Let the Games Begin: Online Science Games

CSI:  Web Adventures Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this site teaches forensic skills and then lets you test your knowledge.

The Educators’ Guide provides several activities including matching handwriting samples, reconstructing document evidence from an embezzlement scandal, and  using bone length to determine a person’s height and identify crime scene victims.

One click of a button, and the entire site will be translated to Spanish, making it not only a great game for science, but also Spanish classes.

The History Channel’s Life After People Timeline Puzzle is based on the series. You must arrange a series of images on a timeline based on when they would occur once mankind no longer inhabits the planet. Clicking each image opens an informative video that should help you sort the images.

If you have not yet watched the series, this excerpt from the website might help:

“The Series begins in the moments after people disappear. As each day, month, and year passes, the fate of a particular environment, city or theme is disclosed. Special effects, combined with interviews from top experts in the fields of engineering, botany, biology, geology, and archeology provide an unforgettable visual journey through the ultimately hypothetical.” Life After People: The Series   (http://www.history.com/content/life_after_people/about-the-series)

Any other online science games you’d recommend for high school students?

Do Not Go Quietly Into Your Library

Contemplation

As I continue contemplating ways to promote my school library program, I have been investigating various approaches taken by other educators to promote their ideas and programs.  I came across this video by Dave Truss today and was struck by a comment he made in the video: “Do not go quietly into the classroom.”

A Brave New World-Wide-Web

Many school librarians have vital programs that not only increase student achievement, but also increase a student’s sense of self-worth.  Unlike a classroom teacher, what we teach does not occupy a place on student report cards to reinforce the idea that we make a difference.  Do we really want to entrust our program’s future to chance?  The chance  that our students go home and enthusiastically share what they learned or created in the school library that day? The chance that an administrator walks by the library,  is curious about what has students engrossed in their projects, and enters to make inquiries? The chance that a parent will make a positive comment about his child’s school library to a school board member?

Make Some Noise!

What can we do to ensure that our contributions to education reach the community’s ears?  Why not post projects students create using library resources on our library websites?

Ithaca High School in Ithaca, NY  Examples of student created projects for American History and English classes

Hawthorne Elementary School in Missoula, MT  Examples of group projects from kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade classes

Kapolei Middle School in Kapolei, HI Examples of a variety of exemplary projects from grades 6, 7, and 8

Kamali’i Elementary School in Kihei, Maui, HI Examples of class projects and student created podcasts

Program Promotion Challenge Continues

This week I will be sharing student projects created through the use of library resources.  They should make an attractive addition to our library website.

Where’s my noisemaker?

Image attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82514542@N00/3158323911

Program Promotion

“Change is as inevitable as rain in the spring.  Some of us just put on raincoats and splash forward.” ~ Amy Bloom

Continuing the Challenge

In my last post, I shared my personal advocacy challenge:  do something to promote my library program once a week.  Sounds simple enough, but school librarians are a busy bunch and unless we make something a priority, it often gets overlooked amidst the million other things we must accomplish each week.

Last week, I put on my raincoat and “splashed forward.”  This week,  I met my Program Promotion Challenge (PPC) by creating a mini-poster congratulating the winners of our spring semester READissance kickoff challenge.  The poster included a picture of each winner holding her Barnes and Noble gift card.  I posted one in the library and put another one on my principal’s desk. On Monday, copies of these will go on the Student Information boards throughout the school.

How Simple Was That?

It could not have been much easier.  However, that simple mini-poster puts the faces of students who choose to use our resources front and center.  Students and staff are the focus of any school library program.  Often the only promotion I have done in the past was to provide the principal with monthly statistics.    How dry is that?

As I promote different aspects of our program each week, I want to enlighten the school community.  I want them to see the difference we make in people’s lives. The  library space that most walk past at least once daily significantly contributes to  student and teacher success at Boiling Springs High School.

Our highly anticipated new facility is nearly ready for occupancy.  I look forward to moving into it, but since the new media center it is not centrally  located, the move also makes me nervous.  No longer will students and teachers pass it on their way to classes, meetings, the workroom, or the cafeteria.  It will be a destination unto itself, raising the bar in program promotion.

