Googly-Eyed

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CC license http://flic.kr/p/5TaViY

I don’t know about the rest of you, but where I come from things right now are crazy. The picture above pretty much sums up how I’m feeling, as are many of my fellow teachers.

The value-added model that’s working so well everywhere else (ha!) is coming down the pipe to us here, while Jindal is pushing his “education reform” bill through to essentially do away with teacher tenure and open up a voucher program for private, parochial, and charter schools. Not that those schools will be held to the same standards of public schools, of course.

At my school, we are getting ready for our high-stakes test. In just a few months, we’ll be moving into a new school. A number of changes have been proposed in our district for the next school year, including doing away with the block schedule to move to a 7 period day. We’re going to be getting our first year’s transitional curriculum to move us to Common Core. Our principal is retiring, so we’ll be experiencing a major leadership change as well.

It seems like every day is something else. Morale is terribly low. I’m hoping that at some point in the near future, we’ll be seeing things in a positive light. Until then, I’m going to write some grad school reflections (THAT is a light at the end of the tunnel that I can definitely see!!) and reread The Hunger Games.

Presentation Extravaganza!

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First of all, let me say…

Mardi Gras break is a great thing in South Louisiana — especially the fact that we are getting a whole week off this year! This week has also happened to fall at a very convenient time. The time when I need time to finish my thesis paper. So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to these days. I figured while I was waiting to hear back from my advisor/professor (Dr. Sang Park the rockstar!) for what seems like the hundredth time in the past 24 hours to see where to go next with Chapter 4 of my paper. Meh. Don’t feel too sorry for me, though. I’m almost done with my master’s program (YEA!) and I’m headed to NC this weekend to visit my precious nieces.

March is SO CLOSE and such a hoppin’ month, it’s basically going to be PRESENTATION EXTRAVAGANZA!

So it was a major bummer earlier this month when LASL, our state school library conference, was postponed at the last minute due to weather. It’s back on now for March 3rd and I can’t wait to share my three presentations! I’ve never attended LASL before, so I can’t wait! My three presentations will be: ‘What’s a PLN?’, ‘PD with a Twist’, and ‘Favorite FREE Tech Tools.’ Slides can be found on my (very cute if I do say so myself) presentation wiki.

In a few more weeks, I’ll be heading up to Illinois to present at Follett’s New Leaf in Learning Conference. The most exciting part is that I’ll be meeting (face to face!!) and presenting with my library BFF and constant source of library inspiration Tamara Cox! I know we are going to have a BLAST sharing all of the fun things we do in our libraries in our two presentations: ‘Be a Next Gen Librarian Today’ and ‘Embedded Librarianship.’ Honestly…good times ahead! And I’m sure I’ll have to do some of my always fun, usually rambling video blog posts when I travel to Illinois!

Happy Mardi Gras friends, and laissez les bons temps rouler!

CMS Library Tour

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So my darling friend Tamara Cox, the Eliterate Librarian, posted a fun video tour of her library and challenged the rest of us to do the same.

You all should know by now that I love to make a video, so I was ready to jump on the wagon and get mine out there.

 

It’s so overwhelming to think about how much I’ve done in just over a year since I moved into this position. There’s nothing like middle school and I adore the crazy, drama-filled, brilliant, talented children that I get to work with each day.

I got an amazing compliment this week when a teacher came in to tell me what one of our 8th grade boys (the one that was recently voted “Most Athletic” in the class favorites yearbook poll) said about the library. He told his teacher: “You know how some restaurants have signs and stuff that say ‘World’s Greatest Hamburger” or “World’s Greatest Pizza”? Our library needs a sign that says “World’s Greatest Library.”

Good to know that I’m doing something right, especially on those days where it’s an absolute zoo in here and I feel like I might very well have lost my mind 🙂

Overdrive

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Overdrive – This is the comic that I created to introduce Overdrive to my students and teachers!

SO many of my students got eReaders for Christmas and came back to school so excited. Then a week or so in, they started to realize that ebooks cost money. And middle schoolers generally are unemployed, which will really cut into an individual’s book buying budget. My budget isn’t exactly full of oodles of money for ebooks, either. However, our school is lucky to be located in the parish (now you all know, in case you didn’t before, that I’m from Louisiana) with one of the best public library systems in the country! And our public library is always adding ebooks and audiobooks to Overdrive. So even though I’m not at a point where I can offer many ebooks through our school library, I can show my kids how to access Overdrive with their public library card.

