Late last night, I received the following email:
Hi Ms. Abarbanel,
I just finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. You gave it to me to read for DEAR Day...
I'm crying and I LOVE this book!! Just wanted to let you know...I couldn't wait until Tuesday to talk about it.
Literally indebted to you,
And there is the power combination of Drop Everything and Read, John Green, and individualized attention from a librarian. I love approaching kids individually with a favorite book. The books I hand to kids one at a time tend to get checked out more often than booktalked books. And they usually come back to tell me how they liked it.
I got this email about another John Green book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson:
I just wanted to let you know that I finished Will Grayson Will Grayson. It was such a good book!!! I was wondering if you could possibly recommend some other gay-themed books that I should read. I would really appreciate it!!
I love when the kids send me love notes about the books that spoke to them. They are the most powerful feedback I get. Do you have any favorite notes from students about books? Share them here!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Just for Fun: Participatory Displays
Sometimes participatory culture grows through old methods. Inspired by librarian Michelle Fromme, who often refers to her "chalk talks," I have started making extremely simple and easy monthly participatory displays in the library. In one of our entrances, I put up a piece of butcher paper with a question on it, then I put some markers out and wait for the responses. The students are enjoying the outlet, the participation, and reading the other responses. Even the admissions tours often stop and take a look.
We started with the basics. What is your favorite book?
Next we inquired about superhero powers, songs, and now we are in to February with What is your favorite love story/song/poem? We have also started putting similar displays, with sharpies, on a Middle School bulletin board which the library has recently taken over, so they can more easily join in the fun.
In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture as one:
1.With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2.With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others
3.With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is
passed along to novices
4.Where members believe that their contributions matter
5.Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they
care what other people think about what they have created).
Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when
ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued
So, maybe our little displays don't hit every one of those marks, but the introduction is there.
1. Anyone can participate
2. It is public, so it is shared, and we encourage creativity and interaction
3. Well..this one is a stretch.. but we are purposefully starting off with easy prompts this year, and I am hoping that as people get more comfortable with the public sharing, we can move on to deeper ideas and conversations on the displays.
4. Students see other students enjoying the boards
5. The students are having fun creating a type of collage of ideas and humor. They are connecting with what each other writes and sometimes building upon it.
And, we leave everyone's contributions up, and although not everyone participates, everyone knows they can.
I can't get the students to participate on the blog or the Facebook page, but on the display, people are engaged. I wonder why that is - maybe the anonymity? the ease? the joining in on something similar to public conversation? I like the participation, the ease, and the building of culture that is happening through these simple displays. I think the students are learning that we care about what matters to them.
Another type of participatory display came from our graduating seniors last year. One boy wanted to put up a display of his favorite books, then other seniors wanted to do it too. This year we have a senior in charge of the weekly Senior Displays, where a senior puts out 10 favorite books from their 7th-12th grade experience at our school. While a student's display is up, we take his/her picture with the most favorite book and make a READ bookmark. This is a nice memento of their library lives, and I know some of the kids really enjoy the experience.
We are always looking for ways students can participate in the library, and displays are just one aspect. Do you have students help with displays? How are their interestes told through displays?
We started with the basics. What is your favorite book?
In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture as one:
1.With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2.With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others
3.With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is
passed along to novices
4.Where members believe that their contributions matter
5.Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they
care what other people think about what they have created).
Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when
ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued
So, maybe our little displays don't hit every one of those marks, but the introduction is there.
1. Anyone can participate
2. It is public, so it is shared, and we encourage creativity and interaction
3. Well..this one is a stretch.. but we are purposefully starting off with easy prompts this year, and I am hoping that as people get more comfortable with the public sharing, we can move on to deeper ideas and conversations on the displays.
4. Students see other students enjoying the boards
5. The students are having fun creating a type of collage of ideas and humor. They are connecting with what each other writes and sometimes building upon it.
And, we leave everyone's contributions up, and although not everyone participates, everyone knows they can.
I can't get the students to participate on the blog or the Facebook page, but on the display, people are engaged. I wonder why that is - maybe the anonymity? the ease? the joining in on something similar to public conversation? I like the participation, the ease, and the building of culture that is happening through these simple displays. I think the students are learning that we care about what matters to them.
