I love the metamorphosis-like cycle of a school year. June comes around and your butterfly (or toad!) of a school year bounds off, and you are left with glorious summer. The ending of the school year cycle, summer, allows you to catch your breath, find rejuvenation, renew your passion, sharpen your skills, and learn something new. I love summer’s empty space of time that allows your mind to wander, dream, brainstorm, be creative. To me, summer always feels like a reset button, a time to reflect before the blank slate of the new school year in the fall. Summer gives me room to ask reflective questions to guide my next steps:
What went well this past year?
What will I do differently?
What will 21-22 look like?
What will our students, staff, and larger school community be needing after our pandemic school year?
If you have a long-term, multiple-year plan for your media center, how will you adjust?
Questioning and changing plans--and even reinventing yourself, your programming, your media center--is not giving up or betraying your authenticity. Growth and improvement occurs because of adjustments small or large. Change should not be feared or be villainized. I am a firm believer in human-centered design, and humans are not stagnant or simple. They are complex and constantly learning, growing. The Dunwoody Elementary Upper Campus library is not my library; it is our library, the Dunwoody Elementary community’s library. To stay relevant and able to meet my community's needs, I must grow along with my humans.
So go ahead--press that reset button. Join me as I relax, ponder, dream, brainstorm, and find the rejuvenation you need to be ready for the masterpiece you will create with next school year’s blank slate.
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