I am so unbelievably excited! This week, my principal invited me to go to Denver this summer for the ISTE 2010 Conference. Um…yes, please! I’ve been trying to expand our uses of instructional technology in the library, and in the process encourage teachers to bring it into their classrooms.

I’ve had some success, but it’s a slow process since teachers already have so much on their plates. I did work with one class in doing a “commercial” about the Haiti earthquake using Photostory, and it was a great success. I’ve been using the heck out of Photostory in the library – I think it’s the bomb dot com. I desperately wanted to create a blog that is affiliated with my school, but that was shot down due to a rediculous Lousiana law (watch for a post about this soon, I’m really fired up about this one). I know what I’ve been doing is barely scratching the surface, but I’m trying to just start somewhere. I know I’m going to get so much out of the ISTE conference and come back completely pumped up. I just hope I’ll be able to actually use the ideas I get, not be shut down by district/state restrictions.

I know this is going to be an incredible experience. My principal, assistant principal, technology teacher, and myself will all be attending. This makes me so excited for next school year, and I can’t wait to start putting things into practice. And the tech teacher and I are planning to go early and do some sightseeing in Denver, so I know this is going to be a fun trip!

I’ve written quite  few times about my National Board Certification aspirations. In fact, I’m planning to video my Take One! entry lesson tomorrow. And I have a meeting on Monday about the grant available for those taking part in the National Board Certification process for next school year. NBC is an intense process that requires a lot of refection on teaching practices.

Today, this article ran in the paper.

I knew this was a possibility, as funding has been cut in some other states recently. I was hoping that this wouldn’t happen here, because I was planning on using that extra stipend to go back to grad school. My own personal disappointment aside, this is a really outrageous move on the part of Superintendent Pastorek. The statement that certification does not equate quality teachers is infuriating. Someone who is able to meet the NBC requirements and successfully complete all aspects of the portfolio and testing sessions is capable of delivering high quality education. The committment required to complete the program speaks to their drive to go above and beyond. Could someone be a high-caliber educator able to succeed in the program, but not put forth the effort everyday in their classroom? I’m sure that’s possible, but is that possibility a reason to deem the program is not successful? I think that it’s the school and district’s responsibility to make sure their teachers are doing their jobs! There are so many educators who are constantly seeking ways to grow and improve, and the removal of an incentive that promotes this is disheartening.

I follow the amazing blog of The Unquiet Librarian, who posted her story yesterday for the Library Routes Project. This project collects the stories of librarians and the path that they have taken into this wonderful profession. I really enjoyed reading Buffy’s story, and I hope that you will enjoy reading mine!

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember – in fact, my mom just found a picture of me standing over the crib of my infant brother, reading a book. I always took my learning seriously and growing up I wanted to do it all – astronomer, artist, meteorologist, actress, and of course a teacher.

In third grade, I moved from the urban school I was attending (due to the long-standing desegregation plan) to my community elementary school in the small town in the suburbs of Baton Rouge where my family lived. In fourth grade my love for reading became obsessive and I devoured any book I could get my hands on. That year, I also became a Library Aide at my elementary school library. My school had a wonderful librarian who was an incredible storyteller. Her reading of The Cajun Night Before Christmas is something I will never forget. I remember being in awe of that library, with its wonderful books and beautiful wall murals of the Milky Way galaxy. The library and it’s sights, sounds, and smells has always made me feel safe. I spent many recesses in 4th and 5th grade helping out in that library.

As they were for many, middle school brought on a series of awkward years. I fully embraced my nerdy persona as I settled into my group of friends in the same gifted/honors classes as me. And then in 7th and 8th grades, something great happened – my P.E. teacher noticed my non-athletic plight and let me spend half of the school year helping in the library during my assigned P.E. time. I did it all – checked books in and out, shelved and straightened, and fell in love with the Dewey Decimal System. During summers, I spent a lot of time at the public library, living and experiencing through what I read. In those difficult pre-teen years, I remember my mom punishing me by not bringing me to the library!

The library at my high school was not a welcoming place, as it was run by two very traditional, stern-faced librarians. As a junior, I went out in search of an after school job, and I was lucky to snag a position as a page with the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library System, which is one of the best in the nation. At the time, I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to have such a great system in my area. I learned the ropes of the library and gained some amazing mentors. As began to send off my college applications, I decided that I would get my degree in Education. I loved the public library, but knew that I did not want to spend the next 30 years working nights and weekends.

