La Bella Media

In all your getting, get understanding

2009-03-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Be Quite! I'm Listening!

2009-02-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Education Secretary supports school librarians

2009-02-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

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

Online Tutorials

2009-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

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.

Kinda Sutra

2009-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

There is nothing wrong with delivering good, true, information. Nothing at all :)

Great Media Center Sites

2009-01-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

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

Media Center Nirvana

2009-01-15T12:56:00.001-08:00

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.

Recession puts the squeeze on private school

2009-01-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-01-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-01-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

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

Adventures in Journal Articles- Google or Die

2009-01-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

Bell, S. (October 2005). Submit or resist: Librarianship in the age of Google. American Libraries, 36(9). 68-71.

What's most compelling about this article is that it drives home the idea that it is easier to modify the system to fit the user than it is to teach the user to use the system. Now, this does not mean that the results from this change in thought will be as good as the original model, but it will keep the users engaged and if they are engaged we can use this opportunity as a teaching moment. This deals primarily with public libraries, but it seems that it has implications in the school library, as well;reaching out even further into the organization of the entire physical catalog, not just the OPAC. Why not list the subject headings along with the Dewey Classification numbers? Fiction and Non-Fiction are pretty broad and boring. I wouldn't browse a bookstore that was so limited. Why would a student browse a library that was just as limited, and aren't we trying to promote reading as well as teach research skills. To research one must first know how to read.

There is a school of thought that believes that Google diminishes critical thinking skills and discourages pre-planning, but Google is here to stay and we all know that it is nature's way to take the path of least resistance and Google is nothing if not easy. What we can do is teach children to use Google as a pre-planning tool. It is a great way to narrow your search terms and gather what information is most prevalent. That information can then be used in more targeted databases.

Resisters to the Googlization of the library argue that it "dumbs down" the resarch process and allude to the marginalization of the library professional. I believe it will do the opposite. Library professionals will, once again, become the research royalty that they had once been. Google may provide easy results, but they are not thorough and the reluctance of users to learn to research on a scholarly level will eventually make them more dependent on research professionals.

Google results are not precise, that is sure, but what some librarians fail to realize is that users don't want precise, necessarily. When a user begins a search using Google they may not know exactly what they're looking for. They're window shopping. After a few searches and modifications in search terms they may have narrowed what was a search for "dogs" to a search for "Full-bred Beagle sales in Atlanta". The latter is a much more useful starting point for further research. Ultimately, Google's success can be attributed to it's user-friendliness and that is something that we, as school librarians can easily adopt.

Parable of the Talents- A Good Read

2008-12-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents gives us a dark and insightful look into the not-so-distant future. The country has slipped into political and economic decline as global warming wreaks havoc on the bread basket, making it hard for the US to it’s jingoistic view of the world without cannibalizing its own citizens. Alaska has seceded and public education has become a thing of the past, giving rise to a subpopulation of illiterate poor who have no choice but to prey on the rich or form small communities of shanty towns on the periphery of larger cities or communes in secluded areas. Acorn is one of these communes. Acorn, is the brainchild or Lauren Oya Olamina, a charismatic young, black visionary compelled to spread the gospel of her own religion. While preaching “God is Change” Olamina welcomes those who are willing to work and builds an oasis of community and friendship in the midst of chaos.

Parable shows us a United States where debtor’s prison has returned and slavery is as commonplace as an out of work software engineer. The tale begins in 2032 and is told through the journal entries of Olamina and her daughter. The reader is taken on a bleak, but hopeful journey as the seeds of religious tyranny, classism, and short-sighted corporate greed come to fruition in just a few short decades. On a more individual and internal note the story raises the question of duty and purpose. If life has no purpose, only potential, are we beholden to the bonds of blood and friendship or to the passions we pursue? How do those choices affect us and the world around us?

I’m not a very big science fiction fan, but I love the small, relatable fantasies that make Parable engaging. I especially liked the idea of “Sharers”, these are the children of parents who are addicted to “smart drugs”, or what we would call Ritilin. The Ritilin addiction causes the children to become hyperempaths, able to feel the pains and pleasures of the people around them. Olamina is one of these.

I really like Butler’s work, they’re not appropriate for young readers because of the subject matter and scenes of rape and murder, but it is an engaging read. A good read.

Reading Instruction and Children’s Books

2008-12-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

I was just saying how I needed to learn more about reading instruction and selection. I NEED this class.

Reading Instruction and Children’s Books

This is a four week Moodle course that will begin the week of February 9, 2009 and end March 6, 2009.

Registration will open on December 29, 2008.

Although children’s librarians think learning to read is about books, teachers use buzz-words such as lexile, phonics and word walls. Parents and students are often seeking grade appropriate reading materials. Several methods are used to determine grade level. In order for children’s librarians to effectively assist patrons, they need to understand how to interpret grade levels assigned to books by publishers and educators. This course will provide children’s librarians with an understanding of different methodologies for reading instruction, including sight words, phonics, literate environment and pre- and post-reading activities. The course will then explore some of the ways that the grade-level of reading materials are determined, including Lexile Levels, Flesch-Kincaid Index and SMOG Readability Formula. These procedures will be applied to evaluate books, periodicals, websites and other material that children need to read. Finally, librarians will be encouraged to develop strategies for explaining these grading formulae to parents and to communicate more effectively with teachers as a result of their understanding.

Goal

Participants will be able to assist children, parents and teachers in selecting reading material that is appropriate for students who are developing reading skills. You will:

1. contrast instructional methods used to teach reading in elementary schools.
2. compute grade levels of children’s reading materials using accepted formulas.
3. apply readability tests to books, periodicals, websites and other materials that children may need to read.
4. interpret readability strategies and numbers for library patrons seeking appropriate material.

Course Requirements

There is no text required for this course; however readings from periodicals and online sources will be required.

Participants will:

1. Write, read and respond to other students in online discussions.
2. Read assigned periodicals and online sources.
3. Complete and digitally submit assignments for each unit.
4. Prepare a final presentation and share with other students.

Who should take this course

Children’s librarians in public libraries and schools; library paraprofessional and support staff who are working with students, parents and teachers; teachers who are not trained in reading instruction would also benefit from this course.

Wicked: A good read

2008-12-08T14:17:00.001-08:00

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (September 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060987103
• ISBN-13: 978-0060987107
Purchase

If you’re looking to revisit your childhood and lose yourself in the land of Oz where jolly Munchkinlanders dance and sing in rhyme, where good friends embark on a journey of a lifetime and are all the better for it, where good triumphs over evil; then this is not the book you want to read. Wicked: The real life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Greg Maguire’s tome that rewrites the history of the Wizard of Oz and it’s antagonist, the Wicked Witch, is 400 some odd pages of eloquent prose that reaches into our fondest memories of a classic story and brings is kicking and bloody into our adult frames of reference. It’s like the first time you realize that Mommy is actually Santa. The word doesn’t seem so magical and optimistic anymore.

