June Kramer

Practicum Experience

My practicum has come with it plenty of challenges, some that I did not expect and some that I knew were coming. I’m going to focus on the one I anticipated: my voice. Since childhood I have spoken with a stutter, and it’s especially hard to read aloud in a group full of people. Of course, going into the school library profession, I knew that this would be a frequent occurrence. In my first read-aloud, I knew that I needed to tackle it head-on.  For a second grade class, I read the book “I Talk Like a River,” by Jordan Scott. It tells the story of an elementary-aged boy who stutters, and his father who refers to his stutter as “talking like a river.” In reading this book to the second graders, I was able to show them a bit of myself, and gain their trust as a full person. I also was able to teach them a little bit about disability justice, and why it’s important to be kind to those with different abilities…

I See Its Success

Being student on the SLIS West campus can feel like a lot of things: a hustle, a joy, a grind, a whole lot of work, and very worth it. I’m currently in the middle of the semester, piling up assignments so that I can make room for a couple of scheduled long weekends. This means spending three days a week at my practicum elementary school, and accelerating the rate of papers that I’m writing.  But I don’t feel alone in this work. The Simmons library program goes deep, especially in Massachusetts. Several people in my orbit are graduates of the program: my upcoming librarian in the spring practicum, my practicum advisor, even a co-worker at my part-time public library job. Which is to say, I am able to have confidence in the program that I am in, because I see its success all around me. When it feels like too much work to sustain, I can remember that I have this future ahead of me, working in a school and changing lives.  Much of the…

Pacing and Preparation

I have taught youth of many ages, in a number of formats, for years. This has mostly been in an informal capacity: summer camp, after-school activities, or tutoring. But last week at my first lesson in my first practicum, I truly felt my capability. In the minutes leading up to when the second grade class came into the library, I found myself pacing back and forth, making sure that the brightness on the overhead projector was just right, adjusting the picture books on display in the reading corner.  I had prepared extensively for this lesson, which was a read-aloud of the book I’m Sorry You Got Mad, with some prompts for discussion about apologizing. I filled out the standard lesson plan form, and talked with my supervising librarian about strategies for the lesson. But once the students filed in and sat on their mats, I felt like I was operating a mile a minute.  One of the things that my supervising librarian and I talked about was contingency plans for if students did not want to participate….

Two Semesters In

Two semesters into my program, and now two weeks into my practicum, and I keep learning something new every day. It’s not just a cliché, it’s the reality of the SLIS program. As a student teacher at Shutesbury Elementary School, I’m discovering more about myself and about the field of librarianship consistently. Today, I was asked by a kindergarten student to read to her. Of course I obliged, and we sat crisscross on the library rug, reading a book about aliens, and then another about sweet potatoes. I felt her head fall onto my arm and realized that she had fallen asleep listening to the book. After I gently woke her up and she went back to her classroom, I let out a sigh that anyone who has ever worked with children knows: one of knowing that I am in the right field.