Wonderful Things I've Discovered and Want to Use

List of widgets from Amazon. I'm fascinated! Carousel widget! We need a website to post it on! https://widgets.amazon.com/
"Will I be charged anything for using these Widgets?

No! Amazon Widgets are not only free to use, but can actually earn you money. Check the Associates Join pages for more information on the Amazon.com Associates program and how you can actually earn money from using Amazon Widgets."   Ok, they've been out a while, but it's still new to me.


Library Thing
I'm posting the books KHS students love.

"What does it cost?

A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account allows you to catalog any number of books. Paid personal accounts cost $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime. (See here for organizational accounts.) I conservatively predict the revenue will enable me to recline all day on an enormous pile of gold."

Oh no! Google Wave!
In the process of finding pictures, I'm finding even more things of interest:

http://www.hhcc.com/blog/?p=584

"What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People
can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time."

I need more time to figure out how these can be used at Kimball HS!

Learning Tools for Library Which Caught My Attention

I've had a few articles on my desk which have really caught my attention for potential educational use. I'm posting them here for my own future reference, and hope someone else will also find them useful.

Adams, Heidi and Laura Howard. "Clever Clickers: Using Audience Response Systems in the Classroom." LMC Library Media Connection, October 2009. Print.
Quinn, Mary Ellen. "Learning with Blogs: Selected blogs that will enlighten and inform every library professional," American Libraries, August/September 2009. Print.
Rice, John. "Are You Smarter Than a Whiteboard? 10 tips for IWBs in the classroom." Tech Edge, Spring 2009. Print.

(MLA Citation Style from: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm)

The technology mentioned in the articles are available for check out at Kimball HS Library, and I'd love to find or create lessons that would assist teachers here.

Meanwhile, I've been playing catch up between scheduled classes - where questions usually involve Microsoft Word and Powerpoint problems (easy things like: how do I change the margins or line spacing) but lately, things I find not-so-easy, like: why can't I open and use my .mov on Windows Movie Maker, why won't my .tmp file print or give me the message there isn't enough memory to print or why only the text prints. I figured out the why of the problems, but not yet the how-to-solve those problems. Are these easy? Other things I've been working on are: LAN connectivity problems in one area of the library, inventory of books, equipment, and multimedia, trying to input items which seemed to have been kicked out of the system (finding out they will check in now when two months ago we got the message: Not in system), cataloging of new items purchased...oh wait, the district equipment repair technician just dropped in...and many other tasks...school library really is interesting and fun. It's great to be a part of this time in history when there are so many new things to learn...and organize.

Just found another thing I'd like to use on my webpage: carousel widgets! See them at:
https://widgets.amazon.com/Amazon-Carousel-Widget/?id=V20070822/US/bookfizz-20/8010/e423148b-4afe-42b4-b8af-abe987c7efaf&ref=assoc_wdgt_us

One more thing for me to learn: what's a "mashup"?

Dewey keep Dewey?

I came across an article in libraryjournal.com which discusses Rangeview (CO) Library ousting Dewey in favor of BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications). I know I have enjoyed browsing bookstores and been happier with their organization than with Dewey, and wonder if this may be something that catches on.

Yarra Plenty Library asks this very question and discusses results of how patrons reacted at: yarraplentylibrary.blogspot.com.

Meanwhile, while trying to upload the photo (libraryjournal.com via Google Images), I also meandered upon Library Thing, which I had heard about from a Princeton Library friend. "What is LibraryThing?! LibraryThing helps you list your books, get reading recommendations and connect with other book lovers." (http://www.librarything.com/about) I was thinking it would be a great spot to make a list of the new books purchased that students really seem to enjoy.

Web 2.0...giving us fascinating and wonderful things to do and utilize in education...what to do first?

My, How Time Flies

Since my last post, my co-librarian has been on extended leave, starting in late October. Then, in December, the media assistant also took a short (most of December) leave, which I hope explains the lack of posts! For a while, there was no sub, then subs which I had to train on a daily, bi-weekly, or weekly basis.

This morning, at 5 am, it came to me. Ideas for new posts!

Since then, I have since researched the first idea, and came up with minimal information to share. I'll keep looking for information to present this idea in a future post.