We find that the Wicked Witch isn’t really a witch at all. Sometimes the disguises we create to shield ourselves from the outside come to haunt us later on.

What I thought would be a sympathetic retelling of Aelphaba (the Wicked Witch’s) life is more of a commentary on the nature of evil. Is it a being, an entity in and of itself that thinks and plots like a mad puppeteer out to destroy goodness (i.e. the Devil) or is it the absence of goodness, a power vacuum; or is it a defect, something abnormal like a 6th finger or green skin? All of these questions are posed and never really answered, which could be the sign of a really good story. It’s also a story of the choices we make and how those shape our lives and the lives of our friends and families and how we find the person we’ve become is so far from the person we set out to be.

Wicked is a lot more than I bargained for and I felt enriched, but some may find it hard to get through. While the first half is giggles and childhood fun, the second is murder and consequences, a much more introspective journey through the land of Oz where the adventure happens inside Aelphaba’s mind and soul and not the yellow brick road.

It’s a good read. Check it out. Yeah, I know I'm late, and I loved the play (which is nothing like the book).

Sample Collection Development Policy

2008-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

Selection of Print and Non-Print Materials has ended but I'm sure you'd like to take a gander at the final product. Here is the collection development policy.

I think it looks pretty good. "A" work don't you think?

Resume Help

2008-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

Now that I've found out that the class I need to graduate will not be offered after work for the next two semesters I've started looking for a job. It seems as though I can technically be hired now that I've passed the GACE. So what to do about that resume? I'm well aware of how to craft a fine corporate cover letter and resume, but what about one for education?

Well, I've found a great site, A+ Resumes for Teachers. They have sample resumes from art to library media.

These are the days I love the internet.

Collection Development Based on Reading Level

2008-12-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

Graduate school is a strange, strange beast. There are things that I thought I would learn but didn’t and since I’ve begun to question whether I should have expected it to be taught. The solution to that, of course, is to be your own teacher.

While completing my collection development project I realized that I didn’t know much about choosing books; quite a predicament to be in as an emerging librarian. I will be charged with the difficult task of choosing appropriate resources for specific goals. They may be: suggesting books for leisure reading, research or to supplement existing texts. Well, if I am to do that with any proficiency I’ll need to know a bit about reading levels. A book on WWII on an 9th grade level is not appropriate for a 5th grader.

So what exactly is a 9th grade level? To that question I don’t really have an answer, but there us such a thing as a reading level according to Lexile scoring. Lexile® has done a little research on the subject and can pretty much tell you where 50% of students on a certain grade level are reading.

Follet and EBSCOhost, as well as a few other library resources allow you to search by lexile score. I’m quite sure Titlewave does the same.

Lexile scores are also used in testing. The CRCT in Georgia determines each child’s lexile score as well as their progress.

Here is a little information I found on their site:

Lexile® measures defined
The Lexile Framework® for Reading matches reader ability and text difficulty,
allowing individualized monitoring of progress. The Lexile Framework is a
scientific approach to reading and text measurement. It includes the Lexile measure
and the Lexile scale. The Lexile measure is a reading ability or text difficulty
score followed by an “L” (e.g., 850L). The Lexile scale is a developmental scale
for reading ranging from below 200L for beginning readers and beginningreading
text to above 1700L for advanced readers and text. All Lexile Framework
tools and services rely on the Lexile measure and scale to match reader with text.

More…

They site is even so kind as to give suggestions about using Lexile in your school library. However, there is a furious debate raging in the SLMC community on whether or not labeling helps of hinders students. Personally, I think it challenges the few and makes the many complacent.

Using Lexile measures in your library
• Labeling books with Lexile measures helps students find titles of interest at
their appropriate reading level.
• Comparing students’ Lexile measures with the Lexile measures of the books
and periodicals in your library helps you analyze and develop the collection
to more fully meet the needs of all students.
• Using the free Lexile Book Database (at www.Lexile.com) or “Find a Book”
Web site (at www.lexile.com/findabook) to support book selection and create
booklists within a student’s Lexile range helps you guide student reading
selections.

There are several Lexile Codes attached to texts to aid in selection, but the following few were the most useful for me. I had heard the term “high/low” before but now I have a real definition for it.

AD: Adult Directed
Picture books are frequently considered for an AD or “adult directed” code because they are usually read to a child, rather than a child reading them independently.
NC: Non-Conforming
The NC code is applied to books that have a Lexile measure markedly higher than is typical for the publisher’s intended audience or designated developmental level of the book. The Lexile measure of a book is compared to the Lexile range of readers in the intended audience in order to make an NC code determination. (think Alice in Wonderland)
HL: High-Low
A text designated as “HL” has a Lexile measure much lower than the average reading ability of the intended age range of its readers. Librarians and booksellers sometimes refer to young adult books with disproportionately low Lexile measures as “high-low” books, meaning “high-interest” plus “low-readability.”

For more information about what the lexile score means, click here.

Loan Forgiveness and Librarianship

2008-12-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

The LIBRARIAN Act of 2007 (H.R. 1877 and S. 1121)
On April 7, 2007, Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), along with Reps. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Raul Grijalva (R-AZ) and John Shimkus (R-IL), and Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) introduced the Librarian Incentive to Boost Recruitment and Retention in Areas of Need (LIBRARIAN) Act of 2007 (H.R 1877 and S.1121). The LIBRARIAN Act amends the Higher Education Act of 1965, providing Perkins student loan forgiveness in order to encourage individuals to become and remain librarians in low-income schools and public libraries.

To qualify for Title I assistance, schools must have a high percentage of students from low-income families. Typically, approximately 40 percent or more of students in a school come from families that fall within the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of low-income.

Librarians working full-time in low-income areas would qualify for up to 100 percent Perkins loan forgiveness depending on the number of years of service. Specifically, librarians would qualify for the following:

* 15 percent loan forgiveness for each of the first and second years of such service;
* 20 percent loan forgiveness for each of the third and fourth years of such service; and
* 30 percent loan forgiveness for the fifth year of such service.

More..

Whoohoo! Didn't mother always say that reading was fundamental? I've been lamenting for months because GSU is not and ALA-accredited program. In and of itself this isn't a horrible thing, but it does disqualify me for scholarships, and I could be raking in the dough, seeing as how I'm Black and I have a 4.0 GPA.

Well, there is a light at the end of the tunnel because I can get some of my loans forgiven. It seems that librarians are in need all over the Nation and the government is being oh so generous in order to encourage more people to go into the profession.

And, I will be reaping those benefits very soon. With $40,000+ in student loans I need all the help I can get.

A Life In Books

2008-12-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

This is Livio de Marchi's idea of a life in books, an entire house carved to resemble books. I like libraries, but I'm sure that this could be classified as a clinical obsession. More...

