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kinkykinard · 7 years ago

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What a wonderful trip it was!

As most of you know, @starshiphufflebadger and I are now back from our mountain vacation! For those who would like to know what all went down (I’m lookin’ at you, @mccoymostly), follow the cut - there’s a narrative and a selection of photos to help tell the story!

It all started bright and early on Tuesday morning. Neither of us had slept particularly well the night before (Dani hadn’t slept at all) and we were next-level exhausted, but excited enough that getting going wasn’t so bad. After packing up the car, we headed off for a quick breakfast before hitting the open road.

We stopped at the world’s best rest stop - a place in a little town called Red Deer - to stretch our legs two hours into the drive and to grab some donuts from the Donut Mill. It’s only the greatest donut shop on the planet. See exhibit A: the goods.

We made good time getting through Calgary after that and we found ourselves stopping for a short rest to stretch our legs again just before the Banff National Park gates. It was at this rest stop that we found a shale outcropping with fossils strewn throughout it. It was super exciting! There were imprints, all sorts of invertebrate fossils, and even some coral-like structures!

This one looked like some sort of a flower imprint in some very fine-grained lithified sediments - likely from an ancient lake floor.

In this one you can see pieces of shells! They were beautifully preserved and we managed to chip this piece of rock off of the outcropping and we’ve brought it home for analysis!

The view was pretty spectacular, too! We looked up from our fossil hunting long enough to appreciate it, I promise. ;) Also, you can see how hazy the mountaintops were from the smoke blowing over from the BC fires. :(

From there we packed back into the car and drove on! Less than forty minutes later we were at our campground! We got all set up quickly and busted out some snacks to hold us over while we fired up the grill to make dinner.

Homemade trail mix - SO GOOD.

Tin foil sausage, peppers, and potatoes. Hearty and so, so good after a long day on the road!

With the sun still high enough in the sky after dinner, we decided to take a short hike away from our campsite and see some sights. There was a viewpoint nice and close and so we walked over to look out at the evening sky and get our blood pumping a bit after a day cooped up in the car.

That’s the Bow River at the foot of Mount Rundle just spitting distance from where we pitched our tent.

Soon after the hike, exhausted from the day’s events, we brushed our teeth, changed into our PJs, and passed out for the night. The darkness and silence were magical and the best lullaby in the world - we were both immediately hooked on the stillness and dreaming of a time were we could wake up to sights like that daily.

The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn, showered, and got breakfast on the grill. If you think I’m joking when I say that campfire breakfast burritos are my new favorite thing, you don’t know me at all.

Burritos with eggs, ham, cheese, and green chilies, a side of sour cream, and a few apricots (I got hungry and dug into the apricots before taking the picture) to start the day off right! SO GOOD.

After breakfast we packed up the car (couldn’t leave anything but our tent and sleeping bags behind in case of bears) and headed off for an adventure! We drove off toward Lake Louise and Moraine Lake to see the sights, but because of the BC wildfires many of the highways between Alberta and BC were closed and so people who would ordinarily have gone vacationing a province over were instead crashing closer to home and the traffic around the lakes was insane. It was insane to the point that we couldn’t even get close to the lakes - there were people directing traffic away from the area because all the parking spaces were full. Resigned, we turned around and headed back to the Banff town site instead.

In town, we had a lovely lunch at St. James’ Gate - the best Irish eatery I’ve ever been to. The service was great and the food was even better, and before long we were off again to do some shopping. The town site was just as insane as everything else in the park, but with a little bit of patience we got to the places we wanted to go to, picking up some delicious fudge, a couple of warm and fuzzy hoodies, and ticking an item off of our GISHWHES list.

The shepherd’s pie at St. James’ Gate was TO DIE FOR. Even Dani - a hater of shepherd’s pie since birth - thought it was delicious.

The town site in all its picturesque glory with Mount Brett in the background. Oh, and a lovely wifey in the foreground. ;)

After shopping, we headed back to the campsite to hang out for a bit. It was still early in the afternoon and we didn’t want to be idle even though there were some rain clouds moving in, so we hopped back in the car and made our way to the Cave and Basin National Historic Site. We’ve seen it before so we didn’t go in, but instead took a hike down the mountainside nearby to see the thermal springs and warm pools where tropical fish and rare bird species like to hang out. It rained on us a bit but it was worth the sprinkling getting to see some of the wildlife!

