Britten Follett, Author at eSchool News

More than a passion project, literacy advocacy takes a village

Britten Follett — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:14:00 +0000

Key points:

Literacy advocates can provide students with this foundation for a lifetime of learning
States need to strengthen reading instruction policies
How we can improve literacy through student engagement
For more news on literacy, visit eSN’s Innovative Teaching page

The most effective advocacy programs often begin with a personal passion to make a difference.

When former National School Library Program of the Year librarian Marge Cox retired, she began volunteering at Youth Haven, a shelter designed to help abused and neglected children and teens in Southwest Florida. “I got involved with Youth Haven after a former Collier County Public Schools employee contacted me and said Youth Haven needed my skill set,” Cox told me. “They had boxes of books that had been donated to them and wanted to create a library. I had retired at the end of the 2020 school year and had been praying for God to show me my next adventure.”

Youth Haven had boxes of donated books but no centralized collection. So, Cox began organizing the books into a library and established a Makerspace for the students at Youth Haven. “The youth who are there have had a difficult life and Youth Haven provides a safe environment for them. I appreciate that I can play a small part in their lives, by helping them have easy access to books and activities. Books and youth are my passion, because I believe literate people are better citizens, happier individuals, and more of an asset to their communities.”

Speaking of committing retirement to getting books in the hands of learners of all ages, former Wisconsin school librarian Susy Siel has built 12 libraries on Eleuthera Island in The Bahamas. Siel visited the out islands with her parents for decades and discovered first-hand the need, like in many rural communities, for high-quality libraries stocked with current books and new computers.

So, Siel took matters into her own hands and created Freedom to Read, Inc. “Our mission is to change lives through free access to literacy,” Siel said. “I have witnessed the power that the availability of books and computers/internet have on people’s lives. By advocating for literacy here in The Bahamas we can foster a better sense of community, while simultaneously assisting individuals to reach their goals… whether personal or in the workforce. When people can seek and find information, they are empowered. Their voice is elevated. Their ability to make changes in policy, law and their own lives is enhanced.”

Whether it’s individuals with a passion project or organizations that exist exclusively to help connect students with books, it takes a village to advocate for literacy. Recently, Follett Content Solutions partnered with Amazon in the Community to deliver 5,500 books to students in the greater Seattle area. And in conjunction with PageAhead, another Seattle-based children’s literacy program, we’ve delivered as many as 150,000 books to kids each year for the past few years, many from low-income families, to help promote summer reading and build home libraries.

Between Seattle, Naples, and the Bahamas, there are advocacy villages everywhere, filled with educators like Hannah Irion-Frake, a third-grade teacher in Pennsylvania who spends her career advocating for and creating readers. “I provide training for teachers in my district in science-based literacy practices,” Irion-Frake said. “Teachers with deep knowledge about best practices for literacy are better equipped to make a difference for their students. And there is no greater accomplishment, in my opinion, than teaching a child to read.”

Teaching students to read happens in the classroom and library every day. It happens through community and business partnerships. It happens through full time jobs or second acts in life.

In 2010, when I came to work for the family business for my second career act, I put on a new hat as the president of the Follett Educational Foundation. While the Foundation still issues scholarships, this year we are piloting a program to help Native American students in the Chicagoland area build their home libraries. The National School Board Association reports that population of students performed two to three grade levels below their white peers in reading and math.

This issue is close to the heart of 4^th generation Follett family member Steve Waichler, whose family adopted Native children and made a significant contribution to the Foundation with a focus on improving literacy outcomes for Native American students. Waichler says, “Personally, I think of this a memorial fund for my sister, Leslie, who died when she was two years old. She was the first of my Native Sisters, and we wouldn’t have the large, blended family we have today, if she hadn’t died. We want this gift to honor the Native half of our family.”

Literacy advocacy can come in many shapes and sizes. Yolanda Williams, a sixth-grade teacher in Atlanta, Georgia says, “I advocate literacy for every student in my program by creating literacy lessons that encompass strong phonics instruction, vocabulary, independent reading, teacher-led small groups, and differentiated instruction. Literacy is not coloring, worksheets, and workbooks. Literacy is an engaging and a hands-on experience.”

As community members and literacy advocates, we all can provide students with this foundation for a lifetime of learning.

Cox says, “My parents were educators and I remembered they had used their retirement to continue to positively impact the community. I believe educators help society and I wanted to do something in my retirement that made a difference for others. I just didn’t know what that would look like.”

What does it look like for you?

As for the Follett Educational Foundation’s Native American student literacy program, we too are still figuring out exactly what that’s going to look like. We have big dreams of building school libraries in tribal schools. But we’re starting with a smaller project this spring, where we will deliver 120 backpacks of age-appropriate Native language books to kindergarten through 12^th grade students in Chicago.

Established in the 1960s, the Follett Educational Foundation has issued millions of dollars in college scholarships to the students of Follett team members. Now that the Follett family no longer owns the businesses, the trustees of the Foundation are transitioning the Foundation to its next act … literacy… which is wholly in line with the legacy of our family business. While the Foundation still issues scholarships in memory of the founding four Follett brothers, this year we are piloting a program to help Native American students in the Chicagoland area build their home libraries.

The Nation’s Report Card began to sound the alarm about the academic underperformance of American Indian and Alaska Native students in 1994. Today, the National School Board Association reports that population of students performed two to three grade levels below their white peers in reading and math. This issue is close to the heart of 4^th generation Follett family member Steve Waichler, whose family adopted Native children and made a significant contribution to the Foundation with a focus on improving literacy outcomes for Native American students. Waichler says, “Personally, I think of this a memorial fund for my sister, Leslie, who died when she was 2 years old. She was the first of my Native Sisters, and we wouldn’t have the large, blended family we have today, if she hadn’t died. We want this gift to honor the Native half of our family as well as our Follett legacy.”

The most effective advocacy programs often begin with a personal story like the Waichler family’s inspiration. When former National School Library Program of the Year librarian Marge Cox retired, she began volunteering at Youth Haven, a shelter designed to help abused and neglected children and teens in Southwest Florida. “I got involved with Youth Haven after a former Collier County Public Schools employee contacted me and said Youth Haven needed my skill set,” Cox told me. “They had boxes of books that had been donated to them and wanted to create a library. I had retired at the end of the 2020 school year and had been praying for God to show me my next adventure.”

Youth Haven had boxes of donated books but no centralized collection. So, Cox began organizing the books into a library and established a Maker Space for the students at Youth Haven. “The youth who are there have had a difficult life and Youth Haven provides a safe environment for them. I appreciate that I can play a small part in their lives, by helping them have easy access to books and activities. Books and youth are my passion, because I believe literate people are better citizens, happier individuals, and more of an asset to their communities.”

Speaking of committing retirement to getting books in the hands of learners of all ages, former Wisconsin school librarian Susy Siel has built twelve libraries on Eleuthera Island in The Bahamas. Siel visited the out islands with her parents for decades and discovered first-hand the need, like in many rural communities, for quality libraries stocked with current books and new computers.

So, Siel took matters into her own hands and created Freedom to Read, Inc. “Our mission is to change lives through free access to literacy,” Siel said. “I have witnessed the power that the availability of books and computers/Internet have on people’s lives. By advocating for literacy here in The Bahamas we can foster a better sense of community, while simultaneously assisting individuals to reach their goals… whether personal or in the workforce. When people can seek and find information, they are empowered. Their voice is elevated. Their ability to make changes in policy, law and their own lives is enhanced.”

Whether it’s individuals with a passion project or organizations that exist exclusively to help connect students with books, it takes a village. Recently, Follett Content Solutions partnered with Amazon in the Community to deliver 5,500 books to students in the greater Seattle area. And in conjunction with PageAhead, another Seattle-based children’s literacy program, we’ve delivered as many as 150,000 books to kids each year for the past few years, many from low-income families, to help promote summer reading and build home libraries.

Between Seattle, Naples, and the Bahamas there are teachers like Hannah Irion-Frake, a third-grade teacher in Pennsylvania who lives her passion project day in and day out, spending her career advocating for and creating readers. “I provide training for teachers in my district in science-based literacy practices,” Irion-Frake said. “Teachers with deep knowledge about best practices for literacy are better equipped to make a difference for their students. And there is no greater accomplishment, in my opinion, than teaching a child to read.”

Teaching students to read happens in the classroom and library every day. It happens through community and business partnerships. It happens through full time jobs or second acts in life.

As important as it is to connect a student with a book, giving them the opportunity to choose what they are going to read is even more powerful. And as educators, each of you can help your students discover the next book they will fall in love with. As community members and literacy advocates, we too can provide students with this foundation for a lifetime of learning.

What’s your next act?

You’re my hero

Britten Follett — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 09:11:00 +0000

Key points:

We can find heroes in every walk of life–including in education
These three educators exemplify selflessness and dedication
See related article: Meet the eSN Hero Awards winners
For more news on teaching trends, see eSN’s Innovative Teaching page

I’ve always hated being put on the spot to answer some version of this question: “Who is your role model? Who inspired your career? Who is your hero?”

In my first act in life, as a television reporter, I had the opportunity to cross paths with celebrities, public figures, and just generally “important” people over the years. And nearly every time, I was disappointed with by the experience because either the person was not as dynamic as their persona or, in some cases, was simply rude. I have a great relationship with my parents and credit them for many, many aspects of my life; one thing they taught me was hero status is a high bar because we’re all fallible humans.

So rather than credit one person, I believe there are nuggets of inspiration and heroes in everyone. My dad sacrificed promotions during his career because he wanted to be present at my after-school sporting events. My mom had such an impact on the high school students she taught that she has maintained relationships with many for most of their lives. My sister and I put our differences aside, and she trusted my husband and me to raise her son when she had to focus on her husband, who was critically injured in Afghanistan. My husband left a very successful career as a television reporter to move to Illinois to get married, and he reinvented himself in a second act in life, publishing equity research and trading stocks. My childhood friend survived the breast cancer she was diagnosed with when her third baby was only six months old, and while recovering, cared for her husband who was diagnosed with Lyme disease during the pandemic.

There’s a bit of hero in all of us.

Especially these educators.

Utah Teacher of the Year and 2023 eSchool News K-12 Hero, John Arthur, has gained national recognition for giving his students a voice through video production. About being named a Hero, Arthur said, “I honestly couldn’t believe it when I heard that I was being recognized as a K-12 Hero! The work I do with my students — coaching them as they use technology to create digital content as advocates for their communities and kids like them — feels so small compared to the work being done by others at the district and state level in this space. I am one teacher at one school, working with 25 kids at a time. The fact that I am being recognized in this way is a testament of how brilliant my students’ voices are — all student voices are — and how deeply their work has resonated with big-hearted adults everywhere!”

Arthur continues, “Like most teachers, I go above and beyond for my students because I love them. It’s that same love that drove teachers to go door to door throughout the pandemic, making sure our kids had what they needed and knew they weren’t alone.”

Arthur may have won the official hero title, but there’s certainly more than a bit of hero in his fellow finalists. Like Sean Bevier…

A finalist for eSchool News K-12 Hero, he started a traditional career in education as a teacher and then administrator. But his yearning to help those who are underserved and under-resourced resulted in a new position as Juvenile Probation Officer at the Elkhart County Juvenile Detention Center in Indiana, only to be promoted to Educational Specialist five months later. Upon arrival at the Center, he single-handedly created a school library, and he now oversees the academic needs of two classrooms and has witnessed first-hand the magic of literacy.

Bevier says, “Many of our students say our Center is where they read their first-ever book!” Bevier’s students often have stories of hurt and trauma, which ultimately led to their poor choices. He recalls one student angry at his father when he arrived but noticed the relationship mending through their phone conversations. The topic of reading came up between the two and the student shared that he read a book, to which the father expressed his joy. “That ignited this young man,” Bevier says. “Although it was difficult for him to read, he checked out another book, then another. At one point, he was looking for his next book and he told me, ‘My dad said he read Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet when he was in school and liked it. Do we have that?’”

Another eSchool News K-12 Hero finalist, teacher librarian Michelle Kruse in the Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD), transformed the district’s 32 library collections. The collections were 15-20 years old and didn’t reflect the diversity of the students in the community. By advocating at a district level for a more modern collection, the district allocated $1.5 million in ESSER Funds to complete a three-year collection redevelopment project. Kruse explains, “It is important and powerful work to access the data that you have available in your library database about your collection, and the information you have about your budget, to advocate for additional resources if that is what is needed in your library, for your students. Convincing arguments are made with concrete data that is paired with personal stories about specific student needs. Sometimes this work takes time and patience, and the need to reach out until you’ve found the right administrator to listen to your story. Once you begin telling your story and are met with some success it’s important to follow up and continue sharing your data and your success stories.”

Kruse doesn’t see herself as a hero and states, “It feels humbling to be called a ‘hero’ for doing this work, as I don’t feel like it is work that we normally associate with heroism. In an appreciative nod to the people who do work every day to protect us, secure our safety, and save our lives, I am honored to have people realize that there is a need to do work to help young people see themselves in the books that they read and to see others as well. Providing students access to books is something I am very passionate about and have spent time advocating for in my community.”

Yet, all too often the challenges teachers face in the classroom distract from the reason they got into the profession to start with. Bevier suggests, “Unfortunately, so many things cloud that mission — the demands of teaching that take attention away from the actual work with students, circumstances the children experience at home, etc. Remind yourself regularly of your mission/calling to teach and stay connected to a colleague or two that have the same mission so you can encourage one another.”

Arthur adds, “I often tell my colleagues and friends, empowered teachers empower students. We want our children to find their voices, but we can’t teach them to do that until we’ve found our own. Pick the one cause that means the world to you, with problems that plague your classroom and students’ education, and join the other champions in education who are already working on addressing it — get informed, get involved, learn the playbook that’s been passed down by the incredible educators who came before us, and, when you’re ready, take the lead.”

In the case of these educators, heroes are humble. Bevier says, “I would not call it going above and beyond. It is simply seeing a need and meeting a need. Almost every educator I have ever met made teaching their career because they wanted to help students. It was seen by them as a mission or a calling,” which is why Bevier doesn’t see himself as a hero. “To apply it to me is a misuse of the word. To me, a hero is someone who takes risks outside of their assigned duties to help others. In reality, I am just doing my job…that is not a hero, that is a responsible adult.”

