Blog Revival or Snowballs in Fall

Not in the spiritual sense, but wow, has it been almost a year since my last blog post?  Am I really THAT bad of a blogger?  No more my friends.  I am now committed to give back some of the ideas that I take away from the many blogs I visit each week.

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Starting with one of my favorite 5th grade review lessons :   Snowballs in Fall

Let me start by noting this is not an original idea, I read about the review concept on a blog somewhere and then just adapted the lesson.

Prep: I take my Genre Word Wall words and their definitions and put them on 8.5x5.5" paper in a large enough font to be easily read.  Crumble them into snowballs and place into a container to make it easy to carry.  Collect my whistle.  Done.

Rules: You may not hit anyone above the shoulders, although the snowball is only paper, it can still hurt if caught in the eye. (I've never had this happen yet) You may not hoard snowballs, only one snowball at a time.  When the whistle blows, stop.

Review: Each student should have one-two snowballs depending on class size and the number of snowballs created. They should carefully open them to avoid ripping the paper. The now locate their partner.  Once all partners have been located, students read off their genre and definition to the class before returning to their seat.

Depending on how quickly they accomplish this task I have a second set of snowballs ready to go with my regular Library Word Wall words (title, author, spine, character, etc).  The kids love the lesson and it's a great kick-off to the school year.

Does this accomplish a Common Core task, no.  But without the information gained from observing my students remember, problem solve, and interact with other I can't move onto the greater lessons that do.

A Tweet, a Hashtag, and a Follow - OH MY! How to Build Your PLN and Stay Connected in Under 140 Characters

 Whew!  At times that 140 character limit is, well, limiting.  But that's the point.  For the past couple of years I've been trying to connect with my local teacher librarians on Twitter to no avail.  So I decided to be brave, act like I knew what I was talking about (well I must since I'm actually doing it, right), and present a session at the 2011 ISLMA conference.  Thus my posting title, which happens to also be my session title.  I've given quite a bit of thought to how to present all this information since so much of it is on-line or linked.  It basically came down to either a wiki or resurrecting my long forgotten blog.  Guess which won?

That said, notice the new page, Twitter, on which you will find the actual presentation itself.  I hope you find it useful. 

Expanding my virtual PLN

If you haven't a built in peer group with whom to learn with, perhaps a virtual PLN is the answer. This past weekend at the annual ISLMA conference in Springfield I engaged in several conversations regarding how I use Twitter and other tools to virtually connect with other librarians and tech folks. For me, Twitter has become the core of my PLN. Those amazing individuals that I follow generate more ideas than I can ever possibly implement. I am continually inspired to investiage new tools, explore new websites, and try incorporating new ideas into my lessons. Needless to say, I love my PLN.

One consistant comment I heard from distractors of virtual PLNs is that they curtail personal contact with colleagues. Virtual PLNs keep us from seeking out local contacts that could potentially provide the same benefits. Blogger Teach42 posed the question "Is joinging a PLN bad for morale?" He suggests that reading about peers and/or schools that are using cutting edge technology could dishearten those professionals that are not able to implement desired technology due to polices or infrastructure that blocks certain uses.

Personally, I think PLNs should force us to question our practices. They should move us towards challenging the negatives so that we might flip them into positives. Could they drive us into despair? Not if we keep our perspective. We all need to understand the limitations of our positions. The joy of harvesting our new knowledge is all the greater when we understand which seeds of learning we have at our disposal and whether or not there is enough fertilizer available. Lack of growth is not the fault of our PLN, it would be the fault of our own imaginations and patience.

Thoughts?

Non-fiction Sunday

When selecting books to read, I typically select chapter books that I think would appeal to my students in grades 2-5. In an effort to broaden my range I decided to bring home several non-fiction books that I found interesting. Wrapped up in my afghan to ward off the chill I curled up with my six books. Quickly working through my stack I found that I enjoyed the experience so much that I have christened today as Non-fiction Sunday. I will try to make it a weekly practice to bring home several non-fiction books to read each week. After which I will select several to "formally" review. Not that my reviews are formal, by any means, but that I will officially post my thoughts and comments.

So...how do I review the wide range that is non-fiction? I consider many aspects from the ease of the text, the depth of the information and the illustrations. As a teacher I appreciate the few authors that include research notes. I hope to use these books as an introduction to research. Information picture books would make a great alternative to the typical research paper. I just now need to figure out the details.

Thoughts?

Shameless begging

OK, so I'm going to be a little shameless and beg for your vote. This award is administered by the ALA and supported by The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Times and will award $5,000 to ten librarians. Wow! I mean WOW! That's huge, really, really, huge.

