A Love of Learning

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The story below is from our July/August 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Local librarians share their experiences of doing what they love everyday.

Chances are that somewhere along your educational journey, a school librarian shared a great book which you have always cherished. Here are four local librarians that experience the joy of doing that every day.

Kendel Lively, Lord Botetourt High School

Kendel Lively has been teaching for 31 years, the last 26 at Lord Botetourt, 14 of which are as librarian. She explains how she began her journey as a bibliophile.

“I’ve always loved to read and as a child even created a miniature library in my bedroom where I would check out books to my sister,” Lively said. “I had been teaching social studies for seven years at LB when I decided to take courses at UVA on becoming a librarian. Right after I finished the class, Sam Sutherland, our then librarian, announced his retirement and I was able to move right into the job.

“One of the best things about being a librarian is that I am still a teacher, just one of many hats I wear. But now all the students in the school are mine. That’s why I have the best job and the biggest classroom in the school.”

Lively says one of her favorite cooperative activities with classroom teachers is her “Lockbox Lesson Plan on Plagiarism.” Students have to solve a variety of clues concerning what are the forms of plagiarism and how to avoid it. At each step of the way, once a clue is solved, another lock on the box is removed until one chamber remains with a prize in it.

Another stimulating activity is a Makerspace poetry one. Students rotate among six stations where at each one they create a poem in a particular style. Lively is also known for her Book Talks where she regales students about new and/or interesting additions to the library.

“If you have a book with you, you are never alone,” she said. “Books can take you to different places, teach you to feel empathy for others, and be windows to new ideas. I know these are clichés, but they’re true.”

DeWayne Harrell, South Salem Elementary

Salem Public Schools’ DeWayne Harrell has been a librarian for 20 years at South Salem Elementary. He spent the first eight years of his career as a high school English teacher but felt he could reach more students as a librarian, so he enrolled in courses toward that goal. Harrell is known for his creativity and enthusiasm.

“The most innovative method I use is having a YouTube channel for my students,” he said. “I have classroom teachers read specific books for all grades, and I create videos where I involve the entire school with questions about particular books. I have found this helps students stay motivated to learn from a variety of forms of media and books.

“My channel has a playlist of books I have read, other students have read, and teachers have read. I am a firm believer of students learning from each other, and I understand some students are very influential, so they will have a strong impact on other students.

 Harrell has a favorite series that he relishes sharing with youngsters.

“I start introducing the Choose Your Own Adventure books to students in the third grade,” he said. “They are an older series, but each book gives students an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Students have to make a decision based on the information they have read, and sometimes they make the right choice and other times they end up in a bad situation.”

For this educator, cultivating a passion for knowledge is paramount.

“I think reading and learning are very similar when it comes to trying to cultivate them in schools,” he said. “In today’s society, there are so many ways to learn, and students need to have a base knowledge to help them gather more information either by reading or other media.

“When students grasp the fundamentals of reading, it allows them to be curious and become better lifelong learners. The most important aspect of being a librarian is knowing what each student likes in terms of reading and learning. Once this is accomplished, I can help guide the students to books that grab their attention and curiosity.”

Kate McDaniel, Woodrow Wilson Middle School

At time of print, Kate McDaniel was the library media specialist at Woodrow Wilson, and remembers the Saturdays that inspired her to become a librarian.

“From the time I was very little, I’ve loved books,” she said. “Every Saturday, my mother would bring me to the library and I would check out piles and piles of books – enough to last me to the next Saturday. So I credit my mom for giving me the love of reading, and becoming a librarian was the best way for me to share that love with students.”

McDaniel, who has been a librarian for nine years, the last six at Woodrow Wilson, relates that one of the most pleasurable aspects of her position is collaborating with her fellow teachers. One such partnership involved working with Jason Long, a U.S. History II instructor who was the Wilson teacher of the year and runner-up Roanoke City teacher of the year.

“Jason and I collaborated on a Civil War Reconstruction era lesson where the students themselves chose two historical figures to compare and contrast,” she said. “What impressed me was how the students, with the ownership they had in the assignment, were willing to dig deep to find information on Native Americans and enslaved people because so much of their history was not easily available.

“Some of the most interesting pairings that the students chose were Geronimo and Abraham Lincoln and Crazy Horse and Clara Barton. Individuals that, for sure, led very different lives yet were notable leaders.”

McDaniel says that some of her favorite Young Adult authors that she likes to share with students are Jason Reynolds, Katherine Applegate and Kwame Alexander. But she notes that what attracts students to the prose of these and other YA authors may not be what draws students to them. “It’s so important for middle schoolers to see themselves in the books they read,” she said.

Last thoughts?

“My mom instilling a love of reading in me has been a very important part of my life,” McDaniel said. “It’s true that being a reader makes a person have a better vocabulary and a better learner. But I think what’s best about reading is that it makes a person more empathetic. And the world needs for more people to have empathy.”

Lauren Sprouse, Northside Middle School

A librarian for 20 years, the last 11 at Northside Middle, Lauren Sprouse emphasizes she’s a lifelong reading enthusiast.

“I’ve always loved to read,” she said. “As an English teacher, I enjoyed putting books in kids’ hands. I became a librarian because it was the way to share even more books with young people. I really like telling a student that there’s a new book arriving soon that they’ll like or that a new book in a series by a favorite author is on its way.”

Like our other three local librarians, Sprouse has a model lesson to mentally stimulate staff and students.

“I create stations in April for Poetry Month and also to prepare students for the Reading SOL,” she said. “We do content stations where the kids practice poetry games using games like Memory and Head of the Class, poetry analysis stations and also creative stations where they compose blackout poems, ransom note poems, zip odes and paint chip poetry, for example.

“I also do a poetry challenge each day in April where students and staff can create a poem based on a prompt. Then I collect all poems in an electronic newsletter that is shared each day. All students whose poems are published can come get a freezer pop on that day. Last year, I gave out over 700 pops.”

Sprouse also believes it’s important to make a library sort of a community hub for staff and students. For school personnel, she provides coffee and fruit infused water. Teachers, she says, need to feel pampered. Another favorite activity is her Teacher Pet Games contest.

“I collect pictures of teachers’ pets and post them on a bulletin board,” she said. “Students and staff have one month to identify them all. There are bonus questions and hints in the announcements each day. Everyone, staff and students, is encouraged to participate. I get amazing participation from my staff on these contests, which encourages the students to join in.”

With remarkable librarians like this quartet of gifted educators as well as in other schools, the young people of the Roanoke Valley have much to look forward to when they journey to their school’s library.

The story above is from our July/August 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!