[CASL-L] Study halls in library

[Linda Marchisio]

Wow, this is terrible...even scary.  So sorry for your conditions.  I do not know of any research on this.  Did you try AASL?  
I can say my admin likes our LMC to be active, busy, and full but also agrees that it should be an academic environment so I balance the teeter-totter between.  We allow texting in the LMC if kids are not in a lesson so that is not longer an issue (new policy).  Eating...we have sign posted and have to remind regularly.  Admin here says its "my space" so I can make my own rules ( as long as they support the school culture) and as long as kids still want to come to the LMC.  Again, balancing act.  Perhaps comparing this to a classroom might help...you want students on task in the classroom working...its not the number of kids in the classroom but what they are actually doing.
 
Good Luck
 
Linda Marchisio
Library Media Specialist
Bacon Academy
611 Norwich Ave.
Colchester, CT  06415
Ph   860.537.2378  x 2152
Fax  860.537.5410
lmarchisio at colchesterct.org email
http://www.colchesterct.org/page.cfm?p=193 webpage
http://bacon-lmc.wikispaces.com/ wiki
http://balmc.edu.glogster.com/  Glogs
baconlmc at baconlmc Twitter

________________________________

From: casl-l-bounces at mylist.net on behalf of Cathy Andronik
Sent: Mon 12/3/2012 11:51 AM
To: CASL-L at mylist.net
Subject: [CASL-L] Study halls in library


I have finally gotten a meeting with my principal regarding the new (this school year) decision to base one study hall per period in the library.  It was one of those wonderful surprises I discovered on the first day of classes; the administration didn't even give me a heads-up, much less ask how it would impact us.  Is there any research (or even anecdotal information) on whether this is a "best practice?"  There is a teacher assigned to the study hall; some few watch those kids like hawks to make sure they're following school and library rules, others bury themselves in their computers or grading with their backs to the kids and my aide and I end up supervising their kids along with the library drop-ins.  During one period there are about 50 kids assigned to the study hall, and we generally get upwards of 20 drop-ins; the study hall kids during that period treat it as recess (eating, using devices, playing games, being generally loud) and the supervising teacher lets it all happen.  After a few "this isn't working" emails to the administrators (who decline to observe the mayhem), I finally sent a SERIOUS "this REALLY isn't working" email after a kid asked if he could go to another room in the school to sit and read quietly.  Administration's response was that they love seeing lots and lots of kids in the library.  I have stressed that they need to think less about warm bodies and more about CCSS, embedding information literacy skills into the curriculum, securing funding for databases (we had a $0 budget this year) and enough computers in the lab to accommodate a class of 28, etc.  
Thanks!
 
Cathy Andronik
Teacher Librarian
Brien McMahon HS
Norwalk, CT

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