So I ask...please nominate me. The money would be such an added bonus to my school library. I know...this is supposed to be a personal accomplishment. But how could it be when winning the award would be dependent on how I impact my school staff and students? After all, wouldn't a wonderful impact be the updating of the reference section? Or perhaps a major acquisition of Spanish titles? Oh, oh, what about adding a graphic novel section to entice those reluctant readers? Or even better yet, the creation of a Parent/Child Take Home reading section?

I know, I know, no one wants to hear how small my budget is. After all, I know of libraries that are considerably worse off when it comes to money. But this is about me. Well, not really me, but my library. So here's a bit of information to help you complete your form and send in that nomination.

This is my seventh year in the library of Mark Twain School in Wheeling Illinois. We are a PK-5 Title I school with a predominate Spanish speaking population. In addition to serving as librarian I also organize many family learning events, student clubs, and an after school program.

Our extremely popular Family Field Trips are held throughout the year with our premier event held annually on Columbus Day. Each year we visit a major downtown museums and other local venues, bringing over 300 parents and children together in fun cultural activities. In collaboration with my local public library we were able to facilitate the creation and growth of Family Reading Nights throughout their patron area. When we are not traveling to the library to enjoy their program we are hosting our own. One of the biggest impacts on our families are our Family Learning nights which brings parents and students back to school for evenings of learning and fun.

In addition to our family events we also provide noon and after school activities for our students to expand their interests. One of our most popular has been our knitting club, their joy upon completing their first scarf is one of the most heart warming experiences. All the staff involved donated their time and talents. I even got my left-handed mom to visit and help out.

I hold a BA in Elementary Education from Elmhurst College, a Master's in Informational Science and Learning Technology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign. In addition to promoting reading and learning at school I am also becoming increasingly active in my state library association, serving on our new book award committee.

So...now that you have the facts. I'll beg one last time. Please, please, please...nominate me for this award so that I can in turn create something new and wonderful for my students, staff, and parents.

Thoughts?

The reality of library purchases

The reality is...there just isn't enough money to go around. I originally was going to title this posting "the new reality..." then I realized that perhaps the lack of funding wasn't really such a "new" situation. This past week I spent the better part of two hours selecting which new books I would like to purchase. Then I spent the next hour crossing out what I couldn't afford and agonizing over what to keep on the list and what to cut. In the end I went from wanting $3500 in books to purchasing $1046. BIG difference! Of course this was just my English purchases. My Spanish/Bilingual purchases didn't really take much of a hit since there are always less quality Spanish/Bilingual books to choose from. And, given that my bilingual students account for the majority of my student body AND I'm still trying to build my Spanish sections I try balance my spending between English and Spanish purchases.

Well my red pen yielding moments got me to thinking about overall school library budgets. According to School Library Journal's Spending Survey, of 4/1/2009, the median expenditure in 2007-2008 for books and periodicals was $12.65 per pupil. I have a mere $7.70. And that includes an increase I managed to receive in order to purchase some Playaways. The difference between my budget and the median ($2400) would have allowed me to spare the red pen and purchase almost all the books from my list.

Which leads me to ask the question...Why do some districts and/or school administrators value their school libraries more than others?

Thoughts?

Happy 40th Internet...

Several years ago I was assigned to read a book for one of my grad classes. Not having any interest in the topics presented I selected what I thought would be the least boring book, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner. I was pleasantly surprised when the book turned out to be highly interesting and enjoyable (and imagine my surprise...I actually learned something. Gasp!). I remembered this book this moring as I read an Associated Press article on the Internet turning 40. One room, two bulky computers, and a 15 foot cable brought to life the exchange of meaningless data and the beginning of the Arpanet network.

Amazing how quickly the idea of enriching the intellectual research of the military and academic institutions has grown into the socially integrated Internet we all know and love. So...now that this powerful tool has been around for 40 years, how will be continue to utilize it to advance OUR intellect? Is Web 2.0 and social media the answer? Will Twitter and Facebook make us smarter, or help us build a better society in general? I don't know, and I'm guessing there are people out there (much smarter than myself) who are also wondering the answer to this very question.

What I do know is that I have much to learn from the individuals I have "met" through Twitter and/or Facebook. This group of tweeters and posters have exposed me to new websites, new tools, and most importantly new ideas. I might not save the world and bring about world peace or harmony among cultures, but I do have the power to enrich the lives of my students and staff. And that's pretty good in my book!

Thoughts?