What Adrienne Thinks About That

I can't watch people spin. Even children. I'd throw up and then fall down...

I need to use music in my story times. I'm not feeling story times this year for some reason. I think its partly from only seeing story times a couple times and partly because I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if there's any formal story time training, but if there was, I know I could use it. Most times I feel like a complete idiot and that I'm floundering in a sea of children.
And I'm starting in March, so I guess I need to get my ass in gear.

If you really want to amuse yourself, try doing a fingerplay and push up your sleeves. I usually have most of the group pushing up their sleeves.

I think Story Time is a lot like teaching only I have the same teenagers everyday and they have to be there, think of them as the crying toddler that just wants to leave while the parent is saying, "But this is fun." A lot of what I do is just to amuse myself and of course there are always a few kids who get the jokes too. My current favorite is when the students tell each other or other teachers, "Stupid people don't revolt."

I notice that every year I seem to have a harder time with spinning and not falling down myself.

Are you really worrying that much, Cathy? You're like my storytime hero for that thing you do where you have the kids shake out their Spiderman wiggles and whatnot. That sounds like so much fun! Maybe you just need some new material? Maybe some new no-fail books? I love doing the same things over and over, but part of me needs new material every now and again, too.

I am soooo pushing up my sleeves next week -- or maybe I'll kick off my shoes. See what happens. :)

I think some of the crowd control techniques are the same, but we don't actually have to prepare the three year olds for a Regents exam. Yet. ;)

Adrienne, is there really a shortage of children's librarians? Very occasionally I think of (ick) going back to school for a master's in library science. But, you know, school. Ew.

Yes and yes.

Good children's librarians, especially the kind who want to work in a public library (as opposed to a school) are hard to find, at least in Western NY. It's my understanding that it's the same story all over. You might get a bunch of applicants for an opening, but very few will actually have any experience or specialized knowledge. And the kinds of library directors one wants to work for want good children's librarians.

Library school is, well, library school. On the bright side, you can do it in a year, and librarianship is an awesome career. I can't imagine what else I'd do for money -- but I hear you on not wanting to go back to school. I can't imagine what kind of catastrophe would have to happen to drive me back to college. I was a good student, but, looking back, I can't believe I managed to tolerate it long enough to get my MLS. The thought of doing something just because someone told me I had to for a grade? Ew, indeed.

That said, I'm always encouraging people to go to library school. Like I said, once school is done, libraries are such a great place to spend one's days....

I still find it ironic that I turned you on to the idea of library school and then decided not to go myself. I imagine it would've been a cool job. I miss the academics of school, but not the work.

So true. Back in the day, though, I thought this plan of yours sounded dubious, like library school was something you made up.