Fall 2023 Forum
President's Message Barb Fecteau is the librarian at Beverly High School in Beverly and teaches in the school library program at Salem State University. I love a snappy tagline. Beef—it’s what’s for dinner. Ooh, I’ll have the steak, please! When you care enough to send the very best. Well, actually I still buy the cheap $1 cards or make my own like a 9 year old. But it’s still a great slogan. I am not even irritated by 1-8-7-7-Kars-for-kids, K-A-R-S, cars for kids. I will sing that little jungle in my head thinking, “I’m so glad those kids are getting those cars. Or rather, those kars!” And so, in that mindset I present my personal motto for my term as MSLA president. Collaboration is key! Or maybe kollaboration is key, I’m still workshopping the specifics.
Editor's Letter Welcome to the first Forum Newsletter hosted on our new platform, Wild Apricot! We’re glad you found us. The Forum is a collection of interesting articles with data, best practices, and ruminations about topics we all care about, all written by MSLA members like yourselves! Whether you are looking for advice from library veterans, insight into picture books and graphic format books, what’s new in relevant academic research, or ways to share best practices, the Forum provides ideas to “keep things fun and funky fresh,” as Helen O’Hara says in this term’s Meet the New Librarian column.
Neurodiversity in Comics Liza Halley is the Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA. She has been an avid reader of graphic novels ever since she began reading Jeff Smith’s Bone and Kazu Kihushi’s Amulet with her eldest son over 14 years ago. She reads every graphic novel for K to 6 she can find— and is a big fan of Monstress, Hellboy, and Saga— all for adults. She helped start the annual Boston Kids Comic Fest, a free, kid-friendly comic festival filled with panelists, vendors, workshops, and keynote speakers. I want to turn our attention to the convergence of comics and neurodiversity. How can teaching comics help our neurodivergent students? Which graphic novels and nonfiction books help neurodivergent students see themselves? Which graphic novels and nonfiction books offer a window into the experience of living with neurodivergence or with family members who are neurodivergent?
New Librarian Q&A with Helen O'Hara
Helen O'Hara, Media Specialist Teacher How did you come to librarianship? I’ve worked in libraries in some iteration since I was 18, but I knew I wanted to be a librarian 4ever when I was at Worcester Public Library. They helped me get my masters and I never looked back. I finally have my dream job now as a school librarian in a school I truly love.
Ask a Library Legend Valerie Diggs is a former President of MSLA and currently works as a Senior Visiting Instructor at Salem State University, where she also serves as the Graduate Program Coordinator of the MEd Library Media Studies program. Our members ask: My school has new leadership and I am struggling to gain administrative support. Do you have any tips for going from a supportive administrator who advocated for school libraries to someone who does not immediately see the value? How can I keep the culture I've created over the past ten years? With the average retention rate for school principals at four years, school librarians can potentially work with five to six principles over the course of their careers. How does the school librarian maintain consistent support for the library program in order to meet the personal and learning needs of the students? How do we re-educate each administrator when that revolving door creates the need to do this over and over again?
My Secret Identity: Book Reviewer… When I first saw a pre-pandemic plea on the MSLA listserve for Youth Services Book Review, I was intrigued. Free books? And all I had to do was write a review? I’m a voracious reader (and luckily, a quick one) although writing sounded intimidating; I hadn’t written much beyond annual reports, emails, and lesson plans since graduate school. But how challenging could it be to review a kid’s book? After several years as a reviewer and several more as a YSBR editor, I can tell you, it’s harder than it looks. Distilling the essence of a book, even a wordless picture book (actually, especially a wordless picture book) and assessing its fitness for diverse collections is a strenuous but rewarding exercise. I’ve come to see it as a calling and also a service, but one that most of us can warm to given some practice.
Project SLIDE: Fall Update Luke Steere: Overall, it seems we are looking at a trend in reduced numbers of school librarians, right? Can you take us through what this looks like? Deeth Ellis:The problem of reduced librarian FTEs is complex and is driven by the convergence of a number of issues. To me, the root of a number of these issues goes back to state education agencies like DESE, collecting accurate data, providing guidance or PD for administrators, developing and testing evaluation tools, helping everyone define and understand the roles of librarians, and improving how they work with preparation programs for librarians.
Picture Book Column: Picture books with recipes There are so many picture books about food, from Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s anthropomorphized Little Pea (2005) to Mary Ann Hoberman’s Seven Silly Eaters (2000) to the classic Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (1978) by Judi Barrett. Some picture books take it a step further, offering a hands-on activity for young readers in the form of a recipe. Most require adult supervision, of course, but they offer an opportunity to do something together and taste the delicious result (and use those math skills for measuring!). The very first recipe I remember learning from a picture book was from Alligator Cookies (1988) by James Young. I was probably around four years old. Although I haven’t made alligator cookies in a while (my days of baking with cornflakes and green food coloring are past), I still love this book as a rhyming, rainy-day read-aloud, and perhaps that’s why I’m always alert for picture books that include recipes. Fortunately, there have been so many in the past few years! Integrating Empathy Interviews into Practice September brings about a swift transition into the intensity of the first weeks of school. The weather changes from hot and humid to cool and blustery. Our mindset shifts from carefree and restful to pensive and more focused. We are filled with positive intentions for the school year, our students and ourselves. The past few years, the start of the school year has been especially challenging. The effects of the pandemic have been felt by students and educators alike. We acknowledge our students’ feelings but need reminders to take care of ourselves and to focus on building relationships with other educators. Focusing on social emotional learning has been proven to help students as well as educators with developing awareness and a sense of community in our schools. Many of us have been doing this in a variety of ways, sometimes directed by our districts or, perhaps more often, by our own continued search for new ways to implement it into our curriculum. Starting the school year with an SEL intention helps to set the tone.
An Inspirational Vocation PJ Feynman is the library media specialist at Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield. Before I started working as a Library Media Specialist in a vocational high school, I knew a few things about these types of schools. However, I didn’t understand how those things added up to a completely different reality when approaching school librarianship. Now, since I’ve lived in it for a while, I’d like to share with you the top 5 things I’ve learned that will, I hope, serve to introduce this column and help you understand what your region’s vocational high school offers students. Number 5: Vocational school students are superheroes who learn twice as much.
