An Emotional Menagerie: Feelings from A to Z

Happy National Poetry Month!

I always loved calling attention to Poetry Month in both the public and school libraries because there's no much potential for sharing poems and interacting with an often-overlooked form of literature. I had fun choosing lesson plans relating to poetry for different ages, and An Emotional Menagerie: Feelings from A to Z is brimming with wonderful potential lessons.

Before sharing my lesson ideas, it's important to establish the quality of this book just as a read-aloud. Even if you don't tie lessons into it, these poems are meant to be read to a classroom of students. The book is listed as being for ages 5+, but coming from a Montessori background had me envisioning reading these poems to Early Childhood students (as young as 3).

The book has an emotion assigned to each letter of the alphabet, and each emotion is described with animal qualities. These animals are amazing choices for each emotion; even as an adult reading it on my own, I was impressed with how the animal qualities truly described each emotion. A monkey is naughty, a chameleon changing its colors is uncertain, just for a teaser.

Each poem is six stanzas long, but each emotion gets its own spread, so you can hold the book up as you're reading and the children can take in the vivid illustrations. (I love that each emotion gets its own spread because there's no reading ahead to the next emotion!)

When you use this book with younger students, you can show them the picture of the animal, have them name it, and ask students to share what they know about the animal. After reading the poem aloud, you can ask the students to share what they know about the emotion, or if they've felt it. Then you can discuss how the emotion and the animal relate to each other.

I think this book would be great to use when discussing emotions with younger children. It could also be incorporated into lesson plans if you have a letter of the week since there's an emotion for every letter of the alphabet. The book could also be used as a tie-in when you're studying animals since the emotions and animals match so well.

With older elementary students, I feel like there are several ways to approach this book. You could plan lessons and storytime based on the letter, emotion, or animal. A, for example, is Anger, with a roaring lion. You could read the A poem with Lion Lessons by Jon Agee and compare and contrast the lions. Or you could read it with My No No No Day by Rebecca Patterson and talk about anger.

You could also open the floor up for discussion about emotions before you even open the book. Go through the letters and see what emotions students can name for each letter. Once they guess the emotion that is used in the book, you can then have them brainstorm what animal they think would be associated with that emotion and why. 

I also had a creative writing club with older elementary and middle school students, and I think this book provides great jumping-off points even for that age. You could ask students to think of an emotion for a certain letter and have them write a poem about it. After reading some of the examples from this book aloud, you could ask them to think of an animal, and write a poem about emotions they associate with the animal. For an extra challenge, you could ask them to choose an emotion and write a poem using only words that express that emotion, or only words that start with the same letter as that emotion!

This book is one of those gems that not only gives you a great read-aloud for the classroom or storytime, but also is full of potential lessons for a variety of ages. It's enjoyable to read and will be even more fun to share with students to help activation their imaginations while cultivating emotional awareness.

Back to School: Favorites

 

These are just a few of my favorite Back to School books. There's something about the humor in these books that makes starting a new school year a little bit smoother for everyone involved, students and teachers alike!

First off, who doesn't love the Pigeon?! He's a well-known character sure to put students at ease because of his familiarity. He's so silly in The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! by Mo Willems, resisting school because he's so scared, before realizing school is exactly what he needs! I don't know about you, but my favorite part is being as silly as possible when I read the "Whazza whazza WHAA?!" part.

Some students might already be familiar with Peanut Butter and Jelly from their other books, so I like to show those characters going back to school, too. In Peanut Butter's First Day of School by Terry Border, Peanut Butter is worried about what the first day of school will be like, and everyone gives different answers on how to prepare for the day. Peanut Butter just stays true to himself even though he was scared, and it all works out in the long run.

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins is, if you ask me, the perfect back to school book for younger children. It's hilarious, but also is a good way to teach the rules and how to be kind to friends. There are a lot of jokes in the illustrations, too, which makes it a great book to read at the start of the year so these younger students will know how important it is to look at a book's pictures in addition to listening to the story.

I already consider School's First Day of School by Adam Rex and Christian Robinson a classic, because it's been in my life for four long years now, since my own kid's first day of school! I love reading this book every August because it's a fun way to show kids that they're not the only ones nervous about starting a new school year!

