National Young Readers Week

Last week we celebrated National Young Readers Week in the elementary library.  We invited several guests to read to the students in grades K-5.  The students listened to the stories the guests brought, then they got the opportunity to ask the guest reader about his or her job.  Reading to the Kindergarten and first graders in an assembly in the commons were the principal, Mrs. Huene, two high school drama students Ellie and Sam, and our State Congressman Mike Unes.  Reading to second grade was Peoria Journal Star reporter and columnist, Steve Tarter.  Third Grade heard a story by WMBD television news reporter Kim Behrens and fourth and fifth grade students were visited by radio play-by-play voice of the Peoria Chiefs, Nathan Baliva.
The kids really seemed to enjoy the stories, but even more fun were the great questions they had for the visiting readers.  Both Nathan Baliva and Kim Behrens were asked if they make mistakes when reporting and if it is embarrassing when they do make a mistake.  Both admitted to making mistakes and being embarrassed, but the great part about their jobs is that it is live on-air. The lesson to the students is that you fix your mistakes and move on.  All visitors told the students about how important reading is in their jobs and all encouraged the students to read as much as they can for whatever they want to do in the future.
This is the second year that we have invited local "celebrities" into the school to read for National Young Readers Week, and this year seemed to be even more exciting than last.  Students remembered the event last year and were really excited to see who was going to read to them this year.  Another great feature about the week is the feedback from the guest readers.  They all shared how much fun it is to visit the students and refreshing it is to see the excitement in the students.  I think sometimes as adults we get so wrapped up in our "adult world" and working with other adults and making adult decisions that we forget about the impact we can make on young people.  And the real secret is the impact they have on us.  They remind us of and give us their energy and enthusiasm for life; they reignite that curiosity we had when we were younger.  It is quite refreshing which is why I love my job as a school librarian.
So, while seemingly National Young Readers Week is about sharing and encouraging reading with our young people, it has benefits for everyone!

Internet Security

Last year at our school, the IT director and I started a series of Internet safety lessons that we teach to each different grade in the school from 6th to 12th grades. We cover topics from evaluating websites for research to Social Networking.  What is always interesting is that the students almost always know more about certain aspects and features of using the Internet than we do, but rarely do they know or even think about anything regarding securing their own personal information and identity.
This week we did a lesson with sixth grade on using Facebook and other social networking websites.  The students were familiar with the workings of Facebook and helped me browse around my own site, but by a show of hands, less than half of them who have an account (which is about 65% of them), had ever visited, to their knowledge, the security section of Facebook to set up the security parameters.  This verified for us that the topic of our lesson was needed, but this is concerning.  My hope is that when students of any age 6-12 grades open a social networking account, that not only parents and adult family visit frequently, but that they also help with talking about and setting security parameters.  However, I visited many of the students' Facebook sites as a "non-friend" to discover that many of them are wide open to view and post. Scary.
We close our presentation telling the students that social networking sites are not bad, but sometimes bad people ruin good things.  They should use Facebook, Skype, Twitter and other social networking sites when their parents allow, but they must be smart about how they use them.  We highly recommend they talk with their parents about the security of their sites and encourage them to visit the security section of whatever site they use. "Go there today!" we say.  Just like everything else in education and working with kids, we know that several will not do anything.  Maybe because they think nothing bad will happen to them, maybe because they just forget in their busy day and minds, or maybe because they are not sure they really understand.  Hopefully, the lesson will get them to think about these issues and someday they will take action to protect themselves.

A Favorite Book

"Children's literature is the most important literature of all because it has the capacity to change people, to open their eyes; it's part of the growing process."  Neil Gaiman.  Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and his book, The Graveyard Book, is one that I frequently recommend to students in the library.  It was by far the best book I read in 2010 topping even my first reading of The Hunger Games!
While listening to NPR this evening, I discovered a segment called "NPR's Back-Seat Book Club" and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book was being discussed.  A natural choice with Halloween on Monday.  He had so many interesting things to say that I won't repeat here because I encourage you to click on this link to read the NPR story and listen to the interview.
After listening, you will want to definitely want to check out the book.  Enjoy!