So yes, there are heroes among us, in all our lives. Yet, in the work I do with educators, I often realize just how many give of themselves to help students become successful members of society. To John Arthur, Sean Bevier, Michelle Kruse, and every educator out there, thanks for all the heroic deeds you perform every day.

What students are reading

Britten Follett — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:33:00 +0000

Key points:

Teachers and librarians play a pivotal role in helping students find what–and how–they like to read

Let’s take a look at some of the most-read titles by grade level

See related article: I work with struggling readers–here’s what’s standing in their way

About five years ago, my New Year’s resolution was to read all the books on my bookshelf I’d never managed to crack. While that resolution was a complete failure (I still have unread books on my shelf), it reignited my love of reading.

Each year, I document my #BritReads reading journey on my social media channels. This year, I decided to bring #BritReads to life with my close family and friends. In lieu of a Christmas present, I’m buying each of them four books a year – books I’ve read or those that are at the top of my list to read. Rather than a one-size-fits-all #BritReads Book Club, I’m curating books just for each of them. For example, my Christmas movie-loving, hopeless-romantic childhood friend will not get my favorite thriller or whodunit!

Just like my little book club, as librarians and teachers, I know you’re looking to connect students with their next favorite book, which means you need to be ahead of the trends and know about the titles emerging as the next generation of books to remember. So, let’s take a look at what students are reading in school libraries and classrooms across the country. Here are the top requested titles according to trend reports in our industry:

In lower elementary, the most popular book (and my #BritReads pick for the little ones) is a picture book called The Smart Cookie by John Jory. It’s the fifth picture book in Jory’s series teaching life lessons using food, accompanied by The Cool Bean, which also tops the list. In The Smart Cookie, the cookie realizes that while school can be tough, with hard work, anyone can be smart in their own way. From friendly food… to animals. In the nonfiction section, the Who Would Win series is also a hit. Students love to learn about various species of animals like sharks, reptiles, and birds and select which species survives.

In upper elementary, Dog Man, The Baby-Sitters Club, and the I Survived series continue to be perennial favorites. In the world of nonfiction, students are starting to learn about race and history through books like Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know, and Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You. My #BritReads favorite for upper elementary school is a throwback to my childhood. I read every single book in The Baby-Sitters Club series as a child, so it’s heartwarming to see these Ann M. Martin characters as a part of young lives all over again.

In middle school, books about middle grade students navigating the world dominate the world of fiction, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and Jerry Craft’s New Kid. In nonfiction, students and teachers are gravitating toward true stories about normal people who accomplish extraordinary things such as I Am Malala, Hidden Figures, and Undefeated: Jim Thorp and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team. My #BritReads pick is Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African American Women Who Helped Launch our Nation into Space. I read the adult version as part of #BritReads21, but this one has been adapted for a younger audience, giving students an opportunity to learn about a group of women who were well ahead of their time!

As for high school and adult-level titles, many of the books that students are reading are required as part of the curriculum including classics like The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun. But the classics sit alongside modern fiction hits like The Hate U Give and The Hunger Games series. I was pleased to see I picked some winners for the first #BritReads Book Club mailing. Each of my journalist friends got a copy of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, which happens to be on the top of the adult nonfiction list. My #BritReads favorite, The Catcher in the Rye, is one of the inspirations behind my 5-month-old boy’s name – Holden!

Across all age levels, teachers and librarians continue to seek titles written by diverse authors featuring multi-cultural characters with social and emotional learning lessons. If it happens to be a part of a series, or graphic novel or Manga form…even better! You can check them all out on Titlewave.

Books, ebooks, and audiobooks, oh my!

Britten Follett — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 09:47:00 +0000

Key points:

Audiobooks are popular, but print still commands a majority of the audience

A balance of both offers students increased accessibility

See related article: 5 long-term benefits of our online literacy programs

My 2023 #BritReads book tally experienced a massive slowdown in April when my husband and I welcomed Holden Lane to the world. After about a week of silent late-night feedings, I found myself dozing off while reading a print book. It had nothing to do with the nature of the content and everything to do with the fact that I was simply tired. Because I’m a compulsive multi-tasker, I decided the overnight feedings called for earbuds and audiobooks. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t dozed off or zoned out for a section here or there, but overall, audiobooks have allowed me to get my #BritReads book fix in, even with a newborn.

Despite my affinity for audiobooks, looking at the book industry sales figures, it is clear print is still king. I agree, there’s nothing like turning the page of a print book. But audiobook critics say the format doesn’t count as reading…I disagree.

There’s a time and a place for each format in my life…and in schools today.

While I listen to audiobooks to multitask while cooking, cleaning, or driving, they can also help reluctant readers get excited about books through their often-high-quality production. Therese Bennett Hatfield, the librarian at Valley Middle School in Carlsbad, California, encourages the use of audiobooks in instruction. “Audiobooks are being used as a tool to assist ELL students or students who may be reading a bit below grade level,” shared Hatfield. “Audiobooks allow the student to consume the same content as their peers and participate in discussion. Students can follow along in their physical copy while listening to the audiobook, allowing them to strengthen word recognition both in text and spoken word. They also allow students a different way to consume books. Students may think they don’t like reading, but an audiobook can allow a book to come to life for them, broadening what ‘being a reader’ means.”

For me, a story is a story no matter in what format it’s consumed. Many educators, like Tom Bober, Library Media Specialist (AKA Captain Library), District Library Coordinator in the School District of Clayton, agree that the preference should be student driven. “Information is information regardless of the format and how a student may access it,” Bober shared. “So, to recommend an eBook over a print book really looks at how and when the student wants to access the book. If they want a book that isn’t in our collection, sometimes it is quicker to purchase an eBook than to wait for a print book to be delivered. If the student is going to be outside of school or has another reason digital access may be easier, that may be another reason to suggest an eBook. Also, some eBooks have annotation and tracking tools that students prefer as part of their reading experience which make another beneficial reason to suggest an eBook.”

eBooks and audiobooks give students additional accessibility options as well, as educators everywhere realize. Graeme Boyd, Middle and High School Librarian for Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana, told me this: “As students move into elementary and middle school, they can take advantage of the accessibility tools in eBooks that are not available in print books. Students can look up the definitions of words they don’t understand at the exact moment they are reading them without having to leave the book to do so. Students can highlight books and annotate their reading all while saving those notes for an upcoming classroom discussion. Most eReaders allow for students to personalize their experiences through using dark contrast mode and the ability to change text size and use fonts such as those specifically for Dyslexia. At this age, students can take full advantage of accessibility tools in eBooks to help them learn to become better readers.”

“In high school, students can access a wide variety of books through a digital school library that is available to them 24/7. Gone are the days of the classroom teacher bringing the whole class to the library for checking out books, so they must rely on the ability to access the library materials in new ways. As students transition into their adolescent and teen years, they often become more exploratory about the genres and formats they like to read. Digital books allow them the flexibility to explore these new formats on their own at their own pace. They are empowered as readers to make those individual choices on their own in a platform where materials have been carefully curated for them.”

Kira Brennan, Innovation and Library Systems Specialist at Parkway Schools in Missouri uses eBooks that have read-along capabilities with her youngest students. “At a very early age, children can access eBooks that are read alongs. Every page is there and available in vibrant full color just as it looks in a print book,” said Brennan. “The advantages of digital read aloud are plenty. The text is often highlighted as the narrator reads aloud, enabling children to see the connection between spoken and written language. Often, the narrator is a well-known voice with professional training in narration. Sometimes there are even soundtracks that go along with the read aloud which allow the child to engage and interact with a book in an immersive way that just isn’t possible when reading a print book. The enjoyable experience that students begins to spark the reading joy that we want our students to possess to become lifelong readers.”

Despite the documented value of diverse book formats, the pendulum has swung from almost all digital during the pandemic to almost all print post-pandemic. “Print can provide visual clues such as illustrations and iconography which aid language comprehension,” Boyd said. “Graphic novels especially, by their very nature, can facilitate critical thinking and vocabulary proficiency through stimulating and enjoyable visual representations. The strongest student readers I have encountered have come from households of readers. Parents are role models. Teachers (and parents) are role models. Both should be seen reading, both should read aloud to their children or students, both should visit bookshops and public libraries.”

Bober shared that the traditional library filled with print books allows students an opportunity to discover. “I think one of the benefits of a print library is the layout. With genre-fied sections and collections that thoughtfully put students accessing the story or information they want easily; a print collection can cater to a student’s interest when they don’t know a specific title they are interested in reading. The browsability of a well-organized print collection encourages a student to parlay interest into a book selection that they will love.”

In face of the digital fatigue and return to in-person instruction, Bober encourages teachers to keep an open mind about digital resources, “I did see a swing as teachers wanted to move students from digital devices as much as possible as soon as we were back to teaching and learning in person. I think that has settled back into a better place. And what those many months revealed to a lot of librarians and teachers is how simple digital access can be. Even though we were embracing digital resources, eBooks and audiobooks, the beginning of the pandemic forced us to push that thinking and embracing of that resource even further. The benefits that revealed themselves around ease of access and the fact that some students prefer that method to access information and story are things that we don’t unsee as we come to a new normal of how we provide resources to our learners.”

Many educators I know feel a blend will continue to be critical in the future. The discussion should not be around whether to provide print or digital material, but rather how to provide equitable access to both types for all students. Students’ ability to navigate both formats with proficiency will allow them the best chance for success in both their current classroom and the educational experiences that lie ahead. “We live in a digital age in which relying on one format or the other will have a profound negative impact on the ability for our students to interact with the world around them,” continues Boyd.

As we prepare for a new school year, I’d encourage everyone to sample a different book format this summer and use it as an opportunity to set an example for the students in your classroom or in your lives. Whether you love it, hate it, or find yourself adopting all three, you can have a new conversation about reading.

P.S. Now that I’m reading children’s books out loud each day, I have an even greater admiration for audiobook readers because doing multiple voices takes a talent I don’t possess!

10 reasons we love teachers

Britten Follett — Tue, 09 May 2023 09:22:00 +0000

My second-grade teacher made me love Ramona Quimby.
I’ve never forgotten my multiplication tables, thanks to my fourth-grade teacher.
My fifth-grade teacher taught me to confidently project my voice (much to my husband’s chagrin when I’m on video calls!).
My sixth-grade teacher inspired me to be a fast typist and gave me independent reading time so I could accomplish my goal of finishing Gone with the Wind.
My high school Algebra II teacher made me believe I was, in fact, really good at math.
My English literature teacher inspired me to write a book.
My Humanities teachers inspired me to travel the world.

Just seven days a year to celebrate teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week is hardly sufficient. After all, they celebrate our students’ wins and teach them lessons through their mistakes every day of the school year. Let’s reflect on 10 reasons we love teachers…

A Lifetime of Influence

Growing up in a small town and attending a school with approximately 25 classmates from pre-school through eighth grade, I had a couple of teachers twice and interacted with all the teachers in the building regularly. Whatever the length of interaction, it can go a long way for students, like artist Dean Thompson. Dean shared his teacher’s valuable guidance: “Robert Dominiak was an art teacher who was a mentor to me. He taught me how to look at things with a different perspective, and he helped me put together a portfolio when I applied to the Art Institute of Chicago. With his help I received my degree from there, and I’m still in contact with him to this day.”

My sixth-grade teacher taught typing in a computer lab and wore those plastic glasses that force you to look straight ahead and not down, and he was also my English teacher and basketball coach. Mr. Hoffert had a daily influence on me over several years, and while I could diagram the heck out of a sentence in sixth grade, the one thing I attribute to his influence is that I use those typing skills every day. In a world where Siri and voice recognition may make my typing skills less important in coming the years, Mr. Hoffert taught me the importance of combining speed and perfection — which translates to many aspects of life, not just my “words per minute” calculation.

“You may only spend a year together in the classroom, but the lessons learned and curiosity instilled by a great teacher will last a lifetime,” Gary Urda, SVP Sales, Simon & Schuster, shared with me. So true.

2. No One Right Way to Teach

Ask three teachers how they deliver the lessons associated with a particular required reading book in their school’s curriculum, and you will get three different answers. Depending on the needs of the class in any particular year, a teacher may:

Adopt the “book club” model, which promotes collaborative, independent reading alongside group activities.
Invite the author to visit the classroom (in person or virtually) to answer questions from students.
Feature a local resident who has a similar job or life scenario as the protagonist of the book.
Assign a more modern, graphic novel to a striving reader so he or she learns the same lesson through a different piece of content.
Allow for students to choose how they demonstrate their understanding of the text through activities like a written book report, song lyrics, a video, art, a power point presentation, or a podcast.

Recognizing that every student and classroom need is different, Cletus Durkin with Penguin Random House told me that publishers often work with authors and curriculum experts to ensure teachers who want to use a particular book have tools at their fingertips to do so: “We know and appreciate how hard teachers work to nurture, teach and grow their students. We respect them immensely for always looking for new ways to do this, and for their support of our books, authors and illustrators in their work. Teaching is not easy, but it is one of the most important professions that exists.”

3. Working to Meet the Needs of EVERY Student

This has never been truer than it is today. As a child, I started reading prior to entering four-year-old pre-school. When my mom told the pre-school teacher that I could read, she didn’t believe it. And at the time, there weren’t accommodation programs in place to push me. I was blessed with parents who supplemented my in-person instruction and ensured I continued on my reading journey ahead of my class. Not every kid is that lucky, which is why teachers today actively work to accommodate every thriving AND striving student through differentiated instruction. One of my professional peers, Randi Economou, the CEO of Capstone, reinforces the impact teachers have on the lives of every student in their class: “Teachers change the world one life at a time. I love how much they care. Teachers are role models and change agents. Teachers inspire growth and progress. They love kids. They are committed and dedicated, and they make a huge difference in our world. Teachers lead the way and their impact is immeasurable.”

4. Offering a Steady, Positive Adult Influence in a Student’s Life

The pandemic exposed this reason to love teachers like no other time in history. One of the most impactful professional experiences I’ve had in recent years was my morning spent shadowing a third-grade, remote teacher in Rockford, Illinois. This article emerged from my time with Miss Julie, which illustrates the critical role a teacher can play, not just in the education of a young person, but in his or her general health, safety, and well-being.

