2015 Year End Post and Love Note to September Dawn from December Dawn

I've heard from several sources that fewer and fewer people are sending annual holiday greetings. I treasure this tradition each year. Both the receiving of cards, letters, and photos from friends and family near and far, and the preparation of my own annual update. Each year I try to provide a relevant update embedded in some creative format (here are examples from 2012,  2013, and 2014).

Here is my 2015 update, followed by a letter I penned to myself a bit earlier today entitled, "Love Note to September Dawn from December Dawn."

2015 Update:


Excerpt of Letter to Myself: 

December 31, 2015

Dear September Dawn,

The kids are back-to-school and you are eager to get started on new projects and/or projects that were back-burnered over the summer. This is Katia’s senior year, after all, so there are likely LOTS of projects. Christmas is the furthest thing from your mind. But you have time on your hands now. Things start getting busy in October. They get crazy busy in November. And by December you are stressed and frustrated with yourself for not planning ahead. 

Plan ahead this year. Get the holiday greeting card designed now. Plan what you want to do for the holiday craft this year and get going on it early. You absolutely must have it figured out BEFORE you go to Sunriver for Thanksgiving so you can work on it during your time there. There is nice down-time in Sunriver to do this sort of thing, but you MUST PLAN AHEAD to have the craft supplies identified and purchased before the Thanksgiving trip to Sunriver in order to use that relaxing time for crafting time. You are also more likely to get the kids involved and helping you in that environment.

Begin thinking about what you want to get the kids for Christmas. Actually, don’t just think about it, act on it. In years past (2015 was no exception), you made good notes for yourself as to what to buy the kids, but then you waited too long to go out and actually get the items, so you engaged in a frantic last-minute race around town, in heavy traffic and nasty weather to try to find things that had long since sold out. This happened for several items on your must-have list. Don’t do this to yourself this year. Oh, and plan ahead so you can actually send something to out of town family before Christmas instead of the week after Christmas (or later).

It would be so nice if the last few days before Christmas could be filled with some fun outings/activities, holiday baking, and relaxing movies instead of last minute shopping and frantic wrapping and crazed making of crafts for gifts! This will be Katia’s last high school Christmas. Plan ahead so that you can decorate early (instead of having the boxes out for weeks, but no bandwidth to decorate until a few days before Christmas). The kids are getting out of school earlier in December in 2016. Plan ahead so that all of the Christmas hustle bustle is done before the kids are out of school so you can enjoy family time (and friend time) with them once school has ended. Oh, and there is NO NEED to wait until December 31st to make annual donations. Just get them done. They can be done in September. Or October. Send them in and check that off the list. 

Okay. That’s it. Realize this was written after a wonderful Christmas, but a Christmas in which the lead-up was somewhat stressful (amplified by the fact that there were work projects and water issues that took more time than anticipated, and weekends in November and December that were full of racquetball and basketball tournaments, so even though you had blocked out what seemed like a lot of time in early December, it wasn’t enough time to get everything that needed to be done, done).

Please consider my advice in the helpful spirit in which is was intended and follow it, September Dawn. Love, December Dawn. 

*****

Happy New Year, folks! May it be a year filled with joy, love and laughter (and advanced planning!) : ).

xox December Dawn

Thankful for Books. Thankful for Libraries. Thankful for Family and Friends.

If you know me at all, you know that I love reading. I was thinking the other day, that of all of the many, many gifts in my life (and I have many), the gift of reading is one of the gifts I treasure most. I read every single day. I read to learn. I read to escape. I read to grow as a human. I read to understand.  I read to listen.

Image Source: School Libraries Matter: Beaverton

This Thanksgiving Break I will hunker down with my family and read by a fire. One of the books I will read is Amber Keyser's Back from Broken. Here is a beautiful article written by Amber that tells the tender story behind the story.

What will you and/or your children be reading over the Thanksgiving Break? School Library Advocates are collecting input on the School Libraries Matter: Beaverton Facebook Page. Please visit the site, "like" the site, and share what you're reading.