Award Book Programs

Our library launched the Abraham Lincoln Award books along with the State of Illinois' Read for a Lifetime reading programs two weeks ago.  With the help of the high school English teachers (I would have little success without their support), students have been signing up to read books off these two lists. The Abe has 34 students and five teachers signed up and the Read for a Lifetime has 25 students and five teachers.  We purchased one set of the Abe books and received the LBSS grant for a complete second set.  All but 12 of those books are checked out and at least one of every title is gone.  The Read for a Lifetime books are not moving quite as quickly mostly because the titles are not as well known and I haven't been pushing them as much.
Last year the program lost some steam as time went, so this year I have and will implement some strategies to continue marketing and encouraging students to keep reading.  Next week I will book talk and use video book talks to promote the lists, especially the Read for a Lifetime.  I have created a book club that will discuss four of the award books, two from Abe and two from Read for a Lifetime.  The book club will meet once a month to discuss a different book from the lists.  The student library assistants have agreed to help with the book club discussions which will hopefully encourage other students to participate.  I have also asked the English teachers to create shelf talkers with their comments on books they like to inspire the kids to read those specific books on the lists.  Finally, like last year, I will have a big voting party in February where the students who have met the required number of books read will come to vote for their favorite.  The party includes food and punch made by the foods classes and drawings for prizes.  We had a great time with the party last year.
I am curious to know what other schools are doing to promote the Abe and Read for a Lifetime programs.

A Moment of Clarity

My mind has been at a loss of words for my fingers to type until today.  Our school lost a student to a tragic car accident and it has been a difficult time for all of us. Last night a celebration of life service was held and I was filled with inspiration to write.
The young man was well liked and made an impact on lots of people.  That was clear to me as the gymnasium was full when I arrived and it continued to fill.  Students, teachers, community members and family filled the bleachers, seats on the floor, the balcony, the space on the wall and space in and just out of the doors.  It was an amazing showing of support for a good family.
The service proceeded as many do with pictures, music, and stories.  But the crowd there to honor a life was silent as the young man's mother took the floor.  She spoke of and thanked everyone who knew her son, and taught us a lesson to hold those close to us and love each other. She thanked everyone from friends and family for raising her son.  She said she and her husband started the job of raising him and everyone else continued that job.
It was a terrific moment of clarity as I sat there thinking about how many people we touch in a day, week, year, life.  Most of the time we don't ever think about the impact we make both positive and negative on others, nor do we acknowledge the impact others have on us until, many times, it is too late.
So, we are back to school today hopefully with a renewed mission to do what we do here and in all schools across the nation.  We are back at it to learn to hone the skills in which each of us is blessed and learn to use them to better ourselves, help others, and make a positive impact on this world.

Hype or the Real Deal

The most requested book early in the school year both by my students and through interlibrary loan is World War Z by Max Brooks. The book is on the Illinois Abe Lincoln Award book list and that is where we have the book in reserve for the launch of that reading program in our school. The requests have been so overwhelming that I am considering launching the program early. I have to admit the pages that I have browsed, the reviews I have read, and shamefully, the cover that I see, make it look like an enticing read. Also a brief scan of the
website by Randomhouse gives the book a fun interactive promotion that I am sure will make much more sense after the book is read or at least started.  I really look forward to the feedback from the students and teachers regarding this book to see if it is hype or the real deal.

Understanding Students and others?

This video by Improv Everywhere may help us to understand our students especially when we say, "you have to turn your phones off and put them away." I'm not saying there isn't time in this world for quiet undivided attention to a task or conversation, but we live in a world of electronic interconnectedness.

And, I would argue that it's not just students who feel this way. We all know many adults, some of whom are us (and there is nothing wrong with that), who are this connected. Enjoy!

