Posted on by hildaweisburg

Lead Like a Politician

Did the title make you pause? Did you want to reject it? These days, most people have a negative view of politicians, but like them or not, they do lead. And they are able to get people to vote for them.

As school librarians we need to get out the “vote” for us. Whether it’s our students, teachers, administrators, or parents, we need their support and recognition of our value to them. In Jed Brewer’s article, “You Are a Politician: Four Lessons From Local Politics That Make for Better Organizational Leaders,” his lessons for business leaders apply equally well to our ability to be leaders in our educational setting. Here are the four for you with my tweaks.

  1. It’s About the Problem — Always – To be heard, you need to speak to the listener’s wants and needs. With students it’s usually about the grade or the inability to see the value in what they are doing. Hopefully, you are creating engaging lessons, giving learners agency in working on the assignment or project. Teachers want students to learn and do well on high stakes tests. Focus on what you can bring that will advance their goals when you suggest they do a cooperative or collaborative project with you. Your principal worries about the superintendent and the Board of Education and especially the budget. Keep them informed about student successes, sending them things they can use in their reports, such as pictures/videos of student creations tying them to state standards. Parents are always concerned about their children and how they are doing. Make sure they know how your LibGuide and website keep them informed and allow opportunities for them to access you. In dealing with all these different wants and needs, Brewer recommends you find opportunities to connect with each group to be sure you know what they see as their problems and concerns.
  2. Nothing Beats the Personal Touch — Ever – Getting to know students individually is a challenge for us, but it is important to keep working at it. Offering coffee and snacks for teachers is a tried and true way to bring them in and get an opportunity to talk one-on-one. While sending regular reports to principals is necessary, also invite them in when kids are working on projects so they can see the work in action. Also, make sure to have some face-to-face time with your principal. Ask them for their opinion on where they want to see the library go. Be prepared to respond positively but provide data where necessary to correct any negative ideas.
  3. No One Succeeds Alone — Really – Draw on your PLN, your Professional Learning Network. Between the national and state library associations as well as the social network and people you follow, you have ample “partners” in creative ways to address your own wants and needs. Build your own support team so that when things become challenging, you have resources and places to go.
  4. Compromise Is Success — Truly – Important goals aren’t achieved quickly. Trust and relationships need time to build. Even if you have done all the proper preparation, you won’t likely get a complete acceptance of anything you propose. That’s where negation comes in. If you get a partial buy-in, it means they see things they like in what you are saying. Modify, tweak, or do whatever is appropriate for achieving your goal, and then come back. I had a superintendent who once told me her first answer was always, “No.” If someone came back, she could be sure they were serious. Keep looking for new avenues – break a project down into a several year plan, show short and long term benefits, offer ideas for modifications.

Brewer concludes by telling business people they are politicians. This is true for you, too. You have to meet the needs and wants of diverse groups. By using the skills of a politician, you and the library will grow and thrive.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Quality Answers Require Quality Questions

Rhetorical questions are those with such obvious answers no one needs to respond. Simple questions get one word or even one syllable answers. If we want useful, useable answers, we need to ask better questions. Even if we fear a negative response. We cannot build the collaborative relationships we want or improve what we’re doing if we don’t ask questions that give us quality answers. Even if we don’t always like those answers.

Asking quality questions gives us information. “What would you want to do differently next time?” rather than “What did you think?”. If you’re in the midst of a project with students, ask “What was the hardest part of this so far?” In building a connection with your principal, ask, “What would you like to see changed about the library?” Here, you may want to get a little more specific based on your purpose is for this discussion.

In his article, Asking the right questions, Paul Thornton offers eight tips on how to ask questions that get quality answers. As he is addressing the business world, I will add my comments to show how to use the tips in our education world.

