Ms Mac, Library Lady

Books & Ebooks

2011-09-18T06:03:00.000-07:00

I read some excerpts of this article a few weeks back, but this morning I read the original on my iPad. I've struggled with adapting to the Ebooks format. With this article from the NY Times I see what may be a part of my struggle. Read it for yourself here.

Keeping up with blogging

2011-09-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

There are times when I think blogging is a great endeavor. A great place to share stories and reflect. Then there is the fact that I haven't updated this page since December and it's now September. It's not that there haven't been things happen in my library world in those 8 months. Rather, it's called time and remembering to pause to reflect.

So the new school year is well underway now. The regulars have reestablished their spots in the library. As is typical, planning gets disrupted by reality and things have to be rescheduled. Still now that year number 5 at my current school is underway I do feel that I know the school and the teachers and they know me and together we've created a functioning program that serves 3100 students pretty well. Is there room for improvement? Always...so what will I do this year to improve...

I want to create simple how to guides that staff can use even if they don't come into the library. Go Animate, Movie Maker, how to do this best is the question.
I want to make the library resources mobile device friendly and get students using them that way.
I would still like to create book trailers but there never seems to be enough time and it's been one of my sacrifices.

Still, I love library world. It's now my 9th year as a school librarian and despite the roller coaster of budget in California, it was a good decision for me.

And life comes along

2010-12-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

I was doing great with the fall blog challenge until life came along and interfered. That's the thing about life, when you least expect it a curve ball comes your way. Do we teach our students how to deal with life's curve balls? Yes, it's important to teach them the subjects we teach, but what about the things beyond the content. How do we teach our students resilience in the face of challenge? How do we teach our students resolutions to solving the conflict? How do we teach our students that life is a unpredictable and we have to be adaptable? How do we teach our students to learn?

Another education video

2010-11-24T21:10:00.001-08:00

This video will make you think and ponder what we are doing in education today...

My Life as a Writer

2010-11-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

I love to write. I love the flow of words. I wish that I could put them together as well as the authors that I read do. So, how do I write? Blogging here occasionally. Writing small posts on my school library blog. But the majority of my writing is hidden in my journals. There are my deepest thoughts, fears, joys and sorrows. The writing there ebbs and flows. Sometimes I write regularly and others days, weeks, or even months may drift by before I write again. Before computer technology became mainstream, I wrote letters. I have a box of letters that I received in high school and college from friends and family far and wide. Rubber bands hold together the letters from each source. (I know bad archiving technique!) Once email came along, the letters stopped and the documentation is scattered across email addresses.

I am annoyed by bad writing. Call it the downside of technology or laziness or sloppiness. Words that aren't used correctly because spell checker didn't catch the wrong use of there versus their. The overuse of acronyms. It's not just teenagers that do this. I see it with college educated adults' posts on their social networking sites. They don't think about what the words look like or how the post may read. Use the edit or use the delete, but don't lose the art of writing.

Small Moments

2010-11-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

The small moments are what make teaching one of the most rewarding careers on the planet. There have been so many over my 25 years in education. The light of understanding on a student's face when the "click" goes off for whatever you're teaching them. The unexpected thank you, smile, token of appreciation that comes your way when you least expect it. The visit or email from a former student that lets you know you impacted their life in some small way. All of these make up the small moments that overcome the bad day, the class that just won't listen, the beating from the media that all these evil teachers and unions are out to destroy our children, the endless meeting that doesn't seem relevant, testing and all of the other things that drag us down. The small moments are the moments that make everything worth it!

This week my small moment was much more personal. I received some disturbing news via a phone call that had me emotional and teary. One of our special education students had come in with another staff member to move some books and he could see I was having a tough time. His response to grab me and give me a big hug and tell me he "loved me". That small moment put everything into perspective. I may have my own challenges to face personally, but the students who impact my life can keep me grounded and grateful!

What Book Made the Biggest Impact on Your Life

2010-11-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Two books come to mind immediately Forever by Judy Blume and Seasons of Passion by Danielle Steel
Forever because my parents took it away when I came home with it as a 7th grader. They felt that it was too mature for me. I then went to the public library and checked the book out to read unbeknownst to my parents. When I was in college, Mom cleaned out her dresser and found the book. She gave it to me and said I was old enough for it.

Seasons of Passion began my lifelong connection to Danielle Steel's books. It's one that I've reread several times because it strikes me as a hopeful and sad story at the same time. My copy is tattered and worn, but I still turn to it when I'm in need of a certain type of read.

My life as a mathematician

2010-10-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Prior to morphing into a school librarian, I taught high school math for 18 years. Math is near and dear to my heart and I continue to explore ways to incorporate math into my life. While purists differentiate between mathematics and statistics. My true love is statistics and how they can be used to manipulate ideas, perceptions and reality. I use statistics to justify my library program. Data collection is at the heart of education today. News articles, blog posts, tv reports all use statistics to describe schools in positive and negative ways. There's been much discussion in education circles on "value added" evaluations. This is nothing more than manipulating statistics to add a numeric value to the evaluation process. Of course, how does this translate for school librarians who certainly ADD VALUE to a school but don't have students that are tested in a subject area? It will be interesting to watch how this discussion and process proceeds especially when it comes to secondary teachers. There are only four subject areas tested--Math, English, Social Science and Science. How do you evaluate "value added" the physical education, foreign language and art teachers? Ah yes, another mathematical conundrum perhaps?

What did you want to be?

2010-10-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Students often ask about how I ended up a teacher librarian. While my journey to this position is my own, one thing I could tell them is that I wanted to be a librarian when I was a child I just didn't know it then. Looking back at my elementary school years, I spent endless hours with books, and even wrote numbers on the spines to locate my weekly reader subscription books on the book shelf. I loved "playing school".

When I went to college I was planning on medical school. Did I like blood or dissections or have a fascination with the way the body worked when I was a kid, nope...

What did you want to be when you grew up? How close did you come?

My life as a reader

2010-10-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

I read about this fall blogging challenge on the Dangerously Irrelevant Blog
This weeks post (October 4-10)
What is your life as a reader like? Do you read for work, pleasure, instructions or emails? What is your favorite author and/or genre? What is your favorite reading spot? What did you like to read when you were the age of your students?

So this is the perfect post for a librarian. My life as a reader has many parts. I usually am reading at least three books going at any given time.

There is the book I read on my lunch break at work and during our SSR time. It comes from my library collection and it is chosen to give me something to book talk. Sometimes they are new books. Sometimes they are books that the students have been reading so much that I try to grab it when it's returned on a Friday, so I can start it over the weekend. Currently, my on campus read is The Calculus Diaries.

Then there is the going-to-sleep book. These are my romance novels that I read for 15-30 minutes before I turn out the light at night. I've been reading these books since I was a teenager. I've tried to give up this habit, but somehow they are the brain candy* I need to drift off to sleep.

The third book is usually something weightier, heavier that requires more thinking. This is the book I read on the exercise bike or when I have time on a weekend afternoon to sit and read for an extended period.

I don't really have a favorite reading spot. Curled up on the couch, feet up on the recliner, on the porch on the glider. My favorite author dating back to those teenage years, remains Danielle Steel.

*brain candy is a term another teacher told me about her need to read pocket book mysteries. They have no substance but they satisfy my need to read.

I miss notes being passed

2010-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

When I first began teaching there were no such things as cell phones. Notes being passed were the mode of sly communication for the teenager. I don't find notes on the floor or intercept them anymore like the old days. I've often said that if I'd kept all of the notes I picked up and intercepted during my early days they would've made an interesting book--Tales from the Classroom Floor.

This week a note was left on the floor in the library...typical of teenage love at its purest:

To my dearest (name withheld)
I got a poem for you (:

roses are red, violets are blue
every minute I'd be thinking of you
leaves turn green, bananas turn brown
whenever I'm with you, I never frown
you make me laugh, you never make me cry
you give me a reason to live, you give me a reason to die
you've lent me a shoulder to lean on and a helping hand and now I ask you
will you be my girlfriend?

In the midst of tragic news over teenage bullying and bad decision-making leading to suicides. This reminds me, we have to remember these are young adults trying to navigate the world of relationships and figuring out how to love and be loved. Regardless of who it is they choose to love.

I don't know who wrote this or who received it or what the answer is, but to me it's a poignant reminder of the innocence of youth.

Practicality vs. Security?

2010-09-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Last week our technology services department decided to reset all of the student passwords for computer login. The conclusion was reached that the system had been breached and security was compromised. I understand that and I know that student safety is a concern. BUT--there was no plan for how to reissue those passwords to 3000 students. NO PLAN! Today, I was told by the TS director that the reissue of the passwords was the "site's problem" not theirs. Can I say it again? NO PLAN!! Other than to reiterate: don't print lists, don't verbalize in the hearing of others and keep the passwords secure. (DUH!)

