An Interview On Creativity

 In this interview, I spoke with a school librarian from Kensington Elementary School in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The high school contains 565 students. It serves grades pre-K through fifth. I spoke with the librarian about the ways in which she implements the AASL’s standards, along with the strategies she finds to work the best for her. In this interview, I decided to ask questions that had an emphasis on creativity, which is one of the six shared foundations from the AASL’s standards framework. Here are the questions that were asked, and details from the conversations that came of them:

1.     What are some examples of the ways in which you are implementing creativity in your library program?

I asked this question to gain insight on whether creativity is a foundation that is actually being used or not within her library. She explained that she always has to be creative with scheduling to make sure they can fit creative activities into their programming. She further explained that she tries to base planning around the needs of teachers and students. She is currently on a partially fixed schedule and teaching a STEM special area for second grade and an adaptive special area. She stated this situation has encouraged her to stretch what she would typically do with a class to address different skills and standards. Right now, a creative lesson she is completing with students is researching arctic animals to build habitats for them using different materials. She also implements the Adopt-A-Shelf program to give students a leadership opportunity in the library. They adopt a shelf to take care of weekly, and she selects the three best shelves each week for a small prize. This has been fun and exciting for the kids, and I’d love to allow them to use some creativity to decorate the shelf more, as well. We discussed how this is such a great way to incorporate creativity and help the kids to feel like they have a say in the library space. 

2.     What are some of the resources in your library program that you are using to incorporate collaboration in the library?

This question built off of the first one. She explained that they recently had a Donors Choose project that was funded to add LEGOs to the library. She stated that she has a group of fifth grade students who normally may not spend much time in the library coming in daily to work on a project. We discussed how important it is to have areas like makerspace where students have an area to creatively express themselves. She also likes to have games and manipulatives to encourage conversation and life skills. She uses Chromebooks with students for research and some games. However, we discussed that she is trying to explore other options that focus on less screen time. We determined that creativity is important for kids to practice across many different mediums and connecting creativity with different content areas. 

3.     When you implement instruction surrounding collaboration, do you include classroom teachers?  If so, please provide examples.

When asked this question, the librarian expressed that she does try to collaborate with teachers in the building, although, with time so stretched during the day, it can be a challenge. She stated that she recently has worked with third grade teachers to teach research skills this year. She also has met with second grade teachers to plan special area lessons based on student needs. With a busier schedule, it’s harder to meet with teachers. This sparked a discussion about a fixed vs. unfixed schedule. There are many pros and cons to both, but she believes an unfixed schedule would allow her to better collaborate with teachers. 

4.     What are some of the challenges that you face when trying to implement collaboration in the library?

The school librarian claimed that some challenges she faces when implementing creativity in the library, is time. She stated that it is the most major factor right now. She explained that  she is currently feeling stretched thin stating, “with special area and covering unencumbered time in the cafeteria, I don’t have as much freedom to plan with teachers”. We discussed how difficult it can be to implement lessons and activities when there are so many other obligations that are expected of you. We both also discussed the importance of keeping a positive mindset even amongst all of the chaos!

5.  Are there any other comments that you would like to make regarding the implementation of inquiry instruction?

The school librarian shared that she is always looking for new ideas, and is always leaving conferences and district meetings with activities to try! We discussed the importance of constantly trying to better yourself as a professional and librarian. She also stated that she  learns the most from other media specialists! Having relationships with other media specialists in the district can create a community that you can go to for anything- support, ideas, and more! 

Through this interview, I learned that creativity is very important to implement in the school library. There are so many activities that can be done with students. It is important to implement creativity through a variety of different mediums and tools. Students have the ability to grow and be creative when there are materials accessible to doing so. It can also attract more students to use the library. Timing and scheduling are always going to be an issue when it comes to collaboration to implement any foundations- however, it is important to stay persistent and positive in order to ensure students are being provided with meaningful instruction.