Monday, October 16, 2023
I signed up for a media job today at a middle school. Our district cut the media specialist positions out of middle school a few years ago, because teaching kids how to research appropriately on the internet, how to write a research paper, and stuff like that was apparently not important enough. That is just my two cents on it – no one asked me or explained their thoughts to me about making the cuts. Anyway, I know the media specialist at this school was still there and thought that his principal had saved his job…somehow. Anyway, I was surprised to find out that they were filling a vacancy for the media clerk with teacher subs while they hire a new clerk.
Surprised and delighted.
I had two classes/hour come to check out and return books. They would have “silent reading time” (it was neither silent nor reading in most cases, but their teacher was with them, so it didn’t matter to me) for 15 minutes after everyone checked out. I would then reshelve the returned books and await the next class.
The interesting thing about it to me was the fact that about half of the 8th graders did not know the routine to returning books (put the book on the counter next to the sign that says RETURN BOOKS HERE) and would wait in the line to hand me the book and say, “I want to return this.” I would say to put it on the pile, and they would look confused. I asked if the system had recently changed, but no, always been that way. I was interested in how many of the kids said, “I want to renew this book,” when in fact, they just wanted to return it. RE words are hard, I guess. Some of the kids brought their id cards that I could just scan with my scanner to bring up their account, then beep their books and done. If they didn’t have a card, I would ask them their last name. Many told me their first name, because…well, I guess because they thought I could just look up Liam and get the right one. A bunch of kids who did know the routine would give me the first three or four letters of their last name and the list would pop up and I would click on them. A couple (three) kids gave me the LAST three letters of their last name. I just don’t even know how they thought that would be something I could use. Last name = last letters? I don’t know.
They have been going to the school library at least twice/month for 8 years. You would think they would have noticed the routine. I would have thought that. But no.
Keith and I had an interesting activity last night. Twice. At about 2am, my blood glucose monitor went off like a smoke alarm – just screaming. My blood glucose was 48, under the warning number that you can’t turn the alarm off for. I was just boggled. I didn’t know which was was up, much less what I was supposed to do. Keith went downstairs and got me a small piece of candy. He brought me a little Mounds bar. I pointed out that Johanna had given me sugar free Mounds bars yesterday – so it is the only candy I have that I could already eat. He went back downstairs and got me a chocolate covered caramel. I ate half of it and gave him the other half. I didn’t know what it would do to my blood sugar – I assume everything will make it spike and I will explode – so I was being cautious. I miraculously fell back to sleep immediately. The second time the alarm screamed, Keith went back downstairs and got a caramel right away. I ate the whole thing and went to sleep again. It’s not great, that being jarred out of sleep by a screaming alarm, but I. ATE. CANDY.