2000 Hours

This summer I am starting 2000 hours project.  2000 hours is the brainchild of a teacher named Chuck who is fed up with the popular misconception that teaching is really a part-time job because, after all, we get to leave at 2pm and get the "summer off." To dispel this myth, he decided to log the number of hours he spends working during both during the school day and during his time off.  I love this idea.   I'm not sure I will continue it for an entire school year, the way Chuck is, but I am definitely ready to commit for summer. For one, I too am becoming grumpy with pundits and politicians who have never set foot in a classroom/school library, but who feel they have the right to comment on what an easy job we have. But also, I'm just interested in finding out how many hours I really do put in during the summer months.  (An aside, my husband is always complaining that I'm really a 12 month employee who settles for 10 month pay, so this summer we're going to see if he's right!) Anyway, I'm so geeked out over this project that I created a couple of items to help chronicle my (and maybe your???) journey.

First, I created this badge for my blog.  If you're gonna log your hours too and want to plaster a badge on your blog, feel free to use it, change it, share it, etc.  (The image is my own - one I took for my 365/Image a Day Project. The text I added using Picnik.)

Second, I created a spreadsheet to track my hours.  I used Google Docs to create the sheet and will use it as my "time card" for this project.  This way, I can access it if I am away from my home computer but still "working."  Plus, this way all the world can keep track of my hours.  Perhaps someone will even start a pool and take bets on just how little actual "life" I have. :)   Anyway, in addition to figuring out exactly how many hours I will spend working this summer, I'm also looking forward to seeing what type of work I do during the (almost) 2 months I have away from school.

However many hours I actually log, I feel like this is a good exercise for me - both personally and publicly. I can only imagine that being honest and reflective about the amount of time I spending working when I don't really have to will be a good thing. Plus, like the creator of this project, Chuck, I'm anxious to dispel a few myths myself.

So... how did I spend the first day of "summer break?"  I updated the library webpage to include a summer reading project and a super cool culminating video for our year end Food for Fines project.   Then I sent out a year end letter to parents inviting their students to participate in said summer reading fun and emailed my principal with an update.  All told, it took me just shy of 2 hours.

Anyway, if you're planning on clocking a few hours this summer, consider this a personal invitation to join the 2000 Hour Club. In addition to whatever updates I post here, I'll also be tweeting about it using the #2000hour hashtag.  So, c'mon!  Join me! (You know you want to!)

Beyond the Pie Chart: When Learning Can't Be Measured

F4F Flyer 2011

Like many libraries around the world, mine holds a Food for Fines event each year.  In fact, I got the idea from my local public library which held one 3 years ago, but then stopped (I’m not really sure why).  For us, Food for Fines equates to a one week event in which students can pay off library fines by making non-perishable food donations. While lots of students take advantage of this opportunity to clear their accounts, the vast majority of the donations we receive, are from students who DON’T have library fines.  This is because the event is heavily promoted, integrated into the curriculum, and used as a conversation starter between kids and adults about poverty, social justice and how the purpose of knowledge is to inspire action. 

Overall, our donations were down this year.  Although I’m a little disappointed, I’m not really surprised.  In addition to the economic turmoil that we’re all facing, my school is experiencing the (often exciting and wonderful, but also sometimes messy) growing pains of redistricting.  And the fact is that our new population simply isn’t as affluent as those of years past.  Even so, there are plenty of other numbers indicating that this event was a success:

100%      This is the number of classes that participated in the event this year. 

               No matter how small, every class gave something.

84           This is the number of boxes of food that will be donated to Mother 

               Hubbard’s Cupboard in Wilmington, NC.

55           This is the number of fines that were paid.

21           This is the number of homeless students at my school who will benefit

               from donations given to our “back pack buddies” program.

9             This is the number of classes I worked with to discuss and discover

               information related to poverty in our area.

2             This is the number of school buses it will take to deliver our donation.

1             This is the number of students who were utterly shocked to learn that

               both peanut butter and tuna fish are considered protein (we have the 

               students sort the food into food groups so that we can make a nutritious 

               donation).  Ok.  I admit this number may actually be much larger.

"Busy Hands"  http://ow.ly/59RZi

But the really important outcomes can’t be measured.  I don’t know about you, but at this time of year, when I’m trying to make sense of end of year data, I sometimes find it tempting to rethink projects that can’t be defended with a pie chart or a bar graph.  However, this is wrong and dangerous thinking. The conversations that grew out of this project, the seeds of empathy and philanthropy that were planted, and the understanding that once you know a thing, you can’t unknow it, (you can choose to ignore it or choose to act on it, but you must choose) – these outcomes cannot be measured – but that makes them no less important than those that can be.

As school librarians, we are in the business of impacting student learning.  And like all teachers, that means we have to be concerned with academic success, growth and proficiency.  However, this week has reminded me that knowledge is best cultivated in an environment of dialog and participation – of conversation and discovery.  And while those environments are often discordant and produce results that are difficult to quantify, they are the ones that are most likely to help our students grow into thinkers, questioners, innovators and (big, big social) problem solvers.

As I always am at the end of Food for Fines week, today I find myself both exhausted and grateful.  Not only am I pooped by the sheer effort it takes to pull the whole thing off (not that I do it alone, by any stretch of the imagination) but I am also utterly humbled to be a part of a profession whose very mission is rooted in making the world, and the people in it, better.