Practicum Experiences

Posted September 21, 2012 by Maya Bery

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to attend a Boston Arts Academy pep rally for the whole school at Fenway Park.  Now, I’ve been to Fenway before, but always surrounded by legions of fans.  Today, however, the park lay entirely empty, save for some groundspeople and a few (slightly confused) tourists, and it was pretty cool.  The reason I got to do this was because I am doing my high school practicum at Boston Arts/Fenway High School, and as a library intern, the librarian wanted me to be introduced to the student body as part of her staff, but it really stood out to me as a hallmark of the experiences we have as practicum students.  Though we are only at our schools for a few short months, and though the time flies by really quickly, the schools and the librarians take great effort to welcome us and make us feel included.  To my mind, this makes the experience that much richer, because it gives you a sense of every aspect of the librarian’s role – the emails that must be answered, the parent volunteers who must be coordinated, the book fairs that must be supervised – as well as the teaching side of things.  It’s invaluable, because it helps make sure that Simmons graduates will enter the profession with a holistic perception of what the job entails, which in turn lays the foundation for creating strong, vibrant library programs in communities across the state (and the country).  We are very fortunate, as practicum students, to have such welcoming schools to host us and such dedicated librarians who guide us, mentor us, and help us to grow as pre-professionals, and it’s what makes the SLT program so strong.