The Project Has Failed

2008-12-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Children Who Live in Public Housing Suffer In School, Study Says
By Manny Fernandez
New York City children who live in public housing perform worse in school than students who live in other types of housing, according to a study by New York University researchers.

The study, which is being released on Monday, found that students living in public housing are more likely to drop out of high school and less likely to graduate in four years than those who do not live in public housing.

It also showed that fifth graders living in public housing did worse on standardized math and reading tests than fifth graders who lived elsewhere. Researchers found this disparity in fifth-grade test scores even when comparing students at the same school who shared similar demographics, like race, gender and poverty status.

The report is the first large-scale study of the academic performance of children growing up in the city’s 343 public housing complexes, researchers said. They suggest that those children face social and economic hurdles at home that affect their success in the classroom and illustrate the often-overlooked role that housing can play in education. The report was done by the university’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and its Institute for Education and Social Policy.
More...

On any given night, right around 11:00pm to Midnight or later in what I euphamistically refer to as the 'hood, you can find somebody standing on their porch or on their stoop staring into the darkness, they may be talking on the phone or to someone nearby or not, just standing; and the other is a child or group of children anywhere from 18 months to 18 years old outside playing or in the halls. Now, this scene is as ubiquitous to the 'hood as hot fries and cold beer. It doesn't matter if you're in Detroit or Greenville, SC. If you're in public housing this is the norm (and I invite anyone to disagree with me on this one).

The reason that I bring that up is to illustrate my point that the public housing project, the program that is supposed to give struggling families a hand until they can get on their feet and sustain themselves has failed and failed miserably. What may have been a low-income respite from over-inflated housing rates in over populated areas has deteriorated into unsafe (see the Dunbar Village case where a woman was gang-raped by 10 teenagers in her public housing complex in full earshot of her neighbors who did not even call the police, either out of indifference or fear of reprisal) , sometimes unsanitary pockets of concentrated poverty and despair.

How can a child focus on learning the parts of a book, or finishing a reading assignment when she's busy trying to tune out the lady next door getting beaten by her boyfriend or (barring any violence or misconduct) resist the urge to ditch the effort altogether in favor of playing double dutch until 11 o'clock until her Mom gets home from work?

The study doesn't offer too much insight into why children in the public housing fare so much worse than their counterparts who rent or own, but assumptions can and are being made. The hood is not a nice place to grow up and the mental stress and peer pressure that comes with that environment cannot be overestimated.

Public housing is filled with working families trying to make a living, but it is also has a good portion of folks who are living solely on assistance, unemployment or living off those who do receive assistance. It's like quarantining the healthy with the sick and dying. At some point the well will be adversely affected. Now, I don't mean to monolithically characterize those on assistance as emotionally and spiritually bereft, but make no mistake that there are those who are suffering from a generational mental handicap that manifests itself in a number of self-destructive ways.

Someone outside this environment can look at a woman with 8 children, a small drug habit, a revolving door of boyfriends and no high-school diploma as someone who may be suffering from massive low self-esteem and is badly in need of an awakening. But to a kid in the hood that's just Sheila from the 5th floor. You might play with Sheila's kids and she seems completely normal to you. This is the failure of the projects it pools the can't do alright folks along with the won't do alright folks.

My hope is that the system will be reviewed and dismantled. The problem with that is changing the minds of the middle and upper class who frown at any placement of lower class folks within their midst. If there were a way to require HUD recipients to joint local homeowners associations I think that more suburban homeowners would be apt to accept lower income residents and building, because its not the housing that is deficient (even though sometimes it is pretty bad) it is the aberrant behaviors, such as letting your kids stay up till the wee hours of the morning, that are.

Reflecting

2008-12-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Now that I've completed my Collection Development Project with a focus on middle- school math I think there are a few things I would have done differently.

1. Focus on Special Needs. The school that I modeled this collection for has an overwhelming 25% of students classified as Special Education. Now whether these kids are really deficient or just so far behind they seem deficient is something that must be left to the experts, but it is safe to say that their needs aren't being met. It's hard enough finding resources for kids who read on level. Finding resources for kids who think like 16 year-olds but read like 8 year-olds has got to be nearly impossible.

2. Narrow the Standards. I would have focused on either one particular grade of the mathematics standards or similar topics across all middle-school grades. I was kind of all over the place and that made it easier to find items, but made the project a little disjointed.

3. Seek out "Free" Resources. There are so many free or inexpensive resources out there, especially those that are online. I should have spent a little more time with these, just for my own edification.

4. Shake an Angry Fist. In retrospect I should have really given Booklist and School Library Journal a piece of my mind. Why are all these resources so expensive? Knowing what I know now I would never have required that every item collected be reviewed. Finding reviews is extremely time consuming and who is to say that their opinion is any better than my own. I think I'll stick to reviewing my own items.

I wonder if I could use this blog for that?

Finale

2008-11-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

With 99% of this project complete I am still unhappy with the final project. Anti-climactic is the word, but falls woefully short.I was unable to find sufficient reviews, or reviews to my liking for my journal submissions, which happen to be OWL, Scholastic Math, Muse, Math Horizons, and a professional resource. I can't say that I like any of them, but they fulfill the requirements. I hate that it just fulfills the requirements, because to truly move forward we must do more than what is required. I did add 21st Century Learning Standards to my presentation, but not to the overall project. Not only did I run out of time for such an endeavor, it would have made the physical document stretch into the triple digits, and it's already at about 50 pages. Impressive, I know, or not. I have to ask myself did I accomplish what I set out to? Somewhat. Did I do everything that I wanted to? No. Is the work worth of an "A"? Absolutely.

The work is accurate and thorough and aesthetically pleasing. Now, I need to ask myself did I receive what I needed from the class. Do I feel like I've learned how to select print or non-print materials? No. But, here is why. There was no real explanation about how to use the standards to select materials. There is a structure to the Georgia Performance Standards that I had no idea about, which I'm getting an education about from my teacher-husband. These are things that should be taught in class. I hear a lot about learning on the job, but if that's the case why is there a need for a degree at all, and why are we lobbying so hard for certified media specialists if everything that you really need to know can be learned on the job? It can be frustrating. Or maybe that was the class I missed. C'est la vie.

Magazine Mania

2008-11-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

This is really becoming a big issue. When you're trying to find reviewed resources for math it becomes a chore, but trying to find journal or magazine resources are especially hard to find. This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Is there nothing out there for kids (I hesitate to call them children in 7th grade) who like math? Or could be convinced that math can be fun?

Scholastic Math seems to be the only game in town. I'm almost out of ideas. Almost.