Speaking of libraries, if you know me at all, you know I also love libraries. I recently authored a guest post for the SchoolLibraryAdvocacy.org blog. I hope you will pop on over to their site to give it a read.

Image Source: L. Monfils

Our family has a tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving early. This past weekend we had 32 family members sharing food, stories, and laughter around our plentiful table. I am so blessed.

I am also grateful for you, dear reader. Thank you for giving me a space to share my thoughts, share my ideas, and share my passion for learning and life.

Collaboration Station

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of participating on a panel with other KidLit folks at the Pacific NW Bookseller Association's Trade Show and Convention. The other participants included authors Jane Kurtz and Chris Kurtz, A Children's Place bookseller Billie Bloebaum, and Andrea Milano, youth services manager at the Lake Oswego Library.

The main topic of discussion was collaboration amongst authors/illustrators, booksellers, librarians (both public and school), and educators. We talked about a myriad of different types of collaborations such as:

and collaborations with organizations such as SCBWI

 We also talked about the issue of funding. Here were some funding ideas that were shared:

The panelists and participants were engaged and engaging. Many folks wanted to continue the conversation beyond the scheduled time. I offered to create a blog post about the topic, so that the conversation could continue, virtually. 

Please use the comment section below if you want to converse about this topic (and/or "meet" others who are interested in this topic). I should also mention a longstanding (but not yet very active) Facebook group about this topic, created a few years ago by fellow author, Deb Lund. It can be found at this link. 

What collaborations have you tried? What collaborations would you like to try? What are your questions or concerns relating to reaching out to various stakeholders? 

I am hopeful this conversation will "take off," but even if it doesn't, hopefully some of the ideas summarized in the slides above will generate inspiration for some authors/illustrators, book sellers, teachers and librarians. And if that's the case, I hope you will share YOUR inspiration and ideas below!

School Library Advocacy: An Update

School Libraries Matter: Beaverton Glog Summary

I spent much of last school year advocating for Strong School Libraries. This time last year, although each school in our district had a library media assistant, (LMA), not a single school had a certified teacher librarian. The district only had three certified librarians on staff, stationed at the district office and charged with supporting and serving 39,000 students and the school-based LMAs in 51 schools. That was an unacceptable circumstance and resulted in a passionate parent/community-led school library advocacy campaign, School Libraries Matter: Beaverton.

Our school district started off in a much stronger position this school year. We still have the three district-level librarians and all of our schools still have LMAs, but 15 schools now have LITTs (Library Information Technology Teachers). Although some of these LIT teachers do not yet have specialized library credentials or training, they are innovative, forward-thinking teachers, charged with fulfilling a job description that honors crucial elements of library services, such as information literacy and reading engagement. In addition, the school district now has a top-level official who is charged with overseeing school innovation from a teaching and learning perspective. This leader has a clear awareness of the value and importance of strong, fully staffed libraries. It's our hope (and understanding) that additional schools will gain LITTs in subsequent school years.

Our advocacy work is not done, but we have made important progress. I will be presenting a session entitled, "Library Evangelism 101" at the OASL Conference on Saturday, October 10th.  Although I will briefly reference our advocacy process in that session, some folks may want more details. For this purpose, I've created a Glog, (thanks to a remote tutorial by the fabulous Library Teacher, Craig Seasholes) that provides an comprehensive overview of our advocacy campaign.

You can find the Glog at this link: School Libraries Matter: Beaverton, Glog Summary

I would love to hear your own advocacy experiences. Please comment below or via a direct message using the contact form in the left sidebar.

Top Tips and Tricks for Signing with Your Baby or Young Child: Tip #4

Image Credit

Today's tip for signing with your baby or young child is, "Take Advantage of Teachable Moments."

One of the most effective ways to gradually weave sign language into your communication is to be on the lookout for teachable moments. If, for example, your child reaches for a ball, she is communicating with you that she wants the ball. This is a teachable moment. Take the time to label the word ball, verbally and in sign, then give her the ball. Say and sign the word several times as your baby explores the ball and looks to you for reassurance and information.

