Maryland's Monthly Amazing School Librarians

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April 2021

March 2021

Randi Trzesinski & Katherine Florida

We have been working together for 6 years and have had a blast making the Media Center a welcoming and engaging place for our school community. We have found that our strengths complement each other and together we are able to make creative ideas come to life. We love collaborating with teachers in their classes and chatting with students when they pop into the Media Center. Working with our students is the absolute best part of the job. Randi is a National Honor Society sponsor, and Katie sponsors the Student Government Association. We make it a goal in every aspect of our Media program to make sure that students know they are valued, important, and that their voice matters. Digital literacy and technology skills have been an important aspect of our job for years, but particularly this year, our expertise in that area has been called on frequently. Randi has been keeping our staff supported with best digital practices and Katie has been working with ELL students, many of whom are new computer users. Bringing student attention to our digital collections has also been a priority.

While in this virtual environment, we have been highlighting that the library and "the stories" are still here for you. One of our favorite things has always been creating large book displays with eye-catching visuals. (See pics on Instagram @omhsmedia). We are working on maintaining that same level of creative reading promotion by starting a blog and making videos. We have been hyping up the books we have been reading on our blog and social media feeds to encourage students to continue finding solace and inspiration in reading. We highlighted books we read over the summer, and the ones we are most excited to read next. Through our "Just Finished" feature, we are sharing what we have just read with a little descriptive blurb. We are trying not to write too much, both to make it manageable for us and give our readers just a little snippet to grab their interest. We are planning to encourage students to share what they have “Just Finished” on social media and through a Flipgrid on our Media resources page.

February 2021

I've been in love with libraries since I was a little girl. To me, libraries have always been a safe haven where I feel encouraged to grow as a learner. I became a clerk at my hometown public library on my 15th birthday and have worked in libraries ever since! This marks my 20th year as a school media specialist but my 27th year working in libraries! I kiddingly tell my husband that I'm not qualified to do any other job; but really, I can't imagine doing any other job. Libraries have grown and changed over the years and that change keeps me enthused! I love the ever changing feeling of libraries--new books, new technology, new ideas, and new classes every hour. It’s that change that leads me to pursue new goals, such as installing both Lego and green screen walls for my students, leading virtual family storytimes with diverse literature, obtaining and renewing my National Board Certification in Library Media and participating in FCPS’ Vanguard program for blended learning. I don't know that the word "amazing" applies to me. But the words enthusiastic, passionate, helpful and creative do apply to me. I want others, especially my staff and students, to also experience the feeling of libraries being safe havens where they can grow as learners. That’s why I take my skills and try to lead the way, doing things like teaching an MSDE course for teachers at my school called “Tech Tuesday”, mentoring media interns, having a Family Checkout Night to close out each school year, and obtaining a grant for STEM kits for preK-3rd grade students that accompany Black Eyed Susan Nominees. At the end of the day, I feel amazing as long as I have helped someone!

One of my favorite programs was a Boys Book Buying Club during the 2017-2018 year. During previous years, I genrefied our fiction and nonfiction collections. That process revealed gaps in our collection, including topics most appealing to our intermediate male students. As a media specialist, I believe that there are no such things as “boy books” or “girl books.” However, I couldn’t argue with circulation data and students’ opinions. Male students in our fifth grade classes became my most reluctant readers and I found myself admiring the forthright honesty of a student, who bluntly told me, “Mrs. Siderius, I can’t find anything good to read in realistic fiction that has a male main character. I want something other than sports!” His comment inspired me to assemble a Boys Book Buying Club. An application was distributed via Google Forms to all male fifth grade students. On the application, they listed their strengths so I could pull together a diverse group of students. The club collaborated on a survey to identify the reading interests of our fifth grade male students and then distributed the survey through Google Forms. Afterwards, the club met weekly with me to sort and prioritize the findings of the data. We sent our topics to the children’s book buyer at our local bookstore, The Curious Iguana. She booktalked titles to club members, which they then ranked in order of preference for our budget. After our order arrived, the boys loved introducing the new books to their classmates! This project was memorable to me for two reasons! One, it taught me the importance of books as windows and doors for students’ needs. Second, the students’ energy forced me to think in a different perspective. It makes me want to have more purchasing clubs in the future!

January 2021

One of my favorite lessons is based on the book, Drawn Together by Minh Le’. It was one of a series of lessons that focused on the 2019-2020 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan nominated books. Before going virtual, we read the book and discussed the story. It does not have a lot of text, so students had to focus on the illustrations and see how the story was conveyed through the details; through the expression of the characters, the meaning of the choice in illustrations, the symbolism within the two styles of drawing and then the transformation within the two characters and their style of drawing. It is a book that needs to be savored and not just tasted! There were a lot of “Oh yeah”s, and “Oh, look at how”s.” Once we transitioned to virtual lessons, students were given the choice to use one of our school’s databases to research Vietnam and record what they learned (in a document, Wixie or Power Point), look up a Vietnamese recipe (or recipe from another culture) and make it, or create a drawing with at least one other person. They were also encouraged to: listen to the story read by the author, listen to an author interview and contact a grandparent or special person to talk about things have changed and/or stayed the same since they were a child.