Miss Bee's Books

       This entry is the third in a series of four.  This series reflects on interviews I held with various Teacher Librarians in Southern California.  We spoke about the  National School Library Standards for School Librarians.  Each entry will discuss how a single librarian implements a particular Shared Foundation in their program.  Since the interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss both how their program typically addresses the standards and how that has changed during the pandemic. Ms. F is a high school librarian.  We discussed how she implements Shared Foundation IV: Curate.  The Key Commitment for this Foundation is to make meaning by collecting, organizing, and sharing relevant resources.   Sear Greyson on Unsplash Ms. F is a master of curation.  Whether its a 17 "room" Bitmoji library, google slide presentations, a Symbaloo, or an extensive school library website with spec...

     This entry is the second in a series of four.  This series reflects on interviews I held with various Teacher Librarians in Southern California.  We spoke about the  National School Library Standards for School Librarians.  Each entry will discuss how a single librarian implements a particular Shared Foundation in their program.  Since the interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss both how their program typically addresses the standards and how that has changed during the pandemic. Miss B (not me! 😜) is a current middle and former elementary school librarian.  We discussed how she implements the Shared Foundation I: Inquire in her library programs.  The Key Commitment for this Foundation is to ask questions or identify problems and to create strategies to find answers.  Miss B helps students take charge or their learning by allowing student choice.  While she provides boundaries and stru...

    This entry is the first in a series of four.  This series reflects on interviews I held with various Teacher Librarians in Southern California.  We spoke about the  National School Library Standards for School Librarians.  Each entry will discuss how a single librarian implements a particular Shared Foundation in their program.  Since the interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss both how their program typically addresses the standards and how that has changed during the pandemic.  Mrs. C is a high school librarian.  One of the main goals of her library program is to create a safe, inclusive environment for learning.  Naturally, we discussed Shared Foundation II: Include.  The Key Commitment of this Foundation is to understand and commit to diverse perspectives.   Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Mrs. C said that materials selection is one of the key ways she ensures inclusiveness and dive...

"...You are a teacher who teaches not content but process." I can't get over the opening statement in this 2016 Knowledge Quest article by Audrey Church. I'm pursuing my MLIS right now and we talk a lot  about what it means to be a school librarian, but nothing has really clicked into place like that has. Church finally put into words the thing that made teaching in a library feel so right in the first place.  When I was a classroom teacher, I felt bogged down by content. So much to teach, so little time. So many students, so many different learning styles.  So often I felt like I was marching along to the beat of the curriculum with no room to meet my students where they were.  So often I felt I was leaving my students behind, or not keeping up. When I moved into the library, I suddenly had room to breathe.  I could expand on what teachers were teaching, linger on inquiry, dive deep into passions, do all the things that makes learning fun and w...

As soon as I read about HP Reveal (previously Aurasma) I got super excited.  I envisioned a teen wandering around her school library.  She isn't sure what she should read next, so she's just scanning titles to see if anything catches her eye.  Her gaze lands on the cool mint spine of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl.   She's heard of this one; wasn't her friend Emma reading it awhile back?  She pulls out her phone, pops open HP Reveal and points her phone at the cover.  Suddenly, Emma is right there on her screen, gushing about how much she loved Fangirl . "Oh my god, this book is life," Emma says, sitting cross-legged on her couch, waving the book at the camera.  Her hair is long, she must have recorded this Aura before she cut it.  "I feel so seen.  Oh, and if you like this, you have to read  Carry On and Wayward Son  which are basically the slash fic Cath is writing the whole time in Fangirl." Back in the library, our teen puts her...

A few years back the school district I taught for decided the school needed a Makerspace.  They bought a big cart, some Littlebits , and some  Code and Go Robot Mouse  sets.  The library was the natural home for this cart.   Unfortunately I was in only my first or second year of being a school librarian and hadn't started my MLIS yet.  I had only really heard of Makerspaces in passing and didn't have a lot of extra time to figure it out.  I wish I had access to Teach Outside the Box back then. So You Want to Start a Makerspace Educator Brooke Brown recently published a gloriously extensive intro to Makerspaces.  Having begun hosting a Makerspace five years ago, she recently decided to share all that she has learned along the way.  The post begins with a definition of a Makerspace and why they are important.  The rest of the blog is broken down into her 5 S's of a Successful Makerspace: Space, Stuff, Schedule, Structure, ...