Read This Book: My Pencil Made Me Do It

Read This Book: My Pencil Made Me Do It // Carrie's book is the story of her journey into sketchnoting and how it helped her and her students to grow.

I’ve followed Carrie Baughcum’s work on Twitter and Instagram for awhile.  We briefly met F2F back at ISTE 2016 in Denver.  I’ve loved the positive, upbeat and fun loving tone that she shares in her posts.  So when I heard that she was publishing a book about sketchnoting this past fall, I quickly preordered a … Read more

9 Favorite Tools for Making Awesome Sketchnotes

9 Favorite Tools for Making Awesome Sketchnotes // Here's some of my favorite pens, notebooks, markers and pencils for making physical sketchnotes.

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

Virtual PD Hack: Sketchnoting Conference Recordings

Virtual PD Hack: Sketchnoting Conference Recordings // Now that we all have more time for virtual PD, I've discovered a particular hack that's working really well for me: sketchnoting recordings of conferences sessions and webinars.

Virtual PD Hack: Sketchnoting Conference Recordings (and Webinars) Like many other educators around the globe, back in March I quite suddenly found myself teleworking.  As a librarian, I struggled with this, since so much of what I do is about connecting with teachers and students.  I worked at our online student help desk, trained our … Read more

AASL Post: 5 Conference Tips and Tricks from an Overplanner

Having a plan before you go to a big conference can make your experience so much better. Here's some tips from a seasoned overplanner.

I’ve come to realize that I’m an overplanner (my friends are probably rolling their eyes right now). I get this trait from my dad. I love to research places, read articles, make maps, create itineraries. Conferences are one of my favorite ways to learn.  And I’m an overplanner.  When you combine these two things, it … Read more

AASL Post: How to Make a Game Plan for Your Next Conference

How to Make a Game Plan for Your Next Conference | Going to a major conference is exciting and thrilling, but it's easy to get overwhelmed and exhausted. If you plan ahead and make a game plan, you're much more likely to have an awesome and successful conference.

Click on over to AASL Knowledge Quest to read the full post, or scroll down to get the summary: Going to a national conference can be exciting and thrilling. Unfortunately, it can also be overwhelming and exhausting. I’ve been to ISTE three times, AASL once, and FETC seven times, so I’ve had to time to … Read more

The Best Stuff to Pack for Big Education Conferences

The Best Stuff to Pack for Big Education Conferences | It can be daunting to figure out what to bring with you for a big conference. Here's my tips on what stuff you should pack.

Big education conferences like ISTE, ALA, AASL and FETC can be fun, exciting and thrilling.  But they can often be overwhelming, especially for first-timers.  I’ve been going to big conferences like these for seven years, so I’ve been working on tweaking and perfecting my conference gear to make it 1) not too heavy and 2) … Read more

AASL Post: 3 Reasons Why You Need to Attend Your State Conference

AASL Post: 3 Reasons Why You Need to Attend Your State Conference | It's easy to get caught up in the hype and glamour of national conferences. But there's many vital reasons for us to be attending our state conferences as well.

The very first conference I ever attended was my state conference, FAME (Florida Association for Media in Education) back in 2010. I was a brand new librarian and soaked up all the new information, ideas, and connections. It only took one conference to get me hooked. Since then, I’ve attended and presented at conferences all … Read more

3 Important Takeaways on the Future of School Libraries

3 Important Takeaways on the Future of School Libraries | At SLJ Leadership Summit 2016, the future of libraries was an issue that was front and center. Here are my three takeaways from the event.

The future of school libraries is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about.  In October, I had the honor and privilege of attending School Library Journal Leadership Summit in Washington, DC.  As I looked back over my notes from the event, I realized that our future was front and center in all … Read more

Read This Book: The Sketchnote Handbook

Read this book- The Sketchnote Handbook- The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note-taking | I may be a little late jumping onto the sketchnoting bandwagon, but I'm loving it. If you're interested in learning more about techniques and how to sketchnote, The Sketchnote Handbook is an amazing resource. Check out my review.

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