Month: November 2010

LACUE on Friday!

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I’ve been sort of missing around these parts lately because I’ve been in massive preparation for my first non-school presentation. That’s right, I’ll be presenting at LACUE, our state technology conference, on Friday. I’m a planner and an obsessor, so I’ve been consumed with hammering out my presentation. However, I am not one to plan what I’m actually going to say — which makes for interesting presentation planning. My preso is on “Tech Tools You Can Use,” and all of the tools I’ll be sharing are FREE! I hate going to a conference session that’s trying to sell you stuff. So in my 50 minute session, I’ll be cramming in as many awesome tools (most with awesome examples) as I possibly can!

Today I did a “dressed rehearsal” with some of my AWESOME co-workers at school. All of my planning paid off, because my timing (which I was concerned about) was pretty much on point. I’m quite the talker and low self esteem has never been my struggle, so I don’t generally get freaked out in front of an audience. Plus, I’m rambling about things that I LOVE and know, so I’m pretty comfortable.

The best computer teacher in the world (I love you, Steph!) videoed my preso, so I’ll see if I can stomach my obnoxious voice to see how I did. I felt good about it, but hate watching myself since I’m a spaz (what can I say, I talk with my arms). I’ve compiled some pretty sweet resources into my presentation wiki, so you should check it out and find a new favorite toy! I’ll  update after the big event, too!

My Edublog Award Nominations

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The Edublog Awards are such a great way to discover new blogs to follow. I love reading everyone’s nominations and it’s pretty much impossible to pick a favorite for so many of these categories. So here are my picks! Make sure you make yours and submit them before Friday, December 3. Click on the banner above and it will zap you to where you need to go for instructions!

Best Individual Tweeter: Steven Anderson @web20classroom

Best Resource Sharing Blog: Kelly Tenkely at iLearn Technology (everything she shares is pretty much the BEST)

Best series of Tweets: #ISTE10 – from the conference that changed the life.

Best Teacher Blog: Mrs. Bluebird at Bluebird’s Classroom (I absolutely, positively love reading her posts!)

Best Librarian Blog: Gwyneth Jones at The Daring Librarian (I want to be Gwyneth when I grow up)

Best Educational use of Video/Visual: Doug Valentine with Hot Dog Book Reviews

Best Educational Wiki: School Library Websites Wiki

Best Educational Webinar Series: TL Virtual Cafe

Lifetime Achievement: Joyce Valenza at NeverEndingSearch and everywhere else where she shares her sheer awesomeness.

Recent Reads

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted an update on what I’ve been reading. Hopefully I’ll be able to remember them all and share. I’ve decided that instead of throwing in my recent reads at the end of random posts, I’m going to start updating every few books with a “Recent Reads” post. I’m not into writing reviews — there are plenty of other places on the Interwebs where you can find those — try Amazon, GoodReads, or my fave for YA at StorySnoops (holla!). I’m just going to give my thoughts, impressions, feelings, and ramblings on the books. Because I know that’s what you’re all dying to hear about! Oh, and you should probably be my friend on GoodReads, too!

So like I said, it’s been a while. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

I’m into reading about polygamist societies…I find it to be so intriguing and disturbing. However, I had never read a polygamy centered book from a YA perspective. This was a quick read and I was completely entranced as I read it. It fit the mold of a typical polygamist story but was interesting from the teen perspective. I’d recommend it for someone who’s interested in this genre.

Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

This book was amazing. AMAZING! Several books before this one, I had read (and loved) Mockingbird, which was also written from the perspective of an adolescent on the Autism spectrum. I thought it would be hard to follow that, but this was another amazing, eye-opening book about living with Autism. I felt like I truly understood Jason, and my heart was wrenched by his struggles — particularly his miscommunications with his mom. Love, love, love this one and recommend it to anyone who knows (especially those who teach) a child with Autism.

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell

I know how much my kids LOVE the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Seriously, the most frequently asked question in my library is, “Where are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books? Are they all checked out??” This book has a similar diary-style format with sketches sprinkled throughout. I thought this one was cute and I know girls would devour it — particularly reluctant readers. Definitely a girly book that makes me, like, wanna talk, like, OMG!

The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong

On a recent trip the the public library, I grabbed several books that are nominated for the 2011 LYRC Award for 6-8 grades. This book was the first that I read. After Dork Diaries I needed something not so, like OMG. The Great Wide Sea is not my typical read (it had a bright yellow “ADVENTURE” sticker on the spine), but I gave it a shot anyway. I could not put this book down! It’s such a well written, emotionally charged page turner. A good recommendation for boys who are into books like Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I honestly think it’s one of the best books I’ve read lately — I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis

This book was at my Scholastic Book Fair last year, and its sequel (Girls Acting Catty) was on the preview for this year’s Fair. It’s also a LYRC nominee, so I figured it was time for me to read it. It’s a cute and relatable story for middle age girls. The feelings of being new at school, moving in with mom’s long-time boyfriend, and dealing with adolescent boys are quite realistic. I’ll be reading the sequel to find out what happens with Annabelle and her friends.

