The bookfair opened and two girls were immediately suspended for theft. And so the the Sword of Damocles fell. What is it about the trinket trash that causes such a stir? Have these students never seen a pen before? Are glittery pens so amazing that one needs $50.00 worth of them?
The good that came out of this is that one student, faced with the moral dilemma of staying silent, and letting her friends get away with the theft, or telling, and facing the wrath of her group, chose honesty. That choice gives me hope! Integrity, ethics, and moral fortitude are alive and well in Aptos.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Book Fair Mania
Book Fairs, ya gotta love 'em. They certainly are a double edged sword. The students just love all the books & trinket trash, and I certainly love the funds they raise, but oh my gosh the stress! There's something about crowd control that drives me nuts! Being responsible for all that cash floating around is SCARY. Of course its during the bookfair that the teachers always want that special lit set that is stored out in the back of beyond. I am pretty good at multi-tasking but during the book fair I just shut down mentally.
On the positive side, this year my library club members have really taken on the fair. They made the cutest shirts to advertise the fair. The theme, "Welcome to Wondeland" supports the All School Read of Alice in Wonderland. My contest is to Make a Mad Hatter Hat. I am giving out gift certificates to the fair for the "Most Outrageous" and "Most Beautiful" hats made out of paper plates & bowls.
I hope its a success. I can sure use the money!
On the positive side, this year my library club members have really taken on the fair. They made the cutest shirts to advertise the fair. The theme, "Welcome to Wondeland" supports the All School Read of Alice in Wonderland. My contest is to Make a Mad Hatter Hat. I am giving out gift certificates to the fair for the "Most Outrageous" and "Most Beautiful" hats made out of paper plates & bowls.
I hope its a success. I can sure use the money!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
What we have here, is a failure to communicate!
I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about this kid. He is a twelve year old American of Mexican ancestry. He has been in this country since his birth, gone to my district's schools, and currently reads at a first grade level. He is proud, proud, proud, a leader, and cannot admit to himself that he has a reading problem. It is not cognitive ability either, he makes a concious choice to fail. What am I going to do with this boy? He is angry, (a bit of me says he has a right to be!)unresponsive and at a turning point. The adults on campus all know this boy and if something goes missing, his is the backpack they search first...
Every fiber of my being wants to reach out and help this kid, but HOW? Am I wasting my energy? Do I just stand by and allow him to fail, or do I keep banging my head against this wall of pride? I have no answers today.
Every fiber of my being wants to reach out and help this kid, but HOW? Am I wasting my energy? Do I just stand by and allow him to fail, or do I keep banging my head against this wall of pride? I have no answers today.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Yet another cool image generator
I was tooling around the net and found this ab fab image generator that takes a photo and creates a sketch. www.dumpr.net
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Bright, Shining, Faces
Good Morning to you,
We're all in our places.
With bright, shining, faces.
This is the way,
To start a new day!
My mother used to sing that song to me in the mornings to get me out of bed on school days. This past week, as I was going through my library orientation program with the 7th graders, I looked out across a sea of bright, shining faces, some eager to learn, some already totally jaded, and I remembered my mother.
You see, each year in my presentation I invoke the ghost of my mother. I open up and tell the kids the story of my childhood. How I was the funny looking kid in braids. How I was the kid with cooties, the awful nicknames I had, and about the physical torture I endured during my elementary school days. As I share these memories, I can tell the bullies from the victims by their reactions. I talk about the lessons I learned from my experiences, how I learned not to cry in front of bullies, and how I learned that my mother was a liar. "Stick and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me." Mom was full of aphorisms. Why do I do this in my orientation you may ask?
In my library I have no rules. I do have three standards of conduct. For while rules were made to be broken, standards can only be met. My standards of conduct are:
1. The library is a quiet place for reading and study.
2. The library is a safe place mentally, physically and verbally.
3. The library is a place to care for and respect books.
I tell of my childhood to illustrate being safe verbally. My library is a safe place for all the funny looking kids on campus. I assure all the students, that internally, there is not a student on campus that doesn't think that they are not funny looking. I let them know right up front, that while they may get away with calling names out on the grounds, because of my personal history, they will not get away with it around me. It always gets real quiet during this part of my schpiel. It touches them. It is the beginning of relationship.
Relationship is why libraries work. You have to be in relationship to advise students. You have to be in relationship to recommend books to students. You have to be in relationship to motivate students to read. So those of you who only use your orientation time to tell kids where the fiction section is, I would advise you to be vulnerable, and use the time to establish relationship.
We're all in our places.
With bright, shining, faces.
This is the way,
To start a new day!
My mother used to sing that song to me in the mornings to get me out of bed on school days. This past week, as I was going through my library orientation program with the 7th graders, I looked out across a sea of bright, shining faces, some eager to learn, some already totally jaded, and I remembered my mother.