Let’s play spot the longnose dace!

The sailfin mollies are a little easier to spot with their dark coloration against the pale substrate. I didn’t get any good pictures of them, but there were jewelfish in the pools, too!

The view of Vermillion Lakes and Mount Norquay from the lower boardwalks.

Here we see a biologist and amateur wildlife photographer hard at work in her natural habitat, taking pictures of the fish and the critically endangered Banff Springs Snail (Physella johnsoni).

After the hike, we headed back to the campsite and had a delicious dinner. We spent the evening playing a board game at our picnic table and doing a little good, old fashioned writing on paper. We crashed early with the sound of the wind in the trees lulling us to sleep.

We woke up the next morning hesitant to get out of bed because our bedclothes were nice and warm and the early morning air was chilly AF. We pulled the proverbial bandaid off, though, and got up to coffee, tea, breakfast, and a hot shower. Geared up for another day, we started our adventure off with a hike over to the Tunnel Mountain Hoodoos. The sun was beating down hard and we were cooking alive, but the view from the top was so worth it all.

At the trail head getting ready for the ascent - you can see the Bow Valley with Mount Rundle, Sulphur Mountain, and Sanson’s Peak in the background (L to R).

This little guy was spotted near the trail head (somehow my pictures got uploaded out of order? idk) - what a little cutie!

We reached the top of the Hoodoos trail! That’s the Bow River in the background with Tunnel Mountain on the right. Too bad it was too steep to climb down to the shoreline - we could have used a splash!

I didn’t want to leave the view behind. Ever.

After some time in the sun to hydrate and stretch our overworked calves, we made the descent again with dreams of careers as park wardens in the future dancing in our heads. We went back to camp for a bite to eat and then took off once again, this time to get a little closer to the Bow River and get a look at Bow Falls.

Not the world’s highest waterfall by any stretch of the mind but still a lovely little slice of the wild.

The sound of the rushing water was incredible - you’d never think a little waterfall like this one could produce the kind of sound that it did!

Downriver from the falls and looking at a stretch of the Bow Valley. Just to the left of this picture is the mountain we’d hiked up earlier to see the Valley from the Hoodoos trail.

Dani taking a little wade in the glacial waters. Cold enough to hurt deep down in your bones!

We left the waterfall shortly thereafter and made our way into town to grab some lunch. As we wandered toward lunch, we came across a little restaurant with a peculiar name...

I really wanted to photoshop an I’ in there. Spock would be so proud.

After lunch, we headed back to the campsite to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the sun and enjoying the last of our time in the wilderness. Unfortunately, lunch didn’t sit well with either of us. Dani fared a lot better than I did, but after a couple hours of nausea and throwing up, I was dehydrated and wanted nothing more than to sleep. Still, Dani was amazing and made me tea to settle my stomach, and we still managed to have a fun evening playing some more games and having a very light supper. Bedtime couldn’t come soon enough for me and as the nighttime chill fell, we snuggled up in the tent and drifted off for our last sleep of the trip.

The next morning we got up bright and early again, rolled up the tent, showered, and got out of dodge. It was weirdly emotional to be leaving the campsite behind - we wished we could have stayed forever - and we headed down to the town site in silence, reflecting on the trip on our way out for coffee and a quick breakfast.

After we ate, we jumped in the car and headed off for Calgary. It was Dani’s birthday and our plan was to take in the Calgary Zoo and its incredible exhibits. We made good time and hit town around noonish. After a little disagreement with Siri over left turns and right turns, we found the zoo, parked, and headed out for our last major adventure of the trip.

The penguin habitat was really cool. In more ways than one. I don’t think this guy appreciated his close up, though.

The aviary was amazing. We got the chance to get up close and personal with three owl species native to Alberta, as well as a couple of hawks. This poor little snowy was panting in the afternoon heat, but he seemed to love the attention!

The entrance to the zoo’s largest exhibit - an exhibit that showcases all sorts of Canadian wildlife and took us well over an hour to walk through!

We got sunburnt to a crisp and after the previous night’s stomach upset, I was so dehydrated I thought I was going to die. I managed to make it back to the car without passing out (a miracle unto itself) and we enjoyed the AC as we headed off for dinner with a Tumblr friend!

