Good Bye Dewey, I have A Name for The New System

I spent three hours or so today working in the library. I know a Teacher/Librarian working in a library doesn't sound that exciting, but It was actually a big thing, for me. I started the process of shelving the books in the new categorization system that I am using instead of Dewey.


For those new to the blog, I have decided to do away with the Dewey Decimal System in my K-5 Elementary School Library. You can read the other posts for my reasons why. After many hours of changing call numbers, I finally got to move the books to their new shelves today.Although it started out slowly, I am very excited about the way the system is going to work. As you walk into the Library, the room flows from category to category now. From the front of the Library back it actually follows a logical order as the subjects move from one to another.

As I was working today, I started thinking about the new system. The wonderful Librarians at The Ethical Culture Fieldston School, who ditched the Dewey Decimal system at their school (and have been very helpful in answering my questions as I got started) named their system Metis. On their website they say, "We have named the system in honor of the crafty Titan who is the mother of Athena and the eternal source of good advice for Zeus." That is a pretty neat idea. So, I thought I should come up with a name for my system also, since it doesn't quite follow the Metis model or the BISAC Standards.


Now I am not a very vain person, So I couldn't go Dewey-like and name it after myself, and I am not sure my library will ever be a place of the Gods, so I couldn't go with a Mythological name, besides my favorite Greek God since my college days when I first learned of him is Dionysus (the God of Wine and Fertility) and I don't think that is an appropriate name for an elementary library system name.


So, I thought about other options. I am a big Disney fan and am inspired by innovators, like the Disney Imagineers. Lately, I have been reading and listen to some very talented people who have done research on innovation and creativity and I wanted the system to reflect that idea, that it is new and different in the sense that it is innovative for a school Library to Ditch Dewey. The more I thought and looked into words that portrayed this idea, The further I got form why I was doing this. Why I was scrapping Dewey. I am doing it to make it easier on my students and staff and also on myself. It isn't for innovation for innovations sake, it's for ease of use and hopefully a more enjoyable Library experience. So, I have decided on a name, I think best describes the new system; as it means what it is and what using it should be. I have named my new Library System the Facili System (pronounced Fah-Chili).


Please continue to follow along as write about how my work in the Facili System proceeds.








For More information on Metis, check out their website here.
For those of you who have not googled Facili yet, It is the Latin word for Easy.

Thoughts On Teaching and Disney Imagineers

 If you have read my other website, you know that I admire Walt Disney very much. He was amazingly creative and I think his mind was one of the best of all time. When he was alive, Walt had a special group of workers called WED (which was taken from Walt’s initials) that built the amazing things he dreamed up. After his death, WED grew into W.D.I. and now it is Disney Imagineering. These Imagineers as they are called upon to create everything you see on the Disney properties, worldwide. Everything from the design of the Resorts to the queues for the attractions; these people are amazing. I wrote an article once saying that I wished I could be an Imagineer. But the more that I think about it, I don’t wish for that anymore. I wish I could hang out with them and watch them work, because as a Teacher/Librarian I feel I am kind of am, an Imagineer.

I say this, because I have seen the Imagineers’ 10 Commandments. I have listed these commandments below with my reasons for believing that I am like an Imagineer.

1. Know your audience – I do this by designing my lessons to make the most sense for the students I am working with.
2. Wear your guest's shoes – I think about how I would receive the lesson I am teaching. Does it bore me or is it too slow? If so, it will be for the students (my guests) also.
3. Organize the flow of people and ideas – I try to use good story telling techniques, tell good stories not lecture too much. I also try to use clear logic in my lessons and the way my room is organized.
4. Create a weenie– In Disney’s terminology, this the focal point of a park or an attraction. In teaching it is my hook that gets the kids interesting in your lesson.
5. Communicate with visual literacy – I always try to use non-verbal ways of communication, using color, shape, and actions to keep the class interested.
6. Avoid overload - Resisting the temptation to teach too much, to have too many objects is sometimes difficult, since I only have a certain amount of time to cover so many topics.  But, the Imagineers believe, you can’t force people to swallow more than they can digest, that you need to try to stimulate and provide guidance to those who want more. As a teacher, I need to be aware of this also.
7. Tell one story at a time – Teaching one topic or skill at a time is ideal.  The Imagineers say:  “If you have a lot of information divide it into distinct, logical, organized stories, people can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.”
8. Avoid contradiction – I try to do this every day or else the students won’t believe me and won’t listen for very long.
9.  For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun – I try to make learning fun every day. If they don’t enjoy coming to my class, they aren’t going to learn a whole lot from me.
10.   Keep it up – Once you get to the high level of teaching where you are researching your topics before you start teaching them; you are designing lessons at different levels, adapting them and changing them as needed for the best experience for the students and then presenting these lessons in fun and interesting ways, which helps the students to learn the concepts you are teaching, you need to keep doing it. I continually change the experience of the library as the classes and students change from year to year, thus giving them new, interesting and exciting things to look forward to.

Most teachers who are still vibrant, good, exciting teachers do these things. These are the teachers that students remember when they grow up (for the right reasons). These are the teachers that students talk about at the dinner table with their parents. These are the teachers that other teachers talk about in meetings and workshops. These are teachers we should all strive to be. These are the Imagineers in our schools.