Ok....so I said I wasn't going to write again until I had students, but...well...I lied!
A year ago, I found out that I was going to be moving into the library at my school. My position would be a one year "pilot". Prior to this, our librarian had been a paraprofessional. She was retiring, and my district was willing to look at making it a teacher-librarian position. I had one year to prove myself...and the importance of the position.
Now, I had the position, and all I could think was..."Oh my goodness! What in the world do I do?".
My colleague Karen (@KarenAupperlee) suggested that I go on Twitter. Like John Schu has said, I, too, thought that Twitter was a place where people posted pictures of their food and outlined every detail of their day-to-day life. She assured me that this wasn't the case, and that it would be a great connection for me. I signed up...and followed a few people, and they eventually followed me. I had NO idea what I was doing....(or what half of this stuff meant).
Soon I started making connections with other librarians and finally got the guts to start asking some questions. WOW! I never expected the outpouring of advice and support that I received. It was so overwhelming, so unbelievable. People were SO amazingly kind and helpful. When I asked "beginner's (what were probably dumb) questions", I got sincere, thoughtful answers. When I started to panic, I received reassurance. When I said that one of my first tasks was to get some graphic novels in my library, I was sent a box of new graphic novels from another librarian. I naively asked why she had so many new graphic novels sitting around...and she replied, "They weren't sitting around, I bought them for you!". Bought them for me? I haven't even met you?? Really???
That's when I realized...this was something special! These people were something special!!
Not having a mentor in my district, there is no way that I would have succeeded this year, if it weren't for my new PLN. Their patience, wisdom. honesty, and expertise helped me turn my "pilot" into a permanent position...and spread it to the other buildings in my district.
I have my dream job...and I couldn't have done it without the help of so many people.
So...John, Margie, Travis, Sherry, Matthew, Julee, Chris, Cynthia (and many others) I sincerely and humbly thank you!,
Thank you Kurt. The first year is so challenging for us all and we all well remember our struggles. I have worked in libraries since the age of 18 and they have evolved so much over a short span of time. We are blessed to be librarians.
ReplyDeleteI love your origin story into libraries and greatly admire your tenacity in securing the position! You are an asset to your school and to our PLN.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for you Kurt. Your enthusiasm for your position is evident in everything you do. I wish you continued success. I sincerely thank you for the mention.
ReplyDeleteKurt, I am so thankful to have you as a friend and colleague in this vast TL world. You are an asset to your school and to your students, but you are also a great asset to us! Thank you for asking those questions and for being a voice for many, many others who were too afraid to ask. You will do great things, Kurt Stroh! I'm just thankful to be along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing great thinks, Kurt - it's been great getting to know you and learning from you
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