Summer Dreaming

Over break this cycling librarian has been reading the pile of magazines that has been growing at home since school started. I got some good summer ride dreaming done. In the November 2010 issue of Bicycling magazine, there is an article titled "The Perfect Getaway." This seemed like a perfect article to read on a cold December day. It is about a ride in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. The author discusses how perfect the ride is with rolling hills and unique Midwestern scenery. There are two parts of the ride that I like the best. First, the ride is in Wisconsin; very close and actually someplace I can afford to visit. Second, the author offers the statistic and observation, "With 3 cars an hour, the roads have room for all users to roll in peace." Sounds like a great area and I'm dreaming of summer rides!

Getting through the winter months

I got the bike on the indoor trainer over break. In an attempt to make riding in place a bit less tedious, I hooked up a TV and VCR. The plan is to get in hours of riding while watching VHS tapes that I haven't watched in years. Also, the plan is to watch these for the last time. Time to downsize and reduce. If I come across a videotape that I can't do without, I will transfer it to a DVD. Not holding my breath on anything that I can't do without.

Game Nights

The library hosted two game nights last week. One night was for the middle school students and the other was for the high school students. Several students and teachers came both nights to play games. It was fun to see everyone having a good, relaxing time outside of school hours. This will definitely be an activity we will do again.

Scholastic Book Fair

The book fair went really well last week. Thanks to everyone who purchased a book or books to support the library.

Interlibrary Loan

Our library lost interlibrary loan a few years back and when I started in this position in August, I made it one of my goals to get delivery back to the school. Without too much difficulty, we now have delivery twice a week. I have really been pleased that several students, upon learning that they can request books from other libraries, have been using the RSA catalog and asking me to process loan requests. I have been pleased that most of the students' requests have been filled. In turn, I have done my best to fill requests from other libraries. It is a great program and service to all libraries, and I hope the state does not cut the funding any more than they already have.

Checking in

Wow, I can't believe that an entire month has almost passed since I last posted. I don't get the time to blog as much as I would like. Anyway, I have two follow-ups from my last two postings. First, the school's Veteran's day celebration was a terrific event. All of the students in the elementary school participated and a large number of middle and high school students participated in the parade as well. I stood on the parade route taking pictures and as the parade passed, I followed it to the ceremony where the rest of the students in the school waited. There was a nice ceremony to honor many veterans in attendance.
Second, the National Young Reader's week activities were a success. All of my guest readers were able to attend and they did a terrific job! The students really enjoyed having the books read to them by local celebrities. A full report of the local "celebrities" can be found in my November newsletter found on the library wiki. Just click on library documents in the menu then the November newsletter link.
Next week the middle school/high school library is hosting a Scholastic book fair. It will, obviously, be the first time I have ever chaired a book fair, but some teachers were telling me today that it will be the first time many of the middle school students will have had a book fair in the school. It shows with their excitement. I have student helpers from sixth through freshmen grades and they are all willing and excited participants. It was funny this morning when a group of high school students came in and swooped over the books in the fair. A few made purchases while one read humorous anecdotes from a book while the others listened and had a good laugh. It was fun to see the kids having fun in a "constructive" way.
Also, next week, in conjunction with the fair, I will be hosting two game nights. Tuesday will be the middle school game night and Wednesday will be the high school game night. Student council chipped in and donated some money to purchase some classic games like Monopoly, Risk, Stratego and Clue. I am looking forward to having a good time with the students after school next week.

Veteran's Day

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I am excited. This will be the first time in my teaching career where I won't have school off for Veteran's Day, and I'm excited. When I asked a class of fifth graders today if they knew tomorrow was Veteran's Day, they excitedly yelled "YES!!!"; they were excited. For the first time I am excited that tomorrow is Veteran's Day not because I have a day off, but because I am going to school. Our school meets to put on a Veteran's day parade and program with a lunch for veterans. I am really excited to see the kids in the parade and if I understand correctly, most of the high school students (those not involved in the parade) will be dismissed from classes to watch the parade and attend the program before returning to class. I have no idea who started this program and how long it has been going on, but I am really excited to see this. I'll bet they have a better understanding of what Veteran's Day is than those staying home and sleeping in. I don't know, I will report back.

National Young Readers Week

I am very excited about a program I have next week in the elementary school. In celebration for National Young Readers Week, I have invited guest readers to read their favorite stories and tell their story about how reading impacts their lives. I am really excited about the guests I have lined up. They are: Illinois State Senator, Dave Koehler; Illini Bluffs Elementary Principal, Mrs. Huene; U.S. Congressional Candidate and Lakeview Museum curator, Sheldon Schaefer; Illini Bluffs Middle School Principal, Mrs. Peterson; Illini Bluffs Technology Coordinator, Mr. Barclay; Illini Bluffs High School Principal, Mr. Stoner; Illini Bluffs Superintendent, Dr. Light; Peoria Chiefs radio play-by-play announcer, Nathan Baliva; Peoria Journal Star reporter and columnist, Steve Tarter; and Peoria County Board Member, Tom O'Neill.
Several teachers have been willing to change their schedules so all of the students will get to visit with a guest reader. I am really looking forward to seeing the students interact with visitors and I am looking forward to hearing what the guest readers have to say about reading. Hopefully this time next week I will have some great pictures and stories to share.

