Author Archives
Diana Rendina, MLIS, is the media specialist at Tampa Preparatory, an independent 6-12 school. She was previously the media specialist at Stewart Middle Magnet School for seven years, where she founded their library makerspace. She is the creator of the blog RenovatedLearning.com & is also a monthly contributor to AASL Knowledge Quest. Diana is the winner of the 2016 ISTE Outstanding Young Educator Award, the 2015 ISTE Librarians Network Award, the 2015 AASL Frances Henne Award & the 2015 SLJ Build Something Bold Award. She is an international speaker on the Maker Movement and learning space design and has presented at conferences including AASL, FETC & ISTE. Diana co-authored Challenge-Based Learning in the School Library Makerspace and is the author of Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget.
-
5 Conference Tips and Tricks from an Overplanner
Last summer, I wrote about “How to Make a Game Plan for Your Next Conference.” If you haven’t read that one yet, I highly recommend checking it out, as it’s some of my best overall advice for attending large conferences… Read More ›
-
4 Ways You Can Get Creative This Summer
Summer is almost here for many of us. It’s a great time to relax, recharge, and reinvigorate our passion for education. I love using my summers to explore creative ideas that I haven’t gotten to throughout the school year. Whether… Read More ›
-
6 Book Recommendations for When You Feel Overwhelmed
It can be so easy to get caught up in the rat race of life and find ourselves constantly busy. Especially for educators. Even more so for school librarians who have a billion-and-one things on our plates on any given… Read More ›
-
Small Steps to a Makerspace: Maker Mondays
If you’ve been following what I’ve written here on AASL Knowledge Quest and on Renovated Learning, you know that this year I’ve moved to a new-to-me school, an independent 6-12. I wrote earlier about slow change and figuring things out gradually…. Read More ›
-
To Teach Makers, We Must Become Makers
Makerspaces are amazing places. Our students can learn all kinds of new skills. But it behooves us to learn some of those skills ourselves. You certainly don’t have to be an expert in all things to create a makerspace in… Read More ›
-
A New Year’s Reset for Your Library Program
January is a popular month for resolutions, detoxes, resets, etc. It’s the perfect time to reflect on the previous year, to look at what went right and what could have been better. Being that it’s also the middle of the… Read More ›
-
3 Ways to Share Your Reading Life with Students
If we expect our students to become lifelong readers, we need to model that in our own lives. There are so many different ways we can share our reading life with students. One-on-one conversations are always ideal, but it can… Read More ›
-
DiscoVR Beyond Expeditions: Virtual Reality Creation in Libraries
In her fantastic session at AASL 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona, Katie McNamara laid out how to utilize virtual reality as a tool for creation with our students. She shared tools and ideas and led participants through creating their own 360-degree images (with… Read More ›
-
How to Create a Physical Instagram Display
I love the power of social media in libraries. It’s an amazing way to share what you’re doing, promote your programs, and reach out to students and community members. Being a visual learner, Instagram is definitely one of my favorite… Read More ›
-
How to Weed by the Numbers and Clean Up Your Collection
I love weeding. A well-curated library collection makes me happy. But weeding can be difficult. We attach a lot of emotion to books. Others don’t understand why anyone would ever want to get rid of books. We have to hide… Read More ›