Revitalize in 2012:)

What a successful first semester!  The library waded into the flex-scheduling pool with much success and little adjustment.  The adjustment was more on the part of the library staff than the students and teachers.  This bodes well for services delivery.  We hosted a parent workshop on reading resources available at our school for emerging readers with great success and turnout.  We are prepared for our school accredidation process in February of 2012, and we have learned to adjust our workload with fewer employees without losing any services.

Perhaps the most exciting new venture was the professional development course held for faculty in the fall; Web 2.0 Collaboration and Learning.  The teachers who attended jumped right into the exciting world of teaching tools and collaborative resources, and presented projects and lessons well-above my expectations.  Participants were surveyed about how they felt about working in a collaborative, project-based environment, and their responses included the following:

1. It was nice not having the pressure of a traditional class/course environment.
2. The way we did this course was perfect because we learned so much from each other. It takes a lot of trial and error and discussion with others.
3. It was great working in a collaborative environment where everyone was working toward the same goal, but everyone was willing to help others.

Now, if I can get them to reflect further and see that their positive responses on a non-traditional classroom are the same as their students would have? 

We are beginning our 2nd semester with a new group of faculty members tomorrow evening.  This group will also contain a few school administrators.  I am excited to continue with this new teaching venture.  Aside from learning so much from the teachers involved in the class, it has also opened up more communication between them and the library!

Happy New Year, and more to come as we grow and emerge at our school library:)