  1. Be clear about your purpose – Everyone, even students, are pressed for time and often under stress. Get to the point quickly. See the sample questions given above for suggestions on doing this.
  2. Prepare in advance – This is not the time for improvisation. Once you know the purpose you can decide what questions you plan to ask. In what order? Have them written down. Limit the number to no more than three and memorize them.
  3. Ask one question at a time – Whomever you are talking to needs time hear what you said and form an answer. And you need to be listening to each response. Your focus is on the information you are receiving, not rushing to ask your next question. Thornton reminds you not to ask rhetorical questions. You won’t get usable answers.
  4. Challenge assumptions – Whether you want students to think more critically, extend collaboration with a teacher, or enlighten a principal about how libraries have and need to change, we all carry a level of bias on what we think we know about the subject. Be clear about what you’re asking and don’t assume the basis/background of the answers you are being given.
  5. Connect ideas – Thornton says when asked properly and clearly, your questions will get your listener to gain new insights into whatever you are presenting. It will give them an opportunity. When it’s possible, connect the purpose of your questions (see the first item on the list) to your Mission Statement.
  6. Be comfortable with silence – If you want quality answers you need to allow people time to think. This goes back to Number Three. As you wait for the response, use the time to read body language to see where they are in the process. Giving people space and time to answer tells them you value their response.
  7. Encourage broad participation – With students, a pair/share exercise or having a group post their response on a whiteboard will allow you to see where the class is. With teachers, you might have them share several student projects in the library. A wider net gives you more answers and more information.
  8. Capture notes promptly – You want to have a record of what you were asking about and what the response was. Depending on whom you are talking to, it could be analog, digital, photo, or even a recording. In our fast-paced world, you could lose some information as you turn to the next thing. Give these answers the weight and time they deserve.

Improving the quality of your questions will help propel you forward in increasing the library’s value in the minds and behaviors of the populations you serve. What you learn in the process will be invaluable and further your growth as a leader.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

A Purpose Driven Life

If you are like most people, you constantly feel as though you are being pulled in multiple directions at once. You are probably tired and overwhelmed if not always at least frequently. It’s not healthy, and it harms you and the people you care about who count on you. It can also shorten your life. So what can we do about it?

The question posed in the Harvard Health Publishing post, Will a purpose-driven life help you live longer? has a clear answer – yes. You may not know your life purpose, but you do have one for your work as a librarian. It’s your Mission. Your ‘Why’. My purpose, as an educator and a librarian is: “I reflect back to others their greatness, and, when appropriate, help them manifest it in their lives.” And I live this in my weekly blog where I talk about how you are vital to the students, teachers, and administrators, when I teach at the graduate level, and when I present at conferences around the country.

In his blog post, The #1 reason people fail at their life plan, Denzell Leggett explains why a life purpose is important, why people don’t have one, and offers his suggestion on getting one. Following are the three non-planning patterns he identifies and the answer he proposes along with my comments to make this more meaningful for you:

  • The Flywheel Hamster equals Fake Plan, Fake Hope – The hamster image conveys how many people see their lives. You keep moving but get nowhere. You are basing your plan on what you think you should do. When you realize you aren’t getting results, you change the plan but still are drawing on the expectations of others. So you are not really planning you are reacting.
  • The Floating Dandelion equals No Plan, Misguided Hope – Again the image reveals how you are moving through your life – a dandelion seed floating on the wind. Leggett says people who plan like this are relying on “luck, peer influence, media trends or family tradition to guide them. They chase whatever sounds good or seems easier in the moment.” The wind changes, they go in a different direction. It’s not plan and, once again, it’s all about reacting.
  • The Head-in-the-Sand Ostrich equals No Hope, So No Plan – Why bother if it’s not going to work. We see everything as out of our control so we move forward without a focus. When things are hard, sometimes it seems best to not be noticed even though we have learned that’s not a solution. No matter what is out of control, we can choose how we respond. That response might be the beginning of a plan.

So, if this doesn’t work, what can you do?

  • Transformation is the way out – Leggett says, “The key to destiny control lies in transforming one’s mindset, beliefs and actions to develop assured belief…[and] you must see yourself as the leader of your life. Your destiny depends on it.” He gives no advice on transforming your mindset, but a first step can be to take time to focus on what brings you joy. At work, at home, anywhere. What are you passionate about? List these things, add to it whenever you can. Your true life purpose will emerge. Once it does, as with your library Mission Statement, write it down, save it on your computer, print it out where you can see it and memorize it.