But even for those students who have excellent support at home and at school, as marketing professional Kia Jefferson attests, teachers still play an important role: “I LOVE that my mom is a PROUD teacher (now retired) and over the years no matter where we would go … grocery store, shopping mall, gas station, etc. a former student of my mother would always find her in the crowd and take the time to stop and say ‘Hi’ and ‘Thank you’ for her passion in the classroom. I’ve seen a teacher’s passion first-hand, and it is something to be admired.”

Teacher Beth Heiss sees the most important teacher in her life as a second parent: “I became a teacher because I wanted to be just like my high school drama teacher. He was a mentor, a teacher, a surrogate father.”

5. Instilling a Love of Learning, Leading to a Lifetime of Curiosity

One of the more memorable books I’ve read in recent years (for more on my #BritReads list of favorites, follow me on your social media channel of your choice) is Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo DaVinci. Toward the end of the book, Isaacson summarizes the things we can all learn from the Renaissance Man. The first one is: “Be curious, relentlessly curious.” While most of us will likely never paint the next Mona Lisa or dissect human cadavers to determine why people yawn, those of us who are professionally curious will always strive for more. Ben Mondloch, the founder and owner of Cherry Lake Publishing, credits his teachers with the foundation that made him who he is today. “Mr. Peterson taught me leadership when he presented me with a Red Squad captain jersey,” Mondloch said. “Ms. Barrett piqued my interest in economics with her simulation about moving grain across the country. Sister Mary Kay fostered my love of reading when she presented me with my favorite book (The Witch, The Cat, and The Baseball Bat). Ms. Ballaou taught me empathy and compassion when she unconditionally loved a broken 14-year-old boy. So, why do we love teachers? Because they change lives. They changed mine. Teachers have a lasting impact on their students, inspiring them to pursue their dreams and driving them to become the best versions of themselves.”

6. Teachers Don’t Give Answers, They Foster Discovery

At a time when nearly every fact is “Google-able,” the very process of learning and discovery has become far more important than getting the right answer. When I was a senior in high school, the most important test of my young life was my calculus final. Finishing the test with an A versus B meant the difference between graduating Valedictorian or Salutatorian of my class. I remember being surprised, delighted, and relieved when the teacher gave us permission to load the derivative equations into our graphing calculators ahead of the test. What my 17-year-old self didn’t recognize was that memorizing the equation wasn’t the important part–to get the right answer, we had to know which equation was appropriate for each question and then how to use it. In the end, I demonstrated persistence spending several hours loading each equation into the calculator, but I got an A on the test.

In life, there’s often no equation to help you reach the right answer–it takes persistence, professional curiosity, trial and error, mistakes, and little victories. And more often than not, it’s the journey of discovery that has the greatest impact. Thanks to Mr. Schmidt for helping me prioritize problem solving over rote memorization.

7. Sacrificing Personal Lives for Students

The days can be long. The nights are spent at extra-curricular activities and/or prepping for the next day. Often, these arduous schedules are at the expense of time spent with their own children and families in exchange for low wages. Yet, teachers demonstrate time and time again that their students come first. Kathleen Rourke with Candlewick Press shares the sacrifices she’s experienced: “I have the utmost respect, regard, love for educators. Theirs is one of the most important and difficult of all professions. They give so much of themselves to create kind, thoughtful, and well-informed citizens. What could be more important than that? One of the multitude of reasons that I love teachers is their steadfast dedication to do what is right for every child.”

8. Infusing a Love of Reading — The Foundation of Learning

Some of my favorite memories from school involve books. Whether it was Miss Trah reading Ramona Quimby books out loud to the class each afternoon, the 10 minutes of independent reading time in sixth grade that allowed me to knock out another chapter of Gone with the Wind, or the My Life books Mrs. Grant assigned for our class to write for a senior project, reading and writing was the foundation of my learning — like everyone else.

As a thriving reader, diving into a book was my oasis, but great teachers can instill that love of reading in striving readers, too. A small business owner I spoke to, James Regelin, reflects on a life-changing moment in his reading journey. “My third-grade teacher would not let me leave her class until I learned to read,” he shared. “She was relentless because she cared and made me read to the class my last day. I was embarrassed and scared but got through it, which helped me build my confidence for life.”

9. Inspiring the Next Generation of Teachers

Most great teachers were inspired by a teacher in their childhood. Florida teacher librarian Carrie Friday credits her career decisions to an inspirational high school teacher. “I had the most amazing English and journalism teacher in high school. She made EVERYTHING fun, even tests,” Friday told me. “When I was deciding if I wanted to go into education or not, I decided I’d only do it if I was going to teach like she taught. Every time she tells me she is proud of me (which is often even though I’m a state away), I always remind her that I learned all I know about good teaching from her. She trained up a generation of incredible educators without even knowing it, all because we sat in her classroom every day. She’s still influencing students through all the kids each we teach.”

But even for those of us who never contemplated a teaching career, great teachers play a role in shaping our careers of choice. In my first act in life, I was a better journalist because of my investigative journalism professor William Recektenwald. But I believe I’m a stronger leader because he taught me the value in asking good questions and pushed me to be professionally curious to get to the root of an issue.

10. Teachers Love Kids

This final thought needs no explanation. There is no way teachers would do the nine other things captured in this article if they didn’t have a profound love for the next generation.

My hope is that these 10 anecdotes inspire you to thank the teacher(s) who made a difference in your life, during Teacher Appreciation Week and every day of the year.

10 reasons we love school librarians

Britten Follett — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 09:23:00 +0000

Click Here to Discover Some Innovative Ideas for School Libraries

Gone are the days when a school librarian’s job was defined by shushing, rocking, and reading. While reading out loud and building a love of literacy is still a foundational part of their job in a school, school librarians wear many, many hats and touch many lives in the course of a day’s work.

As an avid, life-long reader, I can come up with dozens of things I love about school librarians and libraries (I was actually named by a librarian!) But for a broader perspective, I wanted to hear from my peers, colleagues, and the educators out there doing the heavy lifting, so I turned to influential library experts, educators, and social media to share their thoughts.

I loved what I heard from the people I spoke to. Many shared my own impressions, and some introduced me to their own reasons why school librarians are amazing at what they do. I’m proud to share my thoughts and what others told me here.

1. Librarians are the keepers (and more importantly, the sharers) of the books

CEO of education publisher Capstone Randi Economou says, “They lead the way for learning by igniting a love for reading.”

Follett sales rep Pam Hinds reminds us, “They ‘house’ the best weapons in the world!”

Customer service rep here at Follett, Suzanne Florek, says, “Of course, I have my favorite librarians I talk to! I think the reason they might be on the top of my list is because of how genuinely caring people they are. They are kind, patient, knowledgeable, motivating, just as excited to see new books as their students are. They show students how they can be transformed into a fantasy world, futuristic world, find out how things work or just learn about new places or history and people that made their mark on this world for many reasons. They show kids they can be anything they want to be, and they can learn more about EVERYTHING. That is a big role to play in our children’s lives and therefore we need them to play that very important role. I thank all our librarians for all the encouragement they provide to our children. A child that loves to read will go many places in their life.

2. Librarians cross paths with every student in a school

What other position within a school interacts with teachers, administrators, and students in all grades? The school library and its staff are unique in how many lives they touch and the vast reach of their expertise, according to John Chrastka, Founder and Executive Director of Every Library, a political action committee for libraries that advocates for funding and support. “The most powerful aspect of school libraries is that it is the one academic unit that reaches every student in the school,” says Chrastka. “Sometimes it is through school librarians pushing into a class about research topics. Sometimes it’s supporting learning across the curriculum. But every student can have their school librarian be a partner in finding new, relevant, and interesting things to read. We can’t discount how important independent reading is in literacy development and educational attainment. A certified school librarian is a key resource for those students.”

Follett Destiny trainer Michele Kuempel agrees and shares her thoughts from a different perspective. “As a former school librarian, one of my favorite parts of the job was that I actively interacted with every student and teacher on campus – regardless of grade or subject area,” said Kuemple. “Very few members of a campus team can say that they get to do this!”

3. Librarians know books better than anyone

Librarians know what’s in their collections, and well beyond. They are voracious readers and chances are, if you throw out an author’s name, most librarians know that person’s work. They frame history by the books they’ve read, and they find comfort and connection through? their favorites. How often do we hear questions posed to librarians like, “it had a red cover and was a coming-of-age tale set in the 1960s” and lo and behold, a librarian can put a finger on the right book.

Follett’s publisher relations coordinator Amanda Deubel says, “Librarians always make the best book recommendations after hearing your interests and have a keen ability to know what book you are looking for even if you are only able to provide random bits of information about it.”

4. Librarians teach us how to research

Sheila Carr on Follett’s professional learning team shared an ode to the librarians in her world:

“Roses are red, violets are blue, librarians are awesome – yes, that’s true.
Their role is important and goes well beyond books.
Why when was the last time we considered all the hard work they undertook?
Vast amounts of information and databases abound.
With this massive quantity of data to parse, it is great to have a librarian around.
Paper or digital, reference or research, collection development and promotion of learning, is it no wonder our brains are burning?
A huge shout out to librarians who bring it all together, so we can survive the information storm no matter the weather.”

5. Librarians are tough

One of my social media connections, Carrie Rayfield, says, “Their dedication to literacy, their perseverance in the face of adversity (think rolling carts to classes during COVID) and their willingness to think outside the box.”

Florida middle school librarian Carrie Friday says, “Resilience. So much resilience.”

As a teacher who works closely with his school library told me, librarians are tough in many ways. “People often think that librarians love books; however, the librarians I’ve worked with over the years all love children and books are the gifts they give to our kids,” said sixth-grade teacher John Arthur of Salt Lake City, Utah. “It’s that love that’s made them so resilient these past few years and why they are such fierce defenders of books that reflect all the children in their care.”

Mark Ray, Affiliate Professor, Antioch University Seattle and Future Ready Librarians Advisor, shared his thoughts on what makes a librarian tough. “Sisu is a unique Finnish term that speaks to grit and a tenacity of purpose. The best librarians have a sort of professional and educational sisu—doing great work often without money, support, or recognition.”Ray also commented on the resilience of the school librarians with whom he has worked. “Few educators show up at school every day wondering if they will have a job next year. A perennial fear of extinction makes for a thick hide and a willingness to adapt.”

According to Joyce Valenza, who teaches future librarians at Rutgers University, the last few years have been more than challenging for all educators, but especially librarians. “In a recent focus-group study, my team and I discovered a familiar refrain in the way school librarians described their contributions during COVID. They said, ‘We were the glue,’” Valenza told me. “As ever, even in crisis, it was their practice to identify problems, especially relating to equity and access, identify needs, and develop solutions. One of many examples of courageous professionalism and grit is New Jersey’s Martha Hickson who responded to censorship and personal harassment issues with courage, dedication to core values and common beliefs, strong community leadership, and created a toolkit to empower her students and alumni.”

6. Librarians create a safe environment for all students

One of Follett’s Event Planners, Laura Welter, shared her personal experience. “The school librarian has the role of protector. The librarian in my school was the go-to person for advice and support. She created a safe place for kids who didn’t quite fit in elsewhere. She taught us to love reading and learning and to always protect others in need.”

Kerri Macdonald, on Follett’s professional learning team says, “A good school librarian can be the difference between a child just getting through school doing the bare minimum and being a well-rounded student who not only completes the assigned reading, but also learns to love reading and becomes a lifelong learner.”

7. Librarians build community connections

Mary Hazel, who works on Follett’s content curations team, says, “A school librarian knows everybody in the school! They are the solid link that holds it all together—student interests, teacher needs, as well as support for all the programs in a school. As a teacher, I rarely had time to talk with other teachers about their personal interests. The librarian at my school put up a blank bulletin board and asked the teachers (as we dropped off our students for media class) to write a short note about hobbies or social causes that were dear to us. We were able to write short notes back and forth, and able to connect with each other on a meaningful level whenever we could talk in person. Was this in her job description? No, but she saw a need and helped us build community.”

8. Librarians provide equitable access to information for all students

Follett’s customer success manager, Heidi Munin reminds us, “I love that a school librarian can open new worlds and ideas to students through books. For some students with limited access to public libraries, the school librarian may be their only available guide to this exciting world.

Follett’s customer service rep, Grace Kloeckner says, “Librarians are inclusive, welcoming and nurturing individuals who help students find joy and solace within the pages of a good book. Their impact is fundamental as they champion their students to explore their imagination and expand their views of our world!”

9. Librarians are tech savvy, too

“The stories and information our students need don’t always rest on shelves in books and encyclopedias,” teacher Arthur said. In his elementary classroom, Arthur requires his students to perform extensive research and create multimedia projects they develop on their own – from idea to publication. Those digital skills are honed by the school librarian and help his students produce top-notch, impressive projects they share on their own YouTube channel, 9^th Evermore. “All of humanity’s best work and creations now exist on a boundless digital landscape, and our librarians are expert users of the technological tools our students and teachers need to successfully access that space.”

Valenza, who has written a blog called The Never-Ending Search for many years, has witnessed the changes in how librarians use and teach tech in everything they do.

“Over the course of the past three years, I’ve seen so many librarians scale their practice through library websites, evolving their presence from brochures to true destinations as they rethought equitable access to books, wifi, connections with families, engaging tools for digital learning like choice boards (regularly created and generously shared on Shannon Miller’s Library The Voice Blog) and Bitmoji libraries,” Valenza said. “These resourceful and forward-thinking librarians are embedding their resources for inquiry in learning management systems. They present informal, virtual professional development for their own learning communities and the much larger communities of librarians and other educators around the country. They’re leading edcamps and Nerdcamps.” Valenza shared a few resources the librarians in her midst created here:

Ebook of Web Tools and Apps

Digital Librarian’s Survival Toolkit

Valenza’s own Finding Your People, is a fantastic resource she created and maintains for her students. (I recommend you check this out – you are NOT alone, as Valenza tells her students!)

10. Librarians are the ultimate multi-taskers

A school librarian is a masterful plate-spinner, magically managing endless details, or so it seems.

