Blog Archives

Achievement unlocked: I'm published in SLJ!

5/31/2025

I have read and admired School Library Journal since becoming a school librarian over 20 years ago. One of my bucket list professional goals was to have an article published in the print edition. I have submitted a few articles that were rejected, but then I learned about Teen Librarian Toolbox (TLT), a blog affiliated with SLJ.

I submitted some article pitches and was selected to be published on TLT, which was a great honor. Then one day I got an email from an SLJ editor wanting to publish one of my TLT blog articles in the May print edition of SLJ. (!!!!!)

I can hardly believe that my words, name, and face were published in a print edition of SLJ. Librarian achievement unlocked!

If you don't have an SLJ subscription, you can read my article on the TLT blog.

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School Librarians United Podcast

5/26/2025

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I was thrilled to be in conversation with dynamic librarian Amy Hermon for her School Librarians United podcast when I shared my experiences at last summer's K-12 summer institute on Using Comics to Teach Social Justice. Our discussion covered lots of ground, including travel-and-learn opportunities for teachers, NEH programs and how cuts in federal funding canceled many of this year's seminars, and how educators can leverage Comic-Con experiences to impact student learning.

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A Week in the Life...

5/26/2025

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Thank you to the Kansas Association of School Librarians for featuring me in their "week in the life" promotion. They invited me to submit photos and describe some of the activities that are part of my work as a school librarian.

Teaching

Librarians are teachers. Whether I am leading a discussion, reading aloud and helping students analyze how the illustrations contribute to the understanding of a text, or instructing students on how to find books they will enjoy, teaching is at the heart of a librarian's work.

Active Learning

As I design lessons, I am consciously working to incorporate activities that will engage students. Whether we are "fishing for call numbers" when learning to find books on the shelves or participating in a storytime that includes puppets and movement scarves along with music and sound effects through the Novel Effect app, we are actively learning together in the library.

STEM

Our STEM stations represent a focus on hands-on learning, problem solving, and perseverance. Students are doing technical reading and following directions, building circuits, assembling a 3D object, and growing their brains in so many ways. For the librarian, this represents many hours writing grant applications to fund the materials and skilled classroom management to keep a class of students working independently in five groups, each doing different STEM activities.

Research and Collaboration

Each year I collaborate with 3rd grade teachers to teach research and computer skills for the Famous Kansan project. I teach the research process, and we begin by creating questions: what do we want to know about our famous Kansans? Then comes research and note-taking. We also learn how to find an image, copy and paste it into a Word document, and resize the image before printing. The result: a poster that shows what they have learned. I am so proud of their work!

Multitasking

My messy desk tells the story of just a few of the tasks I completed in a single day: I held a preschool storytime that included puppets and students playing rhythm instruments; I tested our 3D pens to be sure all were in working order and printed out templates for students to use during STEM time; I was looking at my calendar to schedule classes to make the best use of my time, which is challenging because I am shared between two schools; and I was planning a reading challenge for students. This is on top of circulation and reader's advisory, which happen all day, every day.

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Building a STEM program

5/20/2025

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Thanks to Edutopia for publishing my article on "Low-Cost, High-Interest Elementary STEM Activities." I am grateful for the opportunity to share how I created a STEM program at my school. The program has grown over the past eight years and my students always look forward to library STEM time. It's one of the highlights of our year.

It was gratifying to look back at how I started small and have continued to expand the program.

Each year, I based purchases and programming on student feedback. I searched out funding sources to allow us to purchase more STEM materials and equipment and am especially grateful to the South Central Kansas Library System and Midwest Energy for their generous grants.

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Library Journal Movers & Shakers 2025

5/7/2025

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This comics exhibit at Love Library at SDSU was curated by Pamela Jackson.

Pamela giving us a tour of her exhibit.

I am excited to congratulate Pamela Jackson for being selected as a 2025 Library Journal Mover & Shaker. This award is given annually to a group of librarian leaders.

Pamela is a Comic Arts Librarian (before I met her, I didn't know that was a job!) at San Diego State University (SDSU). I met her last summer when she led a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) teacher institute I attended called "Using Comics to Teach Social Justice."

I was so impressed by Jackson's work and by her leadership during the institute that I decided to nominate her for a Mover & Shaker award. In my application, I described her as a "comics evangelist" and that phrase is used in her profile on the Library Journal website.

In addition, SDSU celebrated Pam and her work in this fabulous article.

And double bonus: One of our guest speakers at the NEH institute has also been named to this year's class of Movers & Shakers: Moni Barrette. Barrette is also a librarian with expertise in the world of comics. You can read all about her work here.

Thank you, Library Journal, for recognizing librarians and spotlighting them so we can all benefit from their knowledge and work.

I hope you will take time to read about more of the 2025 Movers & Shakers. Their stories are inspiring.

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BW Morning Show Interview: Amy Brownlee

5/1/2025

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Thanks to radio host Glen Grunwald for inviting me into the KWBW 1450 Am 98.5 Fm studio to talk about the travel-and-learn teacher programs I have lined up for this summer. I am traveling to Germany for a 10-day teacher study trip with the Atlantik Brücke organization and will also spend a week in Washington, D.C. for the White House History Teacher Institute.

The interview is available in podcast form here.

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How does this book make me better? Using the book, head, heart strategy

5/1/2025

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Thanks to Teen Librarian Toolbox, a School Library Journal network blog, for publishing my article about using the Book, Head, Heart strategy with readers. It's such a great discussion tool that I use regularly with people of all ages.

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Achievement unlocked: I'm published in SLJ!

School Librarians United Podcast

A Week in the Life...

Building a STEM program

Library Journal Movers & Shakers 2025

BW Morning Show Interview: Amy Brownlee

How does this book make me better? Using the book, head, heart strategy

Amy Brownlee

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