Perceptions
Perceptions
Head for the Edge, Library Media Connection, April/May 2008
Not long ago library media specialist Tere posted to LM_Net that she was “caught” reading during the school day. Her co-workers reactions?
“Well you would have thought I was lying down taking a nap. Everybody that walked by my door … made a comment. “I’m going to give you a job.” “If you’ve got time to read, I’ve got something for you to do.” etc. Next time, I’m going to go hide behind the stacks to read!”
Another LMS, Allan, soon posted an interesting reaction:
“I don’t give a hoot what people think of me or what I am doing. When I have received a remark about “wouldn’t it be nice if…. [one could read on the job]?” I have responded. “Yes it is very nice.” If I am feeling a little nasty or don’t like the tone of the remark, I have responded “I would be more than happy to get you some information about a library school …”
While many of us have probably wished we could say these sorts of things, we don’t. And for some good reasons including job security and our concern about how others view our profession.
Mark’s views differ from Allan’s remarkably:
“I made it a point to always be busy, to be seen to be doing something. (It was NEVER of case of having to find something to do, it was a case of which job was most pressing.) I did this because its the kind of person I am, but also because of the extremely negative comments I heard about a predecessor of mine who was often seen reading the newspaper or a book, “on the job”. Sadly, the general public or faculty will never understand that keeping up with current events, what’s new and valuable in literature, non-fiction, professional journals, etc. is part of the job. Their view will always be ‘I never have time to take a breath. How come he can sit and read all day?’ or ‘We didn’t get a raise this year and we’re short a math teacher… and we pay him to sit and read?’ Now, imagine those thoughts in an administrator’s head.”
My personal rules about on the job reading have been to read only at my desk (no slouching in the bean bag chairs), read always with a pen and paper my hand, and read only materials directly related to my job. I also thought it important to be seen reading when I could be a role model, such as during Sustained Silent Reading time. Oh, I was also very careful never to be seen leaving my building at the end of the day without a bag o’ work - just like the other teachers.
It’s a sad world where reading equals slacking. But given the lack of respect society shows for professional growth and reflective practice of educators, it isn’t all that surprising.
Although the LMS is among the hardest working professionals in a building, s/he has one of the few positions in schools with discretionary resources - time, budgets, and tasks - so therefore needs to be transparent about how he/she “spends” all those resources, especially time. Transparency is the only way one can combat misperceptions about our jobs.
So how can one add transparency and improve others’ perception of our jobs?
- Talk about what you do in the teachers’ lounge at break and lunch time. And yes, you should be taking breaks and lunch. Talk about what you are doing at staff meetings and before and after school. No hiding your light under a bushel.
- Send out a regular newsletter to your staff about the neat things you are doing with classes and teachers, new resources, and handy hints. If teachers don’t seem to be reading it, try Alice Yucht’s technique of taping the newsletter to back of the stall door in the faculty restroom. She calls this her “toilet paper.”
- Track the use of your resources and send summaries to your staff. Let people know circulation figures, numbers of kids using the media center, how many lessons taught, webquests created, book talks given, and new materials processed. Don’t just share this with your principal – let the whole staff know.
- Try documenting student skill attainment using evidence-based practice techniques. What did the kids learn? What were the assessment tools used? What did you learn as a result? Share your findings at staff meetings.
- Share how you spend your budget and solicit input for acquisitions. Nothing like a clear accounting using a spreadsheet to let others know that you are spending resources to support their goals.
We all need to work with the understanding that perceptions are as important as reality in our profession. And how we as individuals are perceived is how our whole profession is viewed.
I suppose I should stop reflecting with my eyes closed – it might be perceived as napping.
Darned perceptions!
Doug Johnson
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Reader Comments (3)
As a new (still in the process of getting T-L endorsement)T-L this is a concern that was brought up in class today....how transparent we have to be so resentments don't build up with staff. Another suggestion was to ask for a portion of staff meeting time (every now and then)to introduce new technology available to the teachers and show how neatly they could integrate it into their lessons, along with open offers to train the kiddoes and teachers on it, help find web resources, books, realia, graphic organizers, assessment tools, come in and give mini-lessons on research methods, et al.
This e-mail is written regarding the topic of reading on the job and how this is perceived by others in the building, especially co-workers and supervisors. Although we (school library media specialists) realize the value and importance of doing this, others may perceive this to be "slacking off on the job." Therefore, I chose to do a quick review of newspapers and periodicals (i.e. - 'current event topics") each morning in the media center before it opened so that I could share current, cutting edge information with faculty members that day, thus bringing real-time information to the attention of others on topics of relevance to their profession or curriculum.
As far as reading books during the school day, it was necessary, on occasion, to do "power reads" quickly in order to make up a test over a book that did not have a Scholastic Bookshelf/Reading Counts test in the computer. It seemed inevitable that there was always a situation that arose each month when a student had selected a book and read it, but no test existed for the book once the student needed to take the test, thus turning into an emergency-type situation for both students and teachers. So, I would jump in and help to "save the day" by doing a power read during the day or, more often, after school and typing a test into the computer so that the student could meet the necessary deadline.
Depending upon whatever else I had to do or the length of the book, it wasn't always possible to do this, but I was able to meet this need around 90% of the time. And, I could justify doing this because it helped to meet a curriculum need, and the book was more likely to be checked out if there was a computerized test available.
Whenever another staff member or administrator noted what I was doing (reading during the day) and made a comment like the ones previously reported, I always told them what I was doing and why, especially emphasizing the part about helping out the student. The comments very quickly changed from "Wish I could do that", or "Wow, I'd like to get paid for reading on the job" to "That's amazing! I could never read a book in a day" or "That's wonderful that you're willing to do this for students. Good job!" A negative perception was turned into a positive one.
Hi Deborah and JJ,
The trick (or should I say objective) is to make sure others know that your reading actually is work, not pleasure. Heaven help us if anyone should actually enjoy one's work ;-)
Thanks for the comments. I am sure readers will find them helpful.
All the very best,
Doug