Listen. Connect. Empower.

With April quickly approaching I began to think about our poetry collection which currently does a lot of sitting on the shelves.  Appalling circ stats (see below) proved to me that even during a month when poetry is highlighted, these books still sit on the shelves.  It is time to do something about this situation.   Why aren't students picking up poetry books?  Every year poetry can be found in every nook and cranny of the library.  Some years I hang poetry all over the school.  We read and write our own poetry during library class.  Clearly, these efforts aren't doing the job.  The moral of the story - my students aren't connecting with the material.  Could this be the very root of the problem?   My school has a very diverse population.  Diverse characters are represented in .07% of our poetry books.  Could this be the missing piece to the puzzle?  I decided it was time to find out.  My goal My goal was to purchase poetry books to diversify our existing colle

Stories are powerful.  I am a librarian so that is not so unexpected from me.  What is powerful about THIS story is the way a book, a conference, two librarians, two authors and 6,000+ miles intersected to bring me to today.  Today, I tune into one of my favorite podcasts,  Lifelines: Books that Bridge the Divide , hosted by  Ann Braden  and  Saadia Faruqi  to hear MY story.  My story is intertwined with Todd Burleson's as we adventured to and through the United Arab Emirates.  I am humbled to be a guest and to have the opportunity to share pieces of a growth journey and my reflections on learning from other cultures.  The first pic of my trip. The book that connects these stories. The painting we discovered on Day 1 of our journey that began a conversation with Saadia Faruqi. I had the honor and privilege to present with Todd Burleson at the ALA Conference in conjunction with the Sharjah International Book Fair (United Arab Emirates) in November of 2018 (#SIBFALA18).

This week we celebrated Read Across America Day.  Yes, we celebrated.  Our school has historically used this day to spread the love of reading by inviting students and staff to dress as their favorite book characters.  In our school, the day is more of a celebration of READING rather than a celebration of a single author. Our week had several parts, but all were student-centered and student-led.  Our activities for the week: All classes participated in a Dr. Seuss BreakoutEdu. We celebrated as a school by dressing up as favorite book characters. We gathered as a school to celebrate reading, hosted by our Student Council.  The assembly featured a teacher costume contest (with student judges) and a video of student costumes, with our Reader Leaders as event photographers. Here I reflect on our school-wide celebration. Collecting photos Students and staff were invited to dress as their favorite book characters.  In the morning, I enlisted in the help of our Reader Leaders to

This week we celebrated Read Across America Day.  Yes, we celebrated.  Our school has historically used this day to spread the love of reading by inviting students and staff to dress as their favorite book characters.  In our school, the day is more of a celebration of READING rather than a celebration of a single author. Our week had several parts, but all were student-centered and student-led.  Honestly, it was an exhausting week of trying to stay one step ahead of activities (like racing to relock the Breakout box), but the independence and leadership that I saw in students made it all worthwhile.  Our activities for the week: All classes participated in a Dr. Seuss BreakoutEdu. We celebrated as a school by dressing up as favorite book characters. We gathered as a school to celebrate reading, hosted by our Student Council.  The assembly featured a teacher costume contest (with student judges) and a video of student costumes, with our Reader Leaders as event photographers. He