Ms. Ferrin

Mrs. Ferrin has been a librarian for over 20 years. She started her career in Virginia and somehow ended here in South Carolina the last 15 years. I asked Mrs. Ferrin about her thoughts on inclusion because she has had the opportunity of working with a large number of diverse students but still ensures she is being inclusive. She has worked with kids in grades Kindergarten- 5 and students with differing abilities, this includes students in our low incidence classes. I regret that this meeting wasn’t longer as I know she has a lot of wisdom she can share with me. This short interview alone helped me see more possibilities than I thought prior to our meeting.

Poster available that states y'all = all

To kick off this interview, the first question I asked Mrs. Ferrin was what her thoughts were on inclusion in the library?  

She believes that inclusion is one of the most important parts of the framework because if students are not at ease they cannot learn, and if the library is the heart of the school, it needs to be a place for all students. She differs from AASL in what should be included in the idea of inclusion. She would like the idea of inclusion to include materials within the library space not just the library collection, instruction, and space but also with the materials that are in that library's overall space. Ensuring that the library space is inclusive regarding accessible materials means that the library needs tables that can easily be wheeled, stored, moved or connected to allow for individual work, group work, or centers. It means that students with visible disabilities can have a place in the library. A great example of this was having students that are autistic and not wanting to be with their classmates having materials available for them.  For Peggy inclusion meant showing the student comic books and  providing them with materials to create and make their own comic book.

Making sure all students have a place and feels safe and seen means thinking about their needs. This also means ensuring that the shelves are appropriate for students, their ages, and their sizes. This could potentially mean labeling shelves for younger students with photos so that they know what it is that they are looking for or seeing or having manipulatives for students who are not able or want to participate with the group. 

Inclusion also means that students that do not speak the language need to have something in that library that they can relate to. Mrs. Ferrin had a student that didn't want to participated. After speaking with the homeroom teacher, she learned that the student spoke and read Arabic. Unfortunately she did not have a book with characters that look like that student or spoke that student language. After collaborating with the teacher, she got that student a book that showed him how to draw and he spent time during that Library session creating pencil sketches.  The next time he came to the library he used his Google translate on his iPad and asked for those books again. 

Mrs. Ferrin also believes that being aware of the need for inclusion will allow for inclusion to happen throughout all library learning activities and therefore a librarian will offer a range of activities and choices that students can learn every week.  Her model stems from Christy James poster (shown above) that says “In this library Y'all equals All.