I'm Back! Let's Catch Up!

So, it's been a hot minute since I've written anything on here. Almost 3 YEARS actually! Whoa...

There have definitely been some developments in these last few years. In some of my last posts, I mentioned going back to school for my School Librarian Certificate. Well, I am happy to report that I finished that post-graduate certificate from the University of North Texas (Go, Mean Green!) in the Summer of 2020 and have spent the last two years as a school librarian! I opted not to complete the entire Master's degree, and just finished my certificate. (I still go back and forth on this decision, as the MLS requires just 3 more classes. HOWEVER, it requeires 3 MORE classes and those classes are not tied to school librarianship. Plus there's a capstone exam that I escaped, so.... 🤷)

via GIPHY

My first year as a school librarian, a wonderful opprotunity popped up in my district just a few miles down the road from me. I really did not think I would get a job that year, I wasn't even done with my program yet! But it was in the same district and relatively close, so I figured I had to try. I interviewed for that position in February of 2020 and low and behold, I got it! It was hard to leave the school I had taught at for 11 years and to make the decision to take my son with me and change his school, but it was such a great experience! I absolutely loved my new campus, the staff, the administration, everything! My first year was going along great... crazy, of course, because it was the first, but great. And then, the pandemic hit! Man did that throw a wrench in things. I certainly did not anticiapte remote learning in my first year in the library!

Then, another unexpected occurance. Remember how I mentioned I'd taught at the same school for 11 years. Well, the school librarian there made a decision to retire. After a friend reached out to me and talked me into it and after much internal debate (I mean, was I really considering changing schools after only ONE year and in the middle of a PANDEMIC?!), I reached out to my principal. And here we go again, I was back at my home school, which is also my neighborhood school. It was another bittersweet experience. I was super sad to leave all the people I had built relationships in that one crazy year at my new campus, but my gut just knew that this was the right choice for me and my family. 

So my second year as a school librarian was at another new campus, but not really becasue Savannah Elementary has been my campus for so long. It really was like going back home in a lot of ways. There was still plenty of learning and adjusting to do. There had been a lot of staff change so building relationships was starting over in a lot of ways. And let's not forget, it was still the middle of the pandemic. Almost all year I taught Library on a cart, trucking to classrooms with carts and doing my best to get books in the hands of kids in the middle of the mask wearing, hand sanitizing, social distancing madness that was this school year. It was another challenge, for sure, but it was still a good year. Maybe next year I'll get a "normal" year in the Library? We can hope, right?!

With all this craziness of the last few years, I let this blogging thing fall off. I really wish I hadn't because it's been a wild ride and it would have been worth documenting. But, I've had a couple of ideas that I wanted to put out there recently, and I really do like having this space for myself. Space to just share what's on my mind. I played around with starting a whole new blog, one that's more Library focused. I couldn't come up with any title I liked that wasn't already taken and really I was just using it as an excuse to put it off some more. So finally, today, I decided no... Pensive Pedagogy still works. I'm still a thoughtful, reflective person. (Too much so sometimes, which is why this blog is a good thing for me. A place to work all that thinking out!) And pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. I am very much still a teacher, I've just expanded what that looks like! So, here we go, ready for new adventures!

💗~K.