Guess who has spent the last four days issuing passwords on an adhoc basis and to assist teachers coming into the library? Guess who has born the brunt of NO PLAN? I've issued about 400 passwords to classes and probably another 100 to individuals using the library. That leaves a lot of students uncovered and again NO PLAN.

My principal's plan after 2 days: pull me, the textbook clerk and another secretary off of our jobs and have lines of students come up for their passwords. I put the nix on that plan. I had classes scheduled for the library that would've had to be rescheduled. The textbook clerk is in the midst of workbook sales/distribution and didn't need to be pulled off of her job either.

Did I mention it's only the third week of school? NO PLAN.

Alright I know one should never rant about work in such a public forum and with a little investigating someone could find out the names of those I'm ranting against. I really do understand the security and safety issue. I get it, but doesn't anyone get the fact that you can't do these things without A PLAN!

My advice--figure out a plan, now before you have to figure out how to reissue 3000 passwords on the fly!

Another video

2010-09-03T20:00:00.001-07:00

Lately I only seem to be using this to post videos I like related to library world. Found this one on the Dangerously Irrelevant Blog.

Another Library Video

2010-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

I seem to be in a video sharing mode on this page: Read about this on the AASL Blog:

Old Spice in Libraries

2010-07-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

You've got to love a shirtless man promoting libraries!

Librarian Song Video

2010-06-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

This just made me smile. But I may play it as classes arrive for library orientation in the fall.

Implosion...

2010-06-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

An inward collapse...I can't think of a better word for what I've been witnessing with some of the teenagers in my life. I have more non-graduates in my realm than I can ever recall. I struggle with a question of what I could have done differently, but realize that there's really nothing else I could have done. I pushed, I offered help, I listened, I lectured, I supported...I did all I knew how to do.

These are implosions...each one knew what they were facing, they knew what they needed to do, yet they couldn't or wouldn't do what it took to make it work. Sad really...so many chances yet they didn't take the opportunity or meet the challenge.

What happens next? Each one is different. One will go to community college anyway. One has paid for the GED. One has no clue. Each one will have to chart their own course for what happens next in their life. My reality is that I may never know what happens in their future. I may never see the lessons they learn from not earning that high school diploma.

Maintaining Connections

2010-05-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering social networking and its use in maintaining connections. Much has been made in the press lately on privacy concerns and young adults shutting down pages. I wonder what the impact of social networking will have as seniors graduate and move on to the next phase of life.

I've drawn a line in my own network that I won't friend a current student, but I do have several former students as "friends". This week, one of my seniors talked about staying in touch after graduation. After 25 years in education, I know their plans to come back to visit, stay in touch and continue to be connected to high school and their former teachers dwindles away as time goes on. But with social networking tools, has that dynamic changed? Will it be easier to stay connected?

I enjoy reconnecting with former students via Facebook and finding out where life has taken them into to their 20's and 30's. Weddings, babies and jobs are all shared and I get to see what small influence I may have had in shaping where they ended up. That's a powerful thing for an educator when you often don't know what impact you've had...

The Year End...

2010-05-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

My library has been closed more often than it's been open in the last two months due to various testing needs. It's often frustrating, but the reality is the library is one of the only large spaces with tables and chairs available. Today, we reopened for regular business...whatever regular looks like in a school library. Classes working on research projects, students hanging out in their "spot", "study hall" students assigned to the library. I had the chance to catalog some books that had been shelved but not cataloged.

But we begin the countdown to the end of the year. 19 days of classes left and there is so much to be done. End of the year report to write up, last minute projects to assist students with, final purchase orders to be closed. An inventory project that is underway but may not be finalized, but for three years the catalog and the shelves don't match.

So much undone, that collaborative project on creating book trailers that the teacher and I ran out of time for, that creative activity I wanted to try with another group...how come there's never enough time?

Passion for students

2010-04-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I caught up on some of the news video and articles on Poizner's visit to the Barnes & Noble closest to Mt. Pleasant High. Passion was running high among staff, alumni and students in reaction to some of Mr. Poizner's characterizations of the students and the school. One of my complaints about the book is the over-generalization in setting the scene. I had described it to someone else as making the school more "ghetto" then it really is. Of course, I put it down to the author trying to make a point about the sad state of our schools in general.

But as I listened to the passion being expressed by staff that I know, and the feelings that their students were being "attacked". It's amazing how protective we become as teachers of "our kids". It's why there are examples of teachers that stand in front of the attacker who's trying to hurt our children. As educators, we invest in our students and we believe in them and in their abilities to suceed. Most educators that I know truely want what's best for students. We may moan and groan, but if you look at the majority of schools in this country and the majority of teachers, the good, hardworking and dedicated far outnumber the bad. Unfortunately, the bad make the news.

Is there room for improvement? Absolutely! Is the system perfect? Far from it! But what I admire most about my former coworkers is their passion and protection of the kids...they don't want them to internalize the message that they cannot suceed because they're from the East Side...they are so much more than the part of town they live in.

Reflections on teaching...

2010-03-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm reading Mount Pleasant by Steve Poizner. I picked the book up because I taught math at that school from 1996-2002. I was connected to the school starting in 1964 because my father was a part of the original staff when the school opened until he retired in 2001. So, I admit to a certain bias and poignancy when I read someone else's opinion about the students and staff. To be fair, I haven't finished the book yet, so I don't know Mr. Poizner's ultimate summation of his one semester, one class teaching experience.

In reading the book so far, I appreciate his recognition that teachers in California's public schools work hard and have a lot of expectations placed upon them. The drive to highly traditional mathematics standards that stifled my creativity and ability to push students to think beyond rote memorization led me out of the math classroom. In my librarian capacity, I have much more freedom to be creative and interact with students where their interests are. I'm no longer burdened by a pile of papers to grade and 5 periods of students to keep engaged for 50+ minutes in a subject they may love or hate. One of my fellow librarians once described our job as the "hidden gem" of a school.

It may be a "hidden gem" but is it so "hidden" that no one understands that I still teach and touch lives? Does anyone know that the work I do one-on-one helping a student navigate our information rich world, finding just the right book, or helping them figure out the answer to a question provides me with the opportunity to help someone grow and learn? I don't work as hard outside of school as I did when I met with five classes a day and had 150-170 students that were "my kids". But inside school, I touch lives every moment...whether it be the 10 kids sitting in front of me now with an open first period, studying and socializing or it be the class of 30+ headed in for their research on the Middle East in a few minutes.

I look forward to finishing Poizner's book in the next couple of days. I will enjoy the conversation I have with Dad after he finishes it next. I wish I was able to join the group of former MP teachers & administrators tomorrow night for dinner to see if any of them have picked up yet, but I'm refereeing for our school "Olympics" event. It's interesting to see how others see you...

What do Teacher Librarians Do?

2010-03-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

Saw this video posted on the Blue Skunk Blog. How often am I asked..."what do you do?" This shows the answer with real librarians and real students. Kudos to the United Teachers of Los Angeles and LAUSD staff for putting this together.

Follow up to blog article

2010-01-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

As a result of the blog article, my principal asked me to present on blogs to the staff at yesterday's in-service. It was a quick (10 minute) presentation where I highlighted using blogs for professional learning. I gave the staff a list of blogs for different subject areas, trying to keep it short and not overwhelm them so that they never try. I then posted the list online for them, too. One department even created their own blog page after the presentation.

Bragging....

2010-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

So I'm learning that I need to BRAG after reading the book for CSLA. Reading CALIB today I saw a post about a School Library Journal article (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712732.html) on blogging. I had answered some questions via email with the writer and didn't think much about it. Much to my surprise, I'm quoted at the beginning of the article. Professionally speaking, this is a huge honor. I immediately called my parents (do we ever not want them to be proud of us?). Then I emailed my principal, superintendent and district tech director. Finally, sent an email to my close friends/family and then posted on facebook and here. I'm bragging...I think my website still needs a lot of work, but it's nice to be profiled in such a positive way!

Inspiring Video

2009-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

This was posted in a Calib message, but it was too good to let pass. After having a woman speak at church this morning about working in a Cambodian orphanage and teaching basic hygiene and then to see this . We are so fortunate here to have what we have despite limited funding...

Do we hurt ourselves?

2009-12-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I attended a "Cyber Summit" at Yahoo! which was a fabulous day and I came away with some interesting insights into how to help my students and staff navigate the digital world we all live in.