Book Spine Poetry

Poetry month has come and gone, but not without some great results! One activity our junior high students did was called Book Spine Poetry. I learned about this activity from the Buchlady and her blog post "it's all in the spine!" Students collected books with titles that created a poem. Here are a couple examples.

When Jeff comes home

Al Capone does my shirts

Ask me no questions

without hats, who can tell the good guys?

Baseball

the boys of summer

the games do count

curveball

eagle in flames

ball four

a season on the brink

They all had a lot of fun pulling books off the shelf and creating short 4-8 line poems. One teacher said that it was nice to hear the students talking in the hall the rest of the day about the poems they created with book titles. Me, my aid, and a student volunteer had a lot of fun putting all the books back.

Here is an Original Poem

Rain, rain go away
the Bulls keep winning, so it's okay
the Hawks keep putting the puck in nets
I wish I would have placed some bets
if the Chicago boys of summer would start knocking in some runs
that might just bring out the sun

Happy Poetry Month from
the Cycling Librarian

Is our society asking too much of teachers?

The simple answer to the title of this post is: YES. I always try to remind my friends who work in the private sector that the product of education is the mind of a human being. And while there are a number of responsibilities that teachers must accept and hone, there are many responsibilities that teachers are expected to address that they have little or no control over. And these are things that include basic needs like sleep, security, nutrition, and basic resources. A student who comes to a classroom without these needs being met will not be as effective of a student as the student who comes rested, well fed, and from a secure home with resources. On the same note though, a student who is spoon fed, gets his or her way at home, lives without needs and gets what he or she wants regularly, this student often lacks the discipline or motivation to succeed. Teachers have no control over who walks into the classroom or what that student brings with him or herself.

I digress a bit from what my original intent was here. I want to direct my readers to an Washington Post/Answer Sheet Blog by Valerie Strauss titled "Teachers: Blame Only Where Blame is Due." In this post, Strauss identifies 16 variables that affect student achievement. When I look at these variables, I would identify only four that a teacher has direct influence. About three to four more of those are the responsibility of the school and the rest, nine variables, are up to the individuals raising the child.

I encourage you to read the link to Strauss's post to learn the 16 variables and see if you agree, but I believe that her 16 variable prove that education is not only on the shoulders of teachers. Education is a community effort. Teachers are not off the hook. They must be dedicated to their work, profession and students. Just as schools must be dedicated to their teachers, building, and community, and parents must take an interest and dedicate themselves to their students not just at home, but on the streets and at school.

Oh, what about the students? Everyone seems to forget about them in the discussion about "What's wrong with Eduction, these days?" More and more students seem to have a sense of entitlement. That it is their right to do what they please and if they want to fail, that is their right, too. Is this what we believe as Americans? I believe that should be addressed as well. Is the answer stricter discipline, harsher punishment, higher or lower expectations? I don't know. But I do know that the attitude a student brings to the classroom has a large impact on not only his or her achievement, but also those around him or her.

Teachers have a lot to manage and most do an excellent job of it. Does our society ask too much. Indeed, it does.

Poetry Month

Illini Bluffs elementary, middle and high school libraries are celebrating Poetry Month with several activities which will culminate with a large display of student work in both libraries. I am particularly excited to see how the Poetry Video turns out. Students will look at, interpret and read one line from a poem. Then when all lines from a poem are read on video, I will edit the video where the entire poem is being delivered line-by-line by a different student. Hopefully, my editing program and skills will make the poems flow, but also show the different interpretations of each line out of context. I don't know. It'll be great or not so great, but it will be fun. I will post some of the videos right here later this month.

Embedding Media: the Nerves of the Blog

Even though I am way behind in completing the "Kick Start Your Blog Challenge," I am determined to finish and keep the blog rolling.

I realize that I am guilty of boring blog posts. To me, those are the posts that have no pictures, no video, no nothin' except words. I admit that there are times I just want to write/complain/preach and I don't take the time to add interesting media to support my rant. This is dangerous to the health of my blog. I know that, personally, I am more drawn to a blog that includes some type of media.