President's Message Barb Fecteau is the librarian at Beverly High School in Beverly and teaches in the school library program at Salem State University. I love a snappy tagline. Beef—it’s what’s for dinner. Ooh, I’ll have the steak, please! When you care enough to send the very best. Well, actually I still buy the cheap $1 cards or make my own like a 9 year old. But it’s still a great slogan. I am not even irritated by 1-8-7-7-Kars-for-kids, K-A-R-S, cars for kids. I will sing that little jungle in my head thinking, “I’m so glad those kids are getting those cars. Or rather, those kars!” And so, in that mindset I present my personal motto for my term as MSLA president. Collaboration is key! Or maybe kollaboration is key, I’m still workshopping the specifics. There are a lot of things I love about MSLA, but the one that I love the most is the way that it takes people who all have sometimes isolating jobs and gives them opportunities to get together. MSLA offers both COVID-era-forged virtual environments and the new improved face-to-face type. First and foremost there is the annual conference. Alix Woznick and her crew pull this fantastic gathering seemingly from the ether every year (that is a lie. It is a lot of hard work, but it is also gratifying and occasionally hilarious work...) and it is my favorite event of the winter. Have you ever noticed that March has no school holidays? (Yes, of course, Barb—we’ve all noticed…) Well, the conference is my March holiday. I don’t have enough space to give all the reasons that I get choked up when I see a giant room full of school library people, but it gets me every time! Then there is the listserv. I’m on a flex schedule in a high school library, which is my dream job, but it is also a recipe for almost constant interruptions. The interruptions usually lead to learning, teaching or at least some interesting stories, but they often keep me from getting “in the zone” where I can actually get things done. I’m not complaining, it’s kind of one of the best parts of the job. But I feel like the listserv is the opposite of that. When I am going through my email, every once in a while I am interrupted by a cool little nugget of someone else’s school library experience. Ooh, there’s a school that is putting in a new library position! Or—Ooh, I know what book they are trying to ID. It has a green cover and it’s about a kid who does a thing! It is a nice warming feeling to know that there are others out there who are having a similar experience that I am doing the greatest job in the world. The regional directors— who are awesome, but too numerous to name (go look them up on the website)—are a band of promoters who come up with collegial and entertaining ideas that result in great collaborative experiences. (Or kollaborative, if you prefer). This year I attended a fascinating talk on how school librarians can protect themselves from doxxing hosted, on Zoom, by the Northeast region as well as a hysterical bar trivia competition (Which was won by the half of the table I was not sitting at… stupid team limit rules.) that was dreamed up by the Southeast region and held in a brewpub full of people who learned that night just how entertaining school librarians can be. And finally, the very Forum you are reading. I look for “Ask a Library Legend” with the same anticipation I used to have for the “Was my face red!” column in Young Miss magazine. (And if you get that reference, congratulations on your upcoming retirement!) And I now fangirl over Gillian Bartoo’s cataloging observations. And how lovely to be writing for a publication where it makes perfect sense to use the words fangirl and cataloging in the same sentence. I am a fan. The podcast has kept me company on some long drives, too. Before I became president those were the things I loved and, not to accuse, but they were also the things that Jen Varney and Laura Luker used to emotionally manipulate me to take on the presidency. That is a whole story full of guilt, shame and redemption that I would tell if I had more than 1,000 words. Catch me at the conference and I’ll spill the beans. Anyway, after being exposed to the whole megillah of the MSLA I have found so many other kollaborative aspects (just owning it now) that I had no idea existed. I’ll admit it, I was scared of advocacy until I got a look at all the moving pieces of what Georgina Trebbe is up to. Suffice to say, I would follow her into battle against Orcs! And Deb Froggatt has been working with folks at MBLC, MLS, MLA, possibly NASA, who can be sure? Basically, if they have a ‘L’ for library anywhere in their acronym, she is meeting with them to promote school libraries. And the MBLC just put out an amazing list of The Top 5 Reasons for having a Licensed School Library Teacher in Every School that is spectacular. As a high school librarian, I didn’t pay attention to the bookmark contest because I thought it was just for the littles. And then I was blown away by what I saw of it at the conference this year and immediately went back to work and told the art teachers that I would be hounding them this year. (They seemed pleased, everyone loves a bookmark contest!) Anne Powell and her crew have opened my eyes to the great things that happen when kids get creative in service of keeping your place in your book! The awards committee, spearheaded by Ella Stocker, does double duty by rewarding exemplary programs and bringing attention to them in their communities and around the state. I will warn you, that’s how they get you. Win an award and next thing you know you are definitely in charge of something at MSLA! With the ridiculous number of book challenges that are coming our way, we have started koll….nope, too serious a topic…collaborating with other state-wide library organizations and now have a newly minted committee for intellectual freedom that allows Laura Harrington and her crew to fight for access for all learners. This year we have three new liaison groups, too. PJ Feynman is organizing a group for librarians at vocational and technical schools. Jenna Wolf is putting together one for independent school librarians. And Sue Doherty is our first liaison to the teachers unions to help make them aware of what we do. We have a cohort of new Boston Public School librarians who are working on covering the DESE competencies to make the move from the classroom to the library to fulfill the BPS’s program of having a librarian in every school. We are migrating our website, which was snatched from the jaws of death by Ann Perham and Emily Kristofek right before school started in a series of emails that should be written as an epic poem. Or maybe I could ask chat GPT to rewrite our emails as an epic poem. Oh wait, I did. And finally, after a tremendous amount of work and brain power we have a five year plan that is (spoiler) in all likelihood going to be approved at the board retreat on September 30. Every single one of these programs has an impact on our work and there are LOTS of ways that you can get involved. If any of these things interest you—get involved! You can find contact information for all the coordinators on the webpage. MSLA - it’s the real thing! MSLA - because you’re worth it! MSLA - Just do it!
Editor's Letter Welcome to the first Forum Newsletter hosted on our new platform, Wild Apricot! We’re glad you found us. The Forum is a collection of interesting articles with data, best practices, and ruminations about topics we all care about, all written by MSLA members like yourselves! Whether you are looking for advice from library veterans, insight into picture books and graphic format books, what’s new in relevant academic research, or ways to share best practices, the Forum provides ideas to “keep things fun and funky fresh,” as Helen O’Hara says in this term’s Meet the New Librarian column. I’d like to thank my predecessor, Reba Tierney, for leaving such a robust and successful Forum to work with! I am looking forward to collaborating (kollaborating?) with Luke to continue facilitating the sharing of all this great knowledge. As Barb mentions in her President’s message, many of us are the only Library Teacher at our schools, and reading and interacting with the Forum articles is one more way we can build community among us. I am hoping that our new platform will make it even easier for you to leave comments and continue the discussions begun in each column. I will admit that one of my motivators for volunteering for this position was to “have to” read all the Forum articles. I always had the best intentions when I got the email that the latest Forum dropped, but I often got distracted by something, and forgot. If this sounds familiar, I encourage you to figure out a way to make time to read these great columns. Make Fridays Forum Fridays with a time to read one article, or set a notification during some time allocated to reading trade journals and the like to remind you that the Forum is excellent PD. As always, please provide Luke and me any feedback you’d like to share. We’d especially welcome the feedback that you would like to get involved by writing a Forum article or column, or by joining a podcast. Wishing you all a happy fall! ~Michelle
Neurodiversity in Comics Liza Halley is the Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA. She has been an avid reader of graphic novels ever since she began reading Jeff Smith’s Bone and Kazu Kihushi’s Amulet with her eldest son over 14 years ago. She reads every graphic novel for K to 6 she can find— and is a big fan of Monstress, Hellboy, and Saga— all for adults. She helped start the annual Boston Kids Comic Fest, a free, kid-friendly comic festival filled with panelists, vendors, workshops, and keynote speakers. I want to turn our attention to the convergence of comics and neurodiversity. How can teaching comics help our neurodivergent students? Which graphic novels and nonfiction books help neurodivergent students see themselves? Which graphic novels and nonfiction books offer a window into the experience of living with neurodivergence or with family members who are neurodivergent?
