Happy Holidays

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Next

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

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

Communication

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?