I have added a video below that has nothing to do with embedding media or nerves, except that maybe it will calm some nerves of those who just want to see something fun. If you've never read Knuffle Bunny or held Knuffle Bunny, you might want to try sometime. He (or she) is pretty cool. My daughter thinks so too.

While I would not advocate that people, me included, add media to a blog post simply to make it look good (as I have here), the video above is designed to make the point that it is more interesting to see media in a post.

What is Illini Bluffs Library?

It is a place to...

have fun.

get work done.

work with technology.

find a good book.

relax.

Inspiring Movie

For my cycling friends:

What does it take to test our limits? How far can we be pushed by nature? Is it our environment? Is it loneliness? Is it our ability to push our pain threshold, our endurance? I found the answer Saturday night at the Peoria Theater in the movie, Ride the Divide. This is a 2700 mile, Canada to Mexico race along the Continental Divide. The race (yes, race) is completely unsupported. This fantastic film, which was Best Adventure Film (first recipient), 2010 Vail Film Festival, mainly follows three people as they attempt to complete the race. We ride with the production team who at times lose the riders in snow storms and the wilderness. The only means of tracking the riders is their GPS tracking devices, but that requires having Internet or a reliable wireless network which most of this ground lacks.

Ride The Divide Movie Trailer from Ride The Divide on Vimeo.

We can see a change in the riders as the miles and climbs begin to take a toll on their bodies and bikes. But, what really is inspiring is to see that the physical toll, in most cases, is not what brings the riders to drop out or push on. It is the emotional strain of riding hundreds and thousands of miles alone. What is it that keeps them out their day after day putting in 50 to 150 miles a day, alone? Most drop out, but those who finish have some good insight of what it takes. It truly is inspiring to hear their stories and see the land. Check out the trailer and check out the movie. Then, air up the tires and get out there!

Avatars: The Real You or Not

I've played around with using avatars a year ago or thereabouts, and I really was not happy with them. I can never get one that I feel resembles me (I mean, when your handsome and all... ahem). Then, I tried coming up with some that fit my likes. Then, I created crazy avatars. The trouble with those is I would get tired of them and want to always change them, and I think consistency is important. So I gave up on using avatars. I did try a couple today and created, again, interesting representations, but nothing that I like to use as a regular. I used Picassoheads and Reasonably Clever lego avatars. I have also used voki in the past without any pleasing results. Yes, that is a lego avatar of me being a famous treasure hunter like Indiana Jones.

I like using pictures of some famous people or characters. On Facebook, I am represented with a famous picture of my favorite president. I have also been Han Solo, Snoopy, and Spiderman. Lots of people complained that they weren't sure it was me. They have gotten over that and now everyone knows on Facebook that I am my favorite president.

I am not a big fan of using a picture of me to represent myself for...well...I don't know. Privacy? No good pictures of myself? I don't have a good reason, but I usually don't use pictures of me. Obviously, if you go to the bottom of the page you will see a picture of me. I figure it is only fair that if you are taking the time to read the ramblings of the Cycling Librarian, you might as well know what I look like. So, avatars? I'm not a big fan.

Virtual Gaming Education

I came across this video from the Florida Virtual School on Scott McLeod's Dangerously Irrelevant blog. Watch the video, for someone like me who loves computer games (I realize calling them computer games dates me) and a digital native, this is exciting.

The concept of video game as education, which meets reading standards and encourages critical thinking skills, is like finding "the answer." The cost probably takes most districts out of the running to take it out of the dream stage, but what about a classroom application? Here is a simplified blueprint of how this could work. A teacher has certain material to teach in a semester or even quarter, lets say in an English classroom there is literature, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Perhaps there is a mystery/story line/plot that could over-arch the semester and use all of the skills the students need to solve the mystery. Maybe there are clues in the literature that students could gather as they read Shakespeare or Gatsby; communication in the form of memos or letters, with the students could use the vocabulary words; grammar or the poor use of it could scramble messages or students might need to recognize the adverb killer, or a character the students interact with might write only in simple sentences with the lack of adjectives. I don't know, but I feel pretty confident to guess this is what the tech folks and curriculum directors at Florida Virtual School did. This "video game" concept that ties together skills really shows the possibilities in education.