Next topic of discussion: Book Club.
Book Club has always had a small membership, partially due to my personally purchasing copies of books selected for each member (as well as weekly snacks). This wasn't so bad when they were available at http://www.betterworldbooks.com, Half-Price Books, or even in paperback. It just got pricy when they wanted to continue a series up to the latest (available in hardcover only) title. I realize there are sources of funding for HS book clubs; some which have strict guidelines and/or specific titles to be read. I wanted the students to have the option of reading the titles they want to read, and they want to see in the library. So far, the selections of the book club members have been very popular with the rest of the school (and some of the other schools in the district, as evidenced in ILLs (Inter-library Loans) of these books.
Titles read since KHS Book Club's inception in April, 2009, have been: "Frostbite" by Richelle Mead, "Vampire Kisses" 1-3 by Ellen Schreiber, "City of Bones," "City of Ashes," and "City of Glass," by Cassandra Clare. Unfortunately, our membership is dwindling. We currently have three regular members, down from our typical seven, from our all-time record of nine. The main reason given was students being unable to pass from the cafeteria to the library for our 7:45 am meeting. New administrators were brought in this past January who are doing a great job, and the hallways are free of wandering students. Unfortunately, many of them were wandering into the library. Our morning traffic is also way, way down. I discussed book club attendance with the assistant principal, and created passes for book club members (see image). However, this hasn't increased numbers so far. We then changed the meeting day and time from Wednesday at 7:45, to Monday at 3:45. This led to a more lively discussion from the remaining members, (who have woken up by that time) but fewer members! The members who couldn't make it into the morning halls have not returned for the afternoon meeting.
I have posted a picture of the pass. I use Avery labels to attach them to the back of the student's ID badge. The clipart is from Microsoft Office downloads.

Latest Activities

Events in the Kimball HS library are numerous. DVDs and other audio-visual items were research, asked about with teachers, found, reviewed, and ordered. Which reminds me...I need to answer an e-mail about some DVD orders...Anyway, our City of Bones books arrived, and everyone is crazy about it. The assignment this week, since I was having trouble imagining it, is to draw a picture of the Ravener. The book didn't seem to describe it in a way I could image it. So I asked the students to draw their perception of how the ravener would look. As you can see, they also had differing perceptions of the creature! Keep in mind, these are drawings which were created in about 20 minutes.
Other tasks on the horizon...looking for books and items for display in honor of Native American Heritage month. Ordering supplies for this year. Completing Equipment Removal Request forms, completing inventory, organizing the magazines in the back room to make room for the new subscriptions arriving in January, doing a complete inventory of items in the library before January....

Getting Things In Order

This week has been filled with conferring with teachers and students to provide the most requested periodicals and journals in the Kimball HS library. Suggestions were taken from the English, Science, Math, Business, Music, Technology, Social Studies, PE and ROTC departments, as well as student input and current preferences, and some research of lists found on the subscriber site, and School Library Journal.

We are gearing up for ALA's "Teen Read Week" October 18 - 24. The theme is "Read Beyond Reality @ your library®."

Still waiting on Book Club books to arrive...I'll have to make some calls to find out why it is taking so long!

Thanks for the additional Book Reports for Banned Books week!

The Future is Here

Apparently, as indicated by the lack of posts, things have been very, very busy in the Kimball HS Library. Classes have been scheduled for research or writing assignments almost every day. In addition, cataloging of equipment, some old, some not-quite-as-old, has taken a bit of time, especially in the case of donated equipment, where certain information had to be tracked down through multiple e-mails and trips to class rooms to view the equipment personally.

For research assignments, I have been presenting a basic overview of the databases which may be beneficial for their papers, that is: Encyclopedia Brittanica Online and World Book Online, History Study Center, EBSCO, and Gale Databases for the social studies assignments; EB and WB Online, and the General Reference area of the DISD's OPAC, Dallink for a paper on outstanding hispanics in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month; and for the ELA and Reading Classes, an overview of EB and WB, Dallink, especially noting the Dictionary and Thesaurus available online (I love the Merriam-Webster site because it pronounces the word for you!), and information which can be found using the Novelist database.

Book Club was enthusiastically restarted on August 26th. We have the addition of a few new members. My first activity/idea asked the members to create a summary and "script" of the Vampire Kisses first three books, in order to create a video of this "book summary-skit." This task was partially completed by the group, with an outline contributed by Armando - thank you for your effort!! We spent a portion of two meetings trying to sketch out this script, but unfortunately, Ms. Anderson didn't force this into completion! This idea didn't have a strong reception...perhaps I could have explained it better. We continued discussing and outlining summaries of the three books, and we concluded that Shanise is very good with the details, large and small, of the books she reads, while Armando is very good with organizing these ideas. Kitty and Ashlee are good with providing strong opinions of the action and characterizations. We also discussed that several members need to contribute more and make more of an effort to keep up with the reading. Two weeks ago, we started a video of discussion and book talk of "Vampire Kisses." I will be posting that as soon as I get all the video we created, and organize it into a video using Windows Movie Maker. I'm really looking forward to posting this, so members who have video, you know who you are, please let me have a copy of it as soon as you can. We are leaving the Vampire Kisses series with our next title: City of Bones.