Math, the neglected subject in collection development

2008-11-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've made a terrible mistake. It is one of those mistakes that doesn't make it's true nature known until it is far too late, like realizing that you've left your passport in the hotel room right before you run up to counter at the airport - 10 minutes before the plane is to take off.
I chose math as my subject for this collection development project, mostly because it is the most neglected subject in collection development, but what I hadn't considered is that it is neglected because there just aren't that many resources to choose from, especially resources that have been reviewed. I've had to stretch my imagination to tie learning standards to some of the selections I've made and this process is not at all timely. I've tied my geometry standards to books on agriculture and design, and there are a few items are especially interesting that can be tied to algebra, but statistics and probability are terribly wanting and the search does not seem to be drawing to a happy close. I have another week to figure it out, but you would really think that the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) would have some suggestions. Not so.

What does a girl have to do to get fun, easy-to-read, age appropriate math-related texts?

By Any Means Necessary

2008-10-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

From Jezebel

Every weekend for the past decade, Luis Soriano has strapped pouches painted with the word "Biblioburro" to two donkeys and loaded them with books for villagers near his home in Colombia. Soriano, a 36 year old schoolteacher, got the idea after watching the effect reading had on his pupils. Now 300 people regularly borrow books, and Soriano's collection has grown from 70 to over 4,800 titles. He is often greeted by groups of children waiting for him to read to them, but his route can be dangerous: Two years ago, bandits tied him to a tree. Finding that he had no money, one of the bandits stole the book Brida, the story of an Irish girl and her search for knowledge, by the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho.

Libraries, a place for religious bias?

2008-10-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

Virginia High-Schoolers Rally for Gay-Cure Books

Groups of students and parents staged rallies and presented some 85 books on homosexuality from a conservative Christian perspective for inclusion in the libraries at 11 schools in the Fairfax County (Va.) Public School District October 2. The inspiration for their actions came from a nationwide campaign organized by the Colorado Springs, Colorado–based traditional values group Focus on the Family. Titles included Joe Dallas’s Desires in Conflict and The Gay Gospel? How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible and 101 Frequently Asked Questions about Homosexuality by Mike Haley.

Are all perspectives considered fair game and worth of inclusion in a school setting? The first amendment may imply yes, but in reality we know that hate speech, obscenity and factually inaccurate materials are not items that should be readily placed on school shelves, and if we are to consider the needs of the school at all I would assume that curriculum-based items would take precedence over these, but I'm sure that's a much too practical answer to this philosophical question.

In my heart, any tome that would suggest that someone is hell-bound or mentally ill because of sexual orientation is a book that should be classified as either hate speech, or placed next to The Iliad where all the other mythologies lie, but that's my opinion and my heart is not where decisions like these should be made.

In my mind, which is more rational and attuned to the duties of school librarian, any group that proposes a book that they haven't read should be met with a raised eyebrow. Secondly, if these books present opinion as fact then they are unfit for inclusion in a school library, and thirdly if my collection is already balanced with conflicting viewpoints on the subject there is no cause to add additional information for one side or the other.

This is just modern day book burning, where one viewpoint is trying to drown out the other because they haven't been successful in removing the offending material.

“The librarians felt we had substantial information from a balanced perspective,” Thorniley said. She also noted that the books failed to meet the school’s selection standards, which requires each book selected to have at least two positive reviews in professionally recognized journals. The selection policy explicitly states that “Librarians are under no obligation to include donations in the library collection.” NBC-TV affiliate WRC reported October 2 that the school district was considering whether to stop accepting donated books altogether.

Focus on the Family organized the donations through its “True Tolerance” initiative, the Washington Post reported October 3. “We hear . . . more and more that homosexuality is being promoted in schools,” said Focus on the Family Education Analyst Candi Cushman. “The word ‘tolerance’ is often used, but a faith-based viewpoint is belittled or ridiculed.”

Thorniley noted that the students asking the libraries to stock the books had not actually read them.

Good luck to those who stand for the rights of all children to read and view.

Student Achievement in Georgia School Libraries

2008-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Student Achievement In The Georgia School Media Center

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Ah, the fruits of my research labor. I'm still unsure of what to do with the bulk of my data. I'm open to suggestions

Changing the Perception of School Libraries

2008-10-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

A Prescription for Transforming Libraries
By Christopher Harris -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2008

Libraries are often considered part of the service industry, but perhaps it’s time for that misconception to go the way of “Shhh!” Rising to the challenge presented by BlackPlanet founder Omar Wasow in his closing remarks at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in 2007, school librarians have worked to position the media center as an experience rather than a service.

Wasow’s call to action stemmed from a 1999 book, The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. In defining five stages of an economy, the book provides a classic example in the coffee industry, which evolved from the commoditization of sacks of beans to the modern java bar, which offers an experience around the consumption of coffee. Libraries, it can be argued, have followed a similar path from early storehouses of information and the delivery of related services to the emergence of an information experience powered by social technologies and now the redefining of libraries as a destination. More.

Intellectual Freedom and the School Library

2008-09-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

“The role of government in restraining free speech of individuals is not clear or obvious when government refuses to purchase a book for a library”.(Lukenbill, 2007)

What power is held in the small hands of a teacher-librarian? The terms used to describe the individuals in the profession swing from teacher to researcher, librarian to media specialist, or even tech support to clerk; but rarely, do you hear ‘guardian of democracy’, but that is exactly what the role entails. Do media specialists take this seriously? Is it even taught as a pre-requisite to successful school leadership? I would answer yes and no.

Yes, a briefing of the rights of students as individuals and the role of the librarian in matters of free speech is touched upon, but it seems that whole classes should be devoted to this subject. Is this not as important as or more important than cataloguing? And from my observations in my own classes, if all that you(emerging librarians) can say regarding Board of Education, Island Trees, NY v. Pico is “I thought it was long and dry,” then the importance of this aspect of school librarianship is being lost.

Are media specialist programs releasing docile wallflowers in the educational system who are only equipped to shelve books and fix copiers or are they raising a crop of intellectually fierce warriors of free speech? I would hope the latter would be the case, but I fear that my hopes would be dashed. Too many of my classmates would either willfully restrict books whose subject matter covers GLBT issues and non-traditional perspectives (Thanksgiving from the Native American’s perspective) or at the very least send them to the bottom of the selection list for the day when their budgets allow for excess (which may never come).

In my opinion to selectively refrain from purchasing books based solely on their possible cause of controversy is to“present governmental restraint on the right of free speech for private individuals” (Munic 1983). It is the "function of books and other literary materials ... is to stimulate thought, to explore ideas, to engender intellectual exchanges."

I cannot claim to “meet expectations” while conforming to the image of entertainer and relegating myself to story time while simultaneously neglecting the rights of the students who enter those media center doors. To prevent this from happening a healthy understanding of constitutional law is necessary. It is true that as librarians we should know how to seek out information, but the information isn’t being recognized as important. In 1977 only 15% of School LIS programs had courses devoted to Intellectual Freedom, I wonder what that number is today, especially in light of the Harry Potter scandals, as well as the potential for scandal with books like And Tango Makes Three about an egg and his two Dads.

