ISCI794 TL Interviews: Part 4
Alana Lewis has spent the past 4 years in Berkeley County School District as Sangaree Middle's teacher librarian, and previously served as the TL at an elementary school in Charleston County. Before earning her MLIS, she also worked in libraries for the College of Charleston. Just this month, Ms. Lewis was named the South Carolina Association of Teacher Librarians' 2024 Lowcountry Regional Librarian of the Year! I also have the privilege of serving as her library clerk this year, and she has been an invaluable mentor and role model for me. Teaching is Ms. Lewis's favorite part of her job, and one of the principles that guides all of her library programming is exploration. She is passionate about encouraging students to broaden their horizons when it comes to leisure reading, and she takes great care to curate and swap out library displays with different themes in an effort to put new and unexpected titles in plain view for curious patrons. There are currently displays for spooky Halloween reads, Junior Book Award nominees, new nonfiction titles, and biographies featuring musicians. She also creates one-page guides that suggest "readalikes" and similar titles students may want to check out if they have previously enjoyed a certain title, theme, or genre. Students regularly consult these guides when they visit the library with their ELA classes for lessons and book checkouts.
Ms. Lewis's library lessons also emphasize exploration and discovery, both in terms of reading materials and academic performance. She collaborates with ELA teachers to plan research and database lessons that instruct students on how to access, evaluate, and explore credible research sources. She organizes book tastings where students sample myriad titles for 2 minutes each, and then document and discuss what they liked or disliked about them with classmates.
While we did not discuss it during our interview, I have also observed the theme of exploration in many of the passive programming opportunities Ms. Lewis provides. In various areas of the library, there is a puzzle table, a selection of board games, building blocks and other manipulatives, a perler bead creation station, a Lego wall, and a smartboard that students may reserve for work or play during recess. These activities are suitable for students of all skill and ability levels, and may be enjoyed independently or in small groups, so there is genuinely something new to be explored for all of the students at Sangaree.
Comments
Post a Comment