Image attribution:

“Wet Grass”   http://www.flickr.com/photos/64492766@N00/525979591

Tooting Our Own Horns

Teaching Today’s Students (and their teachers) to be Smart Searchers from Cathy Nelson on Vimeo.

Advocating Advocacy

Budget cuts. Title changes. Both have sent shock waves through the school library community.  Numerous posts have been written calling us to action.  Having recently graduated from the SLIS program at the University of South Carolina, I am well aware of the need to be a strong advocate for my program.

I enjoy reading about the successes of other school library programs; I glean many tidbits from them to incorporate into my own program.  But sharing our successes with each other is not enough:  we must toot our own horn in our school communities.  This is often hard to do for many reasons, but two that come to mind concerning my own situation:  1) lack of time, and 2) fear of sounding like a braggart.

Overcoming Obstacles

How do I overcome these obstacles?  First, adopt the mindset that if I don’t, funding to my program and my very job may be in jeopardy.  Second, gather data. Third, turn to my PLN.  The people in my professional learning network value  school libraries, whether they are teachers, administrators, information technology specialists, school librarians, or consultants.  They challenge me daily as I read their tweets and blog posts.

And, finally, plan.  Plan  in specific detail.  This past week, I challenged myself to proactively spread the successes of my school library’s program.  Once a week, I will share snippets of success with members of my school community.

This past week, I began with an email to my principal, superintendent, and PR district liasion sharing the fall semester results of READissance, our voluntary reading program.  Very quickly, I received positive feedback from both my superintendent and principal which alleviated my fear of sounding like a braggart.

Next, I need to share the results with my school board members.  I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t already created a group in Outlook with their email addresses.  So, guess what is on tomorrow’s agenda?

Emails, newsletters, and phone calls are all means to spread the good news.  But in today’s visual society, photographs and videos provide more impact.  How can I effectively incorporate those into my Advocacy Plan?

My PLN to the Rescue

Joyce Valenza of Springfield Township High in Erdenheim, Pennsylvania, recently  began a new online community, School Library InfoTech Programs: Tapestry of Effective Practice. Here, members are urged to create and share videos that focus on the effectiveness of various components of their school library programs in order to demonstrate the vital need of our programs.  Check out the first entry from Cathy Nelson of Dorman High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at the top of this post.  By focusing on specific components of their programs in this manner, they provide a clearer view of their impact on student achievement.

Buffy Hamilton of Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, spiced up her school library monthly reports by creating Animoto videos. This upbeat method of sharing her program’s successes in no way feels like bragging as the students take center stage.

Involve your students in creating mini documentaries of your program and share them via your library’s website.  Ensure your school community’s awareness:  send links to your shareholders, including the education reporters for your local paper and television station.

Accountability

Advocacy. Marketing. Branding.  By incorporating these into our long term plans, we are also building accountability into our programs.

At Boiling  Springs High School, I feel an even more imperative need to establish the validity of my program.  Within weeks, we will be packing up and moving into a nearly-completed new facility.  When plans began for the building over two years ago, my fellow media specialist Jay Campbell and I used our input to make several requests to meet the needs of our growing student population:

• thirty student computers surrounding the circulation desk (twelve has been the standard in our district.  The seventeen in our current facility have been insufficient to accommodate the needs of classes, prompting our request.)
• two computer labs (There is currently only one lab in the building for class sign up.  The district planned on adding more in the future;  however, we saw the urgent need to not only have them sooner, but to incorporate them into the research and learning center of the school.)
• two teaching areas complete with Promethean boards (Current space only allows for one teaching area with a Promethean board.)

I am grateful that our school board agreed with our vision and provided the funds to add our requests to the plans.  I can hardly await the opening of the new facility and am excited beyond words at the teaching and learning opportunities it will provide for our teachers and students.

United We Stand

What advocacy efforts have you enacted lately to demonstrate the value of your program?  What efforts have you read about and want to enact?  Please share – together, we can ensure the lasting successes of our programs.

