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.

Teen Read Week

Students at Hueytown Middle School are working hard to get ready for Teen Read Week 2013! Be on the lookout for posts written by students explaining the significance of Teen Read Week as well as digital resources created by library aides to promote this library event.

Constitution Week

It's Constitution Week and a great time to have a congressman or field representative from a congressman's office come and speak.

He or she will speak about the White House and tell students facts like when the flag is flying above it, it means the President is at home; they tell kids fun facts about how the President gets to choose the rug and furniture for the Oval Office; and about the favorite museums to visit in Washington, D.C.

They also speak about amendments to the Constitution and tie in a real world aspect to studying the Constitution.

My favorite part of Constitution week is the tiny pocket Constitution of the United States that would tempt anyone to read.

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!

Swirling Solo - This post originally appeared on http://irondalemiddleschool.blogspot.com/

Well, this is the first year of flying solo or "swirling solo" which rolls off my tongue in a way that's a bit more fun!

In the middle school setting swirling solo means I'll have a lot more student aides swirling around and I'll be swirling a lot more myself around the school and back to the library before a flurry of e-mails sends me to the next task! I am looking at this transition in a positive way.

At first I did not see working alone in the Library Media Center as a good thing. I only saw more tasks ahead of me and wondered how I would get it all done.

What I have found instead is lots of teachers pitching in to help other teachers on their hall with setting up technology and a lot more teachers stopping by the library to talk about future collaborations.

So, I am excited about this! Here is how I will handle some of the housekeeping issues:

1. Create self-checkout for students in Atrium.
2. Allow students to take on an ownership role in creating huge dsiplays in our very large display case.
3. Allow students to take on a bigger role in management of Nooks - counting them and making sure they stay charged.
4. Demonstrate to students how to troubleshoot issues on teacher laptops and send them out to take care of it (The Fn (function) key being the largest of these issues). Perhaps I'll create a laminated sheet of various problem-solving tips or let "guided inquiry" take over! Many times the techie student can figure it out on his/her own.
5. Allow students to assist teachers with pulling books and assist students with software, hardware, and website issues.
6. Bounce ideas off students for grants and contests.
7. Provide a student chair and rules for being behind the desk.
8. Students with the best handwriting will be able to abbreviate the genres in the fiction collection - since my library is genre-fied.

All in all it's going to be a more student-centered and student-led Library Media Center. No, there is nothing earth-shattering and very new here, but I think it's going to work. I am ready to swirl! If this is the case for you, have a great year and leave a comment about how you will manage the year.

Our former library aide, Mrs. Barker, working one of our many bookfairs. Have a great year at your new school, Mrs. Barker!

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.

McAdory Jacket Slam!

*Very special thanks to Pam Bullock at McAdory High for this post.

We held our first ever Jacket Slam the last Wednesday in April in honor of Poetry Month. This event began with a student who saw the promo for the Word Up event held in Bham. She decided that we needed to put together our own event and started a sign up sheet to see if there was enough interest from the student body.

Planning began in late February and she and a small committee of students promoted it by making posters. They created a form for students who wanted to participate and share their own original work. We included poems, short stories, rap/song, and skits. In the end we had 10 students perfom their work and each area was represented. We held the event in the library and had it set up like a cafe.

After each person performed the audience snapped their fingers to show their support (much like a beatnik). The library sold snacks to the audience during intermission as a small fundraiser, and the students who performed were able to have snacks after the event was over (for free of course).

I was very pleased with the poems performed and proud of the students who were willing to stand in front of their peers and share their personal work. The senior English teacher and I were the faculty sponsors and she was the MC while I videoed. One of our principals commended us on having the first McAdory Poetry event and has asked that we continue it next year in the fall and spring (hoping that it will empower other students to participate).

I truly loved seeing the students take control and plan and manage everything. We liked the intimacy of the library setting but would love for more students to be able to attend, so we may have to expand to the auditorium in the future.

Free Sampler of The 5th Wave!

Barnes & Noble is giving away samplers of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey! It's the first 70 pages of one of the best books I have ever read.

The first three people who respond will get a pony surprise!

This post-apocalytic novel is perfect for middle or high school readers.

Remember, respond to the blog for a copy!

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (James Patterson)

Rafe Khatchadorian is every 6^th grade boy. He’s nervous about all the new challenges and rules that come with middle school territory. He’s excited about having a little more freedom than elementary structure afforded. Mostly, he feels overwhelmed that there is entirely too much to take in at once, and what to do with it all.

And then, of course, there's Jeanne Galletta. 

The thing about Rafe is that he is also anything but typical. Along with his very, um, special friend Leo, Rafe constructs an elaborate plan to survive his 6^th grade year by defying what is intended to be the safety net of middle school society: the student code of conduct. His adventures might help Rafe make it through the worst year of his life…but they might keep him there as well.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life as a title is a work of genius. Everybody is either headed to middle school or has been through it and very likely remembers 6^th-8^th grades as some of the worst years of their life. I would agree. Largely due to changing bodies and brain chemistry, middle school continues to be a very hard time for teenagers.

For those parents, teachers, and librarians curious about how well this book might meet the needs of their kids, know that it is very nicely done. There are a few twists classic of a James Patterson work, and the addition of humor-laden, skilled illustrations adds a quirky yet highly entertaining layer. The short, brief, action-packed chapters sprinkled with bits of slapstick humor will be appealing for reluctant readers (ahem: BOYS). 

A Spoken Word About Bullying

Books to Think About -

Common Sense Media just posted reviews of "five books parents should read". What are your thoughts about these books? I have read a couple of them and I must say that Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys is one of my favorite teen lit books from this year. Which ones are in your library?

Here's a link to the books: Common Sense Media's 5 Books

Winner Wednesday Book Giveaway!

Who needs a good book to read this spring? It's an Advance Uncorrected Galley and is Not for Sale! It's a giveaway! The novel is Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys.

You will not be disappointed by this novel set in New Orleans about a girl trying to figure out her life after being raised by ...herself! She lives in a good place, though, with plenty of reading material.

The winner will be announced in time to put in the pony on Friday!

Good luck!

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!

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.

It's Being Called the Next Big Thing! (after Hunger Games)

Trend spotter alert! In case you haven't noticed, dystopian literature is suddenly everywhere!

Move over 1984 and Brave New World because author Victoria Roth is taking the genre to a whole new level! Readers are saying these novels are the next new Hunger Games - only better!

One of the similarities between these novels and The Hunger Games series is the idea of separating people into different groups. Children have to take aptitude tests and be placed in factions based on their personalities. Each group wears a particular type of clothing and stereotypes can be seen, such as the Amish and humility; and punks and nose rings. The compelling, fast-moving, original storyline along with a subtle love story thrown in that will keep teen readers coming back for more though.

Not only are they great reads, but Roth took inspiration from Aeschylus (ancient Greek Tragedian), Frank Herbert, (author of Dune), Sophocles (another Green Tragedian), Galatians 5:15, and Lord Alfred Tennyson's Ulysses. From each of these she either found a voice, an idea, or some intrinsic something that let her inside the mind or soul of humanity to create her characters.

From the quotations listed in the backs of some volumes of Divergent readers are allowed inside the mind of this writer. It takes lot of work and a lot of reading to become a writer!

So, from getting students interested in pleasure reading to taking it to the next level with Common Core in an Englist literature classroom, these books have tons of potential!

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!