching load to allow for more teacher collaboration, library projects, and for field experience hours in my Teacher Librarian program at University of Colorado Denver

• Build a schedule for Textbook/Novel Set Inventory so that I can collaborate with department leads to budget proactively for classroom resources (items that have been damaged, lost, or need to be replaced) and continue to eliminate cost barriers for students in AP courses. I hope that creating a schedule for textbook and novel set inventory will help my department leads let go of titles that we've kept but do not use and eliminate books that are in terrible condition. 

*Page last updated: Monday, January 20

*Credential Awarded: February 2025