My mission was clear—take a photograph that represented my three weeks in Helena, Montana, as a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Scholar. I had three hours to complete the task. The picture was to be uploaded to a… Read More ›
Student Engagement/ Teaching Models
Keep Kids Creative Week: 6 Lesson Ideas that Support the Standards
Did you know that the last week in September is National Keep Kids Creative Week? Bruce Van Patter, an illustrator and an author, started this holiday in 2003. He wanted to encourage children to imagine and create. Let’s celebrate creativity… Read More ›
Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: America’s Champion Swimmer Gertrude Ederle by David A. Adler
My students love athletes, but not just any athletes, the ones that are at the top of their game. Whether it is someone who competed in the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series, or World Cup, students will ask for books… Read More ›
Are You a Reader?
Are you a reader? Most people assume that teachers and librarians love books and reading, but, surprisingly, that isn’t always the case. My colleague, Teri Lesesne, and I decided to take advantage of the teachers and librarians we had in… Read More ›
Teaching Information Literacy in a World of Misinformation
By now, all of us have heard the term fake news. It’s become another overused phrase, insidious in how it sticks like a bad smell. Yet its very stickiness is what makes it such a useful rhetoric device…. Read More ›
Mindful Space in the Library
I have been working to be more mindful in my daily activities. Mindfulness is “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going… Read More ›
If You Manage Them, They Will Learn….
Although I am a seasoned educator who has spent most of my career teaching at-risk kids in Title I schools, I still got excited when I saw this book online: Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, PE, and Other Special Areas… Read More ›
Thinking about Space: Remembering Its Purpose
My school is currently in a transition period. We are in the process of building a new school so for this coming school year we have moved to a temporary location. Since I needed to redesign the space to work for my… Read More ›
Keeping It Fresh for Freshman Orientation
At the start of the school year the library is a central location in a school that has so much to share with incoming freshman students. We have procedural information, rules and regulations, and resource knowledge to share with an… Read More ›
Hooked at the School Library: On Becoming a Reader
OK. I’ll admit I was not the child who devoured books. In fact, reading books was the least of my interests. Instead I was an only child with a great imagination who spent most of my time with imaginary friends… Read More ›