Back to School: For My Son

 

My son is starting first grade this year, so in addition to reading him all these books I'm sharing with you, I wanted to find some just for him, and some he could possibly read by himself.

On the First Day of First Grade by Tish Rabe, illustrated by Sarah Jennings, is a fun book set to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. It goes over things students do during the first twelve days of first grade. Since we'll be doing remote learning from home for at least the first semester, I loved reading this book to my son to help explain how things will be different. Even if he was going to school in person, he wouldn't be doing the exact same things the first graders in this book were doing, so it was a jumping off point for a conversation about how the school year will be different than we expected, but also how school is different for everyone, everywhere - and I think that helped soften the blow of why his first grade year will be somewhat strange.

*Last year his special book was The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton.

Dragons from Mars Go to School by Deborah Aronson, illustrated by Colin Jack, was the perfect book because my kid is hooked on dragons right now! It was just silly enough to be a fun read, while still teaching some lessons about being kind of new students and friends alike. The rhymes made it really run to read aloud, and it's been on repeat for several bedtime routines now!

School of Fish by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Moran, is, of course, the book I want my son to read aloud. It's a level one Ready to Read book, so it's just right for his age. It's a great book to instill confidence in younger students - both with their reading progress AND going back to school! There are mantras in the book like "I'm slick. I'm cool. I'm ready for school." that are fun and empowering for your student to say. There is also a great way about calming and centering yourself and counting to ten.

The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna is one we have to read every year. We discovered Pout-Pout Fish when my son was about six months old, and we've loved every book since! His school book is especially fun because it has a signature Pout-Pout rhyme that kids will start saying along with you after they hear it a couple times! It's a great book about understanding where you are now and how you will learn and grow in time.

Back to School: For Younger Readers

Younger kids can be scared about starting school, too! They might be going to daycare or preschool for the first time, and it can be scary and unfamiliar, especially if they're used to being home or with family. Here are some great books I've found for younger readers, specifically toddler to pre-kindergarten, but of course I think that these books are fun (and can be adapted) for kids of any age! 

It's Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer, illustrated by Claire Messer, is about Busy Bus being nervous as he prepares for his first day of school. This book gives great opportunities for physical engagement and movement, which is so important for younger readers! When Busy Bus tries out his new stop sign, wipers, and horn, I use some of the motions from Wheels on the Bus. It helps those younger kids (potentially unfamiliar with school, and almost always not fans of sitting still!) really engage with and stay interested in the story.

Choo-Choo School by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Mike Yamada, is a fun rhyming book about seven train cars going to school. The illustrations are bright and engaging, and what the trains learn are great jumping off points to relate back to the young students' new classroom rules and lessons. For example, the trains learn the classroom rules, how to be kind, how to count, and more. 

So Big! by Mike Wohnoutka is a great book to use to talk about what's happening in the story and what emotions the characters are feeling. There are very few words - mostly just "so big" used in different ways to portray how Bear feels, or how the school looks to him. This is a book that can get readers involved in telling the story by asking them what they see on each page, how that makes Bear feel, how they feel, and more.

Bear's Big Day by Salina Yoon is a a sweet book about how young kids don't need to feel like they have to be "big" when they start school. Bear misses his stuffed bunny, Floppy, but thinks he's too big to take a stuffed animal to school. He feels alone and doesn't engage in any of the classroom activities because he misses Floppy too much. Bear talks to his teacher and together they work out the perfect solution! This is a nice jumping off point to ask students about stuffed animals or comfort objects they have at home (or at school, if they are allowed to bring them for nap). Salina Yoon's books are always adorably illustrated, too, though I'm slightly biased because she is one of the first authors my son would request when he was just learning to speak!

Back to School: Round Two

I'm back with more back to school books to share with a variety of ages! Starting tomorrow, my back to school book posts will have more specific scopes, but for now, I hope you enjoy the random round-up!