Banned Book Week

I ran a Banned Book Week promotion in the high school library a couple weeks ago. I covered all of the books in the library that have shown up on the ALA's banned book lists in brown paper. I invited students to check out and read books from the banned collection. I also wrote on the back why the book was banned and invited the student to participate by writing on the back of the book if they thought the book should be banned or not. Not many students gave feedback on the back of the book, but I did check out over 50 banned books that week. It was nice to see students checking out some of the classics like Grapes of Wrath, Call of the Wild, Catcher in the Rye, Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and several others. Of course, some students revisited Harry Potter titles and Twilight titles. The event seemed to really grab the student's curiosity and opened up conversations about what is appropriate and first amendment rights.

Differentiation or Just Plain Laziness: What am I Thinking?

I read a blog posting from Scott McLeod on his blog Dangerously Irrelevant, that got me thinking about teaching. In his post titled "Ignore the Test" he suggests that teachers would continue to teach to the test even if the standardized tests went away. He believes that we (teachers) would continue with study guides, multiple choice tests and worksheets. The point he makes seems valid; we used those styles of teaching even before standardized testing, why would we change just because they went away? He brings this up in the context of his belief and that of many others that we need to be teaching students to think, analyze, defend, and apply. I completely agree in theory and mostly agree in practice and reality. I believe that there are many great teachers who are challenging students to think and apply knowledge outside the classroom. I would bet it is more than most think. But I also would guess that there are many teachers who still follow the lecture, memorization, worksheet, test style of learning. I can't speak for others because I am not an expert on others' classrooms, so I will discuss mine. When it comes to "teaching to the test" whether my own or a standardized one, or teaching to think, I have to admit I am a Jekyll and Hyde teacher. I have had certain classes that I created as more of a project based course to fit real life, application situations (not the projects that simply fill time, mind you) of the information where students create, cite, explain and defend, and I have some classes that are more rote "what happens in the story," define vocab words, answer grammar worksheets, "teach to the test" classes. Some might think that this Jekyll and Hyde was laziness on my part. I admit year-to-year, it is "easier" (none of it is easy) to "teach to the test"because once you create the curriculum on a daily basis there is very little to change and you know what to expect from the students whereas in project base you never know what to expect from the students in discussion and product of project. But I believe that I was simply (yes, I will drop the buzz word) differentiating my instruction.
Let's face it, even in high school, there are students who still have difficulty grasping basic information. They need a more "teach to the test" style teaching, discussion, and grade. And there is another population of student who has very little problem gathering and understanding information. They need instruction in the areas of using and applying information. What I am describing here are the basics of Information Literacy, by the way. However, that said, I do not believe that classes should be all "rote" or all "project based;" I believe that differentiation needs to occur and the classes need to address the needs of the students, but also keep 21st century skills in mind. Students need to be able to defend, create and think, but they also need to have ability to understand and gather information.
Now that I have spun my wheels, I'm getting on my bike to think this through a little.

This Can't Happen...I have an idea

As reported in the October, 2010 issue of Bicycling magazine, two towns in the United States have or have proposed banning bikes on their cities' streets. Black Hawk, Colorado has banned cyclists from most city streets for safety purposes. I have never been to Black Hawk, but the editors of Bicycling suggest that the law was passed so, "bus tourists and truckers traveling to local casinos wouldn't be inconvenienced by having to wait to pass bikes safely on narrow mountain roads." In St. Charles County, Missouri an ordinance has been proposed to ban cyclists from some state highways.

I am in support of this if these communities either close main road access to cars and trucks for bikes, runners and walkers to access all parts of the communities; or if they create dedicated and maintained lanes/trails that give bikers, runners and walkers access to all areas of their communities. I have no problem with communities keeping bike and pedestrian traffic off the space where motor vehicles drive, if bike and pedestrian traffic has dedicated and maintained space to ride that gives them same access to all parts of the community. Oh, sidewalks do not count. Sidewalks are not biking traffic friendly...not enough space.

If a community cannot create dedicated cycling lanes on their roads, or access paths/trails, it is absurd to keep them off the roads. I have mentioned in earlier posts, the easy solution is for every new federal dollar spent on road projects, 5o cents should go to cycling and pedestrian paths. Or if a road project uses federal dollars it should be required to include cycling lanes and side walks. This news from Colorado (of all places) and Missouri is very, very sad.

