Mind Your Manners

When I was a classroom teacher (and mom to a wee one), manners were very important to me.  I made it a point to make sure that the little people in my life said "please" and "thank you" and "you're welcome" and "may I?" and "excuse me" and "I'm sorry".  They knew that people were finished and turkeys were done. We always wrote thank you notes for field trips or gifts or when visitors came.

So now the time has come for me to mind my manners and say,

 

 

I have so many people to thank and I know I will forget someone so I must apologize in advance if I do.

 

First, I have to thank Fran Glick who is my supervisor in the Office of Digital Learning(ODL).  Fran tossed out the idea of genrefying and let me run with it.  She read (and commented!) on the blog, emailed and tweeted and talked about me behind my back - in a good way.

 

Next up are Chimere Neal and Kelly Ray, both of whom are resource teachers in the ODL. Chimere helped me kick things off and was instrumental in helping getting the categories and corresponding graphics nailed down.  Kelly was a powerhouse who helped me craft presentation proposals and the corresponding presentations.  She gave so much of her own time to meet with me and work on this project.  She worked tirelessly on the project wiki, library wiki and Destiny solutions.  She truly was the OZ behind the curtain.

 

Remi and Donna, data clerks in the ODL, who came to my school and scanned and scanned and scanned my books and put them all into their new genre classifications so students could find them via location fields in Destiny.  You saved me so much angst and didn't laugh too loudly when I fell out of my chair!

 

Justin, Ben, Jen and Valerie, S.T.A.T. Resource Teachers, who came to my little corner of Baltimore County and peeled labels and label covers and more labels and more labels covers.  Then stacked books back on shelves - all the while laughing and making time fly by.  Thank you also for packing the seats at Common Ground even though my session was the last one on the last day.  You tweeted and came and made my day!

To the many fellow librarians who supported this project with time (labeling and shelving books), encouragement via emails and tweets and attendance at Professional Development sessions and enthusiasm for the project, thank you.  There is nothing like being supported by your peers and feeling like you can give something back to those who have shared so much with you, in so many ways, so many times before.

I'm not finished.  The blog isn't finished.  The library isn't finished.  I still have a bunch of things swirling around in my head that need to be done.  But the most important is now complete.  I have minded my manners and said, "Thank You!"