Divergent Day at Todd

Check out this cool Smore that my talented colleague, Wendy Rollins, made to promote Divergent Day at our school. Can't wait for all the fun and I am excited that so many students are becoming interested in the series.

Always Make a Smore: Digital Flyers with Big Impact

SCASL Reflection - ReTweet!

I am still processing all of the great experiences and ideas from SCASL 2014, but thought I would share Cathy Nelson's blog post.  So proud that I got to be a part of her session - collaboration at work!

SCASL 14 Day 3 Final Reflection - Friday, March 14, 2014 SCASL kicked off the last day of conference with our ... http://t.co/rq8DYTJtq3
— Cathy Jo Nelson  (@cathyjo) March 19, 2014

Wacky Socks Day in Honor of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss Week at Todd

Check out Dr. Seuss Week at E.P. Todd (via http://t.co/X2NhihYE9o) https://t.co/Ksd5BL7kjY

— Elizabeth Graham (@LibSciGal) March 2, 2014

Google Forms for Libraries

Taking a page from my Dorman high library mentors, Melanie Dillard and Cathy Nelson, I created a book contest entry form using Google forms. The contest is to pick the first student to check out Jeff Kinney's 8th installment in the Diary of a Wimpy kid series, Hard Luck. Our students LOVE this series and are eagerly awaiting the newest one.

This year our school is 1:1 with iPads (3rd-5th) and MacBooks (6th-8th) so students will be able to access the entry form very easily. What I like the best, aside from the ease of use in creating the form and tweaking the look and content, is that the results will feed into a Google spreadsheet with each entry sorted automatically.

Thanks Google and your magic Docs! Now that I have tried forms, I will definitely utilize this tool in the future.

Snow Days = Reading Days

With an unexpected 2.5 days off of work and school, it was the perfect week for reading while curled up in a chair with a dog and a blanket to keep me warm. I finished Scarlet, book two in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. This series is a scifi/modern day fairy tale/dystopian mashup that is packed with action and romance.  Now I can't wait for my copy of book three, Cress, to come in at my local public library.

Maira Kalman's latest picture biography, Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything, is beautifully illustrated and full of important (and sometimes quirky) facts about the life of our third president.  I like this quote from TJ: "I cannot live a life without books". 

Based on student recommendations I read Lisi Harrison's The Clique  (OMG - girls can be so mean!) and am in the middle of Alvin Ho #1: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look. We just added Alvin Ho to our beginning chapter books section and the boys especially are very excited.  One student is already on book number 3! 

New Year, New Blog?

Well, it has happened.  After almost three years, lots of reading, many research papers, and much help from my family and friends, I have graduated with my Master of Library & Information Science and have a pending South Carolina State Teaching certificate.  The next step is finding a position as a school media specialist.

Transitioning from a graduate school focus, this blog will discuss books, apps, and tech tools. Eventually it may evolve again to reflect my life as a newly minted school media specialist. But not yet...:)

After six books and over 300,00 words, I finally completed all of Michael Grant's Gone series. Set in a California beach town in the aftermath of a nuclear powder plant accident, this series is full of richly developed, memorable characters (Whip Hand anyone?). Whether hero, villain, or a mixture of both, no one leaves the FAYZ unscathed. I would love to see this series brought to the big screen. Gone has become one of my go to titles for those students that have already read other popular dystopian series such as The Hunger Games or Divergent.

Catching Kisses is a new picture book by Amy Gibson. The story follows kisses as they are blown and fly off with the wind around our country. I especially enjoyed Maria Van Lieshout's striking retro style illustrations of various U.S. cities and the game in recognizing the places in the book.

Current favorite apps: Haiku Deck and Smore. Haiku Deck is super simple to use and creates very visual, striking presentations. Streamlined alternative to PowerPoint. Smore is for digital flyers, newsletters, invitations, and much more. It is intuitive to learn and features modern fonts and backgrounds. I have made Smores for school drop ins, yard sales, and professional development presentations. 

Eddies '13: Nominations for the 10th Annual Edublog Awards

Taking a page from my blogging and librarian mentor, Cathy Nelson, here are my nominations for the 10th Annual Edublog Awards. (I did not nominate in every category as I did not have experience/knowledge of all of them.)  

Blogging has been a great tool for me during my graduate school career and I plan to continue as a school library media specialist.  I have learned so much from the many library/education/technology blogs out there and thank you to everyone that continues to share their ideas, inspirations, and knowledge with the world wide web!

For your consideration:

• Best individual blog: Cathy Jo Nelson's Professional Thoughts
• Best ed tech/resource sharing blog: Richard Byrne's  Free Technology for Teachers
• Best library/librarian blog: Julie Greller's A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet 
• Best administrator blog: George Couros' The Principal of Change
• Best individual Tweeter: Donalyn Miller AKA The Book Whisperer @donalynbooks
• Best Twitter hashtag: #tlchat
• Best free web tool: Smore
• Best mobile app: YALSA's Teen Book Finder

Day 20 - Goodbyes

Pictures from M. Dillard, C. Nelson, and my own photos.