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

My third LYRC book was another pick for the boys. Gordon Korman is a rockstar author for middle grades, so I had high expectations. I loved Son of the Mob, which I read several years ago. Much like that one, this book had great characters. Yes, it’s quite an off the wall story and the ending was questionable for me, it was still a fun read and one that boys would love.

In Autumn, beautiful leaves fall.

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Last week was blissful (or stressful?) madness as the Book Fair took over our school library. It was incredibly successful and our sales were the highest they’ve been in the three years that I’ve been at the school. The kids had an awesome time and bought some great books! Favorites included The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, and of course Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth.

I took a wonderful trip this weekend to North Carolina. My BFF and I saw our FAVORITE band (Hanson!!!) play and then visited my beautiful nieces for the rest of the weekend. We were able to experience the beauty of fall that we miss out on in south Louisiana. The trees were incredible with their brightly colored leaves. Ours just turn brown and fall, we miss out on the vibrant colors.

Seeing all of these leaves made me think about how my kiddos at school miss out! So I brought a few ziplock bags full of colorful flowers home with me for this week’s lessons. Looking around made me think of one of my favorite fall stories — Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke.

This is a great story with stunning illustrations that just BEGS to be read aloud. Fletcher comes to understand what happens to trees in autumn. After our story, we are doing leaf rubbings with the leaves that I brought back from my trip. I’m telling you — the kids think these leaves are fake — most of them have never seen anything like them. It’s a fun activity and I used it for my formal observation today. It went very well and my assessor really enjoyed the activities. It’s great to have fun with my lessons the week before Thanksgiving break!

The Plight of the School Librarian

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Librarians have it easy. I want your job. All you have to do is sit around and read books all day. It’s not like you really have to do anything in here…

It’s the stigma of the school librarian — that it’s the cushy job and that librarians really don’t do much. I think maybe the stigma is magnified in elementary schools, so correct me if I’m wrong. I know I work my butt off, I’m constantly trying to improve, I’m always willing to do what it takes. I push myself, stress myself out, make myself sick, try to do too much. I try so hard to detach myself from the stigma and prove my worth. I know all of the things I do, how hard I work, how far I go above and beyond. I’m good at what I do, like really freakin’ good. Because it’s my life and it’s what makes me happy. But every now and then (okay, more often than I’d like to admit) someone throws a little comment my way and it deflates me like a balloon.

You mean we aren’t having library ancillary this week? (We’re having the Book Fair, so no.)

Forget the fact that I nearly killed myself last week trying to get everyone’s library books traded in anticipation of Book Fair.

I just feel like it’s never enough. I try so hard to do my job, do it well, and make the teachers’ lives easier. Maybe I’m just being whiney and needy. I know I need to learn to just brush it off and get over it. But I’m not there yet and just needed to vent.

If you’ve overcome this type of frustration and have seen the light, please share your wisdom with me…

AR Celebration

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My school has come a very long way with our implementation of Accelerated Reader in the past year. I’m still not completely sure how I feel about the program — how it aligns with my philosophy of reading and all — but I’ve committed to helping my school implement it with fidelity. I attended the AR Symposium last November and learned a lot about how the program is designed to be implemented. I came back and we started taking steps to start pushing our program in the right direction. We started having school-wide silent reading time each day. Last year, the focus was put on having students earn 100% on quizzes. I gave incremental prizes for earning so many 100%s on quizzes (and just about lost my mind trying to keep up with that.

I went back to the drawing board this summer and thought about everything I’ve learned about AR. I decided that it was time for us to move toward goal setting. This would fall to the teachers, which I HATE to do, but it really is the way Renaissance Place wants you to do it. I just don’t like feeling like I’m piling more work on the teachers. So I laid out the plan and walked the teachers through goal setting. For this first nine weeks we set fairly modest goals because I wanted it to be achievable. Each student’s goal is based on their STAR results and they kept track of their progress in their AR folders.

The nine weeks ended the week before last and the kids were ready to CELEBRATE! I told them that if they met their nine weeks goal, they would be invited to a celebration. At the intermediate and middle schools, they use AR goals to give a reading grade. We didn’t want to go that route, so we decided a celebration would work best for our 2nd and 3rd graders. We had our celebration this afternoon — a coke float party. About half of the students at our school met their goal this time around, which is pretty good, I think! I think that even though we are bumping up our goals this nine weeks, we will still see progress.

Photo credit: ginnerobot
How do you use Accelerated Reader at your school? What are your feelings about the program?