Recent events throughout the world and my own social justice journey/learning have brought me to tears repeatedly over the past couple of weeks. I rarely lose my optimistic demeanour but, I wonder frequently how to face the challenges and horrific truths that impact our society right now. Without adding a layer of frivolity to the very […]
Author: mrsjbrown1975
Owning My Ignorance
My recent post about setting personalized reading goals for myself was simply a way to celebrate a love of reading/literacy and encourage lifelong learning. In my roles as teacher librarian, ESL teacher, teacher of students with special education needs, equity & social justice advocate, parent, ally and human being, I feel that these simple goals guide […]
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 […]
Far Too Long Away
I am embarrassed at how long it has been since I posted a blog. I now find the writing process relaxing, not daunting, and the feedback and collaborative dialogue exhilarating, not intimidating. So why so long away from the blog community? I could easily blame my busy life. 4 active kids, my lovely hubby, two […]
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 […]
Rethinking the “Maker” in Makerspace
Recently, I wrote about the very early stages of adding the makerspace movement to our new school and library learning commons space. Our next step was to meet with interested staff and have a collaborative discussion about the whole concept. Luckily, some wonderful colleagues came out and we had an enthusiastic and reflective conversation. We […]
The Third Teacher – A Reflection on Space and SO much more
I have been reading The Third Teacher and I am only about half way through. But I just cannot resist writing about it even prior to completing it. The text is not new (2010) but it has so many ideas to offer and reflect upon. As a new school, we have the perfect chance […]
A School Close to My Heart
Day 10 Recently the school I first taught at as a young 23 year old girl was featured on the news. Sadly, the news story was related to a shooting on/near the property. Every ticker and news report named the school, the community and replayed the tragic event. This was not the first time this […]