When I younger I always wanted to be a McDonald' s lady or a primary school teacher. Everyone (okay not everyone but lots of people) would tell me I was really good with kids and would make a great teacher - for some reason they were not as supportive of my McDonalds career - and Maccas didn't want me - :( - something I may never get over lol
Anyway - I love teaching and being in the classroom. I still do - but now that I have started my little family - Hannah (20 months) and Lucas (3months) working full time is not really an option for me.
Hence why i have applied for this Masters Course - I feel working in the library would be a perfect role for me - I get to play an important role in a school, work as part of a team and i have the option of not having to work full time. So for me a happy balance.
In my youth I was a library monitor - a very sought after position in my primary school. I remember having to audition with about 30 other hopefuls for the role by being timed returning books to the correct shelves.
I loved my little job in the library in particular being "behind" the circulation desk and filing the little orange borrowing cards and date stamping the books. Being a library monitor also meant you got to read to younger students and be "Tony Barber" in the newly released "Sale of the Century" board game - which we had to organise a waiting list for kids wanting to play. I felt important and that I was helping people.
Being a library monitor was a BIG DEAL back in primary school. All the cool kids were doing it - you were either a Captain, Vice Captain, Prefect, House Captain or Library Monitor. Every lunchtime the library was busy and a fun place to be. Obviously a credit to the librarian.
Heading to highschool, the role of the library changed for me. We didn't have a weekly visit to the library to borrow books and have the librarian read to us like back in primary. The librarian insisited on silence and basically it just wasn't cool to hang out in the library anymore - only "nerds" did.
Back then I didnt know that librarians were teachers.
When I was speaking to a non-teaching friend about being enrolled in a 2 year part time librarian course - I was shocked by her response - "Why do you need to study for two years? How hard is it to learn to put books on the shelf and yell SHHHHHHH all the time?"
If only she knew.
But it did make me think -
* how challenging the role of being a teacher/librarian is and will be especially when many teachers and parents don't understand or appreciate librarians in schools.
I am guilty and in the past I know I have whinged with colleagues during report time that being the librarian would be an "easier" job than being on class but now I know that one should never judge a man until you have walked a mile in their shoes...... and those shoes are certainly big ones to fill.
So true. (And, I still quite like shelving, and quietening down the kids).
ReplyDeleteSo much more to it isn't there? And still, so much more we could be doing.
All the best with your study.