SCORE!!

I did a short 10 minute session during each of the lunch periods this week to show students Overdrive, what our public library can offer them, and how they can use it with their various devices. There were lots of excited students (and teachers, too) that came in to learn about Overdrive. I’m sure there will be lots of excited parents, too, when their kids show them that they have access to so many ebooks and audiobooks for FREE!

Ahhh…the perks of having a library card 🙂

Holiday Happiness

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I’m writing this post on the plane ride home from a fabulous week in St. Lucia. My family and I spent the Christmas holiday soaking up sunshine and relaxing on the beautiful beaches of the island. I spent the week unplugged — almost completely, just a few email and Facebook checks on the painfully slow, way overpriced resort wifi. I could usually be found laid back in a hammock on the beach reading on my Nook with a fantastic fruity beverage in hand. I had lots of time to read, reflect and relax.

Island life is so different from what I’m used to… it’s so laid back and stress free. That really puts things into perspective! I generally spend a lot of time fretting over things that I have no control over. I want so badly for my school and district to move forward. Technology is so relevant to our students and we are doing them such a disservice when we let our own fear and apprehension hold us back from giving them the best learning opportunities. I get so worked up over slow progress (and often what feels like NO progress) that I often let it overshadow other things, more current and pressing things. In the new year, I’m going to try to focus on balance. Crazy, right?

I’m not going to call it a resolution or anything, I’m just going to make a more conscious effort towards balance. I know that I need to spend more time reading. My husband would scoff at that I’m sure, but I feel like I need to make even more of an effort so that I can make the best possible book recommendations to my students. I recently read “The Book Whisperer” by Donalyn Miller, an EXCELLENT book that really made me think about what I’m doing to instill a life-long love for reading in students. I can’t do my job if I’m not doing everything I can to stay on top of what books are new and relevant to my students lives. There’s nothing like the feeling of satisfaction that you get when a student comes to you after reading a book you recommended and let know know what an impact it had on them. I need to be doing what I can to help all of my students find the books that can make that difference for them.

I also need to make a conscious effort to balance my schedule. I so struggle with this, but I need to find a way to be be consistent when it comes to making circulation dates, digital citizenship lessons, research activities, and cross-curricular projects happen regularly. Not sure how I’m going to make it happen (can I add some more time to my day, or maybe clone myself?), but I’m going to try. I also want to add more variety into programs — involving reading, technology, art, and culture. I’m thinking about doing some lunchtime and/or after school workshops. Coming back from the holidays, I’m thinking that a “How to Use Overdrive” to help new ereader owners learn how to take advantage of the access to Overdrive that we have from our public library…teachers AND students welcome!

2011 has been such a great year for me. This time last year I was gearing up for my mid-year move to the middle school. I’m definitely settled and in my element now, many changes and much success have found a home at the CMS library. More change is on the calendar for 2012…this summer we will be moving to our new school! So much to look forward to and so much to be thankful for…I’m loving life!

Holy Bananas UPDATE!

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Gosh, I’ve been busy. So much to update!

First, I spent the beginning of last week at LACUE, our state technology conference. Good times! I really enjoy presenting — I mean I get to be the center of attention, I get to spread my ideas, I get to try to be clever and witty to see if I can get a few laughs.

Really, though, it was a successful presentation. My session was called “Favorite FREE Tech Tools,” and my links and resources can be found on my presentation wiki.

I’m hoping to do more presenting in the future and I also would love to do multiple presentations at LACUE 2012.

I came back from the conference on December 1st which was an exciting day — our FIRST ever author visit at the CMS library! Louisiana author Diana Rowland came for an after school meet-and-greet, where she talked about her writing process and publication. Diana is good people! The students loved her! After, my ELA friend and I took her out for dinner and we had a blast. Such a great day!

This is Diana’s most recent novel. Isn’t the cover insane?! Despite the fact that I was a bit hesitant about diving into this zombie novel, I really LOVED it! Even though the novel is definitely a high school level, a few of my more mature readers have gobbled it up like a jar of brains (hehe, I couldn’t resist!).

I’m so glad that we were able to introduce this amazing author to our students, particularly those that have an interest in writing!