To start: What is neurodiversity? The term addresses the different ways our brains work. Educators now lean into thinking that our brains don’t work in “right” and “wrong” ways, but people’s brains all work differently. The terms neurodiversity or neurodivergent, for the purposes of this article, refers to students who have been diagnosed with autism, a learning disability, and/or attention deficit disorder (ADD). A neurodivergent student may present “differences in social preferences, ways of learning, ways of communicating and/or ways of perceiving the environment. Because of this, a neurodivergent person has different struggles and unique strengths” (Cleveland Clinic). According to the PEW Research Center, 15% of students enrolled in public schools in the US in the 2021–22 academic year were served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In 2021–22, about a third of students (32%) receiving services under IDEA had a specific learning disability. Some 19% had a speech or language impairment, while 15% had a chronic or acute health problem that adversely affected their educational performance. Students with autism made up 12% of the nation’s schoolchildren with disabilities in 2021–22, compared with 1.5% in 2000–01. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center noted in a 2019 report that only 3.4% of the books published that year featured stories by and about disabled characters (any sort of disability—physical and/or learning). All of these statistics make clear that the need exists for narratives written by and about neurodivergent people. And we need comics that feature neurodivergent characters too. To be clear, this means characters who are embracing the way their brains work rather than trying to overcome their disabilities. The “overcoming” narrative is a harmful trope to watch out for when curating our library collections as it assumes that this is the character’s purpose. Another issue to pay attention to is gender stereotyping. Many people still think of an autistic student as a cisgender white male, but those of us in the classroom know this is absolutely not true (Preslar). We need to push back against this by seeking out books that feature a range of neurodivergent characters—BIPOC and everyone along the gender spectrum. The covers in this piece and the resource lists below are of recently published middle grade and high school comics that are by or written about neurodivergent characters. Some are fiction and others are memoir. The list is by no means exhaustive, but rather a way to start developing this area of a graphic novel collection which features examples of strong narratives to keep looking for in order to build a more inclusive library.
Given our landscape—that 30% of the students in any given class have autism, dyslexia, ADD, and/or anxiety—we need to do more to move away from text-heavy and verbal thinking lessons. Presenting material and offering assignment and assessment options that include comics makes for a more inclusive classroom environment. In Comics Make Learning Easier for Children on the Spectrum and for Everyone, David Folk and Joshua Korenblat write: Today, by including comics in a curriculum of more conventional text-only books, we can foster inclusive learning environments. Neurodiverse students will have more ways to read, understand, and write, in a social and emotional context they can grasp. Comics create a spirited conversation around pictures and words, and a potential lifelong affinity for reading and learning. (Folk & Korenblat) In the past I have written about some concrete ways you can use comics in lesson planning. Refer to this list if you aren’t sure where to begin. Don’t be afraid to start small! Step-by-step, you can add comics into your lesson-planning toolbox. Here are some resources to get you started on your journey to a more inclusive library and more inclusive library lessons.
What are your thoughts? Have you read a book you would add to the reading list? Have you taught a comic lesson that worked well for your students? Please reach out and let me know your thoughts. Works Cited Burgess, R. (2022, March 30). Understanding The Spectrum – A Comic Strip Explanation. The Art of Autism. the-art-of-autism.com/understanding-the-spectrum-a-comic-strip-explanation/ Cleveland Clinic. (2022, June 2). Neurodivergent. Cleveland Clinic. my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23154-neurodivergent Folk, D. & Korenblat, J. Comics Make Learning Easier for Children on the Spectrum and for Everyone. UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. mgiep.unesco.org/article/comics-make-learning-easier-for-children-on-the-autism-spectrum-and-everyone Preslar, K. (2023). Accessibility for Whom? Teaching Graphic Novels to Represent the Embodied Experiences of Neurodiverse AFAB Intersectional Identities. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia. doi.org/10.18130/htdd-dc51 Schaeffer, K. (2023, July 24). What federal education data shows about students with disabilities in the U.S. Pew Research Center. pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/24/what-federal-education-data-shows-about-students-with-disabilities-in-the-us/ Simpson, H. (2020). Disability, Neurodiversity, and Feminism. Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Vol. 16, (10), 81-83. digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=jfs Tyner, M. (2020, June 16). The Numbers Are in: 2019 CCBC Diversity Statistics. CCBlogC. ccblogc.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-numbers-are-in-2019-ccbc-diversity.html |
New Librarian Q&A with Helen O'Hara
Helen O'Hara, Media Specialist Teacher
Reingold Elementary School, Fitchburg
How did you come to librarianship?
I’ve worked in libraries in some iteration since I was 18, but I knew I wanted to be a librarian 4ever when I was at Worcester Public Library. They helped me get my masters and I never looked back. I finally have my dream job now as a school librarian in a school I truly love.
How would you explain the importance of your role to a nonlibrarian?
At my school, so many kids now have access to quality diverse books, where they didn’t before. I grew up going to public libraries every weekend so books were just always there; that’s not the case for most people. So it’s my job to get books into the hands of these kids, especially books that reflect the cultural diversity of Fitchburg. Beyond books… teaching media literacy is one of the most important things school librarians do. There’s an unbelievable amount of social emotional learning that naturally comes into play when teaching online safety, cyberbullying, and recognizing fake news. So it really is a more multifaceted role than most people think, than I thought before this year!
What are you working on right now?
Our library just received a huge grant to fill our shelves with brand new books. ‘Nuff said! Time to create an actual functioning library.
What is going well?
I would say student relationships. I feel very welcome in this community and I like to think many students feel the same.
What is the most challenging thing so far?
Limitations on physical space, time, resources… typical teacher things, especially as a first year and in an urban setting. Those unavoidable frustrations that are simply part of being the fast-paced, never boring environment that is the public education system.
What’s the most unexpected thing about your new job?
I definitely didn’t realize I would spend so much time teaching about cyberbullying and cyber security, but it’s become so important. I also didn’t think I would have no books in the library for so long, and it’s awesome that kids were such good sports about it and made the library a fun place anyway.
What are you reading or watching?
I’m reading the Stranger Things graphic novel boxed set—the ones with the Zombie Boys. I’m watching Adventure Time—it’s one of my favorite little comfort shows.
What do you hope the MA School Library Association can do for you?
I’m hoping that by being a member of this community, I can stay motivated and employ new ideas to keep things fun and funky fresh.
