1. Leah Giarritano
Spring 2012
Work Journal
LIS591M
Work Journal
Friday, January 13, 2012
Today was my first day on-site at Pleasantdale Middle
School in Burr Ridge, IL. My day started with a tour of the
school and an introduction to faculty and staff. Afterward, I
helped my Cooperating Teacher-Librarian, Jana Stelter,
prepare the library for book discussion groups that were
to take place later in the morning and early afternoon.
During 4th period, I led my first book discussion of the
book Before I Die by Jenny Downham with a group of five
8th grade girls. The experience was both exciting and
rewarding. I wasn’t sure if the girls would be eager to
participate. I was delightfully surprised to find most of
them very passionate about the book and forthright in
sharing their opinions. I curiously observed the group
dynamics and made note of how some of the shy girls
interact versus the more outspoken ones. The girls
responded well to having a set of discussion questions. We
took turns rolling a dice which indicated a particular
question that girl should read to get the conversation
started. This was a great way to keep the conversation
moving and give each girl some ownership of the
discussion. It seemed to bring the quieter girls out of their
shell and is definitely a tactic I would use in future book
discussions.

2. Later in the day, I sat in on two additional book
discussions with groups of 6th and 7th graders. The 6th
grade children discussed Oogy by Larry Levin and the 7th
graders discussed Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce. It was
interesting to observe how differently the children from
each grade expressed themselves. The confidence,
thoughtfulness and succinctness of the children definitely
increased by grade level.
After the book discussions, Jana and I straightened up the
library, collected cords and microphone stands from the
school auditorium, sat and discussed my practicum and
some of the things I would like to learn while working at
Pleasantdale and then Jana introduced me to a very
interesting library information literacy assessment tool
called TRAILS (Tool for Real-time Assessment of
Information Literacy Skills) at www.trails-9.org. This is an
excellent resource for measuring information literacy and
pre and post-tests are provided for 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th
graders. The tool is very dynamic, allowing the teacher-
librarian to better understand the knowledge gaps of her
class and how she might tailor her lesson plans to
accommodate their needs. I would like to put this tool to
use in the future when I become a teacher-librarian.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Today Jana introduced me to the library cataloging system,
including how to check books in and out and renew them,
when necessary. She explained that she allows the kids to
check their books out themselves and how they go about
doing that. She shared that she frequently has trouble with
books being overdue or lost and that her school doesn’t

3. allow her to fine the students or hold report cards from
them if they have overdue books. Therefore, she has
nothing to hang over them in order to get books back
except attendance at the end-of-year picnic. If they have
books missing at the end of the year, the children may not
attend the picnic, which is a favorite event among the
students. Apparently each school has their own
philosophy on dealing with overdue books and she
encouraged me to try and work that out with the
administration when I start my own library position. It
seems appropriate to have some consequence for not
returning books, otherwise the collection is compromised
and other students are penalized when the book they want
isn’t available because another student hasn’t returned it
to the library.
Jana explained a lot about her process for ordering new
library books. She showed me some of the different
websites she uses to order books and the pros and cons of
each. She also took me through her library budget and
explained how she works with the school’s Budget
Manager to negotiate and track her expenses. She
suggested I pay very careful attention to my budget, when
I get one, and to always be sure to check that the numbers
properly represent what I have ordered. Apparently,
mistakes frequently occur which can go unnoticed if you
don’t pay careful attention to your budget. I will definitely
remember this bit of advice and apply it to my own future
endeavors.
I also had the opportunity to label some of the books and
magazines that recently arrived in order to prepare them
to be shelved. Jana uses a combination of scanning labels
on the book and inserted cards to track the books that are
in her catalog. It was interesting to learn about her process

4. for adding new items into her system and to understand
some of the pitfalls she faces.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Today I had a great opportunity to observe Jana
interacting with the kids. She strikes a great balance
between playfulness and authority. The kids like and
respect her, yet she has no problem being stern when they
are out of line. I enjoy her style of interaction and feel like I
would like to incorporate some of that style in my own
demeanor as a librarian. I am anxious to continue
observing her interactions throughout the practicum so I
can learn even more and develop my own hybrid style
incorporating aspects of the balance she maintains with
the kids.
Monday, January 23, 2012
I got a little more exposure to the library software system,
Sagebrush, used at Pleasantdale. Jana walked me through
all of the different capabilities of the system and taught me
how to use some of the different features. In addition to all
of the benefits, she explained some of the nuances and
pitfalls of the system. This exposure afforded me a better
understanding of the versatility of a library software
system, but also what to be wary of when selecting/using
my own system in the future. She is required to do a lot of
manual overriding to certain aspects of the system which
can make things challenging. This insight, gained from
utilization of Sagebrush, will allow me to be better

