Standing on My Father's Shoulders

One evening after supper, I curled up on the couch and asked my nephew Cole what book he would like me to read to him. From his stack of library books, he picked the classic Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

The text was a little long for a two and half year old, so I read as expressively as I could and interspersed the story with dialogic reading in order to keep his attention. Half way through the story, my father joined us on the couch, and I insisted he finish the reading. My voice was a bit tired, and I thought that a new reader would bring new life to the story.

Indeed he did.

While my father read, he naturally added sound effects and physical interactions with Cole (tickling, tapping, etc). He easily modified the text; he repeated phrases and added humorous comments or explanations that would engage Cole's imagination but also make adults (like me) chuckle.

I was in awe. I was entertained. I felt grateful.

My father is an amazing educator, and I now see how his storytelling proficiency inspired my own interest in stories, reading, and ultimately learning.

I hope to get a few of his animated and humorous story readings on video for posterity.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Almost two years into my professional career, I have begun to revisit the notes I took while a graduate student in library school. A week ago, I discovered this quote:

"I have lived on the work that other people have done before me."

This idea is one I have finally come to understand and appreciate.

As I now work at different locations in my library system and continue to network through professional listservs, my peers introduce me to so many ideas ... ideas that spark my own creative juices and renew my passion. Ideas that I build onto.

My early learning science correlations are building on the work of my former professors ... professors like Sue McCleaf Nespeca who suggested storytime "extensions" that went beyond crafts to include science experiments and other subject area explorations ... professors like Michelle Baldini who headed a book correlation project for the K-5 academic content standards that is now posted on the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education website.


Following this interest of incorporating educational standards into libraries, I recall one session at ALA Annual that has influenced me. It was called "State Academic Standards + Library Programs = Educationally Enhanced Children's Programs."

While librarians do address the standards in the activities we do, we need to be aware of the language used in our community/state and reiterate it during our programs. With Every Child Ready to Read and Saroj Ghoting's Early Literacy Storytimes, librarians now have incentive and even scripts on how to outwardly address the early literacy skills. However, I believe it is important that librarians do this with ALL standards and subjects, not just the area of reading and language.

Librarians do support education, and while we may be conscious of why we do what we do, we need to articulate our rationale to the public. Not only does this raise a caregiver's awareness of a child's ability to learn, it raises awareness of the importance of libraries in the community ... and the awareness that libraries do need levy support to fulfill such services.

Leading Effectively and Dynamically

I just found an awarding-winning website about leadership through the Think Quest website.

I will explore the site further at a different time. However, I did notice an interesting article that contrasts "leadership" and "management" ... concepts that I would have thought were more similar than dissimilar.

I also took the Student Leadership Scale (quiz). My results:

Integrity = Excellent
Servanthood = Very Good
Empowerment of Subordinates = Very Good
Appreciation of People = Very Good
Shared Vision = Good
Innovation = Very Good

It is interesting that "Shared Vision" ranked lowest, since this is what I struggled with during my Emerging Leader experience.

(Social vs. Professional) Networking

This is just a little post to say

how I excited I am today

to learn from peers

whose ideas I hear

while networking on the internet

Who are our peers?

Which is our set?

In Venn Diagrams

How many intersections

can we sect?

Where is the line between

social

(and)

professional?