Thursday was the final day of my Dorman internship and I left with mixed emotions.  Though I am thrilled to have completed one of the final components of my MLIS program and will graduate from USC's SLIS program December 6, I know that I will miss the fantastic DHS media center team - Melanie, Cathy, and Erika.  They welcomed me in, challenged me to try new things, and were always willing to answer my questions and listen to my ideas.  

Photos by E. Graham

Thank you to Dorman High School's students and teachers for all the great times!  I have truly been able to experience all aspects of a high school library program and would love to work at one in the future.  Love the spirit, the energy, the YA novels, the learning, the ideas, and the fun that comes with teenagers.

Day 19 - Literary Research

Today I worked with Ms. Davis' 12th grade English classes (hard at work in the photos to the left and right). The students are writing an essay about symbolism in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". First I introduced appropriate database resources for their literary research and how to access them. Then I provided research and formatting advice. As Ms. Davis observed, these students are preparing for college and should be able to work independently.  Overall, most of the students did use Discus, Gale or Ebsco Host literature databases for their research. The essays are due tomorrow; as a fellow student, I wish them luck tonight!

 

 
I enjoyed reflecting with Melanie and Cathy about how they evaluate and design action plans for their program. Cathy also shared details about her American Association of School Librarians conference adventures last week. Check out her blog to learn more.

The best part of my day was talking and working with DHS students. I have come to know some of them and will miss their insights and great reading suggestions.  One of the student library helpers is reading #4 in Michael Grant's Gone series, Plague, and agreed with me that this series is addictive.  As I was leaving I got to meet Dorman principal, Ken Kiser, and he praised Melanie and Cathy for the great job they do.

Day 18 - Day of Reflection

Thursday was an unusually quiet day at DHS.  This provided a good opportunity to reflect on my goals and plans for my remaining week.  I met with a student teacher to share my New Teacher's Guide to the School Library presentation.  Another book order came in and, as usual, I loved looking through all the great new titles. I recognized quite a few books from my browsing at the Teen department at the Spartanburg Public Library. Even better, I was able to check out a copy of this hot title. Thank you Melanie! 

With Erika's help I put together a display of sports titles, both fiction and nonfiction.  At first I intended to only feature football books, but since basketball season is beginning we decided to feature all sports.  I will check on Tuesday to see if any titles are missing - meaning they are checked out!

Day 17 - Professional Development and iPads

It is hard to believe that I am in my last two weeks at Dorman.  This semester has gone so rapidly and I have truly enjoyed going "back" to high school and working with such a knowledgeable pair of media specialists. I'll save the rest of my reflections for next week's posts, but I already know that I will miss working with the DHS MC gang!

Today was a rewarding day for me as I had the opportunity to provide professional development for a group of student teachers.  As a fellow student, I could relate to their challenges and wishes for the future.  My presentation (see below for the Haiku Deck visual portion) focused on why new teachers should partner with their school librarian.  Aside from the fact, that librarians are a terrific bunch, we covered collaboration opportunities, research guidance, and identified beneficial resources for teachers (e.g., Discus, Streamline SC).  Next week I have an opportunity to present to a group of second year teachers and will customize to fit their needs.



Melanie and I got to experience iPads in action with an economics class.  The students used a web based credit card simulator to learn about interest and minimum payments.  Here's my advice: stay out of debt kids!
Good luck to Cathy as she ventures to cold Hartford, CT for the AAAL (American Association of School Librarians) conference.  A great opportunity to share best practices with school librarians from all over the country.

Day 16 - Research and BYOB Club

Thursday was one of the busiest days I have had at Dorman: completing ongoing projects, assisting three blocks of students working on argumentative essays, and the Lunchtime Book Club.  Melanie and I provided formatting, citation, and research assistance for Mr. Smutzer's senior English class.  Hanging indents and controversial topics anyone?  Once again, I was reminded how fortunate we in South Carolina are to have access to databases like Points of View and Opposing Viewpoints through Discus.  Now to convince students of the advantages of these databases...

The Lunchtime Book Club met for lunch and book discussions. 1st lunch: Legend, 2nd lunch: The Fault in Our Stars, 3rd lunch: Divergent.  I found a Faction Quiz on the Divergent Fans site as an activity for the book club.  No one claimed to be Divergent, but most identified with one faction or the other.  I love that several book club members are such big Divergent fans that they have already read the whole series!  Love that enthusiasm for reading.

Speaking of enthusiasm for reading, check out Cathy's blog post about her book matching for students project here.  Yet another great idea for creating a buzz about reading from my Dorman mentors! Once I have my own media center, I plan to emulate and shamelessly copy (with proper accreditation of course!) many of Melanie's and Cathy's library programs, clubs, and activities.  The Dorman Media Center always has something going on and students flock to be a part of it.

