School Library

Suggested Reflection Questions

1. Your role at Burke's

2. When did this opportunity take place?

3. Summary of workshop/ opportunity

4. Goals & Collaborations:

   - What were your big takeaways from your workshop or project?

I attended the ACL 2026 Institute on Resilience, Resistance, Rest & Recovery. The ACL of Northern California is a group of public and school librarians/ students that strives “to connect and inspire a dynamic network of library professionals to create inclusive, vibrant, and equitable library spaces that serve and empower youth in their communities.” This year’s workshops focused on “exploring resilience and resistance while centering rest, recovery, and care for ourselves and our communities.”

The 1st workshop was a conversation with author Joanna Ho, who discussed her journey toward becoming an author, how deep to go with students, book banning, questions that she wants her books to spark, how she incorporates rest into her work, and writing as a revolutionary act. As an educator and daughter of immigrants, Joanna shared the impact and internalization of never seeing herself reflecting in books. This deep invisibility inspired her to do something about it, and her work…

The Association of Children's Librarians (NorCal) had a PD entitled "Resilience and Resistance; Rest and Recovery". It was so wonderful. Author Joanna Ho gave one of the best and most inspiring talks/interviews I've ever heard. It would be so wonderful if she could come to Burke's next school year. She had really important things to say about book banning and about reading her picture books on so many levels so they can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

I did a session of chair yoga with a very inspiring and joyful librarian. I want to look into purchasing the deck of cards she used--they each have a pose and an inspirational quote.

There was also a great session entitled "Rest as Service" and I liked the question the presenter posed: "How can I find a place of rest in my work?"

I am going to contemplate that a lot…

I attended the Howard Zinn Book Fair– “an annual celebration of The People’s History, past present and future.” This year’s theme was “Fight Supremacy: Actions Against Authoritarianism,” and there were many engaging panels, workshops, and tables. I found the session “Empowering Kids: Social Justice Picture Books” to be most relevant to the work that I do as assistant to the school library. In particular, I can apply what I learned to my goal of incorporating DEIB practices into library displays/read-alouds/collection management. I would definitely recommend the book fair to any and all educators, as it provides bountiful opportunities to reflect on DEIB themes and how they can apply to our work with students. 

Four authors shared picture books that they wrote with various social justice themes (see list below), then went on to discuss why they focus on social justice, how to navigate the “age appropriate” parameters, ways to empower…