Things to do in Atlanta- Paint by Numb3rs

2008-09-18T04:11:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for really cool things to do in Atlanta besides a night at the club check out Paint by Numb3rs. It's a lot of fun and doesn't cost that much. It's also something you can do when you've reached that certain ages when Soulja Boy has run his course.

When: Saturday, September 20th
Time: 8pm-1am
Where: Art On 5 Art Gallery (2001 MLK Drive Atlanta, GA 30310) on the 5th floor
Gallery: 404-564-4799
Who: everyone who can appreciate creativity and FUN (21 and up)
What: eat ~ drink ~ socialize ~ paint
Why: to find the creativity in us all
Cost: $10 (FREE parking)
Info Contact: 770-906-8076
Email:
imari@PlayDateATL.com
imari@PaintByNumb3rs.com
andre@arton5.com

Directions:

From 75/85 take I-20 west to Martin Luther King Jr Drive (Exit 53)
Make a left. The building (a big yellow one) is (1/4) mile on the right.

From 285 take I-20 east to Martin Luther King Jr Drive (Exit 53)
Make a right. The building (a big yellow one) is (1/10) mile on the right

Student Achievement and School Library Media Specialists

2008-09-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

In my Principles of Instructional Collaboration class I've been charged with teaching the class(or doing a presentation if you want to get technical)about Student Achievement and the School Library Media Center, so I got this bright idea to do a survey and pick the brains of the nation's teacher-librarians.

I sent this email out to the listserv for Young Adult Literature at ALA and the Georgia Library Media Association. I also posted the link on a few librarian blogs on facebook.

Hello Everyone,
I'm conducting a survey to gauge the current state of awareness among Library Media Specialists regarding research linking strong media programs to student achievement. The survey is just 10 questions long and should take no longer than 5 minutes. I'll post the results within the next 4 weeks and will include resources for further study.

The survey is open to Media Specialists across the nation so please tell your colleagues.

You can complete the survey here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=LB80WF1uA9UyEJuOQNVEhw_3d_3d

Thank you,
Shanna Miles
2nd-year ELMT Graduate Student
Georgia State University

Hopefully, I'll get a decent response, of course, the more people who respond the better the survey will be. It's quick and simple so I'm hoping that altruism will win out and folks will complete it. We'll see.

Sexy Librarians

2008-09-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

via Jezebel

By now you've probably read about Wasilla, Alaska librarian Mary Ellen Baker, who refused to ban "inappropriate books" at then-mayor Sarah Palin's request, despite the risk of losing her job. But in case you weren't feeling impressed enough with librarians, Mother Jones has a fascinating story — banned books week begins on September 26, people! — about another badass librarian (actually, a few of them).

Here's the story: In 2005, FBI agents demanded that a group of Connecticut librarians on a committee of a librarian association present them with "any and all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person or entity". The agents didn't have a court order but something called a national security letter, designed to "protect against international terrorism" and rendering the librarians unable to reveal "to any person that the FBI has sought or obtained access to information or records." Admirably, librarians George Christian, Peter Chase, Janet Nocek and Barbara Bailey decided to fight for their patrons' privacy and challenge the constitutionality of this practice, becoming the unlikely center of an FBI investigation themselves. As Chase explains to Mother Jones, "People say very confidential things to our reference librarians...They have medical issues, personal matters. What people are borrowing at a public library is nobody's business."

About those national security letters: The MJ writers, Amy and David Goodman, describe them as "a little-known FBI tool originally used in foreign intelligence surveillance to obtain phone, financial, and electronic records without court approval." Since 9/11, they've been employed a lot — and, unsurprisingly, often abused. "An investigation last year revealed that the FBI had broken regulations governing NSLs in more than 1,000 cases... Even when an investigation is closed, information gained through an NSL is kept indefinitely in the FBI files," say the Goodmans. And because the four librarians had read the letter, they were now "a threat to national security", legally barred from appearing at the hearings or from speaking publicly, and had to be known as "John Doe" when they engaged the ACLU to challenge the NSLs and lift their gag order.

Although the Patriot Act was subsequently reauthorized, soon thereafter the Justice Department dropped the gag order case and was ordered by the Supreme Court to unseal the court documents in the case. Then, last September, a federal court ruled NSLs to be unconstitutional, calling them "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values." Not shockingly, the Bush administration has appealed the decision.

Everyone loves a good "little guy takes on the Man" story, and this is a great one. In combination with Ms. Baker, frankly our profession-crush on the library sciences is growing by the second. Obviously it's not all heroics, but when you consider the cultural importance of the library in our history — it's a real trust, kids. It would have been so easy to have given up records that were,for the most part, probably pretty innocuous - the fact that anyone is willing to put themselves at this kind of risk for principle makes me actually choke up a little bit. (And for the first time, kind of get the point of Banned Books Week, which always struck me at my school as kind of preaching-to-the-choir-ish.) Sexy librarians, indeed!

America's Most Dangerous Librarians [Mother Jones]
Mayor Palin: A Rough Record [Time]
Sarah Palin, Book Banner? [MediaBistro]

Decatur Book Festival 2008- Part 2

2008-09-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

The Decatur Book Festival was great. Festivals are one of things that make Atlanta a fantastic place to live. There is always food, stage events, music and the occasional street performer. Speaking of which, we were able to enjoy a wonderful performance by Grupo Maculele Atlanta, a capoiera troupe.

We didn't get to stay very long, but I did discover some new spaces of Downtown Decatur that I'll definitely be frequenting and, of course, I picked up a few books.

What Teachers Make

2008-09-02T05:57:00.001-07:00

What Teachers Make

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Check it Out!

2008-08-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

School Library Journal has started a new blog designed to hip everyone to new technologies. Check it out!

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blogger/3577.html

Twitter

2008-08-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

I admit I don't get it, but it's good to know about it.

Decatur Book Festival

2008-08-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been living in Decatur (unincorporated, mind you-that's the untaxed ghetto side of Decatur)for over three years and I've never made it to the Decatur Book Festival, but that will all change this weekend.

The Festival features a street fair, teen and children's activities, writer's seminars/workshops and of course books, books, and more books.

Here are some interesting workshops I may be checking in on:

Sex & Violence: Writing About Them Without Sounding Like a Virgin Pacifist with David Fulmer (18+ only)
Award-winning novelist and writing teacher David Fulmer gives up the good, bad and ugly when it comes to sex, violence and profanity between the covers. Because Fulmer’s a show-don’t-tell kind of guy, he’ll be joined by two of Atlanta’s finest acting talents to give dramatic and comic readings of the inspiring—and offending—passages. It’s an R-rated program, so no one under 18 will be admitted. A fainting couch and earplugs will be provided.