Day 15 - Weeding, Romance and Research

As part of my internship requirements, I am weeding, evaluating and recommending new titles for a small section of the library collection. Melanie suggested Astronomy (520s).  I am going through the section, but do not want to leave the shelves bare!  Weeding is a challenge, but a necessary task for maintaining a relevant, appealing collection.  Subjects such as astronomy change rapidly and guidelines call for titles being no more than seven years old.  I have found some more recent materials that would make good additions to the collection, but many nonfiction reference materials are also available as eBooks or through electronic databases.

Today, I had the opportunity to observe both of my mentor librarians as they made presentations to classes.  Cathy did a booktalk featuring fve Romeo & Juliet themed novels and combined music, news clips, and images from popular culture to represent the theme of the books.  Melanie went over Google vs. Discus, easy tips for citations, and other great research guidelines.  Two great examples of librarians working in coordination with classroom teachers! 

Day 14 - Happy Halloween

Today Erica put out new books for students and they browsed and selected as though they were at a retail book store.  Love those new books! 


I worked on plans for a professional development session with student teachers.  School libraries and librarians can be great allies and guides for new teachers and I want to share all of the benefits of teacher/librarian collaboration.  Here's a view of my Smore invitation:

Exciting technology news for Dorman: 15 iPads were donated to the school and the library will oversee the management of them.  Classes can check them out for instructional use and projects.  Melanie showed me how to control and manage apps and restrict unauthorized downloads. 1:1 programs are popping up all over our state and my home district will roll out iPads for 3rd-5th grade this month.  I welcome every opportunity I have to learn more about device management and how to best utilize iPads as part of student instruction and to allow students to create digital products.

Courtesy of Cavaliers Read!: And our first copy of Allegiant goes to....

Cavaliers Read!: And our first copy of Allegiant goes to....: Keri M!  Congrats for entering our Allegiant contest (put together by Mrs. Graham, our intern.)  You won the first checkout!

Day 13 - Writing Lab, Contest, and Cool Tools

This was my final day to work with Mrs. Shepard and her 10th graders in the writing lab.  Most students had already completed their Destiny Quest book reviews and were working on the visual book report.  Cathy shared exemplary samples of visual book reports made using PosterMyWall, PowerPoint, and a book trailer made with Animoto.  If I do this project again, I would walk students through the entire process by making a class visual book report and then have them work individually. 

Photo credit: Cathy Nelson

Students have been entering the Allegiant contest and I can't wait to see who wins the honor of being the first student to check out Veronica Roth's Allegiant (#3 in the Divergent series).  I also can't wait to read it, though I may have to reread Divergent and Insurgent as I read them both over a year ago. 

Erika showed me some cool repair tools that I would love to have in my own library someday.  Gaylord book jacket covers on rolls I am looking at you! I also like the Helios 60 that repairs bindings giving new life to broken books. 

Day 12 - Busy Day at The DHS Media Center

As expected, Thursday was jam packed with activity.  Melanie went over budgeting, requisitions, and purchase orders with me, but, as she advised me, each school will have its own unique requirements and steps for budgeting and spending.  Once I have my own library, I will need to make good friends with the school bookkeeper so they won't mind all the questions I will ask them!

Mrs. Shepard's class completed their Destiny Quest book reviews. I briefly went over copyright and citations and then the class  moved on to the next phase of the project: visual book reports.  Visual book reports are a mashup of text and images that represent the major themes, symbols, and or characters of the novel.  I think the students will enjoy the creative freedom of this project and I am excited to see their final products.  Cathy will work with us on the final day and provide needed guidance on the graphic design aspects of the visual book report.

Teen Read Week (TRW) festivities continued with library trivia and  special guests, Travis and Heather, from Spartanburg County Public Library's teen library staff.  Many students stopped by during lunch and won t-shirts and other cool swag for showing their SCPL cards.  See more TRW pictures and details on the Cavaliers Read! blog.

Events like Teen Read Week are a great way to create a "buzz" around your library program and to get students excited and inclined to think the school library is a hub of fun and activity.

Day 11 - Book Reviews and Teen Read Week

What an exciting day at DHS!  I put together a Halloween display with zombie, vampire and other spooky stories.

Then, I met Ms. Shepard's class in the writing lab to work on on adding book reviews to Destiny Quest.

One student helped us identify the word limit of a Destiny Quest review (1000 characters), but overall things went smoothly.  My  hope is that the students continue to use the social media components of Destiny Quest.  Add friends, add books to virtual book shelves, and share reviews. Reading 21st century style.

Teen Read Week festivities continued with students answering library trivia questions to win scratch off tickets.  Prizes included gift cards, bookmarks, and free books. The contests made for a lively lunch hour. The Dorman Cavalier stopped by for a visit too!