This summer has been one of a lot of reflecting for me. For the first time in seven years, I’ll be at a new school next year. This coming school year, I’ll have two books published under my name. So much is going on and so much has happened so fast. This summer, I’ve slowed … Read more
I realize that this title is going so upset some people. That some might accuse me of click-bait. But I think this is a topic that is often being left out in the discussion about makerspaces. Many school librarians have beautiful visions of putting out some arts and crafts supplies or LEGOs or robots and … 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
Note: All opinions here are my own and do not represent my district or any other organization I wrote the bulk of this post a few months ago after a conversation with Susan Wells at FETC. And it sat in my drafts for awhile as I tried to figure out how to frame it. … Read more
This post has nothing to do with makerspaces or libraries, but it’s something I feel strongly about, so I’m addressing it anyway. Full disclaimer here: 100th day celebrations seem to pretty much be an elementary school thing. While I did sub as a media specialist in elementary schools early in my career, I’ve only been … Read more
The Complete Do-it-yourself Manual When I was growing up, the 1973 edition of the Reader’s Digest Complete Do-it-yourself Manual sat on a shelf in our garage. I was born in 1984, so the book was well over a decade old by the time I was reading it. I wasn’t really that into the handyman section … Read more
Learning How to Knit I’ve been a knitter since my best friend in college first gave me a set of needles and taught me the basic stitches. This was back in 2002. When I first started out, I needed a lot of help and guidance. I would check out books on knitting from the public library. … Read more
As I’ve been reflecting on all that’s happened this year and I look ahead to next year, I’ve been thinking about how things have changed for me and how I’ve grown. Learning to put yourself out there When I first started working as a school librarian just over five years ago, I was treading water, trying to … Read more
I’m working through Austin Kleon‘s amazing Steal Like an Artist Journal (Check out my review of his book Steal Like an Artist here). As I’ve been working through the various exercises designed to boost creativity and help you get new ideas, I was struck by how beneficial these types of exercises would be to our … Read more
Making Doesn’t Have an Age Limit @DianaLRendina @jhunderhill @venspired Went to a session & speaker said making should only happen at elem. level after that it was too late. — Heather Moorefield (@actinginthelib) July 26, 2015 “Makerspaces are too complicated for elementary students. You can only get in depth with middle and high school … Read more