“Thinking about all the things librarians juggle throughout the day makes my brain hurt. Serving every single student in a school, managing all the physical books and the endless digital resources, fielding constant requests from students, parents, and teachers, responding to challenges to titles in their collections and attacks on their professionalism, finding books that were mis shelved by well-meaning kids…I just can’t!” shared teacher Arthur, who was named 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year, an accolade he partially attributes to the colleagues in his life who help him be a better teacher.

When one considers the multitude of things librarians are required to do, perhaps Mark Ray sums it up best: “Teacher librarians are the Swiss Army knife of educators. And yes, the good ones have corkscrews.”

Building culture and community takes more than a committee

Britten Follett — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 09:29:00 +0000

Click Here to Discover Some Innovative Ideas for School Libraries

When organizations are mindful and deliberate about generating and maintaining a sense of teamwork and shared goals, team members are put at ease and more productive. The same is true for building a school culture and community for staff and students alike.

When I was named the leader of Follett’s K12 business, one of my first priorities was to create a team dedicated to improving the culture of the organization. We didn’t necessarily have a negative culture; however, it was clear that part of building a positive culture included making deeper connections to the communities we serve, both internally and externally.

As an education company, we are deeply aware of the challenges faced during the pandemic for educators (and organizations like ours) and that those challenges were overwhelming. We know all too well that has caused strain on the educational system, staff retention, and more. However, it has also given us all the opportunity to reflect on those practices and reimagine them.

I interviewed five different educators and compiled the top five ways schools and organizations alike have succeed in improving culture in their communities—despite the challenges.

1. Meaningful Connections

At Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland, educators foster connections that encourage partners in their programs. Fran Glick, National School Library Program of the Year award winner, (who served at BCPS for many years,) says “Our programs lend themselves to creating spaces for input and participation from a variety of stakeholders. We can find collaborators and create partnerships within the community: public and community college libraries, museums, parent groups, foundations, and external partners can all contribute to ensuring that our school libraries are dynamic centers of each school. We know that school libraries build communities.”

Librarian Kate MacMillan from Napa Valley Unified School District in California adds, “Like all school libraries in California, adequate staffing and stable funding have always been an issue. To combat this, seven years ago, NVUSD implemented the One Card Program with the Napa County Library which provides all K-12 students with a digital full-service library card. This project guarantees access to all students and creates a “library community” that builds a strong bond with the county library, NVUSD school libraries, and the community.”

Connections are extremely important for all organizations. At Follett, I hold Ask Me Anything sessions twice a year where team members can literally ask me anything and I must answer each question “live” without the opportunity to review it ahead of time. While not every leader may be interested in putting themselves in the hot seat, the very act of putting myself out there and being vulnerable allowed me to connect with the team in a more meaningful way and answer the “pressing” questions.

2. Perception Matters

At Southwest Middle School in Florida, the public perception of school librarians, especially at the secondary level, is a challenge these days. The best way librarian Carrie Friday has been able to combat these challenges is to focus on what’s right – and regularly share the great things happening in the school library. “I post about the lesson we did for the day, I share photos of student creations, pictures of book club, or success stories of students who have seen success in this space,” Friday said. “It’s much harder for the community to believe what they hear or read when they’ve seen the magic that happens in here. It’s exhausting to constantly answer questions about book challenges and address what people hear or answer questions about new legislation but at the end of the day, this work matters so much and these kids remind me of that every day. Their love for our library helps me press on and do what’s right for kids.”

3. Meaningful Feedback

In Iowa, at Van Meter Consolidated School District, Future Ready Librarian spokesperson and librarian Shannon Miller explains their school library is the heart of their culture. “Our library is a very special part of our school community. We build the culture and community within the library with our students, teachers, and families at the center of everything we do. When our students come to the library, we want them to feel important and safe, and to be seen and heard within the books and resources we have in our collection. We also want to be a resource for our families and to support them in fostering a love of reading and learning within their homes. Through our library’s social media, newsletters, and weekly updates, we can celebrate the amazing activities happening within the library and the books and resources we have available for our students and teachers.”

Friday agrees with Miller. “Building culture and community in a school library can be challenging for a variety of reasons but the very best thing I’ve done is to continue to make the space a place where kids want to be,” Friday shared. “I present engaging lessons. I spotlight really amazing books. I open up in the mornings before school and let students just be and hang out. I work one-on-one with some of our students who are struggling with academics and behavior. I wave and say hi to the kids at class change. I wear ridiculous costumes to school. I tell jokes at lunch. I’m hosting James Ponti for an author visit at the end of February, so we are hyping up his book and doing book club meetings during lunches so kids can read City Spies. We even zoomed with him so he could say hi to the kids. Having an author tell your students just how special their school library is goes a long way with kids.”

Similarly at Follett, feedback allows us to make better business decisions and remain focused on the areas that are most important to our customers and ultimately, your students. During the pandemic we paused our customer advisory groups for all the reasons you can imagine. Pausing was necessary for us to navigate the challenges associated with running a business during the pandemic and providing feedback to Follett was not high on a priority list for our customers. Emerging from the pandemic it became clear it was more important than ever that we seek more meaningful feedback from librarians, teachers and district leaders. So, we took advantage of the ability to run focus groups and customer advisory meetings remotely.

4. All-In Relationships

So says 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year, John Arthur! “Spend quality time with each student, laugh with colleagues, listen to families, and love on your own! Strong cultures and communities spring naturally when you prioritize people, and, especially in these challenging times, we need our people and the bubbles we build to shelter us from the nonsense and noise.”

For Follett, supporting every team member includes supporting their families and the community. Recently, we opened an employee bookstore where employees can buy popular books for less than $5 a title. All proceeds are donated to organizations that give back to the McHenry County, Illinois community where the majority of our team members live. This creates a deep connection not only with our community, but with our team members alike.

5. Foster Teamwork

Back in Van Meter, Iowa, Miller kicked off the new year with a Library Advisory Board. “This will be made up of our library staff, teachers, administrators, parents, and even students,” Miller told me. “This will help us continue to grow as we advocate for a strong library program for every single student within our school community. I am excited for the support this will not only bring to our library, but also to me, as the district teacher librarian.”

Connections are vital, according to Glick from Baltimore Public Schools. “We build connections within the incredible network of school librarians and educators in our country. There are professionals who are engaged in this work and the collective power to grow and learn WITH and FROM each other is happening in schools and school libraries and is in all of us,” she said. “Our professional learning networks are in our regional groups, in other states, on social media, in professional literature sources, and presenting at conferences. School librarians are a networked profession and more than ever we can stand together to advocate for our profession and school libraries. We know that strong school libraries contribute to student achievement, and we uphold and affirm the many ways in which we do so.”

Culture Takes Shape

Bottom line, no matter the shape or size of your organization, transforming culture cannot happen overnight, it takes more than a leader to make change… it takes all of us. Clearly, it’s best to focus on one or two culture improvements to start (even consider micro-improvements to portion of the world you have direct influence) so you’re not overwhelmed and can do them to the best of you and your team’s ability!

The phonics fix?

Britten Follett — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 09:09:00 +0000

Much like the return of Cabbage Patch Kids, He-Man, and the Lite Brite I saw at the store on Black Friday, we’re living in an era where what’s old is new.

During the pandemic, renowned reading expert Lucy Calkins called for a ‘rebalancing’ of Balanced Literacy, alluding to an increased focus on linking letters with their sounds–or what those of us who went to elementary school in the 80-90s know as phonics class.

While some teachers are not necessarily abandoning components of Balanced Literacy (like reading aloud, guided and independent reading, and word study) in favor of pulling out the old phonics workbook with the tear out pages, they are reconsidering the role phonics plays in modern elementary education and turning more often to a Science of Reading-based approach.

Because now, emerging from the pandemic, the nation’s report card published a sobering decline in reading and math scores among students.

Reading coaches and teachers say the decline in reading proficiency and scores among kindergarten through third grade students was well underway before the pandemic.

So what does this mean for teachers who are struggling to fill reading gaps created during the pandemic?

And what should publishers who serve the education market do to help?

The Educational Book and Media Association hosted a webinar to discuss this very topic, seeking input from teachers, reading coaches, print and digital book wholesalers who sell to K-12 schools, and publishers on what’s needed now to begin remediation… to get our students reading.

Illinois reading coach Katie James began her career in education as a teacher spanning first, second, and third grades. James says the reading gap is a daily problem for teachers, which is why districts are adding new levels of intervention for more and more students who are reading at increasingly varying levels entering fourth grade. “The pandemic-created gaps are understandable,” James said. “In some cases, it’s decoding, others it’s comprehension, sometimes both. So, teachers can’t just start teaching 4^th grade content. They have to fill gaps between second and third grade but connect to the fourth-grade objectives. We have faith we’re closing those gaps but it’s going to take some time.”

Teacher Beth Heidemann agrees with James. “There was a trend in this direction pre-COVID. There’s been a devaluing of the teaching profession. Too often districts are hitting the easy button and introducing a program. But we need to say to teachers, here’s the training you need if you didn’t already receive it in college and here’s my trust that you’re going to educate these students. There is an issue with literacy. But it’s more than just reading. It’s writing and skilled questioning. And COVID accelerated it. Today, I’m teaching kids who don’t know how to play with each other. So, there are profound development gaps… not just education gaps.”

James is seeing teachers dedicate more time to phonics and curating collections of decodable text than ever before in her career. And they are seeing gains. “We’re shifting from ‘balanced literacy’ to ‘structured literacy,’” James shared. “It’s not about getting rid of the trade books in the classroom library. It’s just infusing more phonics through decodable texts. Teachers are looking for more decodable texts for students in both the classroom and the school library.”

Heidemann says phonics has always been a part of her reading strategies. “I teach a foundation of phonics infused with fun and humor combined with highly engaging titles,” she said. “That is my best shot at getting kids fluent.”

Rhonda Buck, of RB Books and Media, warns publishers not to just rush to issue a phonics book to respond to these trends. “We must do a better job of accurately leveling books across publishers. Imprints within the same publisher can even look different,” Buck said. “Guided reading levels are subjective. Who’s choosing these levels?”

James and Heidemann encourage teachers to select decodable and guided reading books for their classroom libraries that:

Are engaging
Span multiple reading and grade levels
Reflect the interests of the students in their school community

James says she starts with the basics. “Start with decodables and move to guided reading. You don’t want to introduce a word like pencil in a book for kindergarteners because it has a soft c and you don’t learn that in kindergarten,” James shared.

According to Buck, “Our job is to put engaging, diverse, fun literature into classroom libraries,” she said. “If students are struggling to read, and teachers don’t include realistic reading levels, contemporary formats, and engaging content, do you really think students are going to pick up that book and want to read it? If a fourth-grade student is struggling and picks up a fourth grade leveled book, they’re not going to enjoy it. Classroom libraries cannot just be focused on the grade level they are in.”

Heidemann adds that the role of a book in classroom library is very different than a school library. “When you build a classroom library you need a lot of decodables that kids will burn through. Those don’t really belong in the school library,” according to Heidemann. “I want the content to drive it. If a class is super passionate about dinosaurs, I would want a collection of dinosaur-related read-alouds and decodables that go far above and below your reading level. And we need those less expensive books that are not necessarily library bound.”

As for the debate between print and digital books? James, Heidemann, and Buck all agree there’s a place for both. But Buck says digital is taking the back seat for now. “I’m hearing the same thing from every district I visit. Do not show me technology. Do not show me digital.”

Not because districts don’t believe in technology or understand its place in education, but because they have enough, Buck shared. “They are using technology. They are invested in technology. But they have a massive amount of it. They want print. The districts have purchased so much technology that they’re not using everything they have.”

Are we all suffering from a bit of digital fatigue? According to James, teachers are. “Teachers are burned out on technology. They want those good feelings back of diving in a book together. Print gives you that connection with your students.”

Digital content does still have a significant place in education, however. Heidemann encourages publishers to design digital content that acts as more than a replacement for a print book. “During the pandemic, we saw substitution-level technology,” she said. “We traded print for digital. We had to do it. But when you look at good pedagogy, the substitution level is maybe a starting place in a journey to using technology. We want to be using technology as the best tool to use when there’s no other tool to do it. We want the technology to be transformational. Save the basic skills for things like that tangible book. For students who are struggling to read, learning to track is hard in digital. You swipe one page and you’re lost.”

We can debate phonics, print and digital formats, decodable and guided reading texts, but in the end it’s about high-quality content that reflects the world in which students are growing up.

Buck says, “I want every book to be fabulous. I don’t want a book that my kids read when they were in elementary school. Even the names of children are quite different than they were 20, 30 years ago. When I’m building a classroom library, I want books that look and sound like they were printed in today’s world.”

35 years later, even Cabbage Patch looks a little different.

When I grow up: Nurturing girls to become leaders

Britten Follett — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 09:01:00 +0000

Growing up, I was the class vice-president; the de facto leader of every group project ever assigned; elementary and high school valedictorian; and the captain of my sports teams. I met all the stereotypes of a typical, Type A student. Yet, it never crossed my mind that when I grew up, I could be a CEO.

I’m not alone.

According to Harvard Business Review 5.3 percent of large U.S. companies have CEOs named John compared with 4.1 percent that have CEOs who are women. Firms with CEOs named David, at 4.5 percent, also outnumber women-led businesses. More than half of college graduates are women, yet, less than 8 percent of the fortune 500 CEOs are women. The stats speak for themselves.

Was I a victim of these statistics? Not necessarily. Upon reflection, it’s probably because I was extremely shy and struggled with interpersonal communications. While I may have checked the technical skill boxes, I fell short on the ‘soft’ skills. Skills, say the lady leaders you’re about to hear from, that are critical to leadership success. But as I learned from my peers, leaders are likely not born leaders, they grow into the role. Which means every one of us as parents, teachers, and mentors can help better prepare young girls, both mentally and technically, for leadership roles.

Tricia Han, the CEO of MyFitnessPal, attributes her foray into leadership to a conversation with a friend, who also happened to be a talent recruiter–a woman, and person of color– who encouraged her to apply for a leadership role. Tricia hesitated citing lack of experience, until the friend said, “People like me need to see people like you in those leadership roles so we know it’s possible.”