Ask a Library Legend
Valerie Diggs
Valerie Diggs is a former President of MSLA and currently works as a Senior Visiting Instructor at Salem State University, where she also serves as the Graduate Program Coordinator of the MEd Library Media Studies program.
Our members ask: My school has new leadership and I am struggling to gain administrative support. Do you have any tips for going from a supportive administrator who advocated for school libraries to someone who does not immediately see the value? How can I keep the culture I've created over the past ten years?
With the average retention rate for school principals at four years, school librarians can potentially work with five to six principles over the course of their careers. How does the school librarian maintain consistent support for the library program in order to meet the personal and learning needs of the students? How do we re-educate each administrator when that revolving door creates the need to do this over and over again?
One of the personas I found really interesting from the ALA Standards publication (2017) was the principal, ‘Leon the Lead Learner,’ who didn’t really understand what the librarian did besides, “helping him with technology needs, making colorful displays, and recommending books to teachers and students” (p 23). It is interesting because this sentiment is just one of the consistent themes that has not changed much over the years— that the value of the school librarian still needs to be demonstrated outwardly and explicitly to all stakeholders, including the principal, other teachers, and parents and families within the community.
“Though it is sometimes difficult for school librarians to toot their own horns, it is vital to communicate success as well as areas of instruction, programming, and service needing improvement. When library goals target student learning and school improvement, the attainment of those goals appears less library-centric. Messages of success are more palatable when framed as “we” or “they” rather than “I” or ‘the school library program” (Cahill).
How do you, as a school librarian very busy with teaching classes, perhaps serving multiple buildings, and having library managerial duties, have time to spend influencing your principal? Shouldn’t you be spending all of your time with your students? Think of the flight attendant’s mantra “In case of emergency, place the oxygen mask on yourself first, then the child.” Gary Hartzell, in his seminal work Building Influence for the School Librarian (2003) writes “Influence is derived from the perceptions of the person to be influenced, not from the perceptions of the person doing the influencing.” Shaping the perceptions of others is key to your success.
Begin by learning who the principal is, and what their priorities are. Read the school’s webpage, and any newsletters, attend faculty meetings, and more. Talk to these points and use their language. Ask the school secretary about how the new principal likes to receive information, and what time of the day they like to schedule appointments. When a new principal is hired, contact the librarian at the school from which the principal came. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but make sure your messages are not filled with “library-speak”– they should be relatable to your principal.
Here are a few targeted ways to gain administrative support and keep the culture of the school library alive and well:
Make yourself visible and indispensable
Work hard to make sure that parents, administrators, staff, and students understand what their library does and why. Make sure you have a regular “column” in the newsletter, attend all faculty meetings and participate, and attend grade-level meetings. Join committees, offer space for after-school clubs, run books clubs for students and staff; the possibilities are endless
Be noticed every day
Every library needs to be noticed every day. Use social media to highlight what you are doing. Promote new book arrivals, and draw teachers and parents into the library for continuing education, EL sessions, and parenting book discussions. Don’t get discouraged by feeling that you don’t have time for all of this. The reality is that you do not.You need the voices of students and parents, and once you have their attention, you can ask them to speak out on behalf of the program. You might want to create a “tip” sheet of sorts that highlights what principals should see when walking through the school library. When the library scores high, there is a perfect beginning to advocate for a budget that will support the library’s goals.
Mission and vision are your foundation
These statements don’t have to be long, a few sentences will suffice. But these statements can be displayed on all library handouts, the website, newsletters, etc. Build your story, use vignettes, and provide student work, favorite books selected by students, and more.
Change the conversation
The standard is to provide updates to the principal about library happenings, to write monthly and annual reports, and other forms of written communication, which is all fine. However, when meeting with your principal face-to-face, make it count and change the conversation. Ask the principal what they would like to see happening in the school library, instead of telling the principal what is going on. You might ask “Is the school library program helping to achieve building goals, or how can the school library program do a better job?” This changes the atmosphere to become more collaborative, engaging, and productive. You, as the librarian, can learn helpful insights into the principal’s priorities.
Here, when changing the conversation, thinking outside the box is necessary. Some long-standing traditional activities may have to be replaced with actions that meet building goals. Let students shelve books (after training, of course) and free up your time to collaborate with teachers, or serve on the technology committee. The possibilities are endless. You only have so much time in the day. If the chess club conflicts with a principal-led committee meeting, you may have to give up the chess club, allocating that to a parent, a high school student, or another staff member. Sacrifices will need to be made so that you and the library do remain visible.
Your principal is the first in line who is most instrumental in recognizing the school library program as a valued and necessary component in ensuring student success in learning and in personal creativity. Research your principal’s priorities, and rethink your communication methods. This may take some time away from working with students and staff, but no student or teacher can be helped if there is no librarian.
Works Cited
Hartzell, G. Building Influence for the School Librarian: Tenets, targets, and tactics (2nd ed.) Worthington, Ohio; Linworth.
Kachel, D. The Principal and the Librarian: Positioning the school library program. Teacher Librarian 45:1 October 2017.
National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago, ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2017.
Richey, J., & Cahill, M. (2015). What's a school librarian's favorite preposition? Evidence in, of, and for practice. Knowledge Quest, 43(3), 68+. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A398629409/GPS?u=mlin_m_wil&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=77c58788
My Secret Identity: Book Reviewer…
Susan Harari
When I first saw a pre-pandemic plea on the MSLA listserve for Youth Services Book Review, I was intrigued. Free books? And all I had to do was write a review? I’m a voracious reader (and luckily, a quick one) although writing sounded intimidating; I hadn’t written much beyond annual reports, emails, and lesson plans since graduate school. But how challenging could it be to review a kid’s book? After several years as a reviewer and several more as a YSBR editor, I can tell you, it’s harder than it looks. Distilling the essence of a book, even a wordless picture book (actually, especially a wordless picture book) and assessing its fitness for diverse collections is a strenuous but rewarding exercise. I’ve come to see it as a calling and also a service, but one that most of us can warm to given some practice.
Our goal at YSBR is to provide thoughtful and valuable reviews that help Massachusetts librarians select diverse books. Since 2007, Youth Services Book Review has published reviews on its Wordpress site and provided thousands of free books every year to school and public libraries around the state. Originally founded by Michael Williams as part of Youth Services provided by the Northeastern Massachusetts Regional Library System and then headed by Sharon Colvin, formerly of Chelmsford Public Library, the list of publishers greatly expanded under Katrina Yurenka. Katarina managed YSBR from 2014-21 and continues to review books and maintain our contacts, diversifying and broadening our selections from small and international publishers. As of August 2021, Stephanie Tournas from the Robbins Library in Arlington and myself have shared coordinating and editing responsibilities, overseeing over 40 volunteer reviewers from both public and school libraries and fielding offerings from over 200 publishers. We love new publishing ventures, especially when they offer unfamiliar authors and illustrators. Gecko Press sends us books from New Zealand, offering stories featuring native people; Kids Can Press offers Canadian authors; Inhabit Media publishes picture books and graphic novels by indigenous Inuit authors, set in the Arctic.