Tool School by Joan Holub, pictures by James Dean (creator of Pete the Cat!), is a fun rhyming book about an assortment of tools going to school (on the TOOL BUS, hah!). They learn the rules before they're free to start their own project, but quickly learn that their strengths aren't that great all on their own - they have to work together! It's a fun book to read aloud, but also teaches a lesson about collaboration and respecting differences in those around you. 

First Day Critter Jitters by Jory John, illustrated by Liz Climo, is a cute book about different animals nervous about the first day of school for various reasons. Once the animals find out that their teacher is also nervous, everyone starts to feel better and comes together to work as a team. By the end of the day, they realize their worries weren't really anything to worry about! This would be a fun book to talk about with students as you read it - have them identify the animal, share what they know about the animal, and try to relate that to what the animal might be nervous about - THEN read the page and see if you were right!

Chicken in School by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Shahar Kober, follows Zoey, an adventurous chicken, as she creates a school for her friend Sam the pig. Zoey invites all the farm animals to come to school, and what they learn, and how, is so much fun to see! Children will love getting a peek into this silly school that is so different from their own. The way Zoey presents books as for "building imagination" and crayons as for "creating adventures" will spawn a lot of extension activities for students too, depending on if you're in the library, classroom, or MakerSpace/STEM lab.

Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Will Terry, is a story about Bonaparte, a skeleton so worried about starting school that he keeps losing his bones! His monster friends try to find solutions that will keep Bonaparte together, but nothing seems to work! This book is a great jumping off point for finding solutions that might help keep a skeleton together, especially after talking over what is tried in the book and shown in the illustrations.

Back to School: Round One

Going back to school will look different for everyone this year. Some schools pushed back the start date, some are doing hybrid schedules, some are fully remote. But the best thing about back to school books is that they're all different, none of them looked exactly like your school day even in the best of times, so there's no need to skimp on these great books this August (or September, or via Zoom, or whatever)!

I think reading back to school books will still help put students at ease because they're a good way to let kids know they're not weird to be nervous, anxious, or scared to start school. This year these books can be a great way to compare and contrast what different school days look like, talk about how your school days will look, and try to normalize that type of anxiety, also.

Hello School! by Priscilla Burris is a book told in short sentences and dialogue, making it a great book to start the year with. It gives you jumping off points to go over your own school and classroom rules. In fact, you could read the book as-is, and then go over your specific rules in the same way - by giving the rules and letting students speak up and share thoughts or examples, as they do in the story.

Butterflies on the First Day of School by Annie Silvestro, illustrated by Dream Chen, is a beautiful book about Rosie, a girl so excited to start school that she practices how she will act before the day comes. The morning of her first day of school, Rosie feels sick, and doesn't want to go to school anymore. Her mother assures Rosie that it's just butterflies in her belly, so Rosie gets on the school bus. Soon a girl sits next to her and starts talking, and when Rosie introduces herself, she's surprised to see butterflies escape from her mouth! This happens throughout the day, and when Rosie sees it happen to another girl, she knows just how to reassure her new friend. This is a fun way to talk about being nervous for the first day of school, but could also branch into a brief lesson about figurative language, depending on the age of your students.

The Class by Boni Ashburn and Kimberly Gee follows twenty children on their first morning of school. It shows how different everyone is, from how they get dressed to what they eat for breakfast. They all come together in their classroom, and this is a great jumping off point to let students talk about their first morning of school. Learning how different everyone's lives are at home can help these students practice empathy and understanding, as well as get to know their new classmates.

A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices by Sally Derby, illustrated by Mika Song, is like a version of The Class for older students. The six voices are students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and their stories are told in poems about The Night Before, In the Morning, At School, and After School. The characters are diverse and have different living situations, so this is another great book for students to read to hit home the point that everyone is different, and you should be kind and understanding to them. I like making copies of the poems and asking students to read them aloud. This can work in different ways - having students read one character's poems aloud in chronological order, or having students read the points of view of all different students according to each time frame. (I used it in different ways last year and had great results!)

Back to School in Verse

Last week I shared some of the back to school books I read with young students. This week, I'm going to share one book I was able to read with multiple grades.

