Help my school and Kwame Alexander build a library in Ghana!

www.leapforghana.org

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Hogwarts! 

For Spring Break this year we took a trip down to Universal Orlando to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here are some pictures from the trip!  Spring Break (the week before or after Easter Sunday) is usually insanely crowded but if you stay at an onsite property at Universal, you get the perk of being able to enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter an hour before the park opens. It was worth it. 

Diagon Alley

Hogwarts Express

Selecting a wand! 

Fundraising for a Library in Ghana with Kwame Alexander

So.... here's a little update on what I have been up to:

I opened a high school library at a brand new high school this year. I have been busy, but I went to the NOVA Teen Book Fest this weekend and felt inspired to get back into blogging and revamp my social media a bit. I've been tweeting actively, especially since I published another SLJ article in December and have been following a bunch of new YA authors in addition to the middle grade authors I used to follow as a middle school librarian.

Here is something kind of cool that I have been working on. Back in January, the 2015 Newbery award winning author, Kwame Alexander,  visited my high school for a school wide visit. It was fantastic! When it was over he mentioned he was trying to raise some money to open a library in a village in Ghana so I offered our help. His publishers donated 1000 of his books to this project (LEAP for Ghana) which he has signed, and now our students are selling the books to our community in an effort to raise money for his project.

Here is some more info from my school website. If you are interested in helping us, please reach out. Thanks!

Another SLJ Article. :)

Trying to get back into blogging.

Here is an article that was published back in December for SLJ about author visits. It was titled "Six Things that Made my Patrick Ness Author Visit a Knockout Success."

School Library Journal Leadership Summit

So thrilled to be back from the School Library Journal Leadership Summit. I was invited to speak there and gave a 15 minute presentation on my Feed and Read for South Sudan project. 

Above are a couple shots of me presenting as well as a picture of me with author Patricia Polacco. 

Here are some scenes and resources from the summit.

Here is a link to my presentation from the Summit. 

SLJ Article - Teaching in the Cloud

I am back! Another article for SLJ - this time on how librarians can support teaching in the cloud.  

I love writing for them. I will be speaking at the SLJ Leadership Summit about my Feed and Read for Sudan Project. 

Featured in Author Eugenia Sozzi's Blog

One of my talented teacher colleagues, Eugenia Sozzi, is also children's book writer.  This month I was featured in the website portion of her blog! In this interview, I discuss how libraries can help and inspire students to work for social justice. Please check it out. 

Please check out this incredible author and her super cute website. Thanks Eugenia!

Girls and robotics

Here is a shot clip of a couple of 8th grade girls showing me the robotic train they made in the library using Cubelets Modular Robotics. Pretty neat stuff!

Digital Storytelling Presentations

Here are a few links to various presentations I have done in the past:

ActivLoudoun Plus 2013
Loudoun County Public Schools
Storytelling in a Digital Age

VSTE Summer of Learning 2013
Shenandoah University
Storytelling in a Digital Age - Bridging the Gap

VSTE Digital Storytelling Webinar 2013
This was a live Webinar.

Scoop.it

Have you tried Scoop.it yet?

It's a website where you can curate various web articles and share them easily with your social media sites. I thought it would be a good place to organize some of my articles and the articles of others. Seems kind of cool. I always get nervous that they will spam my social media followers, but we'll see what happens!

Here is a link to my Scoop.it page called School Librarians and Libraries  

SLJ - Global Awareness: Ways to Engage Students in Global Thinking

Here is a link to an SLJ article I co-authored with Heather Flor of Sudan Sunrise. It discusses how librarians and students can support girls education around the world.

Another SLJ Article - Social Media Strategies 101

Check out my latest: Social Media 101 for the School Librarian

Another article for School Library Journal!

Yay!

SLJ Article - World Book Night and Social Media

Here is another article I wrote for School Library Journal about World Book Night and Social Media Strategies. YAY!

#WhyLib

I just came across the #WhyLib campaign. In honor of School Library Month, school librarians are sharing their stories on why they became school librarians through the hashtag #WhyLib. Neat.

I think I am getting in on this Twitter chat (or conversation, discussion, what have you) a little late, considering today is April 28th and School Library Month is almost over. Whatever. I never give up an opportunity to support school libraries and I want to try out Padlet.com by sharing my story there.

So, why did I become a school librarian? 

Well, for starters, my mother is a retired school librarian. She had a wonderful career. It was never just a job for her. She was always learning new stuff, teaching it to colleagues, writing articles, getting grants, classes, attending or speaking at conferences, helping kids beyond the scope of a school librarian (i.e. collecting winter coats for kids in her school), etc. Growing up, I always thought this was the standard of any one's life work: To be successful in a career you enjoy.