You are a leader in your life as Leggett says. You are also a leader in your school and library. Take time to get clear and discover your purpose. It will help you have the clarity to make a plan that supports that leadership, that supports your dreams, and enriches your life.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

More Leadership Tips

Being a leader, as cliché as it might sound, is a journey, not a destination. Even though you already are a leader, there is always more to learn. As librarians, being lifelong learners comes naturally to us. However, we must always be on the lookout for new places and spaces to learn from.

In this blog, I frequently bring in leadership lessons from the business world. A few weeks ago, I even posted a reference to how Taylor Swift can be a leadership role model for us. Today, I’m returning to Smart Briefs and the article, “Adaptive leadership: How women can lead through uncertainty” from Maria Doughty who shares about leading when “life gets ambiguous.” Although the title says it’s targeted to women, men will find these suggestions equally helpful. You may be doing several of these, but there is always something new you can use.

Here are her eight tips along with my comments on how these relate to school librarianship.

  1. Define goals and stay focused – Just as it is in the business world, our priority is our Mission and Vision. By now you hopefully have both, but when whenever you are feeling uncertain, it’s a good time to review them and see if they need tweaking or expanding.
  2. Be nimble and be ready – Necessity has made us experts at pivoting. What worked yesterday, might not work tomorrow. Stay alert. Read professional journals. In addition to school library ones such as Knowledge Quest (KQ) from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), your reading should include EL (Educational Leadership) from the Association of Supervisors and Curriculum Developers (ASCD). Keep current with what might be next in technology through ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) starting with their numerous blog posts.
  3. Stay calm and lead with empathy – This can be challenging to do given the current political and politicized climate and how it impacts school libraries and librarians. But panic doesn’t lead to rational decisions. Breathe. Ask: Who in the school community is also stressed out? Your principal? Teachers? How can you support them? Then stop to consider who can support you? Parents are one important source, particularly if you prepared for this possibility by establishing communication channels with them. Teachers may be as well. Even older students have also proved they can be strong advocates for the school library and you.
  4. Project strength — and vulnerability – While sounding like opposites, they can work well together. Project strength by leaning into the areas where you feel confident. Draw on your values and how capable you are at teaching students what they need to know for today and tomorrow. Teachers are also feeling the effects of the political climate. Let them know you understand and what you are doing to not let it keep you from bringing your best. Share the resources from our national library professional associations and take the opportunity to learn from theirs.
  5. Stay curious and commit to learning – As I stated at the beginning, a commitment to learning is natural for us. Avoid getting so concerned about what is happening in your school that you don’t see the very big picture. Keep aware of what other industries are doing – schools, colleges, and beyond. Notice where you might be prone to tunnel vision about changes, such as AI. Look for where you can adapt and grow.
  6. Maintain inclusivity and engagement – Everyone is busy, but the more people work together – and with the library – the more interwoven you are with your audience. Consider hosting an after school coffee and chat (with snacks if possible!) for teachers to share ideas across disciplines with each other. Perhaps you can schedule something for parents such as students sharing their recent projects. This has the advantage of allowing students to show their growth as they discuss what was the toughest part of the project, what was the best part, and what did they learn.
  7. Take care of yourself – I can’t stress this often enough. These leadership tips take time and energy. Growing, learning and changing isn’t easy. You need TLC to keep going. Whatever relaxes you and/or gives you pleasure – make time for it!
  8. Find your tribe -As Doughty says, “you don’t need to have all the answers yourself.” This is where your Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a great resource. The hive mind invariably can give you the answer as well as new ideas to try. Ask the scary questions. You never know who else is having this challenge or who may have found a solution.

We are living in challenging times. Yes, that’s another cliché that is all too true. You can let it break you, or you can grow as a result of how you lead yourself and others through. Your growth sets an example for others. The future of our students depends on us rising to the challenge and being the leaders they and the rest of our school community need us to be.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Tools to Take Control of Your Life

Does it sometimes feel as though every day something new is coming at you? You are not alone. This world seems faster changing than ever. With that, each day the news brings information of a new threat or a technology that is likely to affect the library. And in the midst of this you worry if you’ve missed something key. Not surprisingly, turmoil is bad for your health, your relationships, and your ability to best serve your students, teachers, and administrators. It’s time to take back control of your life.