 

 

We had a slamming TL Virtual Cafe Library World Smackdown on Monday which ROCKED! If you missed it, you can check out the archive here.

And now, the best for last…I’m nominated for an Edublog Award in the “Best use of audio/video/podcast” category!! I’m so excited and so HONORED to be included in the rockstar crowd that is the Edublog Award nominees! And I’m not going to lie or be all full of fluff…of course I want to win! If you haven’t before, please check out the MightyLittleLibrarian’s YouTube Channel. If you like it and are so inclined, VOTE FOR ME! 🙂

I will admit, though, that there are some friends of mine that are MUCH more deserving that I am of an Edublog Award. The Daring Librarian is SO VERY deserving of so many categories, including “Best Library/Librarian Blog” and “Best Educational Wiki.” AND it’s time that we get out there and vote to give Joyce Valenza the “Lifetime Achievement” award for everything she’s done for our profession!

So there ya go, my friends! It’s been a great week!

My Edublog Nominations

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It’s time to make our nominations for the 2011 Edublog Awards!

It’s basically impossible to pick just one person for most of these categories, but after much thought and consideration I’ve compiled my list! I’m so honored to have these individuals as part of my PLN and I’m so thankful for the contributions they continuously make to the education profession.

Best individual blog:  Joyce Valenza – Neverending Search

Joyce’s blog is the perfect balance of sharing valuable information and inspiring calls to action. She’s the fearless leader of our Geek Tribe and I’m so grateful that she continues to push those of us who follow her blog to grow as professionals.

Best group blog:  Tiffany, Shannon, Eden, Jennifer – Story Snoops

Story Snoops is a great resources for parents, teachers, and librarians. Not only do they have an incredible database of book reviews, but these four moms also co-author a fabulous blog! I use this blog to make so many book recommendations to my students (and book purchases!).

Best individual tweeter:  Steven Anderson

Steven is THE MAN on Twitter. Such an amazing sharer of the wealth of knowledge that he has on all things ed tech. Plus, he’s just a really nice guy!

Best new blog:  Tamara Cox – Eliterate Librarian

The day that I discovered Tamara’s blog was a very important day in my career! The more I read her blog, the more I knew I had found my library soulmate. She graciously shares amazing ideas on her blog, and her passion for her profession definitely shines through. I look forward to reading her blog and calling her my friend for many years to come!

Best ed tech / resource sharing blog:  Richard Byrne – Free Tech for Teachers

Honestly, Richard’s Free Tech for Teachers blog needs no explanation. He’s like the ed tech blogging Superman. This is always the first blog I recommend for teachers to follow.

Most influential blog post:  Gwyneth Jones – Lady GaGa Librarians Unite!

This blog post by Gwyneth Jones was by far my favorite and most influential of the year. It caused a bit of a stir (*evil grin*), which made it even better! In the words of Gwyneth — it’s time for us, as school librarians, to start acting more like Lady GaGa and less like Lady Bird Johnson!

Best twitter hashtag:  #ISTE11

ISTE conference time is the most wonderful time of the year! And the hashtag that belongs to the event is the best!

Best librarian / library blog:  Gwyneth Jones – The Daring Librarian

I’ve got so much love for the amazing, FANTABULOUS Gwyneth Jones! I’m talking oodles and oodles of love. Not only does her blog share the best of the best when it comes to ed tech and library goodness, but the tone and personality of her writing is what keeps us all coming back for more! Gwyneth’s blog truly gives you a sense of who she is and what she’s about — completely genuine and in my book THE BEST!

Best School Administrator blog:  Eric Sheninger – A Principal’s Reflections

I have so much admiration for Eric Sheninger and the advocating he does for social media in schools. He’s a stand-out to me when I think of proactive, forward-thinking administrators.

Best educational wiki:  SIGML Wiki

ISTE’s SIGML (Special Interest Group for Mobile Learning) wiki is fabulous! It’s beautiful! It’s clean! I love it! It inspired me to build better, fancier wikis…yay!

Best open PD / unconference / webinar series:  TL Virtual Cafe

The TL Virtual Cafe is such an incredible FREE PD opportunity offered every month! Participating in this terrific webinar series has helped me to grow so much as a teacher-librarian and it always leaves me refreshed and full of new ideas. Our Geek Tribe is so giving… having so many willing to share makes for something really great!

