Media specialist Marie Slaby begins job at Park
Slaby enjoys working with students
January 22, 2021
When she first began working at Park in September this year, media specialist Marie Slaby said distance learning made her job harder.
“It’s not easy to begin a new job at a new school during remote learning. I wish I could meet the students more easily,” Slaby said. “ Even when I do get lucky enough to meet one, we’re wearing masks, so I can’t even see their smiles.”
Slaby said before coming to Park, she worked in China, but the pandemic prompted her to move back to Minnesota.
“I was a school librarian at Shanghai American School in China for the last five years,” Slaby said. “When COVID-19 hit, we left China and came to Minneapolis to visit family, but then the borders closed and we ended up staying.”
Junior Thomas Hanson said the distance learning environment makes it hard for people like Slaby to have an impact.
“I don’t think this will affect the students very much,” Hanson said. “I don’t think that we will be back in the library by the end of the year.”
Slaby said the community was what made her family move to Park.
“My kids enrolled here this year and I loved the community,” Slaby said. “So when Ms. George retired, I welcomed the chance to work at the school.”
Slaby said she wants to make lessons that teachers can use in class.
“I have been focused recently on creating research lessons that teachers can plug into their Schoology classes,” Slaby said. “(I am making) handouts and screencasts about how to do better Google searches, how to use Wikipedia wisely and how to make bibliographies with NoodleTools.”
