"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

To quote Mr. Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Let's start with the worst:

As I mentioned in my last post, I am a little concerned about the summer reading disconnect that I see appearing at my school.  So I "volunteered" to compile the names of students who turned in their summer reading logs this week to get prizes from the administration.  I really wanted to see what was getting turned in and by whom (or is it who?  I can never keep that one straight).

Turns it, it is worse than I thought!  What the hey diddle diddle is going on?

According to my notes and conversations with kiddos this week, I have over 212 students who talked about at least 1 book they read this summer.  Many had several books that they wanted to share.  They talked about ebooks, books they got for their birthdays, whole series they got, books they got from their teacher as end of the year gifts (someone gave "The Chocolate Touch") and so on.  That is almost 1/2 of my student population.

And yet, when I total the sheets turned in for prizes, I get this dismal number: 57.  That's right.  I did not mistype and your eyes are not deceiving you. There is no missing digit. 57.  That is @ 1/8 of my population.  Let's look a bit closer.

Grade	# of participants	sneaks	school	k packet
1st	16	0	15	11
2nd	8	3	6
3rd	17	2	17
4th	9	5	5
5th	7	2	5



At our school, they can turn in a SNEAKS summer reading log, a school provided log or the packet the kindergarten teachers send home for summer practice.  Some students turned in both their SNEAKS and school log (yay!).  I can only hope that they were too busy reading to write it down.  Too busy loving what they were reading and too intrinsically motivated that they did not need an external prize.  Wouldn't that be wonderful? 

So I will await my ebook stats and then I will begin to plot and plan my attack for next year's summer reading because I sure did talk it up this year and I sure did promote ebooks and we had a SNEAKS assembly and registered every student in advance.  I wonder if having the gameboards to hand out to them as they were registered at the school would then be a visual reminder to get to the library to get those first books read and get to the library for that first prize.  It could be put right into their report card where mom and dad would see it.  I may have to pursue this with the local library and see if it is a possibility.

But enough of all that worst of times stuff.  Let's be positive and move on.  I had a great first week.  A surprise visitor popped in on Friday - our Area Superintendent. Always a moment of breath leaving your body when you see your administration walk in with their boss.  Turns out they were just popping in to show the interactive display I set up for Back To School Night using Aurasma.  (Have you used it?  Super fun!!!  I actually learned about this at Common Ground and had been looking for a way to try it out and thought this would be a "safe" way. ) 

I had teachers pop by and let me record them saying, "My favorite book is____" and then I found that book in our library and created an aura to go with it.  Basically, what this means is, after downloading the app on their phone and following eeslibrary, families could come in and try to guess which book was their teacher's favorite.  Then they could open the eeslibrary channel on the app, hold it up to the cover and the teacher video would appear.  They could scan all the covers to see which books matched which teachers. (Unfortunately, special area teachers had duty during back to school so I did not get to see the families as they did this-bummer!). 

My administration must have really liked it a lot because they brought the Area Superintendent in to see it and walked her around to see ALL the books and then she was adding it to HER phone.  (It never hurts to make your bosses look good!)

Anyway, if you want to try it out and see what the video clips look like, be my guest. It's free!  Search for Aurasma in your app store and download. You can skip the sign up.  Just search for eeslibrary and follow us so it will work for you.

Here are some of the book titles your can scan in your own library/home collection that have videos attached to them:

Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack
The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Tiki Tiki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Junie B. First Grader: Boo and I Mean It by Barbara Parks
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl by Barbara Parks
David Goes to School by David Shannon
Corduroy byDon Freeman
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

You might even be able to scan a computer image for some of these.  Occasionally that works.  Can't hurt to try.

Let me know if you try the app out or if you have some summer reading ideas that produced big results.  I'd love to hear about them.

It's Wednesday!

It's Wednesday!  That means the first week of the new school year is half over.  It also means I have some half-formed impressions :-)

First, my kids are excited to be back.  Sure some of them are hanging their heads and shuffling their feet and slumping along but if you look closely you can see that little spark in their eyes that is a flicker of excitement with a tinge of nervousness about what the new year has in store for them.

