Filling in the Gaps from April to June

Outgoing NHS officers from the class of 2017 (that is me in the middle)
NHS Induction March 16, 2017

I usually try to avoid writing blog posts where I explain why I haven't been writing blog posts. I believe that you should just get one written rather than waste time explaining why there hasn't been one in awhile. I created this blog in 2009. It was a way to document what I do in the library and share what I have learned. When I started, I had no idea where the blog would take me. Eventually, I decided that I would post weekly making it a goal to write 50 posts a year. I have not always met that goal and some years I have surpassed it. There are lessons that I am thankful that I wrote about because I needed the information to replicate them in subsequent years. There are posts that have been shared and shared again with librarians across the country. You can see below my all time stats for this blog since it began. 

Click the picture above to read the all time stats for this blog since 2009

Anyway, I try to take some time every weekend to reflect on the past week in the library and write a blog post. Since March, I have felt that I have been on a treadmill that wouldn't stop. I needed my weekends to regroup and prepare for the next week. This meant keeping my off time, off, rather than writing about the library. Now that school is out for the summer, I  can stop and breathe. Boy, does that feel good. Breathe. And, I can get back to this blog. 

Before I write specific posts about library activities over the last three months, I thought that I would just list here what I have been doing during that time. I sort of want to see how come I was too busy to document events. In March, we had a week off of school for Mardi Gras (I went away), I had one author visit, I attended the Louisiana Library Association annual conference where I presented twice and had several mandatory meetings because I am on the LASL board, we celebrated Teen Tech Week, I coordinated the NHS annual induction ceremony, and I helped with the 7th grade field trip to the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Of course, there were classes to teach, books to check out, and many visitors during the three scheduled lunches at school. In April, we had another 6 days off of school,  I began the long road of Advanced Placement exams. I am the school's AP coordinator. This year we administered 50% more tests than we did last year. It was brutal. Especially, because the Louisiana standardized tests are now all administered online, and the school began testing April 18th and didn't finish until the AP late testing that was scheduled May 19th. Testing mode took over the whole school, and it was not pretty. Once May hit, I had another author visit, I had an online meeting for the Louisiana Teen Reader's choice committee, I administered eight days of AP testing (teachers help to proctor), I coordinated senior award night and graduation (there were some mistakes this year because my stress level was so high), I mentored three student speeches for graduation, I completed library inventory, and closed out the library for the year. 

It was exhausting. Yet, I do have a lot to share. I will add blog posts over the course of the next few weeks describing some of the highs and lows (not many of those) in the library. I have been trying to reflect on how to prevent this same crazy schedule from occurring next year, but I am not sure if that is possible. The timing of most of the events is set in stone. Our school keeps growing, but there is still only one of  me. I have created a very popular library which keeps me on my toes even when there are no special events happening. 

Here's to summer:

Looking forward to a lot of time for this!