Dan Rather used to end his broadcasts with a single word – “Courage”.
Given the present state of the economy and educational funding:
What scares you the most about the future of school libraries?
What encourages you the most? (What keeps hope and the “Mission from God” alive and well for you?)
In Hope & Courage, I wrote a little about the connections between courage, hope and teaching awhile back in response to one of Doug Johnson’s posts.
Parker Palmer writes:
…..good teaching sometimes goes unvalued by academic institutions, by the students for whom it is done, and even by those teachers who do it. Many of us “lose heart” in teaching. How shall we recover the courage that good teaching requires? …. In its original meaning, a “professor” was not someone with esoteric knowledge and technique. Instead, the word referred to a person able to make a profession of faith in the midst of a dangerous world. All good teachers, I believe, have access to this confidence. It comes not from the ego but from a soul-deep sense of being at home in the world despite its dangers. This is the authority by which good teachers teach. This is the gift they pass on to their students. Only when we take heart as professors can we “give heart” to our students – and that, finally, is what good teaching is all about. ( “Good Teaching: A Matter of Living the Mystery” by Parker J. Palmer)
So … Keep the faith. Keep hope alive. Share what gives you hope and courage!!
What scares you the most about the future of school libraries?
I’m afraid that current school librarians won’t realize that we’re at a “tipping point” in terms of new technologies. On the other hand, I also fear that we will lose our “soul” as a the place which promotes reading for pleasure. The example of several schools in our own state which tout themselves as “high tech” high schools” but which don’t have school library programs is very scary. Even CSU Monterey Bay, which started out without a physical library, learned pretty quickly that that didn’t provide the support and services its students needed and demanded. That brings up another trend which is scary–online schools with no school library program. Who is going to promote ICT skills in those institutions when there’s no librarian in sight?
I think the Virtual Learning Commons concept may have legs but there are definitely challenges. Like in so many other areas, VLCs will reveal a tech divide. Minority and economically disadvantaged students could very well slip further behind the privileged few.
The equal access to resources is a daunting challenge and the fact that legislators and policy-makers don’t take quality school libraries seriously as an important equalizing factor is really scary.
What encourages you the most? (What keeps hope and the “Mission from God” alive and well for you?)
I don’t know about the mission from God but I keep going because I’m jazzed by new technologies and ways of accessing and using information. Some of our tasks will never change: the selection, acquisition, and organization of information resources and the teaching of information evaluation skills and research skills in general are just two of many. Even though the presentation methods and tools will continue to change rapidly and continually, the basic skills kids need to know will not be very different.
Posted on behalf of David – who put this comment on a related post.
I don’t why you picked courage, but courage at this point seems foolish to me. It is clear that NCLB was designed to punish the poor and minority community, treat teachers as fools and generally ruin public education in favor of vouchers. I have worked as a teacher and librarian in four districts in two states and it is all the same. They are playing us for suckers. We take pay cuts and get laid off and every one elst get tax cuts. We are supposed to reach impossible goals and when we don’t we are labels as incompetant fools. I have been laid off twice in the last five years and didn’t have employment for a year. We are being played for fools.
Thanks to both Tom & David for their comments.
I too fear that many of us are not recognizing this “tipping point”. I am even more frustrated that so many of the public we serve do not even recognize that adept use of information tools should be part of library service. For whatever reason, folks do not even consider libraries into the technology equation.
I also feel (and share)David’s very understandable frustration with the system. It really takes courage to teach in this kind of situation. Some of us can use courage to fight the system, and other of us can stoke up our courage to do the best we can for the kids we work with – despite the system. It is a battle either way – and foot soldiers need courage.
I’ve experienced some tough issues in my time as SLMS, but I’m lucky that Oklahoma supports school library programs and my district is not on shaky financial ground. All that said the times are what they are, and Oklahoma has some current legislation in the works that would decimate the work I do. We are fighting the good fight, but I expect next year to be tough and a “year of no money.” When these things darken my thoughts I focus on the students. What is where my hope lies. I’ve had enough experience to know that students value me and many of their parents value my contribution to their children’s education. I could get caught up in serious concerns and then become blue, but instead I will smile, do my job, and make the lives of students better. I’ve seen the results of my efforts and I believe in what I do. There is some bad press, times are very harsh, and the whole world seems to be changing, but each and every day I have the opportunity to affect someone’s future, so I will do that.
Lisa – Very similar here. My job is not threatened – but the budget woes will hit us in other ways and probably worsen before they get better. Focusing on the kids is what keeps us going. Also – a teacher in our school had her students read an article about the firing of all the teachers in a Rhode Island school district. She was amazed and touched at the reaction of the students. Their primary concern was the fate of the teachers. They immediately personalized it to their own teachers, making comments like “What if that happened to Mr. & Mrs. X – they are married. They would have nothing.” “Why should teachers be expected to work long hours after school and during the summer – they have lives too”. Our area is looking at regional high schools. When the consultant in charge of examining the issue spoke to our students, the first thing they asked, and continued to ask in different ways was “But what would happen to our teachers. We like our teachers. We don’t want them to lose their jobs”. Some days it seems as if the kids fight us and complain about every little thing. But when push comes to shove – they are in our corner.
Thanks for commenting.
Jacquie