Booktalking

Okay. So, you get two posts in one day today. In addition to my excitement about the upcoming Pirates movie, I also want to share a little about a recent experience I had. As you all know, I have been in graduate school for the past 2 1/2 years working toward my Master's in library science. This semester I had to do a practicum, what is called a "culminating experience." Basically, it's an internship in a library. I did mine at the Hilliard Library in the Youth Services department. As part of the practicum, it is required that you spend 100 hours working at the library, and then you have to spend an extra 50 hours on a special project. My project was a community outreach experience. I went into the two sixth grade schools in Hilliard. (Yes, the sixth graders get their very own schools here with no other grades in them.) I performed booktalks. For those of you who don't know what a booktalk is, I will try to explain it. Basically, it's a little skit about a book. Each booktalk is maybe 2 or 3 minutes long. They're kind of like movie trailers, except they're done live, and they're about books instead of movies. Anyway, I had so much fun doing them. At first I was really nervous. I didn't know what to expect from the kids. I was afraid that I would get up there, make a fool of myself, and the kids would just laugh at me and maybe even heckle a little. I was wrong! The first class I went to was the advanced reading class. That one was a good ice breaker. Those kids were totally interested. They participated when I called on them. They laughed at all the right spots. They got grossed out at the right times, etc. After that, I became much more relaxed. It helped that I was there with one of the librarians who is young and cool and very funny. He talked to them first about the upcoming summer reading club at the library and got them all riled up. Then I swooped in with the booktalks to give them some ideas of what books to read. It went really well, and I feel like I got some good experience for the future when I'm working in a library, and I have to go do booktalks again.

I am now officially done with school. I'm just waiting for the official ceremony, which is in a few weeks. Now I'm just looking for a job. Of course, I want to live in Florida to be closer to my family. I have sent my resume out to a few places, and I have my first interview next week. Wish me luck with that! I'm starting a new chapter in my life, and it's very exciting and a little bit scary. (But a little more exciting than scary.)