At lunch, the organizers had divided the room into various groups and librarians were grouped with the teachers. However, the librarians sorted themselves away from the teachers and formed a smaller group. I debated about whether to stay with the teachers or to join the four other librarians. As I said to one of my teacher colleagues, I wasn't sure what to do because I felt a little like we hurt ourselves if we separate ourselves from the teachers. He responded, "well your not really teachers..." which I responded "oh, yes I am!" but I joined the librarians. We had a fabulous discussion on our role in cyber safety and the afternoon speaker, a librarian himself, joined us.

I'm glad I went with the librarians...but do we hurt ourselves when in public events like this we opt to move away from our teacher colleagues?

Nothing Library Related

2009-11-28T11:23:00.001-08:00

This is not at all library related...I just loved the video. A sure sign of your age when the Muppets cover a song from your teenage years.

What are you thankful for?

2009-11-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, it always turns my thoughts to gratitude and this year is no different. There are so many blessings in my life and I am thankful. Unlike many people, I have a job that I love and even earned tenure this year. Library world may be a rocky ride these days in California, but continuing to advocate for strong libraries and getting the message out there is important. I'm also grateful for my family, my health and my home...there are so many less fortunate than I.

Happy Thanksgiving!

CSLA Day 3

2009-11-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

Another good day at the CSLA convention with some intriguing sessions that have given me more good ideas to take home.
Booktrailers--A how to session that gave me some ideas on another way to promote books.
Clout--This session just reinforced that I'm on the right track for making myself indispensible in my school. Involvement, patience and persistence will pay off.
Reluctant Readers--more with book trailers and book talks and a great book list all of which I can use when I return to school on Monday.
Membership meeting and the Brag book...I need to work on my bragalogues but I'm getting better at letting others know what good things are happening. Small steps...

I'm glad I made the effort to make it to the conference. It was well worth the trip. I'm going home with good ideas and the confidence that I'm doing things right.

CSLA 2009--Days 1/2

2009-11-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

I made the trek to Southern California for the annual conference and so far I haven't been disappointed. While it's obvious that budgets are tight, our numbers are smaller the commitment to school libraries is obvious throughout the last two days. The sessions I've attended have all given me good ideas to take home and to use quickly with my staff and students.

Thursday:
I attended two workshops:
Deb Stanley's Research using Web 2.0 and interactive white boards which gave me a lot of "I could do that..." moments
Michael Cart's Best Books for YA is a can't miss workshop for me. His lists and passion for books helps my collection development every year!

Friday:
Testing Tidbits--Wow! This is stuff I can use with my English dept. ASAP. Here's another way to show my value with the CST tests.
PLC's and Libraries--Reinforced the idea of my role as a partner in the PLC process. It's the role I've adopted, but I wasn't quite sure if I was on the right path...this session validated my process.
Web 2.0--Anna and Marie are amazing in what they do with their students. I'm in awe of the tools that they use and the creative ways they've incorporated these tools into their library programs.
GALE's Power Hour was fun a little wine, some munchies and I won $25 Starbucks card.
The President's reception with the Follies was a fun cap to the day...

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

2009-11-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

If you've been to Google at all this week, you've probably noticed their doodles have featured various Sesame Street Characters. That's because it's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street this week. Google posted this video on their blog and it just brings a smile to your face...not to mention the video is from 1982 and Google the company didn't exist until 1998...

A bustling and vibrant library

2009-11-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

I love days when every period has classes come into the library...the place is bustling and there's an energy that's different. Today was one of those days. Every period saw a different group of students there to work on projects for English, World History and Sociology. But something was missing...why did they come here? For the space to spread out, for access to the computers, but what role did I play? This was one of those days that was busy, but my role was limited. No one needed help except on the computer they couldn't get signed onto. No one asked for my expertise in helping find good information for their research--google and wikipedia were the sources of choice. The teacher's don't include me in their plans. As much as I've tried with one of them, she rebuffs my overtures of guidance. I felt like the clerk not the expert in the room. How do I change the perception?

This year is my third at this school. More classes are using the library this year. More teachers are open to collaborating and finding the best ways to provide their students with information. But still the students don't ask and if they're teacher hasn't allowed me the opportunity to teach in even a small way, how do I make the student's realize what a resource they have in me?

Pondering...just pondering?

Musings...

2009-10-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

I don't post here often and I wonder if I should just discontinue this blog. Still sometimes it's nice to have a place to ponder the work that I do and what's happening in my library world. Where else can I vent frustration over 5 days in the last two weeks that closed the library due to testing? Where else do I get to ponder if the little steps I take to help staff or students really make a difference? As I sit and wait for school site council meeting to start I wonder where education in this state is going? Money is now "flex" money so SSC has no real say in how it's spent. Luckily, I was able to advocate for only a 20% cut to my library budget when I met with my administrator and showed him how I would spend the remaining 80% to serve the whole school.

Summer Reading Final Analysis

2009-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing I wasn't being graded or quizzed on my summer reading list because I didn't accomplish much. The idea was to read 10 books before today. My list was supposed to help me on my job as well as expand my own horizons.

I'll start with the good. I did read:
Gentlemen--A bizarre, scary book about teenage boys and the teacher that freaks them out into jumping to conclusions.
13 Reasons Why--I can see why the teens are attracted to this book. You want to keep reading to find out why...
Year of Wonders--Not as good as People of the Book or March, but I still enjoyed this story of the plague and the village that isolated itself.
Dog On It--Probably, my favorite on the list. Recommended by a fellow colleague I wasn't sure I would enjoy this mystery. But it was a fun read with the dog's voice narrating this mystery.

I didn't read:
Guns, Germs and Steel--I don't know if it's size of the book or the topic, but it was just too much for a "summer read".
Tale of Two Cities--I tell students that I'm not a "literary" librarian because I don't read a lot of literature. While I remember liking this book in high school, I couldn't force myself to slog through Dickens' language.
A Classic I'd never read--I started Walden Pond by Thoreau but again, it was too much "work" for my summer vacation.

Did I read more? Sure I did and enjoyed many of them...Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside, My Life in France, Summer Kitchen, No Reservations...and many more I can't recall at the moment.

School's Back in Session

2009-09-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

The second week of school is well underway and I am back in the library! It was an interesting spring as I prepared to teach social studies this fall, but the middle school librarian that was bumping me is teaching 4th grade instead. While it's sad that our middle schools have no credentialed librarian, I am grateful to have my job. I know I will feel the impact next year when our 9th graders enter with little or no prior library instruction.

The new year has started with some exciting initiatives. We have had a schoolwide SSR program that was being implemented in a haphazard fashion. This year, we are trying to reinvigorate the program as we take on literacy as a schoolwide focus area (formative assessment and differentiation are our other areas of focus). To that end, our English department lead and I met over the summer to put together a structured component one day a week. 56 teachers out of 120 volunteered to participate in this structured reading. Each week they receive a different reading activity to do with their students. The first two weeks were read-alouds from Gary Soto and Funny in Farzi. Next week is a cloze activity created from a Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul book. So far feedback has been positive and I had a senior checking out a library book tell me "they're taking SSR seriously". I've booked multiple classes in for Book Talks and checked out 282 books in the first week of school.

I'm also doing a library orientation with my freshman English teachers. Last year, two teachers asked for the activity. So far this year six teachers are bringing their students. I do a "scavenger hunt" type activity, but each component involves a resource that they will need to use during their time at the school. For example, our seniors have a word etymology project that requires the Oxford English Dictionary. On the scavenger hunt, students have to locate the book and find a word as a preview of what's to come down the line. They use the library database to look up some simple country data so they see it before they come in for formal research with their history classes. The students have been engaged.

Ok, enough bragging for now. It's only the second week...there may be more to come.

Summer Reading Update

2009-07-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

I may not make this deadline but thought I'd comment on what I have read...

Year of Wonders was interesting and intriguing. I like this author's historical fiction and her storytelling makes you feel like you are there.

Dog On It was a great recommendation even outside my genre. It was fun to read from the dog's perspective even though I figured out the "mystery" realitively early in the book.

I'm still working towards some of the others. Currently, I'm reading Olive Kitteridge which has been on the best seller list and since she was a math teacher I thought I'd try it out. Sometimes I just don't think I'm "deep enough" or "intellectual enough" for certain books. I never seem to "get" books that are Oprah's suggestions.

Summer Reading?

2009-06-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

I ran across this summer reading challenge and found it interesting.

