#ALSC12 How to Get Your Staff to Do ECRR Stuff!

At my library, we’ve all had Every Child Ready to Read training, but when it comes to actually implementing it in our programs, we (myself included!) can get kind of lazy. Or intimidated. Or unsure. How do you get your staff to buy in to the Every Child Ready to Read program and actually USE IT?! That’s what I was hoping to learn from this session and I was not disappointed.

A panel of presenters (including Betsy Diamant-Cohen, mother of the Mother Goose on the Loose program, and Saroj Ghoting, early literacy storytimer extraordinaire) spoke about how they brought early literacy training to the Hedberg Public Library in Wisconsin and WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MADE!

Youth Services manager Sharon Grover and Children’s Librarian Julie Westby talked about how they arranged for the training and what the staff’s reactions were. Allison G. Kaplan from the University of Wisconsin – Madison talked about how they created surveys for staff and parents to evaluate the effects of the training. And Betsy and Saroj shared a little bit of what their trainings were like and how they worked together on this workshop.

Not sure how to encourage staff to share early literacy tips in your storytimes? Here are some tips shared at the session:

• Remember: you don’t have to set yourself up as an early literacy expert. Let parents know that you went to a workshop or read a book or website and wanted to share what you learned.
• Remember: the people who are with the kids every day need to know this information! Keeping it to yourself doesn’t do anyone any good!
• Write down the tip you want to share on a post-it note and put it on the back of your storytime book. That way you don’t forget what you wanted to say.
• If you have kids make nametags, have adults make nametags for storytime, too. This validates their importance in storytime and may make it feel easier to address parents.
• Have a host puppet to share your early literacy tips.
• Include an early literacy tip on a handout or bookmark for parents to take home.
• Have staff practice sharing early literacy tips, first to their own fist, and then to a partner.
• Don’t be afraid to share tips because you might be telling parents what they already know. If they already know what you’re saying, that affirms that they’re doing a good job!

The ALSC Institute is off to a GREAT start and I’m already learning so much!

— Abby Johnson, Children’s Manager
New Albany-Floyd County Public Library, New Albany, IN
http://www.abbythelibrarian.com