A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices 

by Sally Derby, illustrated by Mika Song

This book of poetry features diverse children starting kindergarten, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grades. Each student has a poem from the Night Before, In the Morning, At School, and After School. Students have different living situations, different ethnicities, and different abilities and talents. I made copies of the poems and had students in each grade read them aloud. 

For one Lower Elementary library class, I have a mix of first and second graders. After first graders read the poems, they shared words that described their night before and first day of school. Some second graders even chimed in with how they remember feeling the year before. The other Lower Elementary class has a mix of second and third grade students. It was interesting to hear their reactions to poems about students in other grades, in other schools (fictional, yes, but still relevant). It was wonderful to see how they could relate to these characters.

One Upper Elementary class has fourth and fifth graders, so we finished up the book with those poems, and then they wrote their own. For the group of 6th and 7th graders, I found an assortment of poems online. Several were about starting school and the end of summer, so we took turns reading those aloud before they wrote their own. A bonus pack of poems was about growth mindset, dreams, and pushing yourself to see what you could accomplish. These were read aloud and then also used as jumping off points for their own poems. I was so impressed at the variety of poetry style and the depth of emotion these students shared!

Back to School Books

It's back to school season, and we've actually been in session for four weeks now! I started library classes by reading several different back to school books to students aging from 18 months to 5th grade.

The biggest hit this year was We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. Toddlers, Early Childhood, and Kindergarten students all loved the silliness of this one. It naturally lends itself to discussing how to make friends, be kind, and consider others' feelings, so it's not only a great read-aloud, but also a great jumping off point for lessons that need to be gone over at the beginning of the year.

School's First Day of School, written by Adam Rex and illustrated by Christian Robinson, was a close second. I read this one to Early Childhood last year so some students remembered it, but you can never read a great book too many times. This book also led to some great conversations about others' feelings - the concept of a school building being nervous is silly, of course, but it loosened students up and helped them think about how others might feel even if you don't know them well or don't think they would feel certain ways based on their actions.

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Judy Love, is actually the first book I read to the Early Childhood classes. The twist ending is delightful for both students and teachers, so it was fun to have a teacher in the library (as they are for the first session) to enjoy this book and help the students realize that the twist ending is actually true!

Back to School with Bigfoot by Samantha Berger and Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Dave Pressler, was a silly read-aloud. I used this one to talk about how students got ready for the first day of school, but mostly we inspected each page of illustration. This book is vibrant and gorgeous, and there are a lot of hidden gems in the pictures that are worth taking a closer look.

For toddlers alone, we enjoyed It's Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer, illustrated by Claire Messer. The story is about Busy Bus being nervous as he prepares for his first day of school, but on a simpler level than some of those I read the older students. This book also gives the opportunity for some engagement and movement, for example when Busy Bus tries out his new stop sign, wipers, and horn. I used some of the motions from Wheels on the Bus for those parts.

The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems was, obviously, another hit. Everyone loves the Pigeon, and the endpapers provide a great discussion beyond the book. The front endpapers show empty desks, and the back endpapers have birds sitting in each desk. You can ask students to find each bird (such as an owl, toucan, etc), or have them point to and name each bird.

Ten Years After

Ten years ago I was winding down my life as a graphic designer, packing up my belongings, and moving just outside Washington, DC to study fiction writing as an MFA candidate. I can think back to that time and feel everything so clearly, honestly from January 2009 until August, to include the anticipation of the MFA acceptances or rejections. I applied to ten or eleven schools, and was accepted to two - one with no financial package, one with a full ride and TA position. I picked the school that offered me the most, of course, and was grateful for it.

I had wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, scribbling in marble notebooks and keeping them in a "real" leather briefcase. (Yes, I was that kid.) I never stopped writing stories, even though I never really finished one until my first creative writing workshop in undergrad. I ended up there after thinking I should major in journalism, because it was writing. I didn't know creative writing was a thing you could study, take classes in, get graded on. Once I discovered that, I was gone. I was so sure I was going to grow up and become an author. It seemed real to me, just by having a concentration in the college catalog.

