Every Class A Doorway

Photo source: Jr Korpa on Unsplash

I've been reading Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series this summer as I come across them at work. They are small books and don't seem to require reading in any sort of order so it's easy to grab one and read it over a series of lunch breaks. I like them because they are folk and fairy tale variants - something I got to really enjoy exploring last semester in my History of Folk and Fairy Tale class. The books essentially focus on kids who are seemingly lost somehow in their own work and doorways are opened to them that take them to a new place where they become heroes of sorts. When their journey is up, the doorway opens and they return back home, changed, but willing to faces their original lives with new perspectives. At least, this is the situation in the ones that I've read so far....

My Doorways

This summer has offered me multiple changes and doorways to explore as a youth librarian. One path would've moved me 8 hours away to Raleigh, NC to start our life over in a new place. Another doorway, the one I did choose, moved me to a different branch in my system and going from part time to full time while doing essentially the same youth services work. Now a new doorway has opened up working as a media specialist for a magnet middle school here that is both exciting and terrifying. 

I am nervous about the school because I haven't worked in a school library in 5 years and it's been 12 years since worked with middle schoolers. I worry about being behind in what is going on in the world of education, having to create lesson plans, and being the one person in charge of the library space. I am excited because the school is referred to as a museum school and a huge chunk of their curriculum is exhibition-based which allows for a LOT of creativity. 

When I started looking into all the technology resources since the beginning of this blog I didn't think many of them were directly relevant to what I was doing for kids in the public library setting. I stretched myself to make connections or see where I could adapt what was in front of me. Now that this new doorway has opened, I'm going back into the resources provided with new, albeit, panicky eyes because I need to know what is out there!

Tools to Use

The tool that I learned about that I'll use in the future was definitely the ones on Common Sense Media. Their digital literacy education plans are definitely something that could be turned into a teaching model where I'm going and for the age groups I'll work with. 

My Wakelet collections are definitely tools I'll be adding on to for personal use, but also into the classroom. I'd never heard of Wakelet until this semester and it's something I'm using in two of my three classes for two different reasons. Having a place to curate websites I come across has been a really great alternative to bookmarking. In my research class, it's the platform we're using for a group assignment because we can list literary resources we find, host things like our Google Docs and Zoom links, and share information in a hub platform. 

Going Forward

Twitter will be one of those tools I'm either going to have to learn to love or just let go of in favor of something more focused like a Facebook group. Also, as a new/returning teacher it was beneficial to do a datamine on myself in case there are things out there that would impact me negatively as a respected person. 

I feel more confident in my technology usage and it's been really fun to see how resources have advanced since I graduated undergrad in 2003. In 2009, I was in an alternative certification program to become a teacher and we spent DAYS working on artsy things for our future classrooms. I loved it because it was crafty, but the reality was that the program was a bit of catch-22 in that we wouldn't be certified unless we spent the following year in a classroom but you were uncertified so principals weren't hiring you. We spent all this time making things for classrooms only 10% would see. It was a waste of time and money because of course it came at a premium cost to teacher wanna-bes. All the educator resources wouldn't actually happen until people were put into classroom settings. 

Now I'm standing in this doorway again but I do feel more confident in going into with more resources at my disposal and knowing that there are more out there being developed to meet ongoing needs. So 8 weeks ago I was content with knowing what I needed to know and being comfortable with the tools I understood. I'm more excited now about what else is out there and learning from others... a little more like Bilbo Baggins...


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