What the Librarian Read- Part 3

The One With All the Middle Grade Novels...


Back again to share my reading from the year so far. To be honest... I'm pretty shocked as to how much I was able to read in the past few months as I completed my Teacher-Librarian Specialist, packed up our house to move next week and dealt with all of the end of the school year craziness.

Perhaps, as always, reading was my escape from the realities of every day life.

I did choose to read a number of middle grade novels that were new to the library before putting them out on the shelves so that might have skewed my numbers a bit as middle grade novels are shorter than my usual book choices.

Books 22- 37 of 2019

22. The Moscow Club by Joseph Finder

23. Ghost by Jason Reynolds*

24. A Drop of Hope by Keith Calabrese*

25. Homes: A Refuge Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

26. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

27. Gracefully Grayson by Amy Polonsky*

28. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling*

29. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson*

30. Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green*

31. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino*

32. The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

33. The Unteachables by Gordon Korman*

34. Ungifted by Gordon Korman*

35. Supergifted by Gordon Korman*

36. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

37. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 


Something I have always found interesting in the ebb and flow of reading patterns. Obviously as I was doing my AQ course and reading/ viewing all sorts of different PD texts I wasn't drawn to add in any PD books to my personal reading. This entire list is narratives.

There's also a large portion of middle grade novels because as I said before they are shorter than my usual reading material but also, I think, chosen as a way to escape the grind of relentless PD reading that occurs during an AQ course. I suspect (well, I know since I can see my to be read pile) that this summer's list will contain a lot more PD focused books.

(I have marked all the middle grade novels with an *)

Must Reads....

If you are an educator, parent, have children in your life please get your hands on Gracefully Grayson,  Locomotion, A Drop of Hope, You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P, and The Unteachables.

These are the types of books that make me wish I was still in a classroom so I could share them with my students through the magic of read alouds. I will be creating a display with these as recommended reads in the library once we start back at school. Can't wait to hear what the kids think.

If I had to pick one book to pass on...

I can never pick just one book but I'll try for two.

I'd say that Homes: A Refugee Story is an important read for our time.
We need to see each other more.
We need to try to understand each other more.
We need to share in our humanness more.

For the second book, probably The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. Her books never disappoint and always keep me on my toes wondering how the narrative will play out.

Biggest Surprises...

So The Moscow Club was passed on to me by my mother-in-law and I picked up The Woman in the White Kimono from a sale table at a bookstore. Both were riveting and very enjoyable. Highly recommend.


Here's the summer and lots of time to read!
Can't wait to get started.

Looking for my other posts:

What the Librarian Read: Part 1

What the Librarian Read: Part 2

Podcast PD?

"Listening is an attitude of the heart,

a genuine desire to be with another 

which both attracts and heals."

~L.J. Isham

So an interesting question or idea has been bouncing around in my brain for a week or so now...

Can podcasts be considered professional development?

I first started thinking about this after listening to the DeCodEd the podcast by Rolland Chiadic and Chris Cluff and they were discussing this idea from the side of being podcasters and creating their podcast.  (Season 2- Episode #35)

Does having a professional conversation with another educator count as professional development?

It's a very interesting idea. 

I am not a podcaster, but I do listen to a lot of podcasts. 

Which then leads to another question...

Does only listening to podcasts help you grow professionally or do you need to be "in" the conversation?

In the past year or so I have really developed a love affair with podcasts. I like to listen to them while I drive to school each morning, while I am walking the dog or doing work around the house. 

I like being involved in a conversation that challenges my own thinking, 

that presents a new idea I haven't thought about, 

that teaches me something, 

that helps me to understand other people, 

or that extends my current thinking.

I especially like listening to podcasts that introduce me to new people, new books, or new viewing.

As I started to thinking more on these questions it of course led to more... questions!

Has listening to podcasts made me a better educator?

A better person? A better listener? 

I'd like to think that the answer is yes, to all points. 