In his blog post, The #1 reason people fail at their life plan, Donzel Leggett says many people now “feel like life is happening to them rather than being shaped by them.”  Legget talks about “the cycle of no destiny control.”  He goes on to write how when we feel in control, we’re able to move with purpose including setting goals and having a forward-looking mindset. But with this distraction and stress heavy world, this is hard to manage.

Leggett discusses three reactions to feeling as though you have no control. His concepts along with my comments, may give you some clarity about how to move forward:

  • The Flywheel Hamster – You may be feeling like that proverbial hamster, your wheels spinning but getting nowhere. Your plans lack direction. Much like the Beatles song “Nowhere Man” you are “Making all his (your) Nowhere plans for nobody.” When your plan doesn’t work the way you wanted it, you revise it. And the cycle repeats. What is needed is a plan with clear goals and confidence in your abilities.
  • The Floating Dandelion – Leggett describes this as creating no-risk plans because risk implies the possibility of failure. We have no room for that. Take a hard look at your Vision and Mission. What are you doing to make them a reality? Start there and craft a plan with a true goal, action steps to attain it, and a reasonable time to accomplish it. Include both formative and summative assessments.
  • The Head-in-the-Sand Ostrich – When you believe nothing you do will change anything significant, and besides you are a target, so keep your head down. As Leggett says, “Like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, they miss the fact that the world is moving on without them,” Believing that if you do that, maybe they won’t notice you.  That’s a recipe for disaster. You are a leader. Leaders know where they want to go next and how to get there. In reality, that approach is guaranteed to get you eliminated.  And since you are so quiet, no one will even notice you are gone.

Legget concludes by reminding us that transformation is the way out. Change your mindset. Once again, check your Vision and Mission. You have been successful in the past. There is no reason you can’t be successful again. Re-energize yourself. Take care of yourself. Go for walks or whatever you need to feel yourself as powerful and committed as you were.  You are a leader, now lead yourself.

The maxim “Know Thyself” was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. And, as I say in my forthcoming book, The Involved School Librarian, the first community you need to interact with is yourself. Know yourself, both strengths and weaknesses, and use them as you lead in your school community and elsewhere.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Embrace Your Ambition

Are you ambitious?  My guess is that some of you would say in many ways you are. However, you might not publicly claim it because of all the negativity surrounding ambition. Certainly, we have all experienced that from others in our professional life, perhaps in your personal life, and on the national stage.

Our instincts are correct in this. There are positive and negative aspects to ambition. And some of the positive aspects can help you grow as a leader. Amina AlTai offers five insights from her new book, The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living in her article “How to Break Free From the Ambition Trap.” Here are her five, along with my usual comments:

  1. We need to redefine ambition – At its core, ambition is about growing in some way. The negative association has to do with growing powerful and/or rich and then cruel or callous. The ambition you want to have is about growing in knowledge to better serve your community. Librarians are lifelong learners who can and should embrace their ambition to learn and their desire to share.
  2. There are two types of ambition– AlTai looks closely at the two types which she calls painful and purposeful ambition. The painful ambition, which is more familiar, is focused on winning no matter the cost. We can all identify those who want to show they are better than others. A history of feeling betrayed makes them pursue control. Purposeful ambition is focused on purpose and collaboration. This speaks to our core values as librarians. It looks to what we want to achieve and the best means to get there.
  3. Identity and ambition are deeply intertwined – According to AlTai “Ambition doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is shaped and constrained by identity.” You know the identity society has given you. At various times, your ambition will be attributed to your identify and treated accordingly. And it will be different depending on the identity. How will you react to this? Do you overperform to gain approval or underperform to stay safe. It will take courage to have positive/purposeful ambition, but so much is at stake. We must be ambitious.
  4. It’s not about renouncing ambition, but allowing ambition to come from innate gifts – As AlTai says, “We need to leverage the best of us. We all have a unique form of brilliance, a rare talent or ability that is specific to us and that we came to this planet to share.” As a librarian you have so many skills: tech, research, people, interdisciplinary and more. We need to know when and where to use these to achieve our goals. We want our students to feel safe in our library and be ready for whatever the future holds.
  5. Ambition is cyclical – Most of us think of positive or negative ambition always continuing to grow. AlTai points to the necessity to pause. I see it as a reminder for self-care. You cannot always be chasing a goal, despite the messages in our hustle culture. We need to remember that constant giving is draining. In order to serve, we need the downtime to recharge.  Too many need us to skip the need to recharge.