Next,  they are still up to their same old tricks.  The same kiddos are still trying to jump down the hallway stairs and leap high to touch the exit signs.  A whole new crop is lingering by the fish tank sneaking sideways glances to see if anyone is watching them as they stand there for just a few more minutes longer than they should.

Finally, they read a lot more this summer than the data will reflect.  You see, I always ask for a show of hands for the following things:
1) Who participated in SNEAKS this summer?
2) Who read for Edgemere's Summer Reading log?
3) Who read a good book this summer that they want to share?

Here's the thing.  The number of hands that went up for number 1 and 2 were minimal.  I would say about 3-5 students per class on average.  (I hope to get some more solid numbers from my administration Friday.)  But, when I ask about books they read this summer, the hands fly up.  On average, 75-80% of the students in each class have at least one title they want to share.  Sometimes they can't remember the title but they can tell me the entire plot.  Sometimes they know part of the title or just the series or just the author.  (As they are sharing, I am jotting down little notes about the titles and listening to other students who are chiming in agreeing that they have read that book or a similar book.) 

So where is the disconnect coming from? Clearly my kids are reading during the summer.  Clearly they are enjoying it.  Clearly they are comprehending it.  So why aren't they participating in the summer reading incentive programs?  What is preventing them from visiting the public library to be part of the SNEAKS program?  Is it transportation? If so, that does not explain why they are not participating in the school-wide reading program.  Is it lack of interest?  If so, why?

As I look at the kids who are reading, it isn't just the ones that are assumed to be readers.  It is a cross section of abilities.  In fact, some of the "strong" students readily admit to not reading anything during the summer as do some of those "one the fence" students who could benefit from the extra boost summer reading offers.

Hmmmm....perplexing.

Professional Development Day August 19,2015

Today was one of my favorite days!  It was system wide Professional Development Day for the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year.

It's one of my favorite days that, unfortunately, involved one of my least favorite activities - early rising.  Our county is large and this meeting was a million miles away on the other side of the world! (Ok it was a 45 minute drive around the beltway but it felt like a million miles away.)  My iron quit working.  The dog didn't want to come inside.  I spilled my Altoids all over the floor of the car as I was driving to my carpool meeting point.  Oh yeah.  This day was off to a good start.  But nothing was going to spoil this for me because I love this day.

I love this day for so many reasons.  We get to welcome the new library media specialists.  We get to see our friends.  We get to attend some great presentations by our co-workers.  I always travel through this day in awe and wonder at how cutting edge and advanced our county is and how perceptive and attune, to what kids want and need, our media specialists are.  I leave energized and ready to try a million new things in a million different ways.  The best part is that I know I am not the only one leaving feeling this way.

After greetings from Ryan Imbriale, we started with our very own leader, Fran Glick, giving our keynote this year.  It was a celebration of so many accomplishments of so many people in our office and the importance of our cohort partnership with Towson University.  I saw so many people raise their hands when Fran asked who had participated in a cohort.  I think that is such a big part of why we have such great LMS in our county-because they were classroom teachers and understand how to teach and motivate and manage students.

Then Fran mentioned the Un-Deweying project that I have been a part of. (Hey Fran - next time a heads up would have been appreciated and I would have spent more time on my hair this morning!) The exciting part was when she asked who had begun to un-dewey their library in some way as a result of hearing about our project.  I was floored!  I knew people were doing it.  I've had emails and tweets here and there.  But to see all those hands.  First, I was humbled to have played a part in that.  But then I was excited.  That excitement just kept building all day long.  People stopped me to show me photos of their libraries on their phones.  They stopped to tell me how many books they weeded.  They stopped to tell me how long it took them and how many hours (for most -unpaid) that they sacrificed this summer. They told me about teams they formed to work together in each other's libraries. And every person who stopped me was smiling and excited.  They were raving about how much their library spaces had transformed and how clean and fresh and beautiful they looked.  There were new signs, freshly painted walls, shelf space that didn't exist before and new decorative touches added.  Every person was just as excited as I was when I did it. Holey Moley!  They didn't even mention what the kids were going to think or how they were going to react because they were in love with their library spaces again.

