Far from a stranger to the Mid-Prairie Community School District, Beth Swantz previously taught fourth grade for 20 years as well as serving as sponsor for the Kalona Elementary technology club. This is her first year out of a classroom setting and she has hit the school year running. Splitting her time between the Mid-Prairie Middle School and High School, and Keota, Swantz is kept busy with not one, but three positions dealing with students of all ages.
When asked why she made a change from teaching fourth grade after 20 years in the classroom, Swantz stated, "I really loved teaching fourth grade. It was something I enjoyed very, very much, but I began to get more and more involved with technology and I wanted to learn more about ways to help students use technology and use them on the cutting edge. And I found that becoming more difficult to do in a classroom."
Wanting more hands on technology experience for her students, Swantz learned of a teacher-librarian master's degree program within the University of Iowa. The program is funded by a grant from the Laura Bush Foundation. Swantz was fortunate to be one of 20 from Eastern Iowa who earned a fellowship through this foundation. Swantz is now halfway through the two-year program.
Swantz commented, "I really love books and I love to talk about books and I love to get kids interested in books - so books, kids and computers is just the perfect fit for me." Swantz admits being at the secondary level is a real challenge after spending the past two decades at the elementary level.
Swantz commented, "The teacher part of being the 'teacher librarian' is really interesting. What I hope is to be able to set up models where I can provide support for the technology piece and the teacher would be providing the content piece, so I can help do any unit the teacher may be working on at the time. My goal is to offer to teachers extra technology that they can use in the classroom.
"The librarian is the person who would do legwork for the teacher, coming to the teacher with some possibilities in order to enrich the unit they are currently working on. It would be a team teaching situation, where the teacher would provide the classroom/subject background and the librarian would be there to add the extras as needed."
This extension of the paper and pencil part of the classroom into the world of technology is one that is being implemented in many schools across the nation.
Giving credit for those who aid her in her busy workday, Swantz declared, "I want to add that the reason I can do all I do, is because I have amazing library secretaries in both the high school and middle school libraries. Deb Torrens-Semler is the middle school secretary and Jaynie Bontrager is at the high school. They are in the library every day and they keep it running. They know the nuts and bolts of the library and if it weren't for them, I would not be able to accomplish everything that I hope to accomplish within our schools."
Busy during this past summer, Swantz updated the middle school and high school library websites. She said, "I hope to add pictures of activities that are going on around the building, making a place where kids and parents alike could go to see how reading is being used within the building."
President Abraham Lincoln once stated, "The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I haven't read."
Swantz fits within President Lincoln's definition of a "best friend" quite well it seems and if the sight of students walking the school halls the day I visited is any indication, she is doing a great job of making President Lincoln proud.