After a few wrong turns because Siri is a douche nozzle, we got on the right road and made our way to the best BBQ restaurant in the province to meet up with the amazing @youre-on-a-starship!!! A true inspiration and an absolutely lovely, warm, friendly person - dinner with Alex was the bomb. We hit it off so well that the waitress we had was completely shocked to learn that this was the first time we’d ever met in person because we were talking and laughing so much. It was an awesome time and we were all sad that it had to come to an end as soon as it did because we had another 3.5 hour drive home ahead of us.

After a hug goodbye and a promise to meet up again some time, Dani and I piled back into the car for the last leg of our journey and headed off. We stopped back in at the Donut Mill and picked up some birthday donuts for Dani, sang at the top of our lungs, and made it home just after dark. We hauled all of our stuff back up to the apartment and crashed the hell out for the night.

There’s not much to say besides it was the most epic road trip of our collective lives thus far, and that we’re already planning on taking a trip twice as long and twice as hardcore next summer to really see some fantastic sights. Who knows? We may even drop in on @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse over in BC. ;)

#road trip 2k17 #wifey shenanigans #outside-the-hufflebadger

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prinxietyhell · 7 years ago

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welp Rev is feeling sappy (no judging allowed kiddos)

When I first met PJ, well, he was the very first addition to my new internet family, the angst court. But, for awhile, it was just him and I, and then we met Sophie, but anyway.

When I first met PJ, he’d just followed prinxietyhell. And this doesn’t seem like it’d be significant, but his main blog? Well, I’d followed it for a long time. He was one of my internet idols. I screamed, and with persuasion from another of my friends, Jax, I messaged him. We stayed up until the early hours of the morning, just talking, and that spelled out a pattern that would soon become commonplace. And he didn’t even know what SPC was, ironically.

Now, this man is one of my best friends in the world. My big brother. (He’s given my boyfriend the ‘older brother talk’, even, much to my embarrassment and screams of terror). Now, I know you’re there for me whenever, and I hope you know the same of me. You even sang me to sleep once. It was three a.m. for me, four for you. You didn’t care. And, and, you’ve helped me chase writers block away so many times its not even funny. You became the coauthor of my literary baby. You’ve helped me so, so much, (because writer’s block isn’t the only thing of mine you’ve chased away) and I can only hope I’ve helped you even a fraction as much.

When I first met Sophie, it was because… well, I don’t even remember, but we became good friends fairly quickly. we screamed at each other about story ideas, and eventually, you wrote the only story in existence that’s ever made me cry. Ever. You’re obscenely proud of this, and honestly, it’s amazing. You’re amazing. Back then, we followed the ‘fluff’ ask circle fairly closely, and I remember the first time your anons made an appearance. It was right after those characters went dark for a night, and honestly, it was such a good night. Such a good time. Also, I spoiled the entirety of SPC to you because I have zero (0) self control and I wanted to see if I could make you cry back. I couldn’t. I’m still laughing about it.

Now, you’re my big sib. And we chill on calls all the time, we laugh together all the time, we tease each other and we make sure we’re okay. We’re family, and anyone who crosses us has hell to pay, from both of us. You spam puppy pictures and space pictures whenever anyone’s upset and it’s adorable. You’re adorable, and you may deny it but it’s true and it always will be.

When I first met Carolina, it was on a google hangout call in the middle of the night with my parents in the other room. I had to be quiet, I had to whisper, but there was no way in hell I was going to miss that call. Because on that call, you were doing a dramatic reading of all of SPC so far, and PJ was there, and I was cackling the whole time, because oh children, you ain’t seen nothing yet. I think that was my first ever call with PJ, too, but hey. This part is about you, my dear. I gained so much that night, and an unexpected and amazing friend was definitely not the least of it (in fact, it was the best of it).

Now? Now, you’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met, ever in my whole life. Just, what, a month? into our friendship, you sent me this submission post into my main blog and God I remember the moment I first read it so vividly- I’d needed it, and I don’t know how you always know these things but you do. And I’m still working on that payback project, damnit! And you mysteriously enjoy my singing, and you let me rant about my writings even though they’re all so gosh-darn angsty it hurts. I have so many feelings. You make me feel so safe it’s unreal.