This would take a monumental effort to plan, prep, execute and assess, but that is why schools should be promoting collaboration. That means giving teachers time to work. Not 45 minutes at the beginning of a day once a month, but time to think, discuss, disagree, plan, test, reflect and rewrite. Amazing things happen when that time is given. Also, most schools have librarians who love projects like this. Let's get thinking and make education effective, fun and interesting.

History's history

I found myself reading a CNN article online called Subject Matters: Why students fall behind on history. History as a subject is one of my favorites because of the way it impacts everything we do. With a good understanding of history, we have a much better understanding and appreciation of how our world, country, state, etc. work.

The article states how history is being shortchanged because it is not a mandated No Child Left Behind subject and even though it is a growing subject, because history is new yesterday and will be new again tomorrow, the history classroom gets no additional time to cover the subjects. One individual commented below the article that history classes cover basically colonialism to World War II. I would consider that a sizable amount of information in a two semester course.

What I found to be, in my opinion, very sad was what one teacher was quoted as saying. He said, "I think they (students) learn information by itself, in isolation, but putting the big picture together is not happening." I would argue that when students learn history in isolation it keeps them from learning the big picture. My experience has shown that teaching history in the context of other disciplines like English, music, and art help students to understand the cultural values of the people they are studying, which in turn helps them to place the events of the day in time. Integrating history also helps students to understand why people reacted and passed policies, started wars, migrated. The photographs and discussion of the photographers of the 1930's help students to understand the people and conditions. A study of the music and poetry helps students to understand the Great Migration of the 1920's. And an understanding of the rise of cities and industrialism, in turn, helps us to understand why the poetry and music changed.

When I taught an American Studies, combined US history and American Literature class, my co-teacher and I enjoyed challenging the students to think and discuss, what affects what. Does history impact literature or did the literature affect the history. Sometimes it was clear and sometimes it was not.

The article mentions that teachers use history as a "throw in" (in quotes because that is how I interpreted it) to help improve reading skills. A noble attempt; but if we want to confuse students as one teacher was quoted as saying that students could identify an event like the Declaration of Independence but they could not identify the century it happened, we should continue just "throwing in" history to "improve" reading. Agreed that most of the state testing reading selections are non-fiction and some are historical, others are scientific, and others are literary. The answer to improving student test scores is to teach reading in all subjects, not just English class.

I have traditionally been opposed to a national curriculum, but articles like this make me realize that maybe we (the teaching community) cannot prioritize. We struggle, not because we lack professionalism, not because we lack passion, not because we lack know-how, but because we lack leadership. Perhaps it is time for the education community to take decision making out of non-teacher hands. It has been a mystery to me what qualifies a elected officials to make decisions about what should be taught and tested. Elected officials should oversee schools, the money, and hold schools accountable, but educators should be in charge of the what and how.

I have ideas, but I don't have the answers. I sure would like to see some real discussion on a national level. History class is not the problem. It is one of the many problems. What do you think?

Features of an effective About Me page

As I continue Edublog's Teacher Challenge, I have learned to add pages to my blog. You will find pages right below the picture at the top. I added an "About Me" page that will give you a bit of a bio about, well, who else, me. Keep looking for other pages to be added with resources from the Cycling Librarian.

As I browsed through some of my favorite blogs' "About Me" pages, I noticed almost everyone includes a biography including education and past career experiences. I did like that one included a short bio and a long bio. My entire bio is short. One About Me page added some public speaking solicitation, which seemed appropriate on that particular page. I plan to look to more "About Me" pages to find unique elements so I can make mine less "I did this..." and more...something else.

Cycling Librarian is Mobile

If you don't have much time between rides and hanging out at the library, you can read Cycling Librarian on your mobile device. Thanks blogger!

