Category: Knowledge Creation

  • Speaking Up: Considering Professional Identity in Online Engagement

    Speaking Up: Considering Professional Identity in Online Engagement

    If you work in education, you’ve no doubt seen the National Education Association’s Free Speech Cheat Sheet for Public School Educators. This list outlines professional conduct that will keep you on the right side of the law, as well as in line with almost any district policy. You can find a deeper dive into educators’…

  • Reading is Life

    Reading is Life

    The last week of the school year hits different every year. While the circulation stats, anecdotal evidence, and conversations with colleagues reveal many of our students are reading more than last year, we still have so very many students who are struggling and below grade level. I do not despair for them, because the teachers…

  • The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 10

    The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 10

    Meet the Parents (Maybe) This is Part 10 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. What is usually the true tale of my ongoing search for information about the origins of my great great grandpa Fritz (who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s, and whose last name appears throughout his life as both “Brandt”…

  • Reading Goals 2020

    Reading Goals 2020

    The Backlist Reader Challenge: fifteen books I’ve been hoarding on my To Read shelf are getting read this year! 📚 #BacklistReader

  • The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 8

    The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 8

    This is Part 8 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. It is the true tale of my ongoing search for the parents of my great great grandpa Fritz, who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s and sent, at the age of seven, to live with a foster family in Bow Valley, Nebraska.…

  • The Half-Pint Award: What’s in a Name?

    The Half-Pint Award: What’s in a Name?

    I am instead suggesting we have continued conversations as a reading community about building the best collections we can that include characters and stories that have the potential to connect with each of us in a way that makes us all better and that increases our understanding of our society, our history, and our connectedness.

  • Reader Response: Ulysses

    Reader Response: Ulysses

    I look forward to doing a book review for Ulysses next, but a Reader Response based on my margin notes felt more appropriate given the nature of the work.  Okay so this may not be as bad as I remember I mean it’s just some dudes eating breakfast and borrowing money from each other and then…

  • Reading the Hard Stuff

    Reading the Hard Stuff

    We believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. -ALA’s The Freedom to Read Statement

  • Informed Voters

    Informed Voters

    Photo credit: The featured image on this post is Vote by Theresa Thompson, made available via a Creative Commons 2.0 license by personalincom.org/vote.  I became a librarian because I am passionate about empowering people by connecting them with information they can use to positive effect in their lives and communities. With the election fast approaching, we all continue to…

  • Book Review: Sapiens

    Book Review: Sapiens

    The Vagabond Teen and I took Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari on the road this summer. We listened to the audio book on road trip days, read some chapters in our down time, and further dove into the subject of humankind, our biology, and our social history by watching videos about early humans and…