It's fairly natural to add labels when we communicate with babies and young children verbally. For example, think about what happens when the kitty walks into the room (or a bird perches on the porch railing, or a dog passes by when you are playing at the park . . . ). Your baby will likely look at the kitty (bird/dog), then look at you expectantly. Without even thinking about it, you will probably say something like, "That's the kitty. You like that kitty, don't you?" The only thing that's different when you are signing is that you would also sign the word, kitty/cat (or bird, or dog) during the conversation.

The main trick is that you need to develop a sign language vocabulary so you are "on the ready" when these teachable moments present themselves. As I mentioned in Tip #3, take a moment to think about what your child is most interested in (and/or what you see a lot of and/or do a lot of during the course of a day). This will help you narrow down some priority vocabulary words that match with your child's interests and activities.

Once you've narrowed down some vocabulary words that you want to focus on, start singing! Hands down, that's the easiest way to build your sign language vocabulary. I've written several posts about singing and signing. Click here to link to an article that's a good starting point on this topic if you need some guidance in this area.

Lastly, make sure the teachable moments you are taking advantage of do not have the makings for a power struggle. If your baby is especially eager to receive the ball, she is not going to be very happy with you if you hold back on sharing the ball just so you can sign ball. Likewise, if your baby is really hungry, he is not going to be very patient with you if you insist on signing more before offering each bite of food. Take advantage of teachable moments, yes, but keep the tone playful. If this proves difficult, start out by signing primarily during playtime, and then ease into other contexts.

So what are you waiting for? The next teachable moment is just around the corner. Happy Signing!

Call for Submissions: Easy Recipes and Go-To Meals

Image Source

I have long wanted to gather a collection of "easy-peasy," "in-a-pinch," "standard go-to" recipes/meals. Yes, I realize I can just do an internet search on these terms and find a bunch of ideas, but I want to curate a collection of meal ideas and recipes that real people (that's YOU!) depend on and actually prepare week after week, month after month. 

This summer I decided it's time to stop pondering this idea and actually get it done! 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the recipe collection so far; it's going to be great! You can get your very own copy if you add something to the collection before the September 30th deadline. Here is the link: http://goo.gl/forms/p1IPJwopuM

Oh, and if you want to be a real pal, please share this post with a few friends and/or out to your own social media contacts to widen the circle and expand the collection. If everyone who reads this shared it with just a few people, and each of those people contributed a meal, we would all have a really robust collection of easy recipes/meal ideas to choose from! 

NOTE: I've had some folks mention that some of their "go-to meals" aren't really "recipes" because it's something you put together without measuring ingredients because it's so easy, familiar, and routine for you. For example, "Crustless Quiche, Sort of" or "Chicken and Rice Scramble." Send me your take on those ideas, too! I will figure out how to include your creations in a way that others can (attempt to!) replicate. 

I've also had some folks point out that their "go-to meals" aren't necessarily "recipes," because a major ingredient is "a container of your favorite store-bought spaghetti sauce," or it's a very simple meal/dish such as chicken quesadillas, grilled cheese and tomato soup, breakfast for dinner, etc. Share those ideas, too (re: for variety sake, I'd love to add your collective list of go-to meals/dishes to my own list of "regulars").

To entice you to contribute SOMETHING, here is a sampling of some of the yummy contributions that have come in so far: 

Beef Stroganoff
Goulash
Sausage Cheese Balls
Sausage Broccoli Black Bean Dish
Catfish Stew
Baked Ziti
Broccoli Enchiladas
Flan
Super Easy Stuffed Mushrooms
Crockpot Indian Butter Chicken
Macaroni and Cheese (Plus, Chicken Bacon Ranch Macaroni and Cheese, and Crock Pot Mac-n-Cheese)
Easy Breakfast Casserole
Hamburger Rice
Tortilla Soup AND Crock pot Mexican Soup
Best Broccoli You’ll Ever Eat
Tuesday Night Dinner
Easy Baked Egg Sandwiches
Year-Round Fruit Salad
Garbanzo Bean and Ground Turkey Casserole
Dutch Babies
Champagne Chicken
Five Fiber Casserole (Admittedly in Need of a New Name)
8-Can Taco Soup
Chicken Enchilada Bake 

Ready to Share YOUR Easy-Peasy, In-a-Pinch, Standard Go-To Meals? Great! You can do so in the comment section below, via a message using the contact form to the left, or by completing the Easy-Peasy form at the following link: 

http://goo.gl/forms/p1IPJwopuM

If you contribute a recipe or meal idea by September 30, 2015, and you provide your contact information, you will receive a copy of the compilation when it's done. 

