Ellen Oh is an award-winning author of numerous middle grade and young adult books including The Spirit Hunters series and Prophecy trilogy, and is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books. Melissa Thom is a teacher librarian at Bristow Middle School in Connecticut with 22 years of educational experience and former president of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians.
Originally published on June 10, 2025
Melissa Thom, MA, (she/her) is a teacher librarian at Bristow Middle School in West Hartford, CT. She has been an educator for 22 years and is the immediate past President of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL). She was a 2019 AASL Social Media Superstar Reader Leader finalist and a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2022. In her free time, she sews #LiteracyInspiredCrafts for her Joyful Making Etsy Shop.
Sites that are awarding or exploring badges may want to point colleagues to these selections that illustrate how teacher-leaders have used badges in their classroom teaching or writing programs.
Teachers often feel their expertise is ignored in discussions about education policy and curriculum. Everyday Advocacy is an approach that empowers teachers to take small, day-to-day actions to influence the public narrative around schools and teaching. This Playbook provides guidance and examples to help teachers get started with this type of advocacy as part of their regular teaching work.