If you look back at my high school yearbook (1992) you would read that I planned to pursue International Affairs and Foreign Language. In reality, my higher educational pursuits did not include either of those. But interestingly, I have had “affairs” with international men (for example, I married and divorced a Mongolian man; my current boyfriend is Turkish and we’ve been together two and a half years). I am only now working on learning, however slowly, to acquire a second language (Turkish).
My meandering journey through upper education resulted in a Bachelor of Arts in English (because I loved/love to read and write). That took 10 years to accomplish. I graduated high school in 1992 and finally finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado in 2002. In 2004 I decided I “needed more” in my professional life. Working for Digital Equipment Corporation/Compaq/Hewlett Packard (literally the company changed three times during my six years of employment) I recognized that while the pay and benefits were good, my soul needed and wanted more. I wanted to make a more significant and meaningful contribution. Between January of 2004 and August of 2005 (as fast as I could get it done) I acquired my Masters in Library Science (Texas Woman’s University). I began my career in Education in the fall of 2005 at Mann Middle School in Colorado Springs, CO.
I worked seven years in that public middle school. Then I was at Fountain Valley School (private boarding/day school) for three years. In 2015 I moved to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and worked at the American School of UB for three years (one year in elementary, two years in secondary). Now I am in my eighth year at the American Collegiate Institute; this is my 21st year in education.
After generative artificial intelligience entered the popular consciousness in late 2022, I began to wonder HOW it would impact and alter the field of Education. Each subsequent year the questions became bigger and more concerning. I began to wonder if it would be possible for me to make it to retirement age working in the field of Education (I need to be 59.5 years old to be eligible to withdraw money from personal IRAs; age 67 to receive Social Security benefits). I sought out and found a path for professional development that I thought might help me stretch beyond my comfort zones. One year ago I enrolled in a course through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to begin the work necessary to become an ISTE Certified Educator. My school supported my enrollment by paying for the course (professional development funds).
March-June 2025 I completed the online coursework. This past September I began building the Portfolio I would submit to apply for the official certification. There are 25 Criteria for which we must provide evidence from our practice which illustrates how we are meeting each standard. I submitted my Portfolio at the end of January; sadly there are some criteria for which my school’s context OR my role do not offer authentic opportunities to achieve some standards/criteria. I did achieve the 18 Criteria for which I submitted. I am now at work on preparing a resubmission (fingers crossed by the end of summer I might achieve this certification).
But most important, no matter if I achieve certification or not, is that by enrolling in the course and working through the construction of artifacts for my Portfolio, I got connected with librarian professional communities and networks. I had become apathetic and complacent. Now I am feeling inspired and re-energized after a period of dormancy.
Last month I attended my first librarian conference in over six years. Over 70 librarians gathered in Amsterdam to attend the second annual International School Librarians of Europe (ISLE) conference. I learned of this grassroots organization (the best kind!) due to the work I had done on my portfolio. The dates of the conference aligned perfectly with the week we had off for our Spring Break. It was wonderful to meet and network with librarians from all over the globe. I went two days earlier and enjoyed a little sightseeing (more on that in a subsequent post) and then enjoyed one preconference day and two conference days.
Our preconference day took us around the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam with author and illustrator Maria van Lieshout. We toured the real sights/locations from her award-winning—beautiful and moving–graphic novel Song of a Blackbird. After our museum visits, lunch stop, and various walking tours, we journeyed on by metro and ferry to visit the STRAAT museum (Museum of Street Art & Graffiti). What a unique and special museum! And thanks to our host librarians we were able to have the place ALL TO OURSELVES for exploration and an evening “Borrel” in the Cafe located inside the museum. It was a very full day. A wonderful day!
Friday we enjoyed a keynote presentation by Maria followed by a variety of presentations from colleagues. While I am not working in an international school setting, I can say I found a couple of really good ideas to pursue/put in practice in my library. We had a tour of the three libraries housed within the International School of Amsterdam and enjoyed an Indonesian Rijsttafel for dinner. On Saturday we divided into upper and lower school groups for more workshops/presentations. I presented around my questions and concerns with how slowly we are receiving/acquiring/conducting research about the impacts of AI on student learning. I can’t recall ever having presented to a group of my peers before this event. Sure, I teach students and I present and share with my school’s English department and groups of teachers from various departments, but I have not presented for a group of just librarians. It was both a thrilling experience as well as a bit nerve-wracking.
I’m back in İzmir now and back to work. I’m already moving books around (condensing Nonfiction to make more space for Fiction on the English half of the library). And Meriç and I are making plans to introduce some new signage. We will also “genrefy” our fiction collection–hopefully before the start of next school year. Due to space limitations we have to do this in a particular way but the end result will be that students will be able to easily find books from the major genres (Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Historial Fiction, Classics, etc). It will take some time but I think we can be ready for students at the start of the new school year in September.
We just had Turkey’s official Library Week this past week. It is impossible for me to celebrate this event as it always lines up with the midterm exam week and students are on an altered schedule. But my colleague Ebru hosted a number of activities for her middle school students. The featured photo on this post (at the top) includes, from left to right, Ebru (Middle School Librarian), Meriç and me (High School Librarians). We have fun together and support one another in both professional and personal ways. I’m beyond fortunate to have them in my life. 🙏🏻
I have my contract for next school year (my 22nd year in education and 9th year at ACI). I am feeling confident about my ability to remain relevant. I will continue to work on ways to improve the library space and collections, will always build new lessons and activities to role model for students how to best evaluate and use information, and of course recommend books and engage around literacy events and activities. And if I ever feel stagnant, nothing to worry about as ISLE will meet again for the 2027 Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, next March! I’m already looking forward to it!