Wednesday, July 13, 2011

How I am now

As I was checking my email, I realized how much it reflects my professional self. I keep tabs on a lot of websites for YA books, instructional strategies, blogs about education, and technology support information, mostly so my teachers do not have to do this. There are lots of helpful sites out there for teachers, and lots of tutorials for them to create and share their thoughts and ideas. Now that my administration has said that there's no need for my position, I've been wondering how my staff are going to have the kind of service that they have had in the past. I am no longer the teacher librarian for my school district. But here's the thing: I can't stop thinking in that way. In other words, if I see a cool way to make a web page (flavors.me) or tutorials for everybody (http://www.khanacademy.org/) I want to share it with them. It's summer. I'm not on the clock. I would do this job free. I DO do this job free. I see the need for information-seeking support almost every day. This job has given me the greatest satisfaction that I help people. Period. I won't have this job come Fall, when the kids go back to school and teachers are back in the classroom. But I will always be an information seeker, an information sharer, and learning scientist. I will always be a librarian.