Tackling Time in our 2019 Library AQ

I am extremely blessed to have been given another opportunity to facilitate York University's 2019 Library Additional Qualification Course, blended model. The blended model means that part of the course is run online and part of the course (just ten intense days) happens face-to-face. I am also very fortunate to be teaching the course this year in my own school library at Agnes Macphail Public School. (Last year, I taught about library in a non-library space.) It helps so much because a) I can grab a book or a resource quickly when the need arises, and b) my school is air-conditioned. I also had high hopes to actually weed my entire print collection (with the help of my uber-devoted and hard-working adult volunteer, Mrs. Pat McNaughton, mother of teacher-librarian whiz Kim Davidson) during and after the class.

[please insert hysterical laughing here]

Foolish me! Ten days is a pittance of time. It's so little and we hope to do so much. We have adult learners but that doesn't mean that we can go full-throttle without any breaks. Even breaks and "free time" are taken up with questions, clarifications, and conversations, so it's difficult to try and multi-task. So how do we maximize our time together when it is so brief?

1) Separate and Delegate

When it comes to my school library weeding project, Pat has come in to do what she can independently. Ideally, I'd like to sit side-by-side with Pat and we consult each other about the books. Our modified plan involves Pat going through the book shelves and making "delete" and "maybe-delete" piles. Pat has years of experience volunteering in school libraries, so I trust her call when it comes to the physical condition of books. If it's damaged beyond repair, or moldy, or look super-dated, or we have multiple copies of the same title, she adds it to the "delete" pile. I peek at the "maybe" pile because Pat would like me to use my teacher-librarian training to make the final call on certain books. Is it a classic that needs to stay on the shelf despite its age? Is there a certain reason why it is important to keep it? Like I said, I'd prefer to weed alongside Pat instead of asynchronistically, but I don't have much choice. Priority has to go to the course! The course itself has three sections (Part 1, 2 and Specialist) and it is like teaching a 3-grade split class. Thankfully, there are times where we separate and the different "grades"/sections will tackle a Moodle-focused task, allowing me to go between the groups for support. I also appreciate how the individuals taking the course are invested enough in the class to offer logistic solutions and then create them (forms, spreadsheets, surveys, tracking documents) for everyone's benefit, especially mine!

2) Open Flow / Fluid Scheduling

I wish there was a way we could implement this during the regular school year. York University specifies that we must have a certain number of in-person hours logged, but they don't dictate how we must arrange them. The participants and I together decide how the flow of the day will go. Do we need a morning break at 10:00 am or at 10:30 am? Is it a 5, 10, or 15 minute breather? It changes depending on the day's events, which might be trying for people who like very regular routines, but seems to be working for our 15 learners. We also use the adult learning principle of "the law of two feet" - if you have to go to the bathroom at some point, then go to the bathroom; if you have to make a phone call, then excuse yourself into the hall and make the phone call. No one has abused this privilege. Many of the participants come from far away and are taking the chance to enjoy the multicultural delicacies that Scarborough has to offer for lunch. They carpool, pre-order, and make all sorts of creative arrangements with each other so that we can feed ourselves but still ensure we have a lot of class time for learning. In teacher-librarianship, we talk about fixed schedules and flexible schedules, prep vs parallel vs partnered instruction time. Can you imagine what it would be like if we didn't have to worry about squeezing a lesson into a 40 minute period? Even though we are crammed for time in this course, we have the luxury of shaping our time much more freely than in a traditional school day.


3) Making Moments Matter (3 Field Trips!)

Another way we've maximized our time together is to bring speakers in and then take students out! I'll talk about all our guest speakers next week (in a post tentatively titled "10 days, 9 guest speakers") but this week I'll mention the 3 field trips that we've undertaken. Field trips mean time for transit, so we really need to make our time away count; thankfully, the excursions we've had have been very worthwhile.

a) MakerEdTO - July 4, 2019 (Day 2)

Who actually arranges a field trip on the second day of class? I do! MakerEdTO seems to have something for everyone. (I already wrote about MakerEdTO in detail last week.)

b) Toronto Public Library, North York Central Branch - July 10, 2019 (Day 5)

It was worth temporarily abandoning our home base to go to Yonge Street north of Sheppard Avenue. Diane Banks and Peggy Thomas shared a lot of information about the Toronto Public Library and then took us on a tour of the incredible facilities. I'm not sure what impressed us most - the Children's Area, the Fabrication Studio, or the Multimedia Studio. Our group undertook a "Tallest Freestanding Pipe Cleaner Structure" challenge and came up with many different designs!

c) Board Game Bliss - July 11, 2019 (Day 6)

It wasn't planned but was a natural next step after we had discussed games-based learning in class. "After school", half of the participants chose to follow me a short distance down the road to Board Game Bliss, a great board game store and play space. Many of us made purchases (for home and school use) and had a great time perusing the shelves for new treasures.

We only have four days left of in-person class time. The juggling act is to ensure that the participants don't feel rushed (a big facilitator no-no is announcing "Oh, we ran out of time for X" - it makes audience members feel like they are missing out and makes you as a presenter look disorganized) but also guaranteeing that no vital components of school librarianship are glossed over or missed. For some, this may be their only course showing them how to be a teacher-librarian, so we need to make every minute count.