23 Things for Professional Development

This summer I am participating in 23 Things for Professional Development, a "self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development as a librarian, information professional or something else." I am hoping to develop my blog and to learn some new tools to teach my students in September. My name is Maura O'Toole and I am a Library Paraprofessional at a Boston Public Middle School in Dorchester, MA. I have worked as a Library Para for 5 years, and I hope to someday return to school to get my MLIS. Up until this school year I worked part-time at 2 schools. I started in the library of my daughters' school, I had no experience but I fell in love with all things library- from the books and the cataloging to the concept of organizing information and now consider it my life's work. I spent 4 years at The Mission Hill School working part time. In the fall of 2010, I took a second part time job at The Harbor School and I was offered a full time position this school year at Harbor. It was hard to leave The Mission Hill School because I didn't feel like I had completed my vision of a fully functioning library but I because I never had staff or administrative buy in to the library at Mission Hill it was hard to get the things done that make a library fully functioning. Coming to The Harbor School allowed me to have a vision, the budget to fill that vision and a shorter time line to the library being fully functioning. When I use the term fully functioning I mean that the collection is up to date, their are enough books of interest for students, students and staff regularly use the library and the administration believes in the library integral to the school's function.

Books about Children of Color

One thing I am passionate about in my libraries is giving my students access to books that reflect their experiences of life. I work at two different inner city schools where children of color make up the majority. All too often the books available about children of color make it a point to include issues of race, or the struggle for justice. Those books have a place in my library too, but sometimes a child just wants to read a book to escape, not to be taught another lesson about how cruel and unfair the world can be today. Unfortunately a lot of publishers don't think that books where children of color are the main charcters are marketable, so at time it is a struggle to find the just right book. Here are some links that have been I have found helpful in collection development in my libraries:

http://adrianadominguez.blogspot.com/

http://thebrownbookshelf.com/

http://coloronline.blogspot.com/

http://blackteensread2.blogspot.com/

Up and Down the Andes

Up and Down the Andes:
A Peruvian Festival Tale
Written by Laurie Krebs • Illustrated by Aurélia Fronty Publication: November 2008 • Barefoot Books • Illustrated Young Reader

I received Up and Down the Andes in the mail today, my first Picnic Basket Book, and I am sold! This is a beautifully illustrated book that starts with a simple rhyme about children making their way to market in a variety of ways- bus, boat, mule train- to perform in the annual Sun Festival. The pictures are lush and colorful. The books starts and end with "Up and down the Andes there are children just like me" The rhythm is just right to keep even the youngest child in my school library engaged, but there is more to this book then just the beautifully simple story. After the story is my favorite part of this book because there are pages of information about the Festival of the Sun, then more Peruvian Festivals, a short history of Peru, information about the people of Peru, information about Mach Picchu and the Andes. The book ends with facts about Peru. I love books like this because it informs me as well as my students, and appeals to many different ages because of the large amount of information. This book will definitely be a five in my library!