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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Westwood middle school students can enjoy a school library for the first time since the pandemic.
10-31-2024 12:50am
For First Time Since Pandemic, Westwood's Middle School Students Enjoy a School Library
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to Westwood Public Schools for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.
The school library is often a gathering place for students – to research school projects, explore new interests, or do a bit of independent reading. At the Thurston Middle School, students had been without their library since it closed during the pandemic. Now it’s back, and so are the students.
“Our library closed in 2020,” said Principal Michael Redmon. “Our librarian retired, and we needed to reallocate positions in the district for remote learning. For the first time in four years, we are happy to say, our students have a library.”
“Our English Language Arts teachers really built up their classroom libraries with the help of the Humanities Department in the interim,” said Thurston Humanities Department Chair Katherine Stewart. “We kept our classroom libraries funded and with current titles. We did the best we could to provide access to students with a wide range of current young adult literature to address the independent reading piece of the library.”
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public School. The reopening of Thurston Middle School's library has reintroduced a space, or "hub," of student activity.Canice Thynne was initially hired in 2019 to be both the K-12 Library Director as well as the Thurston librarian. The library has become a hub of activity, Thynne said, noting that students stop by before and after school, in addition to their classroom visits. “I’ve started offering a library orientation class so that students can become acquainted with the physical layout of the library and all the resources available to them ,” said Thynne. “Since it’s been closed for four years, I’ve been reintroducing them to the databases they can use for research. I also make sure they can all log into our “Sora,” which is an online e-book, audio book and magazine resource.”
To foster the sense of the community, Thynne has started book groups during lunch and initiated maker space into library offerings. She says she plans to add coding in the near future and sees many students stopping in both before and after school.
“Teachers are thrilled [the library has reopened] because it gives them someone to be a thought partner with,” said Redmon. “It allows their classes and instruction to soar."