Read 10 books by September 21.
1 classic you've never read but always meant to
1book you've read and always wanted to reread but haven't yet
at least one book featured on AuthorsNow!
1 book outside of genres you usually read
1 "impulse" book that chatches your eye during the summer
5 others of your choosing

My choices so far:
Classic: Hmmm...I don't know which one to choose there are so many I never read I have to ponder this one
Reread: A Tale of Two Cities
Authors Now!: The Forests of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (I brought this one home from school for my summer read)
Outside my genre: Dog on It (mystery recommended twice by a teacher at school and I'm not a mystery reader at all)
Impulse book: Many of my bookstore buys are impulses, so I don't know what I'll count

Others:
The Mad Ones (saw it on Jon Stewart decided I must have)
Gentlemen--came in the new books at school, so I brought it home for the summer
Guns Germs & Steel--I started this when I thought I'd be teaching world history next year now I need to finish it
Thirteen Reasons Why--the kids at school love this one and my niece read it in one night.
Year of Wonders--I've read other books by this author and liked them. I've already started this one.

Summer has arrived!

2009-06-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation is upon me and I've spent these first five days sick with a cold. Today's the first day back on the computer and I'm playing catch up with my google reader, email and other social tools. My plans? ASCD conference in Houston next week on formative assessment. Some time spent developing my Web 2.0 skills. I've got the blogging and the reading down, now what's next? A way to organize those websites I want to remember. Revamping the library webpage to make it more student appealing....I don't know exactly.

Two things I found today in my catch up...

Save the Words--http://www.savethewords.org/ Fun to play with. Turn on your sound it's even more fun.

Digital Wish List http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/home--reminds me of donors choose. I put a flip video camera on my wish list. We'll see.

Happy summer...once I feel better.

My video debut...

2009-05-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Our student TV group made a video to promote an upcoming wrestling fundraiser...someone posted it online. I make a cameo appearance since some of it was filmed in the library.

Relief

2009-05-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

My principal just came by and I won't be leaving the library after all. The woman who was bumping me has taken an elementary classroom position and I get to remain in the high school library. I'm still saddened by the fact that our K-8 schools will have no consistent library services. Selfishly, I am so relieved that I get to remain and continue to build a stronger library program at the high school level.

School Library Journal's Battle of the Books

2009-05-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

The winners have been announced and if you didn't follow this "battle" you missed out on some great dialogue and analysis of some great books. I thourougly enjoyed reading the authors' opinions on fellow authors and stories. While I couldn't get into Tender Morsels myself, reading others' opinions I may now be able to sell it to some of my students. I hope SLJ does this again.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1180000718.html

Spring Break

2009-04-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been three years since I took this photo in Indiana on spring break. Another spring break comes to a close. I didn't do much with my week, but I think I'm refreshed enough to go back to work on Monday and face the last six weeks of school. The time is going to fly by as I move towards the next phase in my career. I'm booked for the ASCD conference in Houston in June to attend workshops on formative assessment. I've been talking to others about what I need to do to get ready for the history classroom next year. I'm buying and reading books on history topics although I'll never get through the whole stack. Went to lunch with my pastor today and he brought up an interesting book on his Kindle that might be interesting to read, too. His Kindle sure is tempting, but no extra $$ to spend on one at this time. But it sure would save on the stacks of books around the house...Let's see there are three on the dining table, the barnes and noble bag on the kitchen counter, the pile on the night stand...I've finished three this week...two more days...can I finish two more?

Advocacy

2009-04-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I admit that I'm not always good about advocating for school libraries. It may be that I've tried and failed. It may be that I'm moving out of the library again and I'm tired of trying again to convince another group of people that the credentialed librarian is important. I don't know...but I did decide that I couldn't let Library Legi Day pass without something, so I sent the following text in four letters to state legislators...(my elected officials and the two that represent the districts that encompass my school).

Hopefully, today you met with librarians or other library
representatives who spent time reminding you of the importance of libraries in
our schools and communities. I didn’t participate in today’s visit because
my school is in the midst of the STAR testing and I felt it important that I be
on campus to do my part. However, I do believe that it is important that
you know my story in the world of school libraries.

In 2001, I moved out of the classroom and opened the library at Evergreen Valley High
School in San Jose. I was privileged to open a new school, select materials and
begin the journey of providing students with 21st century skills.
Unfortunately, budget issues in 2005 led to the superintendent ordering
principals to reduce the credentialed librarian services by 50% at the
semester. In January 2005, I began teaching two periods of Economics and
the school library was closed for the mornings. Because I felt strongly,
that students were losing in this environment, I found a job at Aragon High
School in San Mateo. In 2005-2006 when I arrived at Aragon, an established
environment of collaboration between the librarian and the teachers already
existed. I followed a skilled teacher librarian who had worked hard to establish
this collaborative environment. I learned much from my colleagues on
how to incorporate information literacy and research skills into existing
curriculum. I introduced students and staff to technological resources
that supported what was already happening in the classroom. However, in
October of 2006, budget issues led to the district opting to have one
credentialed librarian cover two schools. Since I was the last hired, I
was transferred to a different school and placed back in the classroom. In
August 2007, I became the teacher librarian at Milpitas High School. Here,
I’ve introduced students and staff to the use of databases for quality
research. I’ve created a library webpage that is dynamic and interactive
to assist students in becoming information processors who know how to use
today’s technology for supporting their learning. I collaborate with staff
to provide relevant instruction during their library visits. Due to budget
cuts, I will be moving back into the classroom next fall. Our middle
schools will no longer have a credentialed librarian and because of seniority
that person will transfer to the high school.

So, why do my job woes matter to the students of California? California ranks 51st in
the nation with a ratio of teacher librarians to students of 1 to 5,124 while
the national average is 1 to 916. (2006-07CBEDS Report and Digest of Education
Statistics Tables and Figures2006, National Center for Education Statistics.) My
experience is indicative to that inequity as schools continue to cut
credentialed librarians from their payrolls despite research showing that
credentialed librarians contribute to student achievement.

I have been a teacher since 1985 and I believe that the education of our students is
vital. The school library unlike any other classroom on campus—serves
every student. The materials selected provide the lowest and the highest
achieving student access to information that supports their school experience.
On any given day, you’ll find a star athlete, the drama aficionado,
the English Language Learner, the special education student or a campus leader
in the library. The library isn’t just about checking out books, it’s
about providing students with the resources to become life-long learners and
explore beyond the walls of the classroom. It’s about showing students
that there is a vast world awaiting them if they have a knowledgeable guide to
show them the way.

As you continue to work in the legislature, my hope is that when library issues come before you that you will remember it’s about providing our students and our communities with the very best services. Thank you for your continued support of education.

What's next

2009-03-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

World History, U.S. History, Government & Economics, those are the courses I'll be teaching next year. As I think about incorporating my library background into these courses, what are the key skills/needs that I could utilize. I expect to be with the same students. Particularly the sophomore group that will be mine until they are seniors...How do I structure the information literacy skills into the curriculum that builds on their prior knowledge. With limited librarians in their background, I can imagine they'll have little background unless they were with a freshman teacher that came into the library. The opportunity here is grand to restructure...what an opportunity for collaboration with new teaching partners and with the librarian to come. Optimism...you've got to have it.

Musings

2009-03-22T15:33:00.001-07:00

I've been think about life, jobs and a variety of different things the last few days. Last weekend I was at a Great Aunt's 100th birthday celebration. This escape to Oregon provided a respite from a intense week and a half at work.

First on Wed. March. 4th the head of HR came by to let me know that I had a teaching job next year but once again would be bumped out of the library. This is due to the fact that our middle school librarian who serves two schools has seniority. The board voted to eliminate her position. Trying to look at this in a positive light was (is) difficult. This is the third time this has happened, but the district could easily have laid me off completely because I'm only probationary. But they didn't.

This intensity was followed by our WASC visit which started on 3/8. I was the "hostess" for their visit since the team was housed in the library conference room. A sub was hired to manage the library circ desk while I made sure they had paperwork they needed, printing access, and of course the all important food.

Then I left for Oregon and realized that more important than the job and the craziness of the work world, what really matters is relationships. Whether this be with colleagues, friends or family. 100 years old is an accomplishment and this aunt accomplished a lot in those 100 years. She was widowed in her late 30's with 4 teenagers to raise. She baked pies and sold them to a local cafe to generate income. She then worked as a school janitor which led to being a school cook. After retiring from that job she went back to school to become a dental assistant. Resiliance and faith that's what got her to 100. It was fascinating to listen to her stories and to see what a full life she has led. She feels blessed.

I should too...there is much to be grateful for in my life...family, friends, health, a home of my own...and a job that provides me with new challenges each and every day. I don't know what the future holds. We never do, but I'm thankful for the life I have.

Pink Friday

2009-03-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

CTA is encouraging teachers and other school supporters to wear pink on Friday the 13th. This is to coincide with the "pink slips" that will be going out to thousands of teachers (including many teacher librarians) throughout the state of California. Find out more at: http://www.pinkfriday09.org/

Job security...

