What's Next for Diary of a Wimpy Kid?

On November 4th, from 1 - 2 p.m. Central Time Jeff Kinney, author of The Wimpy Kid Series, will give readers a preview of his newest book Hard Luck. It sounds like a great program for a reading class or elective class to join in and get excited about this crazy-popular series!

Sign up for alerts from School Library Journal to hear more about these special events.

Digital Learning Day and Project 24: Planning for Progress

How does a dose of digital learning for district and school leaders sound? That's right - as a school librarian you are a school leader! More on this in a sec because this whole Project 24: Planning for Progress is preparation for Digital Learning Day in February. If you didn't participate in that in some small way last year, please make plans now to particpate in 2014 - which is right around the corner, by the way.

Now back to being a leader. It is incumbent on us as school librarians to rev up our engines for learning in every way - but especially digital. Excuse the cliche', but you will want to be on that train. It just may save your job one day! So, all aboard for Project 24. (You may want to sign up for School Library Journal's digital newsletter to read about New York City's Education Department asking for a variance not to have librarians...)

This course lasts for eight weeks and is free. Part of it is to help your district get a digital plan which we have in the Jefferson County Schools district, but the rest is to strengthen and learn about digital transition. This year is only the second one for this course and it sounds great! I have already signed up and I hope you will, too. It asks a few questions about your district that are quick to answer. It starts September 30 and ends in November.

All Aboard!www.commons.wikimedia.org.

Hope to see you soon in the digital world and beyond!

Powerful TED Talk on Teaching

Miss Spitfire (book review)

*Post by Pam Bullock at McAdory High School

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction book. Obviously it is based on a true story, but Miss Spitfire is actually Anne Sullivan not Helen Keller. The story inspired me to learn more about Miss Sullivan. It begins when Anne, desperate for work, arrives in Alabama from Massachusetts to a seemingly impossible task - to teach Helen to communicate. Sarah Miller's debut novel is a wonderful tribute to Anne Sullivan's determination to "tame" Helen, whose frustration at trying to communicate has made her as wild as an animal. No one has been able to be persistent and patient enough to help Helen until Anne arrived. I highly recommend this novel and it is a quick read. Great for Upper Elementary and Middle.

It's World Read Aloud Day! What are You Reading?

How will you reach across the world today to celebrate World Read Aloud Day? Skype is a great way to connect to other classrooms across town or farther and share reading aloud.

Authors have also volunteered their time to read with classes of students through Skype (a free software tool for video chats or phone calls and it's free as long as the other person also has Skype downloaded on their computer).

And it's not too late to participate today. The whole idea is to celebrate reading around the world and "pay it forward" according to the World Read Aloud Day website. We are celebrating that we can read and write and have that privilege to learn. What a wonder!

Great things at Greenwood!

*Big thanks to Caralyn McDaniel for these pictures and information about the great things going on at the Greenwood Elementary School Library! 

Greenwood Elementary students are enjoying their reading tent! GES students voted on for a camping and outdoor theme for the library last year. They can earn special, individual time in the reading tent as a reward from their classroom teacher for good conduct, helping out, and the like. Each semester, I send out an e-mail with reading tent "tickets" for the teachers to send with the student. It can be used anytime during open check-out time...essentially whenever a class isn't meeting in the library.

Genre-fying Your Collection?

Opinions abound on genre-fying a collection. According to Affiliate Assembly at AASL meeting in Seattle, AASL has received many questions on this issue. So, the genre-fying session at ALA was born: "Dewey vs. Genre Shelving in School Libraries Discussion Group".

Here is one of the questions that AASL has received: "Is this a viable way for shelving? If so, please set some standards."

Hilda Weisberg moderated the session. Attendees can listen to the audio version sent in an e-mail blast from ALA, but if you weren't there here are some of the panelists' opinions.

Panelist 1 went on to discuss her community not having a lot of "high professionals" so she likes to "keep things simple". She said kids move and go to a different school. Example: 796 is sports no matter where you go she said.

Panelist 2 used Ebsco to re-categorize her fiction books. Students did all of the work and they made new signage. She's keeping them in alphabetical order within the genres.

Panelist 3, "Chris" yelled the whole time and got the audience riled up! He is against genre-fying and said "Why not locate the army books out of vehicles and locate them elsewhere?!" He said why not develop a system to fit with subjects?

Panelist 4 from Arkansas said her area caters to retirees and why would we ever want to change a system that has worked for years? She argued that perhaps it is "not the system, but the teaching that needs to be changed" in regards to Dewey. She also argued that Dewey is universal.

