Month: September 2012

Nothing like the scent of a new book…

- librariantiff 1 Comment

I’m sure this won’t come as a shock to anyone, but I’m obsessed with new books. I’m deeply devoted to Perma-Bound books — nothing gets me like the fresh scent of that polyvinyl adhesive holding together those beautiful, shiny covers with their laminated polyester coating. And on the rare occasion that that one of my Perma-Bound copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix starts to come un-bound, I shoot them an email and they send me a fresh one. I’m quite upset when a book isn’t available in Perma-Bound. Nothing quite compares to opening boxes from a shipment from my beloved Perma-Bound.

Nothing except an awesome bargain-packed trip to Books-A-Million. I love my BAM! My BFF (fellow bookworm and ELA teacher at my school) and I love to hit up our local BAM! and dig through the bargain book section.  Here’s some photographic evidence from one of our more lucrative trips:

Very rarely am I able to bring myself to pay full price for a book from here. Well, I don’t actually have to pay full price because they give us an AWESOME 20% off for purchases for school. And there’s the occasional new release or hot cover that I just can’t leave without. But what gets me REALLY giddy is when I leave with two heavy bags of books for less than $40. The number of (mostly hardcover!!) books that I score from them for less than $4 is pretty amazing. Copies of “I Am Number Four”, “Heist Society”, and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” are just a few of my recent finds that left me doing a jig as I exit the store with the beautiful new books!

Regular visits to the book store also keep me aware of what’s hot and what’s new — definitely important as I try to stretch my ever-shrinking budget to get the most bang for the buck. And, honestly, that’s what it’s all about — doing the best I can to get the best possible books in the hands of my students!

What are your tricks for stocking your library shelves?

Search Terms Lesson

- librariantiff 2 Comments

I’m really excited to share a lesson over the next few days with my 7th grade students about how to make the best use of your search terms. After WEEKS of presenting introductory lessons to the new physical space (new library and it’s layout) and digital space (learning about how to use Schoology) to EVERY student in the school (that’s each lesson 42 times!!), I’m ready to start teaching something different! I asked one of the 7th grade teachers what a relevant topic would be for their students at this time, and she expressed that her students have been struggling when trying to conduct a web search. Guess what they want to do… They just want to type in their question verbatim and they are SHOCKED and CONFUSED when the response they want doesn’t appear in the first page.

So I started looking for lesson plans with ideas on how to teach this. Google has a whole series of lessons about searching, including a beginner lesson on picking the right search terms. Yes please!

I’m excited to have found these lesson resources. There’s so much great stuff out there, and I LOVE when I find something that fits my needs pretty well, which is exactly what happened with this. Apparently there are also “A Google A Day Challenges” that are little lessons created by Google to help students hone their search skills:

I’m definitely going to be sharing these with my teachers, as well as using some during library visits! This is something that our students (and if we’re being honest, many of our teachers) struggle with — and they need our help! Talk about a skill they’re going to need for the rest of their lives, this is definitely one of them!

I’m also going to share this cool infographic I found on Mashable about getting more out of your Google search:

I’m excited to see how these lessons play out. I hope that there will be lots of “Ooooohh, now I get it!” moments from my students this week as we have this discussion.

What tricks and tools do you use to teach your students how to conduct a Google search?

Back to School Update

- librariantiff 2 Comments

Wow, it’s September! August really flew by — it was crazy, hectic, and sometimes overwhelming as we kicked off the school year and settled into our new building. I can definitely say that I’m looking forward to many years of STAYING PUT and not having to move or re-arrange or anything else of that nature! I’m definitely in love with my new home sweet home!

I’ve also had an unexpected week off work with Hurricane Isaac blowing through town. I’m definitely ready for Tuesday to get here so I can get back to the library and into the routine that I’ve so desperately been craving.

I’ve been getting loads of questions lately about our library’s nontraditional shelving, and I really need to do a thorough post on the steps I took and all. But today is not the day for that. I will share my signage for the categories I’ve used, though! I created these using Creative Commons images from OpenClipArt.com, the WordFoto app, Comic Life, and Photoshop. I’ve posted them all on Flickr with a Creative Commons Share Alike license, so feel free to use them in your own library if you like them!

I’ve also committed to a new challenge for myself for this school year. I will be working on my National Board Certification!! My library twin and bestie Tamara Cox is working on hers as well, and I’m already SO THANKFUL for the support and drive that she is giving me! I can already see how this process is going to really push me to examine and improve my practice as a librarian.

And now for an exciting announcement…

I am SO looking forward to September 10th! Last year I was honored and GIDDY to be asked by the fantabulous Gwyneth Jones to join her in presenting a TL Virtual Cafe Back to School Special! This year, the amazing Jennifer LaGarde is joining us for what is sure to be an AWESOME hour packed full of ideas and excitement to get you pumped up for a great year! I’m so excited to join these two lovely ladies in kicking off what is going to be an information packed year of top notch webinars from the TL Virtual Cafe! Hope to see you all there!