2009-01-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

When I took the job I have now, I did my research. Having been cut out of two school libraries due to budget cuts, I wanted to make sure my next librarian position would be secure. This school has always had a credentialed librarian in it's entire 30-year history. Last week, my principal stopped by to give me a heads up that the district administrators would be meeting to discuss budget cuts for next year. He expects my position to be mentioned in the brainstorm and he didn't want me to hear about it through the grapevine. At the same time, he believes that it won't happen. Still...it makes one wonder and worry.

I took a look at Doug Achterman's research into CA libraries again this week. Only 40.7% of our high schools have full time librarians. In Santa Clara County, the number is even lower...what are we doing to our students? How do we change this in tight budget times? Talk, share, advocate, we have to keep fighting. Some of us are foot soldiers, others are warriorsand others are generals, whatever role you are there is a job to be done and the students in our schools need our voices.

There are tools out there to help:
CSLA: Toolkit for Advocacy & Action
Doug Johnson @ Blue Skunk Blog: When Your Job is on the Line
AASL--Crisis and Health& Wellness Toolkits
Saskatchewan School Library Association--50 Ways to Love Your Library

Happy Holidays

2008-12-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

One more day of work before the winter break. My favorite part? No alarm clock to wake me up in the morning, Christmas decorations and lights, the feel of winter (California style), family, Christmas cards. I enjoy it all. It is a magical time. I'm really looking forward to some time to read with a fire in the fireplace and the lights on the tree.

Nearest book meme

2008-12-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

"You're the warmest piece of furniture I know."
Purry Logic by Jane Seabrook
There's only one sentence on page 56 if I counted the pages right.

Rules:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence - either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don't look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

Read about this at Blue Skunk Blog

CSLA Conclusion

2008-11-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

My Presentation and Handouts are posted at http://milpitashigh.pbwiki.com/CSLA-Presentation

I did stay around for Saturday at the conference. I went to three presentations that day.

LGBQT Services was an ok presentation. It was more about advocating for having those resources available in your library. I was hoping for suggested resources to have, although the presenter did provide links for booklists which I will get to eventually.

Ellen Hopkins' presentation was interesting. I enjoyed hearing about how and why she has chosen the topics in her books. Her diss of Stephenie Meyers was interesting although I don't completely disagree with her comment that Bella centers her life around Edward and doesn't develop her own self.

Barbara Jeffus' presentation was depressing...but not really anything I didn't expect. The state of our schools in regards to libraries continues to sadden me. I realized that the city of San Jose has only ONE high school with a full time credentialed librarian...that is a tragedy.

CSLA Day 2

2008-11-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

I love conferences for the opportunity to be refreshed and reminded why I do this job. There are many inspiring people working in this field that amaze me with what they are doing and how they tirelessly work to provide the best for their students. I attended two sessions today and presented at a third.

International Reading Road--I enjoyed this presentation about providing students with a global perspective for reading choices. Since I have a teacher that requires students to read books set in another country, the annotated bibliography alone provides me with something I can use right away.

Making Connections between the printed word and the digital environment. Full disclosure--I try to attend any session that Mary Ann Harlan presents because she has a real sense for what teens like and how to reach them. She didn't disappoint. Once again, I have interesting titles to look for as well as some new thoughts and ideas for interacting with my students digitally.

My presentation was on Statistics. There were some major technical difficulties which were frustrating since this was my first time presenting at a conference like this. The audience was very generous and my two friends sitting in the front row assured me that I handled it well. Now that it's over I can relax and enjoy the rest of the conference.

The Old-Time Radio show at the presidents reception was fun! In junior high summer school, I took an elective class where we listened to a lot of the old radio shows--green hornet, the shadow...This was in the mid-70's and these were "old school" to us but still fascinating for our squirrely teenage minds. I don't remember any "content" associated with that class i.e. worksheets, lessons, discussions, but I sure remember those shows. Hmmmm are any of those available to download to my Ipod? I think I need to do some searching.

Ok, it's time to sign off.

CSLA--Day 1

2008-11-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Arrived in Sacramento at noon and was able to check in and unload the car before heading to my two workshops.

Workshop #1--Doug Achteman's Reading, Technology and the Media Center
Workshop #2--Michael Cart's What's New in YA Literature

I've always believed that if I come away from a conference with one or two new ideas that I can use right away, it has been a successful conference.

I got that and more today. With my school focus on reading I have several items to share with staff from Doug's presentation.

Michael's list is always a perfect tool for building my collection with books the kids will read. I've already bought three on the list and picked out one for my niece's Christmas gift.

This is just the beginning...I can't wait to see what the next three days have to offer.

Meanwhile, it's great to reconnect with friends and network. I'm a bit surprised at how many people I know in library world.

Me as a Dewey Decimal Section

2008-11-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

I found this very fun it was in my American Libraries email this morning. You can create your own at: http://spacefem.com/quizzes/dewey/

LeighAnn 's Dewey Decimal Section:

084 Collections in French, Occitan & Catalan

LeighAnn = 25978144 = 259+781+44 = 1084

Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works

Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.

What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day--a big thank you to those who've protected our freedoms.

This photo was taken by a former colleague and the flag image overlayed by him. I use it as my desktop background. It always reminds me of how blessed I am to live in the USA.

History

2008-11-05T07:21:00.001-08:00

I was a history major in college and my emphasis area was 20th century history. I focused on the civil rights movement, student movements and women's movement of the 60's and 70's. These were the decades of my childhood and I had vague memories of events of those times. Last night, I witnessed a moment in history I don't think I will ever forget. The U.S.A. elected a president who is a product of those movements. Like me he was a child and didn't participate in those moments, but his life and work was formed by those moments. The election of Barack Obama is profound whatever your ideology. I'm glad I was here to witness the moment.

Reading as a classroom disruption

2008-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest joys in my job is connecting a student with the "right" book. Twice this week, I've encountered incidents where that has happened with interesting results.

First, my student aide describes himself as a non-reader. This is a young man who struggled in his 9th and 10th grade years with attendance and grades and has turned himself around in a variety of ways. When he was checking books in last week, I told him he he might like an edgier book that I've had success getting reluctant readers to pick up. When he went to put the book away, he decided to open it and read it...then he didn't stop. Today, he came in to tell me that his biology teacher took it away and gave it to our campus security. He'd gotten in trouble for the 3rd time for reading in class. While I don't recommend students ignore class to READ, WOW...what a great feeling to know you've hooked a non reader. The book My Bloody Life by Reymundo Sanchez. Security gave him back the book after class.

The second incident took place at the gym where I struggle to work out three times a week. One of the other women works in a middle school library. She came over to share with me how she had put a book into one of her reluctant reader boys' hands. He got in trouble from his mother for staying up too late...what was he doing...READING. The book Black and White by Paul Volponi.

The readers of the world make my job easy and connecting them with books brings its own joy. But connecting a non-reader or reluctant reader to a book they won't put down that joy is indescribable.

Read Posters

2008-08-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to use the READ Cd's I found at school because I don't have Photo Shop on any of my computers. But Librarian in Black posted a link to an ALA page where you can create mini read posters and download the file to your computer. Here's my version.

Returning to School...

2008-08-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Only a week until I return to work for an all day meeting. While the official return isn't until Aug. 19th, the end is in sight. I was reading a blog post over at Infinite Thinking Machine and she talks about PASSION in education...I think this is key to what I do...without a passion for my job, I just go through the motions. She poses a series of questions centering around "Do you immerse yourself in..." and one of those was new challenges.

My trip to Peru fit that bill completely. I think I am returning to work with new eyes on what our world is like and how much we have and don't have here at home.

We stopped at a school on our trip and the students were celebrating "Dia del Maestro", Day of the Teacher which is a national holiday. At this school, they chose to spend the day with special presentations for the teachers including dances, flowers and confetti. It may be a dirt yard outside the simple classrooms, but the love for their teachers and the passion of the staff was very evident.

Textures & Vistas

2008-07-20T17:29:00.001-07:00

A few more photos from my trip. The Andes have some amazing vistas and some amazing textures. We have such a beautiful world...

The animals

2008-07-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

There were many opportunities to observe animals on my trip to Peru. I may have taken a few too many photos of the "wildlife"

Not a tractor in sight.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get out of the way of those "tourists" walking through their yard. One even followed us to the edge of the property.
The dog was unfazed by the tourists walking through.
We visited Awana Kancha which is a llama preserve with different varieties. I loved the eyes on the first one and the unusually freckles on the other.

The llama's in Machu Picchu ignore the tourists.

Don't think too much about why so many guineas. The shot above is a "guinea condiminium". In the shot below these guineas live inside the one-room home with the family of six.

The walks...

2008-07-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

Athleticism and coordination are not words you would associate with me. Yet, I managed to complete every walk and there were new sights to see every day. My photos don't do the Peruvian countryside justice, but here are some of the key vistas from each walk.

