Connecting Kids to Books (the work of school librarians) - November 2014 East Side Monthly

For November's East Side Monthly, I wrote "Connecting Kids to Books: A Closer Look at Our School Librarians," based on a lovely conversation I had with recently retired middle school librarian Sarah Morenon, who happens to look a bit like the lovely librarian in the illustration! Enjoy.

Lovely illustration by Kendrah Smith.

Connecting Kids to Books: A Closer Look at Our School Librarians

I suspect that most of us take school libraries for granted. It’s a given that a school has a library, right? Along with the gym, cafeteria and classrooms there is, of course, a library full of books. This is utterly unremarkable. But of course, the existence and quality of a school library is not at all a given, as I learned in a recent conversation with East Sider Sarah Morenon. She retired in June from her career as a school librarian in the Providence Public Schools, most recently at Nathanael Greene Middle School, where she was part of the faculty for 15 years.

Morenon became a school librarian mid-career, deciding to leave a 20-year career at the Social Security Administration to earn a Masters degree in library science at the University of Rhode Island and follow her passion for books and learning. Morenon’s love for middle school kids and passion for the books that light up their minds is wildly infectious, making it abundantly clear that she chose her second career wisely.

Morenon shared with me what it took for her to build an impressive collection of 15,000 books at Greene, which currently educates 1,000 sixth through eighth graders. In recent years, there has been no predictable budget allocation to buy new books. This is true throughout the Providence Public Schools. Morenon brought books into Greene’s library through donations and fundraising efforts. She made a serious effort to be familiar with every book on the shelves so she could perform what is, in her own view, the essential function of a school librarian’s job: “To match the right book with each kid so they could stay in love with reading.” This means, of course, that good school librarians know not only the books but also the young people who enter their domains. School librarians do more than facilitate the literary lives of students, but that’s the core of their profession, in Morenon’s view. She points out that due to the demands made on classroom teachers, the librarian is often the only person in a school, and sometimes in a child’s life, to inspire and facilitate reading simply for pleasure – an essential part of education and modern human experience.

She worries that in some schools, the lack of full-time school librarians makes it far less likely that kids will connect with books that they love. Several elementary schools in the district, including Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, don’t have full-time librarians. When the librarian isn’t present, the school library is often shut. This also happens when school librarians are pulled away for other responsibilities such as lunch supervision. This is a common practice that reduces the already sparse time during the school day when librarians can connect with students and collaborate with classroom teachers to support their teaching and connect with students to inspire their reading. As Morenon says, “I worry that the district may not be using us wisely.”

In Morenon’s view, when school librarians are seen as “utility players” on a school staff, rather than key personnel with a specific role, Providence may be less likely to attract top candidates for open school library positions. The diminishment of the school librarian’s role also has real consequences for educational equity. According to research gathered by the American Association of School Librarians, the lack of well-trained, dedicated school librarians and high-quality school libraries can significantly reduce student achievement, a loss felt most acutely in urban schools.

Morenon suggested ways that you can help ensure sure that the school libraries in our neighborhood remain vibrant places for learning. Book donations are always welcome, though please remember that, as Morenon says, “It’s the librarian’s decision.” School librarians know what they need and cannot necessarily serve as a dumping ground for all titles. If time permits, you can connect with Inspiring Minds, the nonprofit that organizes school volunteers in Providence, and work with a school librarian directly. If nothing else, you should view school libraries with new appreciation and understanding that every book on the shelves and in a student’s hands is there because of a school librarian’s efforts and dedication.

Volunteer Opportunity: Inspiring Minds' early elementary literacy initiative

In the September 2011 issue of East Side Monthly, I wrote about the powerful work that Inspiring Minds (formerly Volunteers in Providence Schools) is doing to improve early elementary students' literacy skills in a very big way across Providence. The link to the article online is here, and a version of it is below. Read one, read both - and then appreciate the teachers and adults in your life who made it possible to do so and consider seriously whether you can contribute an hour a week to make a real difference in a young person's life and learning.

