Lost in the Reads

via pixabay As educators, we are continuously trying to refine our practice so that we can have a meaningful impact on student learning. Teacher-Librarians are in the unique position to be able to provide support to the entire educational community to achieve this goal. This is one reason why being a Teacher-librarian is such an exciting position. To that end, Leading Learning states that in order to be an effective Learning Commons “It is essential to support both student and teacher growth.” (Canadian Library Association, 15).  This type of collaboration is beneficial to everyone, teacher, students, and the teacher-librarian. The examples below use the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to identify how to best introduce and support change in a colleague’s practice. The following charts outline the Level of Use and Stages of Concern used in CBAM.    from  National Academies from National Academies Teacher 1: Mrs. Sinclair Profile ...

via unsplash I remember being in elementary school and getting assigned a topic for a research project. The whole class would go to the library to research said topic. Then the one or maybe two sets of encyclopedias would be set out on the tables with the instructions that they were not to be taken off the table, and you only had a certain amount of time to use the copy you needed because everyone needed a chance to use it. As someone who has since fallen down many a Wikipedia rabbit hole, this was a torturous way to be given an Encyclopedia, I wanted to look up EVERYTHING. via giphy This memory really resonated while reading lesson 6 and encountering the notion that, “ ‘Managing’ a school library resource centre or a reference collection does not mean building systems that protect it or limit access to it. In fact, it can mean the exact opposite.” I whole heartedly agree. Thankfully, my students have access to a lot of our reference resources online, and they can br...

via giphy "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”                                                                                             --   Neil Gaiman I have always loved the idea behind this quote by library advocate and generally incredibly famous author Neil Gaiman (maybe you’ve heard of him? *). As much as I love the idea of being that amazing know everything, quipping factual answers like I’m the actual Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , librarian -I’m never going to be that good. In fact, that quote strikes a bolt of fear right through my little imposter-syndrome heart. As a fairly new teacher-librarian, I am pretty sure I can find an answer on google, but I’m also pretty ...

Via Pexels This course has been eye-opening in more ways than one. On top of all the amazing learning opportunities working through the modules, and reading everyone’s blogs have given me I have also learned some valuable lessons in how to get work done while dealing with a teething infant. My final vision project wraps up a huge learning process for me. I am generally not one to put myself out there online, and now I have a blog, a reactivated twitter account, and a you tube channel. This may not seem like much, but it is huge for me right now. I have been able to see what a valuable experience sharing your work is to others, and I look forward to continuing to learn this way. Starting this course, I wanted to continue learning how to be an active and valuable teacher-librarian. Upon completion of this course (about half way through the diploma) I feel I have made some big strides in this direction, and have a better idea about how to continue this journey going forw...

via giphy I have been racking my brain all week with what I could possibly create that would bring value to my school community, and colleagues. It has not been an easy task. Looking at what our library offers I began to think about our online ERAC databases. Every year I try to coordinate class schedules, lap top cart bookings, and limited research time to teach students how to access and use these databases. Every year I fail at hitting all the classes, and often those I do get to see end up with a very brief overview because one of the pieces of the puzzle didn’t line up properly. So, back to my thinking and thinking, I knew I wanted to do something that would be immediately beneficial to those teachers I work with on a day to day basis, and at the same time would not be superfluous to my own library instruction with students. via giphy See where I am going with this? No? Me either -yet. But I think where this is heading is to the creation of some kind of online i...