Book Challenge Update

We are back to school and I’m so excited to have kicked off the January & February Book Challenge! As promised, here are some more resources:

Video to introduce students to the challenge:

Flier to post around school:

JanuaryFebruaryBookChallenge Flier by librariantiff

Book Challenge Reading Log:

  January February Book Challenge Reading Log by   librariantiff

I’m still undecided about how I’m going to do prizes. So far I’ve just told students that more info on prizes is still to be announced! I’m hoping that I can get a few local businesses to make some donations, like gift cards to the frozen yogurt shop and such. And maybe a Coke float party or something for students who reach a certain number of points. Like I said, I’m still thinking about that and trying to gauge how I think it’s going to play out a little before I lock myself into some prize scheme. 🙂

I’m very excited about using a Schoology group to communicate with participants — I can’t wait until our first “check-in” to see what the students are reading for the different tasks! I’m hoping that a lot of great recommendations will come of this!

January & February Book Challenge

Happy 2013 friends!

I’m very excited to get 2013 off to a great start with a January & February Book Challenge. Back in August, I had big plans for Reader’s Quest, which never even really came into existence at my school. After reading Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer last year, I got really excited about the idea of replicating what she does at our school. All of our ELA teachers read the book over the summer and it was very interesting to see how others thought they were or weren’t working along the same lines as what Donalyn does in her classroom. They didn’t all share the same opinions as me, though, so it wasn’t the miracle I was seeking. Also, we do the Accelerated Reader program at our school. I’m not even going to get into that in detail at this point and discuss what we do with it. The biggest obstacle in our getting rid of the program is that everyone feels that we need something to replace it, something to hold students accountable for their reading. So at this point, we’re just kind of stuck.

Bottom line — I can’t keep sitting around scratching my head trying to figure out this AR/Reading Program conundrum. There just isn’t an across the board solution to get all students where they should be with reading. If there were, we would all be doing it already…DUH! I also can’t keep clinging to the “we just moved/there’s a lot of change/I’m just going to take it easy” excuse, either. I did that for the first semester and I’m not overly pleased with where it got me. Don’t get me wrong, the move was HUGE and as a school we experienced a crazy amount of change in 2012. But I can’t continue to dwell on that — it’s time to get on with it!

BookChallenge

Back in my early days of wedded bliss, I frequented the message board on The Nest (which is where you moved after your were finished with wedding planning on The Knot). One of the boards was a Book Club, and each quarter there would be a Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall Book Challenge. Basically, there are five “challenges” in each 5, 10, 15, and 25 point category. It really got me to read outside of my comfort zone. It also pushed me to read even more than usual, which was really saying something for me!

I’m thinking that something along these lines will be easier to manage than Reader’s Quest was going to be for me. Each student who chooses to participate will get a log of sorts to track their books and points. I will also have a Schoology group for these students, where each week they can post the books they have most recently finished and their running point total. Each week I’ll post an updated leader board  in the library and on our Friday Video. I’m going to have some prizes, of course. I’m also going to offer this as a competition among the teachers as well.

January February Book Challenge

A book can only count once, even if it could fit into multiple categories. You can only use each category once as well. However, books are not necessarily “locked in” once they’re read — you can move them to a different category as long as the other rules are still met. I don’t think I’m going to do a 25 point category at this time. Typically, the top 5 winners in the previous challenge create the 25 point challenges for the next round. If this is a success, we’ll go that route.

I’m planning to make a promotional video and tracking log of some sort, which I’ll share when it’s completed. And I hope you noticed the cute logo — no project can officially kick off until there is a cute logo attached to it! If you are interested in doing something similar, feel free to use anything I’ve created. The Google Doc with the challenges can be found here, and the logos are available on my Flickr.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…especially if you’ve ever done something similar!

Success!

I’ve been desperately craving the feeling of success this school year, but I’ve found it a bit more difficult to come by than usual. Everyone who has been through changes at their school know how difficult and trying the can be — even if they’re very positive changes like moving into a new facility and gaining new administrators that you love. Thankfully, I am currently enjoying a luxurious two week holiday break so I can recharge and reflect, then gear myself up for the second half of the school year.

During the chaotic four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, I was able to experience some of that success I’d been seeking. I’m an ideas kind of girl — I love an ambitious, sometimes out there idea/project/plan — but we all know those types of ideas don’t always work like we hope they will. It has to be implemented at the right time, with the right people involved. Definitely not as easy as it may sound.

I’ve been wanting to get our students blogging for YEARS. There aren’t many writing experiences that are more authentic and deep that we can offer our students than blogging. But blogging with students is a lot of work for all involved and you have to be committed to follow through with it. One of my awesome ELA teachers (who I was lucky enough to attend ISTE 2011 with in Philly) decided she was ready to get her students blogging. We got permission and made plans to have students blog through a book club/novel study unit. I wanted to be able to provide her with as much support as possible — this was the first time any students in our school would blog and we wanted it to be a success.