I can't wait to hear about their student reactions.  I hope I get emails and tweets (@eeslibrary) and see photos. I wish I could visit their libraries and see the reactions. 

I had a chance to do our presentation once again with Kelly.  I really thought people would be tired of hearing about it and that no one would be left to attend.  And yet, there we were, with every chair filled.  And we even got a round of applause at the end!  It's exciting to see the middle and high school LMS who are ready to embrace this.

But enough about our little project.  I attended some seriously wonderful sessions today. 

In my first session, I got to explore the fully digital, fully uploaded curriculum in BCPSOne.  It is like having 6 curriculum binders available to me anywhere, at anytime, with an internet connection and a few clicks.  Planning in my hammock or on my front porch?  Yes please!

Then I headed off to learn about Scratch.  LOVE IT!  My kids are going to love it.  Such a great presentation.  Watch out Edgemere.  This is coming to a makerspace time near you very soon!

Then Jeffrey Flynn presented on 30 Cool Tech Tools.  Some were oldies I had forgotten about but there are definitely some wonderful new ones that I was introduced to and can't wait to explore.  He was a very engaging presenter.

Lunch was wonderful as I got a chance to catch up with my peeps. My cohort buddies are the best!

After lunch, Kelly and I did our presentation and then it was off to learn about Creating Interactive Assignments in BCPSOne presented by Justin Hennaut assisted by the very knowledgeable Jennifer Weaver.  As always, a wonderful and engaging time was had by all. 

Then a closing "job alike" session where we met with our geographical counterparts to think, pair and share about our day.

So, today was a good day.  I hope it was just as good for you.

The Future Looks Bright!

Shhhh!   Don't tell anyone but I am going to share something with you without permission.  YIKES!  But I am pretty sure that, other than some embarrassment if she realizes it, it will be okay since it was written on a public blog.

My son's girlfriend is starting her senior year of college at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.  Laura is quite a lovely young lady who is a dual major - voice and elementary education.  Her dad is a principal in PA and her mom is a music teacher. 

Laura had an amazing opportunity this year to visit Paraguay, with one of her professors and another student, as part of a grant.  She left at the beginning of August and will return tomorrow and then back to college to begin her Sr. year next week. 

As part of the trip, the college asked for the travelers to write several blog posts.  You can find them here.  But in particular, I wanted to share an insight from an up and coming teacher.  In her August 10th entry, she writes:

Our focus always needs to be on the students. To meet their needs, stretch their minds, open their eyes to the world around them.

Well said Laura...well said.  Let's agree to take our students on an amazing adventure as we embark upon this school year!

High School Genrefication Reflection

As promised, enjoy this wonderful reflection from a high school library media specialist who embraced the un-deweying challenge.  Thanks Lauren for sharing!

Thoughts on Un-Deweying a High School Fiction Collection

Lauren Magnuson, Summer 2015

Overview: I had been following the Un-Deweying movement for several years and did not think I was a fan, but then I attended one of the workshops by Kelly and Sandy and was convinced that this would be a good move for Kenwood’s collection and would help my students. Having the benefit of their experience also reduced some of my apprehension. I also collaborated with Melyssa Kenney and Angie Sofinowski (details later in reflection).

Before the end of the school year, I met with my principal to explain why I wanted to un-Dewey our fiction collection and asked if she would be able to pay some of us to do it over the summer as it is a big project. I only asked for one person to help me but after the first day, I went back and asked if I could have others for the last day to help with the labeling. She agreed to pay up to 3 more people. Unfortunately, I was only able to find 2 part-time people. So she ended up paying 2 of us for 3 days and 2 others for 4 hours each. And, as you will read later, we didn’t finish the whole processL.