I was given a full scholarship to Southeastern Louisiana University, which has one of the best Education departments in the state. I commuted the 45 minutes to school so I could keep my job at the public library. I also learned that SLU had an add-on program for School Library Certification, and I began taking the graduate level classes my sophomore year. In January of 2007 I had to leave the public library after over 5 years because my school schedule wouldn’t allow me to work my required 20 hours/week. I spent that summer before my student teaching doing my Library Practicum at the Lab School Library, and it was a great experience for me to really experience the differences in a public and school library. After 4.5 years, I graduated (Fall 2007)with a 4.0 GPA and received the President’s Medal along with my degree in Elementary Education: Grades 4-8 ELA/Social Studies certified and my School Library Certification.

A job as a School Librarian was my dream, but I thought that opportunity would come many years down the road – after I had the chance to go back for my MLIS. I accepted my first teaching position at my community’s middle school – the same one that I had attended years ago. The schools in my community had broken off from a larger district to form our own community school system. Still in its first year, I was excited to get on board. I finished off the school year with them, teaching 6th and 7th grade ELA. Our district was growing at such a rapid pace, that the schools had to be restructured for the next school year, adding another elementary school (going from having PreK-2 and 3-5 schools to having three: PreK-1, 2-3, and 4-5). You know what that meant…they needed another librarian! I put in my application but refused to get my hopes up. I was called in for an interview, and my youth and enthusiasm got me the position over the more experienced candidates! I could not believe I had come into my dream job so quickly.

I’m now in my second year as the librarian at my school. I am so proud of the things that I’ve accomplished and how far our library has come. That first summer, we had to the materials from our two original libraries to serve three – this was quite a task that produced three inadequate collections. Our community came through for us and a fund-raiser provided us with the money to develop our collections. I have a wonderful administration that supports my ideas for library programs. I’m truly blessed to be part of such an amazing school in a great district – all of that and my dream job as a librarian!

That’s my story, and I know there are many great years to come in my library career!

We’re going to be starting a book club at school! My principal and assistant principal came to me a little while back and we talked about starting book clubs with some of our students. They came upon the idea after reading about Lit Blitz, a competitive reading incentive book club. After some of the articles that I’ve been reading about students needing to get away from being rewarded for being “smart” and the overuse of incentive programs (I’ve been reading the November/December edition of Knowledge Quest, FYI), I’m really thinking hard about the direction we should take this. I don’t think we’ll be going with the Lit Blitz model, but I am thankful that it planted the seed for our club.

I’m still in the brainstorming/idea bouncing stages, but here’s my direction so far:

• Incorporate an online discussion board (perhaps BlackBoard, since our district has the program) that students access from home during their reading process.
• Pull in nonfiction passages that pertain to fiction that we’re reading.
• Have some type of hands-on/creative activity for the discussion meeting.
• Really address teaching students how to participate in a discussion, not just answer questions.

This should be lots of fun and I can’t wait to get this thing started!

Right now, I’m at the AR Symposium, waiting for my first session to begin. This is my first post from my iPhone using the WordPress app! Last night at check in, we recieved a Neo 2. It’s a nifty little piece of equipment, although I don’t think it’s worth the price. I’d rather spend a little more and get a netbook that could be used for so much more. Not that I don’t plan to use the heck out of this little Neo, I just won’t be spending the seven grand to get a set.

The keynote speaker is Kathy Cox, the Georgia State Superintendent of Schools. She talked about how far her state has come in the past several years. I thought her closing was the best: “If a school has it’s priorities right, then the Media Center is busier than the front office.” She said this light bulb moment came to her after she visited about 400 schools. Heck yeah!

My two sessions for this morning will be “New Frontiers in Professional Development: Doing More with Limited Resources” and “STARting Off Right: What You Never Knew About STAR Assessment.”

Back when I was in college, I was a regular blogger. Then I started working and stopped blogging. I think it’s time to get back into it, for the sake of my sanity if nothing else. I tried doing a food blog about a year ago, and that lasted all of a month. So I may post some recipes and such on here, but I don’t want to try another blog devoted completely to that. So in this blog, I will ramble about life in general – work and the little bit of time that I spend not sleeping or working.

So last week was my Scholastic Book Fair at work. It was an absolutely exhausting week. I made my goal of $10,000 in sales (barely), so I feel like it was a success. I’m using the profits to buy books with audio CDs for teachers to use in their listening centers. Exciting!

Tomorrow I have a book club meeting. Which means I should be finishing the book instead of posting this blog. We’ll be discussing The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It’s a very interesting book about the Latter-Day Saints and polygamy. So I’m going to go half read/half watch the LSU game for the rest of this evening.

Peace out!