I stuck with my MFA program for one year out of three. I didn't like how certain workshop professors pushed us to write in a specific style first, and once we mastered that, we would be allowed to experiment. I couldn't handle having to read three short story collections a week for one class. I loved my classmates. I loved the other tutors I worked with in the Writing Center, and I loved the Writing Center itself. I loved working with other students. I loved editing papers and helping them find their focus while writing.

I don't regret my year in the MFA program. I don't regret quitting after a year.

I have friends with MFAs who are writing and publishing and working as professors and love it. I have friends without MFAs who are writing as publishing and working as [fill in the blank] and love it. And I always felt like I was somewhere in between. That by being enrolled in a program and quitting meant I had failed. But I didn't fail - I made a choice. And I need to be kind and honest with myself and realize that I am one of those without an MFA who is writing and publishing and working... period. I am doing so many things I never thought I would be doing ten years ago.

When I started that chapter of my life, ten years ago, I couldn't really picture the future. I could see myself writing at all hours of the night, because I could hardly sleep if the sun wasn't out. I couldn't picture myself as a professor. I couldn't picture myself as a partner or a mother or anything beyond that hazy image of a person huddled over the table writing... something.

And here I am. I am a mother with a wonderful child. I read in all my spare time, and I share books with him every day. I completed a Masters degree in Library Science. I'm an elementary librarian sharing books with students and their parents. I wrote and published a book. I have been writing nearly daily for over six months. I have been completing stories even without a deadline in my face. I am gearing up to teach an elementary creative writing club in the fall. It might not be what I dreamily thought would come, but, ten years after, I think I'm in a good place - maybe just a logical evolution from what I thought I wanted back then.

Family Book Clubs

I'm posting this well after the fact, considering I hosted these book clubs for School Library Month in April, but I've just started thinking about my next round of book clubs and was excited to share these.

April was National School Library Month, with the theme of Everyone Belongs @ Your School Library. To welcome "everyone" (of course just the extended school community, with safety and privacy concerns), I hosted Family Book Clubs for each age level.

Early Childhood students (3-6 years old) read The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat. Families read this book at home, and I sent home two emails of talking points, articles of interest, and discussion questions. 

Parents and children were invited to share their answers at the book club meeting. We also made a craft - a Beekle crown out of metallic gold paper! I created bookmarks of other books written and/or illustrated by Santat. This age group is the largest population in our school, so having a more informal book club meeting with a few questions/talking points, a craft, and of course snacks(!) was perfect.

Lower Elementary students (1st-3rd grade) read The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl. Just like for the younger students, families read the book at home. For this age group I wanted to pick a book that was more challenging than a picture book, but wasn't so long it seemed daunting. I also wanted the book to be one that parents and children could read together, or independently. I sent emails out with talking points and discussion questions.

There are fewer students in these grades than in Early Childhood, so their questions asked more of the students - more imagination, more room to talk and draw. I knew our club time would be a little more structured and that they would be able to explain themselves more... let's say concisely than the younger ones. 

We had snacks at the meeting, of course - books and snacks just go hand-in-hand! We also made a craft - an Enormous Crocodile magnet clip!

Upper Elementary students (4th-6th grade) read Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman. This is the smallest group of students in our school, and of course the oldest. I sent out two emails (in code), challenging them to code secret messages and create their own codes. I was blown away by this group! I had reports from parents and teachers that all they were doing at home and on the playground were creating codes! We had so much fun at our book club meeting, cracking either others' codes and answering each others' secret questions. I also had a scavenger hunt based on trivia questions from the book. I hid clues around the library and let them loose with the first clue, coded of course. The hunt branched off from there, and the winner got a hardback copy of the second book in the series, The Unbreakable Code!

I had so much fun planning these book clubs and sharing the stories with students and their families. I'm already planning another set of book clubs for the fall, with the hopes of holding them every fall and spring, instead of just during School Library Month!

Library Volunteers - available today!

My book, Library Volunteers: A Practical Guide for Librarians, is being released in the wild today! You can order it from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, or on Amazon.

The book is a handbook about how to create and maintain a volunteer program. While the specifics, such as job duties, focus on library volunteers, this handbook can truly work for any organization that can benefit from volunteers. And let me tell you, from my experience, almost any organization can benefit from volunteers! You can read more about my writing and researching process here.