Weeding Advice from the Professionals!

In December I sponsored a contest/giveaway for books that I was weeding from my personal collection. As part of the entry form, entrants gave their advice for weeding personal libraries. Their suggestions spurred me on as I packed up seven boxes of books to donate to Goodwill. I asked permission to share their sage advice here with you.

I’ve categorized their advice into Making Decisions, What to do with Weeded Books, and Confessions of a Bibliophile.

Making Decisions

Betsy Long, librarian at Dolby’s Mill Elementary School in Lugoff, South Carolina:  “Is it useful, enjoyable, and intact? If you can answer no to any one of these questions, toss it!”

Carolyn Foote, librarian at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas:   “Books I didn’t love [as I was weeding]  should go. Ones I might refer to again stay.”
Linda Dierks, librarian at East Union Elementary School in Carver, Minnesota:   “I try to keep books I believe I will read again. If that fails for me, I ask myself if I would ever share it with a friend or someday give it to a grandchild.”

Charlotte Bryant’s outlook on weeding is influenced by her life experiences:  “When your children are 27 and 25, it’s time to give away the books on parenting. Neither of my sons is married and I had a shelf full of books on infant to toddler child development books.  So, as we grow as individuals, it may be a good idea to share our books from earlier times inside of keeping them on a shelf in the hall.”

Melissa Nicholson, 5th grade teacher, shares,   “If you haven’t touched it in 10 years, it may be time to let it go!”

Michelle Chase, media specialist, says,  “Damaged and paperbacks go!”

What to Do with Weeded Books

Pat Hensley, an adjunct instructor at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and retired special education teacher, keeps it short and sweet:  “Donate books to others who can not afford them.”

Karen Hoover, another library media specialist, shares, “Donate to Friends of the Library booksales – and then try not to buy them again.”

Confessions of a Bibliophile

Finally, my good friend Heather Loy, media specialist at Wagener-Salley High School in Wagener, South Carolina, shares, “Keepers are ones I re-read often or have sentimental value.  Discards are ones I purchased but haven’t read in 5 years (yes, had a bunch in this category). Ones that I knew ‘I’d never re-read [go]. A bunch I just got rid of were ones I started the first two/three chapters and it didn’t grab me and demand I finish it – regardless of if it’s a favorite author of mine.  My time is limited, if it takes that long to get into a book it’s not worth it. And last, I had a bunch of YA, picturebooks, and children’s titles that I took into my school library.  While they are no longer “mine” I can still enjoy them as well as share them with my ‘kids.’”

Image attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seiffert/

They Need Their Teachers to Learn

‘Nuff said.

Contest Winner

I’d like to thank all who took the time to complete the form to enter the contest for the book giveaway. The entrants shared advice on weeding personal libraries that I will be sharing as soon as I have permission from them to do so.

Drum roll…and the winner is…Monique German!

Book Contest

In my last post, I announced a contest, the winnner of which receives the book of his/her choice from the list below.   To enter, complete this form by midnight EST, Dec. 30th.

Choices

Burkhardt, Ross M. Writing for Real:  Strategies for Engaging Adolescent Writers

Cornwell, Patricia Predator

Fletcher, Ralph What a Writer Needs

Grisham, John The Broker

King, Stephen The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Lane, Barry After the End:  Teaching and Learning Creative Revision

Patterson, James You’ve Been Warned

Plum-Ucci, Carol What Happened to Lani Garner (an autographed copy) *The link is to a paperback edition, but this is a hardback.

Strong, William Coaching Writing:  The Power of Guided Practice

Wilhelm, Jeffrey You Gotta BE the Book:  Reaching Engaged and Reflective Reading with Adolescents * The link is to a newer edition; this one was published in 1997.

Book Notes

All are in great shape.  The fiction titles are hardbacks while the nonfiction are paperbacks. AND, if you win and request a title not listed above that I own and still have not donated, I will be glad to substitute it.

Downsizing, or Can’t I Just Keep Them All?

To Weed, or Not to Weed:  Is that really the question?

As a library media specialist, I make weeding decisions: books that are in poor condition, outdated, contain inaccurate information (can you say “Pluto”?), or that haven’t been checked out in years – these must go to make room for new books. However, making decisions about books to weed from my personal collection? Not as easy.

This Christmas, my husband and I decided to gift the family with a new living room. We literally sold all the furniture we had (including a three piece wall unit with 10 bookshelves) to make room for a new, and might I say, much more inviting living space. I love the spacious, uncluttered look of the room, but it required me to box up hundreds of books and begin making decisions.

The first round through my weeding, I was able to let go of  five boxes of books – and I took them almost immediately to Goodwill so that I wouldn’t have time to change my mind.

In Search of Weeding Criteria

I love books on organizing and clutter control.  None of those went to Goodwill, and some are currently stuffed into boxes with the hundreds of other books with which I couldn’t bear to part.  The others? (Clearing throat here.)  They have their own shelf on one of the six bookcases downstairs.  Ironically, that shelf cannot now be accessed without moving the seven boxes of books that joined the party from the living room.

So, this weekend I decided to investigate the ebooks our public library offered and found The Clutter Cure. In it  author Judi Culbertson shares “The Top Ten Reasons to Let a Book Go”:

“1. You couldn’t get into it…

2. You enjoyed the book, but you know you’ll never read it again…

3. Your interests have changed…

4. The information is outdated…

5. The book is attractive but too general…

6. You mistakenly think the book is valuable…

7. The book is falling apart physically…

8. You don’t have room to display your books without looking cluttered…

9. The best thing about the book is that it is inscribed to you…

10. You don’t love it.”

~p. 52-53

Although this is great advice, it didn’t turn on any light bulbs.  I had already used quite a bit of these strategies in the first round of  my weeding process.

Still Looking….

That’s why I was pleased to find the N.Y. Times article “Books You Can Live Without” this morning.  Authors Francine Prose, Billy Collins, David Matthews, and  Jane Smiley share their criteria for weeding their personal libraries.   These authors have inspired me to march myself downstairs and get to work.

However, in all fairness, two other authors were interviewed for the article.  Their stories must be heard, but I cannot focus on them, or all is lost.

Author Joshua Ferris’s personal philosophy about books:  “Get rid of a book? No way. Every one is a brick keeping the building standing. Books are my life. I leave and come back, and the books I find there tell me I’m home.”

The other author interviewed for the article, Chang-rae Lee, says, “  Although periodically I have fits of discarding all sorts of sentimental flotsam like old note cards and photographs and perfectly decent dress socks, I can’t bring myself to get rid of even a book I dislike, perhaps because I read “Fahrenheit 451” at an impressionable age. Still, there are too many books in our house, a good number of them not chosen but sent or given to me, and so here’s some I’d cull…”

Then Lee proceeds to share the criteria he would use if he were to pare down his personal library.  Sigh….

I’ve Put It Off Long Enough

I could go downstairs, shove those boxes of books over, and look to see what advice my organizing and decluttering books offer on weeding personal libraries.  But that would just be delaying the inevitable.

As one of my favorite television hosts says, “I’m going in, people!” (Neicy Nash, Clean House)

Contest

Because every bibliophile wants their books to have good homes, I’m going to sponsor a contest.  The prize?  A book (of your choice from ten that I will list) shipped free to your home.  (Sorry, U.S. residents only.)

Complete this form by midnight EST, December 30, 2009 to be entered into the contest.  The winner will be announced on the blog on December 31, 2009.

If I Were a Book…..

I suppose I have been reading them (books) rather than keeping up with my Google Reader, so just found these quizzes today. My result from the original Book Quiz:

You’re Catch-22!

by Joseph Heller

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you
see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense
of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an
ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You
could coin a phrase that replaces the word “paradox” for millions of
people.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

There’s also a Book Quiz II you can take, but I’ll spare you reading more about me. Instead,tell me, what book are YOU?