Abition is not a “dirty word.” Like it or not, comfortable with the idea or not, leaders are ambitious. We have goals, a Vision and Mission and the determination to live into them. Our drive is powerful and should not be dampened. Students, teachers, and administrators are counting on us to continue to strive for growing and doing better.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Is It Already Time for a New Beginning?

Has the school year already lost that new beginning luster with all the old and new challenges you are facing? There is so much going on in our lives as we pivot from vacation mode to work mode. Chances are you plunged right in without much thought especially since you know your job. But that means that even though the year is only a few weeks old, maybe you could already use a new beginning.

What would that mean? Probably a combination of things – looking at what can be started, what can be made new, what’s getting in your way, and how to get past those roadblocks. To help you get your motivation back, I recommend looking at the recommendations of Palena R. Neale Ph.D., PCC in her Psychology Today article, Harnessing the Fresh Start Effect : 6 steps to set you up for success with the fresh start effect. Neale notes that giving yourself a fresh start moves you away from any failures you perceive. This can help turn off those negative voices in your head that creep in with the “new” wears off.

Here are her steps and my usual comments on how it works for us in the education world:

1. Create Your Own Fresh Starts  – The first thing to consider is what would a fresh start include. Think about what would you like to accomplish. Do you have a goal or a plan you thought you put into action when the school year began and then it got lost in all the opening activities? Knowing what you hope to achieve can give you some focus.

2. Choose Your Peak Momentum – Now choose the day you want to begin your fresh start. Monday is usually a favorite time, but any day that works for you and your schedule is fine. New month, day after a long weekend. Nothing is off-limits. Accept and use what works best for you. Then, the night before, go through the focus you created in step one.

3. Connect to Your “Why” – What is your Vision for the library? Even though by definition it is not achievable, you are always working to bring it closer to reality. This is where your Mission comes in, what I call your “Perspiration” and “Motivation.” It defines how you operate through the day, how you deal with students, how you work with teachers, and how you communicate with your principal. Why do you want to accomplish what you focused on in step one.

4. Keep It Simple – There are likely to be lots of things you want to change, but it’s better if you focus on one or maybe two goals. Create a strategic plan. It doesn’t need to be complicated. You’ve got your Vision and Mission. Do an Environmental Scan. Do a SOAR analysis by identifying your Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. The first two are what currently exists. The second two are where you want to go. What Action Steps will get you started? Who will be involved? Remember to get approval where you need them. What costs are involved? What’s the timeline knowing it’s bound to need tweaking. Knowing where to start is the key to starting.

5. Change Your Environment – No, you don’t move outside the library. You need to remove the things that make you lose your focus. Clear clutter from your desk. Perhaps plan to save looking at emails until the end of the day or at lunch if you worry you may miss something important. Get things filed or tossed. Bring in something you love to look at. Frame your Vision Statement.

6. Sustain Success – Implementing a plan is important. Sustaining it is vital. Check in with your goal the steps you thought would get you there to see your progress. For my own strategic planning, I use “telescoping”, “microscoping,” and “periscoping”. At the beginning you telescope to see what the end results will look like. Before you get overwhelmed by the thought, microscope by focusing on what needs to be done now. Periscoping involves popping up now and then to check on what comes next. This ensures you won’t miss a deadline or key step.

As the well-known philosopher, Yogi Berra, said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up someplace else.” Create your new beginning and get to where you want to go.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Thriving In Challenging Times

It feels like we have been living in challenging times for so long the phrase has become commonplace. Stress is so high, surviving might be the chief goal, making thriving seem like a fantasy. But we can’t afford that. If survival is the goal, we are likely to be swept away by the rising tide of our current political climate, and bad times don’t deserve our surrender.

