Have you ever been somewhere with Ashley Bryan? He started every presentation by first saying, “My name is Ashley Bryan” and then recites “My People” by Langston Hughes: “The night is beautiful, so the faces of my people!”
Tag: mentors
Mastering Mentorship: Tips for Success
Mentorship is an important part of professional development and growth. But how would you define mentorship? Writing this post, I struggled to find a definition that resonated. Too many focused on the ambiguous work of a mentor, failing to define either mentor or work. Finally I found this beautiful definition: Mentorship is an intentional effort to support, encourage, and/or motivate someone in a particular space…who has less experience/expertise/creativity than you do in that space. – Kathy Fall I love how this definition captures so many parts of mentorship. Moreover, it doesn’t require years of experience, specific skills, or job titles. Instead, it focuses on everyone having something to offer others. For me, that’s key. I’ll be focusing on mentors and mentees as equally important participants in the relationship.
All about the mentors…#alaac18
ALA Annual is many things to me. The best time of year? yes! Librarian Christmas (or huge celebration?) Yes! Professional development? yes! Networking? Yes! Lots of decked out librarians in their finest cat or mermaid creations? Yes and yes and yes and yes! lol! But one thing that ALA Annual means to me is mentorship. When I was a wee librarian at my first ALA- now 5 years ago- I immediately signed up for a conference mentor through NMRT and I have been lucky enough to keep meeting with her years later! ALA is overwhelming… conferences are gigantic and jam-packed and even when you are not #alaleftbehind you can develop serious #FOMO when you are there! It is impossible to do everything, and you may or may not luck into doing just some of the things you wanted to do! So search out what interests you in the organization and…