The end of the year is approaching fast, so the Triton Voice decided to check back in with where we began the year: re-interviewing our first year PGS librarian Ms. Anna-Katherine Gross to see how her year went.

It has been almost a whole school year since we have seen Ms. Gross last and we were curious to see how her first year at PGS went and how her colleagues and students liked their new librarian. We first interviewed Gross in September as our first article.

“I’ve definitely noticed a change in the library atmosphere, which I figured I would when she started,” said PGS Guidance Counselor Kyle Campbell “The kids love the library and look forward to it each week.” 

The library class this year has clearly turned around.  From the new furniture to the new teacher, the environment is more welcoming and interactive than ever before. The students count down the days until their next library class.

Ms. Gross had originally planned to take a regular teaching position after this year but ended up loving her librarian position so much that she decided to stay in the role. 

“This is perfect, it’s definitely where I belong,” said Ms. Gross when asked how she is liking the job so far “I think I have the right personality for it, I think the kids like me as the librarian so I ended up really loving it and now I’m even getting my full certification as a librarian.” 

The biggest challenge throughout the year was the time frame that she had in mind for projects. “Kids were out sick, or they were out for vacation, or I was out sick or for whatever reason and I only have them once a week for 40 minutes.” said Ms. Gross. The fourth, fifth, and sixth graders have been working on writing class books and Ms. Gross had a deadline of December in mind but it just didn’t work out that way and after a lot of hard work by the students and Ms. Gross the books are finally coming in this week.

Something unique in Ms. Gross’ classroom is the fact that she does an author study every month. “I want to get more diversity in the authors,” said Ms. Gross “I’m finding there are a lot of white guys but there are more authors than the ones we all know.” For Asain American Pacific Islander month she chose an author who is Asian American and had positive student feedback and relations to some of the topics in the books which helped some students feel more understood.

Most of the kids are fans of Ms. Gross as well. 

“I like Ms. Gross because she is confident in herself, never gives up, and is so nice.” said third grader at PGS, Kiana. The students have even found themselves enjoying what they are learning in the class. 

“I learned a lot, especially about the Yellow Tang Fish,” exclaimed Cara, another third grader at PGS “I really like her and the projects we do.” 

Next year, Ms. Gross plans to work on typing with the first graders since they are using so much technology in school now. She also plans to do the book project again but only with the fourth graders because she thinks that they are at the perfect age to do it. All in all the general consensus was positive towards Ms. Gross and her teaching. We can’t wait to see what the future holds and how she takes the PGS Library and Media class to the next level!