Dear Heather, I just read your post True Confessions: I Want This to Be Easier.  I learned a while ago, nothing about this project is easy. I’m not science-minded. I’m just not.  As a youth services librarian, Science Fair Season is scary. Students descend on the library looking for experiments to help them prove their statements. Oftentimes looking for materials that just don’t exist.  Science Fair Season freaks me out. Here’s a true confession for you: I hope against hope, that the really hard questions go to someone else. Isn’t that terrible? I’m a Science chicken!

Heather, I remember when we were filling out the ILEAD-USA application, you kept asking me, “Why robotics?”  You wondered why we would pick a topic that no one knew nothing about… and that’s sort of the reason for this project, isn’t it?  If this robotics stuff is going to freak me out, then surely someone else in our profession will feel the same way.  I think that’s the whole point..the push for STEM programming is happening whether I’m good at science or not.

Robotics is a challenge and if we can help other librarians in similar circumstances then this is totally worth it. The wisest thing I learned from the first week of ILEAD-USA boot camp was that I could Fail Forward.  The reason I’m so thrilled with this experience is that I know that I can be as insecure as I need to be. That people are counting on me not knowing what I’m doing, so they can learn from my mistakes.   Will I understand everything that I come across? Nope, but then I learned that the kids I’m working with will carry the ball when things go wrong. That’s so exciting.

Heather, I think we’re coming to the same conclusions. Press on, my friend, we’ll get there together. Sharon