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Beginning my third year as an elementary school librarian in the Chambersburg Area School District, I continue to enjoy the wide variety of teaching experiences that my job offers. In a typical day, I work with all grade levels, from kindergarten through fifth grade – it’s never boring! Having been a fifth-grade teacher, I am enjoying the opportunity to work with students for six years in a row, helping them to grow as readers and information users.
In addition to teaching weekly library lessons to each class of students, I also collaborate with classroom teachers to co-teach research projects. Highlights are teaching students how to record podcasts, create PhotoStories and PowerPoint presentations, participate in blogs, and navigate online resources such as online encyclopedias and Google Earth. I host a book club and computer club at our school, enjoying the opportunity to work with students in smaller groups.
Being the school’s “information specialist” opens a number of opportunities to me in addition to my teaching responsibilities. I have taught teacher workshops on webpage design and electronic gradebooks, as well as teacher and parent workshops on Internet safety. Classroom teachers frequently turn to me as a resource person to help them locate information or materials that they need for planning lessons. One of the best parts of my job is listening carefully to hear what teachers and students are asking for and then locating and providing those materials. This past year, I applied for and received grant funds for purchasing the newest available audiobooks.
Beyond classroom lessons, I also organize author visits, help to plan reading incentive programs, participate in school and faculty events, host bookfairs, serve on district curriculum committees, assist teachers and students in their use of technology, and mentor a first-year librarian. My husband and I are both teachers. In our time away from school, we enjoy attending our sons’ many activities and working on our old house.