This was also my first genuine attempt at co-teaching a unit. I made a real effort to spend as much time as possible in her classroom each day. I also shared in the grading and conferencing on writing. It was definitely frustrating for me at times when I was deep in a great part of a lesson in her classroom and someone was trying to hunt me down because they needed something in the library. And I saw that if I had a clerk in the library I would be able to do a lot more of this type of thing, which is obviously so beneficial to the students and the teachers. I definitely want to do more of this type of thing, but finding a balance to make it work is not easy.

So, yeah. I feel like I’ve found success (YAY!) and I’m going to be REALLY reflecting on this unit over the next week as I write it up for one of my National Board entries. The big question is, how do you replicate projects like this? How do you pull off huge, long-term projects and/or co-teach on a unit (especially if you are the lone ranger in your library)?

TL Cafe Smackdown!

If you regularly attend the TL Virtual Cafe webinars, you know how much fun we had last year at the Open Mic Smackdown! If you don’t regularly attend the webinars…well, you should! And what better webinar to start with than tomorrow night’s SMACKDOWN! You don’t need to be part of the library world to participate or attend. ALL educators are welcome! If you have an awesome tool that you love, please add it to the Google Presentation and show up ready to share! If the idea of sharing in a webinar is too overwhelming for you, you should still join us tomorrow night! Here’s the details…

Hope to see you there!!

2012 Edublog Nominations

I’m skidding in here last minute to post my Edublog Nominations. And I’m posting from my parents weird computer, so please disregard any typos. Without taking the time to  blather on, here  are my nominations:

Best Individual Blog: Joyce Valenza’s Never Ending Search – http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch

Best Group Blog: Nerdy Book Club - http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/

Best Ed Tech/Resource Sharing Blog: Richard Byrne – http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Best Library/Librarian Blog: Gwyneth Jones – http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/

Most Influential Blog Post: Tamara Cox/Common Core: Love it or Hate it? – http://e-literatelibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/09/common-core-love-it-or-hate-it.html

Best Twitter Hashtag: #tlchat

Best Individual Tweeter: Nikki Robertson – https://twitter.com/NikkiDRobertson

Best Free Web Tool: Schoology – https://www.schoology.com

Best PD/Unconference/Webinar Series: TL Virtual Cafe – http://tlvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com/

Best Mobile App: Dropbox – https://www.dropbox.com/

Best Use of a Social Network: Choose Kind – http://choosekind.tumblr.com/

I love my PLN and look forward to learning about new folks from these Edublog Awards like I always do!

The Wonder of Wonder

I’ve really been putting a major focus this year on reading. I always read more than my fair share, but I’ve been thinking a lot about how essential it is for me to read excessively so I can recommend amazing books to my students. This year I’ve also been thoroughly enjoying making recommendations to many of my colleagues AND my awesome principals. When our kids are getting book recommendations from all of us and hear us talking about books, I know it makes a difference. I mean, one of our fabulous counselors always introduces me to new students when she shows them around, telling them that I am an incredible “literary stylist” (shout out to Brandi!). We are making strides to growing our culture of reading, and it’s great.

While making my way through my extensive list of books to read, I FINALLY read the incredible book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Oh my gosh, it’s the best books I’ve read this year, HANDS DOWN. We are teaching “The Leader in Me” program at our school as well, and Wonder goes hand-in-hand with everything we’re promoting through this program. As soon as I finished reading Wonder, I pushed it over to my principals and insisted that they read it immediately. Of course they loved it as much as I did, and I shared some of the great things that other schools are doing with the book, including One Book, One School.

I am SO very excited that this week, we are starting a school-wide read-aloud of Wonder at Central Middle!! My amazing principals ordered 45 copies of this beautiful book so each teacher of Flex Time (where we do Leader in Me and other positive/leadership activities) will have a copy to read to their students.

I’m very excited about the possibilities and opportunities that will come with our reading of this amazing book with all of our students.

If you haven’t read this book yet, WHAT are you waiting for??

If you’re interested in more resources on Wonder, check out these links: http://choosekind.tumblr.com & http://rjpalacio.com

Book Trailer:

Nothing like the scent of a new book…

I’m sure this won’t come as a shock to anyone, but I’m obsessed with new books. I’m deeply devoted to Perma-Bound books — nothing gets me like the fresh scent of that polyvinyl adhesive holding together those beautiful, shiny covers with their laminated polyester coating. And on the rare occasion that that one of my Perma-Bound copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix starts to come un-bound, I shoot them an email and they send me a fresh one. I’m quite upset when a book isn’t available in Perma-Bound. Nothing quite compares to opening boxes from a shipment from my beloved Perma-Bound.