If you need more information or details, please take a look at my original blog post on this topic and/or comment below with your question(s). 

I can't wait to see what YOU'RE cookin! 

Seeking Submissions for Recipe Book

Although I own several cookbooks with "quick and easy" in the title, and I of course have access to Pinterest and Google, I have long wanted to gather a collection of "easy-peasy," "in-a-pinch" "standard go-to" recipes/meals that real people depend on and prepare week after week, month after month. You know, those tried and true recipes that you know by heart, and your family says, "Oh good, we're having XXX tonight!"

Image Credit

For example, I have a "goulash" recipe straight out of my Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup childhood that I can whip together in those in-a-pinch moments when dinnertime has snuck up on me, and I haven't given meal planning enough advanced thought. Admittedly, it's not the healthiest meal in my repertoire, (beware the sodium and fat counts!), but my family likes it (it's tasty, and familiar), and it's super easy to make (largely because I usually have all of the ingredients on hand, and I've made this dish so many times over the years that I don't need to look at a recipe book; I just make it.)

If I've signed up to bring you a meal for a "meal brigade," you will most likely meet my meatloaf, and if you invite me to a last-minute gathering or drop by unexpectedly, you will likely get to nibble on crackers and cream cheese with hot chili sauce. I have several yummy appetizer recipes up my sleeve, but this is the easiest appetizer I know of, and I almost always have the ingredients for this dandy dip on hand.

What are YOUR Easy-Peasy, In-a-Pinch, Standard Go-To recipes? Please share in the comment section below, or via a message using the contact form to the left. Even better, consider completing this Easy-Peasy form at the following link:

http://goo.gl/forms/p1IPJwopuM

If you provide your recipe by September 30, 2015 AND you provide your contact information along with the recipe, you will receive a copy of the compilation when it's done.

Please feel free to share more than one recipe, and please feel free to share this post widely. I can't wait to get cookin!

Travel Tips From Dawn

Mexico, 1987

This summer marks the 30th year my husband, Sam, and I have been traveling this world and this life together. Here are some (poor quality!) memory photos of some of our early travels:

Scuba Diving in Cozumel, 1987

US Virgin Islands, 1990

St. Croix, 1990

River Dancing in Costa Rica, 1993

Chil-axing in Manuel Antonio, 1993

Spain, 2014

These days, we travel as a family of four.

We've learned a lot throughout our journeys together. After last year's trip to Spain, I reflected on how my travel experiences were relevant to my creative writing life.

As I prepare for this year's summer travel season, I thought it might be helpful to share the full list of "debriefing notes" Sam and I made after last year's trip.

I hope some of our learnings might make it easier for you to plan your own adventures:

-If a flight has been delayed, don't assume it will stay delayed.

-For a family of four, it is nice to secure two aisle seats. We either book one solo aisle seat and the bank of three seats directly across the aisle in the same row, or we book two sets of two seats, separated by an aisle in the same row. This allows us to separate the kids if need be, and still be able to each have an aisle seat and talk to each other.

-In terms of pacing the trip, stay in the "arrival town" a minimum of 3 nights so you can sight see AND relax (i.e. on second or third day schedule a low key beach day with few/no sight seeing "goals"), OR plan to stay in the arrival town for a shorter period of time, stumble around/sight see in a jet lagged stuper for one or two action packed days, then move on to the next place (that is intentionally more relaxing) and make a point to stay put there a bit longer. (Essentially, build in some down time days in the earlier portion of trip, either in the first town or second town).