Tricia remembers thinking, “It’s sometimes easier to be brave when you realize you’re doing it for others.”

Tricia doesn’t know if she would have raised her hand for leadership had she not had that impetus. Born in the United States to immigrant parents, Tricia knew the expectation was for her to be a doctor or a lawyer. She was organized, a strong communicator, and creative. Her parents remained open-minded when she majored in English Literature. Tricia says, “One of the great things about college is that the curriculum allowed me to explore a lot of different areas. While I ended up spending my career in technology product management, English Literature ended up being a great training ground because you’re trying to understand motivation, personalities, and you need to be able to communicate a story as a CEO. Those are absolutely critical skills.”

While technical expertise is important, Tricia believes those soft skills she learned in school made her more a more capable leader. “

There’s no way a teacher could have prepared me for the technical aspects of my career path, because my job didn’t exist,” explained Tricia.

Tricia adds, “Leadership is a learned skill, just like anything else. I hope girls realize that. Girls are tough on themselves. They think it must be perfect out of the gate. As teachers and parents, we can reinforce that it takes practice. Tomorrow’s another day and all will be fine.”

Fumiko Taki grew up in a remote area of Japan and now works in the global finance industry, assisting clients in areas such as Initial Public Offerings (IPO), Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) and Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions at Deloitte & Touche LLP. “As a child, I did not aspire to be a leader,” she shared. “All I wanted was to get out of my small town in western Japan to see the world. In elementary school, I was motivated to get good grades and go to a good school so I could work for a big corporation. I assumed that once I married, I would leave my career, since that was the social norm in Japan at that time.”

Fumiko says her high school physics teacher inspired the technical skills she uses in her job today. “He inspired me to study physics in college. While physics has nothing to do with my career now, I believe it helps me logically approach and resolve complex issues. In such situations, I always tell myself at least it’s not quantum physics!”

After college, Fumiko worked for a software company in Japan. It was a well-known family-owned company, and she says they treated her very well, but she noticed there were quite a few constraints in her career growth. For example, when she requested relocation to the Tokyo office, her employer at the time told her they could not advance this request because she’s a woman.

Eventually, Fumiko realized her dream of working in the U.S. and learned she could overcome any challenge with resilience and persistence. In the U.S., she found male and female role models in leadership. She says it’s the soft skills she’s observed throughout her career that define a good leader, skills educators can instill in students at a young age, “My personal belief is that ‘leader’ is not a title, but how people are perceived. When I think of a leader, personal characteristics are the foundation, and self-awareness is a tool. I’ve met amazing leaders in both my personal and professional life, and most share the following characteristics: drive, intelligence, confidence, and genuine kindness. And even though these traits might not come naturally to everyone, I believe that with self-awareness and a curious and observant mind, those traits can be learned and embodied in a way that is authentic to each person.”

Rebecca Sanford wears two hats. She is the founder of Fe League, an organization invested in supporting female leaders, and she also serves as a Senior Operating Advisor at Francisco Partners, with a focus on Human Resources. Rebecca says she was a natural leader as a child. While she didn’t have specific aspirations to be CEO or President, she always wanted to lead people.

Yet, she recalls a time in sixth grade where conditioning and cognitive bias impacted her journey to be a leader. “I was a ‘straight A’ kid until sixth grade. Another student and I both had As and had to audition to speak at the elementary school graduation. I nailed it. But the teachers chose him because they said his voice projected better. There’s nothing I could have done. I realized I had to play the cards I was dealt. I got much more involved in social activities, sports, and different groups. I decided to pave my own path to leadership which carried all the way through college.”

Today, Rebecca interviews and hires CEO candidates and her voice projects better. She echoes Tricia’s and Fumiko’s comments that the soft skills many females exhibit can go a long way in leadership and those skills can be reinforced early in life, in the classroom. Leaders need to be vulnerable. They need to listen more than they talk. They need to recognize that the loudest person in the room isn’t always the smartest.

Girls and women have the intelligence problem-solving skills to be leaders. Plus, they possess those soft skills. As Rebecca says, “Teachers can model leadership. Teachers can instill confidence. Teachers can influence young men to have a woman as a mentor.”

Leadership is about challenging ourselves to think differently, to evolve professionally, and to make a commitment to learning that begins in the classroom and continues throughout our daily lives.

Tricia says, “Teachers are the lifeblood. They’ve been so important to me. I still remember every teacher’s name I had and what I loved about them. They acted as mentors and they taught me so many things, not just academically, but socially and ethically.”

Rebecca encourages teachers to become aware of our cognitive biases. “Right or wrong, we’re all existing in a world with systemic issues,” she said. If you don’t address it, you’re condoning it. Teachers are on the front lines of the development of future leaders. Boys raise their hand more. Teachers can take a proactive stance in giving girls a voice.”

“I started at Deloitte & Touche LLP four years ago,” says Fumiko, “And since then I have participated in several incredible workshops that helped me understand how to leverage self-awareness to create my own brand and leave a positive impression on others. In one training, I learned how to project confidence, manage perceptions, and communicate effectively both verbally and through non-verbal cues, including how our facial expressions and body language can make a big difference. In fact, Albert Mehrabian, a body language researcher, found that 55 percent of communication is body language, 38 percent is tone of voice and only 7 percent is verbal language. Known as the 7-38-55 Rule, he wrote about the concept in his book Silent Messages (1971) and it still rings true to this day. I think it’s important for educators to share these insights (and so much more!) to prepare girls to be better leaders.”

Will we see a day where there are more Janes than Johns in the C-Suite? My hope is that male or female, every company puts the most capable human at the helm. But there’s no better time than the present to ensure the girls in our world believe they can lead. And it starts with each of us. Rebecca says, “I created an organization of women who are aspiring to be in a position of leadership. Seeing organizations like Fe League take off, it’s all very hopeful. Women supporting women is gaining momentum. It’s more now than I’ve seen before in my career. Twenty years ago, there was a more of a competitive, scarcity mindset. I don’t see that at all now. Women say, ‘Let me save you a seat.’”

As for that overachieving, yet cripplingly shy 12-year-old me? While I may not have envisioned I would ever have those three letters in my future, I’ve heard from teachers and other adults in my life who knew me back then that they always knew I had it in me. And I eventually found my voice.

Teachers, who is the next Tricia, Fumiko, Rebecca, or me sitting in your class? Save her a seat..

Education’s Great Resignation

Britten Follett — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 10:01:00 +0000

Just outside of Des Moines, Iowa, an opening for a sixth-grade teaching job sits vacant… with zero applicants.

An hour northwest of Chicago, a shortage of bus drivers, special education teachers, counselors, and paraprofessionals is forcing teachers to reexamine their workload and look outside of the profession.

Public concerns around books, curricula, and learning platforms, combined with debate over masks and vaccines, have compelled college students who intended to major in education to choose a different career path.

For the first time in history, district officials say they’re seeing teachers who have been in the profession for 20 years consider jobs outside of education.

Is it another symptom of The Great Resignation facing many sectors in America? Is this an esoteric threat to public education?

These questions compelled me to speak with education leaders about how the educator shortage is impacting their communities and what they’re doing to combat it.

Van Meter, Iowa Superintendent Deron Durflinger explains, “When the system gets attacked, it’s an attack on the individuals. There are so many challenges on both ends. You have people who are not ready for retirement. You have people in mid-career thinking about getting out. And then you have fewer students who want to be teachers. All those things have created a difficult environment.”

Durflinger says his district has struggled to recruit cooks and custodians but is treading water with teacher openings because it made strategic changes to the way in which teachers are compensated and began offering more attractive benefits. According to Durflinger, his district pays well, and they reward great teaching. But even in his rural district, they are seeing 25 applicants for an elementary school job that used to garner 100 applicants. “I have four kids. Of the two of them who wanted to be teachers, one now says they want to pursue another career,” he said.

Diana Hartmann, the Regional Superintendent for McHenry County, Illinois, sees the impact of the shortage in all the school districts in the county she serves. As the sixth-largest county in the state, McHenry has students living in both rural and suburban communities, and is combating a shortage of social workers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and counselors.

Hartmann says, “When you don’t have people in positions that support the school, it puts too much pressure on the teacher. With a shortage of special education teachers and paraprofessionals, teachers are faced with increased mandatory paperwork and extremely varied needs in a classroom of 32 kids. It’s really hard for that teacher to address all of those needs at once.”

In the district Hartmann came from before McHenry, the lack of special education support roles caused the newest teacher hires to throw in the towel. “You could be a 22-year-old teacher, put in a class of high-needs autism, non-verbal students, aggressive students and you only had one chapter on autism in your whole four years of college,” Hartmann said. “That’s where they are breaking. Two teachers left in the first eight weeks of school because of the extreme circumstances they are facing.”

In addition, teachers are increasingly being recruited to jobs outside the profession. Durflinger had two mid-career teachers consider leaving the profession for jobs in a related field.

Hartmann explains how companies are marketing opportunities to teachers, illustrating that they can make the same amount of money or more and not have to deal with all the challenges, “It’s less stress. A lot of teachers go into it because it’s going to be good for the family lifestyle. The recent problems facing public education are causing headaches, anxiety, nausea, mental and physical exhaustion, forcing teachers to feel as though they no longer have the patience to deal with their own families.”

While there’s no straightforward solution to the social and political climate clouding education, the crisis is forcing communities to get creative surrounding what they can control. Durflinger is offering attractive ‘soft’ benefits like:

Universal 15 days leave for all teachers;
An additional 15 days paid maternity leave;
Paternity leave;
Teachers who opt out of insurance coverage get a cash bonus;
Increased focus on building the culture of the district to make it the destination of choice for great teachers.

In other districts, Durflinger says they are paying teachers not to retire.

Similarly, Hartmann is working with area superintendents to build programs to recruit high school students for jobs like a paraprofessional. Her goal is to educate students about these types of jobs before they leave the county for other opportunities, “You can become a para and that’s going to help you become a teacher and you can do that program here, and you can save a ton of money, still live with mom and dad, and this program is going to cost you a fraction of the price.”

Hartmann says across Illinois, she’s seeing districts keep teachers past retirement age, fast-track teaching certifications for anyone with a four-year degree, and lower the requirements for positions like bus drivers and paraprofessionals. She’s also working with the communities she serves to change how positions like this are marketed, “There must be a why behind it beside the $17 an hour. You’re contributing to your community.”

In the end, the leaders I spoke with explain that education professionals just want to feel valued, even if it’s just a little bit. In a world where every day national news outlets are covering challenges facing education, a little bit goes a long way, and many leaders are looking into new ideas to do just that. Hartmann says, “It goes a long way just to make that staff feel appreciated and loved.”

110% humidity, 100% human collaboration

Britten Follett — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:39:00 +0000

This summer, thousands of educators and vendors who serve education descended on New Orleans and braved 110% humidity for the first “back to normal” conference for the International Society of Technology in Education, or ISTE. After two virtual conferences, folks were excited to be back in person, and despite continued COVID protocols, hugs abounded as friends and colleagues reunited on the tradeshow floor and during sessions throughout the New Orleans convention center.

My conference experience began at the Future Ready Library Summit on Collaboration where 150 librarians from across the country—and even overseas—gathered to brainstorm ways in which they could better collaborate with teachers, principals, district leadership, and each other. I had the opportunity to welcome the group and felt compelled to share a story about one of my previous visits to New Orleans in 2005, about a week after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

Back then, I worked as a television journalist in Oklahoma City. I traveled with the Army to New Orleans to cover the search, rescue, and recovery missions. While there, we slept in the Walmart parking lot in the Ninth Ward. I had to wear a mask (many years before masks were the norm) and put Vicks VapoRub under my nose to combat the smell of the flood water and waste. My videographer smoked cigarettes at the time, and I found myself standing next to him because the cigarettes smelled better than the air (and I’ve never had a cigarette in my life)!

While canvassing the neighborhood, we found many homes that had been successfully evacuated. Heartbreakingly, we found some homes in which the resident didn’t make it out. But I’ve never forgotten when we knocked on the door of a home and Paulette answered. She was wading through a foot of water in her living room. She explained that she didn’t want to evacuate because her friend Sylvia brings her food every two weeks and didn’t know how she would survive without Sylvia’s delivery. What Paulette didn’t understand was that Sylvia wouldn’t be bringing her food. We convinced her to go with us to the Superdome, where she would be transported to one of five cities taking evacuees.

I’ve never forgotten Paulette. I have no idea what happened to her but can only hope she found herself in a city with the kind of support services she needed.

I shared Paulette’s story with the Future Ready group at ISTE that day because she had no control over the hurricane headed for her home; she had no control over the next delivery of her groceries; and she had no control over where the Army transported her for her next home. Not having control is scary.

And there’s my point. There are many esoteric challenges facing education today. Librarians can’t control the pandemic… or parents arguing about masks, vaccines, or books. But librarians can control how and if they collaborate.

At the same session, Future Ready Librarian Spokeswoman Shannon Miller shared several inspiring stories about ways in which she collaborates with teachers, school leaders, and her community. Here’s what I learned from Shannon:

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight;
If you do a great project, share that great project with your teachers, school community, and your peers on social media;
Don’t be an expert. Call an expert;
Don’t ask for a meeting with teachers—they don’t have time. Instead, take a 3-minute walk and talk between classes;
Plan for meaningful collaboration for students across grade levels.

The rest of my time at the conference was spent meeting with trade publications that cover education, such as eSchool News, talking to customers on the tradeshow floor, learning about the 450 fellow companies exhibiting at the show, and sharing stories. While in-person attendance at the conference was estimated to be about half of a normal ISTE headcount, in most cases, this was the first time to reconnect with these folks, in person, since the pandemic began.

During my meetings with the media, we discussed what educators are experiencing in the wake of the strangest two years in the industry, including:

How teachers are still fatigued by technology (and generally, just fatigued). We heard many say that unless a tool is already a part of everyday instruction, it may likely fall by the wayside. Teachers, we hear you! It’s not hard to understand that there is too much to do without multiple add-on tech supplements.
Much of the available ESSER funding has not yet been spent in districts. Again, so much to do, but help deciphering what’s available and how to apply it may be what educators need.
Tutoring is now more popular and in use than before the pandemic. Schools and parents are collaborating to help kids get up to speed academically.