Writing Children’s Books with Cheryl Klein
Cheryl Klein, a senior editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, will share her wit and wisdom when it comes to writing for children. Besides her editorial involvement with a number of books for children, Klein was the continuity editor for the final three Harry Potter books, so she certainly knows her stuff.

And Author Talks with: Amiri Baraka and Pearl Cleage

What: AJC Decatur Book Festival

When: Labor Day Weekend

Where: The City of Decatur, Georgia

If you go, please let me know what you thought.

Getting Started

2008-08-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

The largest and most significant assigment in the Selection of Print and Non-Print Materials class is the Collection Development Policy. The policy is the cornerstone of the School Media Program and outlines the goals of the program and the procedures by which those goals are to be met in the Media Center. So, to gain a better perspective about different media programs and the unique populations that they serve I'll need to evaluate a collection development policy and we'll discuss them in class.

Well, it hasn't been easy.

I've reached out to schools in Decatur City Schools, who didn't have a district policy or a digitized format of what they did have (strange, when you're supposed to the the technological heart of the school), and Atlanta Public Schools, who have yet to respond. I wanted to get a unique perspective from the BEST Academy and Benjamin S. Carson, a gender specific charter school, but they don't have a web site, and I'm sorry, but if you don't even have a school web site how can I assume that you'll be the kind of school that I would want to model my policy after.

I'll do some thinking and a little more research today. I was hoping to evaluate schools withing the metro-Atlanta area because I could relate to the population, but we shall see.

If you're looking for resources to help you write a policy for your school, check these out:

Workbook for Selection Policy Writing

A Guide to Writing CMC Collection Development Policies

The First Day

2008-08-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

It really never ceases to amaze me how slow some people in graduate school can be. I understand that in elementary school that "there are no stupid questions", but when you get to the graduate level I have to disagree. I've had a love/hate affair with GSU since undergrad and I never give them the benefit of the doubt, even when it comes to student population. Why are you asking questions about ULearn (the Blackboard of GSU) on the first and second days of class: taking up more than 20-30 minutes to do so? These are teachers. Are you telling me you can't figure it out? Maybe I'm just irritable, but I will say that the content in my Survey of Print and Non-Print Materials and my Principles of Instructional Collaboration classes is extremely interesting.

If I had taken these classes my first semester my mood would have been a little bit lighter than it has been these last few months, although a good amount of autodidaxy is required for these classes. It's really about your own research, something that scares me considering that a good many of my classmates are more interested in gettign out of the classroom than they are in moving media centers and students into the next phase of technology and independent learning.

Begin Again

2008-08-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

So the semester has begun again and I am travelling to the ends of the earth to get an education. I travel from Sandy Springs to Alpharetta on Mondays and then to Dunwoody on Tuesdays. Each trip runs about 45 minutes to an hour. Fun times. Maybe this is the opportunity that I've been waiting for to get some books on tape and learn Spanish again or absorb the tenates of Buddhism. The trick is to not let the craziness get me down and use the time that I have.

I've been neglectful with this blog, with posts that span weeks and months apart. I will do better, but it's not easy. With a full-time job, two classes, and a personal life my usual multi-tasking abilities have deteriorated into a kind of unmanageable schizophrenia. I haven't even had a chance to really keep up on my professional blogs.

If you're looking for some that are great. Check these out:

Georgia Library Media Association

The Shifted Librarian

Weblogged: School 2.0

Reading First Program Faces Huge Cuts

2008-07-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Reading First program could be on its last legs
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Is the federal government getting out of the reading business?
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted last week to eliminate funding for Reading First, the groundbreaking but controversial Bush administration program that has given states $1 billion a year since 2002 to teach low-income elementary schoolers to read. A House committee also had voted to eliminate funding; if money is not restored before the federal budget is approved in the fall, the program could end.

Democrats in Congress say the program was an unproven magnet for corruption. House hearings last year focused on financial ties between its top advisers and major textbook publishers, who account for a large share of materials schools use. A U.S. Justice Department investigation, begun last year, is still pending.

But many educators say the money — about $17.7 million per state in 2007 — was a godsend, allowing them to train teachers in scientifically based reading methods, buy quality supplies and help an estimated 1.8 million children learn to read.

"You put enough money on anything, and you've got enough people who are not interested in kids and not interested in education that are making choices," says Cindy Cupp, a Savannah, Ga., teacher and author. She filed two complaints with the Justice Department after learning that six Georgia schools were funded only after they agreed to drop Cupp's phonics books.Full Source

I'm not sure what to think. Yes, there is probably corruption in the program and it was most definitely ill-formed but it does help students. I can only hope for a program that focuses on parents.

Parents are the key to true educational success.

Doing Good in the Hood

2008-06-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

Common Launches Literacy Campaign
By WENN, June 5 2008
Rapper COMMON is encouraging teenagers to read - by promoting a book club for American kids.
The Chicago-born star - real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn - is using his Common Ground Foundation to promote The Corner, an online group which aims to encourage teens to discuss literature.
It will also feature monthly interviews with celebrity artists who will reveal their favourite books and why reading is so important to them, reports AllHipHop.com.
The Grammy award winner, who stars alongside Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in upcoming movie Wanted, has a side project writing children's books and is currently the face of the American Library Association (ALA) READ Campaign.
He says, "I started the Common Ground Foundation because I wanted to help. Most of all help people to help themselves." Source

It looks like Common is doing some good in the hood, something I always like to see. Reading really is fundamental and through acquisition of knowledge, not necessarily education, people can gain a sense of their place in the world. Once you know where you stand you can gain mobility.
As parents and community members we really have to do a better job of relating the value of books and knowledge. I think this is a good step.

GLA Event at GSU

2008-06-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,
Here is a bulletin about an upcoming Georgia Library Association Meeting at GSU sent by Sarah Steiner at the Learning Commons Library. Hopefully some of you can attend.

Hello-
I've worked via email with a couple of you, but I don't think we've met--I'm a librarian on the main campus, and I'm chairing the Georgia Library Association New Members Round Table this year.

In an attempt to create a more concrete and friendly environment for library science students in the Atlanta area, the NMRT has been hosting a free meetup/training series for students and new graduates. The next meeting, on July 12, will be taking place in the GSU library. We have two speakers: one will discuss interviewing tips, and the other will talk about creating an e-portfolio. The attendees also have time to meet each other and mingle. Last time roughly 30 people came, and I'm hoping to get around 50 this time.

I tried to post information regarding the event to the listserv for this program, but never saw it appear, and my follow up email hasn't been answered yet. I really want to get the word out to as many GSU media students as possible, so I thought I'd just email you all directly, since you're teaching courses this summer. If you can think of an appropriate forum, I'd be very appreciative if you could distribute the attached flyer (or just a mention of this event) during your classes. I will also be happy to drop a few flyers off with you, if you don't mind. There's more information about this program in the flyer, and on the GLA NMRT Web site. Students are also welcome to contact me directly.