-If it's hard to find lodging (due to festivals/holidays, etc), there will be other factors such as crowds and prices, that will influence our overall enjoyment of the location (i.e. take it as a signal that the town might be too crowded for our liking).

-Speaking of lodging, we are HUGE Airbnb fans. Here is the apartment we stayed in when we visited Barcelona last year, and here are the super cool places we're planning to stay in when we visit Italy!

-Spending a chunk of time in at least two diverse locations makes it feel like more than one trip (i.e. Barcelona and Madrid were vastly different, so it almost felt like we took "two" trips to Spain last year. Many years ago, we visited Greece and had a three night "layover" in Paris on the way home. That definitely gave the illusion that we had two entirely different European vacations in one year). 

-In most cases, two nights in any one place does not seem like quite enough time. Transition days are harder days. Better to stay put and get to know a place a little bit better than to push it to travel to some place you just "have to see" that may or may not be all it's cracked up to be. Enjoy where you are. Better to see fewer places and really connect with them vs. spending lots of days in transition. 

-Neighborhood restaurants are WAY better than over-priced touristy restaurants. If there is someone at the doorway greeting you with a menu, it's a touristy restaurant. Go back a few streets and listen for the loud laughter coming out of little restaurants. Those are the local spots. 

-Pack trail mix, dry cereal, baggies, plastic silverware, paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper and hand wipes. A light weight beach towel is much better than a heavy one.  A little bit of clothes line and clothes pins (and some liquid dish soap to wash clothes in) is worthwhile to bring. Cork screws and plastic glasses that travel with us for happy hours in the moment are a must. A small knife for cheese is nice to have (but don't lose it in carry on!). Nothing beats a nice beverage, fresh fruit, bread and cheese, and a good view. 

-Breakfast: In our room or on our rooftop: fresh fruit, bread/jam, cheese, yogurt, ham. Lunch: picnics while out and about during the day. Dinner: out.

-We value having a kitchen, but really the main part of the kitchen we use/value is the fridge (and freezer--because we bring gel packs to keep our picnic lunches cold).

-Printing out an area map (or a screen shot of a map) is helpful in orienting to new places (but each place will "make sense" after about two hours there).

-On reflection, the places/towns we seem to like the most have a river (or some other water feature). We also like old cities with old walls. 

-We also find ourselves drawn to small towns/villages (but remember to check the population of the "small town" and compare it to the population of other towns we've liked. What the tour books describe as "small" is quite variable . . . the population is a solid point of reference to help make comparisons/decisions).

-Be willing to "cut your darlings" (towns/sights to see) if they are too far out of the way from the other main stops for your trip.

-When choosing lodging within a particular town, convert the location to "minutes on foot" in relation to where we ideally want to be near before deciding if the lodging is too far/or close enough to our "ideal location." (Make that a key question when inquiring with hosts).

-It was really helpful to bring our GPS (loaded with map of country we are visiting . . . which we had to order/load ahead of time). This was more of a driving issue, and wouldn't be as relevant if you are not driving. 

-Bring Ebooks and a couple of real books. It's nice to have both options. Plan ahead and load library versions of travel books onto EReaders (though one hard-copy travel books is helpful to bring on trip for ease of navigating. 

-Take photos of key pages in guide books for day trips vs. lugging full guide book around all day. Take photos of maps (this also works for big signs at entrance of towns or major sights). 

-It is worth the additional effort to find lodging with internet access (internet cafes were not as easy to find/use as we hoped).

-Make use of the tourist office (maps, free internet, questions answered), but beware of our tendency to arrive into new towns during siesta when the tourist office (and town!) is closed. 

-Just because it fits you don't need to add it to the baggage. Heavy bags get very tiresome after the second cobbled road and third flight of stairs. Take only one carry-on sized bag and one small back pack per person (because it makes you pack light). You can still choose to "check" one of the carry-on sized bags to transport the liquid items that are harder to take through security.  Day packs are essential throughout the trip (pack them empty or use as "personal bag" for carry on).

-Little games like backgammon, dice and cards are nice to have on hand. Also, a small paddle ball set is fun to have for the beach. Sarongs make a nice, lightweight picnic blanket. 