Panelist 5 is a cataloging instructor and she is "not totally opposed to the bookstore model". However, she believes Dewey is "effective and useful", but she agrees that it is okay to genre-fy fiction area, not non-fiction. She advised using subject headings: "they allow you to have a little more detail".

Panelist 6 argued that the area of focus should be what students read. She highlighted the rise of e-books and the fact that students are sophisticated consumers. Tagging, sharing, and yelp are on the rise she said, and everyone has adapted. She used hash tags on Twitter as an example. Our systems are too antiquated for this though.

So, the work is cut out for anyone who decides to take on this task, but I also think it can be a lot of fun. It can allow you to really get to know your genres and get into great discussions with students about which fiction goes where.

Irondale Middle School shelves in the midst of genre-fying the fiction collection

As for me, I am a combination of Panelist 2 and Panelist 6. Which panelist do you agree with?

ASLA Call for Proposals

*Text taken from a message to members of the Alabama School Library Association from Carolyn Starkey, ASLA President Elect and conference coordinator. 

The Alabama School Library Association would like to take this opportunity to invite you to share your knowledge with us at our ASLA Summer Conference 2013 on Monday, June 10th, 2013, at Irondale Middle School. Last year our conference had 220 registered librarians, 25 school administrators, 11 vendors, and several authors in attendance, and we hope to top those numbers this year.

Our 2013 conference theme is “leadership@yourlibrary,” and we particularly want to focus on librarian leadership roles in our schools in support of the implementation of the Alabama College-and-Career-Ready Standards. Opportunities for sharing include 45-minute concurrent sessions (two computer labs available for hands-on workshop proposals), a 30-minute free-visit poster session period, or a 10-minute “Speed-Dating” type event where you will have 10 minutes to share a Common Core / ACCRS lesson plan three or four times with rotating small groups of participants for your grade level.

Our morning keynote speaker is the nationally-known school librarian Jennifer LaGarde, aka “Library Girl.” Jennifer, a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT), is a 2012 School Library Journal Mover and Shaker and was named a 2011 winner of “I Love My Librarian” award by the American Library Association, The Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times Company. You can read Jennifer’s blog “The Adventures of Library Girl” at http://www.librarygirl.net/.

For our luncheon keynote speaker, we have the return of our extremely popular 2012 luncheon speaker, Dr. Thomas Bice, Alabama State Superintendent of Education. Before his January 1, 2012 appointment as State Superintendent, Dr. Bice served as Alabama’s Deputy State Superintendent of Education for Instructional Services, Superintendent of the Alexander City School System, high school principal, career tech director, alternative school teacher/director, special education/residential school director, early childhood teacher/parent trainer, and as a teacher at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. Dr. Bice also serves as an adjunct professor of Educational Leadership at Auburn University.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Carolyn Starkey (ASLA President Elect and conference planner). Deadline for proposals is April 1, 2013.

The conference proposal form and tentative schedule can be found on the ASLA website. 

Women's History Month

As February zooms into March, we have developed a quick list of resources for Women's History Month. 

Women's History Month

Women's History Month for Teachers

Has ready made lesson plans for teaching Women''s History.Highlights using primary resources.

Infoplease-Women's History Month

Has a database of different biographies.

Scholastic Recommended Books for Women's History Month

Scholastic Everything You Need Women's History Month

This ink includes computer learning activities, articles and research projects.

Encyclopedia Britanica Women Who Changed the World

Links to short biographies, also includes lesson plan resources. This is eared toward older kids.

Children's Encyclopedia of Women

And for the younger ones, a bare bones database of biographies.

Gale-Cengage Women's History Month

This site has more sophisticated activities for high school and college students.

Docs Teach - The National Archives Experience

Looking for ways to connect with your Social Studies teachers? Docs Teach: The National Archives Experience might be the next great door-opener for conversation.

The site is easy to use, relevant to the curriculum, and being able to look at original documents is plain surreal. It's almost like taking a peek into a time period, an oval office, a soup line.

You can use the ready-to-use tools, but you can also "Join the Community" and create your own account and portfolios which is recommended.

Here's a sample lesson from the archives:

Click "Find Activities" and historical eras pop up.

Choose one - Post War United States pulls up choices like the 1968 Democratic Convention and A Famous Person and Event.

A synopsis and teacher instructions are given.

Here is the beginning of the instructions for Rosa Parks' arrest warrant:

 

This activity can be used during a unit on the Civil Rights movement, in teaching about protests and civil disobedience, or when focusing on Rosa Parks individually. For grades grades 5-8. Approximate time needed is 15-30 minutes.

