C4T Chosen by Me

Even if you are not a Library Media Specialist, Jennifer LaGarde's blog, The Adventures of a Library Girl, is really a treat. She is witty, intellectual, and provides on the cusp information for keeping education current, exciting, and relevant. I was able to see her over the summer at a conference for new media specialists, and was impressed with her drive to keep media centers and media specialists viable components of school systems. Since then, I have followed her blog, even before having the assignment made for this course. The following are posts I have made to her this past month.

Awards Are Nice But It's The Work That Matters

In this post, Jennifer talks about, once again, the importance of media specialists finding and maintaining a strong voice for keeping media centers open across the country as budget cuts continue to force some libraries to close their doors. She points out opportunities for librarians to nominate themselves for awards (such as the School Librarian of the Year Award sponsored by Scholastic and the Bammy! Awards) to show they are indispensable members of the learning community highlighting exceptional work of children.

Here is what I wrote to her:

I appreciate your efforts to passionately and consistently provide pertinent information to help us all become advocates to keep school libraries viable components of the learning environment. Your work and leadership is helping bolster people like me who, relatively new to the arena of library media, need the correct language and approach by which to build a strong case for the role of the library media specialist and also for the importance of a well-stocked library. I definitely agree with your comments about the awards being great, but the best part being what you're able to provide the children by having an award winning media center.


#WhyLib | My Journey to Librarianship

Jennifer tells us her story in this post of how she made the decision to become a school librarian after becoming disgruntled with the work she was doing as a classroom teacher, and feeling like she was being pressured to "teach to the test". In her inspirational account of how she moved from school to school during her own time as a student, she shares how she feels motivated now to make a difference in the lives of students as a librarian because the library seemed to be the one place of refuge she found as she moved from place during her formative years. She definitely is making a huge impact in the world of librarians across the country, as she is a major voice for advocacy and a leader among media specialists.

Here is my response to her story:

Thank you for this inspirational story. I was able to hear you give this account in person last summer at a conference in Alabama, and I've followed your blog ever since because you left such an impression on me. You definitely are making an impact on others, including myself, in ways I'm sure you don't realize, so the debt you are repaying is one you've paid many times over. Personally, when I became a librarian, I vowed never to be like the one I had in high school who was the typical "Lotta Scales" BEFORE her transformation! Thanks for being a great librarian as well as an awesome role model.

#TXLA14 | Reflections from San Antonio

After visiting San Antonio for the Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Jennifer recounted her experiences hosting workshops, but also attending some phenomenal sessions herself, including the Nerdy Book Club session. Even she, "The Library Girl" seemed to have been inspired by the group who presented, and gave some wonderful insight as to what she was able to come away with from the conference.

This is what I wrote to her:


From the sound of it, I wish I could have been a part of the Nerdy Book Club session, and the points you shared from what you experienced there were awesome. I will definitely check out the "rag tag" group--they sound like a bunch I'd like to hang out with. Thanks for posting such great highlights from your trip.

• Loving to read is legitimate. It's not something extra or nice, but not necessary. It's crucial and the work we do to help kids unlock that love is essential.
• Reading helps us feel less alone AND helps us recognize loneliness in others.
• Curricula, politics and the crisis of the day will come and go, but stories endure.
• The only thing more powerful than darkness is light. We have an obligation to share the light inside us. Stories help us do that.
• Every last one of us can change the world.

4 OTHER Ways To Keep Kids From Giving Up

Jennifer blogs here about how she wrestles with ways to keep students motivated, especially after reading an article entitled 4 Ways To Keep Students From Giving Up Before They Even Begin. Both the article she read and her thoughts reminded me a lot of the things I learned this semester about PBL and how to make what students are learning purposeful and important to them to give them motivation to learn. In addition to the additional tips she gives in her blog to supplement the article, she also includes the importance of not only the role of the teacher but the significance of the teacher librarian as the collaborator to extend the learning beyond the classroom, and to show students their learning is regarded by the entire educational community.

Here are my comments to her post:

I agree students feel stifled when they arrive at school because often times the assignments they are asked to perform are too structured, rigid, and downright boring to allow any creativity to flow from their brains. They also are expected all too often to produce answers to questions in unilateral ways instead of being given choices about how to create products or how to arrive at a solution to a problem. I have been following several teachers who are using PBL in their classrooms and schools, and many of your comments fall directly in line with the ideas of problem based learning. Thank you for adding your ideas to for other ways to keep kids from giving up. Where there's a will, there's a way!