5. prepared and know what to expect from my own system in
the future.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Today I had the opportunity to work in the computer lab
with the 6th grade students while they put together their
bibliographies for an upcoming research project. This was
my first opportunity to provide one-on-one help and
instruction and I enjoyed the interaction. At Pleasantdale,
it seems that the opportunities to provide instruction are
few and far between because the teacher’s don’t want to
give up control of their classrooms and allow the librarian
to come in and teach. Therefore, I was quite excited about
this opportunity. It definitely seems to be an uphill battle
to develop a good working relationship with the teachers. I
imagine that I will spend a good amount of time marketing
my skills and the library itself to the teachers at the school
where I work. I will need to guide them on how to
integrate their curriculum with the skills I have to offer as
an information specialist.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
We have an author book talk next week and I was able to
sit down with Jana and brainstorm some ideas on how to
market the upcoming visit with the parents, staff and
students. It was helpful to have this practical example that
I will likely face as a librarian to work through with Jana. I
got a lot of great ideas that I will be able to use in the
future and got to learn about some of the different things
she must take into consideration when she is planning an

6. author visit. Some of the ideas we came up with include: a
streaming PowerPoint presentation on the TV screen near
the entry of the school with the book’s cover, the author’s
photo, key words describing the book that will create
intrigue and suspense about the author and the visit, Jana
will arrange to visit each classroom to talk about the book
and possibly read the first chapter to the students, there
will be signed copies of the books for sale which Jana will
send about information about to the parents via email,
and we will make posters and brochures to hang and
distribute in advance of the visit.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Today I presented my practicum project, Peer Readers
Advisory, to nine separate classrooms of 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th
grade students. I introduced the idea behind the project
and handed out worksheets for each of them to complete
with the title of their favorite book as well as three
descriptive sentences regarding why they would
recommend the book/what made it their favorite book. I
enjoyed being in front of the children and talking to them
about this project. When I explained that I would be using
their recommendations to develop tools for them to use in
selecting books when they come to the library, they
became very enthusiastic. I am excited about this project
and know how important peer relationships are at this
stage in their life. Tying peer book recommendations into
the library is a great way to tap into their developmental
stage. Assuming the output of this project is productive, I
will definitely implement this type of project in my own
library. Just from the initial enthusiasm and interest I
received from the kids, I can tell that book

7. recommendations from their friends are very important!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Today I spent my time in the library preparing for an author
visit for the 5th and 6th grade students. A.J. Hartley, author of
Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, is scheduled to visit
Pleasantdale on Thursday, February 16, 2012. I helped Jana
create PowerPoint slides to run on the monitor in the
entranceway of the school as a way to get the kids excited
about the visit. I distributed order forms to the classrooms so
the children would have the opportunity to purchase a copy of
the book and have A.J. Hartley sign it for them. I also helped
organize the books that had already been signed to make it
easier for the author to know how to dedicate the book. I
enjoyed my involvement in preparation for the author’s visit. It
was fun to see the excitement in the kids’ eyes, knowing an
author was coming to visit their school. As a librarian, I will be
sure to schedule regular author visits as they certainly create a
lot of buzz about the library and reading. I learned that
Anderson’s Books, a local bookstore, coordinates a lot of these
author visits so I will plan to develop a relationship with them
and express my interest in scheduling author visits for the
school I end up working for.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Today A.J. Hartley came to Pleasantdale to speak to the 5th
and 6th grade students. There was excitement in the air
prior to his arrival as students eagerly awaiting the
announcement that it was time to gather together to hear
him talk. The PowerPoint presentation was playing in the
entranceway and children were excited clutching their

8. books. A.J. Hartley was a great speaker and provided
wonderful advice to the children about his experience as
an author, how he gets his ideas, what it feels like to have a
book rejected and how you have to just keep on writing
despite the rejection. He allowed plenty of time for
questions and, much to my surprise, the children were full
of interesting and engaging questions. The room was like a
sea of hands waving back and forth to be called upon. The
questions were thoughtful and proved to me how
important it is to have author’s come and visit children at
the school. They were very interested to better understand
his writing process and I could imagine them keeping his
advice in mind as they write their own papers and stories.
This experience further reinforced my commitment to
make a regular practice of scheduling author visits when I
become a librarian.
Friday, February 17, 2012
There was a teacher in-service today that I had an
opportunity to participate in. One of the topics I found
most interesting and useful for application to my own
career was use of the Promethium boards. We received
demonstrations on the various functionalities of the
boards and suggestions for various uses with the students.
They are very powerful and dynamic tools and I think it
would be a great educational tool for use in the library. I
am hopeful that if one doesn’t already exist in the library I
end up working at, I will be able to persuade the
administration to consider its value as a significant
learning tool.

9. Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Today I had the opportunity to observe the administration
of Illinois State Testing. The library was used to test kids
with special needs. It was interesting to observe the
process for kids requiring both extra time and
theindividual reading of directions. I didn’t realize how
strict procedures are during testing. It is obvious that
testing is taken very seriously and is a huge priority at the
school. It made me think about how schools are measured
by the outcome of these tests and funding is often
determined by the test results.
Today was the first day of Pleasantdale’s Spring Book fair.
They use Anderson’s Books as their vendor. I enjoyed
being a part of the book fair and observing how things are
run. Recently in class (School Library Media Center) we
had overviews of two other vendors: Scholastic and Blue
Ribbon. That made this experience even more memorable.
I was able to ask Jana questions specifically related to the
book fair process with Anderson’s and compare that to
what I learned about Scholastic and Blue Ribbon.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Today I got practical experience learning how to cover
books. While it wasn’t the most exciting job, I enjoyed
being a part of this process. It is possible to pay vendors,
like Follett, to do this type of cover before shipping the
books to the library. However, that service comes with a
high price tag. With the budget cuts school libraries are
facing, librarians needs to get creative and cut down on

10. costs in new and innovative ways. Covering her own books
is one of those ways that Jana ensures that her budget goes
toward buying new books and resources for the students.
She does whatever she can on her own to cut expenses so
that her budget is used to its fullest possible benefit.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Jana was in an all-day curriculum meeting today so I had
the opportunity to manage the library on my own. It was a
great experience for me. There were a number of English
classes spending their period in the library so I had the
chance to help them search the catalog and find resources.
In a couple cases I was able to make recommendations on
fiction titles. A teacher came in asking me to administer
tests to a couple of their students. Jana had me working on
cataloging and organizing books for the upcoming spring
book club program. During any pauses in the day, I took
the opportunity to check books in and re-shelve. My busy
and active day drove home the importance of a librarian’s
need to be flexible. I had to shift gears throughout the day
as the periods changed and new groups of students with
different needs came through the library. I enjoyed the
pace and the diversity of managing such a variety of needs.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Today was a great day of leading book group discussions. I
led the 6th graders in a group discussion about Fallen by
Lauren Kate. The conversation was lively and the kids
were very engaged. I provided them with a list of read-
alike books which they really seemed to appreciate so that

11. is something I will plan to incorporate into my future book
group discussions. One of the students told me she loved
having me as her leader because I asked a lot of good
questions, cared about their responses and didn’t rush
through the discussion as some of her previous leaders
had done. It was great for me to get this feedback from a
student and I will keep it in mind as I continue leading
these group discussions. I led a group of five 7th grade girls
in a discussion about the book, Footloose, based on the
new screenplay. Like the earlier discussion, these girls
were very enthusiastic about the book and sharing their
ideas. I had a little more trouble keeping these girls on
topic as they would start talking about clothes and friends,
etc. I found myself having to steer the conversation back to
the book. However, they were receptive and it all went
well.
Monday, April 16, 2012
After lots of behind the scenes work, I finally began to
“install” my practicum project in the library. It was
exciting to see the fruits of my labor come to life and think
about the students utilizing the tools I created. I think that
this project will gain a lot of interest and momentum in the
school and, while very labor intensive, I would definitely
consider doing another similar project in the future at my
own school.
Monday, April 1, 2012
Today was my last day at Pleasantdale. It was sad to finish
my practicum as I loved working at the school with the

12. kids and Jana. It was exciting to see my practicum project
fully installed. The PowerPoint presentation was running
in the front entranceway and the kids were very excited to
see all of the book recommendations from their friends.
Both the principal and assistant principal commented on
how fantastic it was. Within the library, the shelves, by
grade, are all set up, with customized bookmarks with
recommendations by grade, a posted list of all the
students, by grade, with the books they recommended as
well as the recommended books displayed by grades with
multiple copies for the kids to view and check out. All in
all, the project, as well as my time at Pleasantdale, was a
great success. It was a rewarding way to end my time
there with the implementation of a successful project that
is sure to be used long after I am gone and that is getting
the kids so exciting about new books to check out based on
their friends’ reviews.