Our students and teachers need more than our survival – and so do we.  Nina Snyder turns to a surprising role model to emulate in her blog post How to Run Your Business Like Taylor Swift. You are not running a business, but as my comments show, the five lessons work for us. And who couldn’t use a little more Taylor Swift in their lives:

Know your customer – Ours are the students, teachers, and the administrators. It’s also parents who are keeping an ever-watchful eye on school libraries, and the general public. What do they want?  What do they need? Students want to do well and not be bored or worried about grades. They need choice and voice. Teachers want relief. They need help as they are feeling overworked and overly scrutinized. Principals want to present a well-run, high achieving school. They need evidence that is happening.  Parents want their children to be successful. They need evidence to know the library is not harming them but rather preparing their children for today and tomorrow. The public wants a good school system because it makes for a desirable community that attracts people to the community.

 Pivot before it’s required – Times keep changing. New technologies emerge, as do new threats. In order to be ready to modify your strategy, you need to stay ahead of the game. Reading journals and articles you get as an ALA/AASL and AECT/ISTE member lets you know the latest in education, including what the administrators are thinking. Work with the public library. The youth services librarian may have a closer ear to the community than you do. Check in with your Professional Learning Network (PLN) for ideas and to learn what’s happening in other locations. It will give you a heads up. Reading the local newspaper or website for clues into what the community is thinking. Follow the towns social media. Shop occasionally in the town where you work so you can hear what customers are talking about.

Embrace authenticity – Be honest. Don’t abandon your core professional and personal values. That can be frightening today. Draw on the support offered by our professional associations. They offer resources to help in presenting what you stand for.  When you step away from what matters to you, you can’t be as confident about the work you do, and you don’t feel good about yourself.

Focus on your strengths – Most of you have strong tech skills. Use them to promote your program. Showcase student accomplishments, acknowledging the teachers involved on your library website. In addition to your regular reports to your principal, send photos and brief information after a successful project is completed. Consider writing a column for the local paper or school website on “Happenings in the School Library.”

Keep communicating – Most of the four ideas included communication. Misinformation abounds. We need to get in there first to share what is actually happening in the school library. Communication powers relationship. Relationship builds trust. Trust becomes advocacy. We need all the supporters we can get.

You can thrive even in challenging times. In fact, I believe this so much that my next book, (coming February 2026) https://www.routledge.com/The-Involved-School-Librarian-How-to-Increase-Your-Impact-and-Thrive/Weisburg/p/book/9781041088080, will support you in this endeavor. For now, some final advice from Taylor (the titles, not the lyrics): “You Need to Calm Down”, “Shake It Off” and be “Gorgeous!”

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Tips for Managing the Library Classroom

As every school librarian knows, managing the library classroom is not the same as managing a typical classroom. Not only do students not come to the library on a daily or even a weekly basis, in some cases, but you have to add in the fact that the kids don’t see you as their real teacher. You can see where it becomes challenging. Plus, you have the ongoing possibility of drop-ins.

What is needed is a Classroom Management plan that encompasses all that happens in the library, ties into your Mission and Vision, and is cognizant of unforeseen circumstances cropping up. You need to keep yourself centered to manage it and make it a vital part of the school community. A tall order.

In Confident Classroom Management. A. Keith Young offers four tips for the traditional classroom. I have adapted to make them work for you.