Another type of participatory display came from our graduating seniors last year. One boy wanted to put up a display of his favorite books, then other seniors wanted to do it too. This year we have a senior in charge of the weekly Senior Displays, where a senior puts out 10 favorite books from their 7th-12th grade experience at our school. While a student's display is up, we take his/her picture with the most favorite book and make a READ bookmark. This is a nice memento of their library lives, and I know some of the kids really enjoy the experience.
We are always looking for ways students can participate in the library, and displays are just one aspect. Do you have students help with displays? How are their interestes told through displays?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Collaborative Group Work: Thoughts
Just a quick post -
I keep thinking about this opinion piece from last week's New York Times. It's important to remember introverts, or even just kids who are a bit shy or quiet, when assigning group work. Of course, it is important for students to learn how to work with others and have their voices heard. But it also important for them to have the chance to work alone and create, without pushy classmates stifling their ideas.
And, on a related note, I have to remember that the library study carrels are needed. Our students use the 40 library study carrels all day. I have to do a better job at keeping other students quiet while near them. Will we have a backlash about our libraries that are getting louder and louder with collaboration? Are we focusing too much on the kids who enjoy collaboration while not paying enough to those who enjoy quiet and solitary work? In our big one-room library this might be the case. I wonder how I can please everyone.
I keep thinking about this opinion piece from last week's New York Times. It's important to remember introverts, or even just kids who are a bit shy or quiet, when assigning group work. Of course, it is important for students to learn how to work with others and have their voices heard. But it also important for them to have the chance to work alone and create, without pushy classmates stifling their ideas.
And, on a related note, I have to remember that the library study carrels are needed. Our students use the 40 library study carrels all day. I have to do a better job at keeping other students quiet while near them. Will we have a backlash about our libraries that are getting louder and louder with collaboration? Are we focusing too much on the kids who enjoy collaboration while not paying enough to those who enjoy quiet and solitary work? In our big one-room library this might be the case. I wonder how I can please everyone.
Friday, January 6, 2012
LibGuide: NoodleTools for Creating Works Cited, Notecards, and Outlines
Recently I made a LibGuide about using NoodleTools. The NoodleTools team was really helpful and gave me some good feedback and links to include. I made the LibGuide as a template, so feel free to use it and adapt if for your own lessons and projects.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Solve One Problem, Create Another
My students used to email me all the time for database passwords. Even though I had them listed in our intranet, which was easily linked to our web page, many students seemed unable to deal with those steps. It was somehow easier to email me and wait for a response. That was fine for several years.
Then I found out about EZproxy, which allows the students to log into all the databases with their regular school user name and password! Voila, I thought, problem solved! no more emails!
It turns out I created a problem that might just be a stumbling block in getting the students to use the databases.
image: confused arrows by massdistraction
When bookmarking the database articles (or saving/sharing the URL in diigo, google docs, Word, NoodleTools, etc), if you save the permalink, durable link, bookmark, or whatever the database calls the link to go back to for the saved article, the bookmarked web address doesn't have the right prefix to the url that would give the students access from home. So, they have to put a prefix on the URL to get back to the article. I am not sure how many of my students are running into this problem, but I see it could happen more and more with all the collaborative GoogleDoc work going on at my school.
Now, all my LibGuides have this information:
Did I just create something even more complicated than teaching how to access the database passwords? Which is more complicated for 7-12 grades? And teaching the faculty how to link to an article is a whole other can of worms. I certainly can't teach it both ways. I have to pick a way and publicize it. Which is better? Do you use EZproxy? How do you deal with it? Am I missing something?
Then I found out about EZproxy, which allows the students to log into all the databases with their regular school user name and password! Voila, I thought, problem solved! no more emails!
It turns out I created a problem that might just be a stumbling block in getting the students to use the databases.
image: confused arrows by massdistraction
When bookmarking the database articles (or saving/sharing the URL in diigo, google docs, Word, NoodleTools, etc), if you save the permalink, durable link, bookmark, or whatever the database calls the link to go back to for the saved article, the bookmarked web address doesn't have the right prefix to the url that would give the students access from home. So, they have to put a prefix on the URL to get back to the article. I am not sure how many of my students are running into this problem, but I see it could happen more and more with all the collaborative GoogleDoc work going on at my school.
