Jean Darnell: Awaken Librarian!

Happy New Year! To welcome my kiddos back to the library, I brought MY Christmas present to myself: Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 Robot! Needless to say, it was a hit! I did it as a wonderful segway into coding. I began by making the connection to this blog, as I've had to learn a plethora of codes to get this "digital baby" of mine looking cute! :) Lol! Along with my Digital Learning Specialist and for the remainder of this month, I will be teaching my kids coding. We will use the app Scratch Jr . Check out their video here: Scratch Overview Video from ScratchEd on Vimeo . Be sure to check back for additions to the post, but more importantly, check out BLACK GIRLS CODE ! and please say a prayer for me because I would love to have a local chapter here in Houston open up...hire me! :) Watch how Kimberly's desire to open doors for her daughter led to her #PassionProject of developing the next generation of tech innovators: http://amex.c...

There are some days that you anticipate and fantasize about: Christmas as a kid, wedding days as adults, birth of children as parents. Yesterday, I had one of those days...better than Christmas, definitely better than my wedding day --as I'm happily divorced, and just shy of the birth of my children! I had the wonderful Vanessa Brantley Newton in my library. Ever since I read her and Thelma Godin's Hula Hoopin' Queen , I've been in love! Less than 24 hrs ago, my dream came true. Miss Vee showed up like a calm sunrise and then shook the heavens with her amazing author/illustrator presentation! I still have wondrous chills when I think about it! Please look below and enjoy the highlights from her visit as it forever changed my and my students' lives! Principal & Vanessa Assistant Principal & Vanessa Me & my Soul Sister Just like myself, Vanessa is passionate about the need for DIVERSE BOOKS and granted me a brief glimpse into her passionate sta...

I love this month! It's short, cold and full of festivities! Please enjoy my newsletter, but more importantly enjoy your loved ones...those you know and are yet to know.

Today, I crossed the 20,000 viewers mark for this blog!!! I'm forever grateful. This is my passion and first mode of advocacy. What started out as an assignment has become my professional voice! It's due to viewers like you! Sorry to sound like a PBS commercial! But it's true! I've a humble heart and I pray you continue to uplift my efforts! Libraries are the heartbeat of any school! Whether their steward is reserved or outrageous (like me), libraries infect the souls of all who enter. I'm happy to do my part! :) Thank you so much for supporting this blog! And even though I'm super excited, I want to also use this accomplishment to promote #GivingTuesday . It's a global campaign to give back to those in need. Get on Twitter and learn more! We're all responsible for each other in more ways than one can imagine!

I'm quite the visual person and I love videos to express meaning, and consequently for learning. If I can see you do it, then I can master it within a couple of tries...hence this blog that's full of videos and graphics! :) I'm super-short on time, but came across a few resources to help with Thanksgiving crafts and lessons. Enjoy! Here's a cute little video for Thanksgiving: "Thank You for Thanksgiving," Happy Thanksgiving from the StoryBots! from StoryBots on Vimeo . I adore brain stimulation and came across these Thanksgiving Riddles from Enchanted Learning: What key won't open any door? (A turkey!) What's the most musical part of a turkey? (The drumstick!) Why did the turkey sit on the tomahawk? (To hatchet!) For all those "directionally challenged," here's a delightful "Thanksgiving Compass Guide" one-sheeter from Activity Village : Looking for a cool cupcake topper for your "to die for...

Today's #WorldKindnessDay! I'm overwhelmingly excited because all this month on campus, I've celebrated in every way. I've infected my campus with an energy that has a wondrous ricochet effect. Whether it's "paying it forward" or being a blessing to others, when someone goes above the GOLDEN RULE and, consequently, exceeds to the ENRICHED RULE my mouth hits the floor in shock! What's the Enriched Rule? Adding an extra "oomph" to an already good deal! That's like going to the bank for a loan, and getting that loan interest free for 10 years-no strings attached, no credit approval required! :) Yep, all that AND a bag of chips! Lol! I'm such the 90s kid! So...to get my kiddos psyched about kindness, I offered a "High-five" award for any students displaying random acts of kindness. Every morning via the announcements, I encouraged them to show kindness by performing various thoughtful acts, anywhere-anythime. Here ...

My district had the clever idea to get in on the holiday fun surrounding Halloween, and have a Monster Match! Basically, one class designs/creates a monster. Then they type up their description only of the monster and send the description to another school/classroom. Next, based on the description, that class creates their version of the monster. Finally, on a designated day, both classes video-conference to compare/contrast the results! How cool is that?? Very! Here is our accomplishment: LGE: Monster Match from AwakenLibrarian on Vimeo . I liked this activity because it was a bit of holiday fun, incorporated technology (albeit minimally) but also because it dabbled into a bit of #GeniusHour. Our kids were allowed to create based on a topic/guidance. They had a minimal description with the "sky being the limit" on creativity. It's not 100% #GeniusHour , but it's a great way to start off those kiddos and staff members are new to it. For some other ideas...