Thank you very much for considering! Please email or call me if you have any questions or concerns.
-Sarah

LOC marries Flickr

2008-01-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

The Library of Congress has teamed up with Flickr to offer all of us to tag their photo files to gain a little insight into how the 'user' thinks about subject headings. Pretty Cool!

The Library of Congress has noticed this trend and is hoping that Flickr users help it learn more about its own photo collections. More than 3,000 of its historic photos are up for tagging and commenting. The Library of Congress hopes that people will add valuable information that might otherwise be impossible for it to find. The pictures, which are stunning in their quality, were taken from the early to mid 1900s, and the subjects range from baseball players to Rosie the Riveter types during World War II. Full Article

Fun with Bookstores

2008-01-17T06:27:00.001-08:00

There is a sub-genre of fiction that while not exclusive to African-Americans has been gaining momentum in prominent bookstore displays. These 'trash' novels usually focus on graphic sex, violence and 'hood culture while offering no resolutions to the social ills described but glorify them. While I respect the right of these 'writers' to do their thing I take offense to the display of Thong on Fire in place of Black Boy or Song of Solomon.

Imagine my downright shock when I discoverd that my University bookstore was displaying titles by Karrine Stephans and Zane under African-American Literature.

My letter to the bookstore:

To Whom It May Concern:

If at all possible I think it would be appropriate for the African-American Literature section in the bookstore to be converted to the African-American Fiction section.There is very little 'literature' to be found in the small section which makes the label a misnomer.

Literature is defines as "writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays". The optimum word being "permanent". The works of Zane or Karrine Steffans are neither universal nor permanent. They cannot compare to the works of Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ralph Ellison and others.

Please consider this most needed change.

Sincerely,
(my real name)
1st year Graduate Student
Library Media Technology
ResetButton: Submit Request

I didn't expect too much to happen, but I was surprised to get a response the next day.

(My name),

I agree with you 100%. I will order a new sign to reflect the change. It usually takes 2-4 weeks to get the signs printed, but we will make the change.

Wade Douglas
Store Director
Georgia State University Bookstore #570
P.O. Box 3971, Atlanta, GA 30302-3971
Ph # 404-413-9700
Fax # 404-413-9709
www.gsu.bkstr.com

Ha, ha! Victory! I cannot tell you how delighted I was to know that ranting and raving had paid off. I encourage you all to go out into the world and raise hell about the images that are allowed to proliferate in places where accurate portrayals are expected. We cannot expect music television to provide an accurate or varied portrayal of African-American people, but surely that is to be expected at the library and bookstore.

As W.E.B. Dubois once said 'art is propoganda'.

GACE Q and A

2008-01-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

In Georgia there is such a thing as the GACE (Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators®). This test has taken the place of the Praxis and is required to obtain certification to teach in Georgia Schools. In order to prepare for the test and stretch my skills I’ll post a few questions from their preparation manual and answer them to the best of my limited ability. Please join in and refute me if you think I’m off base.

A ninth-grade social studies teacher would like students to begin using literature as part of a unit on ancient Greece. The media specialist can best assist the teacher in integrating literature into this unit by:

A. preparing a bibliography of literature that is related to the unit topic.
B. gathering examples of relevant literature for the teacher in advance of the start of the unit.
meeting with the teacher to plan literature-based activities that support the unit objectives.
C. providing instruction to students on how to locate relavant literature for the unit.

Well it seems to me that A and B are examples of what you should do in preperation of C. The object of the question is to pick the ‘best’ possible answer. To thoroughly address the matter at hand it would seem that a face-to-face meeting would ensure that everything was covered according to the objectives of the unit. D, is a viable option, but the students would have to take time out of class to receive such instruction, which would mean that the teacher would need to plan for this interuption in class time- something that would have to be discussed at a face-to-face meeting. So, the best answer seems to be C.

The Fly Librarian

2008-01-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

I got this tasty number through a link from Tamara at AG Jewelry Design.

It's perfect for the funky librarian or the cataloger within. It's got tortoiseshell handles and the outside print is New York Times microfilm from 60's.

Viva la Revolucion!

2008-01-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

In my dreams I am the all seeing, all knowing, and all powerful Queen of the Media Center, championing autodidaxy and independent thought, but there has been a cloud of doubt threatening to rain on my parade. I’m learning that many school districts have extremely strict policies regarding web content.

These filters hope to block ‘adult’ content, but usually go so far as to block social networks like Facebook and MySpace as well as blogs, forums and the like. I’m opposed to censorship on all levels. Outside of pornography I don’t see any merit in blocking information sites that might allow kids to get everything from advanced physics to sexual education information. If the point is to teach children to think like an adult then we need to trust them with adult information.

We infantilize our youth in this country. The honest truth is that adolescence is a farce, the term ‘teenager’ is about as old as the formula for Coke. Mark Twain was done with his schooling (complete with Latin and Greek) and writing and living his life by 15. Charlotte Bronte wrote her first novella at 17. Public high school is really nothing more than a holding pen, keeping out young able-bodied men and women from entering the workforce and pushing out older folks who have families to support.

I’m not sure how I’m going to conform my radical thoughts so that I can sustain myself in the current education system, but if I’m creative I might be able to.

First on the list….a student social network that can be accessed at home or at school, complete with Language Arts, Science, and Math forums.

Semester Round Up

2007-12-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

The semester has ended and I’m still waiting for the alphabetical embodiment of my worth to crystallize. As this is my first semester I kept it pretty simple and decided to only take two classes: Classification and Cataloging, and Methods of Research in Education.
I must say that I began the semester with a hefty amount of trepidation. I hadn’t had a class of any sort in 3 years and this was GRADUATE school. Scary. Well, turns out it ain’t that much different from undergrad. I just have to be a little more diligent about time management now that I have to juggle classes and a full time job.

So, what did I learn this semester?

• How to write a decent citation in APA style
• How to cite online information resources in APA Style
• Education blogs are an excellent resource for ‘cutting edge’ information
• There are some people who will never grow out of being the ‘disruptive’ student
• Don’t buy your books until well into the semester
• GSU doesn’t have much respect for the MLM program
• The Sears’ Subject Headings are pretty fun
• Library Thing may become my best friend
• I’ll probably have to get a teachers certification in English or Social Studies to secure my position soon
• A lot of teachers REALLY want to get out of the classroom

So, what didn’t I learn?

• I still don’t have a really good grasp on how to catalog anything other than a run-of-the-mill manuscript
• Why GSU doesn’t want to expand the program into a full Library Science program and join the ALA
• How to conduct classroom research (I was really hoping for info on that. Didn’t cover it though)
• What I need to do to get a job or to make myself more marketable

Maine woman quarantines sex-education book

2007-09-30T05:40:00.000-07:00

A woman in Lewiston Maine has checked out every copy of It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris from the local library. This one woman crusade was sparked when she was quote 'horrified' by the content. I guess she's never read any of the erotica author,Zane's books.