When I graduated from college with a Bachelor's degree in English and a strong desire to travel and see the world, I landed into a career in sales and marketing. Within a five year time span my college boyfriend (now husband) and I lived in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and New York City, mostly to follow each other's careers and seek a new adventure. Each time I moved to a new city, I was quickly able to find a sales job of some kind - usually selling advertising. I enjoyed it and at times I did very well, but it always felt like a "job" and not something I could see myself doing for my entire life. During my 5 year sales "career" I was able to learn a little more about myself:  I like to help people. I like to learn new things. I am a good learner. I tend to take on leadership roles. I like to volunteer. I am interested in technology and not afraid of it. I like computers. I like change and innovation. I like to read, especially on airplanes, trains and subways, where I spent a lot of time.

One day I was job searching in NYC when I came across an ad to work at New York Public Library. I thought it looked like a cool job - something in Public Relations - and it required a Masters of Library and Information Science (or MLIS). I knew my mother had an MLS from Pratt Institute, so I checked out the website. I was surprised to find out how many opportunities there are for MLIS grads. Obviously there is school and public librarianship, but there was also so much more -  special libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, digital libraries, art librarianship, archiving, and more. It sounded really interesting so I applied and got accepted. I started library school the next semester.

I always joke around that during my three years of graduate (library) school, I was either pregnant or nursing. It's true. I had my two children during graduate school. By day I was a stay at home mom: volunteering by leading a story-time sing along at Brooklyn Public Library, taking the mommy and me swim lessons, and hanging out in playgrounds with other mommies and play-dates in Brooklyn. By night, I was graduate student extraordinaire: President of the Student Association, working as a grad assistant for the Dean Emeritus and the head of my department, eventually graduating with honors with a 3.9 GPA. While in grad school and as a new young mother, I quickly learned something else about myself: I love working with young people and I like to teach.

I decided to get the MLIS with Library Media Certification.  Fast-forward a few years and here I am, a school librarian in Northern Virginia. I love it.

World Book Night

Spreading the love of reading, person to person!
http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

Alethea Kontis, author of Enchanted (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013), one of World Book Night books, visited my library this morning to dance on the morning announcements, sign books, speak with kids, and kick off World Book Night! So fun!!

Thank you Alethea!

Principals Know: School Librarians are the Heart of the School

This is a wonderful video to share with your school administrators. Principals across the country discuss the unique and valuable skills and roles of a school librarian. 

MINECRAFT Essential Handbook

My kids love this almost as much as MINECRAFT. Almost.

Check it out on Amazon

School Library Journal Article - 15,000 Meals for South Sudan

Here is a link to an article I wrote for School Library Journal.

http://www.slj.com/2014/04/programs/how-a-virginia-middle-school-librarian-and-her-book-club-raised-global-awareness-and-provided-15000-meals-for-sudanese-students/#_

School Library Month - Thoughts

The following post is a submission I sent to my Alma mater, Pratt Institute, for a request for participation for a blog series in April in honor of school library month. It was published in April 2013. Here is a link to the Pratt SILS blog post:  Enjoy! 

When Pratt SILS asked the alumni to share thoughts on the importance of school libraries in honor of school library month, I was excited by the opportunity to share my thoughts on why school libraries are crucial for student learning.  Students in this country have the freedom to read and access nearly any kind of information they can imagine.  In order to fulfill their potential, students need to be able to think critically about the sources and types of information they seek.  As we learned in library school at Pratt, one of the most important responsibilities of school librarians like me is to teach this skill.  A school library should provide a solid foundation to prepare the next generation by fostering their curiosity in the pursuit of information, while teaching them how to effectively find and assess that information

            I am a librarian in a middle school near Washington, D.C.  In my library, I have the opportunity every day to teach students these crucial skills.  I teach lessons on open source versus authoritative source, advanced searching strategies, evaluating websites, plagiarism, citing sources, and copyright.  Working in collaboration with my school’s learning community, I develop and promote a collection of materials with the intention of pushing students out of their comfort zone so they can become better readers and learners.  I actively recommend books and materials to students and teachers for all reading levels and interests.  I emphasize the importance of sharing ideas and that students need to think for themselves and develop their own opinions.  I teach students how to use technology responsibly and creatively to source information and share new knowledge and understanding.  All of this is aimed at helping students develop their critical thinking skills—skills that are proven to impact student achievement and are directly correlated with my state’s curricular standards.

            These are my brief thoughts on why school libraries staffed by licensed library media specialists are so important to help young people reach their full potential.  School libraries and librarians are a necessity for our student achievement and are vital to our nation’s future.

Lauren McBride, MSLIS

Pratt SILS Alumni 2009

Licensed Library Media Specialist

Seneca Ridge Middle School

Sterling, VA

iPads Have Arrived!

With funds from our book fair, we recently purchased 4 new iPads for our library. We chose the iPad 4 rather than a refurbished 2 or 3 because we felt it wouldn't get outdated so quickly. The iPads are to be checked out by teachers for classroom use. We purchased adaptors so the iPad screen can be displayed onto a Promethean board. Now, I am in the process of selecting and downloading apps to be used by the teachers.

What apps do you use for your school iPads? I will compile a list of apps once I have them downloaded.