- Why did you choose school librarianship?
Well, my husband suggested it to me when he saw a job announcement for a part-time librarian position. I had taught for four years as a high school English teacher and thought, I could do that. Also, at the time, I had decided to be a stay-home mom to take care of our infant son and toddler daughter, so I called and found out that I needed a MLS and the LRE. Two years later, I enrolled with SHSU, took the LRE and the rest is history. I have been a school librarian for 17 years: 10 years high school, 6 years middle school, and 1 year elementary. I have received two state recognitions: 2012 Young Adult Reading Incentive (YARI) Award TLA YART and 2002 Outstanding New Librarian Award TLA NMRT.
- What is your personal learning style?
Visual, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary. All of the above. Whichever works to get the job done.
- Describe your student population and current school environment.
I am a Quad-School Librarian for four alternative campuses:
Buell Central High School (Boot Camp School) Population varies peak 250
College, Career, & Technology Academy (Nationally Recognized Dropout Recovery Program) Population varies-peak 250
PSJA Elvis J. Ballew HS (Choice HS) Population 225
Sonia Sotomayor HS (Teenage Parenting Program) Population varied this past school year from 140 to 160
- Upload a picture of your library space.
Buell Central High School Library
(Notice the throw on the wall? It has been there for five years. We are the Longhorns, too! Hook'em, Horns!)
College, Career, & Technology Academy Library
PSJA Elvis J. Ballew High School
(Last August, I painted the wall red before we moved into a previously occupied elementary school.)
Sonia Sotomayor High School Library
- What are your goals for attending the Summit?
Student academic success regarding Information Literacy because of our team effort. Fun!
- Explain or upload a library collaboration or assignment that you're most proud of or would like to share with others.
The 2012 YARI Award link will take you to my reading incentive program "Rekindling the Joy of Reading".
- Share a blog post, website, article, conversation, project, or piece of pop culture that has inspired you to want to think differently about the way you with work your students and colleagues.
Osborn, Sunya (2001) "Picture Books for Young Adult Readers." The ALAN Review, Volume 28, Number 3, p. 24.
Comments (11)
Mary Prevost said
at 8:12 pm on Jun 4, 2013
What is the population at your School?
Lisa Hernandez said
at 8:08 am on Jun 6, 2013
Hi, Mary! I have posted population info on my wiki.
Lisa Hernandez said
at 2:19 pm on Jun 10, 2013
Hi, Mary P! I have updated the student population. Thanks!
Mary Font said
at 11:56 am on Jun 8, 2013
Mary, Thanks so much for sharing Osborn's Picture Book for Young Adults. The article really reinforces what I've observed with many of my students and will help justify buying print non-fiction purchases with a limited budget. I look forward to meeting you next week!
Lisa Hernandez said
at 12:06 pm on Jun 8, 2013
You're welcome! I look forward to meeting you, too! :)
Mary Font said
at 11:59 am on Jun 8, 2013
Lisa, So sorry for confusing the names! I look forward to meeting you.
Lisa Hernandez said
at 12:07 pm on Jun 8, 2013
No problem!
evewaddell@... said
at 12:02 pm on Jun 10, 2013
Thanks for the link to the article on picture books. I am going to share it with the secondary teachers who refuse to allow students to read graphic novels and picture books.
Lisa Hernandez said
at 3:28 pm on Jun 10, 2013
Eve, my reply to your comment I sent to myself. Sorry! I get excited when I talk about reading comprehension and student success.
Lisa Hernandez said
at 4:32 pm on Jun 10, 2013
Eve, one more thing. Justification I have found for using AR picture books with HS and MS students is that many AR picture book book levels match or exceed YA literature book levels. For example, Rosa (1599 word count) by Nikki Giovanni has a 4.9 book level and Twilight (118,975 word count) by Stephenie Meyer has a 4.9 book level. Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle (2567 words) by Brian Dennis has a 4.8 book level, while Beautiful Creatures (147,695 words) by Kami Garcia has a 4.5 book level. It is fun to see students's reactions when I hold up both books side by side and explain this fact. Once students see or "experience" how easy it is to understand or "comprehend" the AR picture book I read to them with the higher book level and pass the AR test, then students begin to feel confident in their reading abilities to handle, on their own, a book that is lengthier and with the same or lower book level; but, yet is YA literature. The task has become manageable and obtainable.
Lisa Hernandez said
at 3:25 pm on Jun 10, 2013
Picture books work! It is amazing how they contribute to instilling in students the desire or "joy" for independent pleasure reading. My reading incentive program "Rekindling the Joy of Reading" incorporates just not picture books, but Accelerated Reader picture books. My library schedule for the year is visiting each special purpose campus five days out of the month; each school is assigned a day of the week and a Friday of the month. At three of my schools, I am shared between two English teachers a class period; each visit runs about 30 minutes. As I look back on this school year, regarding student success with literacy, I am dumbfounded. My students "Rocked" when it came to the District Accelerated Reader Millionaire Club. Last year, my AR Millionaire Club count was 10 AR Millionaires with 1 of them becoming an AR Multimillionaire. This year I ended with 17 AR Millionaires with 3 of them becoming AR Multimillionaires. The most AR Millionaires came from Sonia Sotomayor High School (Teenage Parenting Program) with 8 AR Millionaires and 2 of them became AR Multimillionaires; last year count was 3 AR Millionaires. I was so proud of them. I read AR picture books, and when I was gone, they read YA literature they wanted to read. Using AR picture books serves a dual purpose: "Rekindling the Joy of Reading" and sharping test-taking skills--the AR program is A,B,C,D format, which I hope the test-taking skill carries over to TAKS and STARR. I highlight the AR Millionaires, but the word count at each campus improved tremendously. Collectively, the campuses went from over 20,000,000 words read last year to over 40,000,000 words read this year. Not bad for alternative school campuses with library time constraints. Student academic success could not have occurred without teacher and administrator support.
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