The Daring Librarian

Mirrored & adapted from my MHMS Daring School Library Blog Keep Reading: Summer Reading for Kids, Librarians, & GAMERS! I love loaning my adorable kids (my students) over to my local public library for the summer. We're A+ partners and they love my kids, too! Of course not as much as *I* do but pretty close! We just had a representative from our Howard County Savage Branch Library come out to talk to our 6th graders - I set her up in our MHTV Studio & videotaped it (yes, w/a VHS! Our distribution center is still analog) We did the first show LIVE, with a presentation of the HoCo Summer Reading game and 2 booktalks with my 2 amazing media helpers Desiree & Chyna! And then we put the tape into the distribution center so that the English Teachers could call up & start the video at any time to show their classes! Every year I promote to our kids the Summer Reading Lists to the kids in several way. What is cool is that the lists are created collaboratively between...

Hi, My name is Gwyneth and I use Wikipedia every day. There, I said it. Somehow that's pretty freeing! Wikipedia is NOT a dirty word. We're doing a disservice not teaching our kids HOW to use it and how to cite it...as in - ummm selectively & with forethought. Sadly, I don't believe teachers & college professors are ready to wrap their mind around or admit recent studies that show: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica. Much like the Internets in general, (or the Googles, or the Facebooks, or the Twitters, or the YouTubes) many educators look upon Wikipedia with suspicion, sometimes derision, and occasionally with fear. But who are we kidding? It ain't goin away folks! The Wikipedias are here to stay...It's an Internet Wonder of the World! And for gosh sakes, it comes up top 3 in just about any Google search you do. What? Ignore a good entry for a query? Really? Can you admit, you use it, too? So....How do we teach kids to use it? Teaching Wikipedi...

I was asked to give a short overview about advocacy for school libraries (and librarians) to the middle school media specialists in my district and created a Prezi giving quick highlights. I based it on the powerful & informative School Library Journal article co-written by Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson that really spells it all out! Things That Keep Us Up at Night along with a few of my opinions thrown in for good measure. This incorporates a lot things that I've been thinking lately AND issues we've been discussing at the TL Virtual cafe and within the Geek Tribe. I foresee this evolving into a larger presentation at some point - because we're all passionate about keeping school libraries funded and staffed nationwide - and being the best teacher-librarians we can be! Get the BIGGER Prezi Experience HCPSS Library Media Wiki