Happy Spring Break!

This is the start of our Spring Break week.  I'm going to unplug and recharge the old batteries, see how much reading I can do and see if I can get back to my long neglected novel.  I'm never going to get that finished at the rate I'm going!

I will probably read more than just my novels--although I've got to finish The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene.  And I'm re-reading Switch for a book study.  If I find any other good professional articles, you know I'll share them here! 

And if you are having a break this upcoming week, enjoy!  And if you're not, you have my deepest sympathies. 

Let me a comment if you learn something new this upcoming week!

Oscar winner

This film won the award for best animated short film--The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Take 15 minutes to watch--it's absolutely adorable.

Twitter

Who do you follow on Twitter?  Do you ever send any tweets?  Do you know what a hash tag is? 

I'm finding my best professional readings come from Twitter.  I have several organizations I follow--SLJ, ALA, TCEA and then I also follow some of the best professionals in the teacher librarian world--Joyce Valenza, Buffy Hamilton and Teri Lesene. I have some other random people I follow, people in the publishing world since I want to be a writer when I grow up.  And then I also follow some general news sites--our local tv station and newspaper, a network news site and Texas Monthly magazine. 

All in all, I get a broad spectrum of news and information as well as keeping up with the trends in our field.  I can join #edchat to see what teachers are discussing.  Once a month #titletalk discusses young adult books and titles. I can at a glance scan the postings and save any that might catch my eye.  I think I've done more professional reading this year since I've joined Twitter than I've done in a long time.

Do you have a Twitter name?  Post it here and I'll follow you too!

P.S.  Found this great Common Craft video of Twitter basics.  Hope this helps!
http://www.commoncraft.com/video/twitter

Google maps and literature

I heard this idea of using Google Maps to study the setting of a novel.  Students can look at a map to see where the setting is actually located and through the street view, they can see what the area looks like today.  Interesting concept.

I used to teach the novel April Morning, set in the U.S. at the start of the Revolutionary War. I always had trouble getting the kids to picture the area of the story.  Distances are so great in Texas, they couldn't imagine how the troops could get from one town to the next in a day.  If I could have used a Google map, I wonder if that would have helped.

Or think about studying about the slave trade. Kids would be able to see the distances the ships had to travel to bring those people over to the Americas. A novel set in the Civil War era could follow the battles of the war.  I think there are lots of possibilities.

Anyone ever tried this idea?  I would love to know how your students felt about using Google maps.

Sadness

I don't have much to write about this morning. I have a heavy heart--a former student passed away this weekend. It doesn't matter how long they've been gone; it still hurts. And since I'm not a classroom teacher, no one will think that I am hurting. But I knew this young man in middle school--longer than most of the teachers here. So I'm going to just write about it a minute--please bear with me. This young man was a bright and talented theater student. He could light up a stage with his presence. I thought sure we'd see him on Broadway some day. I don't know any details of his passing but I do know I'm sad at the loss. Over the years I've lost several students and it never gets easier. I hate to see such a loss of talent and brains at such an early age. I'm just grieving quietly today. I'll be back on my blog tomorrow.

Dominoes!

Cute video---I just want to know who is going clean up all that mess!

Advocacy

I found a new blog from SLJ written by Sara Kelly Johns, librarian at Lake Placid Middle/High Schools.  Her post was about advocacy for the library in schools.  She starts by talking about an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about fewer schools having trained librarians.  I know California is having budget issues but the state is making a huge mistake replacing librarians with aides in schools. According to the article "California has 6,000,000 students, 9,000 schools, and 895 credentialed librarians in the 2010/2011 school year".  That works out to be 6703 students per librarian in the state. And I thought I had a lot to keep up with!

Her article goes on to talk about the importance of advocacy.  She says, "Everyone working in a school library needs to step back, reflect on what your program and you do for your students, how that relates to the needs of your school, and make a plan…a promotion and marketing plan.  It’s our job to market and promote our program, no one else’s."   Words to remember!  And she gives some links to some of the tools available to us from ALA to help make the job easier.

Texas isn't as bad as California yet......and that's the key point. YET.  We are easily headed that way and  we need to be advocating now.  I know it's hard....this year I've lost staff and gained responsibilities so I know what lack of time means. And this article was the perfect reminder of what my priorities should be.
 
Thanks Sara for the great post and I look forward to reading more in the future!