Diana Rendina 
30 Circles is an exercise that I’ve seen mentioned in quite a few books on Design Thinking and it’s one of my favorites to use when introducing students to design. (This book is the one I was reading when I decided to incorporate it into my classes). You can read more about the origins of the exercise … Read more
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