If you are a follower of my website (thank you, for that, it means a lot), you might have noticed that I haven’t really been posting much for a while. It seems around late 2023 I started to slow down a lot with my writing and sharing. There were a few reasons. The first was we had just undertaken a massive and extensive move into our new library space. The new build process was sadly not one I enjoyed. Everything was a fight to be listened to and so many opportunities were lost and missed due to lack of collaboration. I literally cry over the stupid shelves we were provided by the architects. But I digress. My focus turned to just achieving everything that I needed to achieve in the work day and it had become all consuming. My time for writing and energy for that diminished. That has continued into this year with more change and more challenges at work.
Tag: Teacher Librarian
Year 7 Orientation Sessions in the School Library
The start of a new year means new incoming year 7 students. For my school, that means a mix of students coming from our Junior School and a large cohort of new students. There is something so fresh and enthusiastic about year 7 students. A mix of nervousness and an eagerness to try things. They get exciting and they are not afraid to share that excitement and I absolutely love working with them. But how do I get them excited about the library.
A Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian – Term 4
It has been my goal for some time now to share what my role as a teacher librarian is comprised of in the day in, day out. I hope that it sheds some light into what can sometimes be a mysterious and unknown role to those outside libraries. I hope it might inspire someone to enter the world of school libraries as I was once enticed. And I hope it encourages others in the school library world to share their experiences. Of course, my role and experiences are unique and would differ if I was in a different country, state, school, library setting or role, and the joy of library work is that no one day, library, role or experience is ever the same. I may post once a month about this, but far more likely I will put fingers to keyboard once a term. If you would like to read all of the posts in the series, you’ll find them here.
Wow – Term 4 is almost done. I think I need to sit down. What an absolutely amazing and exhausting term. Term 3 ended with us packing up our school library and moving it into storage and a temporary location. So, it follows that Term 4 began with us settling into our new, temporary home.
A Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian – Term 3
It has been my goal for some time now to share what my role as a teacher librarian is comprised of in the day in, day out. I hope that it sheds some light into what can sometimes be a mysterious and unknown role to those outside libraries. I hope it might inspire someone to enter the world of school libraries as I was once enticed. And I hope it encourages others in the school library world to share their experiences. Of course, my role and experiences are unique and would differ if I was in a different country, state, school, library setting or role, and the joy of library work is that no one day, library, role or experience is ever the same. I may post once a month about this, but far more likely I will put fingers to keyboard once a term. If you would like to read all of the posts in the series, you’ll find them here.
As I sat down to write this I had a look back at the last time I wrote about my Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian. I was shocked to discover that the last time I posted about this was at the start of Term 2 and now here we are at the end of Term 3. Whoops. But I guess that just shows how busy the past few months have been. So, instead of trying to write a few posts to fill in the gap, this one will cover everything from the middle of Term 2 to the end of Term 3. Are you ready?
A Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian – Starting Term 2
It has been my goal for some time now to share what my role as a teacher librarian is comprised of in the day in, day out. I hope that it sheds some light into what can sometimes be a mysterious and unknown role to those outside libraries. I hope it might inspire someone to enter the world of school libraries as I was once enticed. And I hope it encourages others in the school library world to share their experiences. Of course, my role and experiences are unique and would differ if I was in a different country, state, school, library setting or role, and the joy of library work is that no one day, library, role or experience is ever the same. I may post once a month about this, but far more likely I will put fingers to keyboard once a term. If you would like to read all of the posts in the series, you’ll find them here.
If there is one word for the start of Term 2 it is EXHAUSTING. I write this physically and mentally exhausted. I don’t know what it is but by week 2 of this term it felt like it should already be week 9 of the term. Here’s hoping I can make it through this term.
Updating the Graphic Novel Collection
I love graphic novels but that love doesn’t come close to how much my students love graphic novels. They adore them. I’ve seen that time and again at all the school libraries I’ve worked in. However, their engagement with the graphic novel collection always varied and that’s because the graphic novel collections in all of those libraries varied significantly. Some were tidy and small, others large and outdated and one was big, plentiful and beautiful and let me tell you the students adored it!!
So, when I took over as head of library this year, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was show the graphic novel collection some love. Lots of love.
A Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian – Finishing Term 1
It has been my goal for some time now to share what my role as a teacher librarian is comprised of in the day in, day out. I hope that it sheds some light into what can sometimes be a mysterious and unknown role to those outside libraries. I hope it might inspire someone to enter the world of school libraries as I was once enticed. And I hope it encourages others in the school library world to share their experiences. Of course, my role and experiences are unique and would differ if I was in a different country, state, school, library setting or role, and the joy of library work is that no one day, library, role or experience is ever the same. I may post once a month about this, but far more likely I will put fingers to keyboard once a term. If you would like to read all of the posts in the series, you’ll find them here.
I have to be honest, I had to go back and read my last post in this series, halfway through Term 1, to remember what we had accomplished during the first half of the term and where I left off. My gosh, what a term. It was absolutely fantastic and so much fun. We got so much done, so much started and yet every time I turned around there was something else to do!! So much to do. I think that’s what I love best about working in a school library. I am never, ever bored.
A Year in the Life of a Teacher Librarian – Halfway Through Term 1
It has been my goal for some time now to share what my role as a teacher librarian is comprised of in the day in, day out. I hope that it sheds some light into what can sometimes be a mysterious and unknown role to those outside libraries. I hope it might inspire someone to enter the world of school libraries as I was once enticed. And I hope it encourages others in the school library world to share their experiences. Of course, my role and experiences are unique and would differ if I was in a different country, state, school, library setting or role, and the joy of library work is that no one day, library, role or experience is ever the same. I may post once a month about this, but far more likely I will put fingers to keyboard once a term. If you would like to read all of the posts in the series, you’ll find them here.
Term 1 has started, if a little differently from usual. Now, the students have returned and the busyness of the term has really started.