Paige Battle wanders through several table groups in one of her “Reading and Research” seminars in the Grant High School library on a recent school day. She asks students to put away their phones and their homework.
Some kids sit restlessly. Others are eating or texting under the tables. Most of the people in the room talk over Battle’s lessons. When asked to take notes, defiant students scribble a few comments and then wait impatiently for the class to end.
She retreats to her office and gets mentally prepared for the next class. “It’s a lot of little things that pile up,” Battle says. “I’m constantly multi-tasking. It’s exhausting.
Battle is the new teaching librarian at Grant and, as of late, her life has been a balancing act. A year ago, she was a high school librarian in the Evergreen School District and earned one of the top honors in Washington state for librarians.
Today, she faces one of the most difficult challenges in her career. Hired at Grant seven days before the current school year started, she’s taken on the task of shepherding more than 200 students through a class designed to show them how to use research tools to improve learning skills and rebranding the long-tattered image of the school’s library.
“Paige stood out because she conveyed an absolute love and enthusiasm for working with teenagers,” says Principal Vivian Orlen. “My goal for Paige is to turn the library into a welcoming place for students to be, and I think she has already done that.”
It hasn’t been an easy start, as Battle has had to face probing questions from parents and been forced to deal with students who would rather be hanging out with friends than doing research.
But she is up for the challenge, blending her Southern charm with a can-do attitude that’s making people—including parents and teachers at the school—notice a difference.
English teacher Therese Cooper praises what Battle has already done. “I think she is making a big difference,” she says. The research skills that Battle will teach students will help, especially in literature classes.
“I think she is doing a good job of trying to deal with some negative vibes around the whole class.”
Battle grew up in Pensacola, Florida, the older of two girls. As a kid, Battle was very inquisitive and played detective often. “She looked around with a little notebook and wrote down clues,” mother Grace Battle recalls.
Battle went to a Christian school with very strict rules. Dancing was considered a sin. When Battle was taking ballet classes, the administration threatened to expel her unless she stopped dancing, so she quit. “I had been with most of these people since I was four years old and in kindergarten. And I just wanted to get through school,” Battle recalls.
She went to Florida State University where she met her future husband, Ira Pollack. “He was a friend of my college boyfriend, ooh the intrigue,” Battle says now.
After Battle got her master’s in English at North Carolina State University, she and Pollack got married in Las Vegas. “We had Elvis as a best man. It was an auspicious beginning,” Battle recalls.
They loaded up a U-Haul and moved to Portland. When they got to the city, Battle signed up for classes at Portland State University with the goal of becoming an English teacher.
When her husband suggested she become a librarian, it was a revelation for her.
“It was like the sound at the beginning of ‘The Simpsons’… The clouds part and the sun comes out, ” she says now.
She switched her educational focus and got a master’s degree in educational librarianship and took a job at Jefferson High School. She was there for eight years before moving on to Union High School in the Evergreen district.
At Union, Battle got to order an opening day collection. Battle says, “I got to order all of the furniture, everything down to the supplies, a little bit of the technology.” It was a brand new school and it was really an enjoyable place to work.
Her work there paid off. In the spring, she was named Outstanding Teacher-Librarian of the Year by the Washington Library Media Association.
Battle recalls the day she received the award. It was the same day that she resigned from her job at Union. “I get home and there’s this email: ‘Congratulations! You have been selected to be the Outstanding Teacher-Librarian of the Year,’” she recalls. “I had to call up this lovely woman who gave me the award and tell her that I had taken this other job in Oregon and ask if I had to give the award back.”
The association let her keep the award.
Battle’s primary focus is her two children: Flora, 9, and Owen, 6. They take after their mom and love their house that’s filled with books. Flora’s favorite book is Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Battle is thrilled that her children share her love of reading: “Sometimes they’ll each just get a book and read on the couch,” she says.
Battle usually starts her day at 5 a.m., doing a load of laundry, doing the dishes and getting the kids ready for school. She packs the lunches, and then sees Flora and Owen off to school, before heading to school herself.
At the end of the day, Battle loves sitting at the dinner table with her family and talking about what they’ve learned at school that day.
Battle is not only Washington’s Outstanding Teacher-Librarian of the Year. In early November, Battle also was chosen for a two-year position on the Alex Award selection committee through the Youth Adult Library Services Association. Battle will help select the books that receive the Alex Award, an award given to books that were published for adults, but also have strong appeal to young adult readers.
Battle has been dreaming of being on a selection committee for 12 years. “I am beside myself,” she beams. “This award will give me some ‘street cred’ when I am doing book presentations.”
Battle will need to make time to read the many, many books that publishers will send to her to consider for the award. “I get giddy,” Battle confesses, “because it’s like homework, and I have to read!”
Battle never stops thinking about her job. She’s spent a lot of time lately processing books to add to the collection in the library and she’s put in a lot of hours during the weekend to help transform the place.
She lights up when she thinks about the potential. She’s planning on “reinvigorating” the fiction section with a strong collection of graphic novels because she wants to make sure students have a chance to read for pleasure, not just academics.
And given the track record for the library in the past, Battle wants to make the library easier to work in and more fit for the seminar classes. She’s also been rearranging the space.
Battle recalls hearing musician Lady Gaga say that she doesn’t put her gold records on display in her house because she needs to “stay hungry.” Battle is the same way. “I never want to become complacent,” she says. “I am always thinking: ‘What am I going to do next?’”
