I have a new JOB!

Today was the first full week of my new job. I had accepted the position at the end of November after a ton of thought, discussions, tears, and wondering if I was making the right decision or jumping into something to escape. Now that it’s Friday and I’m wrapping up, I can say without trepidation that it was the right decision. Changing schools in the middle of the year is tricky. I think in most jobs they require two weeks’ notice, and it doesn't matter very much when you change. Summer, Fall, Winter, unless you have a massive project you’ll be in good shape. But in education, at least in traditional schooling, that’s considered somewhat taboo. In public schools you normally put in for a transfer in the spring and then change in the fall, so you don’t disrupt the year. In my case, I put in 30 days at the end of November and prayed for the best. Coming into a new school in the middle of the year is equally difficult. You’re starting from scratch, especially as a librarian or other position without a real classroom. There are tons of people to meet and learn about, kids are asking a lot of questions about what happened to the last person, and you’re trying to figure out where all the grade levels are. In the library this means making sure I’m reviewing just enough old territory and gracefully building in my own material. I came in on a workday, and that was the best thing ever. It meant that I got to look closely at my space, work solely with staff, and think about what I wanted this library program to look like. Everyone was so nice to me and seemed genuinely happy to have me here. And teachers started asking me questions. As a librarian, a good part of our job is public relations. We are constantly reaching out to teachers, reminding them that we are here to support them, that we can help them with research groups, higher level readers, lower level readers, finding books on a topic….you name it. I’m trained for just about anything. The first week has been all about getting to know the kids and letting the kids get to know me. They have asked me a variety of questions about where the other librarian went, who I was. Here’s one conversation: First grader: “How long are you going to be here?” Me: “A long time.” First Grader: “Until you get old and die?” Me: “Um, normally people retire before that happens.” First Grader 2: “Yea, my grandma is not working and she’s alive!” Yes, that was seriously a conversation from a first grade class. It is a good reminder that we always need to be aware of how we weigh the needs of our students. Kids love structure. I think adults love structure to but we get around it because so much of what we do is self-built. For instance, I knew I was moving to a new job, but did not have an opportunity to share that with a lot of my students before I left. But what a great place this is! Working in the private sector is nothing like working in public schools. You are really given the freedom to draw up your own curriculum and the flexibility to work within different schedules. The standards are there to be adapted to the needs of your students. I feel like a LIBRARIAN!