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Hey, you. Yes, you, reading this column right now. I’m about to ask you to channel your general good will toward children and your belief that education has the power to transform us individually and collectively into action. Misanthropes should flip the page. There’s nothing here for you.   

Have the cynics moved on? Excellent. For the rest of you, I have a specific proposal: go back to school. The best thing you can do to support meaningful teaching and learning is to spend time inside a school on a regular basis. It’s the only real way to comprehend the opportunities and challenges that confront schools and the people who work and learn in them. A perennially red-hot topic of public discourse, education actually quite difficult to talk about because so many of us already feel saturated with information about schools. We constantly see portrayals of schools in our media. Most of us have put in plenty of time as students. Many of us are currently or have recently been parents of schoolchildren. A healthy number of us have worked in or with schools at some point in our careers. 

The evidence that a thoughtful person can glean from these exposures is meaningful, but it’s not enough to understand the specific challenges of teaching and learning in today’s schools. Schools of all sorts have changed enormously since many of us spent time in them as students. Most parents have some sort of contact with their kids’ schools that generally happens during the trailing edges of the day or one-off events designed specifically to welcome visitors. The only real way to understand the opportunities and challenges that today’s students and educators face is to be with them as often as you reasonably can. 

By dint of reading this column, you have definitively established your bona fides as a non-cynical person who cares about young people, but you may nonetheless be thinking that I am asking quite a lot of you. Just to be clear, I am not suggesting that you drop everything and start hanging out at your neighborhood school. Please, don’t do that. I am suggesting that you consider volunteering with Inspiring Minds (formerly and sometimes still known as Volunteers in Providence Schools, or VIPS) for an hour or two a week helping Providence’s early elementary schoolchildren to become proficient readers by third grade. Without any prior training or skills--with simply the desire to show up on a consistent basis--you can help ensure that children that you work with have the skills they need to become lifelong learners.   

I talked with Executive Director of Inspiring Minds Terri Adelman about “The Time is Now: Proficiency in Reading and Math by Third Grade,” Inspiring Minds’ flagship program that is committed to focusing the powerful resource of adults who are willing to spend time with kids in kindergarten through third grade working on literacy and math skills. Describing the purpose of the program, Adelman said, “Study after study shows that for lifelong academic success, it really matters that kids know how to read by third grade. Until then, their work is to learn, but after third grade, that kids need to use their literacy skills to gain critical knowledge and information. So learning to read by third grade is essential so that our kids are able to do well in school and graduate as well-educated citizens.”   

Driven by the conviction that the best use of its resources--primarily the human resources of volunteers--is to ensure that all early learners are getting the help and support that they need, Inspiring Minds focuses on younger elementary school children Inspiring Minds aims to accelerate the learning of those young students who need extra support. Working in collaboration with the Providence Public Schools in ten elementary schools, the program pairs volunteers with students who have been identified as likely to benefit from added support. During this school year, Inspiring Minds aims to match 800 students with volunteers, who receive training and ongoing support. In future years, Adelman hopes to expand the “The Time Is Now” program to reach students in every elementary school citywide. 

Inspiring Minds volunteers work with students two to three times a week, though individual volunteers can be one member of a team and therefore spend time with the child with whom they are matched once a week. More hours are great, but not necessary. The impact of volunteers’ work is powerful: data collected during prior implementations of the program demonstrate that children who participate in “The Time is Now” program learn 30 percent faster than their peers who don’t get extra help.

An hour a week. Maybe two. I know how hard it is to find that kind of time, I really do, and I acknowledge that not all of us have it. But just consider the clear impact that an hour or two per week working on reading and math with eager young learners can have not only on them but also on you. If the commitment really is too much, and I can understand why for some it may well be, I still urge you to contact Inspiring Minds to offer your help. There are ways that you can participate in the life of a school less intensively, and the organization itself needs support so it can continue to thrive. 

For many of us, the good karma alone is likely enough. In case you need more, you’ll have the opportunity to spend time in a school gaining insight into the lives of teachers and students today that you can get in no other way. We need more citizens with that insight.