Tales from a Loud Librarian

For Teen Tech Week , I wanted to create some kind of contest where I would provide a grand prize. The contest would be designed to have students submit some sort of written piece, and then I would randomly draw two names for the grand prize winners, one from middle school and one from high school. I like the idea that the winners are selected randomly and that just by entering the contest all students had an equal chance to win. Thinking about it, I decided that I would ask the kids to submit a review of a book, movie, or game that they would like to recommend to their friends. I gave wide parameters of what they could review. The students had to submit one paragraph with a brief summary and one paragraph explaining why they would recommend the book, movie or game to their friends. I created a Google form for them to submit, so it was easy to share on the library website and in emails. The students chose from new and old and below is a pie chart showing what they chose to review. It w...

Sporting one of the prizes for the Fast Finger Search Our school has grown exponentially since we moved into the new building three years ago. This year was the first time that three lunches were needed in the schedule. With three lunches, I have lost the ability to have the older students help with the activities for the 6th and 7th graders. While the 6th and 7th grade are at lunch the 8th-12th grade are in the middle of 3rd period and vice versa. Before we just flipped study hall and lunch for all students, so I could get the older students out of study hall to volunteer in the library for the little ones. Lunch everyday is a very long process. The 6th and 7th grade go to lunch at 11AM and the 8th graders don't finish lunch until 1:10PM. I am open every day for all lunches unless there is a class scheduled with me. Selecting a signed ARC by last week's visiting author for his prize Even though I would be sailing solo, I still wanted to have a robust slate of acti...

I usually like to participate in national events during the time that they are scheduled. This year Teen Tech Week (TTW) comes at a bad time for me. Two days this week, I will be attending the state library conference for the Louisiana Library Association. This is so inconvenient. At first, I thought of starting the celebration this week and finishing next week. When I mentioned this to some students, they said that is ridiculous, and so in the PFTSTA Library, we will celebrate TTW beginning on March 14th. Actually, I really liked that idea because it gave me some extra time to finish up the planning and to purchase the supplies.  All events are scheduled during the students' lunch periods. The last activity is online, and the students can participate anytime. I plan to post lots of pictures of the week on the library website here.   PFTSTA LIBRARY: All Reader’s Welcome Monday:              ...