Summertime is one of my favorite times of the year… but not for the reasons that you may think… (sleeping in late, laying out in the sun, going to see movies, etc.)  Don’t get me wrong….I absolutely LOVE those things, but what really makes summertime my happy place is that special feeling of TIME!  I don’t know about you, but there’s something about teaching that makes me feel like I’m always behind!  Even after the first day of school, I have a list of things that need to be done, preferably yesterday, and this feeling only gets worse as the year progresses.
     Happily, I don’t have that feeling during the summer!  I actually have TIME to sit, think, and then percolate some more!  This gives me an opportunity to reflect on the past year and decide on areas that need improving.  I started off this summer by brainstorming a list of improvement ideas, but in trying to not overwhelm myself, I narrowed it down to two main target goals for this coming school year:

1. Incorporate more technology into library lessons, and make them real-life and meaningful to the students
2. Create opportunities to involve parents in the library, and the concepts/skills the students are learning

     One of the new ideas to come out of this summer’s TIME that will support both of my goals is an extension on my blog about the Library in my Pocket.  This year, instead of just meeting with the students for a Digital Learning Day to help them set up their Library in their Pocket, I am going to create a large display or bulletin board right outside the library (which is right by the front office) that would advertise this tool all year long.  My hope is that having a large display will get information out to parents about how their child’s device (or even their device) could become something more than “just a phone” or “just a thing to play games on”.   
     I started off by creating this main poster that resembles the screen on my iPad.  I am going to take this poster to Office Depot and have it blown up to a 24×36 poster size.