 

The instructions are very detailed!

 

The names are blacked out. The size of the actual document can be increased for better examination. These are great documents to get students thinking! It is amazing - and sometimes sad and shocking - to have access to these documents and photographs.

 

USIA / National Archives and Records Administration Records of the U.S. Information Agency Record Group 306

 

Thank you, Rosa Parks, for all you have done for America!

 

 

Postermaker site

Kids are visual, and creative posters can be the best effort we can make to help them understand announcements, details of events, etc.

BigHugeLabs and Glogster are among the most useful sites out there to help with the visual cause!

Copyright Resources

Look, none of us want to be the copyright police, but unfortunately it comes with the territory. Students (and teachers) will straight rip off others' work without a second thought. Crediting sources seems to be a foreign concept to many. 

Here are a few sites that might help: 

Teaching Students About Copyright (15 sites) 

10 Must-Have Resources for Teaching Copyright and Fair Use 

Teaching Students About Copyright With YouTube *Yeah, it's blocked. But if you watch it and then give the kids a synopsis, that might be a close second. 

Teaching Copyright 

Copyright with Cyberbee 

Teaching Copyright to Middle School Students

CBS 42 One Class At a Time Grants

Are you in the market for a grant?

 

Alabama teachers can apply for a $1,000 grant for classroom supplies, software, or other "educational necessities online at CBS News online.

 

It is simple to fill out the application. It literally takes less than a planning period!

 

So, what do your students need to be successful? Good luck, everyone!

 

Need ideas?

 

Books for teen book clubs

 

Software for learning

 

Art Supplies

 

Technology

 

I-Pad or I-Pad mini

 

Digital Cameras

 

Easy Readers

 

Hip-Hop Genre Books

 

Common Core Books

 

 

 



eLearning Opportunities

Alabama has developed a wonderful system for online PD. eLearning for Educators is a web-based system in which teachers can sign up for courses using STIPD, then participate in 6-week online courses that offer up to 30 hours of professional development. It also meshes nicely with Educate Alabama, so when you are determining your areas of growth for the year, try an eLearning course. 

There are courses offered on everything from "Teaching Students to Think Critically" to "Internet Safety in Schools." I took a course earlier this year on meeting the needs of English Learners in the classroom. I really enjoyed the format because the professor presented the class with our assignments from the first day, and we had complete freedom in completing each task whenever it was convenient for us. For me, sometimes that was at 2:00 in the morning; others, it was during my planning time. Flexibility is the greatest asset of learning in the 21st century, and that goes for professional learning as well! 

If you have any questions about these eLearning courses, please let me know. 

Alabama Virtual Library: Searchasaurus

Searchasaurus is the last in a series of posts on elementary resources provided by the Alabama Virtual Library. 

Searchasaurus is a fairly "fun" database for young researchers simply due to the dino theme. Kids dig dinosaurs. They just do. 

Once you click in to Searchasaurus, one of the first things your eye will notice is the categorical browsing capacity. Students can click on the icons for categories such as Animals, Sports, Stories, and People to learn more about what they find interesting. 

One of the second things you will notice is that there are 5 buttons at the top offering choices (Home, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Pictures, etc.). These are like what we call bread crumbs in Sharepoint and remain at the top of the screen no matter where you click within the database. This provides a handy anchor for young students. 

Teachers can also limit each individual student's search by Lexile level to ensure they are perusing content most appropriate for their reading level. 

Enjoy using this with your students! 

App-tastic

Here are some great resources to use with your iPads and iPod Touch devices!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-elementary-classroom-mary-beth-hertz

http://appitic.com/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=106&Itemid=309

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Boy Books and Girl Books

I am a firm believer that all literature provides equal opportunity for any individual, regardless of gender. There are many who disagree. Some folks say girls don't like Hatchet, and some say boys would never be interested Little House on the Prairie. To them I would ask why a girl shouldn't enjoy a good survival book (Hunger Games demographics have very recently proven that), and also why a boy wouldn't enjoy a vividly descriptive work about pioneer life.

We can't put readers in our preconceived boxes. 

But just because it's true that some girls really don't like Hatchet, here is a great list of books recommended for the little ladies from ages 1-9.

Likewise, just as the young gentlemen can be a bit choosy sometimes when being proffered literature, here's another good list for them as well, appropriate for various ages through middle school.

These might be a neat idea for a display for the last two weeks in April. What would you title it? Boy Books and Chick Lit?