When I first met my 小妹，Sun, it was because you were getting (surprise, surprise) hate. And it made me so angry, oh my word! Because you, at that point, were one of the only angst writers in this fandom besides me and I absolutely loved all of your writings. So I went into your inbox and fought the haters for awhile, and we started talking. I think the first call I ever had with you was because of that really bad hate incident, do you remember? PJ and I got so pissed at that person, and we wanted to make sure you were alright so we invited you into the call. PJ exposed that person, and goodness, we took a bad night and turned it good.

Now, you’re my amazing and beautiful little sister. We’ve even met IRL, and it was pretty much the best two days of my life so far! We know we can turn to each other for anything at all, and we’re not afraid to trip ( ;）) around one another, because we know we’ll pick each other right back up. Sometimes we’ll get on calls with just us, and not say anything at all because even silence together is comforting. You’re a confidant, and family, and we switch into Chinese sometimes solely to be the annoying little siblings we are. Also, I now sleep with Dusk more than I do Squirtle.

When I first met Mira, it was because they were a main anon on my roleplay blog, and I’d messaged them because their character was hard-core compartmentalizing, and I’d wanted to make sure the mun wasn’t doing the same. Because that shit ain’t good for anyone. Turns out, they were; but only slightly, and we haven’t stopped talking since. It felt like we were meant to be friends, like we’ve known each other all our lives, like it was destiny. Fate.

Now, oh now, you’re my amazing lil sib, my hatchling, and I’d do anything to keep you safe, anything at all. You’re one of the safest presences I know, and Lord, we’ve had some times. There are stories I’ve told you that I don’t tell anyone else. You’re amazing, you really, really are.

And when I first met Lana, I don’t really remember how- hold up, I just scrolled up to the top of our conversation and it looks like I have yet another thing to thank SPC for- you!! I’ve met so many good people off of that fic, oh my word. In the beginning, we just messaged on tumblr about stories and ideas and generally screamed at each other and we became real close real fast.

Now, you’re a part of my huge and ever expanding internet family. You’re friends with my friends, we talk on discord all the time, and you follow our angsty roleplay blogs and it’s amazing, and we have such fun. Red Feels Day is a phrase that sparks immediate reaction from you and I laugh every time You're… you’re my sister now and honestly? I’m so glad we met. I am so glad and grateful to whatever force of fate pushed us together.

When I first met Fluff, I was messaging you on tumblr because you managed to guess pretty much the rest of the SPC plotline in one fell swoop. We stopped talking for awhile, but then one day you messaged me about the SPC comic, and then we started talking in earnest. And you made the angst court discord server, and that brought our relationship to a whole new level.

Now, you’re my adorable lil sibling, for always. You always have my back and I’ll always have yours, we’re family now. We all are and we always will be. I’m so proud of you, lil one. We talk daily and I love it.

Long story short, guys, you’re my family. I love you all so, so much. So much more than I could ever hope to tell you. God, I didn’t even know that this feeling was possible before you all.

Just remember, lovelies: I love you more than the moon, than all the stars, more than the icy cold that makes me feel alive, more than flight and more than anything. And that won’t change. I love you.

Love,

Rev

#rev is a sappy bean #i love you #so much #my heart was full #and i couldn't hop on a call #so #i did this with my loneliness

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removeher · 5 years ago

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Also today was okay... I slept most of it away because I wasn’t feeling very good at all emotionally.. then I remembered a girl that I met at culinary wanted to link and be my workout buddy so I went to her place and we did just that and talked about school mostly. Then I went to get a small mocha frap with extra whipped cream and the server was like.... I gave you extra extra whipped cream!!🤫😂 and she handed it too me and it was whipped cream all on the top of the cup!! That drink was like 50% whipped cream loool!! I was so happy loool she was adorable, it really made my day. 🥰 then I finally got to show my aunt my uniform and she took pics of me and gassed me in our family group chat lol.... sigh

So then... my ex texted me... but it was really positive.. he said he was proud of me... but I can’t help feeling like.. you don’t even like me like that. You think I’m not easy... you think my stress is surface level and you don’t want to accept me for who I am so why should I care? Before this I would of felt a million butterflies and it would of motivated me to do even better!! But now it’s like... idk like 👍🏾 lol. My brother said he’s fake af and I can see why he says that... but one thing I’ve learned about my ex is that he doesn’t do things for people to get him, he does things because he wants to so... I just made a joke of it.

