The Librarian Influencer of the Week is a Washington teacher-librarian, Shana Ferguson. She transitioned from teaching high school English to working in the school library. She has worked in both elementary and high school libraries. Click here to listen to her interview now.
Here are some Librarian Influencer strategies Shana shared for early-career librarians:
Build relationships with the students and they’ll see you as a great resource.
The transition to elementary was a big one! Fortunately, the other teachers stepped up to help her and she reached out to other elementary librarians for assistance.
As a high school librarian, she helps to run high school clubs and activities.
Help everyone have a positive experience.
Take it as a compliment when people think you have all the answers.
Shana shares how she likes to visit classrooms and bridge lessons between classrooms by sharing with the teacher what the students have learned in another classroom that they can now use in the current classroom.
She loves to help teachers reshape and invigorate things they have been teaching for years.
Next year she is focusing on how to help teenagers develop strong critical thinking using media literacy.
Be the heart of the school.
~ Think about students who come to your library.
~ Also think about students who never come to your library.
~ Invite teachers to use your space for classroom activities.
~ Work with teachers to do creative things like turning your library into an art
gallery for the art teacher.
~ Partner with your public library.
~ Listen and learn from the school community you join.
You can follow Librarian Influencer Shana Ferguson at:
Twitter: @medialitnerd
Instagram: @river_library
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