You see, each year in my presentation I invoke the ghost of my mother. I open up and tell the kids the story of my childhood. How I was the funny looking kid in braids. How I was the kid with cooties, the awful nicknames I had, and about the physical torture I endured during my elementary school days. As I share these memories, I can tell the bullies from the victims by their reactions. I talk about the lessons I learned from my experiences, how I learned not to cry in front of bullies, and how I learned that my mother was a liar. "Stick and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me." Mom was full of aphorisms. Why do I do this in my orientation you may ask?
In my library I have no rules. I do have three standards of conduct. For while rules were made to be broken, standards can only be met. My standards of conduct are:
1. The library is a quiet place for reading and study.
2. The library is a safe place mentally, physically and verbally.
3. The library is a place to care for and respect books.
I tell of my childhood to illustrate being safe verbally. My library is a safe place for all the funny looking kids on campus. I assure all the students, that internally, there is not a student on campus that doesn't think that they are not funny looking. I let them know right up front, that while they may get away with calling names out on the grounds, because of my personal history, they will not get away with it around me. It always gets real quiet during this part of my schpiel. It touches them. It is the beginning of relationship.
Relationship is why libraries work. You have to be in relationship to advise students. You have to be in relationship to recommend books to students. You have to be in relationship to motivate students to read. So those of you who only use your orientation time to tell kids where the fiction section is, I would advise you to be vulnerable, and use the time to establish relationship.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Sunday Morning Breakthrough
Sunday mornings used to be a time spent sitting in bed with the Sunday newspaper scattered across the covers, my husband reading the hard news & the editorials, I had the Living section & the classifieds, and the kids read the comics. Those days are gone. Sad to say, I don't even take a paper anymore. Today I warm my thighs with my laptop, to catch up on the blogs from the bloglines account. The cozy togetherness is gone, but I guess the reading is the same. Although I do miss the writing skill. Typos abound on the blogs and poorly worded sentences are the accepted norm. Just goes to show the editors and proof readers really did do an important job back in the day when linotype was king.
One of the blogs I read regularly is Dave Warlick's. In his "More Ranting about Information" he commented and linked to a teacher's blog Unknow Future which makes the point that blogging is not just about the writing, but it is about the reading. This then inspired Dave to add the thought that it is about the conversation.
The conversation, AH HA, that in a nut shell is the essence of blogging. What I want my students who contribute to the blogs at school to experience is the "Wow" moment when someone responds to their writing. The whole point of blogging is not just the writing, not just the reading, but must include the responding. Otherwise we might as well just be diarists, writing privately. So you and I, as the reader, play the most important role in the blogging experience. We can't just sit on the side lines, we must respond. Get involved.
One of the blogs I read regularly is Dave Warlick's. In his "More Ranting about Information" he commented and linked to a teacher's blog Unknow Future which makes the point that blogging is not just about the writing, but it is about the reading. This then inspired Dave to add the thought that it is about the conversation.
The conversation, AH HA, that in a nut shell is the essence of blogging. What I want my students who contribute to the blogs at school to experience is the "Wow" moment when someone responds to their writing. The whole point of blogging is not just the writing, not just the reading, but must include the responding. Otherwise we might as well just be diarists, writing privately. So you and I, as the reader, play the most important role in the blogging experience. We can't just sit on the side lines, we must respond. Get involved.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Small Victory
It was a good day today. Of course my library is still in opening mode, tail ends of textbooks litter the tables. Will I have enough textbooks for everyone? So far so good, but goodness me, I can see we are going to have to do emergency orders PDQ!
Today was my first day of training my library aides, I do not have enough students assigned yet, I have a couple of periods where there is only one aide, and when it gets hoppin' in the library, I need a minimum of two to keep the library going smoothly. I was going over the overview of the quarter, talking about censorship and the ALA Library Bill of Rights, the projects I expect them to do, and all things they will be learning. During one period, my aide and I got to talking about summer reading. We were exchanging our summer read lists, when she made the following comment. "You know I really can't believe it, usually during summer I don't do anything related to school, and this summer I read four books and I can't wait for to pick up the new Stephanie Meyers book!" This from a girl who I had to pull eye teeth to get to read at the beginning of last year. I tell you I was doing internal summersaults. She's READING FOR FUN!!!
Today was my first day of training my library aides, I do not have enough students assigned yet, I have a couple of periods where there is only one aide, and when it gets hoppin' in the library, I need a minimum of two to keep the library going smoothly. I was going over the overview of the quarter, talking about censorship and the ALA Library Bill of Rights, the projects I expect them to do, and all things they will be learning. During one period, my aide and I got to talking about summer reading. We were exchanging our summer read lists, when she made the following comment. "You know I really can't believe it, usually during summer I don't do anything related to school, and this summer I read four books and I can't wait for to pick up the new Stephanie Meyers book!" This from a girl who I had to pull eye teeth to get to read at the beginning of last year. I tell you I was doing internal summersaults. She's READING FOR FUN!!!
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