When I spoke to teachers, librarians, and tech directors from districts around the country, and our own team in and around our booth, we shared experiences and “what’s worked” ourselves, and we also talked about ISTE. These topics seemed to come up repeatedly:

Zoom is great, however, ISTE was an opportunity to learn from peers and build relationships in a deeper way than zoom allows. Everyone loved finally being back in person!
Tracking devices and resources accurately has become a critical part of district operations; controlling overspending is a common concern in almost every realm.
Supply chain challenges, including book orders, remain obstacles for everyone. Someday, we all imagined with hope, perhaps things will return to normal!

This was the first national conference I attended in-person since the pandemic began.

The entire experience reinforced the message that started the conference. There are so many challenges facing us daily that are entirely out of our control. Yet, collaboration is critical. It’s within our control. And interacting with other humans is important… even if it’s in New Orleans, in June, with 110% humidity!

What are your reasons to celebrate this school year?

Britten Follett — Thu, 26 May 2022 09:05:00 +0000

We can all agree that the challenges we’ve seen in the last two years are unprecedented. However, when we consider all that’s happened and all that we’ve learned, there is also much to celebrate.

We can celebrate because students are back in school. We can celebrate the fact that libraries and librarians are in the spotlight. We can celebrate the fact superintendents no longer have to moonlight as meteorologists to call a snow day because we can deliver instruction virtually.

We can’t forget specific challenges and controversies, though—we’ve argued about masks, vaccines, and books. Teachers are leaving the profession. Librarians are facing criminal consequences over their collections. District leaders are attempting to navigate an increasingly political landscape where it’s becoming nearly impossible to please everyone.

Yet, as history has demonstrated time and time again, we emerge from crises stronger and smarter. Which in and of itself is a reason to celebrate.

When I turned to my professional network of teachers and librarians and asked what they’ve learned this year (and what they would take with them for the rest of their careers) they, too, found ways to celebrate. Here are a few highlights of what I heard from teachers, librarians, and administrators across the country:

“I’ve learned that I’m capable of teaching fifth grade. After my first year, I have a year under my belt and so do my students. I believe behavioral issues can be resolved with more practice. I’m excited for next year!” Marcus Joseph

“My advice: take time for yourself. You can’t help others or be there for them when you are unable to meet your own needs.” Joe Witek

“That running a library is more like running a small business than teaching: inventory, circulation, purchasing, promoting, employee management, customers + teaching, pd, etc.” Erin Hough

“That libraries are far from obsolete and so important to our students! It was devastating to be closed last year, cease circulation, and then push into classrooms. To see the utter joy and excitement from our students as we reopened this year and have had our library renovated has been so rewarding. The schools that don’t have libraries may think they can do without, but no child should be without them!” Audra Good

“That as a librarian it can be hard to put others first over yourself and your workload. However, it is necessary. Teachers and students need the support of the librarian more than just as a resource for locating information. At times, I felt like I needed to prove that I am valuable, but I stopped feeling like this since COVID hit . . . That is what I learned this year. We are recovering and trying to get back to normal this school year. I have been a crutch to help people to get back to normalcy.” Shelly Stall

All the comments I received reinforced my gut instinct: while it’s been challenging, we are all taking with us lessons learned and reasons to celebrate. When I spoke with Carrie Friday, a colleague who is a teacher librarian at a middle school in Florida, she pointed out what she learned about her students. “I learned that I am capable of even more than I thought I was,” Friday told me. “I also learned that kids who are invested in your program will be a huge help in keeping the program going—they just need opportunities to shine.”

Another colleague here in Illinois told me she’s ALWAYS learning and shared several great thoughts.

“’I’ve learned to embrace the wait time,” said Stephanie Kaye, an instructional coach in Fox Lake. “We live in a fast-paced world. Leaders – coaches, admins, teachers – need to give students TIME to ponder, think, consider…all too often whether it’s in a classroom, meeting, or professional development a question is asked and not much ‘wait time’ is given. Embrace the wait time!” Kaye also shared her thoughts on leadership and the level of teacher and librarian burnout that has become commonplace since the pandemic.

“Leadership in education needs to always remember that while we are here for the students, if the staff feels overworked and underappreciated, the students will be ones who suffer the most,” said Kaye. She shared that now, more than ever, it’s critical to have open dialogue with your staff. “Let your staff be heard, that you hear them and then find solutions together. Develop a way for staff to truly bring up concerns to leadership. Otherwise, people just complain behind closed doors, and nothing ever gets fixed; nothing ever changes. Stagnant water breeds disease.”

Many other educators shared what they’ve learned in the last two years and why there are reasons to celebrate, but space does not allow for me to include all. However, the underlying message is clear from almost everyone who responded: Through the many challenges we faced this school year, educators can and will emerge stronger.

I hope you are inspired by these learnings and think about some of your own. How are you stronger now and what did you learn in the last two years? We want to hear from you. Send us your input here and I’ll address your comments in a future column.

As your school year comes to a close, I hope you all find reasons to celebrate.

Learn to use books to foster critical thinking

Britten Follett — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:01:00 +0000

While I’m a far cry from a Newbery, once a year, I’ve gotten into the habit of writing a picture book for my nephew Knox. My goal is to keep the eight-year-old excited about reading, because what little boy doesn’t want to read a book about himself?

For the purposes of this article about using picture books in instruction, I invite you to listen as I read aloud to you The Great PunkaKnox.

When I was in school, my teacher would have read the book out loud and asked us questions to test our comprehension, such as:

Q) Who did Knox live with? A) His aunt and uncle.
Q) What color was Knox’s pumpkin? A) Green.
Q) What animal visited Knox’s pumpkin? A) A fox.

A slightly more sophisticated question might be:

Q) Who is the narrator of the book? A) The pumpkin.

In “old school” school, teachers would pass along information; students would listen, memorize, and regurgitate. Fast-forward (yes, a 1980’s VCR reference is highly appropriate) a few decades, and students today have answers to every question in the world with a click or a swipe. Content and information are readily available to everyone; therefore, standing at the front of the classroom and sharing information is no longer an effective form of instruction.

Yet, books have never been a more important delivery tool.

In a recent webinar, Using Books as Mentor Texts, teacher and author Adrienne Gear shared, “The books are my teaching partners to get to deep thinking. You don’t have to be a proficient reader to be a proficient thinker.”

In a world where answers are at our fingertips, Gear says, “Teachers are now faced with the challenge of helping students think more deeply by being content connectors rather than content givers. No longer are Ivy League schools looking for young people who can regurgitate facts to get A’s. Universities and eventually employers are looking for deep thinkers, problem solvers, and people who understand how to work collaboratively.”

Using Gear’s instructional philosophy, let’s, “Pause and ponder,” on what background knowledge students could take away from The Great PunkaKnox over and above the simple comprehension questions listed above.

Students may have never been exposed to a garden. The story provides an opportunity for teachers to help students develop background knowledge on gardening and farming. Teachers could develop an entire lesson on grocery store supply chain and how food gets to your table.

Students may not see food cooked from scratch at home. Growing up in my house, the pumpkin pie came from the bakery! Perhaps a writing and discussion activity could be for students to share their favorite meal and talk or journal about how they believe it’s prepared and cooked.

Students may have never thought about why pumpkins come in different colors. Which is a perfect way for a teacher to infuse the science of cross breeding and cross-pollination into the conversation. Art could be infused into the lesson by asking students to turn their pumpkin into something new like Knox’s green M&M.

To connect with students on a social and emotional level, a teacher could ask students to talk about why Knox may have come to live with his aunt and uncle* and why he may have eventually moved away to Texas. Knox’s story is an example that family comes in many shapes and sizes. And often little ones must adapt to new environments and even new caretakers.

Gear also suggests choosing a book that has a theme that connects to one word. Before reading a picture book, Gear asks students what they think about when they see a particular word. Using The Great PunkaKnox as an example, a teacher could use the word TOUGH. Before reading the book, students would probably liken TOUGH to muscles and super-heroes. After reading the book, they might recognize that seeds and little boys are TOUGH AND can withstand a lot—even cold Woodstock, Illinois winters and time way from their mom and dad.

While I used my own little story to illustrate how picture books can be used as mentor texts, Gear highlights many fantastic examples in her webinar, using books you likely already have in your school library. School librarian Tom Bober has an entire blog series where he shares picture books that can be used as primary sources for historic topics like the Tulsa Race Massacre.

In the end, the words and pictures on the page are in their simplest form. But students will remember the lessons that can emerge from those words and pictures, long past the test, as we use these stories to prepare young ones for life.

Now, time to make a pumpkin pie.

*While not pertinent to The Great PunkaKnox’s storyline, you may be curious about the backstory. In 2018, Knox’s dad Ryan was critically injured in Afghanistan, losing three limbs. In the months that followed, Knox lived with my husband and me while his dad recovered. Knox eventually reunited with his mom and dad in Texas. Yet his pumpkin patch lives on, has yielded many yummy pies, and is a few months from sprouting its third season!

Using the book club model in the classroom

Britten Follett — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000

I vividly remember my English teacher, Mrs. Grant, bringing a stack of 20 well-read copies of A Wrinkle in Time out from the closet for everyone in the class. She would read a chapter or two out loud during class and later we would read independently until it was time to take a test or write a report on what we learned. I don’t remember ever debating my classmates about the themes in the book or frankly ever even talking to fellow students about what we read.

Yet, for most of my childhood, I spent my free time with my nose in a book. I was an avid reader who read well above grade-level, but even I didn’t like to read the books that were forced on me.

Which is why middle school English teachers like Carrie Friday at Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay, Florida are using the book club model instead. Friday is her school’s librarian, and she also teaches several English classes. With 80% of her students reading between two and three grades below level, Friday says offering students’ choice in literature is a game changer. “Even if you just give them a couple of titles to choose from, they are going to be invested because they had a say in the process.”

In Friday’s classes, book clubs take student choice to a new level.

In one class, at the beginning of each month, Friday assigns a genre to every student in the class—for instance, this month the genre was Dystopia. She teaches the characteristics of the genre and what makes a book fit in the category. Then each student selects whatever Dystopian book they want to read and at the end of the month they produce a project like a BookTalk. She says, “Even our kids who read well need to spend time in books. Choice makes all the difference in the world.”

In another of Friday’s classes, students in small groups read the same book and meet for discussion. Other times, everyone in the group reads a different book and they discuss the similarities and differences. Friday feels that smaller group discussions make it easier for students to speak up and connect with each other. “When you have a class of 25 kids, reading five different books, they’re working on their tasks accomplishing standards and goals. But you can have great class discussions, like ‘Someone tell me the main conflict. How does that compare to the last group? Is it the same?’ Teachers can even take the kids and mix them up, so each student is talking about the ways in which the books they read are similar and different.”

Whether a student is reading a contemporary title or a classic, teachers can deliver the same skillsets—literary devices, comprehension, or discussion prompts, as Friday points out. To provide a deeper connection to the curricular standards, Friday often pairs a classic with a contemporary title to demonstrate to students how themes have changed over time. For example, Friday pairs A Wrinkle in Time with Tristan Strong, and Harbor Me with The Outsiders. Yet, time and time again she says the modern titles draw her students in. “Classic literature is removed from what their lives look like. So, I match those titles with books that are new, relevant, and mirror the stories or home backgrounds of the students I teach. And then it feels like they are reading about someone who could be a friend.”

This spring, Friday is piloting Kwame Alexander’s new Bookfest with her students. The New York Times best-selling author, poet, and Newbery award winner’s Bookfest pairs contemporary titles, curated by Alexander with teacher and student guides, along with interactive content, like author podcasts. Listen as Alexander describes his inspiration for what Friday calls ‘the newest, coolest book club in education today.’ According to Alexander, to be in the running for BookFest, every title had to be entertaining, accessible, challenging, and inspiring to make students want to make the world a better place. “Imagine an amusement park in your classroom, but all the rides are books. WOOHOO!” said Alexander.

Friday is jumping to the front of the line for the Bookfest ride because she’s been using the book club model her entire teaching career AND she was on the committee that helped Kwame curate the books in the collection. Kwame attributes Friday with helping him discover new authors and fall in love with new books during the curation process. So, Friday is confident Bookfest will provide teachers the tools to hit the standards but also let the books shine.

Shine like Becoming Muhammed Ali, her favorite book in the Bookfest collection. Friday told me she loves this book for characters and the story but also for the background knowledge it provides young readers on topics like the Kentucky Derby, Parkinson’s Disease, and The Boxing Association, along with all of the history and events of Ali’s lifetime, which carry over into other content areas and classes. She firmly believes students are smarter about the world after reading the book.

Although he’s enjoying great success with his books and poetry, Kwame Alexander continues to work toward the same goal he’s had for years – getting students to fall in love with books. He hopes Bookfest leaves students smarter but also helps them reach the same conclusion he did while cleaning his garage back in 1978—books ARE cool.

And Friday hopes teachers take the leap, whether they design their own book club or embrace Kwame’s Bookfest, and she promises, it’s worth it. “Be brave. And try it. Because it will pay off. The kids will love it. It doesn’t matter if the parents love it. Or whether your department loves it. The kids will love it. They’re going to do it. They’re going to read.”

Happy habits: SEL matters more than ever

Britten Follett — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 09:25:00 +0000

“My hope is these extra couple of days will allow everyone to take a little extra time for themselves and their families. Family is, after all, much of what Thanksgiving is all about.”

–Dr. Kelvin R. Adams, Superintendent of Schools, St. Louis Public Schools

Like St. Louis, school districts across the country opted to add an additional partial or entire week off during the holiday season/winter break to allow the students and adults to find time for and take care of themselves.

While the decision was controversial for working parents who struggled to find last-minute childcare, it poses a larger question: Are school districts prepared to not just care for students who are struggling with returning to the classroom, but can they also support the needs of their adults during what has been the most trying two years in education?

The facts are clear: Teachers are leaving the industry in droves. According to a study by The Brookings Institution, “in March 2021, 42 percent of teachers declared they have considered leaving or retiring from their current position during the last year. Of these, slightly more than half say it was because of COVID-19.”