I pulled from my background of creating the volunteer program for a nonprofit to lay the groundwork, so that information applies to any organization. Sample paperwork is even include, which can be copied directly from the book, or tweaked a bit for specific organizations.

I genuinely think this book can benefit many organizations. It's not a book that I would ask friends and family to buy to show their support, but please consider recommending it to your local library or any nonprofits you know that use or could use volunteers! That's the best way to help this book make a difference.

UPCOMING RELEASE - Library Volunteers: A Practical Guide for Librarians

I'm so excited to announce that I have a book coming out in May 2019 from Rowman & Littlefield!

Library Volunteers: A Practical Guide for Librarians

by Allison Renner (WHAT?!?!)

Though it's not released until mid-May, I spent so much of 2018 researching and writing that I knew I needed to include it for a year-end wrap-up post. I can't tell you how many of my hours (waking AND trying-to-sleep) have been spent thinking about this book. I can't wait to have it in my hands and look through it!

I have always been passionate about volunteering, so the pitch was a no-brainer! I volunteered for a few non-profits as a child (with my mother and grandmother), and continued that as an adult. Volunteering really changed my life - a simple weekly volunteer commitment turned into a career that altered my path. I helped with a weekly art class at SRVS, then was hired to be their volunteer coordinator! With help from PR and the Learning Center, I created a program from the ground up, based on my experiences volunteering. I went on to volunteer in libraries, then become a volunteer coordinator at a library branch. I took my knowledge of library volunteering to the public schools, and created volunteer opportunities for elementary students in the school library. In my current position as a Montessori elementary MakerSpace Librarian, I'm still using volunteers within the school, and hoping to broaden our scope to include outside opportunities as well.

Phew! All of that to say - wow! I am so proud that the first book I'm publishing is going to be a Practical Guide for Librarians. They have Practical Guides for any library-related topic you can think of! I can't tell you how many times I consulted these books during my MLS and work in public and school libraries! I used them expensively over the summer to help build our school's MakerSpace. These books have helped me in so many ways, because they are so easy to consult and put into action! They look like textbooks and are very informative, but the information you get from the books can be used immediately. Real life applications and examples are given, and they are a great resource for the library community.

I'm hoping that my book will be used in other fields, as well! A lot of the information I pulled from were my own experiences volunteering with nonprofits, period - not just libraries! And honestly, the groundwork of creating a volunteer program can apply to so many different fields. Examples of job duties are fairly library-specific, but the sample paperwork and overall guidelines included can help any organization who can use volunteers, so I hope it's used in that way!

It's even on Amazon for pre-order! AH!

What Was the Great Depression?

It's taken me a long time to write about this because I waffle about social media and this blog so much. I can never decide if this space is personal or professional, but there is a point when those two intersect, and I think it is important for me to share my experience.

Social media is too often focused on looking your best, sounding your best, always coming across as the happiest, most satisfied person ever. That's fine - who wants to read negative stuff on blogs and social media when the news spreads that information for us? I also admit there is a difference between trying to make the best of a situation and trying to act like it is perfect - and I struggle with that regarding what and how to share on social media.

This blog was my happy place when I was a library science student, reading and reviewing books for a class, envisioning how I would put my degree to work once I graduated. A job opportunity came up before I was finished with my last semester, and I took it, even though it started immediately and meant I had to find last minute child care for my two year old son, and juggle two classes (one of which was CATALOGING, wow!), an internship, and a sign language class (for my personal interest) while learning a new position. I should have said no, but I was so worried that it would be my only opportunity. I should have said no because I was not offered the job I applied for, but one the system thought I would be better suited for. My coursework still applied, so I thought it would be ok. I made the best of it in real life (and genuinely enjoyed it for a long time) and acted like it was the perfect fit on social media.

Personally, having my young son in someone else's care full time really ate at me. I know you do what you have to do, and I was lucky to have had so much time with him in the first two years. But I had always planned to stay home with him, at least part time, until he started school. But I felt so strongly that I had to take the job that was offered to me. Eventually it wore me down, especially when the system expanded their hours, meaning I was working a handful of nights and weekends every month. Other aspects had changed enough to make me not enjoy the job as much as I wanted, and it all led to me taking a different job that helped the family most.

