It’s those unexpected, spontaneous moments that tend to happen right when you need them. After a busy week at the OLA Superconference and some stressful moments in my personal life, I was excited to return to school and do my “regular” job. Reconnecting with the kids and my colleagues was a welcome sense of the […]
Category: The “Magic” of Learning
When things don’t feel so magical…
The theme of my blog began as a way to capture those magical moments of being in education each day. The lack of posts over the last year doesn’t mean I am not having those moments each day in my role as teacher librarian in a busy K to 8 school. Those moments are plentiful […]
Expanding My Professional Learning Network
It’s been a very long while since I have posted here. And with that comes a strange feeling of guilt and hesitancy to even begin writing. (I also noticed going back through previous posts I open with this apologetic tone often.) But as I was debating whether or not to even begin a post something […]
Why I LOVE My Child’s IEP (& hope their teachers do too)
Anyone who has navigated the special education system as a parent or caregiver knows that it is a challenge. The temptation when discussing these experiences is to focus on the bureaucracy, the labels and the barriers to learning and lack of understanding. I could also do the same. I could tell you with brutal honesty […]
A different kind of reading challenge
Summer is an amazing time as a teacher. The challenges of our job are offset by the gift of summers off. As a two teacher household, our family appreciates this time tremendously and we are not naive to the privilege of this time together that most professions do not offer. As a teacher librarian, the […]
A Personal Invitation to Learning
Recently during an informal conversation following an ISRC meeting a colleague and I were reflecting on a student whose inconsistent performance was a mystery to us. Like all students, he was able to show us moments of clarity and understanding of both content and instructions. Yet, like some of his peers, he also had moments where […]
Moving Beyond Literature Circles
When I first moved up to teach middle school many years ago the conversation shifted from the importance of guided reading instruction to the value of literature circles. These kid-friendly versions of book clubs were all the rage and teacher guides began popping up everywhere. Moving beyond the standard novel study (the whole class reading […]
A Few Magical Days
A few weeks ago I posted about our school’s plan to inspire a “maker” culture with our staff and students. The addition of makerspaces to public libraries and school library learning commons is spreading rapidly throughout the library community. Yet I struggled with excitement and doubt. My excitement seemed obvious – the chance to […]
One Little Change
Day 8 Recently a young student came looking for dinosaur books in the library. I took him over to the books and showed him the “Dewey” section. He seemed pleased so I went on to help other students. I noticed a few moments later that he was standing by the same section tears dripping […]
Picking up the “magical slack”
So… I have hesitated to write a new post. I have been struggling, worried, and in truth, overwhelmingly busy. The past two weeks have not felt magical. Our family has been going through some challenges. None of the stories are mine to tell and none of the outcomes are without optimism and hope. There is […]