I center my reviews around a few guiding principles. How unique is the book? Will it fill a niche in a collection? Many books manage to be attractive or diverting but not necessarily moving or memorable. I often refer back to Rudine Sims Bishop’s seminal theory of windows and mirrors. A recent book Tadpoles by Matt James (Neal Porter Books) exemplifies exactly what I’m thinking of when I give a book a 5, our highest recommendation. In this gorgeous and watery picture book, a young boy explores an ephemeral pond full of tadpoles with his newly single dad. It’s both a beautiful picture book about the amphibian life cycle, but also a tender look at a fractured family and the constancy of a parent’s love. For city kids, it’s a window into the natural world and how an urban area can be full of wonder. For kids feeling hurt or angry about divorce, it’s a mirror reflecting their sorrow and wish for clarity. Plus: frog facts!
We depend on the varied talents and expertise of our many excellent reviewers. After being accepted as a writer, they scroll regularly through our current offerings (you can read more about the process by visiting our Wordpress site) and choose what they’d like to read and evaluate, taking up to a month to complete their assignments. Everyone tends to have their favorites. I read a lot of young adult books but also love philosophically-inclined picture books and quirky graphic novels. We all struggle to overcome our predisposed likes and dislikes and to assess the books both thinking like kids and like librarians serving populations possibly quite different from ourselves. We’re all working on overcoming confirmation bias, to include information about race, ethnicity, disabilities, gender, and sexual orientation into our reviews, without devolving into jargon or a boring laundry list of adjectives (sometimes, really challenging).
From my aerial perch as a reviewer, I’ve noticed some recent publishing trends; this is my chance to vent about the ones that are driving me crazy.
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YA told from multiple perspectives I call this the Mr. Terupt effect. While the approach can be used effectively (see This Place is Still Beautiful by Xixi Tian, 2022), too often the competing voices lack texture and end up merging into an indistinct blob. My readers report they tend to skip the boring segments on their way to the more fully realized narrators.
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Plot-free, affirmational picture books You’ve all seen these and although it’s great to have a few, my sense is that they are written more for teachers, parents, and mental health professionals than for children. Statements such as “I am awesome”, “I am strong”, and “I am brave” do not make for compelling storytelling. In contrast, I Can Open It for You by Shinsuke Yoshitake (2023) encourages perseverance and humor in a great story kids will clamor to hear again and again.
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Digital illustrations in picture books At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I’ve tired of these digital tools, especially when artists rely on them completely. They present with a flat sameness and unfortunately are often further hampered by lackluster composition.
And conversely, some encouraging trends that YSBR would like to see nourished:
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Picture book biographies We’re deep in a golden age for this genre with many fascinating and under-celebrated stories coming to light. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches; how many of these does any one library need? But it will also prompt a thorough weeding of many collections and offer up many intriguing opportunities for both storytime programming and classroom collaborations. The demand for equitable literacy titles will continue to grow and many of the new books are an excellent fit for that goal. 2023 standouts include How Do You Spell Unfair? by Carol Boston Weatherford (MacNolia Cox, Black spelling bee champ) and Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti.
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Authentic voice Publishers do seem to be listening and have responded with books from an increasingly diverse group or authors. Examples from this year include The Words We Share by Jack Wong and Green Papayas by Nhung N. Tran-Davis. We’re also receiving more excellent books being simultaneously published in English and Spanish or written with a bilingual audience in mind, such as Spanish is the Language of My Family/El Español es la Lengua de Mi Familia by Michael Genhart or As Brave As A Lion/Valiente Con Un Leonby Erika Meza.
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Great and original graphic novels So many classic titles are being reissued in graphic novel format (I’m looking at you Magic Tree House and 39 Steps!) that it makes it hard to spot the really outside-of-the-box entries. A recent favorite of mine was Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes, a look at a Norwegian girl’s first crush while another YSBR reviewer loved Mabuhay! by Zachary Sterling, a mash-up of Filipino folklore and food trucks.
Hopefully my introduction to Youth Service Book Review has inspired you to subscribe to our feed and maybe even consider becoming a reviewer yourself. This Massachusetts-centered resource provides a unique perspective on essential collection development for our state’s schools and public libraries and distributes over 1,000 books to those institutions every year. We would love additional reviewers! We currently have around 250 books from well known, new, and foreign publishers awaiting selection. To find out more, please visit our website or email me directly: sharari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Works citedSims Bishop, R. (1990). Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books from the Classroom, 6(3).
scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
Project SLIDE: Fall Update
Deeth Ellis
Project SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation–Decline or Evolution? began in 2020 through an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant which was awarded to Antioch University Seattle. The three year project concludes in October. MSLA Academic Columnist Deeth Ellis, Head Librarian at Boston Latin School and a Doctoral Student at Simmons University, was a part of the research team. The MSLA podcast hosted Kieth Curry Lance and Debra Kachel on an episode last Spring, which references the project’s final report. Below, Forum Co-Editor Luke Steere and Ellis discuss the report’s wrap-up and next steps.
Luke Steere: Overall, it seems we are looking at a trend in reduced numbers of school librarians, right? Can you take us through what this looks like?
Deeth Ellis:The problem of reduced librarian FTEs is complex and is driven by the convergence of a number of issues. To me, the root of a number of these issues goes back to state education agencies like DESE, collecting accurate data, providing guidance or PD for administrators, developing and testing evaluation tools, helping everyone define and understand the roles of librarians, and improving how they work with preparation programs for librarians. As SLIDE finds, and as I found in my principal study too, even when a school or district leader can envision the role of a school librarian and wants one, there are forces from the district that create barriers. These could be staffing and budget issues. Another issue might be that there is little help to learn how to build a library program, particularly in places where there have been years of understaffing or no staffing. Just as we know that leaders over rely on librarians to learn about our roles, principals who are advocates might find themselves in districts where they, the principals who advocate, are in the minority–they have to take on the role of teaching about the benefits of a school librarian. If they cannot make a case for the librarian’s improving student learning, others may not be persuaded.
LS: Can you talk about your influence and workflow on this project? I remember Keith and Deb both asking for more librarians to take up this mantle of research at the end of our podcast last year. What was the workload like for you?
DE: I was added to the Project SLIDE team in the Spring of 2022 when I reached out to Keith Curry Lance via LinkedIn after reading his dozens of state studies and learning about Project SLIDE. My goal was to get more quantitative data analysis experience, so I asked if he needed help. He quickly responded that they could use help creating some tables with data due out from the Department of Education around the same time as my independent study (Fall 2022). However, this data was delayed, so we redefined my role to write the literature review for Project SLIDE. Throughout the process both Deb Kachel and Keith offered feedback regarding the selection of articles and scope. The entire process took most of a semester and was added to the final Project SLIDE report. I don’t think I had much influence on Project SLIDE because it was a fully developed research project with an advisory board that was shaping the work. My role was more narrow. No doubt, having the lit review completed helped the researchers by providing them more time to focus on the qualitative data analysis and writing up the findings.