Day 2: Moray & Maras. Moray was a circular set of terraces that were used to experiment with growing crops at different altitudes. I made it down to the bottom and back out again.

The Saltinera of Maras. We walked across the salt ponds down into the Sacred Valley and the Urubamba river. I think this was my favorite of all of the hikes.

Day 3: Pisaq--We got up early to avoid the blocked roads due to a strike. So we took the "long" hike at 4+ hours including climbing to the top of these ruins.

Day 5: Camino Inka--I was so focused on breathing and successfully navigating the steep steps up the Inca trail that I didn't take many pictures along the way. This is shot of Wiñaywayna across the valley. It seemed so far away and impossible to reach when I took this shot. But 5 hours after the start we were there.

The first look at Macchu Picchu 8+ hours after the start of our trek. I was too tired to appreciate it fully.

Pushing the Limits

2008-07-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've returned from my Peruvian adventure! I've pushed the limits in so many ways during the last week, it's hard to know where to begin except at the beginning.

Day 1--Cusco Peru
After 24 hours in the air or airports, a three hour nap was all I had to get me ready for our first meeting and first explorations in Peru.

Cusco is a city of narrow streets, 14 catholic churches including the one pictured above. The influence of the Spanish is evident everywhere in the colonial architecture of the hotels, the churches and the streets lined with ornate balconies.

After our city tour, we headed out to our first set of Incan ruins, Saqsaywaman, which overlooks Cusco and the first test of my walking preparation took place.

We arrived just before sunset, so the shadows soon deepened. Closest is a single rock is over 25 foot tall that was used in the formation of these walls.

This is only a small piece of day number one and the adventure...there was much more to come.

Summer is about...

2008-07-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Fun, family, friendship, food and vacations...ok I couldn't think of an "f" synonym for vacations.

My mother and I take an annual trip together each summer. This year we toured the Oregon Coast. Some awesome scenery to behold and picture postcard weather for the entire week.

You can't read the sign--but this was the traveling library case in the Yaquina Head Lighthouse Visitor Center. The Keeper's Log May 8, 1890 says: "...Keeper went to Newport and took the Whistle and Medicine chest over and brought Library No. 501 from Newport to the Cape"

Oodles of Octupi...the kite festival in Lincoln City, OR. June 29, 2008

Next, I'm headed for an adventure in Peru... I'll look for a library picture there, too.

Year's end

2008-06-06T14:47:00.001-07:00

We still have a week left of school (4 days for students), but with the final rally and the final Friday...the end is in sight.

Reflections--I always do this in my yearbook copies each year, so I have a chronicle and highlights of the year to reread when I run into a former student and need to remind myself. Year 23 is drawing to a close, what will this yearbook say? Another new school, another new library, new challenges, new environment, but I must say I feel like I fit well here. I like the students they come in all sizes, shapes, colors and flavors. They are a beautiful reflection of Silicon Valley and our California culture. Teenagers make me laugh, they make me cry, but I do believe they keep me young.

Illuminati

2008-05-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

This was meant to be a post on my library webpage, but I opened the wrong blog. I decided to keep it here, too.

Photographs can be haunting and provide a mirror to our world. This online exhibit of photos of teens connected to their technology reflects the world in a different light. http://www.filemagazine.com/galleries/archives/2008/04/the_illuminati.html (Click enter gallery to view the photos)

Another year

2008-05-30T09:45:00.001-07:00

Another year is drawing to a close. It's interesting to work in a library at the end of the school year. There's the last minute projects that teachers assign and students are frantically completing. There are the students who have checked out for the year even with two weeks to go, yet still come to campus every day. There are those that have been "withdrawn" from class due to attendance/behavior issues who get to spend "study hall" in the library. Today, there are seniors who didn't go to Disneyland with their class that are here sleeping, web surfing, a few are reading and many are carrying on conversations with their peers. What is it about the library that opens it arms to all of these? Is it a safe place? Where else could they go? What should they do? And where does the teacher librarian fit into this scenario--babysitter, cop, ally, enabler, disciplinarian, mother...

Not on the test

2008-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Given that our school library has been majorily impacted by testing the last two weeks with two weeks to go...this video gave me a smile. At the same time, I'm saddened by the testing emphasis and the limits placed on teachers because of these tests.

http://www.notonthetest.com/

Poem in your pocket

2008-04-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

April is Poetry month and tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day...An idea from the Academy of American Poets to encourage people to share their favorite poems. Since I'm on spring break this week and have plans for my day tomorrow--I thought I'd share my favorite poem today.

The Swing
by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Deliberate in Blogging

2008-03-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm trying something new on my library blog library librarymhs.blogspot.com. I'm being more deliberate in my posts. Monday: Book Reviews Tuesday: Information Literacy Tip Wednesday: Website Thursday: Trivia--something fun or unique to appeal to the teenager. I'm hoping this will make the blog more useful and students will begin to pause and interact with the blog.

Pink Slips

2008-03-17T08:46:00.001-07:00

No, I didn't get a March 15 pink slip, but some of my former colleagues did. Once again the political climate and finances of California rear their ugly head. How can we continue to say we value education and our children when we continue to treat educators as an expendable commodity. As politicians, district officials and reporters downplay the significance of the layoff notices--"we won't really have to lay off all these people, but we have to tell them we might because of the law" or some variation. As someone who has received such notices twice in the last 4 years, the jolt of a certified letter or a face-to-face presentation still effects the psyche. The stress of "maybe" is still a stress and a reality of what will I do if it comes true? How will the bills be paid? Do I look for a new job or do I hang tight? I feel for those who received these notices and cannot but wonder how many good people will exit education this year because of another round of uncertainty.

2008-02-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

I've been catching up on some of the blogs I follow and I keep thinking about what comes next. What's the next thing to do to capture our techy kids and make them effective users of technology. I watch them struggle with finding good information that fits their needs. Today, it was a student who needed an image of a one-year old baby and claimed she couldn't find one. I asked a few key questions, typed the search term into google images and voila, found one she could use for her collage. They struggle with knowing the technology but not paying attention to the details. A young man came in to print a file from his CD. He couldn't find it and thought it was a Vista issue with our older computers. I've downloaded the file converter to my circulation desk workstation, so I can print those files for our students. (Can't do it on the student workstations because of the Deep Freeze software). When I put the CD in there was no file there. I asked a few key questions and he didn't tell the computer to write the files to the CD.

Yes, they have grown up with these machines in their lives, but do they really know how to use them well? As educators, what should we be doing to help them use the technology wisely and well? How do we accomplish this with our limited technology that is often out dated and doesn't match what students have at home. Yet, we still have those who don't have any access at home.

The never-ending conundrum....

Captain Kirk the Librarian

2008-02-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

I saw this posted on another blog, but it was too good not to post myself.

Communication

2008-01-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

Communication is so key to what we do as teacher librarians. So what are the best ways to communicate? High Tech, low tech, both?

I think it's a combination of the two--I'm trying to move staff into the high tech realm for checking the library schedule online. But if the internet is down which happened last week--a paper backup comes in handy.

A monthly newsletter has received a positive response once I went to the printed version in the mailbox. The reality of the teacher's world is that when we read an email with an informational attachment we decide to wait until later to actually read and later never comes.

Students aren't any easier...my blog which is the library webpage quickly gets skipped over as they move on to whatever webpage they want to view. I've had a one question poll on the library page to get a sense of how I'm doing and so far only two people have responded. Despite the 70-90 that were on the computers today and saw the page. How do I engage them to stay on the page for a moment or two?

New again and what I've learned

2007-11-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

The end of November is coming up and I've now had 3 months being in a new school. Here are some of the things I've learned over the last three months. They would be my recommendations for helping to get incorporated.

Learning the lay of the land.
Who are the key people you need to know? The principal's secretary is a key ally here for knowing who's who and who does what.
Set up a meeting with your principal and set some goals. Keep it simple this first year and make them about learning who your users are...
Run a collection analysis and look over the library sections. Get out and about among the shelves when you have a spare 5 minutes and don't want to start something new on Friday afternoon it's a good time to wander along a set of shelves looking at titles.
Survey the staff for their needs--no you don't get great return (10% or less), but it helps for planning for collection development.

Make yourself known
Set up email lists by departments and send them quick snipets once in awhile. I use the LII update feed to help with this. If a post there seems appropriate I send it to the whole department.
I try to do a monthly newsletter for the staff. While I made my first one electronic only, I printed my second one and put it in all the boxes. I got many more comments and complements for the hard copy. Even if only a few read it, it's worth the copies to give them the paper even if it hurts the trees.
Use your school bulletin to attract students' attention to the library. They are wary of a new person and the "changes", so making attempts to include them help.
Volunteer to be on School Site Council or some other entity so that you can be seen as an asset to the school as a whole. Along the same lines, volunteer your space. Yes, it may close you down, but the more you can get people in the library for meetings and other events the more likely they will remember to use it.

