Module 14 Post

For your final blog post, please discuss your biggest takeaway from this semester.

My biggest takeaway this semester is that a school librarian can provide SO much support to SO many aspects of a school!

Here are some examples of topics that a school librarian can be a go-to resource on for students, parents, and faculty:
  • Information literacy
  • Website creation
  • Tech tools for the classroom (hardware and software)
  • Technology and accessibility
  • Copyright and fair use
  • Censorship
  • Cyberbullying
  • Makerspaces
  • Not to mention other topics like literacy, reluctant readers, cultural events, and even more!
It can be overwhelming to consider the vast amount of knowledge and resources that a school library should have in order to support his or her school community. 

My personal takeaway from this semester in relation to this overwhelming realization is that it will be important for me to choose a few things to focus on at first before trying to tackle everything else! It is okay to say, "I'm not sure, let me look into that and get back to you!" which is the same advice that new teachers are often given. For example, some of the things I feel more comfortable with right now are research and student databases, video editing, and classroom technology software/websites. I can learn new things one at a time to add to the topics I'm skilled at, rather than trying to be the expert one everything at once.

The assignment that most made me realize how much a school librarian can do for their school was the website project. When I started thinking about hypothetical programming/events, for example, I began to realize just how much of an impact I could have on a school.

I have also been thinking a lot about efficiency and getting the most "bang for your buck" as a school librarian. With so much that I could focus on, I will need to make sure I really consider what is going to be the MOST useful to my school community at that time. What do students, parents, and faculty MOST need from the library right now? That's what my focus will be.

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