I hope reading these travel notes gets you excited for new adventures to come! I encourage you to share your own travel tips below.

Happy Travels!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

First Grader Advocating for Strong School Libraries

As an author, one of the most rewarding experiences is being invited into schools and community spaces to help young writers find their voices.

As a sign language instructor, one of my greatest pleasures is helping parents and caregivers teach their babies how to communicate using signs before they can talk. In essence, I'm helping babies find their voices.

This past year, I've invested a significant amount of time and energy advocating for school libraries. One of the most satisfying aspects of this experience has been seeing students find and use their voice to advocate for themselves.

Over the past few weeks, students have attended a variety of public meetings to advocate for Strong School Libraries staffed with certified teacher librarians. Here is a photo essay that captures the variety of young people who have added their voices to this important issue:

5th Graders Advocating for Strong School Libraries

Public Testimony Delivered by Beaverton School District 2nd
Grader

5th Grade Student advocating for Strong School Libraries

BSD Student advocating for Strong School Libraries

Beaverton School District 5th Grader Still Advocating for Strong School Libraries.

BSD 5th Grader Advocating for Strong School Libraries

High School / Early College Student Advocating for Strong School Libraries

High School Student Advocating for Strong School Libraries

6th Grader Advocating for Strong School Libraries

Beaverton School District Kindergartener Advocating for Strong School Libraries (used with permission)

Soccer Players Advocating for Strong School Libraries

I hope you will consider adding YOUR VOICE to this important issue. You can find lots of inspiration and information about the value of Strong School Libraries here and here, and if YOU'D like to write a blog post about Strong School Libraries, (or, you've already written a post you'd like to share) contact me using the form to the left. 

#SchoolLibrariesMatter!

Oregon Library Supporters of the Year

Dawn Prochovnic, Mitzi Sandman, Debbie Plawner

Last month I received some 'atta girls for my advocacy work in support of Strong School Libraries.  I was named a School Library  Ambassador by the American Association of School Librarians, and I was honored as one of the Oregon Library Association's Library Supporters of the Year.

As promised in my last post, here are the words I shared when I accepted the Library Supporter of the Year award from the Oregon Library Association:

On behalf of my colleagues in Beaverton, Oregon, thank you so much for this honor. But more importantly, thank you so much for the valuable work that you do in schools and libraries each and every day. And, special thanks to the many librarians across Oregon and across the country who answered our myriad of questions and supplied us with top-notch resources to support our advocacy work.

I have two children in the Beaverton School District. Three years ago our schools faced a budget crisis so catastrophic and so deep that few programs were spared. We went from being a school district with library programs that were the envy of others, to being a school district with a single district-level librarian serving 39,000 children in 51 schools.   

As a children’s author and early literacy consultant, I have the privilege of visiting schools, libraries and professional development conferences around the region. I get to see and hear the many amazing things teacher librarians do to promote lifelong learning each and every day. Our advocacy effort resulted in funding for up to ten schools to add a teacher librarian next year. But we are not done. I want every child to have the opportunity to build a lasting relationship with a teacher librarian and a lifelong relationship with reading and learning.

Yes, I am a library evangelist and you are the choir. 

I’ve learned so many things during this advocacy process. I would like to share one of those learnings with you today:

Advocacy, like authorship, begins with a story. First you must write a remarkable story. Your library program is your story. Build the best library program you have in you. Revise it regularly. Make your library story the best of its kind. 

But that’s not enough. If you do not share your story with others, no one will know it’s there. I get that this part is hard. Writing the story takes nearly everything you’ve got. It’s all consuming. It’s brain draining. It’s exhausting. I have several stories I’ve written and love, but haven’t had the bandwidth to submit out to agents and editors. Guess what? Those stories haven’t been published yet. It’s as if they don’t exist.