Idk.. I don’t wanna come off as a hater but at the same time I just feel like my feelings aren’t being considered at all and it hurts.. anyways Im gunna go take a bubble bath and try on my pjs and go watch Disney movies maybe..

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brightgoal · 7 years ago

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How to be a Teacher Librarian Rock Star

How to be a Teacher Librarian Rock Star - Branding Tips & Tricks

First thing I gotta say, I don’t know that I really love the term Library Rockstars because I think ALL Teachers, Librarians, Teacher-Librarians, Educators....we're are rock stars or has an inner rock star waiting to come out. I also think it sounds a wee bit elitist. OK, a whole heck of a lot of elitist. But who doesn’t want to rock it at their job? (BTW, I was asked to write this for another publication - answering their questions - I did the best I could! They highly edited my responses, but here they are in their entirety.) To what do you attribute your success? I try to...... Work hard Be Reliable Be Reflective Be Positive Hard work, a sense of humor, tenacity, and a stubbornly fought for positive mental and professional attitude. Yes, work hard - but that doesn’t mean being a martyr or staying in the building every night until seven o’clock. Work smarter not harder. When it comes down to it, I can be pretty lazy, really! But, I do work some nights and weekends - OK, a several nights and weekends - but that’s my choice and it’s usually from home or at the beach wearing fuzzy socks & PJ’s with Bravo TV on in the background. Don’t judge me. I curate, I share, I write a little, blog, Tweet, chat, plan, dream, and strategize. Sometimes to be the best we can be takes a little extra personal PD time outside of school. It’s worth it. Be reliable. I’ve worked with a lot of people in my years, in a lot of capacities, and have found the one trait I really appreciate, value, and admire is reliability. That's also one trait that I try to emulate. Some people promise the world, talk a great game, but then let you down - I never want to be like that. I won’t say I will do something unless I can do it, and then I try and do it dang well! Be Reflective.

When things get tough or daunting, it's really important to take stock of what's really important: the kiddos. During the summer, I take time & tide reflection - considering the things that went well last year. Lessons that inspired, projects that showed promise, and programs that popped! I also think about the things that didn't go so well and how I could improve. Sometimes though, you can't change a situation but you have to learn to graciously accept it - and then work around it cleverly.

“There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” Norman Vincent Peale

Be positive. Happiness is a choice! Optimism, too! Sometimes it's a difficult choice, but a necessary one! Teachers & Teacher Librarians can sometimes get bombarded by the negative when they go into the lunchroom or talk with other teachers.

It's important to steer clear of the Negative Nelly's, Debbie or David Downers. Strive to avoid that toxic downward spiral and commit to staying positive, professional, and upbeat. If this means you eat with only a few teachers, by yourself, our go out and drive to the closest neighborhood park at lunch, do it! We have the best job in the world and every new school year and every day is a new start and adventure! Bonus, staying positive and upbeat drives the haters and funpires crazy! Get Mentoring & Pay it Forward. I would also give credit to a lot of the successes I’ve had with the amazing mentors I’ve had along the way. I’m looking at you Dr. Joyce Valenza, Julie Wray, and Doug Johnson! Mentorship is really important, then later - paying it forward. Look around you and find a kindred positive spirit, a great natural talent, and support them. I’m lookin at you Tiffany Whitehead and Jennifer LaGarde - you’ve done me proud, are amazing librarians, have surpassed me in many, many ways, are a constant inspiration to me, and are now amazing mentors of your own.

Always Be Thankful for Thanks How have you crafted your brand? What branding advice do you suggest? Some educators wince and make a face when the subject of branding comes up. Like it’s a dirty or disagreeable subject. Consider, another word for branding is advocacy. A brand exists only in the mind of the consumer. In our case, our students, parents, teachers, staff, and community. A brand is what they think they know about your organization—driving an emotional reaction.

When your audience believes in what you stand for, a loyal relationship is formed. Then it is in your hands to maintain that relationship. A brand is linked to reputation. The school’s reputation as a place of learning and your reputation as an educator. It’s best not to only rely on the results and messages left on “Rate My Teacher.com” as to what you find when you Google your name. (But if kids do rate you high, celebrate it!)