Balance

As the new year gets started, I really seem to be coming across this word, Balance, a lot. National Geographic pointed it out to me in their new series, 7 Billion. All those diet and fitness commercials on television say with a balanced diet. My three-year-old daughter reminds me that she knows how to balance on a beam.

All this reminds me of the balance I am looking for in the library. I started a weeding project in the nonfiction section this week, and I began in the biography section. I am trying to find a balance of what "old" people/biographies do students need or want access too and what biographies seem irrelevant these days. Those will be weeded and new "more relevant" biographies will be added. I am also trying to balance the look of the shelves so students want to approach the biography section. Right now the section looks crowded and unapproachable, and I feel like students don't even want to walk into the stacks, not just in the biography, but in all the non fiction section. So, I need to find some balance.

Here is my plan, so I am curious what others think. I am not too far into the project to put a screeching halt and change things around, but I'm getting close so offer your advice quickly, please. I am re cataloging all of the biography anthologies (presidents, Famous African Americans, Notable Pioneers, kings and queens) as 920 and the "solo" biographies as 921. I feel like the biography anthologies don't get used when they are mixed in with the solo biographies. What I'm not sure about yet is how to organize the 920's. Should I try to categorize them? For example, President biography books would either go 920 PRE (category President) or 920 WAL (organized by author)? If I go with category, what do I do with stand alone 920 books that don't have a category? Well, I have a few weeks to worry about that. I am still in the weeding and separating 920 and 921.

I hope you find balance in your library, on the bike and in your life. I'm working on all three.

Really good blog post

As you may have noticed in yesterday's post, I am reinventing "The Cycling Librarian" blog. Well, it might be considered more like giving the ball a kick after it got stuck in some tall grass. Anyway, I am participating in Edublog's Teacher Challenge where I will complete 30 activities to help my blogging skills improve. I know all one of you will really appreciate this which is why there is probably only one of you (thanks mom) currently reading. Today's activity is to find a good blog post and comment on it. Since I subscribe to several good blogs this activity is not much trouble.

I really enjoy reading Scott McLeod's blog "Dangerously!Irrelevant." Here is the link to his most recent post which is especially timely. It is called Blogging v. teaching. As the title of the post indicates, he poses the questions, "do you see blogging as an extension of your teaching? If not, should you? On the flip side, do you see teaching as an extension of your blogging?"

One thing that I like about his post is that he does explicitly ask the reader questions in which he intends an answer. This works for him because he has several comments which follow the post. I also like that he includes other links that relate to the topic being discussed.

Now, the reason I was especially interested in his topic is because when I look at the goals I listed in yesterday's post, teaching is a big part of what I wanted to do with my blog. I enjoy blogs because they act as a way to think, but where others can think with you. I never pretend to be the authority on any topic in which I write, so I hope no one ever thinks that when they read my thoughts. I put them in the blog because it is what I am thinking and I am curious what others think. If I am certain about something, it will be clearly stated something like this, "I know this to be true." or "I am certain that..." Otherwise, it is all open to discussion. As always, what do you think?

Revisiting

This morning as I was working through a cycling workout, I decided it is time to refocus my efforts on "The Cycling Librarian." My original goal of the blog was to simply get a blog going that reflected my thoughts as a new school librarian. I have the address of the blog linked to my School's Library wiki page so people can easily access it and "see" my thoughts. Kind of a scary proposition put into practice, but it isn't always bad for people to see what we are thinking.

So, to refocus, this blog should start heading down the path of reporting the events in the library, my thoughts on how school libraries are puzzle pieces that fit into the center of schools, my t

houghts on school, education and library advocacy in the political realm, and of course my completely unrelated thoughts on the world of cycling. I hope if something gets your pot boiling or if you somehow would seem to agree with me, let me know by replying to my post.

Now that I am wrapping up, I will be putting the words of the post into Wordle and hopefully the word picture will reveal the truly important things that this blog will address. Take a look.