Authors are told again and again that it is not enough to be good writers. We also need to be effective marketers. When you, my librarian friends, do book talks and deliver “just right books” into the hands of just the right readers, you are using your storytelling and marketing skills. I urge you to use those same skills to develop relationships with parents, volunteers, past students, classroom teachers, school board members, administrators, community leaders and lawmakers, even family members and friends. These are your agents and editors. Give them a book talk about your library. Put just the right library story into just the right stakeholders' hands. If they don’t know your stories, it’s as if they don’t exist. Don’t wait for the next budget crisis. Don’t wait until you have more time or more or more energy or more bandwidth. Make storytelling an integral part of your job. Make it a part of each and every day. 

Thank you again for honoring the work of our advocacy team. I look forward to trading stories with you in the months and years to come. 

If you'd like to continue to follow our story, please join the School Library Advocacy Council and "like" our School Libraries Matter: Beaverton Facebook page. #SchoolLibrariesMatter.

I Am a Library Evangelist and You Are the Choir

This past year I discovered one of the best ways to procrastinate on my in-progress writing projects: Library Evangelism!

Photo Source: G. Douglas Bundy RHS K-8 

My local school district has not had certified teacher librarians in any of our schools for the past three years. We currently have three district-level librarians serving 39,000 children in 51 schools. Although these three librarians are fabulous, our kids are missing out on the benefits associated with full-time teacher librarians in their schools.

Last spring I started asking questions and realized that no one was talking about the issue. No one was making plans to change the situation. No one was fired up. School libraries without certified teacher librarians was fast becoming "business as usual."

The issue has been complicated by many factors, not the least of which is the dedication of the library media assistants/clerks who currently staff many of our libraries. In many cases they have gone well above and beyond the requirements of their job descriptions to keep our school libraries operating for the past three years. But the situation is not sustainable. Young readers need to be nurtured. Digital citizenship and research skills need to be taught. Rich library collections need to be curated. And classroom teachers need professional development and support. These are just some of the unique contributions that a 21st-Century Teacher Librarian can bring to a school.

Photo Source: Oregonlive.com

Last spring I partnered with a former teacher librarian (the wonderful Andrea Burke) to bring some attention to this issue. We founded the School Library Advocacy Council and hosted some community gatherings. The community gatherings were well attended by public librarians, but poorly attended by parents and other community members. My original hope in hosting the spring meetings was to find "someone" to take on the issue and bring change. I quickly realized that if it is to be, it's up to me.

So I started making noise. Lots of noise. I talked about the importance of school libraries and teacher librarians to anyone who would listen. I blogged about the issue (and tried starting a "school library advocacy blog tour" that never really took off). I wrote emails, spoke at School Board meetings, and pummeled my social media contacts with library advocacy messages. Eventually, (thankfully!) the amazing Mitzi Sandman stepped up to join the advocacy effort, and she soon introduced me to the equally amazing Debbie Plawner. They brought their marketing and communication prowess to the table and together we became an advocacy team.

We reached out to dozens of school and public librarians who helped us better understand the issue. They invited us to their schools. They attended our planning meetings. They showered us with resources and support. They became our librarians, and supported us as only librarians can do. Many of them offered this help and support on their own personal time. Debbie, Mitzi and I dove into the plethora of research studies that have shown that strong school libraries, led by certified teacher librarians are linked to higher academic achievement, and soon we developed an advocacy plan.

We piggy-backed off of the national #SchoolLibrariesMatter campaign and created our own #SchoolLibrariesMatter: Beaverton social media campaign. We met with principals and classroom teachers. We wrote to lawmakers and regulators. We spoke at PTO meetings, School Board meetings and School District Budget Committee meetings and encouraged other parents, community members, and students to do the same.

Photo Source: School Libraries Matter: Beaverton

During this process, we were invited to collaborate with our School District Superintendent and his appointees to create a compelling vision for a re-imagined 21st Century School Library.

We recently learned that our school district has plans to staff up to ten of our school libraries with certified teachers in the coming school year. Ten is less than 51, so it is not enough. But it is progress. We have let our school district officials know that we will not stop advocating until every student in every one of our schools has the opportunity to develop a lasting relationship with a library teacher and a lifelong relationship with reading and learning.