I have found that the podcasts I enjoy have really opened my eyes to things I didn't know before or to humanity and how we interact with each other. I also think that listening to other people share and explain their thoughts has made me a better speaker and better able to articulate my own thoughts when speaking. I've always considered myself a better writer than speaker and if I need to share my thoughts via speaking then I will write a script for myself. But through listening to podcasts I think I have actually become a better speaker.

I'm more comfortable with voicing my opinion of things and not feeling like I have to apologize if it's different than other people's opinions.

I'm more comfortable with pausing if I need to think about a question, to mull through an idea, to ask for clarification.

I'm more comfortable with asking questions and to probe for more information. This has been a great addition to my skill set as an educator. Asking students questions about their thoughts, their work, their process is a necessary skill to hone for all educators and by listening to conversations on podcasts that are centralized around asking questions I feel that I have really been able to develop a deeper skill set in this area. 

I also ask more questions of myself.

What else do I need to consider?

What don't I know?

Whose perspective haven't I considered?

What will I listen to, read or view next that will add on to my learning?

I think this line if thinking and questioning lends itself to considering how we interact and have conversations with our colleagues. 

How might we use the conversations we have with our colleagues to springboard into further professional development?

How might we use our listening skills to develop questions that will further guide our professional learning? 

******************************************

My Current Podcast List

Revisionist History- Malcolm Gladwell

Armchair Expert- Dax Shepard

I Wish I Knew EDU- Ramona Meharg

Against the Rules- Michael Lewis

Broken Record- Malcolm Gladwell

WorkLife- Adam Grant

This Week in Ontario EduBlogs (Live)- Stephen Hurley and Doug Peterson

DeCodEd- Rolland Chidiac and Chris Cluff

The Year End Report

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on.

~Hal Borland

This is my second year as a teacher-librarian and my first year creating a year end report for the library learning commons. It was an assignment for my Teacher-Librarian Specialist AQ but I won't lie... I really enjoyed making it!

First of all, Canva is absolutely one of the best things out there. It's so fun and easy to create a really professional looking product like an infographic or year end report.

Which I did! LOL

Secondly, I have come to discover that I am a data nerd. I love looking at the numbers that relate to how the library space is being used by the school community and how the data can help to inform our practice moving forward.

The areas of focus. 

I chose to focus my report on 5 main areas:

*Collaboration/ Inquiry
*STREAM/ Maker Culture
*Circulation and Collection Stats
*Visits / Events / Presentations
*Fostering Literacy

and I included a Moving Forward section at the end.

Inspired by...

I originally started by creating an infographic that was modelled after the one shared by Leigh Borden (@msbordenTL) on Twitter. I liked the concise nature of the infographic for sharing snapshot of the data and a summary of the report for those stakeholders who may not have time or inclination to read a multi-page report.

I like the clear and succinct picture that an infographic offers.

But I want it all...

After viewing a few examples of different long-form year end reports for my AQ course I knew that it would be a great way to tell the story of our library learning commons and the transition that we have undertaken in the last two years. A big part of me REALLY wishes that I had done a report at the end of last year, my first year in the TL role, but I didn't really even know about year end reports then.

I did then what I knew how to do. 

Now that I know better, I do better.

~Maya Angelou

What really jumps out at me as I look over the report is the pictures of the learners interacting with the space. 

The multiple ways the space has been used.

The numbers of educators and students willing to take risks. 

Willing to try new things. 

Willing to say "yes, and".

Some of the numbers are staggering to me to look back on.

We are given 190 school days each year and hope that we make the most of it.

Hope that we fill each and every one of them with as much learning, questioning, wondering, making, thinking, reading and fun as we can.

We hope we connect.

When I look at this report I see a community of readers,

of makers, 

of problem-solvers,

of "doers", 

of writers,

of creators,

of tinkerers,

of learners.

And I'm so very lucky to be a part of it. 

And so here it is....

The Year End Report.