Jean Darnell: Awaken Librarian!

Hello friends! I know it's been a while since I posted, but big changes happened in my life. I accepted a new leadership role on the east coast in Philadelphia. This presentation below is how it all began: Reimagining Philly by Jean Darnell Which led to this... And this... So, there you have it. I'm a Library Director in Philadelphia! Here are a few pictures of me in action: Don't worry, I will get back to my AI adventures in 2025. You can still catch me at TCEA 2025 as a conference presenter in February and I will be a SXSWEdu in March!

Welcome to my Back-to-School Leadership and Advocacy post! I am super excited to present to you some ways to get your students involved in the censorship battles across America. This post is written in conjunction with the wonderful Da'Taeveyon Daniels, winner of the Sam G. Whitten Award for Intellectual Freedom this past year at the 2024 Texas Library Association Annual Conference: Here's a bonus for you, Da'Taeveyon has written a Top 5 List for Student Advocacy to educate and elevate student voices in leadership. As student activists, advocates, organizers, and storytellers, we play a crucial role in shaping the future of our communities and our country. If you're just starting in student advocacy, especially in the fight against book bans, here are five essential tips to help you take a leadership role and inspire action. 1. Educate Yourself and Others Knowledge is power. Start by understanding the issues at hand—why are books being banned, who is aff...

Recently, I was asked to create a lesson on teaching students how to differentiate and determine use of websites as credible online resources. I created a handy acronym (CRAFT vs. CROOK) on grading websites. I made a previous knowledge connection between "handcrafted toys" vs "mass-produced toys" via a "t-chart" checklist on the dry-erase board. Below is the word document for the lesson plan and a brief slide presentation using some of additional resources.

Here's a recap of last week in tweets and pics. Please enjoy! Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee newest members, which I did take my place as the new member on the 2017-2020 program committee. TBA's Author's Speed Dating Recap @TBABooks Author Monica Brown discussing how her daughters influence her writings! #txla17 #TBAProgramsROCK pic.twitter.com/G7zBxfuRkM — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) April 19, 2017 General Session began a welcome from San Antonio mayor, Mrs. Ivy Taylor and concluded with the "digital englightenment" revelation from Cory Doctorow . In addition to this tweet, few other "AHA Moments" were these nuggets of insight: 1. Devices should always obey their owners. 2. Security facts should always be legal to disclose. 3. Saying we don't need librarians because we have the internet, is like saying we don't need doctors because we all have the plague. 4. LIBRARIES are the secret clubhouses of the resistance!" ...

So...how many of you librarians have visual directives to assist students with returning items to the shelves? Well if you don't have any visual aides, you're in luck! This post is dedicated to shelfie conversations that "cutely" address how to treat the library books. If you have CHAMP behavior level expectations at your campus, then these Shelfie Talkers cover all facets! C -Conversation: Level is 1. The only discussion is for assistance with shelving materials. H -Help: The help needed is re-shelving books. Follow alphabet order for "fiction" books and numeric order for non-fiction! A -Activity: We're returning the books back to the shelves in alpha/numeric order. M -Movement: We're walking to the shelves without disturbing others. P -Participation: This activity benefits you & the librarian so books can be easily found next time. S -Success: I know exactly where that book is on the shelf! Enjoy!

Tomorrow is... We're kicking off our celebration with "Story Webs!" However, instead of a boring graphic organizer (LOL), I made it interactive with a ball of yarn, some giggle and one classic story! We featured a great updated version of the "Three Ninja Pigs" with Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat's " The Three Ninja Pigs " See all the excitement with our iMovie recap: International Literacy Day from AwakenLibrarian on Vimeo . Here's the campus wide challenge that we gave staff members: For more resources on how you can incorporation some literacy and reading fun check out 11 Creative Reading Incentives for You Classroom ! As a bonus, I came across this wonderful Eduphoria find for teaching literary analysis. I just had to share! :) Big Update: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY NEW PRINCIPAL! She's a former librarian and she loves reading to the students! Her SUPER-POWER is spreading the joy of literacy! Thank you, Mrs. Metoye...

Would you rather be a poet or a rapper?? To some of us...there's little difference. How many times have you heard a lyric in a song so poignant and poetic that it rivets your soul? Like some of you, I can listen to a song and travel back in time. So...being a kid of the 80s/90s and loving all genres of music (like I love all genres of books), I thought I'd collaborate and combine my two great loves: poetry and music...specifically rap music! I came across the idea a couple of years ago via Book Riot's post: Poetry Line or Rap Music. We begin the lesson with a few foundation questions via a Gallery Walk! With 8 poster size sticky notes and the following questions, we were able to build a foundation for the poetry vs. rap: 1. What are some characteristics of poems? 2. How do you encounter poetry in your everyday life? 3. What is poetry to you? 4. What makes a good poem? 5. What makes poetry easy? Difficult? 6. If poetry was a food, then which food and w...

Tomorrow, I present at the Fort Bend ISD's Digital Learning Conference . So get ready for my tweets to follow #FBISDDLC ! What's the topic? Glad, you thought that! The presentation covers how I used social media and web 2.0 tools to advocate for my library. Most of in encompasses what I blog about, for those just mastering the ins/outs of technology, I do have "how-to" instructions for starting a blog, creating a vine and of course Twitter! Rather than bread-crumb you step-by-step, here's the presentation: BIG UPDATE: Thank you to all 28 of you lovely ladies that came to my session! Your presence touched my heart! Because of you, my nightmares vanished! Mad love for you! Come join me as we use #socialmedia to propel our #libraries into the #21stCentury for #learners ! #FBISDDLC pic.twitter.com/hkrilckLAw — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) June 9, 2016 I'm ready for the #FBISDDLC and #Robin has found her #Batman ! #FBISD Digital Learning greatne...

Part of my calling in life is to "awaken" others. Therefore, when I came into the #LibraryLife I wanted to leave my thumbprint on it! Looking over my profession, I noticed the absence of multicultural librarians. After further immersion in the librarian world, #WeNeedDiverseLibrarians took root in my heart. Yes, the timing coincides with the #WeNeedDiverseBooks/#WNDB . Absolutely! But I also know the role and subtle power of librarians... selector/arranger of books, gatekeepers of knowledge and advocates for all aspects of learning. And those are just my top three! When I started using the #WNDB hashtag, there were a handful of like-minded individuals. Thank you glimmer of hope! But if you know me, I take a glimmer and turn it into a spotlight. :) But how? Quite recently, my smoldering campaign for diverse librarians received a dose of gasoline. I came across the following slideshare about School Library Hero Worship: Hero worship from Gwen Lehman Upon first...