My name is Liz Grewal (they/them), and I am a teacher librarian at a public high school in Oakland. I have been working in this role for 2 years now, and I love working with teens. I have two more semesters left for my MLIS. In addition to this class I am also interning at my local public library with the children’s librarian, and I am excited to gain a new perspective on librarianship. There has been a lot of joy in the library with the launch of the summer reading program, and it has been fun interacting with a different age group of youth.
I don’t have a strong tech background, and I am excited to try new things and learn new skills to take back to the high school library. My goal for next school year is to build out a website with resources for staff and students. I also support staff with research and assignments, and I am excited to hopefully bring in some ideas for assignments or checks for learning that use technology in a meaningful way. With LLMs improving and students plagiarizing AI work as their own, there has been a real shift away from technology in school (in some ways I am supportive of this), but to a point where a teacher had students do research projects without using the internet. I hope to provide teachers and students opportunities to incorporate technology into education which are meaningful and productive.
My friend and I (on the right) with our newest library card from Humboldt County, CA from a road trip up to Redwoods National and State Park.