I’m waking up from my post-Spring Break slumber and shaking off the last vestiges of winter malaise that made me so averse to blogging, commenting or just being plain social. I’m reading library posts again and have stumbled across some great little informational nuggets that are inspirational, educational but even better than that they’re free.
The Unquiet Library (or as I like to think of it Buffy’s Playhouse). The Unquiet Library is such a great school blog and really an inspiration to all of us who’d like to become engaged school library media specialists. Her dedication to YA Lit is infectious.
Scholastic’s Instructor magazine. This just showed up in my mailbox one day and it was like sunshine. Pages upon pages of reading recommendations, contests, lesson plan ideas, and management techniques; what more could an aspiring media specialist from a totally non-educational background ask for?
Voice of Literacy. I was perusing podcast alley and if the alley truly were a street this podcast would have been a bookstore filled with aged professors dressed in corduroy blazers with leather patches at the elbows, riotously debating about the impending death of the written word and whether blogger is it’s messiah or Judas. It’s a great podcast that will keep you updated on the latest and greatest in literacy theory.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Be Quite! I'm Listening!
Be Quiet! I'm Listening! - Incorporating Recorded Books into K-12 Literacy Strategies
Sponsored by Recorded Books
Audiobooks are a research-validated tool for improving vocabulary, comprehension and literacy skills for young readers of all abilities. Especially effective with emerging, reluctant and ESL readers, recorded book programming is simple to incorporate into the classroom curriculum, and easy on the pocketbook too.
This is a great webcast offered by School Libary Journal. There were some great ideas batted about and wonderful support for the use of audiobooks as a means to increase reading levels, reading for pleasure, and ultimately reading test scores.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Education Secretary supports school librarians
US News and World Report has a great article on the plans Education Secretary Arne Duncan has for the future of our schools. By mentioning librarians in the fight for better education it seems that Secretary Duncan has made himself an ally to all those school librarians and media specialists who fear the elimination of their jobs because of budget cuts and short-sighted policy decisions.
Newly minted Education Secretary Arne Duncan has big plans for improving the nation's schools. His first order of business is drumming up support for a stimulus measure that includes an unprecedented $140 billion for education. The 44-year-old former leader of Chicago Public Schools says the money will modernize schools, help stave off teacher layoffs, and spur meaningful reforms. "The fact is that we are not just in an economic crisis; we are in an educational crisis," he says. "We have to educate ourselves to a better economy."
Duncan says a large chunk of the $140 billion destined for education will help states maintain and create jobs. "My concern is that hundreds of thousands of good teachers, not just bad teachers, are going to go, and that would be devastating," he says. "It is to no one's advantage if class size skyrockets or librarians get eliminated or school counselors disappear." More
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Online Tutorials
I thought that it may be a good idea to do teacher in-service programs online. This is my first foray into the online tutorial world. I think it's a good initial performance. Please tell me your thoughts. Eventually, I'd like to graduate to a school version of enotes.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Great Media Center Sites
I love to see good examples of great school library sites. Here are a few:
Springfield Township HS Virtual Library
Greece Athena Media Center
University Laboratory High School
Springfield Township HS Virtual Library
Greece Athena Media Center
University Laboratory High School
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Media Center Nirvana
I’ve just been to media center nirvana and it was lovely and soul crushing at the same time. Will I ever be able to pilot a ship as glorious as the one I toured today? Probably not, but that doesn’t meant that there weren’t wonderful things to glean from the Media Specialist. At said Nirvana school there are about 450 kids, all of whom are in the 4th and 5th grade. As you know schools are at one of 3 levels: K-5, 6-8, or 9-12.
There are joys and drawbacks of every level, but with a specialized group such as this there is little drawback. The kids are old enough to read on their own and young enough to still enjoy books as a pastime. And because of the demographics there is only a small portion of reluctant or slower readers.
The school runs on a fixed/flexible schedule with 45 minutes set aside each week with each class for scheduled instruction in the media center. This seems like an ideal situation, but the pilot of the ship explained that 45 minutes wasn’t enough time to dig deeply into the lessons. A great tip that was offered: Set aside time to visit the classrooms and teach information literacy skills inside the classroom setting. The children will be more focused and more likely to regard the information as necessary.
With a $10,000 budget the center was stocked with state-of-the-art Mac computers and a stable of ibooks for use in the classrooms. The newest and most engaging titles for young readers were displayed prominently across each shelf with sections highlighting the standards-based subjects. Student work hung from the ceiling and plastered the walls and children came and went unescorted, but almost regally composed without the usual running, jumping and screaming that you sometimes see in other schools.
While there isn’t a reading incentive program in place just yet, there are the usual media center activities taking place. A book fair was held which did very well, probably (another tip) due to the timing. It was held at night during a winter program so that it became a part of a larger group of school activities. Parents as well as students could be involved.
