Library Land

I was drawn in to explore traditional and digital library projects in developing nations.  Because I am  old-school, I was looking at the BOOK BUS, a roving library delivering old-fashioned paper books to people in Zambia, Malawi and Ecuador. This organization has been operating for over ten years and has reached over 100,000 children. The goals are not only exposure to books and having the opportunity to read, but also to improve literacy and reading amongst children of these countries.  "We also provide activities and arts and crafts materials which helps build on learning and storytelling skills, develop vocabulary and most importantly of all, builds on a love of reading and discovery." They work with teachers and schools to help bring the appropriate materials to the children. World-renowned illustrator and author Sir Quentin Blake is the major patron.  I love books and I love to hold a book and feel the weight in my hands. This tangible throwback in t...

https://www.smallbusinesspro.co.uk/marketing/leadership-styles.html As a new teacher-librarian, I still feel insecure about my ability to be a leader in my school. I feel like I have several years of learning ahead of me before I will feel like an authority or a specialist. I am comfortable working one-on-one with fellow colleagues in curriculum collaboration, but leading the whole staff is daunting. I will have to push myself in the coming year to step forward into leading workshops and inservice around new strategies, resources and school technology. There are some areas which I have spent some time in the last year that are important to me. One of which is the building of our indigenous collection; fiction, non-fiction and teacher resources. This last month I have re-organized the collection into easily accessible bins, sorted by topic (Inuit, Intermediate level, Science Connections...etc.) I have attempted to engage my staff to use these bins in their classrooms. My staff is...

I often feel like I have one foot in the past of traditional ways of teaching and learning and the other is tentatively reaching for technology and the future. I am definitely more comfortable unplugged and have my biases about computerization. I know I want to become more familiar and relaxed with the online world. I turn to my techie colleagues to find new ways to integrate technology into my lessons in a comfortable way. A few teachers on staff are tech wizards and love to share what they know (if only I had more time to pick their brains!) Many of the ways in which they use technology include having access to our class set of Chrome Books. There is a struggle at my school to have technology available for all.  This week, I jumped into Kahoot, to further my own own skills, pedagogy and professional development. I want to add new technology strategies, tools, and resources to my teaching in the Learning Commons. Some of my colleagues use it regularly with great student enth...