With the arrival of the holiday season, I have been taking stock of the many things for which I am thankful. I wanted to share some of these reflections, as I think they have some direct bearing on being a… Read More ›
school librarians
Why Clubs Matter
The beginning of the holiday season made me think about caring for others and building trust with students. When I was the librarian in a middle school, one way that I made connections with students was starting clubs. The clubs… Read More ›
This Is How We Help Future School Librarians
Several years ago when my co-librarian switched from working in a law library to working in a public school library, her internship was something like our school district saying, ”We’re desperate. You’re hired.” A few years after that it was… Read More ›
Stress Management in the Library
Stress management is not a skill that comes naturally. It must be taught. I recall a health class early in my high school years in which we discussed stress management techniques: yelling into a pillow, writing in a journal, talking… Read More ›
Overdue Thoughts on Lost Book Fees
In elementary school, librarians try very, very hard to start the school year on the right foot with proactive book care lessons. We remind ourselves every September that for some of our kids, this may be the first time they’ve… Read More ›
The Glass Half Full: Focusing on the Positive
Recently, I was able to attend my state library conference, the MAME Conference, for the first time. While there we heard from speakers like Colby Sharp, John Shu, and author Jewels Rhodes Parker. Needless to say, it was two days… Read More ›
Books to Netflix
Students now more than ever are accessing television through streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. A large percentage of programs and movies that are popular right now started as novels that we have in our school libraries…. Read More ›
Foreshadow: Reflections of an African American School Librarian
I found a small seemingly private room called the Communications Library on a huge college campus in the Midwest. It was tucked in the right corner of an old historical building where glistening concrete floors smelled of Pine Sol. The… Read More ›
Digital Solutions to Book Club Issues
Book Clubs Are Great! Except… I think we can all agree that book clubs are great. They encourage a sense of community and collaboration as the group reads and discusses their reactions to the texts. They foster students’ sense of… Read More ›
Code to Move: Mixing Coding with Brain Breaks
To Start: Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the CS Fundamentals Introduction Workshop sponsored by Code.org. This workshop explored why computer science should be taught to all students. The presenter was Vinos Kassab (@kassabv). She shared how students’ computational… Read More ›