LS: The podcast also included an action item for school librarians: find out who reports the NCES data in your district and be sure it is accurate. What else can school librarians do with this data?
DE: Obtaining accurate data is a challenge. The accuracy depends on districts’ being held accountable to accurately reportabout this. Looking at Massachusetts, DESE’s data on librarian positions by district can be found on their website. Lance is saying that perhaps we could look at the data being reported and identify errors. I’m not sure how we would go about this or who would make corrections. That would probably need to happen in each district. A first step might be for librarians statewide to take a look.
LS: What can MSLA do to address those state level indicators to increase librarian numbers?
DE: I’m not sure, but reaching district and school leaders would be a start. In my principal study, it was clear that principals are not sure how to work with their librarians. They often have a vision but no framework to integrate and develop the librarians’ role. Professional development for leaders could be helpful, particularly for those reinstating librarians.
There are two issues here though: increasing librarian numbers and ensuring the success of librarians in the school setting. The more often leaders see how librarians contribute to whole-school improvement and student achievement (social/emotional and academic) the more likely they will hire and keep a librarian.
LS: In what ways is MSLA positioned to address this “further pipeline issue” stemming from fears about “job instability and the recent toxic and politicized school environment aimed at librarians for their curation of library collections”?
DE: MSLA is doing a really good job supporting school librarians during this difficult time. What worries me is that in Massachusetts, school librarian positions can disappear without anyone’s knowing about it. MSLA can do their best but it is really DESE’s job to collect this information. DESE’s position is that they do not tell districts how to staff their school libraries. Contrast this to southern states, in which there is a mandate for school librarians, a strong pipeline from state universities (in Alabama and in Florida, for example), and strong programs statewide. The political activity is making a big difference because there is a statewide school library program to attack.
LS: One thing I found striking was the increase of administrators, 6 percent between 2018 and 2021. In the same period, teacher increases were “fairly static,” showing a .7 increase. Librarians dropped by 4.9 percent– a percentage that would be even higher if all states had reported data. Do we know why school decision-makers have chosen this path?
DE: The Voices of Decision-makers report in Project SLIDE examines this through interviews. I recommend everyone read it because it really shows the complexity of decisions and the different district, state, budget, and staffing forces leaders have to contend with. Interestingly, they found that even leaders who can describe the value of a school librarian and feel positive about them sometimes have to cut the position. I wonder about the increase in administrators and whether we would be better off if some of those could be library administrators or directors. Having a voice at the district and state level that can explain the role of the school librarian and how to leverage the position could be useful. School librarians do not often move up to administrators. Maybe because we love our job so much?
LS: Haha–that’s fair. Natick Public Schools, where I work, hired both librarians and instructional coaches this year. The dynamic with the coaches is one of collaboration, just like it should be with librarians. My hope is that the positions will foster a greater collaborative feeling across the district, and that libraries can be used as hubs of collaboration. Your comments about how best to fill this dual role encompasses school culture, administration articulation, the teachers’ perceptions, and our own training. Can you speak to examples of how this looks?
DE: I have not read extensively on this topic. Lewis (2019) explains that principals are more comfortable with the coaching model because they see it as an extension of themselves in the classroom but are less clear about how to leverage a school librarian. I also think that instructional coaches are presented as experts with a specific goal of coaching. Librarians are regarded as colleagues and collaborators. This might not be conducive to shifting to leading or coaching a colleague. Plus, my hunch is that teachers do not have a choice about receiving help from the instructional coach but may have a choice about collaborating with the librarian. Some teachers may feel threatened by the idea of their practices being evaluated. Helping school librarians learn how to coach colleagues and bringing that culture into a school could be helpful. This would require changes in the school librarian pre-professional training and professional development for administrators to help them understand and define the role. Of course, it also relates to the culture of the school.
LS: It seems obvious that students get value from being taught information literacy, but this is another area of varied labeling. Some principals mentioned that the librarian teaches it as part of a class, others say it is a collaborative effort with a librarian, and more still felt it was a general teacher responsibility, that information literacy is everywhere. This seems like a vital area to define as a school librarian.
Scheduling, staffing, and role definition go hand in hand. The range of ways principals are using librarians to teach directly shapes their role in a school. This is definitely a vital area to define because although librarians are the information specialists, students need to be taught and practice information literacy skills often. What is the role of the librarian? Teacher, collaborator, professional development leader, or all three? Not all teachers have the same expertise or interest in teaching information literacy.
Works Cited
Lance, K. C., Kachel, D. E., Breevoort, L., Gerrity, C., & Ellis, D. (2023, August). Voices of decision-makers: how district & school leaders decide about school librarian employment. SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution?
Lewis, M.A. (2019). Administrators' instructional leadership perspective of the role of instructional coach and teacher librarians: A comparative examination. School Libraries Worldwide, 25(2),16-33.
libSLIDE.org/publications/voices
Picture Book Column: Picture books with recipes
Jenny Arch
There are so many picture books about food, from Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s anthropomorphized Little Pea (2005) to Mary Ann Hoberman’s Seven Silly Eaters (2000) to the classic Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (1978) by Judi Barrett. Some picture books take it a step further, offering a hands-on activity for young readers in the form of a recipe. Most require adult supervision, of course, but they offer an opportunity to do something together and taste the delicious result (and use those math skills for measuring!).
The very first recipe I remember learning from a picture book was from Alligator Cookies (1988) by James Young. I was probably around four years old. Although I haven’t made alligator cookies in a while (my days of baking with cornflakes and green food coloring are past), I still love this book as a rhyming, rainy-day read-aloud, and perhaps that’s why I’m always alert for picture books that include recipes. Fortunately, there have been so many in the past few years!
Because it’s fall in New England, I have to lead off with Applesauce Season (2009) by Eden Ross Lipson, illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. The narrator is a little boy with red-framed glasses, who explains that his family lives in the city, so they buy apples at a farmers' market and make applesauce together. They do this throughout the fall, noticing how the color and flavor of the sauce changes along with the different varieties of apples. The endpapers are a neat grid of labeled apple varieties (Cortland, Jonagold, Paula Red, etc.) and the characters’ faces; the applesauce recipe is simple and straightforward.
Toads on Toast (2012) by Linda Bailey, illustrated by Colin Jack, is the story of a hungry fox and a clever Mamma Toad, who saves her toadlets by convincing the fox to try her “secret, favorite recipe that’s been passed down in my family.” Mamma’s Toad-in-a-Hole – which of course is the classic egg and toast recipe – has the added benefit of saving her mischievous babies. “No toads?” asks Fox. “Trust me,” says Mamma. Fox enjoys his new dish so much he makes enough for everyone to share, and passes the recipe down in his own family, too. This offers an opening to a discussion about traditional family recipes; Mamma Toad’s Secret Toad-in-a-Hole recipe is included on the final page.
