In my 25 years (!) as a school librarian I’ve pivoted more than once. The digitalization of materials, automation of collections and explosion of the internet all occurred during my career prompting me to gain new skills and incorporate this knowledge into my teaching. 

As a librarian, I’m generally the only person in my building with my particular skill set. Often I feel overlooked as I do my job, which simply doesn’t look like a typical teacher’s job.

The instruction I provide is usually to support a curricular task which originates in a classroom. For instance, a teacher working on a  project requests library time for research or book talks on a particular topic. My other responsibilities include collecting materials, purchasing new books and maintaining a large facility with thousands of items.


I won’t complain about what my job is or how it is often difficult to make meaningful connections with kids. My building is big and divided into multiple “houses” which each have their own flavor, so to speak. Frustratingly, it is generally not possible for me to work with and get acquainted with our entire population and I know that not all students are provided with the same lessons and library skills. That’s just the unfortunate reality of the situation.


Of course, this year is like no other. Districts have been forced to stretch faculty and staff in new and creative ways and we’re all working harder than ever before. I’m now, for the first time ever, responsible for teaching “Library Skills” to 18 sections of 6th grade students. This means I get to work with every 6th grade student (345+) in my school, and surprisingly, I could not be happier. My days fly by and I’m actually getting to know my kids as I do my best to give them lessons that are practical and, hopefully, interesting. It’s honestly fantastic!


Now, understand that the first few weeks were overwhelming. The technology, the cleaning keyboards, desks and seats between classes, the traveling around the building all took precedence over the content. However, as I mastered the physical stuff, and grew to know the kids, I started to find my rhythm. The last month has just been a blast.


From the onset I knew that I did not want to add an iota of stress to these kids’ lives. I just won’t do it – they have more than enough of that in their lives already. Instead, my hope is to provide them with some information they may not be getting anywhere else as classroom teachers are pressured to cover an array of mandated material. 


Halloween week was a lesson on how to use a database to locate biographical information about important people such as Edgar Allen Poe. We talked about his work and watched Vincent Price read “The Raven,” which naturally led to the “Thriller” video.

Election week was devoted to learning a little about the history of access to voting in our country with discussions about the 19th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, John Lewis and his excellent graphic novel trilogy March, and the Supreme Court decision in 2013 which resulted in eliminating hundreds of thousands registered voters from the rolls.

Veteran’s Day provided a segue into a conversation about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the contributions of more than a thousand of those same men who voluntarily enlisted to fight for a country which denied them their basic rights thanks to Executive Order 9066.

Using recent nonfiction books, including George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy. as well as an excellent historical fiction, This Light Between Us, we learned about the experience of being removed from one’s home and imprisoned, along with the remarkable valor of the 442nd Battalion tasked with the impossible mission of saving the “Lost Battalion,” an accomplishment for which they initially received very little acknowledgement, despite suffering catastrophic loss of lives in the rescue .


The midst of a pandemic seems like an appropriate time to consider resiliency and the ability of people to survive tremendous challenges be they, as I discussed with my students, natural disasters, finding one’s self unprepared in a remote wilderness, life in a neighborhood rife with violence or in a living situation with abusive family members.

I introduced the kids to books (fiction and nonfiction) with characters who muster the strength of body and mind to withstand what life has, often unfairly, dealt them. From the moment my students entered the classroom, with our theme song of “I Will Survive” playing and setting the intention, they were interested and engaged and curious. Isn’t that the purpose of education? 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this is not the time to force established and traditional curriculum on students. This is the time to teach them meaningful lessons which they can incorporate into their understanding of our world and society. As I read recently on Twitter:

Kids are not falling behind. They are surviving a pandemic. I’m here for that and couldn’t feel more inspired.