Final Blog Post #8- Blogshare

 When looking through the internet for blogs there are so many resources out there to find. However, I happened to find a great resource for future librarians to use. The name of the blog is The Library Voice, and it is written by Shannon McClintock Miller. She is a speaker, author, and librarian at a preschool-12^th grade school. She has many awards and honors that give her a reputable voice. After looking through and reading her blog, I found that she has a surplus of resources and blog posts that cover a variety of topics having to do with work in the library. I hope you are also able to find this blog helpful and use it to help you in whatever ways you need!

The first blog post I would like to share from The Library Voice is about Hour of Code Week. In this post, she discusses a program she uses and a list of coding books that are great to use with students. She provides step by step instructions on how to create a hour of code choice-board for families to use with students at home. She calls it “You’ve been virtually book’d”, which is such a cute slogan! She uses Desitny Discover to upload books for families to read, however I believe you could use Epic or other resources. Making connections within the community is something that is extremely important to developing a library. I enjoyed working through the steps, and I could definitely see myself using this idea in many other aspects of the library to reach out to families in the community.

Here is the link: https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/11/youve-been-virtually-bookd-for-hour-of.html

Another blog post I found interesting was about choosing scanners for your library. I thought this was such an informational post that I have not seen many people talk about. In this post, she gives five tips for finding the best scanner for the library. The tips include focusing on compatibility, user-friendliness, flexibility, portability, warranty, support, and budget. These are all the things she suggests thinking about when searching for a scanner that will work best for you and your students. I never thought that this would be such a crucial aspect of the library, but this post has helped me to see that even the smallest pieces are crucial to helping the library to run smoothly. At the end of the post, she includes a link to a scanner and also a great sale! This blog really helped to shed light on this topic and helped me to feel more prepared for this once I am in the library!

Here is the link: https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/11/10-helpful-tips-to-consider-when.html

 

Another informational post I found on this blog was an activity the author did with her students. They are called thankfulness self-portraits, and the students use pixel art, books, and creativity to make it! The website she used to help create the art is called StickTogether Pixel Art. She completed the activity with first grade students, and decided to have a lesson on thankfulness. She used two books to introduce the lesson: Thankful and The Thankful Book. Both are awesome, and I recommend reading them! The process of the pixel art is very cool, and seems to be a great way to add STEM into a library lesson. The students first colored their self-portrait on a grid, and then the teacher uploaded them on the StickTogether system. Those copies were printed, and students used stickers to fill in their portrait. The teacher then attached their portrait to a sentence starter: “I am thankful for…”, and students filled in the blank! I loved reading about this activity, and I am definitely planning to utilize this tool with students. I think it is an awesome bit of technology to use with younger students in the library!

Here is the link: https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/10/creating-thankfulness-self-portraits.html

 

One other blog post that I found interesting and helpful was a post about getting input on library content from students. She wanted to give students in the school a chance to share what they would like to see in their library. She stated that as a librarian, she wants to make sure that all students can read the books they want to read. She wanted to know student requests about books, authors, series, and genres that should be added to the library. To establish this, she created a form that listed multiple ways students could make requests. There is a book request paper form, or a digital google form. I think this is such a great idea to get students involved with their school library and helping develop the collection. It is important for students to make connections and develop a relationship with reading, and I think this could help to do just that. I would even do this the first week of school to get students excited and curious about the library! This is an idea I am excited to use whenever I am in a librarian position!

Here is the link: https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/09/giving-our-readers-place-to-share-what.html

The Library Voice has proven to be full of great tips, ideas, and inspiration! Shannon McClintock Miller is such a great writer, and explicitly gives details on how to better your library, content, and connections with students. In addition to all the wonderful blog posts, she is also an author of several children’s books. They are all very cute, and I recommend giving them a read! Here is a link to her list of books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Shannon-McClintock-Miller/author/B00E5GD2XW?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true As a future librarian, we must stay in the know of happenings surrounding our profession. This class has truly taught me that blogs are a great realm of resources! I plan to continue referencing several of the blogs I have learned about through my classmates as I continue on this journey to becoming a librarian!

 

 

References

McClintock-Miller, S. (2023, October 30). Creating thankfulness self portraits and stories with

StickTogether Pixel Art, books and lots of creativity! The Library Voice. https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/10/creating-thankfulness-self-portraits.html

McClintock-Miller, S. (2023, September 3). Giving our readers A place to share what they'd like

to see in our library! The Library Voice. https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/09/giving-our-readers-place-to-share-what.html

McClintock-Miller, S. (2023, November 5). 5 helpful tips to consider when purchasing A new

scanner for your library! The Library Voice. https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/11/10-helpful-tips-to-consider-when.html

McClintock-Miller, S. (2023, November 22). You've been virtually book'd for hour of code

week, December 4-10, 2023....A special program and list I use within our destiny

discover & library each month! The Library Voice. https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2023/11/youve-been-virtually-bookd-for-hour-of.html