Lifetime achievement:  Joyce Valenza

Joyce is the queen of our tribe. She’s brilliant and inspirational. She’s an incredible leader and fabulous speaker. Joyce is also kind, generous, and a great collaborator. With everything that she has done and continues to do to push our profession and education forward, she completely deserves to be recognized!

White House Petition for School Libraries

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Come on people. What the heck is going on here? It’s time to pull ourselves together.

Joyce Valenza, Jennifer LaGarde and Gwyneth Jones have posted about it. We know that properly staffed and stocked school libraries really do make a difference in the lives of students. I’m not rehashing all of that, because – DUH! – we already know that. Despite this, the flippin’ petition still doesn’t have enough signatures. It’s time to get it together, people!!

This is what we are going to do: set up a petition station at your big Thanksgiving bash. I will be taking my laptop with this cute little sign I made and STRONGLY encourage every single person there to sign the petition:

PDF Here: SupportLibraries

I invite you to print it out and do the same. You could also use this QR code and have people get to the petition that way:

I think that setting up a station and having people do it right then and there would be the most effective way to make this happen. And we have GOT to make this happen!

If you plan to join in and set up a station at your holiday dinner, leave a comment! PLEASE! I’m begging you…let’s make this happen!

EDIT: Here’s the link to the petition!

Obsessed with Decorations!

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I’m a big believer in decorating in the library. I don’t care if you have a moldy, musty, ancient room with ceiling tiles falling in (because I do!!) — you can still make the place cute. It’s not superficial, it’s an important part of making your library a comfortable, welcoming place. This is why I went crazy decorating when I moved into my current position.

So guess what else: I think decorating for holidays is pretty important, too. Yep, I’m out of control. But the kids love it, so that makes it all okay 🙂

For November, I created a “Thankful Door” where students and teachers could grab a marker and share something that they were thankful for this year. I broke out the Cricut and cut out some Thanksgiving cuteness to add to the door. I also broke out the leaves from last fall (I laminated them!) that I brought home from my North Carolina trip. Check out our Thankful Door:

  

ANNOYANCE: The stores apparently  think that Thanksgiving isn’t uber important in terms of decorations. They completely skipped from Halloween decorations to Christmas! The only things I managed to find were this goofy little turkey man to sit on the circulation desk and this little fall themed basket arrangement. Next year I WILL have a cornucopia. It’s essential!

 

Before I left on Friday, I went ahead and took down the fall decorations. My wonderful mom dropped off my Christmas tree and some of the kids were dying to set it up.

  

Since I’m at the middle school now, I (and by “I”, I mean mom) had to make new book ornaments with my kids’ favorite books (see my old elementary tree here). Have I mentioned that my mom is the best?? She is! After we got out of school on Friday (early dismissal for the holiday…SCORE!) we rolled on over to Hobby Lobby for some more Christmas decorations. Then we went up this afternoon to put everything up. Check it out:

        

We went with the BIG lights. And some nice touches of pink…

Yes, I like to be over-the-top. Don’t hate! 🙂

Wiki Redesign

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This weekend I finally dove into a task that I’ve been wanting to get after…wiki redesign!!

First, let me say that I absolutely love Wikispaces. The wikis are very user friendly and they even give perks to educators!

What my wikis were lacking…genuine cuteness. I mean, I’m all about the cuteness and I REALLY needed to fix up my wiki. I was inspired by SIGML’s Wiki which is so nicely done! And their great designer, Victor Fitzjarrald, has created a great Wiki Design tutorial. Score!

So I spent Saturday getting cozy with Photoshop and CSS and put lots of work into our SIGMS wiki.

Check out the SIGMS Wiki here!

Then I was hooked. My presentation wiki was much overdue for some TLC. Our state technology conference, LACUE, is coming up and I’ve got a presentation that I’ll be working on for that…so it needed a extra cute home.

Check out my Presentation Wiki here 🙂

I think the buttons are what really make the new look pop — those were created in Photoshop. According to my husband (who does graphic/web design), I know just enough Photoshop to mess things up. HA! I fixed things up 🙂 So proud of myself!!

I was inspired a second time this week by the absolutely FANTABULOUS Gwyneth Jones! Yep, that Daring Librarian is uber inspiring! She posted about Dropbox, which I finally took advantage of last week. I grew to love it so much, so quickly that I created a Tech Tuesday video about it: