Thursday, February 28, 2013

Friday 55-Bibliophiles

FRIDAY 55

I start my morning duties 
in the cafeteria.
Some kids wave 
 across the room.
Others run for a hug.
Some sheepishly admit 
they forgot their books.
Others tell me 
they love their books.

I end my day
in the library.
Some kids scowl.
Another cries.
When they refused to behave
I took away the books.




Sick of my tales of library misbehavior yet?  Two classes found out today that even if their teachers are willing to put up with mayhem I am not (and I have yet to see the class I described last week again).  Today's shenanigans involved first graders and third graders.  The first graders seemed to think the shelves were monkey bars.  The third graders were running all over their substitute teacher and were so loud it was impossible for the class on the other side of the partition to hear their teacher.  Both classes found out I am not messing around and I will make good on my threats.  I felt bad for the very few well-behaved kids in each class.

I'll hold them accountable but I won't hold grudges.  One little fellow who had an issue a few weeks ago has settled down nicely and likes to come tell me about his pet and what he liked about his books.  I only have about 20 minutes with each class.  It's not a lot of time to build rapport with 1400 individual kids but I try to at least address them each by name and give them each a smile with eye contact.  If I have an extra moment I try to engage them about whichever book they chose or ask them to tell me about their favorite part when they bring it back.  I remind them to be bibliophiles every day.  It's a little victory every time a kid sees me in the hall or cafeteria and points at me while shouting, "Bibliophile!"

And as much as I hated to do it, depriving a few unruly kids of books for one rotation and seeing them unhappy about that gives me more hope that they will learn what they need to learn than seeing a kid come into a library with 11,000 books and tell me there is nothing there he is interested in.

14 comments:

Margaret said...

I gave away over 600 books when we moved. Wasn't even close to half of my books. My favorite store is a used book store and my favorite furniture ... Nice looking book cases. Antiques if possible. (And a comfy chair :) I loved my librarian in elementary school. I forgave her for thinking I was a boy. My moms pixie home haircuts were awful. :)

g-man said...

Gosh Ms Trini.... You Are Mean!!!!

Rastaman said...

Ya know, when I was bad in high school, and I was bad a lot, they sent me to the library as punishment, to sit out the rest of the day, but I fell in love with the librarian, even though she was a good 40 years older than me, and after I graduated, one day, she came into the place I worked, and, as shocked as I was to see her, I was overcome with emotion and I professed my love for her on the spot, and she just laughed!

Ima go smoke some of the good doobage now so I can laugh at my insanity.

g-man said...

And Margaret Bednar ..... Grrrrrrrrr

Anyway, you sure have a bunch of little Hooligans don't you?
But they Are inspirational!
Loved your Dewey Decimal 55
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week End

Margaret said...

Oh. I should have said "Racko". (I always like that better than Yhatzee). Sorry G-man. ;P

Anonymous said...

I remember being in I believe it was 4th grade. New teacher - a sub as our regular was out on maternity leave.

We tortured her. We were and I say this with the appropriate shame, devilish little bastards in a Catholic school.

Leave It To Davis said...

You just keep doing that great job you are doing, Ms. Librarian!!! The kids are going to remember you and respect you. No doubt about it. It's sad their teachers don't have the backbone that you do.

stephen Hayes said...

You remind me of the great librarians I encountered in school, the ones who encouraged me to read and want to learn.

Bijoux said...

This is great! Oddly, I don't remember any of my school librarians interacting with any of us. However, the Bookmobile was a different story!

Daryl said...

you are so good at this ... i wish we had a librarian like you when i went to grade school

Commander Zaius said...

Keep them straight! I love the peace and quiet of a library.

Alice Audrey said...

I doff my hat to you for even trying to connect with so many kids. They can get out of hand so fast.

Secret Agent Woman said...

Consequences are important.

When our kids were in elementary school we decided to donate by buying books for the school Biographies that included lots of women and racial minorities, books on a variety of religious traditions, books about social justice issues, and lots of books on science, the environment. We called it pushing our liberal agenda. :-)

Hilary said...

Sounds to me as if those kids have the perfect librarian. Thanks for that.