Aileen Behringer is the High School Librarian at Goshen High School in Goshen, NY
1. What made you decide to pursue your MLS?
I started my career in education as a special education teacher. I’d always loved reading, but in my course of teaching, I also discovered that I loved finding the answers to my students’ sometimes countless and often obscure questions. As an inclusion teacher at the time, I found that I really enjoyed English class, especially when we worked with book groups and helping students select free choice novels. I loved getting to talk with students about what they were reading, and often found myself picking up copies of their books so that I was better able to discuss their reading with them. In classes like science and social studies, I found that students were often coming to me and asking the “but why” questions that weren’t always able to be answered during class time and I was happily researching to find answers for them, and myself. So, when a colleague began taking classes to get her MLS I became intrigued and by the following year I was researching schools to get my MLS degree as well.
2. What do you like about being a school librarian?
There are so many things I have enjoyed in my first year as a school librarian:
3. Is there anything you think classroom teachers should know that would encourage them to take the route you did?
I think classroom teachers should know that, although it is not always easy, the end result is totally worth it. Your knowledge of classroom management is a huge asset you already possess, as is your knowledge of pedagogy. The ability to interact with, and impact the learning of students without the confines of a set curriculum, with a state test attached, is limitless. Being able to genuinely connect with students over a shared interest that you can both pursue, whether it’s a certain genre you both enjoy, or your love of all things “techy”, is an immeasurable benefit of being a librarian that I never truly felt as a classroom teacher due to all of the other constraints in place.