Branding isn’t really about finding a cute name like, The Mighty Little Librarian, The Nerdy Teacher, Library Girl, The Digital Diva, or The Daring Librarian - though I love those peeps and my name has served me well - it’s more about crafting your message and refining your professional mission.

To start, I would suggest writing a mission statement. Think about what is important, and what matters to you. Is your library, classroom, and program focused on: lifelong reading and literacy, creativity, constructivist learning, and making? Is it future ready, brain centered, participatory, transparent, positive, and becoming a vibrant and active learning commons? Sure, use all the buzzwords you want, but mean them and be able to back them up. When crafting a mission statement, really think about what is important to provide, every day, to better serve our most important customers - our kiddos. You can write it in a paragraph or even make a cartoon, just define your goals. Then, I would distill that mission into a 30 second “elevator speech” that you can give at the drop of hat. People often ask me what makes me daring and I try and say (as if not rehearsed!), “because I’m a daring defender of kids, life-long reading, technology, transliteracy, innovative learning, and goofballs and geeks everywhere!”

Teaching Good - Branding Evil

Creating the Daring Librarian Brand

Rock Star Advocacy: Proving Your Worth In Tough Times By Jennifer La Garde

Get Social. Next, I would think of ways to promote the awesome that goes on in your library every day. Don’t worry that it looks like you’re showing off - you’re not - it’s sharing with the community! Don’t humble yourself out of a job and don’t hide your light under a circ desk. But at the same time, make sure the sharing is at least 90% is student or professionally focused! Don't let it be selfie, after selfie, of YOU. Because it’s not all about you - library branding and your mission should be mostly about them.

Our kiddos and our community! Though, the content you share about the daring educational practices and innovations that you employ in your program and with your kids, is worthwhile, because it helps other librarians and educators, and will eventually be good for you professionally. To impress your Principal, your Supervisor, & your Parents! There’s nothing wrong with being very good at your job and wanting to succeed. Just always remember to keep it kid and professionally focused.

Social Media Mind Shift “We have the power to shift the mindset of the public sector if we shout out via social media the great things that kids do in our schools,” says Tony Sinanis and Dr. Joe Sanfelippo from the book The Power of Branding: Telling Your School’s Story Yes, I dig that! The easiest way to start branding and sharing with the community is with a professional Instagram and or Twitter account account. I use social media only in a professional sense – to share the cool things that go on every day in my school and my library, to celebrate my amazing students, and to connect with my parents, and our local and our global community. I also share the lessons and activities, reading promotions, makerspace, TV studio, that I do in school - what worked, didn’t work so much, and what flopped. Lessons learned - to hopefully help others! In other words, I have purposefully and intentionally NOT used Social Media in any kind of personal way. For some, that might seem like a sacrifice – for me, it’s been both a blessing and sort of a relief. Though that doesn’t mean I don’t share a great sunset, a video of my nephew playing with his Virtual Reality goggles, my Mom’s fabulous Thanksgiving turkey, or a selfie reading at the beach. Sharing occasional personal content shows you’re human - and it’s good for kids to see you also have a real life.

If you’re going to only pick one, I’d choose Instagram. Our kiddos really are really not so much on Twitter (Shocking. I know, right?) and they also think Facebook is sorta fuddyduddy (though they might have one, they don't "live" there) but almost every kid I've talked to lately has Instagram! Creating a professional Instagram account ensures that whenever cool things go on at school, I can handily snap and share them with our kiddos, parents, community, & the world! Most teachers and librarians have their cell phones with them anyway, why not get together to make it a powerful sharing tool? Connect it to your Twitter for easy Social Media cross posting! Create a sign that says: “Follow & Tag Us On Instagram!” and post it around the library so that kiddos can see themselves doing cool things! This is a positive example of how social media can be used.

Finally, as I mentioned in an article I wrote for NEA Today Magazine called - 6 Teacher Tips to Avoid Social Media Landmines know your district posting policy. Does your school district have a policy about teacher social media sharing? If they do, read it through carefully and follow it to the letter.

Say Yes! To a School Instagram!

12 Insta Easy Instagram Library & Literacy Promotion Ideas

4 Fun FREE Apps to Win The Instagram Game

What advice do you have to give to a new librarian starting out?

