What can a librarian do for middle and high school students?
1. Give book talks to students that “open students up like a bud becoming a flower”.
Julia Torres: check
2. Craft lesson plans with teachers to incorporate excellent teaching practices and strong reads.
Julia Torres: check
3. Read. Read. Read. Read books that are being written now by authors that are breaking the mold, seeing the story differently and disrupting the cannon.
Julia Torres: check
4. Invite students to participate in celebrity Skypes with her friends who are also authors such as:
- Jason Reynolds (Ghosts-2016 , A Long Way Down-2019)
- Angie Thomas ( Hate U Give -2018, On the Come Up -2019).
Julia Torres: check
5. Deepen the critical consciousness of her 14,500 twitter followers to find books with strong diverse voices.
Julia Torres: check
6. Purchase books for kids to own for summer reading. Any student qualifies. The only catch is they have to have to commit to participate in a back-to-school book group.
Julia Torres: check
7. Organize literary excursions to the Central Library or to popular movies based on YA novels.
Julia Torres: check
8. Serve on educational boards such as the NCTE ( National Council of Teachers of English); participate in the think tank, Educator’s Collaborative Book Ambassador for grades 6-12 and is a 2018-2020 Heineman fellow.
Julia Torres: check
What does it mean when your are this kind of librarian?
It means that even though there had been no librarian and no books checked out for eight years prior to Julia, books are now flying of the shelves.
Students that Julia has touched have experienced the power of reading, writing and thinking, not only in the context of school, but in the context of the broader adult world where words can be power as well as joy.
Julia Torres is the teacher librarian on a campus shared by 5 schools located in far northeast Denver. She has taught English Language arts for over 10 years and has two master’s degrees.
