Today's Member of the Month is Tammy Duncan. Tammy works at Prairie View Elementary in Enid, Oklahoma. She has been a school librarian for 6 years.
We asked Tammy some questions about her experience as a school librarian and we would like to share them with you.
What's your favorite thing about your job as a school librarian?
Watching the “lightbulb” turn on when a student learns something new.
Name one children's book that you couldn't live without in your library.
Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seus
Tell us why you decided to join the Elementary Librarian Community. What's your favorite thing about it?
I came from corporate America rather than a teaching background. Librarian to an elementary library where I was expected to teach grades Pre-K to 5th was a little intimidating. Having the lesson plans with activities provide for a foundation to stay organized. I simply follow the plans and tweak where needed to benefit my students. I also appreciate greatly the standards being part of the plan. Helps with collaboration with teachers.
What's the biggest challenge you're currently facing when it comes to your school library?
If you could give one piece of advice to a brand new school librarian (or someone considering becoming a school librarian), what would it be?
Learning how to run a library is hard enough, let the experts help somewhere! Get Elementary Librarian to take the stress off lesson plans until you can master the rest. It’s ok, you don’t have to know everything... ever. Do the best you can with what you have and always teach from the heart, the rest will follow.
Scaffolding, I have a wide range of reading/writing and social skills across Pre-K to 5th grade which makes planning difficult at times.