Diana Rendina 
Way back in my early days as a media specialist at Stewart, I created a manga section. It was by far the most popular section of the library, and I would have students come in to check out multiple books every day as they worked through a series. When I started at Tampa Prep, I … Read more
When I decided to de-emphasize Dewey in my library collection, I wanted to come up with an organization system that would make sense to me and make sense to my students. I decided to divide the non-fiction collection into nine different categories (many of which are Dewey aligned) with sub-categories (done as sublocations in Destiny) … Read more
Over the last several years, I’ve been working on changing up my non-fiction section. I already genrefied my fiction collection a few years ago, and I knew I needed to tackle my non-fiction section next. I got the push I needed to get started with my school’s adapted schedule in the 2020-2021 year for COVID … Read more
My Back-to-School Hacks post from 2015 has been getting a lot of traffic lately (maybe because of the School Library Journal article with a similar title?) so I thought it might be good to write an updated version. A lot has changed for me since 2015 – I’m at a different school (Tampa Prep, where … Read more
In the spring of 2021, the 6th grade science teacher and I began forming a plan. She had seen the engagement of 6th graders in our afterschool Maker Days program and wanted to find a way to bring that into her classroom so that ALL of our 6th graders could have this opportunity. We applied … Read more
In the spring of 2021, the 6th grade science teacher and I began forming a plan. She had seen the engagement of 6th graders in our afterschool Maker Days program and wanted to find a way to bring that into her classroom so that ALL of our 6th graders could have this opportunity. We … Read more
In the 2021-2022 school year, I collaborated with our 6th grade science teacher to incorporate makerspace activities into her curriculum. We decided on a hybrid approach where for some projects, students would come up to the library makerspace and for others, I would come down to the classroom. So we decided to purchase supplies (using … Read more
Instagram is a fantastic way to connect with students, teachers, parents and community members. You can showcase what is going on in your library, promote a love of reading and feature student work. If you’re new to IG, it can be easy to feel stuck and unsure of what to post. (Check out my previous … Read more
I’ve long used Instagram as a way to reach out to my students. It started back when I first got an iPad through DonorsChoose at my previous library (before I had a personal smartphone). Some of my former students (now adults) still follow that account and keep in touch. When I started at Tampa Prep, … Read more
Over the summer of 2021, I collaborated with our 6th grade science teacher as part of a grant to find ways to incorporate makerspace activities into the curriculum. (Look for posts coming soon about some of the projects we did). Part of our work was reading the book, Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in … Read more