Do What You Love and Love What You Do
My name is Tiffany Williams and I am a Prek- Second Library Media Specialist in Arkansas. I have been in education for 18 years and the past 4 years as a Library Media Specialist. I have always had a passion for children’s literature and the impact that books make on children’s lives. Before becoming a Library Media Specialist 4 years ago I was a passionate classroom teacher with a love for my students and decided to go back and get my master’s degree in library science. Continuing education, learning and growing is a big part of who I am and what I want to model for my girls and my students.
The Heart of Our School
My library supports around 550 students Prek-Second Grade. We have a collection of a little over 16,000 books.
My library circulates on an average 10,000 books a month! Yes, a lot!
How do we do that and why is that important?
We do that because students have book choice and have the ability to check out multiple books if they want and they also can come to the library every single day! It is important because reading volume is an important key in creating lifelong readers. Reading Volume is the number of books that our students read and hear read aloud. In order to create fluent, lifelong readers who have a true passion for reading they must be surrounded with a lot of books.
My goal was to help support the creation of a culture of reading in our school. When I say a culture of reading, I mean when you walk in our front door you can tell that reading is a big priority to every single person in our building.
As we enter each school year working to create readers, thinkers, and lifelong learners in our libraries and schools, we must think about how we will create a culture that supports, encourages and excites our students. We are in an important and challenging time that our job to create a culture of readers takes a village. My job as a Library Media Specialist is always changing and evolving into wearing many hats but one thing that will always stand true, we must be the heart of our schools.
What does it take to be the heart of your school?
First of all, I love my students, I love my teachers and I love books. I have worked the past four years in our library to not only show my students my love for books and learning but to show my teachers as well. I work daily to support them so in return they are better able to support their students. After spending many years as a classroom teacher, I truly understand their needs and the importance of working as a team to better reach our students.
In my library, I believe just like Jen Jones (@helloliteracy) states, “Every day is Library Day.” I want my students coming to the library every single day, not just on their assigned “library class day.” I want them dying to get back to the heart of the school the next day to check out the next book in the series they are loving. I want them to come in each morning and talk to me about what they are reading and what they want to read next. I want them checking out multiple books and falling in love with different authors and different genres and growing as readers who then grow into lifelong learners.
When I am not working as a library media specialist, creating TPT resources or collaborating with educators all over the world.. I am spending my time as a wife and a mama. I have been married for 18 years and have two girls Tessa who is 11 and Jenna Claire who is 8. We love snow skiing, going to the beach and traveling as a family.
What keeps us continually inspired, learning, and growing? Collaboration! Collaboration between you and your teachers and other teachers that have that same desire to always do more, changes us as educators. I believe there is no better professional development than learning from one another. We are truly Better Together.
I Can’t Wait To Connect!
Tiffany