Some foods seem like they have been around forever, and they are so common we may not stop to wonder who invented them. In Nacho’s Nachos (2020) by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez, readers learn about Ignacio Anaya, who was born in Mexico in 1895 and worked in restaurants in Mexico and the U.S. He invented his namesake snack at the Victory Club in 1940, inspired by the quesadillas his foster mother used to make for him, and the plates of crispy chips, melted cheese, and pickled jalapeño peppers were instantly popular. A recipe for “Original Nachos” is included in the back matter, along with an author’s note and sources.
Nearly every culture has some form of dumpling – from knishes to samosas to pierogies – so even if children haven’t heard of “bao,” they can likely make a connection to a familiar food. Children who already know bao will also enjoy Amy’s relatable predicament in Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao (2019) by Kat Zhang, illustrated by Charlene Chua: she wants to help her parents and grandma make the bao she loves to eat, but she just can’t get it right! At last, Amy hits on a solution, and the loving grown-ups in her life (and her adorable cat) help her implement it. Delicious bao for all!
In Bilal Cooks Daal (2019) by Aisha Saeed, illustrated by Anoosha Syed, Bilal is cooking daal (lentils) with his father. While it simmers, he plays with his friends in the neighborhood, a diverse bunch of kids who have a lot of questions about daal. Bilal is excited to share with his friends, but also worried they won’t like it. When the daal is ready at last, everyone tries some – and they like it! This marvelous read-aloud shows a curious, open-minded group of kids willing to try and enjoy new foods. A recipe for chana daal is included.
My Hands Tell A Story (2023) by Kelley Starling Lyons is as warm and cozy as a fresh loaf of bread. Zoe joins her grandma in the kitchen for a day of baking bread and sharing family stories; the whole thing is suffused with love, even as some of the family stories are difficult. Tonya Engel’s illustrations are rich and luminous. I’ve tried the recipe for the Cinnamon Swirl Bread that Zoe makes with her grandma, and it is delicious! (It needed a little more time in the oven than the recipe said, but ovens vary.) This read-aloud worked beautifully for two classes of kindergarteners, but would be good for first or second graders too.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (2019) by Kevin Noble Maillard, sensitively illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, is about a food that’s more than just a food: it is shape, sound, color, flavor, time, art, history, place, and nation: “Fry bread is everything…Fry bread is us.” The importance of fry bread is clear in each illustration, and Maillard and Martinez-Neal conscientiously include a diverse array of people and nations. An extensive author’s note goes into more detail, beginning, “The story of fry bread is the story of American Indians: embracing community and culture in the face of opposition.” The recipe for “Kevin’s Fry Bread” is straightforward, but doesn’t say how many servings it makes.
Considerate, capable Tsering, the main character in Thukpa for All (2018) by Praba Ram and Sheela Preuitt, illustrated by Shilpa Ranade, uses a stick and his sense of sound, smell, and touch to navigate his world. The text contains plenty of sound words as Tsering journeys home for “Hot, hot thukpa / Hearty, chunky thukpa / Yummy, spicy thukpa,” and even saves the day by helping to prepare the soup when the power goes out. According to the back matter, thukpa is a simple noodle soup that is a staple in the Northern Himalayan regions, with many regional variations. This book would be a good companion read with Thank You, Omu! By Oge Mora or Stone Soup by Jon Muth, as all three show a community coming together and contributing to make a delicious dish to share.
Hot Pot Night (2020) by Vincent Chen answers the age-old question of what to make for dinner in happy rhyme. This book’s design is exceptional, from endpapers patterned with ingredients, to a cross-section of an apartment with everyone sharing a speech bubble (“What’s for dinner?”), to a 90-degree turn that shows a bird’s-eye view of neighbors using chopsticks and sharing hot pot at a kitchen table. Big-eyed, cartoonish characters are diverse. Chen prefaces his mother’s recipe with a note about the Chinese soup, including common ingredients, and its many variations. This book is a joy to share at storytime with preschool or kindergarten students.
Ding! That’s the oven timer. What will you cook up next?
Tasty Picture Books (all include recipes!)
Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao by Kat Zhang
Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard
Soup Day by Melissa Iwai
Spicy Spicy Hot by Lenny Wen
The Babka Sisters by Leslea Newman
Chloe’s Lunar New Year by Lily LaMotte
My Hands Tell A Story by Kelley Starling Lyons
Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen
I Hate Borsch! by Yevgenia Nayberg
Have You Eaten? by Su Youn Lee
Also by E.B. Goodale
Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai
Kalamata’s Kitchen by Sarah Thomas
Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi
Memory Jars by Vera Brosgol
Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez
Hot Pot Night by Vincent Chen
Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki
Nacho’s Nachos by Sandra Nickel
Octopus Stew by Eric Velasquez
Kugel for Hanukkah by Gretchen Everin
Thukpa for All by Praba Ram
Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas by Pamela Ehrenberg
Dumpling Dreams by Carrie Clickard
Fanny in France by Alice Waters
Gingerbread for Liberty by Mara Rockliff
Hanukkah Bear by Eric Kimmel
Toads on Toast by Linda Bailey
Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson
Crepes by Suzette by Monica Wellington
Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy
The Bread Pet by Kate DePalma
Chinese Menu by Grace Lin
Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat by Mara Rockliff
Alligator Cookies by James Young
Magic Ramen by Andrea Wang
Interactive Recipe Book (Cook in a Book) by Lottie Nieminen
The Science of Baking (Ada Twist) by Andrea Beaty and Theanne Griffiths (non fiction early reader)
Bake Sale by Sara Varon (children’s graphic novel)
Integrating Empathy Interviews into Practice
Anita Cellucci
Anita Cellucci is a past president of the MSLA and the K-12 Library Teacher and department head at Westborough High School.
“The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon
you can be, is an instrument of peace.”
Carlos Santana
September brings about a swift transition into the intensity of the first weeks of school. The weather changes from hot and humid to cool and blustery. Our mindset shifts from carefree and restful to pensive and more focused. We are filled with positive intentions for the school year, our students and ourselves. The past few years, the start of the school year has been especially challenging. The effects of the pandemic have been felt by students and educators alike. We acknowledge our students’ feelings but need reminders to take care of ourselves and to focus on building relationships with other educators. Focusing on social emotional learning has been proven to help students as well as educators with developing awareness and a sense of community in our schools. Many of us have been doing this in a variety of ways, sometimes directed by our districts or, perhaps more often, by our own continued search for new ways to implement it into our curriculum. Starting the school year with an SEL intention helps to set the tone.
