JULY THOUGHTS: FOUR IN STORE FOR YOU TO EXPLORE

It's harder to get out of bed these days. The mornings are cold. The water is cold. And umbrellas, well, they're in fashion again. You prefer not to carry one around, but it's better if you did.

The falling rains signal the end of summer, and the start of another wet season. While the library was occupied with its orientation of new students, July and its monsoons have sneaked up on us, leaving some to wonder where June had ran off to. It's gone now, if you haven't noticed. Time flies, Lib Lifers, time flies.

Speaking of time flying, it only seems like yesterday when two new activities were introduced during the library orientation: The Human Books invitational talk, and the Book Trailer Making Contest, both explained here. Those were in 2018. Now at the start of another school year, four additional initiatives shall be added to the mix.

Quiet on the Set

"Shh!"

We all know that sound and what it means. Especially in the library.  It works, but not always. Silence must be maintained for all users, but shushing can be tiresome and even lead to misunderstanding sometimes. This is where the Noise Level Chart comes into play.

No need to say "quiet, please."

The chart is used when people start to become noisy or misbehave in the library. It is placed on a group's table and is visible from the circulation counter. The Noise Level Chart is color-based: yellow for noticeable noise (initial warning), orange for noisy and distracting (secondary warning), and red for extremely loud and disruptive (final warning). Once the chart is flipped to red, causing further disturbance shall result in the group's exit from the library.

Seeing red: no further warnings ahead.

This initiative intends to make the act of silencing simpler, without having to appear like a strict disciplinarian to students.

The Search for Young Blood

If the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Young Blood column has proven anything, it's that the youth have never been in short supply of talented writers. In fact, a book compilation based on the essays that appeared in YB has now reached volume 7 as of April 2019.

Be a writer for the blog!

The library wants to tap into this very same raw talent and give students the chance to have their articles published on this blog – Lib Life Ko. As the entries posted here have mostly been left in the hands of the library staff, a Blog Writing Contest planned for August seeks to inject new blood to the site by inviting students to contribute their own library-related write-ups. By doing so, this initiative intends to make the blog appeal better to young readers, and raise student awareness on Lib Life Ko's existence.

Sharing is Caring

In today's social media age, one has probably retweeted tweets from Twitter, shared posts from Facebook, or reposted media from Instagram. This is how appreciation for something is done now, and is a person's way of saying "Hey, I found this interesting, take a look!"

Passing it forward.

The library takes inspiration from this act through its Share It initiative, wherein a student borrows a library book and posts a picture on Facebook. The student tags friends, encouraging them to read the book themselves. The post that gains the most reactions and comments receives an award.

Hear Me Roar

And finally, we come to the last initiative, Pasalitang Tula or Spoken Word Poetry. Sometimes, even the most introverted person can have the most interesting things to say, and the most tortured soul can come up with the most beautiful words to write.

You need not be introverted nor tortured for this contest of course, just hungry for self-expression.

Speaking from the heart.

Pasalitang Tula will take place in August, which is also Buwan ng Wika. The theme shall be based on library-related topics such as becoming alienated for being a bookworm, getting the chance to read a controversial book, or sharing a story of young love with the library as the backdrop. Tagalog will be the language of choice.

There is always something that listeners can relate to and appreciate in spoken poetry, so it's bound to be an interesting event.

Well, there you have it. While July has only started, before long we'll be scratching our heads, wondering where it headed off to as well. A lot of things seem to be happening in the blink of an eye these days, curiously enough. But anyway, expect to see these plans in action soon. In the meantime, always have an umbrella ready.

Keep warm and stay dry, Lib Lifers!

(Poster designs courtesy of Ms. Jean Marilette Abelardo)

FROM A TEACHER'S HEART: LIB TO LIVE AN ENJOYABLE SCHOOL LIFE

The following entry won the TeachBlog writing contest of the Elementary School Library held last November 7, 2018. Written by Mrs. Ma. Claire M. Guevara (Elementary School Department faculty and Grade 1 Level Coordinator), this piece titled "From a Teacher’s Heart: Lib to Live an Enjoyable School Life" is her story of starting an activity that would encourage her Grade 1 students to visit the library more. By doing so, she realizes her role in creating future readers, and her initiative would produce a ripple effect that surprises her.

 

Topic:  “The Role of Teachers in Promoting the Use of Library to Students”

Title: “From a Teacher’s Heart: Lib to Live an Enjoyable School Life”

Ma. Claire M. Guevara, Faculty (ESD)

Two of my 1^st grade pupils, at first, didn’t want to go to the library. When asked why? They reasoned out that they would prefer to play rather than sit and read inside the library. At first, I thought, it’s just a natural thing for 6 years old kiddos to choose playing around our quadrangle with their other classmates over reading inside the library.   But then, I have come to realize that these pupils must experience living an enjoyable school life through reading inside the library.  My heart leaped for joy when a light bulb flashed into my head on how I was going to encourage them to use one of the most important facilities of our school, the library.  I called their attention after our class, “I have an interesting story to tell you”. Their eyes glowed while waiting for my next sentence. “But that story is inside our library, the first pupil to find that story and bring it to me will get a prize”.  So, both of them went to the library and looked for the book entitled, “Happy Birthday, Moon”.  The male pupil found it first and hand it to me. I gave him his prize and told him that he will get another prize if he will read and tell me what the story is all about. Using my peripheral vision, I saw the female pupil a bit disappointed. So, I called her and gave her a chance to look for another book and told her that she will get a prize after reading it.  The game lasted for two weeks, and due to my pressing schedule, the game just stopped naturally. Until one day, the male pupil told me that he found a very interesting book in the library and asked three of his friends to do the game and read the book together. To my amazement, I hugged him and told him that he did a great job for encouraging others to read a book. After a week, the female pupil, asked me when we are going to continue the game. I told her that we will have a different game this time, I asked her to get a grade one pad paper and make a list of her favorite books in the library. She showed me her list and I encircled three out of seven, and told her to ask her friends to read those three books with her friends and they must think of a new title for the book and make a mini book version using a white paper.  After a week, and I already forgot the game, they handed me the mini book version. Got overwhelmed with their actions, hugged them and gave a small treat.

  

The situations have impressed an important message to me. If you desire within your heart to help your pupils achieve an enjoyable school life where they get to learn and play at the same time, God will definitely grant your wish. What if I would have just let that heart’s desire and light bulb passed without doing any actions?  What if I would just allow the choices of my pupils be not influence with what is better for them as learners? We as teachers have multiple roles to play and one of them is to develop a hobby that would improve their academic performance and social life at the same time.  We must motivate our pupils by telling them the relevance of reading, though they are digital natives and they feel more comfortable to do their school tasks around technology, and the power of knowledge that they could get from reading a book. Proud to say, our library has transformed from a traditional style to a more engaging digital style one. We must also expose them to different reading materials, references and author styles so they would not get bored in reading the same genre. They must learn how to read books with different genres would feed all their emotions.

           I would agree with Henry Ward Beecher when he said that library is one of the necessities of life. And as long as I am a teacher, I will continue to inspire pupils and colleagues to use our library, because a more enjoyable and interesting school life is a life spend not only in the four corners of a classroom but in the library as well…and I, thank you!