Another position came up, and due to some family changes over the summer, I thought taking that job would be best. This job sounded good on paper, but in reality different things were expected of me, with limited time to complete them, and no support from administration - even after repeatedly asking for it. I was still working nights and weekends, except now I was at home churning out lesson plans. Lesson plans that met the standards the system required, but students didn't appreciate or care about. That's not how I wanted to be a librarian. I won't even dip into my thoughts on public schools and instead direct your attention to the image at the top of this post. The Jeopardy clue that is the answer for would be "Allison's time working in the public school system." But online, when I posted (SO RARE, if you look back over this blog and its instagram) I pretended all was fine.

Until I couldn't pretend anymore. I'm not trying to drag those jobs over the coals and rip them to shreds for being unfair or awful. They were just awful for me. I think it is so important to have a job that you love, that you are passionate about, that makes you feel fulfilled. You don't have to work all the time, or talk about your job all the time, or think you are changing the world. It just has to make you feel good, in whatever way you want. If that means working retail 20 hours a week so you have time for something else, fine! If you want to work 60 hours as a lawyer, that's fine too! It's all individualized, and that is important to remember.

I'm saying that for myself as much as anyone. I kept feeling pushed to take a job just because it was offered to me. I wish there was a trial period to transition to a new job, because it definitely would have influenced me with at least one of those jobs. I feel like it would have helped my happiness so much - to know exactly what I was getting into before committing. Before feeling like a failure for leaving. Before feeling dumb and aimless for taking and leaving X jobs in X years. And maybe it is irresponsible, or not how someone else would do it. But I value my happiness over almost everything else (wow does that sound selfish!). I know that if I am not happy, everything else in my life will suffer. I am lucky - no, I need to stop phrasing it that way, as if it just so happened to work out that way. I have worked hard since my early teenage years as a babysitter, and I have saved money so I have a buffer. Gone are the days of someone retiring from the same company that hired them straight out of school. Gone are the days of companies keeping someone for that long and rewarding them for their loyalty - so many companies here have been "downsizing" once the bulk of their employees are a certain age, just casting them out and making it so hard to find a new position at their older ages.

But I digress. It has always been important for me to feel happy at my job. Not consumed by it, not overwhelmed by it, not stretched thin by its demands. But balanced. And I know this means your personal life has to be satisfying too, and that was definitely a problem I was struggling with as a new mom and newlywed, so this period in my life wasn't all job-centered.

I want to feel like I am making a difference on a more individual level. I don't care if the public school system gets more money from the state because I am helping them hit their numbers. I care that the students who came to me learned something from me - however minor that may be. I hated that students would see me in public and greet me, and I thought of them as strangers. I didn't know their names or what grade they were in because I was seeing 860+ kids every two weeks, and connecting with none of them. I don't care if I get do implement all of my creative ideas in my job. I care that those in management want to hear those ideas and value me for coming up with them. And I think I've found that job. But more on that later.

I just wanted to share all of this in the name of transparency, to not get too personal and not call out any systems in particular, but to say that it's not always real online, and it's ok to get real and not be happy pretty posed instagram shots all the time. And to thank everyone who has been there for me - some online since the start of this blog, some on instagram even though I haven't posted regularly in too long, some in person from one job or another, some who have always been there. And now I click "Publish" before I overthink it because... why not?

Book Clubs During School Hours for Students with Disabilities

While trying to get an overview of library services offered in my area, I spoke with a high school librarian who brought up an idea that seemed revolutionary to me. The librarian had previously been a special education teacher, so she purposely made her library services welcoming to this population.

Because of her background, the librarian reached out to the current English teachers to form a book club for students with disabilities. She wanted to hold a weekly book club in the library during English class. Holding programs during school hours can be difficult, because there is already so much to do during a school day. But it increases participation, since many students ride the bus or have other after-school obligations, and often can’t stay late.

Read the full post on YALSAblog and share your thoughts!