This School Librarian Thinks Her Job Is the ‘Best-Kept Secret in Education’

Jami Rhue thought her first stint as a school librarian would be a quick detour in her career as a classroom teacher.

But by the time she was heading up her own elementary school classroom in Chicago, she found herself missing the library and longing to teach media literacy again.

So it was back to the bookshelves for her. Since 2010, Rhue has been a school librarian at Providence Englewood Charter School, a preK-8 school on the South Side of Chicago serving primarily Black and brown students who live in a community colloquially known as “Chiraq.”

Though she didn’t initially see herself ever becoming a school librarian, Rhue has come to love the dynamism and variety of her job. She teaches concepts as wide-ranging as American Sign Language, critical thinking, typing, conducting research and writing in cursive. And she gets to work with children from pre-K all the way through eighth grade in any given week — a challenging but rewarding charge.

“It’s the best-kept secret in education, to be a school librarian,” Rhue says with pride. “You get to interact with everybody. It’s a treat.”

Beyond her work with students, Rhue is also committed to collaborating with their teachers, helping, for example, to impart her own knowledge of media and information literacy so they can pass it along to learners in their care.

As part of our Role Call series, EdSurge has been spotlighting the work of unsung school staff who help shape the day for kids, from school nurses to paraprofessionals and beyond. For this installment, we feature school librarian and media specialist Jami Rhue.

The following interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

EdSurge: How did you get here? What brought you to your current role?

Jami Rhue: I never thought of librarianship until I went to a job fair for Chicago Public Schools, and they were looking for school librarians. I had earned my master’s in the art of teaching elementary education. I was more of a periodical girl, with the magazines and the newspapers and an occasional novel or self-help book.

I was hired and became a school librarian … but I thought I wanted to make a bigger impact by becoming a classroom teacher. So then I told the principal I wanted to come out of the library.

She said, ‘Please don’t.’ I said, ‘No, I want to try and do more.’ I went and became a fourth grade teacher, looped with those fourth graders to fifth grade, and then I said, ‘You know what? … I really need to get back into the library so that I can do media studies and media literacy.’ But my principal had already hired a new school librarian.

So I resigned, and I prayed, and I came upon a job posting for an independent school, pre-K through 12th grade, on the west side of Chicago.

I was the assistant librarian to my librarian guru. I love her — I’m still in touch with her today, even though she’s retired. I learned so much from that one year of being under her supervision and guidance, as far as librarianship is concerned — the mindset, the systems, the curriculum, the relationships with my colleagues. So then she retired. The principal at that school said, ‘Well, we have a school librarian position at our preK-8 charter school,’ which is where I am now, Providence Englewood Charter School. Since 2010, I’ve been here as the school librarian and media specialist.

When people outside of school ask you what you do — say, at a social event — how do you describe your work?

My mantra now is: I’m a successful educator and businesswoman. Boop. I’m a second-year doctoral student in educational leadership. Boop. My focus is on charter schools, multiliteracies and school librarianship. Boop. That’s what I do.

So you don’t necessarily say, ‘I’m a school librarian’?

No. I’m an educator. I have coursework in school librarianship, so that’s definitely a part of my progress, having actual school librarianship theories and pedagogies and systems under my belt. I’m not a fourth grade teacher, but I teach various levels of maturity and age levels, including colleagues. And I mean, I’m lesson planning, I’m unit planning. So yeah, I’m an educator and businesswoman.

What does a hard day look like in your role?

It’s having kindergarten, then sixth grade, then second grade, then eighth grade, then fifth grade, then fourth grade, then pre-K, then third grade — back to back to back to back. That’s challenging. But it is what I enjoy.

Although I do have a set schedule, one day is never the same, and that fits my personality.

Thinking about serving those different ages during a given day, can you articulate what’s challenging about it?

It’s differentiating. When you have 45 minutes once a week with students that have so many different levels of learning, so many different accommodations and modifications, and you still have to stay with it and plan and be able to change or modify in a moment, classroom management is key. And that’s really, I think, what most teachers struggle with, because if you can’t manage, you can’t teach. Once the management has been solidified or clarified, teaching is joyful and fun and fluid, and you learn from the children and they’re learning from you.