Nothing except an awesome bargain-packed trip to Books-A-Million. I love my BAM! My BFF (fellow bookworm and ELA teacher at my school) and I love to hit up our local BAM! and dig through the bargain book section.  Here’s some photographic evidence from one of our more lucrative trips:

Very rarely am I able to bring myself to pay full price for a book from here. Well, I don’t actually have to pay full price because they give us an AWESOME 20% off for purchases for school. And there’s the occasional new release or hot cover that I just can’t leave without. But what gets me REALLY giddy is when I leave with two heavy bags of books for less than $40. The number of (mostly hardcover!!) books that I score from them for less than $4 is pretty amazing. Copies of “I Am Number Four”, “Heist Society”, and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” are just a few of my recent finds that left me doing a jig as I exit the store with the beautiful new books!

Regular visits to the book store also keep me aware of what’s hot and what’s new — definitely important as I try to stretch my ever-shrinking budget to get the most bang for the buck. And, honestly, that’s what it’s all about — doing the best I can to get the best possible books in the hands of my students!

What are your tricks for stocking your library shelves?

Search Terms Lesson

I’m really excited to share a lesson over the next few days with my 7th grade students about how to make the best use of your search terms. After WEEKS of presenting introductory lessons to the new physical space (new library and it’s layout) and digital space (learning about how to use Schoology) to EVERY student in the school (that’s each lesson 42 times!!), I’m ready to start teaching something different! I asked one of the 7th grade teachers what a relevant topic would be for their students at this time, and she expressed that her students have been struggling when trying to conduct a web search. Guess what they want to do… They just want to type in their question verbatim and they are SHOCKED and CONFUSED when the response they want doesn’t appear in the first page.

So I started looking for lesson plans with ideas on how to teach this. Google has a whole series of lessons about searching, including a beginner lesson on picking the right search terms. Yes please!

I’m excited to have found these lesson resources. There’s so much great stuff out there, and I LOVE when I find something that fits my needs pretty well, which is exactly what happened with this. Apparently there are also “A Google A Day Challenges” that are little lessons created by Google to help students hone their search skills:

I’m definitely going to be sharing these with my teachers, as well as using some during library visits! This is something that our students (and if we’re being honest, many of our teachers) struggle with — and they need our help! Talk about a skill they’re going to need for the rest of their lives, this is definitely one of them!

I’m also going to share this cool infographic I found on Mashable about getting more out of your Google search:

I’m excited to see how these lessons play out. I hope that there will be lots of “Ooooohh, now I get it!” moments from my students this week as we have this discussion.

What tricks and tools do you use to teach your students how to conduct a Google search?

Back to School Update

Wow, it’s September! August really flew by — it was crazy, hectic, and sometimes overwhelming as we kicked off the school year and settled into our new building. I can definitely say that I’m looking forward to many years of STAYING PUT and not having to move or re-arrange or anything else of that nature! I’m definitely in love with my new home sweet home!

I’ve also had an unexpected week off work with Hurricane Isaac blowing through town. I’m definitely ready for Tuesday to get here so I can get back to the library and into the routine that I’ve so desperately been craving.

I’ve been getting loads of questions lately about our library’s nontraditional shelving, and I really need to do a thorough post on the steps I took and all. But today is not the day for that. I will share my signage for the categories I’ve used, though! I created these using Creative Commons images from OpenClipArt.com, the WordFoto app, Comic Life, and Photoshop. I’ve posted them all on Flickr with a Creative Commons Share Alike license, so feel free to use them in your own library if you like them!

I’ve also committed to a new challenge for myself for this school year. I will be working on my National Board Certification!! My library twin and bestie Tamara Cox is working on hers as well, and I’m already SO THANKFUL for the support and drive that she is giving me! I can already see how this process is going to really push me to examine and improve my practice as a librarian.

And now for an exciting announcement…

I am SO looking forward to September 10th! Last year I was honored and GIDDY to be asked by the fantabulous Gwyneth Jones to join her in presenting a TL Virtual Cafe Back to School Special! This year, the amazing Jennifer LaGarde is joining us for what is sure to be an AWESOME hour packed full of ideas and excitement to get you pumped up for a great year! I’m so excited to join these two lovely ladies in kicking off what is going to be an information packed year of top notch webinars from the TL Virtual Cafe! Hope to see you all there!

 

Word Cloud… YES please :)

I recently posted photos of the amazing quotes that we’ve added to the stunning new library. The only place where I needed *something* was above the circulation desk area. Mom requested that I pick another quote and make it a short one (we’ve kind of had enough of sticking vinyl…). Of course, I’ve got to be difficult. Lying in bed two nights ago, I had the brainstorm to use that space for a word cloud. Not simple, but potentially awesome. Yesterday morning, I made a list of words I wanted included and assigned them each a size (XL=10”, L=7”, M=5”, S=3”).Then I started cutting on the Cricut machine, which takes longer than you would think. MI varied colors and thickness and crossed my fingers that it would fit together like a nice puzzle. Mom came up to the library yesterday afternoon and we got out the laser level again and got those fancy words up there! It was a long and frustrating day, but THIS LOOKS AMAZING! I think it may be the showpiece of the library! What do you think? 🙂