But it’s not solely due to the pandemic, the same study indicates. “Teachers nearing the retirement age were as likely as younger teachers to report having considered leaving or retiring for reasons other than COVID-19.”

The issue is not just germane to education. As a business leader, it’s becoming more and more challenging to meet the needs of our team members. Keeping team members connected to the organization – and their colleagues – in a remote world is a challenge. Which makes retention a challenge. All the while, hiring new team members is now tougher and more costly than ever.

So how do we, collectively, create an environment in our schools and businesses that cultivates happy habits?

This Happy Habit checklist is one of the many resources that can help educators think about their own social and emotional wellbeing and practice methods of improvement.

After a short walk to my mailbox and a check in the box, I used these few simple ideas as a thought starter to ask my LinkedIn network for additional habits they use to improve their state of happiness during the work day.

Here’s what they shared:

Hug someone every day. –Jim Boston, Director of Programs & Development at Your Children’s Bookshelf
Get outside and walk. –Dorothy Toth, Creative Director, Marketing Consultant
Move my body every day, watch videos of my granddaughter; treat people with kindness. –Maureen Regan, Account Executive, Johnson Controls
H2O, walking every day, eating healthy, and celebrating life with my husband and family. Sunshine and warmth are also important. –Carole Peters, Former Executive Director, United Way of Greater McHenry County
Get your body moving! –Taylor Wright, Enterprise Sales, Lexmark
Music! I can’t sing, but there’s something about belting out a favorite song while I drive that always improves my mood. (I can’t vouch for what it does to the moods of the people who happen to hear me, though. . .) –Jennifer Zimmerman, Business Development Representative, A Pass Educational Group
Do something nice for a person in need or speak to somebody who needs a kind word. –Fred Harvey, Director Inside Sales, Baker & Taylor
Go for a run outside or near the ocean! –Connie Francini, Performance Coach, Clarity Consulting
Walk and reflection (includes gratitude) –Aman Kochar, CEO, Baker & Taylor
Don’t just think about someone you care about, tell them! –Ian Singer, CEO, Library Pass

Apparently, my network likes to walk a lot! As educators, you are on your feet all day, so a walk may not be entirely appealing. But even if you’re not into walking, each of these happy habits are doable for most of us… except for the run near the ocean since I live in the middle of Northern Illinois!

I thought I’d share my own happy habits and gratitude checklist:

A cold December morning run while listening to the latest Louise Penny audiobook
A walk to the mailbox in the middle of writing this article
Drinking my favorite vanilla hot tea
And today I’m grateful for an opportunity to have dinner with a friend since pre-school
I’ll take a breather for silent reflection after I finish the article!

While all of us are doing more with less and navigating situations that seemingly change daily, we must remember we have control of our outlook. As a business leader, I know happy team members are more productive and as a result, we get more books in the hands of students. Which means happy teachers and librarians will produce happier, healthier, and more successful students… which is the box we all want to check.

Let’s encourage each other to focus on the social-emotional care we need for ourselves – not just our students. Visit this Happy Habit checklist for more!

Are banned books challenges, or opportunities for innovation?

Britten Follett — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Click Here to Discover Some Innovative Ideas for School Libraries

When I finished Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code, I began researching the validity of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene sharing a bloodline protected by a secret society. When J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was accused of promoting the devil and witchcraft, I dove into the series. When Oprah pulled Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt off her Book Club, I put it on hold at the library.

When the world makes a fuss about a book, consider my attention piqued.

Skimming the American Library Association’s list of most banned and challenged books over time, I’ve read more than my share, from To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Diary of Anne Frank to Captain Underpants and 13 Reasons Why. I have to say I’m quite surprised Flowers in the Attic didn’t make the list as it made the 10-year-old me… well… blush.

This fall, the conversation around controversial titles is heating up in Texas and across the country. In the Lone Star State, there was an inquiry into the books available to students in Texas school districts. School districts are being asked to report if they own any of the 850 books in question and if they do, how many copies of each and how much they paid for those books.

Amid television news headlines like, “‘Pornography in Texas schools: Texas Gov. Abbott calls for removal of library books,” Texas librarians have turned to social media asking for help:

“Librarians, I need your help. This is what we are facing in Texas. My principal wants to discuss this. I have just glanced at “The List” so I know I’m going to have a bunch of these. If you’ve been through something like this, how did you handle this and what did you do? My principal is an awesome guy I’m not sure where his thoughts are on this. We’re going to talk tomorrow.”

The Texas Library Association has responded with a statement and letter writing campaign of its own, “Banding Together to Protect the Freedom to Read.” In addition, the American Library Association has a challenge toolkit.

Yet, the available resources for school librarians do not seem to be enough. In my last column, I featured a panel discussion between three librarians for publishers who create content for schools and public libraries. During the discussion, librarian Tamara Cox from Anderson School District in South Carolina asked publishers for support and resources to defend her growing collection of books that are generating parent challenges.

All three panelists told publishers they have an accelerated need for more diverse authors and characters. Cox explains, “We are buying more and I’m in the deep conservative South. We are being very intentional about diversifying our collection. We don’t want just realistic fiction that’s a sad story about a kid coming out. We want different genres.”

In one-on-one discussions with publishers, librarians say they are committed to producing more diverse content, but in recent years, sales have not reflected the vocal desire for such content. And now books that have won awards for groundbreaking content are the topics of long threads on social media where educators are sharing ideas about how to keep such books on the shelf, like this post on the Future Ready Secondary Librarians Facebook Group:

“My high school teaches Stamped by Jason Reynolds as part of the sophomore curriculum. It is being challenged by a few parents and I was wondering if any of you had any resources for the justification for teaching it.”

The replies direct the librarian to many resources including professional book reviews on collection development sites like Titlewave and state curriculum guides, because if a book meets state curriculum standards, it’s more likely to survive a challenge. Then there’s the author’s literary accomplishments, as another librarian replied, “From a purely literary perspective… he’s such an accomplished author – one who many high school students would be familiar with from reading his books in elementary and middle school…. I personally think that is reason to explore his more mature titles as well.”

Meanwhile in another Future Ready Librarians Facebook Group, a best-selling Young Adult title is under scrutiny:

“Help! My admin is bringing up a book that was challenged in a neighboring district (The Hate U Give….) and wants to know what our policy is. Before I tell him we don’t have a current policy in place, could you help me out with some language to include? THANK YOU!”

Publisher Harper Collins offers resources on how to teach The Hate U Give as part of its SHAKE UP YOUR SHELVES campaign that encourages educators to retire offensive or books and add titles that reflect the experiences of more underrepresented groups. In the The Hate U Give Educator Guide, Harper Collins explains the book can be a springboard for conversations around important themes ranging from “racism” to “identity.”

Buried in the social media threads about this book and many others, one librarian shared her hope for the future: “My hope is that all of these challenges will encourage kids to go out and actually read the books that have the adults so upset.”

Companies that sell books to schools could view these trends as an emerging crisis for our business. Yet, when I read that last comment, I smiled. Because if students today are anything like me, reading all 850 books on that Texas list may be more of a welcome challenge than a deterrent.

A tale of three cities: Emerging from the pandemic…or not

Britten Follett — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 09:19:00 +0000

New York City, New York. Cleveland, Ohio. Williamston, South Carolina.

In the height of the pandemic, nearly every community looked similar. Schools were closed. Restaurants were closed. Families stayed home.

As our world is emerging from the pandemic, there is a distinct division in our communities that was clearly articulated by the three librarians who participated in a recent panel for publishers who create content for schools and public libraries.

Let’s take a trip down the Eastern part of our country starting in New York and share what we learned at a recent publishers’ panel about teaching and learning in American schools.

Melissa Jacobs, the Director of Library Services in New York City, joined the panel from her private office wearing a mandated mask. She says, “Life in New York City is very masked up while we are attempting to navigate chaos. We’re in crisis mode.”

New York City schools are managing staffing shortages and vaccine mandates. Jacobs says she’s living hour by hour and hasn’t slept well in weeks because her team has four people out and those who are working are waiting to find out if they’re going to be redeployed to schools due to teachers and administrators refusing the vaccine. Jacobs spent her weekend waiting to find out if she would go to work Monday in her current job or as an assistant principal or first grade teacher.

In Ohio, Felton Thomas’ public library system is open for patrons but has yet to get back to full capacity. As the Director of Cleveland Public Libraries, Felton is emerging from the pandemic wearing a new hat—supporting local high schools where the school district chose to shut down 30 school libraries and repurpose them as community/career centers. Felton explains, “This isn’t something I’m supportive of; but I have to support it. Schools are looking to transform themselves in many ways. Unfortunately, that’s come in the form of the school libraries in our high schools.”

Starting this school year, Felton’s public librarians are meeting with their local high schools to figure out how to get print resources to students and teachers where the school library is no longer an option. The public library is now dropping off piles of novels or working with teachers to encourage students to come to the public library to pick up books they need. Felton explains, “We’re going to have to buy differently. Students and teachers used to walk down to the library to get what they need. But this is the wave of the future for Cleveland schools right now.”

This news frustrated Jacobs, a vocal advocate for the role of the school librarian, “School libraries extend beyond the books on the shelf. It’s an unfortunate choice. The school librarian is a teacher who is familiar with curriculum and instruction and is not grading students but teaching them.”

Meanwhile in Anderson School District in South Carolina, Tamara Cox says life is as back to normal as it’s been in two years. “We’re living in a world where we are acting like there’s no pandemic,” said Cox. “Our lack of pandemic protocols and low vaccination rates is dragging this on longer than anyone would like.”

Cox’s librarians haven’t started ordering books for this school year as they are covering classes because the district can’t find substitute teachers. Yet, once they have time to focus on ordering, Cox is optimistic because her budget has increased. “I need to replace the books that were lost through the pandemic,” she said. “Then I need to get all the print books students are excited about and asking for. Finally, I will spend my remaining budget on digital resources.”

Speaking of digital resources, despite the vast differences between these three cities, each panelist agreed there will be a shift back to purchasing print content at least for this year. But the emphasis on print will be to complement eBooks and audiobooks as an additional, acceptable format. Cox says her students choose print for recreational reading. “Our kids still prefer print and even more so now because they just want to get off the computer,” Cox said. “But I will still buy eBooks because I don’t want to get caught unprepared again.”

Jacobs adds, “We want to empower kids to self-select the format they want to read: print, eBook or audio. There are benefits to digital and audio that surpass having the print in front of you. We want kids to be able to choose this themselves. I love audiobooks. I love read-alongs even more. I encourage teachers to have kids listen to audio and have the print in front of them. Having choices is extremely important for our kids.”

Thomas agrees. “eAudio has been extremely important for our senior centers and our older community during the pandemic. We’ve been able to reach that population throughout the pandemic in a new way.”

Another similarity: All three panelists have increased budgets to spend this year, but continued uncertainty associated with the pandemic is forcing district officials and site-level librarians to delay purchasing decisions.

Yet, when they do buy, they want publishers to understand the accelerated need for more diverse authors and characters. Cox explains, “We are buying more and I’m in the deep conservative South. We are being very intentional about diversifying our collection. We don’t want just realistic fiction that’s a sad story about a kid coming out. We want different genres.”

Thomas says some communities may be pushing back and small pockets are working to ban controversial titles but building a more diverse collection is a priority in Cleveland, “We know we just don’t have the number of titles for a community like Cleveland which is more than 50% African American.”

“We need to move beyond just having a black character on the cover a book and calling it diverse,” Jacobs added. “There needs to be a level of inclusivity in our material. A book with an LGBTQ character shouldn’t just be about coming out. There should be an LGBTQ character in a book just because that’s life. I’m going to buy books that reflect the culture of our community.”

And that culture is changing daily. Back in New York, on Monday, Jacobs was the only person in her department who stayed in her role. All her district library coordinators were deployed to classrooms. While they are still having an impact on students’ lives, the crisis continues.

Jacobs says, “Every other challenge I have is taking a back seat to the pandemic. That’s the crisis that’s on the table. Our kids have a steep mountain to climb, and we must figure out how to help them. That’s going to take money, time. and people who are qualified to provide that level of instructional support. I hope we understand that we have to invest in education and libraries.”

Student-centered learning lessons from the Future Ready Library Summit

Britten Follett — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Click Here to Discover Some Innovative Ideas for School Libraries

As students across the country began heading back to classrooms, a couple hundred library leaders participated in one of this summer’s Future Ready Library Summits. The guiding principle driving the agenda of this professional development opportunity for librarians was simple: students–or rather, student-centered learning.

During the Summit, we reflected on the fact that in some cases, the students who will be returning to the classroom haven’t been in a formal school setting in a year and a half. They are returning to the classroom, changed in many ways. First graders may be walking into school having spent kindergarten on Zoom. Freshmen may be entering high school after spending eighth grade being home schooled by a parent.

As every librarian in the virtual audience was challenged to be empathetic to the challenges the return to school may bring for some students, each was also encouraged to acknowledge the progress the pandemic forced upon us. Today, students readily access digital resources. They understand the norms associated with virtual group discussion. Teachers are more comfortable delivering differentiated instruction through multiple channels. After a year and a half of turmoil, we’ve made progress that should be celebrated.

After the Summit, I spoke with two education thought leaders and library advocates, Mark Ray, previously of Vancouver Public Schools, and Shannon McClintock Miller of Van Meter Community School in Iowa. Ray and Miller hosted and participated in the Summit, so I asked them to share their thoughts and takeaways, knowing that educators everywhere could benefit from the adult and student speakers as well as the group discussions.

Both Ray and Miller agreed the pandemic has created a unique opportunity to further empower students as creators. Ray, a staunch advocate of giving students a voice, said, “Since the idea of students as creators is already part of the Future Ready Librarians Framework, it validated both the framework itself and confirmed that student creation and creativity are key to a student-centered learning environment.”

Miller agreed. “One of the biggest things I took away from the Summit – and throughout these past 18 months – is how very essential relationships, compassion, and empathy are to the success of our roles as librarians and educators,” she said. “It’s core to everything we do. And to truly hear the voices of our students, we need to put ourselves in their shoes every single day.

