Reaching Out to Secondary Students

In the past the library was used almost exclusively by the elementary students at ASB. There is only one librarian and one assistant for 600+ students, and understandably the previous librarians chose one group to focus on. Until there are at least two librarians (and more space), it is not possible for all of the students to have library classes and/or library time.

In the meantime, I tried to be more inclusive of middle and high school students. High school literature was the first (and largest) book order of each year, and signs were posted throughout the school to let them know. For the first time ever, middle and high school students were involved in the Sant Jordi bookmark contest, which was a great success. I also began teaching classes on website evaluation, MLA citation, and other research skills to the high school and IB students. After writing and submitting a proposal to the administration, it was approved to scale back on my interaction with elementary classes and open up the time and space for secondary students. Within the first two months I had already met with every secondary class and taught more than a dozen other lessons on research skills. It is obvious what a need there is for secondary students to use the library!

In my last year the school also began a Middle School Electives program, with Library as one of the choices. I was given the freedom to choose the content, and decided to pass that freedom on by offering Student Guided Learning Projects. Students chose topics as diverse as photography, World War II, baking, and Flash animation and designed projects to reflect their new knowledge or skills. It proved to be very popular and a great success!

I really enjoyed this part of the job, and it directly led to my next position working with middle school students.