Since I had to have someone within my school help me, I put a lot of thought into who I wanted to help me do the project and chose one of our Science teachers who is an avid reader of YA and adult fiction and who was a member of our book club. I also knew that she was focused, thoughtful, and would not be afraid to offer ideas as we went through the process. It turned out to be a great partnership!

Time: It takes way more time than one might think! Compared to many high schools, Kenwood has a modest fiction collection, and it still took 2 of us over two 6.5 hour days to divide the books into genres which we had pre-determined and had pre-printed labels. On the 3^rd day, we were able to have 2 more people join us for 4 hours each to help with the labeling process which is also tedious and time-consuming.

The scanning process is not too bad thanks to other librarians figuring out how to do it in batches. Thanks for sharing!! (I used the individual updating method.)

On the 3^rd day, even with extra help, we were able to get all of the genres labeled and scanned, except for Realistic books which is by far my largest genre! So the Realistic books are shelved together but still need to be labeled and scanned after the school year begins.

Genre-dividing: Even though it took us so long, I think that I still wouldn’t want more than 2-3 people doing the dividing process because it would be too hard to remain somewhat consistent.

For example, I thought I was going to have Horror and Supernatural/Paranormal all be under Horror, but it became apparent as we divided books that we needed to keep them separate. As we went through the process, we had to continually make decisions such as deciding that vampires and werewolves are supernatural but angels and demons (i.e. good vs. evil) are fantasy. Sometimes LOC designations on the versa help; sometimes not. Sometimes we disagreed with the LOC and put them in a different genre to remain consistent with our guidelines or because we had read the book.

Many books are cross-overs between genres so, for example, every once in a while we put a book that traditionally would go in Historical Fiction into Mystery/Thriller hoping that a Mystery reader may be enticed to read other Historical Fiction books. We were very selective and only put a really good Historical Fiction book into another category as it will have a big challenge representing the genreJ.

Realistic: Probably close to a half of our books fell into this genre. We did do one sub-division of Sports which will have the Realistic label and an additional label Sports label. In the catalog it will be Realistic but they are shelved at the end of the Realistic section. At some point I may go back and make a Realistic/Sports sub-location so that when books are searched it is easier to know exactly where they will be.

 It becomes very difficult to tease out subdivisions as many of the books deal with multiple topics. We found this issue even with the Sports books. A book could be a romantic, illness, sports, LGBTQ book. As I’ve been thinking about it, I may get or make some labels or dots to put on books that would indicate topics that may interest kids. For example, our Para-med students have to read a fiction book dealing with a physical illness. I’d like an easy way for them to identify these books when browsing. I will still keep the books in Dewy order within the Realistic genre. If I do this, I may even integrate the sports books back in to the Realistic section.

High School Labels: Before the end of the school year, Melyssa Kenney (Parkville), Angie Sofinowski (Dulaney), and I collaborated and discussed possible genres for our collections. In general, we decided on the same, but we each have a little variation to suit our collections and our readers. Angie decided to go with pre-printed labels by Demco. Melyssa designed the genre labels to that look more high school appropriate which she nicely shared with me. Thank you, Melyssa!!

Where Has The Summer Gone?

Wow!  I have been hard at work on the never ending, always changing porch project and reading all the Black Eyed Susan books for the upcoming year and working on preparing for presentations for next week when teachers return to work.  Where has the summer gone?

The grand to-do list that I made at the end of the school year still sits unfinished.  I met with another teacher today, at Panera Bread, to plan our presentation for Monday.  Goodbye Strawberry Poppyseed Salad.  Goodbye long lunches with slow conversations with friends.  Goodbye shopping in the middle of the weekday.  Goodbye sleeping in because I stayed up late to visit with my friend Jimmy (Fallon of course). 

Time to say hello to packed lunches to be eaten in 30 minutes, rushed conversations and rise and shine early.

I may not have been the best blogger this summer but I certainly recharged and rejuvenated myself.  I participated in 2 online book study clubs and really enjoyed it. 

I am sharing a special guest blog post tomorrow.  Look for it!

So I am going to enjoy the last few days.  You enjoy it too!