Anita Cellucci is a Teacher Librarian in Massachusetts. She firmly believes that the school librarian is the catalyst to change in education.
"My approach to Social and Emotional Learing pedagogy was initially inspired by Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach (Jossey-Bass, 1998) and founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, where I took several courses. The center’s founding mission is to help teachers connect “soul to role” and kindle the passion to teach the whole child. I’ve also followed the work of educator and author Rachael Kessler, who focuses on SEL, cultural responsiveness, and inclusiveness while teaching. Social psychologist Daniel Goleman’s concept of emotional intelligence and a caring classroom has also shaped my thinking, as have educator/authors Brené Brown and Angela Maiers." (SLJ, Feb 02, 2017)
Anita is passionate about building community, and empowering teens to believe that libraries are one of their fundamental rights. She is a frequent speaker at conferences such as AASL, MLA and MSLA as well as in local schools and libraries on such topics as: Creating community; Collaboration with Public Libraries; Empowering Teens; Community Literacy projects; Inquiry; Guided Inquiry Design; Mental Health and Libraries, Building empathy in Education, Library as Safe Space, Social Emotional Learning in the Library, and Curriculum Development with content area teachers; Common Core: Text Sets and Domain Specific Vocabulary.She advises a joint public and school Teen Advisory Board and is the coach for the poetry/spoken word team that participates in a statewide spoken word festival annually. She also advises students in a club, Generation Bridges that brings teens and residents of a nursing home together through activity and story.
She served on the Board of Directors of the American Association of School Libraries as the Director at Large. Anita was a co-chair of Advocacy and a Past President of the Massachusetts School Library Association, a co-recipient of the School Librarian of the Year Finalist award, 2016 MSLA Webseal of excellence. as well as 2017 recipient of the MSLA Service Award.
Anita is a Guided Inquiry Design practitioner and has published a chapter, “Using Inquiry Tools to Activate Reflection and Assess Student Learning” in the book – Guided Inquiry Design in Action: High School. Anita has also published articles in publications such as School Library Journal, Teacher Librarian and is currently a columnist for SLC (School Library Connection).
© Anita Cellucci, The Empathetic Librarian. 2022.