About

Gender

Male


Location

Denver, CO


Hometown:

Denver, CO


Name of Your School / Library / Organization:


MY GOAL with Teacher Librarian Ning:

My hope here is to make connections with librarians that care about getting boys to read. My blog, GettingBoystoRead.com, is dedicated to helping parents, teachers, and librarians learn how to get boys to read. I have spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars launching and running it, all without a plan to make any money. I'm a good guy with good intentions :-)

MY CAREER:

I taught sixth grade for the first 4 years of my career, followed by another 6 years as an elementary librarian. I switched to the high school level and am currently in my 7th year as the teacher-librarian at McLain Community HS. It's an alternative high school which means that 95% of our 700+ students are labeled at risk, all of which have dropped out of their previous school. When I first arrived in 2004 we did an extreme library makeover and made the library a great place to visit. We encourage food and drinks, have a library cafe, 4 huge Luv Sacs, offer free monthly pancakes, and do a ton of other fun things. We also have a "No Shushing" policy.

MY HOBBIES:

My favorite hobby is spending time my family. I have 16 and 12 year old kids and just celebrated 15 years of marriage. I also like technology, 4-wheeling, Sat. Morning Basketball, Hiking, and RV-ing

ODD TIDBITS:

I have been cutting my own hair for 18 years, My high school buddies call me E.T. because I have hammer toes, I Lived in Nome, Alaska for 8 months, I hated to Read as a kid and now I'm a librarian.

MY WEBSITE:

http://GettingBoysToRead.com. We are a community based blog for parents, librarians, and teachers. We provide information and support through articles, videos, interviews, and our forum.

LET'S NETWORK:

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/SupportSchoolLibraries Twitter - http://twitter.com/MikeMcQueen


Library, School, or Professional Website:

https://GettingBoysToRead.com


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Comments

  • Sakkaravarthi June 4, 2013 at 8:09pm

    nice

  • Marion Silk March 28, 2012 at 8:37pm

    Gday Mike,

    Your history sounds like it has been substantial in making you into a TL who really makes a difference. I have been a TL in secondary schools in Australia for 35 years and I never cease to be amazed at the enthusiasm and ingenuity of my colleagues. Although I love technology, I still find being able to encourage and inspire kids to read books for sheer enjoyment gives me  a real buzz. I have some brochures I am happy to share about Boys and books. I also find that making things visual for older readers allows them to grasp difficult concepts.  At present I am in a school where there is a high Non English Speaking background - finding resources with advanced concepts but in simple language is a real challenge... P.S. I LOVE picture books.

  • vanhookc March 4, 2012 at 4:21pm

    This is such a shame. Our district is cutting 9.25 Library Clerks leaving a 3/4 time clerk for Jr. High / Sixth Grade School. We are a large district in Central Iowa. We will be leading the way, too, I am afraid. I am at the large high school as Teacher Librarian. One TL will rotate to the Jr. High / Sixth grade school, opposite the clerk. The other three TLs will have eight elementaries to manage. I wonder how teaching literacy and 21st C literacy Core Curriculum will work under these conditions of lack of assistance in the Library. You know it's not all about putting a shiny digital device into the hands of our youth and expecting them to get these literacy essential skills we are trained to teach. What to do?

  • John Wellcome February 23, 2012 at 5:24am
    Sorry Mike, I misinformed you about the name of the study in my previous post. It's called "School Libraries Work."
  • John Wellcome February 19, 2012 at 5:28pm

    Hi Mike,

    Thank you for writing.  I was saddened to hear that your district is having financial problems.  I have worked for two districts that have financial problems and eliminated their librarian position.  It is too bad that many school-board members do not think librarians are as important as teachers.  

    I recommend using the statistics found in a national widely-known study, Reading Counts, as a means of showing how important librarians are to the success of a school's students.  Remember that you are fighting the good fight, and librarians will prevail in the end, despite the tough times we are going through currently.  In the future, I recommend working at a school where the school-board, community, and principal are strong supporters of the school library and feel that it is an integral part of the school.  I will do what I can to raise awareness of your potential plight by writing about it on my blog, The Pen and the Paintbrush.

    Best wishes and God bless,

    John Wellcome

    Librarian

    Valdez City Schools

    Valdez, Alaska

    johnwellcome@gmail.com

    blog:  The Pen and the Paintbrush

  • Leesa Cole February 5, 2012 at 11:37am

    Mike, just commented on the  Support School Libraries FB page - here's hoping that the powers that be make the decision that is in the best interest of the schools and the learners in those schools & keep the teacher librarians on board.  I find it ironic that Colorado was the state that started the studies showing the correlation between properly staffed & funded school libraries & student achievement.  Ironic & sad.

  • Maggie Jackson February 4, 2012 at 9:17pm

    Thank you Mike for making me aware of the Facebook page.  

    Maggie

  • Gabe February 2, 2012 at 10:46am

    Hi Mike,

    I just "Liked" your Support School Libraries page on Facebook. Keep up the great work, and best of luck to you!

    All the best,

    Gabe Kaufman

  • Lynne McDowell February 2, 2012 at 4:36am

    Hi Mike

    Thanks for the FB invite.   I signed up last week!  :-) 

    Just wanted to let you know that I was sharing some JCPL links last week with 4th graders at Meiklejohn when a little bird told me about your family connection.  Nice to "meet" you!  The boys were a little excited to know that you had a site just for them!

  • Kim Piot January 27, 2012 at 12:23pm

    Hi Mike,


    I did click and LIKE your page. I can't believe what I am hearing about what is going on in school libraries these days! I am still living in Cote d'Ivoire, and when I think of coming back home I wonder if I would be able to....Wishing you all best of luck!!

    In the meantime, here in CI I am trying to provide my students with good library and IT services. One thing I want to try is to bring in eBooks. I am hoping you can help me to do that, by clicking and sharing the following link to a service called eBookFling which is a cool way to recycle and borrow eBooks! Click to learn more about eBookFling.


    But in the process, help me help my students. 

    eBookFling.is running a contest (deadline is Sunday the 31st, so time is short) to win a Nook Tablet eReader. I want to win, so that I can donate it to my library. 

    Living in a French speaking country means magazines and books are costly to purchase and ship, and take weeks to months to receive and process. Magazines and newspapers are always hopelessly out of date by the time they arrive. I want to provide my students and staff with immediate access to the latest popular magazines and news, and enable them to read their favorite sequels as soon as they are published! Please help me out!!   CONTEST ENDS ON SUNDAY JANUARY 31st so PLEASE CLICK AND SHARE eBookFling RIGHT NOW.

    No signups, no spam, no email required, no purchase required.... nothing but doing something good for kids.  

    Thanks very much for your help!

    Kim

    Kim Piot, MLS

    Librarian / Library and IT Coordinator/

    Library and IT Instructor 6-10thG

    International Community School of Abidjan

    Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa

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