What's Been Going On?

Not much time to write lately as things in the library have been picking up. The fiction section is reset sending all of the fiction paper back books to the front of the library near the reading/discussion area, while the hard cover fiction books have found new life in the stacks with some added space. The top shelves now have room to display and feature books. Also, the Accelerated Reader books have been incorporated with the rest of the fiction collection. My aide and her daughter played a large role in helping to prepare and complete this huge change. Also, the students unknowingly played a large role in helping by checking out a solid portion of the collection so we did not have to move all of the books at the same time.
Also, a forgotten magazine back issue stock has new life. Mostly a new life in classrooms for cutting and reading projects. I cleaned out all magazines with dates prior to 2008, which was about three quarters of the back issue stock. Any "old" magazines not collected by teachers for classroom use will be recycled, but the back issue room is now very manageable. I will be better able to tell the staff what, exactly, we have giving teachers a better idea of how to use the back issues.
The back issue room also has a pretty neat special collection that has been growing for the last 20 years. I have the local newspaper, The Glasford Gazzette, collection with papers dating back from 1990. I'm not sure what to do with this collection, but it is very unique and interesting to look at.
I have also been doing some cooperative work with teachers. In the elementary library, we have put together a collection of reading materials that connects to the curriculum topics in the classroom. So, starting this week, when the kindergarten students come to the library for reading day, the books we read to them will be matched to the classroom topics. I hope that it helps the students to start making connections that what they learn in the classroom is not isolated to the classroom, but to a larger world. Also, I worked with the eighth grade social studies classes to create timelines using our new World Book online database. The senior research writing class also got help finding primary sources in the library and our World Book online database.
If I sound pretty excited about the changes, I am. But for every change or success, I realize what more could be done. There are problems with scheduling, holes in the collection of books, and quite frankly, inexperience issues with me as a new librarian. I am constantly learning, but moving forward to make a couple good libraries to support teachers and students.

School Open House

Tonight was our elementary school open house, so I opened up the library for the parents to visit. My library aide volunteered to come and help out. I feel that the open house was a complete success in the library. The kids were so excited to see the aide and they were so proud to take ownership of their library. It was fun to watch the kids lead their parents around to show them where they look for books, and where they sit when they read. It reinforced in my mind how important the library is to a school district. It gives the students one more place to learn and take ownership. My aide does a terrific job with the kids and that was very clear as they gave her hugs and wanted to introduce their parents. I am very fortunate.
I really look forward to connecting the activities in the elementary library with the topics and activities in the classrooms. I know it will take time, but after tonight, I can clearly see it will be worth every effort.

Nice Rides

My daughter and I took a couple nice rides last week. Last Sunday morning we took a guided tour of the inner planets of the community Solar System. Sheldon Schafer, curator of the community Solar System, gave the tour. His knowledge and company were enjoyable, but what I really liked about the ride was that it took me places in Peoria that I have never been to before. The ride also took me places that I have been, but I have never really taken the time to explore; this is one of the things I love about riding.

Another ride we took was the mid-section of the Rock Island Trail. We rode from Dunlap to Stark. Besides discovering the new features of the trail and towns, the quiet of the trail north of Dunlap was very relaxing. We can't wait for our next ride.

It's Hard to Say Goodbye

For many librarians, it is the love of books and reading that was the draw to the career of librarian. But there is a word that strikes fear into books and library materials and to the librarians who must carry out this word's directive. The word? Weed(ing). The librarian uses many criteria to weed a collection and some of those criteria are age, last time it was used or checked out, quality of information, condition of the material, and more. Weeding has been on my mind in my library lately. Especially every time I walk into my back issue magazine room of my high school library. This room has several shelves filled with 39 different magazines many dating back to 1995. It is time to move some issues out. This isn't quite as painful as throwing away books because many times teachers will give these magazines a second life in the classroom. They are used for the analysis of advertisement, writing quality, study of photographs/editorial cartoons, editorials, or simply to cut out pictures for projects.
Books are another story. I hate to throw away a book. I don't know why exactly it is so hard, but I have trouble even tossing a book in which I have absolutely no interest. But even though it is hard to say goodbye, I will be saying farewell to many books over the next two years.
I will save the lament for tossing the old filmstrips, 16mm film, overheads, etc. for another day.

Triangle of Opportunity Cycle Tour

Last Saturday I joined my friend Rich on a 50 mile cycle tour through southern Tazewell and western McLean Counties. The weather cooperated with sunshine, lower temperatures and less humidity than the previous few weeks. The organization chose a nice route with good roads and scenery. A highlight of the ride was the two or three mile stretch of riding on old Route 66 to Funk's Grove. In Funk's Grove there was an enjoyable, serene, winding road in a wooded area that was fun to ride. And the historical value of Old Route 66 added a bit of nostalgia to the ride.