In the library, a strong focus on creating a safe learning environment through cultural proficiency and social emotional strategies provides a pathway for connections and relationships to develop. Many of us struggle with not only integrating this in a meaningful way but also communicating the impact to our communities. Knowing that students need relationships with adults to feel connected to the learning, it becomes imperative to align our libraries with these strategies. Students will often use their time in the library to self-report challenges that relate to their social emotional wellness, such as LGBTQ, bullying, mental health and issues with feelings of belonging. This is not specifically a high school issue; it is applicable at all levels. Connecting these challenges to the MSLA evaluation rubric and Standard II: Teaching All Students as well as to the Include domain of the AASL Standards Framework for Learners provides the language and leverage for impactful shifts in culture in school communities and within conversations with administration and other educators.
Finding pathways to connect SEL into all that we do in the library, even in small ways, will add up to a larger impact. Framing lessons with SEL practices through a lens of cultural competency will embed skills, habits and attitudes for students to develop the abilities to connect the library learning to their daily lives in a meaningful way. In practice, this should relate not only to the actual lessons, resources and interactions but also the essence of the space and how students respond to it.
This year, I am continuing to implement SEL in a variety of ways, and I am especially excited about the use of Empathy Interviews. They are a valuable tool to dive deeper into Bibliotherapy and SEL practices. Utilizing the research around the use of compassion, empathy interviews offer a concrete understanding of how to move toward this type of interaction when conferencing, advising or interacting with students, educators and our larger community of constituents.
The extended value of this protocol is the idea that we can use them not only with our students but also when having professional conversations for advocacy and engagement for libraries. This protocol could also be used to encourage group discussions, too. Understanding the norms, the why and the how, of being empathetic within discussion and conversation is a valuable skill for all of us. When we think about how biases intersect with our understanding of empathy, when we utilize these protocols with a lens toward compassion, we can truly understand the thoughts, emotions and motivations and change our behaviors to take the needs into consideration. Both of the protocol examples provided, the High Tech High Graduate School of Education Center for Research as well as the Stanford d.School Empathy Interview Guide, provide guidance to go deeper within empathy interviews. Norms are embodied throughout the process with a clear script to help with understanding the experiences of those we are interacting with, whether this is our students, educators, principals or others.
All of this work requires an open heart and a mindset of curiosity. The arc provided in the Stanford d.School Empathy Interview Guide reminds us to encourage stories by not only telling them but also by evoking and exploring the emotions that are invoked by the stories.
As librarians we know that stories connect us as humans—our senses and our emotions and thereby leave the listener with a powerful impact on their understanding of others. Sometimes there is a need for a pause within the conversation, and we must not be afraid of silence. Silence allows a person to reflect and make their personal connections. When we allow our students to pause, we give grace for deeper meaning. Many of our students need this time for processing. As educators, we may feel the urge to fill the space with our own answers and thoughts and often our students readily agree with us because it’s the path of least resistance in the moment.
Empathy interviews take into consideration the idea that we all process differently. Although I've used other conferencing strategies in the past, this style of interviewing offers a clear path to social emotional learning in a way that provides a safe and brave learning environment. I look forward to hearing your ideas with empathy interviews and social emotional strategies that you are using to start the year with a focus on diving deeper into empathy.
Works Cited
"Empathy Interviews." HTH Graduate School of Education, 2023, hthgse.edu/resources/empathy-interviews/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
"Resources and Guidance: Stanford d.School Empathy Interview Guide." The Learning Accelerator, practices.learningaccelerator.org/artifacts/stanford-d-school-empathy-interview-guide. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
An Inspirational Vocation
PJ Feynman
PJ Feynman is the library media specialist at Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield.
Before I started working as a Library Media Specialist in a vocational high school, I knew a few things about these types of schools. However, I didn’t understand how those things added up to a completely different reality when approaching school librarianship. Now, since I’ve lived in it for a while, I’d like to share with you the top 5 things I’ve learned that will, I hope, serve to introduce this column and help you understand what your region’s vocational high school offers students.
Number 5: Vocational school students are superheroes who learn twice as much. Consider the day-to-day mechanics of learning a trade alongside the MA Curriculum Standards. Here’s how it works: our students alternate one week in their trade area, which is referred to as their “shop”, and then one week in traditional academics, rotating through math, ELA, science, history, world language, and electives on a block schedule. By senior year, many are taking AP classes as well as participating in co-op work placements, which allow them to apply skills they have learned in their shop to a real-life setting. All the while, these students participate in sports, clubs and, because of the regional layout, are sometimes commuting by bus for up to 2 hours per day.
Number 4: Academic teachers are superheroes, too. Despite spending half the time in academics as their peers in traditional public high schools, students at vocational schools have to pass the same MCAS test to graduate. Imagine saying goodbye your students on a Friday, and then not seeing them in class for another week and a half. This means Academic teachers at vocational schools mus be experts at accelerating their curriculum, and they must foster students who step up and take charge of their learning.
Number 3: And shop teachers are superheroes! There’s a trend here, yes, but, as you probably imagine, the staff at a vocational school will include master carpenters and plumbers, HVAC technicians, auto technicians and electricians. There are also chefs, nurses, stylists, architects, preschool teachers, robotics engineers, web designers, entrepreneurs, veterinarians, and others—instructors who come straight from the “real world” and start teaching groups of up to 30 students for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. At Northeast Metrotech, they teach the full range of our diverse student community, which includes 65 percent students with high needs, 50 percent students from low income families, and 18 percent whose first language is not English. To spend time in a shop class is to see the miraculous every day. Not only do these professionals keep students safe, they send them into the world with a trade certificate that allows them to start work immediately, contributing to their community and providing for themselves and their families.
Number 2: Our schools are regional. At Northeast Metrotech, we welcome students from 12 communities north of Boston. From this wide, diverse area comes strength, and it also presents profound implications for scheduling and transportation. One way to think about it is that our freshman class come to us from over 20 middle schools!
Number 1: Libraries are critical to supporting the mission of the school. In my conversations with other vocational school librarians, I’ve learned that while we may be focusing on different aspects of the work at any given time, we face the same challenges. There’s also some unique to vocational school settings, which I will be exploring and writing about in future columns, but here are two examples.
First, the texts for the shops. Most of these are written at a post secondary level. This is because most people who are learning to be dental hygienists or automotive technicians are adults. Even students who read at grade level are challenged in comprehending such high-level trade vocabulary or procedure manuals with technical layouts. Creating and finding resources accessible to fifteen and sixteen year olds, especially those reading below grade level or functioning in their second language, is a team effort that librarians are uniquely qualified to support.
Another example is that while many of our students continue to post-secondary programs, many others will no longer have a default relationship with a library after graduation. Large numbers of vocational school students enter the workforce at 18 years old, and quite a few have a dream of starting their own business. It is critically important that they leave the vocational school setting thinking highly of the help they can get from librarians, and knowing that libraries are helpful places that can connect them with community resources and reliable information at no charge. We do not want to be the last librarians our students come into regular contact with, so they should leave us convinced of the value of libraries.
I hope connecting some of these big picture items to your notions of vocational schooling has given you some insight. As I like to say, we are achieving the impossible on the regular! Please feel free to reach out with any questions! pfeynman@maschoolibraries.org
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