Librarian, Part I

Substitute teaching has been my primary work this school year, even while I have pursued state teacher certification and alternatives for employment. In my role as a substitute teacher, I have encountered a number of challenges and rewards, and I am grateful to my employers and to the Lord for the days and months I have spent in various classrooms.

I can recall the interview process that I had for one potential employer very early in 2011. At the end, when I was turned down for the position, the reason given was that I did not have sufficient experience with "disadvantaged youth" to work at their school. Well, I have more than made up for that this school year, as one of the places where I work is involuntarily residential, so to speak. There have been countless opportunities to exercise de-escalation techniques, many of which would be very helpful to know and use in any classroom setting. I have received significant training in maintaining classroom and student safety and security, and I appreciate all the time that has been put into making this particular school a beneficial time for all involved. Challenging, but beneficial.

Though I am a substitute teacher, I have been employed as a teacher's aide and as a fill-in librarian, too. In December, the librarian got done in preparation for moving out of state. Though that has not happened, the school library was in desperate need of maintenance, so I offered to do it. Don't get me wrong--I'm getting paid for my time! And it has provided extra work hours for me during a long winter without full time employment. It has also garnered the appreciation of my boss, including good citations in my work evaluations.

As the "assistant-to-the-(nonexistent)librarian," I maintain the flow of books in and out of the library. Difficulties with the computer server have limited my ability to check books in and out of the computerized catalog, but I set up spreadsheets to handle the same functions. It gives some idea of where the books are and which books are most frequently being read.

The other substitute teacher has helped immensely, too, reshelving books when I am not there and keeping the room clean. Today, we had a lengthy conversation about what we would do "if we ran this library". I expressed my desire to see better quality books available. Before I could even say which author I'd really like to see represented more in the stacks, she said the name I was about to mention: C.S. Lewis.