THE ONE WHERE MY STUDENTS CALLED ME NATALIE 1998-1999: *Wichita Public Schools: Lewis Open Magnet K-5 Library

THE ONE WHERE MY STUDENTS CALLED ME NATALIE 1998-1999: *Wichita Public Schools: Lewis Open Magnet K-5 Library


1998-99  School Year Photo

Lewis Open Magnet allowed the students to call the staff by their first names. The staff members referred to the students as their friends. I think that the rooms were combined and that each room had two teachers for two different grade levels. I also believe it was the first time in my career that I experienced all day Kindergarten. So when the Kindergarten/First Grade class came to the Library only half of them came with one of the teachers, while the other teacher remained behind with the other half of the class. Lewis was a small school with only two sections per grade level. It was challenging for me to come up with Library lessons that suited the combined grade levels of Kindergarten/First and Second/Third. Fourth/Fifth wasn’t as big of a problem. 


I initially liked my Principal. He was in his first year as an Administrator. His family and my family had so much in common. His wife was also working part time so she could be home with their children. I soon found out that I had followed a Librarian that was a superstar. With young children at home I could not put in the extra time off contract that my predecessor did. I think this greatly disappointed the staff. I did however manage the art of using EVERY minute to my advantage, working though my lunch and using my planning times efficiently. I liked the staff and they were open to me using a flexible scheduling model or so I thought. I soon realized that Lewis Open Magnet had the expectations of a full time Librarian, even though the building was only allocated for a three day a week  Librarian position. I knew almost immediately that I had made a mistake leaving Earhart. 


 

At first I was happy at Lewis Open Magnet

I felt pressured to put in the “extra” time and Brad agreed that he would be able to pick the boys up from daycare the three days a week that I worked. Even though my job was not perfect, it was a good fit for our family.  I was able to drop our son off at school the three days a week that I worked and my daycare would meet me in the parking lot to get my younger son. I would then drive just 7 miles to get to my school in plenty of time to start my day.


One of the extra expectations was the building's READ AROUND program. Students would read at home and their parents would sign off on the amount of time that they read. Good idea, right? Not when trinkets and prizes were involved. This is something philosophically that I have NEVER been onboard with. The READ AROUND program traditionally kicked off with a night time Storytelling festival. It was a ton of work to arrange for professional storytellers to come to our school and participate in the event. I’m not sure if it was in my first or second year at Lewis but one of the storytellers did not show up. I didn’t know what to do so I relied on my best former Drama Teacher skills and told my version of the classic story Millions of Cats. 


A photo from my Library

I was also given a newly created supplement called Site Technology Specialist. I along with another Teacher took care of all the Technology in our school. We had received a donation of computers from a business and we had to install Windows 95 on all the computers.  We also had to upkeep an Apple 2e lab which was basically used for keyboarding and Oregon Trail. 


At the end of the school year my Principal told me to prepare for a block schedule for the 1999-2000 school year. He also told me that per contract that my planning times could be in 20 minute chunks and that he did not have to give me management time to maintain the library. Instead he wanted me to tutor and supplement the SRS Reading program. Needless to say, I was not happy! I wished I would not have left Earhart. My leaving Earhart was one of the biggest regrets of my career.  I looked for other part time positions but none were available. I knew the next school year was going to be rough.


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