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.