There's more, but this is long enough for now and a class is headed in soon.

More from AASL

2007-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Back at school today and I've already had the opportunity to share with a teacher. I went to the SSR with Interventions (http://www.lesliepreddy.com/SSR.htm) A senior teacher came in complaining about her seniors lack of focus during SSR so I shared some of the suggestions from the workshop. WOW, immediate impact. Definitely worth my time and money!

AASL

2007-10-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

I've been attending AASL this week. I always feel a conference is a success if I have at least one good idea that I can take home with me. I've got so many ideas that I consider this a success, and I've still got a full day ahead tomorrow. The power of networking with school library folks from around the U.S. provides a broader perspective. The shocked expressions when I share my almost 3K students and no additional help has been gratifying. It's amazing what great CA folks are here and sharing given our struggles. The power of our people are amazing.

Profound

2007-10-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

I just finished checking up on my Google Reader accounts and I see so many profound writers as they reflect upon their practice and keep up with the latest and greatest. I'm not there yet...This still remains my own attempt to reflect, but no profound insights into library world or the education profession. Maybe at some point I will be able to start posting meaninful information here that would inspire others and help them in their day to day stuff.

Meanwhile, I keep plugging along. The library as a testing center was this week's dilemma. It's the large central place with an environment conductive to testing, but the doors are closed and the students kept out while testing goes on. My plans to be productive with collection development work went out the window when I was called on to help proctor. Politics happens in every school.

It is what it is...but I love library world.

Back in library world

2007-10-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

I love being back in library world. I'm crazy busy (hence the lack of posting here), but it's a good busy. 65 classes in during the month of September. My last school was only 33 the first month.

I'm really enjoying the chance to interact with students around their interests. Some days I feel like the 11 months away from the library really set me back. I can't just pull up the right title or the right author whenever I want. Of course, not knowing the collection completely makes it more challenging. I want to be able to get it right every time and I feel like I'm bumbling at times. Then there is the bookstore dilemma--students wanting the science fiction section or the humor section.

The librarian knows...

2007-09-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this song about the librarian's expertise...I found it on one of the blogs I follow. There's more at: http://addywillknow.pbwiki.com/

The library opened

2007-09-09T15:27:00.001-07:00

The library opened this week now that I'm done distributing math books. It was an interesting week. Classes coming in already for orientation, research, and SSR book check out. It appears that the library will be well used and I will be busy. A very good thing!

This next week is book talking, Native American research and more orientation. Whew...I'm glad I've worked in a library before or I'd be completely overwhelmed.

Back to School--The students have arrived.

2007-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Most of the week was spent distributing textbooks which were stored in the library over the summer. Luckily, I'm not in charge of all textbooks. I only had to disribute the math books (ironic since I'm leaving the math classroom, again). Despite a few glitches--computers going down, teachers coming on the wrong day, books in horrid disrepair--the books are distributed and I can now move on to being the librarian.

Two classes are scheduled for Tuesday. I can see I will need to do some work in creating a culture of collaboration. The staff doesn't seem to be used to that concept, so I have my work cut out for me. Still, I'm looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead. I'm doing "orientation" with a special education class and book checkout for an English class to get SSR books.

In the meantime, there is work to be done to make the library and inviting place. With the help of my TA's we rearranged the tables and chairs and attempted to make things match. (It's a girl thing!) All the pink chairs are around the circular tables and two wooden tables. The purple chairs are around the wood veneer metal tables. The mismatched chairs and chairs with wheels are in the computer lab. We'll see how long that lasts. We're also spreading out the fiction section. The shelves are so crammed tight we can't get everything onto the shelves--I see some weeding in my future.

Week 9--Thing 23--THE END

2007-08-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sighhh, the end of this journey is here. I have really enjoyed it and appreciated the comments and the opportunity to expand my knowledge.

1. My favorite discoveries or exercises were many:
--the flikr tools and mashups. I haven't quite figured out how I will utilize this with my high schoolers, but I liked playing.
--the power of wikis which I'm hoping I will develop and use throughout the year in the library with classes. I'm convinced this is a great collaborative tool for kids and adults
--RSS reader, I'm now hooked on keeping up with the various blogs and websites that I'm tracking. I get my CALIB in digest form and read it all at once, the reader allows me to do the same with other library information.

2. Learning is what keeps me fresh!

3. I don't know that there were any big surprises, but the big takeaway is my comfort with blogging has increased.

4. I don't have any suggestions for improvement. This worked well for me and my style. I liked the self-pacing format.

5. Yes, I would probably do this again.

6. Discover a new dimension

Week 6--Thing 14 Tagging

2007-08-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

This one I had done, but I guess I never wrote a post. Hence the helpfulness of numbering our posts.

Advantages to tagging:

--it's good for organizing posts

--it's useful if you want to go back to something that is buried months ago in a blog

--it provides viewers with hints about what may/may not be relevant to them

Disadvantages:

--the big one to me is the lack of standardization in the tagging which varies by who tags the item

Hmmm, librarians have long been organizers of information, but on the web everyone organizes according to their own thinking. This is part of what makes it such a vast space that has good, bad, shallow, deep, superficial, thought provoking, interesting and endless possibilities. In 10 years will we be looking back at this a laughing at the "primative" Web 2.0?

Week 6--Thing 13 Del.icio.us (Take 2)

2007-08-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

The first time I tried this the video didn't work, and the page just seemed confusing to me. However, I'm really trying to do all 23 things before Saturday so I decided to try this one again.

Somehow, I must've been in a better place or something because it became clearer. I can see some real potential here especially when locating links for class projects. While I often mark things in my "favorites", I can never quite find them when I need them. I liked the way San Mateo Public Library organized theirs with the Dewey Classifications. A good way to reinforce the library organization tools applied to the web.

My favorite fun find was MiStupid.com This is much like the New York Public Library Desk Reference I kept handy in my math classroom for those off the wall teenager questions. It's got more ads than I like, but if I ever try to create my own del.icio.us account, I'll add it. (Yes, as an LMT I do know better ways to access information but part of that is knowing where the shortcuts are when you might need them!)

Week 9 Thing 22--eBooks and Audiobooks

2007-08-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Finally, something I knew already. With a 43 mile one-way commute the last two years, I became a big fan of the audiobook. This was especially true when I was still in the library because I could keep up with books that I might not want to read but were ok for listening. It was a great way for this math teacher turned librarian to catch up with the "required" reading of the students. The key thing with any audio book is the reader. A good reader has good voice inflection and keeps you wanting to listen and doesn't put you to sleep especially when driving.

I have had eBooks in my library collection which I think are very useful for reference books that students may only need a small portion of the book.

The World Ebook fair site was interesting. Of course free always equals out of copyright, but it's another good source of classics. In one of my RSS subscriptions from earlier in the summer, someone had recommended Daily Lit http://www.dailylit.com/. I posted this on my school blog last week and have subscribed to a Jane Austen book for a daily tidbit of literature to read.

Week 9--Thing 21 Podcasts

2007-08-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

This was interesting. I ended up subscribing to a "teen literacy" podcast and Nancy Keane's podcast book reviews. Once again this seems like a matter of keeping up. There are so many possibilities and so many different ways to use technology to hook kids.

The middle school librarian in our district is going to try doing podcasts this year. I have met her briefly and I look forward to seeing how the process works for her.

This is one that I will put on the back burner for myself. Not that I am unwilling, but I think blogging and wikis may be my focus for now and may add videos and podcasting as time goes on. I may link to others' podcast or videos if I find things that are appropriate and/or useful. So much to try and never enough time. :-)

Welcoming

2007-08-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

After a week of staff inservice in the new school district, WELCOMING would be my word to describe the experience.

Welcoming in a large sense because the community welcomed all new staff with a chamber of commerce reception with the mayor, chief of police, city council members etc. Similarly when the entire district staff met for the welcome back on Wednesday some of those same people were there again. The marine corps did a BBQ for the staff on Friday.

Welcoming in a medium sense in that the district office administrators and staff were in and out and around for all the new teacher training. An assistant superintendent did one of the training sessions. The superintendent stopped to check "how it was going" when we were sitting outside having lunch near his office. I've been in 3 other districts and I don't think I ever had a face-to-face encounter with the superintendent without it being a "formal" meeting of some kind.

Welcoming in a small sense because of the friendliness of the site staff. The willingness to answer questions and help out. Another new teacher who's a veteran of 17 years from New York had the same reaction.

Let's hope this trend continues because it sure is a good first impression.