Honestly, the first two years at the job I would stick to the basics with only one challenge (Instagram, Twitter, Makerspace, etc.) to tackle until you get your bearings. Once you master the foundation of the job, then you can start adding the sizzle. Don’t try and do everything at once - that’s why I recommend to choose 1 Thing, that’s all it takes. Once you conquer that one thing, choose another. Otherwise, you run the risk of burning out and feeling overwhelmed. When you’re new - admit you’re new! Sometimes I think that first year classroom teachers get all kinds of support, slack, and patience while first year Teacher Librarians have to be “on it” from get go. It’s totally OK to remind people it’s your first year and say, “Gee, I don’t know that! This is my first year and I’m learning new stuff every day, but let me research that and get back to you!” Also, in a school situation - an old school clipboard is priceless! Every new school year I have a clipboard out on our circ desk that has a chart with column headers of: date, teacher name, room#, “How can I help you?” and resolved check. If I can’t help someone right away, (you get stopped in the hallway with an “I can’t print!”) I smile and say “I can help you with that!” but then ask them to either email you or drop by the library and put their name on the list. “I don’t want to promise to help you here in the hallway but then forget it when I go around the corner, but I’ll be sure to follow up if I have it written down in some way” [add rueful grin] This way, you don’t miss anything that’s important, you can check off as you go along, those you help and you also don’t get constantly sidetracked by the “hallway help flag-down.” Clipboard for the win! Or, as Martha Stewart would say “it’s a good thing.” How to:

Be a Daring Defender, Part 1

Be a Daring Defender, Part 2

Last thoughts.

Celebrate Your Inner Rock Star & Step Up to the Mic! So, how do you become a Rock Star? I think we're ALL Rock Stars...or we all have an inner one waiting to come out! Whatever you do, dare every day trying new things working hard, and doing your best. Allow yourself to bring out your inner rock star, Be reliable, be reflective, strive to stay positive (even if it kills you!), and always always keep the kiddos the main focus of what you do. Share shamelessly the awesome that goes on every day at your school and the helpful content you create so that other teacher librarians can find it just a little bit easier. Pay it forward. You will never regret being kind. These are all things that I gotta remind myself every day!

If you have any other questions about my ideas search my blog, I probably have mouthed off about the topic at some point - or hit me up on Twitter! @GwynethJones OK...last last.

I really created this graphic for me, to remember. Because, well...I have a snarky sarcastic sense of humor and I can be impatient and am easily irritated over stoopid stuff. So, remembering to take a deep breath, smile, be kind, bless their hearts, and practice patience is a good thing. Am I always successful? Nope. But I keep trying. And trying. and trying and praying and trying again......Never stop trying! Just do your best, that's all we can really do & remember - it's NOT about US...it's about the kids.

Yeah, I made this one for me, too. But heck, aybe we could all use this! Your Turn! Hit me up in the comments with your ideas & thoughts! Thank you, as always for visiting and taking the time to read my blog! Hope you found something useful. OK....still reading? I'm gonna be honest here. I've always said never apologize for not blogging. But this is why I've been kinda quiet. This school year has been brutal. We've had some really tragic things happen. A good friend of mine, a truly gifted, sweet, kind, wonderful, Social Studies teacher friend of mine, who I mentored when she started teaching in our school 10 years ago...she later went to high school and I missed her terribly, but she came back to help us with our plays...anyway, she went missing. Her name was Laura Wallen. We found out the 2nd day of school that she was missing. She was also 4 months pregnant. She later was found murdered. By her boyfriend. Who went on #@#$@$ TV asking for help from the public. He was arrested & is in jail now. May he rot in hell. Then, a former student of ours was shot in a drive by, in my kids neighborhood - maybe even witnessed by some of my kids who shoulnd't have been in bed. AND he was shot by another former student, AND then....another of our former students the next week - unrelated, committed suicide. It's been tough. Anyway, I probably will delete this tomorrow morning, or in a few days. But it kinda feels good to just type it out. I'm really not good with awkward human emotions. I wish I was more Vulcan. Working on it. Please keep us in your prayers. Our whole school, How to be a Teacher Librarian Rock Star published first on https://medium.com/@insiderinfodealers

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