Having visited other schools this place seemed to be heaven, though I’m sure there are potholes in heaven too. For instance, the media specialist is also the part-time instructional technologist and full-time purchasing agent. As purchasing agent the media specialist is responsible for the entire school’s budget and that can be daunting.
May I be blessed with shining, happy kids who like to read and whose parents taxes grant me a $10,000 book budget. May I send my kids there too. What was most exciting though was the fixed/flexible schedule. I think that is the best of both worlds. I wonder if it could be applied to Middle School.
There are joys and drawbacks of every level, but with a specialized group such as this there is little drawback. The kids are old enough to read on their own and young enough to still enjoy books as a pastime. And because of the demographics there is only a small portion of reluctant or slower readers.
The school runs on a fixed/flexible schedule with 45 minutes set aside each week with each class for scheduled instruction in the media center. This seems like an ideal situation, but the pilot of the ship explained that 45 minutes wasn’t enough time to dig deeply into the lessons. A great tip that was offered: Set aside time to visit the classrooms and teach information literacy skills inside the classroom setting. The children will be more focused and more likely to regard the information as necessary.
With a $10,000 budget the center was stocked with state-of-the-art Mac computers and a stable of ibooks for use in the classrooms. The newest and most engaging titles for young readers were displayed prominently across each shelf with sections highlighting the standards-based subjects. Student work hung from the ceiling and plastered the walls and children came and went unescorted, but almost regally composed without the usual running, jumping and screaming that you sometimes see in other schools.
While there isn’t a reading incentive program in place just yet, there are the usual media center activities taking place. A book fair was held which did very well, probably (another tip) due to the timing. It was held at night during a winter program so that it became a part of a larger group of school activities. Parents as well as students could be involved.
Having visited other schools this place seemed to be heaven, though I’m sure there are potholes in heaven too. For instance, the media specialist is also the part-time instructional technologist and full-time purchasing agent. As purchasing agent the media specialist is responsible for the entire school’s budget and that can be daunting.
May I be blessed with shining, happy kids who like to read and whose parents taxes grant me a $10,000 book budget. May I send my kids there too. What was most exciting though was the fixed/flexible schedule. I think that is the best of both worlds. I wonder if it could be applied to Middle School.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Recession puts the squeeze on private school
It seems that private school enrollment is down, with a good many students being removed in the middle of the year as opposed to the end. As the recession continues to groan on middle class parents who placed their kids into private school either because of religious (sometimes), educational (moreso), or "social" (most-often) reasons have had to fall back on public schools to save money.
Why do parents choose private school over public? Is there really a difference? Some will even argue that private schools have lower standards so that parents are lulled by better grades, though the education they receive may be of a lower standard than the public schools nearby. Some even argue that the education standards are definitely lower because the certification standards for teachers don't have to be met. But there is research that states that lower-income minority students enrolled in Catholic school perform better than their minority counterparts enrolled in public school.
So what's the deal?
I, myself, went to private school for a short while, as did my mother and husband, as are my godchildren. We can all say that it had to do with higher educational standards, and I think to some degree that was true, but it had more to do with separation from the common folk or to phrase it more positively, congregation with those of similar values. We all like to congregate with like minded people, and though we don't live in a post-racial society I think for the most part people are more comfortable with others on their class level than their race. Take a trip down to your local lunch spot, be it Applebee's or Bennigan's or what have you. You'll see a mult-culti mix of co-workers who are happy to mingle with each other and I'm sure they'd wouldn't mind having each other as neighbors.
The issue comes into play when the kids of your second cousin on your real Daddy's side sits next to yours in Kindergarten. And then you remember that Sheila never brushes that baby's hair, she doesn't know how to read, and she likes to bite. Now your child can't pay attention in class because Sheila's second child by that aspiring rapper that traveling quartet singer that you can't quite name is bothering her. The teacher tries to speak with Sheila, but you remember that "Sheila ain't doin' nuttin' with dem kids." Suddenly all that work you put into preparing your child for school begins to unravel as she picks up the attention grabbing habits of her distant cousin, and then you have a revelation. Private school. Now your child is in a class with kids whose parents check their homework at night and read them stories. They take field trips and learn about new technologies in the state-of-the-art media center.
Is it the school that is superior or is it the kids? Or rather the parents of the kids? It's a classism debate and I wonder what's going to happen now that these middle class kids are being pumped back into school systems with lower middle class and lower class students. Will their collective ire at the state of public education force the public schools to tighten their reigns and increase discipline and educational standards? I'm not sure.
What are your thoughts?
Cynthia Hogan pulled her daughter and son out of Catholic school when she started feeling the squeeze of a recession that had just begun.
"We just couldn't keep writing the check. It was killing us," said Hogan, who lives in San Francisco. "My husband just got laid off in October. Thank God we are where we are." More
Why do parents choose private school over public? Is there really a difference? Some will even argue that private schools have lower standards so that parents are lulled by better grades, though the education they receive may be of a lower standard than the public schools nearby. Some even argue that the education standards are definitely lower because the certification standards for teachers don't have to be met. But there is research that states that lower-income minority students enrolled in Catholic school perform better than their minority counterparts enrolled in public school.