  1. Let Each Day Start Fresh – Focus on today. Yesterday is over. Take time to review why something went off track yesterday or why it worked. Next, come up with a strategy to keep it from happening again or find a way to repeat it. Once you have your positive mindset in place—especially important after a tough day—move forward. Greet students with a smile and welcoming comments, even the ones who caused a conflict of some type on their last visit. Reset the tone for today.
  2. Maintain Relationships Separate from Behavior – This is not easy. We have a tendency to be wary when a frequent troublemaker comes in. A focused positive comment is vital here. Choose an article of clothing, hairstyle or some other personal connection for your comment. It will signal to the student that you are not holding onto what happened last time. Talk to the person, not the action.
  3. Redirect with Calm, Neutral Phrases – When a student acts up, rather than telling them to stop, ask a question related to the topic at hand without indicating the student is off track and not behaving appropriately. Offer an approving comment when they respond positively. If the student continues to be disruptive you can hand them paper and pencil and suggest they write what is upsetting them. Or you can ask if they need time away from the group. Each of these give the student agency to resettle themselves and allows you to remain focused.
  4. Conduct Social Audits for Better Interactions – While much easier to do in a typical classroom, you can incorporate it into your strategy, particularly with students who repeatedly have problems in the library. Young suggests you “guide students through reviewing a situation that occurred, identifying missteps, and outlining future actions—(then) offers clear and precise empathetic direction.” You will likely not have time to do this while the class is in session. Instead, have step-by-step directions for them doing it. Tell them to ask you for help if they have difficulties answering the questions. Also, consult with the class teacher and the guidance counselor for advice on dealing with this student. Working together my have a much bigger impact

Incorporate these four steps into your personal lesson plans, different from what you might submit to your principal. The more frequently you put it this management into effect, the more natural it will become to you. As a leader and school librarian in difficult times, it’s more important than ever for your library not to become a problem for the administration or add to the challenges of teachers. Instead, demonstrate every day how the library contributes to the success of students and teachers.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Quieting Your Inner Critic

It’s a new school year. Were you eager to get back or were you worried? How is it going so far? What’s that voice in your head saying?

If you are a first-year school librarian there is so much uncertainty. Of course, this is true if here you are in a new district or have been moved to a different level. Even if you are in the same school and have been for several years, there is much to concern you. The job has always required a lot of responsibilities in many areas and the political climate around the world has caused more stress.

And uncertainty breeds self-doubt.

So it’s no wonder that your inner critic might be talking loudly and often to you. How can we quiet this noise in our heads that can derail our actions and our mindsets? John Millen, CEO of the Reputation Group, a leadership communication company, offers sound advice in his blog post, 5 Ways to Control Negative Self-Talk.

First, Millen explains what that voice really is and its cost.

The silent saboteur – That’s what it is. It’s an insidious voice, whispering things you would never say to a friend. It erodes your confidence and alters your behavior. Millen states: Negative self-talk is one of the most overlooked obstacles to success. It quietly erodes your confidence, damages your relationships, and undermines your ability to lead. You become less confident in your ability to do what you know what you can. The costs, with my comments, are as follows:

  • Imposter syndrome: You minimize your strengths, only seeing how other people do it better.
  • Fear of speaking up: You don’t suggest ideas to teachers fearing it won’t go well, and they will think you are inept.
  • Perfectionism: You keep delaying putting new ideas into practice because you are afraid if it’s not perfect it will fail.
  • Burnout: The pressure and continuous self-doubt take a toll. You hate going to work each day. You slog through, counting the hours till it’s time to leave.

To turn this around, here are Millen’s five ways to get control of your inner critic, again with my comments.

1. Name the voice – Know who is talking to you. Two of Millen’s names are “The Heckler” and “The Judge”. Choose one that works for you. Pick your favorite villain from a book, especially one where the hero defeats the villain.

2. Ask: Would I say this to someone else? – You know that answer. Of course not. What would you say to a friend who said that? What would you say to that friend instead?

3. Reframe the message – Watch out for absolutes like “I never” or “I always.” It’s not about being perfect (see above). Ask what you learned from it. That means you are growing.

4. Keep a thought journal – Those of you who are journalers can get behind this idea. Noticing the thought is a way from separating yourself from the emotions triggered by the thought. Seeing what you said and then recognizing where it’s not true will help silence your Heckler.

5. Practice self-compassion – Give yourself a break. It was a super busy day. You had a bad night’s sleep. This is part of self-care. We are all human. Remember – what would that good friend say to you.

Will this make your inner critic disappear. Sadly, no. But you can mute it when you recognize it for what is and implement these ideas for halting it. You are a leader and people are rightfully counting on you. Your inner critic is wrong. You are doing a great job. Make it a good year.