I found that working with Ms. Smith was invaluable to me as a future school librarian. Not only was I able to really see how her day was spent, but being able to pick her brain about every day activities was fantastic. Also, as an enthusiastic teacher, she gave me a lot of wonderful ideas and ways to implement information literacy into nearly any curriculum plans.
I found that while there was a huge emphasis on teaching (rather than answering more reference questions as there would be in a public library) Ms. Smith found many ways to incorporate different information skills into each lesson. Some of what she taught her students to look for were the same things we studied in class – evaluating websites, properly using references resources, and becoming familiar with databases all became major themes in the media center.
It was incredibly refreshing to see a teacher so enthusiastic about teaching and making the environment kid-friendly without being condescending to her students. It was obvious that she was truly loved by the student body and that most teachers valued her opinion and respected her ability to help them with their curriculum.
Fox in the Library 