What does a really good day look like in your role?

A really good day is when I’m able to complete my lesson plan from beginning to end, when children are catching what I’m bringing in five seconds. When students are with me and not against me, that’s a great day. They’re little people, so they have their emotions. They’re going through things. It’s why our relationships with them are key.

One thing that I really appreciate at my school is the expectation that we know our children’s names. It’s not just a ‘hey.’ It’s not just a ‘sweetie.’ It is Michael. It is Jelani. It is Torrance. It is Mr. Williams. It is the last name, the first name. So when children are buying into the relationships, that’s good. And even when a teacher comes to me and says, ‘I have a project. How can you help me? Can you sit and meet with me?’ Collaborating with my colleagues — that makes for a good day as well for me as a school librarian, because we are their co-teachers.

I think that’s something that’s missing from the conversation about education, where school librarians come in. I don’t know why we’re not thought about as educators and as co-collaborators and as co-teachers, but that’s a part of what we do. We’re information specialists. So yeah, when children are cooperating and teachers are asking to collaborate, that makes for a good day for me.

When you’re working with children, are they in the library most of the time with you? What might be a lesson that you’re introducing to them?

So for today, I had sixth grade, first grade and fifth grade classes come in. In K-2, I’m integrating finger spelling with American Sign Language to help them with letter recognition within the books, because the books have letters that make words that make sentences. So you’ve got to be able to recognize those letters, and as an educator, I know that K-2, or pre-K-2, that’s when those foundational skills are developed. That’s why I incorporate American Sign Language. So their arrival activity is decoding a message using different letters of the alphabet in sign language.

We do a read-aloud. If I’m reading a story to them, I also teach about parts of a book by way of creating citations, because when they go to high school and college, they’re going to have to create a research paper that requires citations. So research skills, those foundational skills, are a part of it, and that involves parts of a book. They learn about the title, the author, the publisher, and the copyright date.

I also teach typing. We’re learning about where the letters and punctuation marks are and how to use those. So that’s pulling back into language arts, when it comes to third through fifth grade — where the keys are on the keyboard, what those different function keys, those command keys, represent.

I also teach cursive writing, which is a lost art. I tell my middle school students, you’re going to have to sign applications for high school, for college, for financial aid, for scholarships. When you become a boss, you’re going to have to sign checks. And signing is not printing. You’ve got to know how to sign your name in cursive writing if you’re going to agree to things once you are no longer a kid. This is a skill that has been taken out of the curriculum, at least in Illinois, and I want to bring it back.

I also teach media literacy. I [recently] approached two of the eighth grade and the sixth grade social studies teachers with doing some professional development with me using media literacy and critical thinking across the curriculum, teaching students to decode the world.

So yeah, so those are some of the things that I teach: information literacy, research skills, technology, how to use the public library, ASL, cursive, the Dewey Decimal System.

What is an unexpected way that your role shapes the day for kids?

I was wrapping up a seventh grade class on Monday, and they lined up as they were waiting for their teacher to come pick them up. One of the girls says, ‘Ms. Rhue, I just think you are just so dope.’ I said, ‘What? Me? Why would you say that? Thank you. But why?’ She’s like, ‘You teach us things that we weren’t thinking about, and you just make things fun and interesting.’

That really warmed my heart — that you’re paying attention to everything that I’m bringing. I’m bringing 360 degrees and 100 percent of who I am to what I’m saying and doing with you, and you’re picking up on that. And that right there was a surprise. You never know who’s paying attention. I mean, the children are paying attention, but are they really paying attention?

What do you wish you could change about your school or the education system today?

I wish that I could make sure there was a school librarian in every single elementary school and high school. I wish every school was resourced with a full-time, certified school librarian. Whether it’s a charter school, a traditional public school, a private school, an independent school, they all need a school library with a school librarian in it to support information literacy and becoming the thought partners of classroom teachers.

I also would wish, for my school, that we hold on tighter to what works really well for us and not let it go when there’s a new trend in education that comes every year or every other year. Don’t forget the good stuff just because there’s new stuff.

Your role gives you unique access and insight to today’s youth. What’s one thing you’ve learned about young people through your work?

Young people want to trust you, but they’re going to test you first to see if you’re trustworthy.