... the study showed that when compared with their public school peers, African-American and Latino students in Catholic schools had beliefs about success and failure that were more conducive to learning. They were more likely to attribute success to ability and less likely to attribute either success or failure to external factors, such as luck or a difficult test. More
Statistics also show that minority students in U.S. urban Catholic high schools are 42 percent more likely to graduate than minority students who attend neighborhood public schools, and 2.5 times more likely to earn a college degree, Zinsmeister told Catholic News Service. More
So what's the deal?
I, myself, went to private school for a short while, as did my mother and husband, as are my godchildren. We can all say that it had to do with higher educational standards, and I think to some degree that was true, but it had more to do with separation from the common folk or to phrase it more positively, congregation with those of similar values. We all like to congregate with like minded people, and though we don't live in a post-racial society I think for the most part people are more comfortable with others on their class level than their race. Take a trip down to your local lunch spot, be it Applebee's or Bennigan's or what have you. You'll see a mult-culti mix of co-workers who are happy to mingle with each other and I'm sure they'd wouldn't mind having each other as neighbors.
The issue comes into play when the kids of your second cousin on your real Daddy's side sits next to yours in Kindergarten. And then you remember that Sheila never brushes that baby's hair, she doesn't know how to read, and she likes to bite. Now your child can't pay attention in class because Sheila's second child by that aspiring rapper that traveling quartet singer that you can't quite name is bothering her. The teacher tries to speak with Sheila, but you remember that "Sheila ain't doin' nuttin' with dem kids." Suddenly all that work you put into preparing your child for school begins to unravel as she picks up the attention grabbing habits of her distant cousin, and then you have a revelation. Private school. Now your child is in a class with kids whose parents check their homework at night and read them stories. They take field trips and learn about new technologies in the state-of-the-art media center.
Is it the school that is superior or is it the kids? Or rather the parents of the kids? It's a classism debate and I wonder what's going to happen now that these middle class kids are being pumped back into school systems with lower middle class and lower class students. Will their collective ire at the state of public education force the public schools to tighten their reigns and increase discipline and educational standards? I'm not sure.
What are your thoughts?
Score one for the readers
The New York Times reports that the National Endowment for the Arts finally has some good news for us. For the first time in over 20 years there has been an increase in fiction reading among adults in the US. Nearly all groups regardless of age, gender, or race reported an increase, although it's still not as high as it was in 1982 or 1992 there has been a bump.
There is some speculation that the wild popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight has something to do with it. I would argue that that is true, but I would also argue that the increase in major motion pictures based on books has something to do with it as well. TV and movies engage people with great cinematography and costume, but ultimately it is the story that grabs people and with the success of the Harry Potter films, and these others:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Reader
Dead Until Dark (now the HBO series True Blood)
Twilight
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hours
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Life of Bees
I think that these great movies reminded people that great stories lie in words on a page.
A good day for readers and proponents of reading everywhere.
After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.
The report, “Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” being released Monday, is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen. More
There is some speculation that the wild popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight has something to do with it. I would argue that that is true, but I would also argue that the increase in major motion pictures based on books has something to do with it as well. TV and movies engage people with great cinematography and costume, but ultimately it is the story that grabs people and with the success of the Harry Potter films, and these others:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Reader
Dead Until Dark (now the HBO series True Blood)
Twilight
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hours
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Life of Bees
I think that these great movies reminded people that great stories lie in words on a page.
A good day for readers and proponents of reading everywhere.
NEA reports increase in reading
The New York Times reports that the National Endowment for the Arts finally has some good news for us. For the first time in over 20 years there has been an increase in fiction reading among adults in the US. Nearly all groups regardless of age, gender, or race reported an increase, although it's still not as high as it was in 1982 or 1992 there has been a bump.
There is some speculation that the wild popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight has something to do with it. I would argue that that is true, but I would also argue that the increase in major motion pictures based on books has something to do with it as well. TV and movies engage people with great cinematography and costume, but ultimately it is the story that grabs people and with the success of the Harry Potter films, and these others:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Reader
Dead Until Dark (now the HBO series True Blood)
Twilight
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hours
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Life of Bees
I think that these great movies reminded people that great stories lie in words on a page.
A good day for readers and proponents of reading everywhere.
After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.
The report, “Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” being released Monday, is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen. More
There is some speculation that the wild popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight has something to do with it. I would argue that that is true, but I would also argue that the increase in major motion pictures based on books has something to do with it as well. TV and movies engage people with great cinematography and costume, but ultimately it is the story that grabs people and with the success of the Harry Potter films, and these others:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Reader
Dead Until Dark (now the HBO series True Blood)
Twilight
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hours
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Life of Bees
I think that these great movies reminded people that great stories lie in words on a page.
A good day for readers and proponents of reading everywhere.
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