September 29th 2011
Dear Friends,
From 4-6p this week I have been the study hall proctor in our library. I've had the pleasure of sitting behind the circulation desk in a swivel chair and surveying the landscape. I have been watching and listening as students use the time in a variety of ways before being picked-up by the their parents, or taking the 5:30p bus home at the end of a long day. This was new territory for me, and I have enjoyed spending time with the kids and observing the after-school atmospherics inside.
After a tutorial by my colleagues on Monday afternoon, I was prepared for the challenge. But as fascinating as anything was watching the three distinct ways the library was being used, and how both the space and the time served each group in different and important ways.
Group One - earnest, determined studiers who were focused on meeting a deadline or getting as much done as possible so their evening would be a bit more leisurely once they got home. They were researching on the Internet, writing on laptops or our desktop computers, or reading. This group appreciated the quiet, and kept to themselves. They seemed content. I've seen college libraries emanating less intellectual octane than this group.
Group Two - small groups of three or four pursuing projects together, but moving back to solitude as the work required. This was a more mature, more purposeful version of "parallel play" seen in lower schoolers, but the students were noticeably more sophisticated in their use of different resources, and their ability to have sustained conversations about the task at hand.
Group Three - needing to release steam, this group pursued fun and games. They gathered in groups of five or six and talked and laughed . . . loudly. They had a dozen uses for the library chairs, none of which included sitting on them. I had to quiet them several times, but they rarely needed much more than the classic finger-to-your-lips gesture. It was clear they were comfortable, respectful and really enjoying each other.
I enjoyed seeing how the library serves different needs.
And then my first question came, delivered by an earnest middle-schooler seeking to make progress on her homework. She was an emissary from Group Two, and she offered me the chance to help a budding scholar - perhaps a whole group of them - in a direct and practical way.
"Mr. Sellers, may I cut an article out of today's newspaper?"
"Hmm - I'm not sure about that. Can you wait to find out from Mrs. Jipson tomorrow morning?"
I was thrilled to think of our students as reading newspapers - wasn't newsprint doomed just a few years ago?- but thought it best to get an official answer.
While my study hall proctoring debut certainly deserves mixed reviews, it was a pleasure to sit in the swivel chair and watch the life of our school from a new perspective.
Sincerely,
Head of School
