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
There is a familiar sort of guilt in my life. That feeling of all the things that I should be doing. I should be reading and replying to more library Facebook threads. I should be going to Twitter chats. I should be spending more of my summer planning for a school year that is impossible … Read more
I’ve been using sketchnotes a lot lately as a way to help me focus and retain information with virtual PD. Here’s a mini-post in case you’d like to know what tools I use for sketchnoting (or were thinking about getting some for yourself.) A quick “note”: I prefer physical sketchnoting. I know that there’s great … Read more
I’ve been a fan of Austin Kleon’s work for several years now. Steal Like an Artist had a huge impact on me as an educator and I frequently quote it in my conference presentations. Show Your Work helped me to better understand the importance of sharing what I’m doing (like right here on this blog). … Read more
Just as our lives need tidying up from time to time, so do our libraries. Decluttering the library can be daunting at first, but it’s totally worth it. Here’s some more on why we should tidy up: The Magic of Tidying Up Your Library: An AASL Post I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying … Read more
The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note-taking On the flight to ISTE a few weeks ago, I brought along The Sketchnote Handbook. This book hooked me within a few pages. As I took sketchnotes throughout the conference (see them in my post) I could immediately see my skills improving. I’m relatively new to sketchnoting … Read more
Making Waves by Doing Less This post is an adaption of an Ignite talk I did at Riding the Wave Manitoba. I wanted to figure out what the most important message was that I could get across in five minutes and I realized that it wasn’t the importance of makerspaces or why we need to … Read more
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, is not a book written specifically for educators, yet out of all the books I’ve read so far this year, it’s had the most profound effect on me. The author, Greg McKeown, explains his philosophy of Essentialism in the book. And I found myself nodding my head over and … Read more
Creative Confidence I’m always up for reading books that deal with creativity and self-improvement. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All certainly did not disappoint in this realm. Coming from the two guys who started the Stanford d.school and IDEO, I was excited to read about their perspective on creativity and design. While … Read more
Read this book: Show Your Work I had heard from other friends and educators that Austin Kleon‘s books were must reads. So when I visited the gift shop at the New York Public Library back in December and HAD to buy something (because it’s NYPL, and they give discounts to librarians), I decided to … Read more