We need to find ways to engage with our students and engage with our families to make sure we are supporting their needs, too. As Future Ready Librarians, we have so many opportunities to engage with our students throughout the school community, making our role important and essential. The relationships we have with our students can make such a difference in their lives.”

Both were asked to share ways educators can examine the diverse needs and hopes of students as they look forward to the school year. Miller and Ray had great suggestions and strategies that reflected discussions at the Summit.

“There was an acknowledgment that ‘business as usual’ might not look the same,” Ray said. “We posed this question to our breakout room and heard words such as ‘stability,’ ‘quiet,’ and ‘structure.’ I mused that for those like me who enjoy busy, active, and bustling library spaces, we may need to accommodate those learners who look forward to something more stable and orderly than the learning environments in their homes.”

Miller reiterated the importance of relationships in everything educators do this fall. “This gets back to knowing your students and their families. Listen, ask questions, look for the ‘little things’ they need. Find opportunities to get to know them even better, such as:

collaborating and co-teaching with classroom teachers;
offering before and after time in the library;
hosting a variety of different book clubs and listening to the needs and wants of students;
getting them involved in collection development and the physical space within the library; and
offering clubs such as Girls Who Code and game, LEGO, science/STEAM club, knitting club, and RC car clubs.”

McClintock went on to share some specifics on how she works on relationship building at her school. “I do an annual interest survey to all her K-12 students when school starts to get them involved in our library and the programming from the very start,” she said. “I ask them about what books they want, what types of clubs or events they want, the hours (before and after school), what technology and STEAM materials they want to see in the library, and even things like virtual events. I ask about who and places they might want to have visit and I get answers such as national parks, authors and illustrators, and musicians. I also do this with our teachers because I want them to be heard within the library.

Bottom line, the motto of our library is ‘The Library Voice’–a place to be heard through creating, technology, connecting, reading, collaborating, and noise.”

The importance of social-emotional learning was also discussed at the Summit. “Along these lines, that another key idea that emerged was the need for safe and trusted adults in students’ lives,” said Ray. “During the pandemic, students were disconnected from friends, adults, and programs they rely on. Many students look forward to getting back those supports far more than they look forward to cracking the textbooks again.”

One of the key topics of discussion was educators’ top concerns as school resumes. When I asked Ray and Miller about this topic, the discussion once again turned to SEL.

“Social and emotional learning remains top of mind for educators, and rightfully so,” Ray said. “If there is one silver lining to the school closures last year, it was a long-overdue recognition that SEL has been and will continue to be mission-critical for schools and educators. I’m optimistic that lessons have been learned about understanding and addressing student needs in this area and that for librarians and other educators, the social and emotional side of learning will be recognized as essential enabling conditions for student academic and social growth.”

Miller shared the same sentiment, and said, “I think the main thing teachers want as school resumes is the feeling of normalcy and routine. They want to make sure their students are okay and have what they need, and for them to know they are safe.”

While this information is useful, what’s the the bottom line about making sure student voices are acknowledged? What is essential, I asked our thought leaders? They both had applicable points from which every educator can benefit.

“I can’t say it often enough: Find out what students are passionate about and how you can turn that into ways to engage them and inspire them to find their voice,” Miller said. “Trust me, they all have that within, just waiting to be heard.” Miller is hosting a webinar on this topic in September, called “Giving Students Voice and Choice with Collections, Choice Boards, and More” during which she will share strategies and resources educators can use. Registration is now open.

Ray pointed out that sometimes getting at the true student voice might not be simple, but it takes a bit of reaching beyond the obvious. “In our breakout sessions, there was an important reminder that student voice is not always heard out loud,” Ray said. “As we reach out and listen to students, there needs to be different modes and channels. All students can give adults feedback and input, but not all students will share those ideas out loud or when they are asked directly. Offering a variety of avenues for students to share and communicate their interests, needs, and desires helps ensure that all voices have an opportunity to be heard.”

A highlight of the day was the discussion from two young students, Olivia and Charlotte. As Ray shared, these girls reminded Summit attendees of what all students need, not just the confident ones who already use their voices creatively.

“The students modeled creativity and confidence,” Ray said. “These are learned and practiced skills and habits of mind. It is not enough for educators to simply say ‘go be creative,’ particularly in schools where creativity has been stifled. Building confidence and fostering creativity should be a daily part of the learning day, not just something that students do for a final project or during art class. Olivia and Charlotte are wonderful young people who have enjoyed support and opportunities that have enabled their voice and agency to flourish.

The challenge now is … how can we offer those opportunities to all students?”

Facing the future through Future Ready

Britten Follett — Fri, 14 May 2021 10:00:00 +0000

In Part I of this series, I reflected on the journey that led Follett Learning to Future Ready Librarians® and why the time has never been better for librarians to transform their programs using Future Ready tools.

Now, let’s explore the most important question: Where do you start?

I used to advise librarians to pick a wedge of the Future Ready Librarians framework that aligned with their school’s or district’s strategic objectives. Today, aspiring Future Ready Librarians have a new Self-Assessment Tool designed to assess their strengths and areas of growth related to the Future Ready Librarians framework. Where are you on your Future Ready journey?

In a perfect world, your strengths will align to your district’s needs, which means it’s time to have a conversation with your district leadership. Sound scary? Follett and the Alliance for Excellent Education partnered with librarian leaders Mark Ray and Shannon McClintock Miller to develop a guide to help you start that conversation. Let’s Talk: A Conversation Starter for Future Ready Librarians is designed to remove any anxiety about sharing the ways in which you and your library can support schools in this new world.

The guide poses big reflection questions like:

As you look at the main areas of focus for your school and district as they existed before the pandemic, what are some of the challenges you see as educators seek to implement these goals?
What changes have occurred that create new opportunities for more collaboration?
What are some of the outstanding challenges faced by classroom educators that didn’t exist before the pandemic?
What will educators need to be successful in the future?

Ray explains that suggestions and answers to those questions will help district leaders better understand that they already have a leader in their buildings whose expertise has never been timelier. “As someone who has written, spoken, and testified to this for years, librarians are leadership solutions hiding in plain sight,” Ray said. “Their systems knowledge, technology expertise, responsibility for all students and educators, and service ethos are unique in schools. Both within and beyond the pandemic era, these are skills that few other educators can offer.”

Miller challenges librarians who feel they don’t have a seat at the table to pull up a chair. “Don’t even be afraid to shout from the rooftop how awesome you are and your program is because that is what it takes to get a seat at the table sometimes,” Miller said. “And at times, don’t ask for a seat at the table…just show up, make yourself available, show all that you have to give, and be YOU. YOU, as a Future Ready Librarian, are what all school communities need to make a difference within decision making.”

Dave Schuler of Illinois, 2018 Superintendent of the Year, reinforces why it’s up to librarians to bring solutions to district leaders: “When I think of a future ready librarian, I think of someone who exhausts all opportunities to provide resources for every student and every teacher in a school to enhance learning and student growth. A future ready librarian is not waiting for teachers and students to come to them. Rather they are actively engaged in meeting the learning needs and expectations of every student and teacher in their building.”

For those of you who are reading this and feeling a bit insecure about your “future readiness,” you’re not alone. Mastering all of the Future Ready wedges doesn’t happen overnight. Which is why we created the free Future Ready Librarian Summits, the Exploring Future Ready Librarianship online course, and Professional Learning Groups like the wildly popular Future Ready Librarians Facebook page where 26,500 of your colleagues are helping and supporting each other on their journeys.

Miller is one of a number of library leaders who moderates and relies on the Facebook group. “Also, being a Future Ready Librarian means that we are part of a larger community, one that supports, lifts, inspires, and pushes us to be the best we can be,” Miller shared. “One of my favorite parts of Future Ready Librarians is this global group of colleagues and friends we have grown over the last 5 years, and one that I count on every single day.”

While the journey ahead contains many uncertainties, as we emerge from the pandemic, Ray encourages librarians to seize the opportunity posed by the immediate need for extensive and immersive digital resources, a likely reversion to a blend of print and digital content, and a windfall of funding for K-12 schools. “To quote Robert Frost, ‘two paths diverged in a yellow wood,’” Ray said.
“The pandemic was an opportunity for school librarians to demonstrate value in an exceptional time. Those who rose to the occasion to lead, teach, and support schools in new ways will likely be part of the transition of schools which is still too early to perceive. Others will be asked ‘what did you do to make a difference when it mattered?’”

For those district leaders facing difficult budget decisions, the Future Ready Librarian framework is a way for you to examine what role you see your library playing in a post-pandemic world. Every Library Executive Director John Chraska says the data is clear that students in schools without a library program will suffer. “It is always hard to ‘prove the negative’ when advocating to restore a school library program or school librarian position. But the school librarian is the only expert librarianship in the school.”

Chrastka said: “What’s lost when a librarian role is cut is both quantitative – if the studies about student achievement are true – and qualitative – if what we know about how reading and discovery are core parts of personal growth and development are also true. It’s important to first educate and orient your stakeholders to what your unique and powerful role is, and then to find the allies and partners who also care about both types of outcomes. It takes real courage to fight against a bad decision by the administration. But you can forestall the fight with information, data, and power-building in advance.”

Schuler says the librarians in his district are already well on their way to being Future Ready and encourages other district leaders to spend some time examining their library programs to understand the deep ways in which librarians can help solve big problems for districts. “It is imperative that our school librarians are active partners in ensuring our quest for equitable opportunities, access, and success for every student in our school buildings. Our incredible librarians take their role incredibly seriously, and I have been thrilled to see the innovative and collaborative approach they have taken to their work to provide resources to meet the learning needs of every student in our district.”

The time is now. The need is here. The funding is following. The Conversation Starter guide may say it best: “The future may have changed, but the need to be future ready is still there.”

Defining Future Ready by reflecting on the past

Britten Follett — Thu, 13 May 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Confession: I’m a bit of a hoarder. I’ve kept every email, text message, and document I’ve ever written. It’s probably the journalist in me. Or it’s being the daughter of two antique collectors and the granddaughter of a collector of everything.

Yet quite often, calling on history can help us make more informed decisions about the present.

As I reflected on the structure of this article, my archived files got some exercise as I reflected on the origins of Future Ready Librarians® and why the journey we took to create the program has never been more important than today.

Let’s go back to October of 2012

In a panel discussion about the future of libraries in McHenry, Illinois, librarian, Future Ready Librarians spokesperson, and Washington State Teacher of the Year Mark Ray said, “There are forces coming that will change education independent of our control. How do librarians support where we need to be? The role must transcend the library and be thought of as an integrated piece. Not everyone will be able to make this transition.”

That was 2012.

Ray added, “What keeps the Department of Education and superintendents up at night? How can librarians and libraries solve those problems? What does leadership in the library world look like in the modern world – is it leadership beyond the library? Future ready librarians are informed but not defined by librarianship and they are doing their best work beyond the library. There needs to be a movement away from isolation. I see eight roles:

Digital strategist
Data and metadata mavens
Teaching pioneers
Technologists
Virtual administrators
Innovation integrators
Blended learning baristas
Online learning engineers”

Ray’s words took eight years to become reality. We can all agree, the future is here.

Ray’s thoughts were visionary, and because of his and others’ commitment, advocacy, and work, today’s librarians have tangible tools to transform their roles into any one of those eight “job titles.”

Future Ready Librarians becomes a reality

As a result of that meeting and many more over the past eight years, Future Ready Librarians became a reality. Our initial goal was to advise districts on what a future ready library and librarian should look like through updated job description templates and evaluation rubrics. That vision evolved into what is now the Future Ready Librarian framework: a guide to help librarians, principals, and superintendents define what they want their library to be in a future ready world, and how they want their librarian to lead. Not surprisingly, the wedges of the Future Ready Librarian framework look very similar to the eight roles Ray envisioned long before Future Ready and long before a global pandemic.

Follett, Ray, and other librarian leaders like Shannon McClintock Miller have worked with the Alliance for Excellent Education to bring the framework to life as part of the Future Ready Schools program. Ray explains, “Future Ready began five years ago when ‘the future’ was optional. Today, the future is not optional. We are redefining schools in real time. You’re either part of the solution. Or you’re watching the problems being solved around you. Schools weren’t ready for this future. But those who were professionally primed for rapid transitions are the ones leading the way now.”

Lia Dossin with the Alliance explains, “Being future ready isn’t about a sticker or a title, it’s about having a commitment to leadership, equity, and student-centered learning. It’s about a vision for re-imagining and re-designing schools to support student success, and to ensure that each student graduates from high school with the agency, passion, and skills to be a productive, successful, and responsible citizen. The role of the librarian, like many roles in education, is changing and adjusting as we reimagine what education looks like.”

What does it mean to be a Future Ready Librarian?

Librarian and Future Ready Librarian spokesperson Miller explains what it means to be a Future Ready Librarian as we emerge from the global pandemic. “Being a Future Ready Librarian means that I am continuously looking forward to how I can be the best at what I do, and what I can do to make my school community, teachers, and students ready for today’s educational world and for the future. Future Ready librarians play a critical role in the strategic work of schools and educational systems as we lead from the library; inspire and support the reading lives of both students and teachers; empower students as creators and learners; curate content; instill innovative instructional practices; build and foster community partnerships; and more.”

Miller continued, “We, as Future Ready Librarians, serve as the heart of the school, inspiring those around us to embrace the change we can bring through our roles as librarians and as leaders. Within the last year, as the world and education has shifted, librarians have become stronger, more innovative, and have taken the lead. It has been an exciting time for us and one that will empower us to shine even brighter. This is our time to shine, friends!”

The future is NOW

As Ray and Miller have articulated, the timing has never been better to begin your Future Ready Librarian journey. As a result of state and federal funding, billions of dollars are descending upon education in the coming months and years. The Alliance explains that districts need a leader in every building who can:

Ensure students have access to a diverse collection of materials that is accessible on and off campus
Lead digital citizenship programming for both students and the community
Teach students and the community the importance of new literacy and provide the necessary tools and resources to support informed decision making
Collaborate with teachers to support high-quality and effective digital learning implementation that supports student success

And that’s Future Ready.

Watch for Part II of this article tomorrow, where I’ll share what we’ve heard from librarian and district leaders about where to start and the amazing tools that will help you along your journey.