Now, all my LibGuides have this information:
Often you will want to save a link to an article in GoogleDocs or bookmark an article to Diigo, Evernote, or another information organizer.You access our databases through EZproxy, which allows you to use your Brentwood School login. In order to save URLs or bookmarks for future use, please follow these instructions:
1. In the database look for a link called Bookmark or Permalink. If the database offers these types of permanent links, those are best to use. Otherwise copy and paste the URL (Gale and ProQuest have these special links to their pages. ABC Clio and SIRS do not).
2. When accessing your saved links from home, put the following in front of your link: http://library.bwscampus.com:2048/login?url=So, a link to an Encyclopedia Britannica article would look like this:http://library.bwscampus.com:2048/login?url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/364937/mariachi
3. If you are having trouble, try opening the database first, and then click on your saved link.
4. If you are still having trouble, contact Ms. Abarbanel for help.
Did I just create something even more complicated than teaching how to access the database passwords? Which is more complicated for 7-12 grades? And teaching the faculty how to link to an article is a whole other can of worms. I certainly can't teach it both ways. I have to pick a way and publicize it. Which is better? Do you use EZproxy? How do you deal with it? Am I missing something?
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Perception
On Saturday Penelope Trunk (@penelopetrunk) tweeted the following:
"Why are we quiet in libraries? Collaborative learning is loud. And if you read everywhere you go, you're used to reading in loud places."
And I thought, are we really still having this conversation? She isn't a librarian, but that is how she sees libraries. And she usually thinks outside the box! So where does that leave us? Will we be allowed to transform? Libraries are changing in so many ways, but will public perception of libraries ever change? If not, the consequences are serious: more and more budget cuts, and the potential end of our institution.
So many institutions and professions are at a point of redefinition. Publishing, retail, design, architecture, education, religious institutions, everywhere we look times are changing. A fellow Independent School Librarian posted a conversation starter about coming together as a profession on the role of libraries, and referencing Clay Shirky he states, "[r]eporters and news organizations don't seem to have consensus about how this can be achieved and neither do libraries and librarians." Not only do we need to come together, we need to be loud about it! How can we reach non-librarians?
A big difficulty is helping people outside our professions (and used to the old ways) re-think the institutions. Some institutions are trying to change, but their reputations and old public perceptions are holding them back. Let's remember to let other institutions change as we work hard to change ours.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Reflections on a Season of Professional Development Part 2
Better Late than Never!
In October I joined over 3,000 librarians attending the American Association of School Librarians conference in Minneapolis. This was a much broader conference, and Steven Carr (the author if The Shallows) and Mimi Ito's ideas were almost pitted against each other. Their keynotes were the beginning and the end of the conference, respectively. I helped just a bit with the Learning Commons, an area where people gave more impromptu talks which were streamed live. For a couple of hours I acted as PR and host for this area, and I got to enjoy some of the presentations as well. I also watched the live streaming of Wendy Stephens' presentation from my hotel room as I rested one afternoon, which was great!
I attended several thought provoking sessions. Realizing that everyone is in the same fuzzy space regarding ebooks, ipads, ereaders, and that we are all grappling with how to interpret copyright issues with regard to multimedia in schools, I am now more comfortable in that muddy space. Now I just am more clear about how we are in the middle of a state of change, and nobody has all the answers. I just have to decide how and when to dive in.
More satisfying were the sessions I chose to attend about teaching research and increasing true inquiry and scholarship.
- I attended 4 hour pre-conference workshop on meaningful senior projects. This session gave me a lot of ideas for new programs at my school.
- I am inspired to use Stripling’s Method of Inquiry to engage learners and provide structure to the messy road of research - help the kids define the chaotic road by using the same method, 7-12. The Big 6 method used by our lower school doesn’t resonate with me, the Stripling method does.I am hoping I can find ways to incorporate it for next year.
- I want to explore the notion of transliteracy - what does that mean for our students and our research curriculum.
- I want to encourage MultiGenre artifacts as objects of creative synthesis of information in order to increase the opportunity for creativity at school.
- I am more knowledgeable of current research on teenagers as Internet searchers, and have ideas on how to incorporate this research into my teaching.
- I enjoyed Informal learning with friends and mentors who are leading the profession, and persuading me to continue my blog and to get involved in professional leadership through ALA, writing for professional publications again, or speaking/presenting at more conferences.
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