It was the first time I had ridden the Triangle of Opportunity Cycle tour, but I have ridden the roads around Minier, Mackinaw, and Tremont a few times. I recommend riding the roads of this area. One rider had mentioned the value of connecting the Bloomington/Normal area with the Peoria area using roads like the Old Peoria road from Danvers to Mackinaw. I have not studied the maps, but I bet it wouldn't be difficult to identify some county/township roads in rural areas that would connect some of our small to mid-sized towns. I wonder how much business it would take from cyclists for small towns to see the value of creating a cycling route with dedicated, painted lanes or added shoulders, or even old rail beds for cycling. Imagine, people might choose to use these routes for touring (out of state money), family rides (local and regional money), or even routes to ride to work (promoting community). Lots of business for small towns could be generated by this unique opportunity.

I hope someone with a bit more influence, money, and/or time reads this and sees some value. Talk to the people who organized the TOOC; they must see some benefit to their businesses and small towns. I know that I spend plenty of money without breaking the bank on lodging, meals, snacks and tourism when I tour in other parts of the state and region.

Now I know what I don't know

I have had two trainings in the last week on how the RSA cataloging system works. The great folks from the RSA came out to my school to train me on the workings of the system. Before they came, I knew that I didn't know anything; now, I know what I don't know. They did a great job with the training, but it was just a lot for this poor guy to absorb.

How to get better grades.

Just for fun!!!

Learning

Learning something new takes time. I have spent the last three hours this Sunday morning learning to create a wiki page. All the while my daughter has been holding a birthday party for her baby-doll Sue. I will have some post-party clean-up duty coming up soon.

Anyway, I have started a wikispaces page for my library. It isn't fancy, yet. I figured out how to put a wordle picture on my home page (not very pretty), and I downloaded a link to my mission and vision statement. Check it out and give me some feedback/criticism/suggestions.

Bike Ride!!

I sent in my form for the Triangle of Opportunity Cycle Tour last week. The tour starts in Minier, Illinois and travels around central Illinois towns of Armington, McLean, Atlanta, and Hopedale. I am looking forward to visiting these towns, but especially I am looking forward to riding with friends. The ride is August 7.

Clean Floors

Today the library carpets are being cleaned. Actually my office was cleaned yesterday, but with the humidity outside, they are still a bit damp. It puts a bit of a damper (no pun intended) on my work today, but the floors are looking good. I can still do some paperwork, organize my desk, work on the computer, etc. Things are coming together!

The Fundamentals

While cleaning out the library office here I came across this little relic. It is the Fundamentals of the Library handbook by William Leahy, copywrite 1964. Besides its aged look and four missing pages, most would recognize that it is outdated by some of its content. In the unit on "Books and Book Indexes," there is a section on the card catalog (pictured). I realize that there are still card catalogs around, but most school libraries have moved on to some sort of electronic cataloging system; mine is the RSA. Another unit in this handbook that isn't found too much in today's libraries is the section on the "Vertical File." In this rapid changing age where technology is changing our world, I wonder what else from this little book and libraries in general is next to go. The reference section? Magazines? Books? The library space is changing and it is very exciting to be a librarian now. While I realize it is all relative, I can't think of a more important time to have strong library programs in schools. Students have more information at their hands now than ever before, and they have to make some pretty serious decision on how to find, choose and use this information.

Sometimes it is nice to look to the past to see where we have been and sometimes it gives us guidance as to what is still important. I'll keep this little book close at hand and use it to reflect on some of the fundamentals.

Cleaning up

I am starting this school year at a new school and in a brand new position for me. I will be a school librarian. I am very excited about this change in my career and in the next few weeks, months and hopefully years, I will continue to describe my excitement.

I have gone in to clean up my office from the gentleman who was the librarian before me. He was the librarian at the school for 30+ years. As I clean and move in my things, I have been throwing away "tons" of office-type stuff. I am nervous about throwing anything away, but it seems that it will be a regular activity for me in the next 4-5 months. I should actually give credit to my wife who has been the one doing most of the cleaning and throwing away as I have been meeting and greeting with my new colleagues who are at the school over the summer as well.

Oh, I have come across some interesting tidbits in my cleaning...stay tuned or add me to your reader and my posts will pop up when I write.

Scary venture

Starting anything is difficult and scary, but this blog, unlike my other blog, will hopefully be of more professional discourse. I expect that some of the popular topics will be library, schools, education, and of course I will sprinkle in some completely unrelated cycling thoughts for a break from time-to-time. I hope you continue to check back or add me to your reader, participate in my discourse, and enjoy the thoughts.