Jean Darnell: Awaken Librarian

Students: Please review the instructions for your first blog post! Here's my SAMPLE for you. Yay for modeling expectations! Welcome to my blog! I'm Jean D.: activist, rebel, creative thinker and otherwise AMAZING woman . What makes me amazing? I've a great sense of humor... I fought with Black Panther before he helped out the Marvel Avengers. I'm known as the "Wakanda Librarian" in the African nations of Nigeria and Mali. Black Panther My fictional mother is Khalessi (GOT fan) and my brother is a dragon. Here he is... via GIPHY Finally, I'm a writer . I've books that I've written that have inspired me at the darkest moments of my life. I'm also an art collector. Here's my latest purchase by Patricia Blackwell. Want to know how to make your own Meme easily? You can make your own MEME here.

Today's my first day back after the tragedies of Hurricane Harvey. I've the fortunate pleasure of teaching a digital media course to further advance my platform of the "Social Media Librarian." Please check out our class workspace: GLEC-PVA Digital Media Class . To begin this year off on the right foot, I've included these jewels from my EdPuzzle account! Enjoy! Please join this Edupuzzle using the PIN: viovpin. Here's AASL's 2017 Best Technology Apps for Learning : For my DIGITAL MEDIA STUDENTS ONLY, please complete this survey for one of your daily grades: Create your survey with SurveyMonkey

I LOVE, love, LoVe virtual conferences! Any day I can learn in my PJs is the BEST learning for me. It's made me productive enough to do a summer post! In conjunction with my role as a Coretta Scott King blogger for ALA , I will focus my post on the wonderful Jason Reynolds and how his book, Miles Morales: Spider-Man has hooked reluctant readers! Please enjoy! Spoiler Alert: Spider-Man is no longer Peter Parker; he’s now Miles Morales! ( a moment of silence, please. ) I hate to be snitch, but it’s all Jason Reynolds’ fault...kinda. His words created such a believable connection that the new Spider-Man is a half black, half Puerto Rican 16 y/o from Brooklyn. I half expected Zendaya (from the summer blockbuster Spider-Man Homecoming ) to step out of the book! Today, the School of Library Journal held a live, young adult literature, virtual conference--SJL Teen Live!--and let’s just say, Mr. Reynolds shined a spotlight on the essence of connecting with reluctant readers (R...

This about sums it up for me! Happy Summer!

Full of gratitude sums up my feelings at the moment! I'm happy to share that I'm officially a contributing author to the American Library Associations' Coretta Scott King Blog !

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!" ...

Without further adieu, I must inform you that I just had the ABSOLUTE BEST DAY in the library. Yesterday, we broke through the mirage of the "stereotypical" princess. We took the "rescue me" mentality up a notch, removed the prince and added the vitamin of EMPOWERMENT into the mix. Come on this journey with me, as yesterday changed my perspective in the best way possible! "Color Me a Princess Tea" short movie from AwakenLibrarian on Vimeo . We had a panel of distinguished guests: Rashika Robinson (biology major, baker/entrepreneur) Miss Katy Teen 2017 Sydney Felton (17 y/o dancer, student and motivational speaker) Tina B. (engineer, poet, musician) Courtnie Penson ( Freed-Montrose Librarian , social worker, doctoral canidate) April Carson and Rhonda James ( YWCA Houston Community Outreach and Director of Programs ) Sybil Moss (educator, pagent organizer, motivational coach) The ultimate goal: Make yourself the heroine in your life wit...