We also celebrated "Banned Book Week" with a bulletin board of a description of what it is, some promotion posters, and the opportunity to sport an ALA-created pin "I Read Banned Books," by filling out a one-page book report sheet which asked for the following: Title, Author, Characters, 1-2 sentences (each section) about the beginning, middle and ending, "my personal connection," prediction to what happened after the story ended, and personal opinion of the book, and recommendation to read or not to read. Congratulations to Kitty on being the first to return her sheet and get a "I Read Banned Books" pin!

Looking at the past...into the future

Just want to report, I finished the last three titles on the KHS English Department's summer reading list: Bless Me, Ultima, The Pearl, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and I must comment: they were all depressing. Well, at least Mr. Douglass escaped from slavery, but the others...I've learned many more ways you could possibly die.

Now I'm looking forward to some book club input on which title we will start with, so I can start purchasing books. Also, start thinking about how to recruit more members, what time we want the meetings, and other facets of our book club organization.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all!

More Summer Reading

I haven't heard from any of my followers!

What? You don't want to comment on your summer reading book? I didn't create the list, your English teachers did! However, I am enjoying them, immensely...I'm not kidding! They're really interesting.

I have continued through the list with Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. I could not figure out why this book would be on their list until I read it. Read it, and let me know the reason it was added to the reading list. It's not hard to read, AT ALL. Yes, there's all sorts of Martian names and characters, and you'll find out how people thought in the 50s...terrifying.

Also, I read The Miracle Worker and it's not hard either, especially since I've seen the movie about seven times. It was wonderful, however, to read all the dialogue you can't quite hear when you see the film.

I also want to thank SK for sending a wonderful Power Point of titles she would like placed in the Kimball HS Library. I was hoping to post it here, but I think it's too big. I may just list all the titles on a future post. Most of the titles were put on the book order, and hopefully, most of them will be on the shelves this year. If anyone from Kimball HS wants to do something similar, it would be welcomed.

What are you reading?

I finished "Poisonwood Bible." The fiction portions of it are fairly easy to read, the number of characters, well, it's a village, so there's alot of people. The historical detail - plentiful, and as most history is, tragic, anyway you look at it. Still, a very good read, and it's a easy way to get your history and philosphy lessons in. No takers?

Summer Reading

Ok, I finally got to a computer in the North Cape Library (that's Bibliotek here). It's great to be able to publish your comments.

As I mentioned before, I have started reading books from the English Department's Summer Reading List. Have already made it through "Of Mice and Men." Anyone care to join me? It's a really easy read; the most descriptive passages are in the first chapter, and a little in the center. Not many characters to remember... so...here are some questions...

Why did Lenny change his mind about his future plans after the climax of the story?

And, what color were the pups in the barn?

Next, I moved on to "Things Fall Apart." Lots of description, lots of characters with names I had to remember, not a really easy read, but interesting, very, very interesting, and I learned from this book. Not a difficult read, either, but I did have to pay attention. Anyone care to join me? It's really good...here is my question...

In your opinion, who was right? Was there any way for this story to have resolved in a less tragic manner?

I'm now reading "The Poisonwood Bible." The first chapter is description, not a good start for me, but now that I'm in the middle, it means more to me. Anyone care to join me? It's really gooooddd...

Summer Is Here!

Well, summer break is here and I hope everyone is getting some reading time in. I haven't yet, but will soon...how far along is everyone in the Vampire Kisses saga? Are there any parts of the book you would like to comment on yet? Are there any new characters you would like to comment on, or the status of the previous characters? Hope to hear from KHS Book Clubbers soon! I'll be driving the next couple of days, but will check in when I get to a computer...

June is here!

Wow! I can't believe how time is flying by. Only two days of school left for students, three for teachers. We are still planning on continuing the book club during the summer. We'll talk about it more tomorrow. We finished book one, and passed out books two and three of the "Vampire Kisses" series. I've heard talk we need to start book four! That's great to hear! Personally, I think we should cover the English department reading list for our summer reading, all book club members reading the entire list. Some of the books aren't very long. This is the list:

English I "The Miracle Worker," William Gibson

English II "The Pearl," John Steinbeck

English III "Of Mice and Men," F. Scott Fitzgerald

English IV "Things Fall Apart," Chinua Achebe

Pre-AP I "Martian Chronicles," Ray Bradbury

Pre-AP II "Bless Me, Ultima," Rudolfo Anaya

AP English III "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Frederick Douglass

AP English IV "Poisonwood Bible," Barbara Kingsolver

I've ordered multiple copies of these titles for circulation next fall, and I will definitely try to get through the list myself this summer...

