Merriam-Webster offers a twofold definition of the word “resilience”: 1: the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress; 2: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune… Read More ›
student engagement
The I-Search Paper: Getting Students Excited about Research
Whenever I teach a research lesson to a class of high school students, I notice the lack of enthusiasm for the project they’re about to start. I find myself working hard to convince them that research is a rewarding endeavor… Read More ›
4 Takeaways about Applied Digital Skills
You know when you learn about a resource and say to yourself, “Ah, I wish I had learned about this before!” That is how I feel about Applied Digital Skills by Google for Education. Recently, I was fortunate enough to… Read More ›
Virtual Summer Reading Challenge
Each year to promote students to read over summer break I create a Summer Reading Challenge board. The summer slide is real, and even with intermediate students they can lose a lot of what they gained as a reader over… Read More ›
The New Virtual Reality: Surviving and Thriving as a School Librarian during a Pandemic
We are currently living through unprecedented times. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has led, in many places, to abandoned streets, empty store shelves, and shuttered school buildings. Even though your school library space may be closed right now, your library… Read More ›
Tackling Senioritis through Engagement
Anyone who has worked in a high school is familiar with senioritis, the syndrome that causes seniors to relax their academic efforts with the justification that they’ve worked hard for the past four years and deserve a break now. For… Read More ›
Books of Our Roots: A Collection of Literature from The Countries of Our Origin
With the summer in full swing, I’m able to take a step back and reflect on the past school year in my high school library. My co-librarian and I accomplished a lot: we taught dozens of research classes, which included… Read More ›
Instagram Social Media Reboot for School Libraries
Social media is always changing From my very first post on Facebook in October of 2007, I have felt like I am just a bit behind the times in the world of social media. A student helped me create my… Read More ›
Getting Started with Design Thinking
Introduction Last month, you may remember that a term that was discussed in my blog post about Ready To Code was design thinking. Design thinking is a problem-solving process. It includes five-steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test (Hasso Plattner… Read More ›
Traveling the Dust Bowl in the School Library
Connection: Classroom Curriculum and School Library Standards School librarians wear many hats; teacher, keeper of the books, tech expert, collaborator, program planner, host of events and programs, just to mention a few. I recently planned, organized, and hosted “Traveling the… Read More ›