Back--To--School

2007-08-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

As I wind down the school library 2.0 (only a few more things to go) I figure this is as good a place as any to reflect on my experiences in the library in a new school.

Monday and Tuesday were "new teacher" inservice days. The first day was 1/2 at the district and 1/2 at the school site. Basically an overview of each. The second day was spent at the district on demographics, instructional strategies and the first days of school. As a 22 year veteran not headed into a classroom of students, day two was interesting but not very practical for me. Some great reminders of youthful enthusiasm for this profession we call teaching though.

Today, was the first day everyone was back to work. We had an opening welcome with the entire district staff where the "newbies" were introduced. Then the remainder of the day was our own to prep and get ready for Monday and students. I spent most of the day "nesting" and setting up my office. Since I didn't think I was going to have an office, I was very happy to be able to put my own mark on my space. The library was being used for registration until early afternoon, so I haven't had a chance to explore the shelves or look at the layout of the facility too much. Hopefully Friday when we have another day for planning and prepping.

Many staff came by to say hello which was very nice. It's always a good sign when people are so welcoming. Of course, none of the names are sticking yet, but I will get there.

Week 9--Thing 20 You Tube

2007-08-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of those places that has so much it is almost overwhelming. Good searching strategies help make finding things better, but that is dependant on good tagging. There are some interesting uses of video out there. I found teacher tube as a little easier to navigate to "educational" videos. Once I located them on teacher tube, I went back to you tube for viewing because of the buffering slow down on teacher tube.

Here's my video selection. I just thought it was an interesting collage of various library videos I had watched.

Week 8--Thing 19 Library Thing

2007-08-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

This was interesting. Saturday must be a popular time to do this because I got a lot of error messages in trying to add some of my books. I was too lazy to go fetch them from the other room, so I tried doing some by author. With Amazon as the source there are far more options to scroll through. It wasn't very efficient but if I were truely cataloging I would use the ISBN to get the right book in there.

Week 8--Thing 18 Zoho

2007-08-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

I played around with Zoho and it seems very similar to Google docs. I tried uploading the same math worksheet from my summer class that I had uploaded in Google docs. Zoho couldn't handle the embedded math type images, so from that point Google was better.

I then played around with the presentation piece of Zoho and created a mini presentation on library information which can be seen here. I don't know that this is any better than uploading my own powerpoint which I knew how to do anyway. It has advantages for students who may not have access to the tools on their home computers.

Week 7--Thing 16 & 17 Wikis

2007-08-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Part 2: I played around with setting up a wiki at pbwiki. Today, I was at library summer camp at the Santa Clara County Office of Education and went to a wiki workshop where we did some hands on work with pbwiki. So after I came home I decided to play a little bit and see how it works. It's very user-friendly and easy to move around, I can see some potential here. If nothing else, I captured the name of the high school before anyone else.

I went to the sandbox and was going to add my two cents about using wikis for book reviews. Several other people had put in that idea, so I shared my google docs suggestion instead.

My brain is on overload with possibilities after reading the California Curriculum 2.0 suggestions. There are so many different things to do, how do we decide what to try first?

Week 7--Thing 16 Wikis

2007-08-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

I've been stalled on this lately. Somehow I couldn't get into the week #6 things and decided to skip on over them and move on to week 7.

I see a lot of application for wikis in the library environment. I really enjoyed one I stumbled upon that had students posting book reviews. Also, I can envision using this as a collaborative tool with teachers for projects.

In classrooms, I see this as more applicable the humanities areas. When I was reassigned to the math classroom, I wanted to try a wiki but couldn't find a standard that would really work. I think the continual challenge is standards that don't account for new technologies. While is really the tool to achieving standards knowing how to incorporate the technology continues to be the challenge for so many.

I'm curious to see how "techy" my new school will be. From exploring the webpages, I don't know if the limits I see are the IT folks or the staff.

Week 6--Thing 15

2007-08-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

"Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories; they provide mentors not only for the exploration of stored memory, but also for the creation of new artifacts of memory." (Schultz.)

I really liked this quote because I think it gets at the heart of library 2.0 and at what libraries represent. 2.0 is that creation of new memory and we need to rethink how that translates into a new way of service.

I think the challenge in education and collaborating with teachers is the overwhelming nature of the classroom. In classrooms with students that are of a new mindset our "old school" ways are making the job of the teacher much more challenging to keep ahead of the Ipod, cellphone or other gadget that is much more interesting and engaging. As librarians and technology leaders we need to help move forward to meet students at their experience levels.

Week 5--Thing 12 Rollyo

2007-07-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I can see where this might be a handy tool. I played around creating a search for the webstites I had in my favorites for finding booktitles. While it worked fine on the Rollyo Site it didn't work when I pasted the code into my blog.

The other interesting note was that I tried to play with Rollyo at school when my summer school students were taking a test. It's blocked by the filtering software, so I couldn't even get to it.

This may be a place where Google's custom search tool might be better. I played with that a little after someone posted about it on Calib. I used Tom Kaun's custom math search several times last spring when I was wanting activities to use in my classes.

Week 5 Thing 11--Google Docs

2007-07-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to play with this option because of my summer school class. I'm using another blog as a webpage for assignments because I don't have server access at the new school yet. I've been frustrated because there wasn't a way to link documents because I didn't have a server to upload to, so absent students have to wait until they return to get the makeup work.

I decided to upload an existing worksheet to google docs so I could see the quality and how it might work in the classroom setting. While the math symbols didn't translate perfectly, it's acceptable enough for the student who is absent or lost a paper. It would work for documents that are straight text.

I can see a lot of positives here for collaboration. You can make the documents available to others for editing. Working with a teacher collaborator you could both edit in real time and not have to worry about emailing back and forth newly edited versions.

Another possibility is to have some "standard" worksheets that teachers might want to use across the curriculum. They could then have easy access and be able to edit and modify for their own headers.

As a classroom teacher I was often borrowing from colleagues, but would often retype or literally cut and paste to make it fit my class. This would be a great way for teachers within the same department to share documents. While many schools have common server files, staff cannot always access those files from home.

The possibilities here are endless.

Week 5--Thing 10 Image Generator

2007-07-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have five days off to play, so decided to not grade papers tonight but am playing on the computer instead.

First: Here's a sketch of my cat from the sketch generator. It actually looks much better than the original photo.

Second: I like the Name in Lights generator. This would be fun on the library page just to attract attention. Even though I copied the "silent animation" there is still sound. (so I'm taking it down because every time I go to this page I here popping sounds and it's annoying me). In addition there are illegal fireworks going off near by. I haven't heard the sirens yet, but I expect them any minute. The cat has run for cover.

Week 4 Thing 9--Locating Useful Blogs

2007-06-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting task. I looked at a lot of different blogs using the different search techniques suggested. Maybe, I'm overly picky, but I don't see much point in adding ones to my reader for things I don't think I'll really use. I ended up adding feeds that are for pages I was already familiar with and utilize. Which makes sense, if they were useful when I marked them as a "favorite" then receiving the feed makes it easier to keep up with changes and new ideas.

I thought I'd spend a short amount of time doing this, but the last time I looked at the clock it was 4 p.m. and now it's 6 p.m. This tech stuff sure eats up the time. I'm getting off the computer now, fixing dinner, and checking out the news via the TV.

Week 4 Thing 8 RSS Feeds

2007-06-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've barely started with this one and understanding how this works. I created a google reader page, but if I'm understanding correctly I have to login to this just like I do my email. That means another something to "check" which I may or may not remember to do. I have three email addresses to check as it is and four when school is in session. I did play with the RSS button on my Internet Explorer Tool Bar and added there too, so I will experiment this week.

I start teaching summer school tomorrow, so I don't know when I will get back to this. Somehow I start on this and then get distracted by some new discovery and the next thing I know I've been at it for two hours and don't feel like I've accomplished anything substantial.

I did some exploring with the RSS calendar site. This may be a great tool for communicating library availability to staff...I used an online calendar for keeping track before, but this could be a good tool. I played around with adding it to my blog page. This could be a great addition to my library toolbox.

Week 3 Thing 7--Technology

2007-06-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

I was on an Alaskan Cruise last week, so technology was the last thing on my mind. Except that I loved having my digital camera to just keep snapping pictures. Unlike rolls of film which have a limit--139 pictures fit on one chip. Also, I enjoy uploading the pictures to my computer and having them as my screen saver, so that when certain things pop up I can smile. I see the pictures much more often this way then when I put them into a photo album.

My other favorite "new" technology has been my TIVO that I invested in this year. I know I'm slow at adopting some things, but the abiltiy to reverse and pause a show as I'm watching is great when I'm interrupted. Plus, I can record shows that have "buzz" that I might not take time to watch when they are on.