Activities in the Library

The book club is meeting as usual on Wednesday mornings sans AP testers, but we are looking forward to seeing them again next week. The past two weeks have started a new book, "Vampire Kisses" by Ellen Schreiber. Even though we had planned this to be our book for the rest of the year, we finished it in one week, and have now agreed to continue the series with "Kissing Coffins." We have decided to keep up the book club through the blog, where I will post discussion questions, and they will answer (and found out in the process this is being done in one of the English classes, although there could be more). Summer meet-ups at various bookstores in town are being planned, it sounds fun.

One of the main topics of discussion today was based on the fact Raven is thought of as an outcast, and it was agreed many of the group members thought of themselves as outcasts; the black fingernail polish, the fact they don't want to conform to things "popular" students do, such as buying expensive clothing and listening to hip-hop. It was observed there are many "Trevors" here, who try to score as many conquests as possible. The book is a very easy read.

English assignments are due in and there is a flurry of typing and Powerpoint-ing going on in the Kimball HS Library. Topics are on a variety of social issues, as well as social figures who have been assassinated, and racism. Seniors are soon having exams in the next couple of days, and it will be over for them soon.

Activities of the last few days...

After a departmental meeting announcement asking teachers to notify us if they could not make it in, it is full and busy in the library (that, and since TAKS has been over)! Finding and citing sources, writing source cards, researching using print and non-print sources, and outline writing is happening at Kimball HS.

Also, I found a couple of interesting articles in TechEdge, Volume 28, No. 3: "Are You Smarter Than A Whiteboard?: 10 Tips for IWBs in the Classroom," by John Rice, which suggests using educator blogs to provide "...the latest news, information, products, and tips." Those blogs are: smartboards.typepad.com, getting smarterwithsmartboards.blogspot.com, and www.whiteboardblog.co.uk.

TechEdge also reports they received a grant "...to continue to raise awareness and train teachers to use the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org." They are going to offer free "Train-the trainer" sessions to educators. They list one date in May (18th and 19th, in Wichita Falls), and two in June (13th-14th, in Austin, and 25th-26th, in Kilgore). Oh, how I want to go! But have problems with all of those dates...

TAKS testing, Book Club, teachers, and all...

Sorry for the lull in blogging, but I was slated to be a TAKS testing administrator, and for those of you who have been there, you know when you're done for the day...you're done. Then you do it for four more days (for Retesters), or three or more days for the others...

This week is AP testing. Not that testing is going on in the library, but one of our book club members was out. We met this morning, the rest of the members in attendance, and had a very good discussion about "Frostbite." Somewhat difficult, since most of our members had not read the book in its entirety! We had our icebreaker alphabet go-round, and the winner was SK. One of the questions posed was: Why wasn't it finished? The main reason seemed to be it didn't generate interest or maintain it. Next was: What were some of the specifics about the book that lost your interest? Some of the reasons included: too much description given about the characteristics of the Stringoi, Moroi, and the dhampirs. I recalled at the first meeting I had complained it was hard for me to remember all those characteristics, so now I realize how careful I will have to be not to convey my personal feelings before the reading even gains momentum. Also, love relationships between the Moroi and dhampirs (love 'em and leave 'em with kids) seemed to be a problem issue. The members also brought up there just wasn't much going on during the first chapters, again, mostly description. At that point, comparisons between this series, Twilight, and House of Night came up. There was vampire description, but not all at once, and not so early in the book.

It was brought up again, please be vocal if you don't agree with the book selection choices, and vote accordingly. Vampire's Kiss was chosen, but the author was not known by the member who suggested the title, and her description given does not match either of the books I found online.

Meanwhile, teachers are signing up for time in the library for research, but don't let us know when they will be unable to make it in. This leads to others being unable to sign up, and (sometimes) an empty library...

Book Club Meeting

Yesterday, it was brought to my attention we should also have an afternoon meeting to accommodate those students who are unable to attend the morning meeting. So I have agreed to have a shortened meeting after school on Thursdays. It was also brought up that the person requesting this may be transferring...

