This is my 13th year in elementary education. I am
currently teaching kindergarten for Garland ISD. I have taught in both private and public
school settings. The majority of my
experience is in kindergarten. After
graduating with my bachelor’s degree from A&M-Commerce I worked for a year
and a half as a recruiter for the university. It was a great experience and I
traveled all over Texas talking to high school and junior college students
about the school I loved. After a year
and a half I decided I wanted to go into teaching so I began teaching 2nd
grade at a catholic school in Dallas and worked on receiving my teaching certification
from A&M-Commerce. Ever since I learned how to read I have loved books. I
was one of those kids that hid a flashlight in my room so I could read at
night. I would check out books from the library, buy them from the school book
fair or store and finish them in one day. To this day if I’m reading a good
book I can’t stop. I’ll read late into the night. While working on my certification I decided
to take an LIS course just to see how it was. I loved it. I knew then I wanted
to one day become a librarian. It would
be a dream to share my love of books with children. That was over 10 years ago.
Then life happened, I was married and began having children. My plans of becoming a librarian had to take
a back seat. During the past 10 years I
never forgot my dream of becoming a librarian but didn’t think I could juggle
working full-time and being a mom/wife full-time. This past April after my birthday I decided
it was time to make some changes in my life and start focusing on myself. So this summer I started taking courses to
earn my master’s degree in Library Science.
It will take me a few years but I know it will all be worth it when I welcome
children into the library and let them experience all the wonderful stories
waiting for them in the books.
I am very happy to see that there are so many ETEC courses
required to become a librarian. Just as classroom education has changed
drastically over the years so have libraries. I still remember walking into the
library at A&M-Commerce in the mid-1990’s and having to use the old card
catalog system to find books and looking through the numerous Reader’s Guide to
Periodical Literature to find magazine and journal articles. Now everything you want to research is
available at your fingertips on a computer.
Librarians not only help check out books they are there to help students
and teachers research and learn how technology can assist them in their
education. At this point I think of
myself as middle of the road computer literate.
I know more than the basics but not enough. This course is the first time I created a blog and posted. I love reading other people's blogs but didn't even know how to get started. I can now use my new knowledge about blogging to help co-workers and students create their own blogs. It is my hope that the ETEC courses in this
program will help me become proficient in the technology aspect of running a
library.
That’s great you are coming back to something you love. It is never too late to full your dreams. When I first joined the program for Educational Technology-Library Science this summer I was excited because I love technology and I wasn’t sure if librarianship was really for me. I think it is excellent to incorporate the two into the field. I have learned so much as well and my ETEC are by far so much more exciting. The information and experience I am getting from the projects have given me so many ideas as to what I want my future library to be. I agree with your ideas about the blog. It is so simple to create that it will not only help our co-workers but students as well. Students are able to practice their communication skills and critical-thinking through the use of a blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Gracie.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your story. I could picture a little girl with a flashlight at night reading because she can't get enough of a book, even when she is supposed to be sleeping. :) It is very inspiring that you did not let life time your dream away and have came back to work toward that dream.
ReplyDeleteI will be graduating with a MED in Elementary Education next semester and I chose to take ETEC classes as my electives. I believe ETEC classes would be great for anyone in an educational setting to take. I have to agree with you about the old card catalog system. It look longer to find books when you were trying to find books under a certain subject. I remember standing there with a pencil and paper thumbing through the cards and writing down the location of the books I wanted to look at to see if that's what I needed. Now all we have to do search a subject on the computer catalog system and instantly all the information is there. I wish you luck working toward your degree!
Thanks for your comments Vicki. As time consuming the card catalog was it was always a fun experience. Sort of like going on a scavenger hunt. Would the library have what your were looking for? There was no way of knowing a book was checked out until you went to search for it. While computers have sped up the process of finding resources the old fashioned way was exciting to me.
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