They sat at tables in what used to be the library, dining on sandwiches and apples from bag lunches as they listened to Betsy Sperry read poems written by her favorite poets and other local students.

Mt. Ararat Middle School students who signed up for the brown bag poetry luncheon last week became part of the first official event ever to take place in the school’s new “learning commons” — which combines a library and technology experience for students through a new district-adopted model.

As described by Daniel Chuhta, assistant superintendent for School Administrative District 75, the learning commons is both a place and a model of education. SAD 75 began looking at the concept last year.

The district examined what a 21st-century library should look like, Chuhta said, and had a committee that worked all last year to identify a vision for where it wanted to move with its libraries.

This school year, what was once called the library is now called a learning commons in each district school.

The students in the elementary schools have a blending of library and technology experiences, and the schools have done away with computer labs and the notion students have to go somewhere specific to “do technology.”

People are usually hooked up with all sorts of devices everywhere they go, Chuhta said, and the district wanted to make sure students’ learning opportunities reflect that.

Now, there is technology available in the learning commons and an increased number of laptops are available to provide more mobile devices in the classrooms. The middle and high schools have one-on-one computing through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative to help integrate technology in learning.

Chuhta said the district is not in new territory with the learning commons model; it’s just a new way to go about it.

Gina Stokes is a library media specialist at Mt. Ararat Middle School and was part of a small team that studied the concept of learning commons last year, visiting two Maine schools and also a school in Chelmsford, Mass., where it was instituted, “and it was amazing.”

There was a cafe-type reading section, scattered circulation centers, glass rooms with all kinds of activities taking place, music at lunch, and “all these cultural, educational learning opportunities,” she said.

That is the mentality they are trying to bring to SAD 75 and to the middle school learning commons.

Before the poetry reading Friday, Sperry had been holding poetry workshops with students. While in Florida this winter, she will monitor and supervise student’s poetry work using technology and then return in the spring for activities that might include a visit from a representative of the local historical society.

“We’re really trying to make this really cohesive,” Stokes said. Over the course of the year, she’ll put up displays which will include poetry books for a long-term poetry exercise.

In the meantime, there have been furniture changes as part of the move to a learning commons.

The middle school learning commons has moved shelving and book stacks to provide work spaces. There is an open section with chairs and computers at one end. Beyond the book section is a student learning area with a pull-down screen, tables and chairs and a place to use a projector.

The previous computer area across the hall will be an area for small group work. The plan over five years is to see all the kinds of activities going on in the learning commons and that whole corridor change.

Stokes will collaborate with teachers on student learning not only in the learning commons but in the actual classrooms.

Learning commons are more than just a place, Stokes said.

“It’s almost like the walls come down in the old library and extend learning outside walls … It’s like a flow. Rather than just coming to the library to take out a book and leave, kids are coming in to do things, and going out to do things.”

“It is a shift in thinking and it’s having the library room change to the learning commons and having it be the hub of the school so everything’s happening here,” she said. She is working on forming a student advisory board for the middle school that will allow students to apply for the position, giving them a real life experience. Their input will help determine what other activities may take place down the road in the learning commons, whether it is an art gallery, a cafe day or instrument recitals.

“I want to tap their brains and have them do something that is important to them,” Stokes said. “You can see the learning commons become an important part of their school, and important part of their day and how they see the culture of their school.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com