Today's meeting was held 7:45-8:25 am. Donuts were brought by Mrs. Anderson, and drinks by MD. In attendance was Rashad J., Krystelia C., Shanise K., Mareesa D., Ashlee P., and Armando E. An icebreaker activity started off the session, taken from www.litlovers.com/icebreakers.htm, "Alphabet Soup - Working around the room, each member names a character, event, place, or object from the book - the first letter of which starts with A, the next word starts with B, the next word C and so forth through Z. Variation: use the last letter for the next word - a bit harder." We did not need the variation! We had a hard time getting far on this one. Armando E. won today's prize. We had 2 students who completed the entire 100 pages assigned, and about 4 who read 50 pages. We discussed whether to shorten the number of pages assigned, but decided to leave it as it is. We spent some time discussing the main five characters, and the some events from "Vampire Academy" which led up to the events of the first 100 pages. Questions were posed by RJ, which was greatly appreciated, and AE was very helpful in assisting us in story plot. Folders with handouts from "Book Club for Middle School," by Raphael/Kehus/Damphousse: Think Sheets numbers 1 (Questions for My Book Club), 6 (Me and the Book), 5 (Special Book Part), and 23 (Problems/Solution Chart) were passed out to assist in generating future discussions. We won't be having a meeting next week because of TAKs, but we will the week after that, to finish the book.

It was voted to leave this series for our next book. Titles were suggested by AE, AP, MD and SK, and "Vampire Kiss" was selected as our next book.

Book Club Objectives

Since this is my first book club experience, I've been looking at different websites and DISD circulating materials about starting a book club, and thought I'd share some of my findings. There were several websites viewed, but here are two: www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/articles/bookclubs/start.html, and www.teenreads.com/clubs/club-about.asp#Starting.

This gave me a start, but I wanted more information, so I decided to try a book we don't currently have in the Kimball HS collection (but will soon), which is Joyce Kasman Valenza's "PowerTools Recharged," in particular, the section "Starting a Student Book Club," which was also very helpful.

[This entire book is a wonderful reference, especially the forms for MLA citation, Big6, plagiarism, etc., that I would recommend having a glance at when you have time.]

About this time, I found an online book club at the A.H. Meadows Public/Midlothian High School library web page:

(http://library.midlothian-isd.net/common/welcome.jsp?site=100), which lets you sign up for the book club and receive an short excerpt every day from any genre you like (I picked teen), and submit your discussion online.I decided to give it a go. Interesting! (But I have to admit I haven't been the best online book club member.)

Next, using the DallasISD OPAC Super Search option, in the Literary Reference Center, I found four articles about teen book clubs which were of interest.

In the KHS circulating collection, we have "Book Club for Middle School," by Taffy Raphael (a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago), Marcella Kehus (University of Toledo), and Karen Damphouse. This very thorough text, which began as an "alternative context for reading instruction" (and I'm wondering, a professional paper and/or doctoral dissertation) discusses theory, curriculum and assessment. There are some "Think Sheets" located in the back which can be photocopied, a couple I'm thinking about using. Associated with that book is their website, found at http://www.planetbookclub.com/home.html, which, in addition to being visually pleasing, had valuable content I wanted to spend more time with.

This led to my next question: Do I really want to be this serious? And so: What is the purpose of a book club? These answers were found online: "The purpose of this book club is to read and enjoy literature!" (about.com), "The purpose of the Book Club discussions is to increase cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competency through the appreciation and acceptance of differences in students, faculty, staff, and the clients that we serve." (http://www.nursing.umich.edu/oma/Programs/), and, from the Hennepin County Library, "It's fun! (It) encourages critical thinking...develops discussion skills...promotes respect for others' opinions..." (this is the one I felt most comfortable with).

Fun? Want it to be. Encouraging critical thinking? This is a distinct possibility. Sharing opinions? Don't think this will be a problem for the kids in our group. So, I'm not planning on necessarily having an educational or life-altering experience, but if it happens....ok.

Book Club

We had our first meeting yesterday morning. It was voted that meetings will be Wednesday mornings at 7:45. We will vote what the next book we will be reading next week, so the book order can be put in. We have agreed we will read 100 pages a week, and start a new book in three weeks. Since TAKs testing falls the second week, we will cover 200 pages in the third week. We had five students in attendance. We voted refreshments will be brought jointly by myself and one of the students. Next week, a student will bring drinks, and I am bringing donuts.

Book Club Changes

More students are coming by to join the book club, and we're all enthusiastic about beginning. Some new members have informed the rest of us we should change the time of the meetings from after school to before school in order to allow them to have a job and be in the book club. A vote was taken, and rest of the group is quite accommodating, so we will be having a short meeting tomorrow at 8 am, and the club begins next week, I believe, Wednesdays at 7:30 am. I may have to ask them to make that 7:45....