“Since I have been sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and the sexually graphic, amoral abnormal contents, I will not be returning the books,” JoAn Karkos wrote in August 11 letters to Rick Speer and Rosemary Waltos, the respective directors of the Lewiston and Auburn libraries.
Full Article

This sort of thing really irritates me especially in light of President Ahmadinejad's recent speech at Columbia University in which many people protested. For many Americans free speech only applies to the speech they feel is acceptable to them. Now I'm all for warning labels to inform people of suggestive content when necessary, i.e. those lovely little black and white labels on cd's, but enough is enough.

Information is the key to freedom. The more you know the better equipped you are to navigate obstacles in your life. There was a time when information was held close the oppressor's chest so the downtrodden wouldn't revolt. Have we really come so far?

Pros and Cons

2007-09-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have a journalism degree and I'm currently working in a position that affords me many comforts but has nothing to do with what I was 'trained' to do in undegraduate school. I quickly learned that Public Relations required a personality unlike my own. Being very shy and hesitant to meet new people the partying and quick wit that truly effective PR professionals possessed, suffice it to say eluded me. And so, I looked for alternatives and I find myself in that realm as I type, but as I get older and start to think about my future and my family I've decided to make another change.

As I embark on this journey into librarianship I'm weighing all of my options from the perspective of a corporate drone. Everything is weighed in pros and cons and I'm beginning to rethink my decision to study for my Master's at Georgia State. While the program seems to be very robust, compared to other Graduate programs in the state that offer Media Specialist certification maybe even a bit more rigorous, but it is the only program that is not recommended by the American Library Association (ALA), and it has no desire to be, according to the powers that be. How can that be?

For what possible reason could the school believe that opting out of national recognition and validation they could have anything to gain but an alumni with limited opportunities outside of the state. I have no desire to obtain a degree with limited mobility.

I guess my next steps are the following:

Call the ALA and find out what the requirements of certification.
Pester the powers that be, at my own peril, to ask Why the school would decide NOT to request accreditation.

The ALA is THE voice of the librarian in public and political spheres and to voluntarily turn your back on that body is like gagging yourself, or allowing yourself to be invisible in the national discourse. The inability to receive their scholarships because the schools is not accredited sucks as well. I guess I've got more questions than answers.

Library Thing

2007-09-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.

Library Thing is an up and coming cataloging application that Libraries,Regular Folk, and Graduate Students like myself can use to catalog and publish personal, private or public libraries. Anyone can register and catalog up to 200 books, anything over that and you'll have to pay a small fee.

Books can be added with information from Amazon or the Library of Congress and all posts have a button with a card file that lists all the cataloging information for that particular title. Personal pages can be made public and searchable which can allow anyone to be the purveyor of their own 'Special Collection'.

Users can tag each book as they like and even visit the pages of other users who have added that title to their collection. Organization can be arbitrary or formal with the Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal System.

Check it Out!

Book Hunt

2007-09-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know getting your ELMT books from any of the bookstores on the GSU campus can be a daunting task, but you do have options. One of these options is to special order. By special ordering you can use your financial aid and get everything in one place, great news for those of you who have families or spouses and just don't have the time to shop around. You're guaranteed to recieve your books and you'll avoid the rush!

You'll need to order your books well ahead of time for them to arrive when you need them. I suggest at least 3 weeks, just in case there is a backlog.

So here's what you do:

1. Print your ELMT booklist to the GSU bookstore in the Student Center.
2. Give the list to the textbook attendant. You can find him a a desk in the computer section.
3. Pay for your books and wait!

Pageflakes!

2007-09-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

"Pagecasts" are pages which users share with other users. There are two types of Pagecasts: Group Pagecasts are pages that are shared between friends or the members of a group and that can be viewed by invited members only. Public Pagecasts are pages which users have published to the entire world.

As students we really have to keep abreast of new technologies, software, and useful sites and as one of PC magazines Top 25 sites to watch, Pageflakes fits the bill. I've created a Media Specialist centered pagecast for the Library Media Technology program at http://www.pageflakes.com/La Bella Media.

Pageflakes is like an RSS(Really Simple Syndication) Feed that you can share with friends. This mashup,a web application that combines data from more than one source into an integrated experience,creates a page where you can group together blogs, news,and bookmarks that are all specific to a particular topic. You can also place a message board on the page that allows the public or a private group of friends communicate with each other.

Check it Out!

'You Ain't Up on This'!

2007-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO – The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) e-Academy will offer five continuing education programs starting on October 1, 2007. The courses will be offered via a partnership with the University of North Texas (UNT) project LE@D.
These professional development opportunities are offered as either facilitated programs or self-paced courses. AASL’s e-Academy fall 2007 offerings include:
• “Creating an Engaging Web site”: October 1 – November 9, 2007; facilitated by Kathy Lehman; registration fee is $49.95 for AASL members and $59.95 for non-members.
•
“Trends in Children’s Literature”: October 1 – October 26, 2007; self-paced program; registration fee is $19.95.
•
“Copyright Issues in the Classroom and Library”: October 1 – October 26, 2007; self-paced program; registration fee is $19.95.
•
“Multi-Cultural Literature for Children & Young Adults”: October 1 – October 26, 2007; self-paced program; registration fee is $19.95.
•
“Reaching Reluctant Readers in the School Library Media Center”: October 1 – October 26, 2007; self-paced program; registration fee is $19.95.
The e-Academy facilitated program will be accessible 24 hours a day for six weeks and will be facilitated by an expert who will guide the learning experience at key points within the program. The learner will be able to share and collaborate with other participants through discussion boards and activities. The AASL self-paced courses offer accessibility 24 hours a day for four weeks. These static tutorials offer the learner an independent learning environment, without interaction between other learners or discussion boards.
Registration for the AASL e-Academy will open on September 7, 2007. For more information and to register for the courses, visit http://www.ala.org/aasl/eAcademy.
The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library media field.

I am all about continuing education because the aim of education, to impart the most up-to-date and effective skills and knowledge, falls very short of the actual product. Almost all curriculum changes must go through an approval process that can take weeks, months, or even years so by the time the student is in the classroom the information their soaking up is already out-of-date. This is especially true in technology fields, and as Media Specialists we definitely have a need to be ‘in the know’ because you can bet that the students will be.

While American students may not be as tech-savvy as Japanese students they are definitely working hard to close the gap. They all have cell phones and can text a full paragraph about how sucky lunch was at the speed of light. MySpace and Facebook are after-school networking staples and You Tube can make a kid famous if he can do the ‘Soulja Boy’ right.

At their current rate of technological consumption if we’re one step ahead we just might be right on time.