The Daring Librarian

I hope that the click-bait blog title got your attention. It was designed to! But you may ultimately find it misleading. Please keep reading! Before any admins out there start sharpening their pitchforks for me, I gotta say that I really don't think teachers need to train new principals. Principals come to us already accomplished, trained, vetted, and hand-picked. Nor are Principals or Assistant Principals really dragons...but then again, dragons ARE protective! And a new Admin does sorta have to take control of the school which may include a little fire breathing now and then. Are you still with me? The conversation I really want to have is with YOU - or rather, with US!  The classroom teacher, school librarian, and educator of any subject who is NOT in charge of a whole school.   I actually think it's the teachers and staff that needs to be trained to be more tolerant! Cut Me Some Slack! Why do we seem to give all kinds of slack, assistance, mentoring...

I truly find Lady Gaga amazingly inspiring and motivational. She's a mega talented writer and rock star who truly cares for her little monsters, preaches acceptance and tolerance,  & is a powerful agent of change. The full video is embeded at the end of the post - but let's talk about some of the highlights and how they can teach us some important lessons. 1. Be happy to be here Lady Gaga says "I truly believe I have so many followers on Twitter just cause I write nice stuff! ...I don't whine, I don't make fun of anybody. I'm just happy to be here! " When it comes to Twitter, G+, or social media in general - just be happy to be here! Who wants to talk to a Debbie downer at at party, right? I mean, I'm going into the hospital tomorrow to finally replace my busted knee (no skateboarding, parkour, or surfing this season!) but I'm really gonna try NOT to whine, angst, or go on and on about it on Twitter in the next few weeks. My Twitter sh...

I was asked recently for a quote by a N.Y. Times editor for their opinion page : Here's the question: "School librarians are on the chopping block as states and cities seek to cut their education budgets. Do superintendents and principals see librarians as more expendable than other school employees? If so, why?" Here's my response: "From the Daring Librarian to Teacher Librarians everywhere with love, albeit tough love - but full on love! Times are tough all over for education. Superintendents and administrators are making some hard financial decisions. Any position that does not have constant student interaction, testing expectations, and direct grading is vulnerable. Librarians and school libraries are at a crossroads. This is one of the most exciting times to be a teacher-librarian in our country and is also the scariest. A revolution is at hand, and we need to be nimble, daring, digital and shift both our practice and the way the world thinks of schoo...