Disaster Preparedness

Unfortunately, our area has had more than our share of natural disasters in the past year. In one of the recent webinars from the state department, LeeAnna Mills (librarian at Northside Middle whose school experienced a fire in 2011) offered tips for disaster preparedness that she learned the hard way. Here are a few:

• Catalog EVERYTHING. The stack of donated books, the extra professional resources brought in by administrators, books you bought at the book fair, items purchased with grant money, big books, puppets, supplemental materials, resource kits, realia, equipment, new stuff, old stuff worthy of keeping...everything. If you have to go through a disaster, you won't remember what you had or didn't have. This is your best method of ensuring your collection will be replaced. LeeAnna said even if you don't have time to catalog an item, scan ISBN numbers into a Excel file at the very least (saved to the server) so that you have some sort of record of these resources. 
• Keep an electronic copy of your personal items (certificates, awards, etc. in list or PDF form). 
• Make sure when cataloging equipment to include Title, Make/Brand, Model Number, Serial Number, Date of Purchase, and Funds Used. (All of these are part of our district's standard record-keeping procedures for equipment.)
• Always have a wish list. After you experience a disaster, many times you will receive offers for help. Keep a digital list with a vendor (or Amazon) for generous people to purchase exactly what you need.
• Keep an electronic copy of your library's floor plan. Pictures are very valuable, too. 

The American Association of School Librarians also offers a huge grant for libraries who have experienced disaster. You do not have to be an ASLA member to apply. Details can be found here.

Philosophies of Teaching Keyboarding in the 21st Century

I've long since stopped believing that students should be taught keyboarding.

I can literally hear people gasping right now.

Don't throw your lunch at me or call me a techno-heretic just yet! Hear me out, people, hear me out...

My reasons are four-fold:

1. Keyboarding skill-and-drill practice takes time that could be spent on more valuable experiences with technology. (Example: Instead of practicing home keys or finding capital and lowercase letters, let students-even 5 year olds!-type a list of words that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Have older students type reports, blog posts, comments on other blog posts, etc.) I'm not saying never give them a few minutes here and there on some sort of open-source software, but for the love of Pete don't take your 45-minute lab class to make students practice finding j-j-j, then h-h-h, and so forth. Oy vey.

2. My own personal experiences with technology has proven that it just takes time and consistent connections to real-world tasks to acquire ease on a keyboard. I am a digital immigrant who was never taught keyboarding, and I have survived just fine.I believe that it is much more meaningful to give students more opportunities to type in context of their course content.

3. New technologies don't even utilize the classic QWERTY-style keyboard. If we're keeping our kids up to date with tech tools, then we're putting iPods and iPads in their hands.  

4. There really is no one "right" way to type. Whatever makes the user most comfortable and gets the job done most efficiently IS the right way for that person.

But you know what, don't take my word for it. Check out what these experts have to say on the subject!

And if you hate this philosophy of keyboarding (or rather, philosophy of NON-keyboarding), you don't even want to hear what I have to say about cursive handwriting (Which, from what I gather, was left completely out of the Common Core Standards)! ;)

Common Core Standards - 5 Things...

Rebecca Harris has written a wonderful article in SLJ's April issue: "All Aboard! Implementing Common Core offers school librarians an opportunity to take the lead". The article offers some background on Common Core Standards as well as lots of advice. Within the article there is a list highlighting how to get started.

According to Christopher Harris in his article "How to Get Started" in School Library Journal's latest issue, there are "five things you can do to get started with Common Core" (SLJ, April 2012).

To paraphrase, here they are:

1. Be the expert you've always been with curriculum issues, etc. Be sure to attend training sessions - online, face-to-face and read everything you can on the subject

2. Collection development - "focus on literary nonfiction resources"

3. What is already there on your shelves that can be used? What is online? Which databases do you subscribe to that will be useful? How will you use the Alabama Virtual Library more?

4. Harris says your library is the textbook - How will you spend the funds that you have? (however meager)

5. Harris says to work at the district level to secure new online resources. Money will go further that way.

Even though this process will work at different paces at different schools, it is something that we can all be working toward and thinking about. The whole emphasis is on reading and understanding texts better. There is a huge emphasis on students being more prepared for high school and college. That means the textbooks that they have been reading with small "excerpts" of whole texts will no longer really be adequate. So, our job will be to find whole texts for students to examine and read. Also, they will need to see multiple points of view and come up with their own opinions according to Barbara Stripling, Syracuse University (haven't we been talking about critical thinking for years?).

I believe we will be ready and it is an exciting time for libraries! But there is too much to discuss in a single blog entry, so click here to read the full article online.