DonorsChoose: A Hidden Goldmine for Public Schools My first experience with DonorsChoose was in 2011. They had a promotion with Starbucks where gift cards were given out to patrons to spend on projects. I had several successful projects at that time, but I didn’t really use DonorsChoose much again until 2014. It was around the same time that I … Read more
We’ve been back at school for a few weeks now in my district, and the library’s been busy. All the sixth graders received orientation over the last week, and we’ve had almost every student come through the library at least once for book checkout. Our Maker Corner has been quite active. Our afterschool program … Read more
The Great Library Makeover I realized the other day that while I’ve been posting tons of pictures of our library makeover on Instagram and Twitter, I had yet to properly blog and show off how amazing the library looks. So this post is Part 1, since we aren’t quite done with everything yet. You’ll get … Read more
At a recent professional development day in my district, one of the workshops focused on creating displays that promote literacy and reading in your library. One of the examples was a “get caught reading” display, where the media specialist took pictures of students reading in the library and displayed them. This got my gears turning. … Read more
In all the craziness of last year, I forgot to blog about one of the grants we received. Almost every year that I’ve been a media specialist, I’ve applied for a grant from the Hillsborough Education Foundation. In previous years, I’ve applied for more graphic novels, books geared towards reluctant readers, and audiobooks. This year, … Read more
I just found out a few weeks ago that my school is receiving a Lowes Toolbox for Education grant of $5,000 to transform our library! I applied for this grant back in February, with the goal of transforming the instruction/tables side of our library into a dynamic, collaborative, Learning Commons-style space capabale of quickly and … Read more
I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about learning spaces, and how to create a physical space most conducive to learning. My library is pretty small, with no natural light, lots of heavy furniture, and a 30 computer lab stuck in the middle of it. While I may be limited somewhat by the physical space, … Read more
What led me to become a school librarian? Let’s rewind back to the summer of 2005. I was working on my bachelor’s degree in Sociology, with no idea of what career I wanted to have. I quit my job working as an in-house roadie at a local concert/event venue to go to Nicaragua for … Read more
Like many school libraries, my district has been gradually shifting from print reference to digital reference. Yet when I first arrived at my library four years ago, we still had several hundred reference books, filling up three large floor shelving units. The majority of these books were out of date. Over the past four years, … Read more
Recently, changes in Pasco County’s media centers have been making the news. Pasco is adjacent to my school district, so naturally I’m interested in what’s going on next door. Last year they eliminated their media specialists, much to the chagrin of their parents and students. Now they’re talking about modernizing their media centers to keep up … Read more