Debbie, Mitzi and I were recently honored as "Library Supporters of the Year" by the Oregon Library Association. We are grateful for the recognition, but remain focused on the goal of every student in our school district having a teacher librarian in their school.

In my next post, I will share the acceptance speech I delivered when the Library Supporter of the Year award was presented at the Oregon Library Association's Awards Luncheon. In future posts, I will share some powerful examples of students advocating for strong school libraries.

Here is a photo glimpse of one such student:

Sign Language Story Time Video Play List and Sign Language for Your Día Program!

A frequent question I get from teachers and librarians is, "How do you physically hold a book and sign along with it?"

I've modeled how to do this in several different videos over the years, and I recently organized these videos in a Sign Language Story Time Playlist. You can access that playlist here:



If Sign Language Story Time is something you'd like to do more of, you might also be interested in my Start to Finish Story Time series of posts where I provide lesson plans to make it easier for you to do your own Sign Language Story Time.

And, for those of you interested in incorporating Sign Language into your upcoming Día or other intercultural /literacy-focused programming, here is a link to some great free resources to help you plan your own sign language-themed event at your own school or library.

Speaking of which, I'd love to compile a list of libraries that are featuring American Sign Language and/or Deaf Culture in their Día Events. (If you're not familiar with Día, according to the American Library Association, "Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds." You can find out more at the Día website).

If you are incorporating ASL and/or Deaf Culture into your Día programming, please share your plans in the comment section below or in the contact form to the left.

Happy Signing!

Top Tips and Tricks for Signing with Your Baby: Summary Post

In past posts, I've shared some of my Top Tips and Tricks for Signing with your baby or young child. I thought it might be helpful to compile a summary of those posts and some instructional videos to go along with it. Here are the links to my Top Tips:

Tip #1: Use Signs Liberally, But Select One or Two Key Signs to Focus On at a Time 

Tip #2: Resist the Temptation to Focus Only on Signs that Gratify You

Tip #3: Follow Your Child's Lead

And here are the links to my video playlist,"Tips and Tricks for Signing with Your Baby or Young Child":



Keep checking back, and/or bookmark this summary post, as more tips (and maybe even more videos) will be added over time!

And . . . if these tips are helpful to you, I suggest you also give my series, Quick Ideas for Getting Started with Signing a look as well. 

Happy Signing! 

New Sign Language Videos Featuring Yours Truly

A couple of months ago, one of the libraries I work with invited me to visit their studio and film some videos that incorporate sign language. They've now started uploading these videos to their YouTube channel.  The librarian who coordinated the project observed the filming process and assured me that it all went well, but I've been nervous waiting to see how the videos would turn out. I've now watched the first three, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

Don't get me wrong. I'm an expert at self-critique. There are all kinds of nitty-picky things I can find to distress about in each video, but when I look at the videos as a whole, I'm happy with the end result. I'm pleased that I have something like this to share with my readers, clients, and other folks who might have an interest in sign language. I'm excited that I have one more tool in my toolbox that might inspire someone to learn and use sign language to help their pre-verbal baby communicate, or to enrich their story time or to incorporate sign language into other learning opportunities at home or in the classroom.

I have a longstanding teaching and consulting business, and I present regularly at schools and libraries. As a result, I've had several of my school visits and other presentations filmed over the years. For some reason, I was more nervous than usual leading up to this particular project. Truth be told, I rarely get nervous before presentations. I thrive on the opportunity to teach and present, but I tossed and turned restlessly the night before we were scheduled to film for this project. The only reason for this that I can come up with is that I love this library (and the librarians who work there) so much. I did not want to disappoint them in any way. They tell me they're pleased. I hope you will be, too.

Please join me in thanking the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District for inviting me to participate in this project as well as ABDO Publishing Group for publishing the books in the Story Time with Signs and Rhymes series featured in the videos. Here are the first three videos:

Sing and Sign with Your Baby:



Play and Sign with Your Baby:



"The Nest Where I Like to Rest:"



As new videos are added, you will be able to find them on the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District's YouTube channel as well as my own YouTube channel.

Happy Signing!