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. 

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!