New Blog to My List

I was reading one of the blogs that I am following, Abby the Librarian, who was at the Association for Library Services to Children institute recently.  She posted about sessions she attended, literacy skills, and storytime programs.    

This led me to the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) blog.  There is an interesting post on Common Core standards, which lists some ways libraries can collaborate with schools.  I am familiar with Common Core standards from a teacher and school perspective and appreciate the seeing it from a library perspective. 

I think I am going to add ALSC to my blog list.  

Today was the day....

I got up this morning and put on a fall appropriate outfit—yes, fall not Fall.  I chose an outfit that would survive an on stage fall.  Today was the day I was going to do the hip-hop dance at the bullying assembly that I mentioned in an earlier post.  I reported to rehearsal on time—didn’t always keep time with my steps but learned the moves and made it through the performance.  Luckily there was another teacher, about 15 school kids, and the group presenting dancing on stage—I could blend in a bit. 

The assembly was really good.  The performers were all middle school and high school aged kids.  They talked about local incidents as well as national.  They sang, they danced, and they acted out some scenarios.  They related to the students and got the message across.   Their message for the kids was about stopping bullying and making a difference.  They also talked about how important it is to have trusted adults who work with kids like teachers, principals, coaches, and youth services librarians and the importance of reporting for both kids and adults. 

I am planning a lesson to continue the discussion and I am sure there will be more lessons to follow.  I might use part of Flowers for Algernon (there is an excerpt in our Literature books) and talk about how Charlie was treated to reinforce the message.  

Youth Literature Festival

I saw a billboard in town for the upcoming Youth Literature Festival to be held on October 4^th-6^th in Champaign-Urbana.  Check out the webpage for the festival that includes a Community Day Celebration on October 6^th that is free to the public. 

I was thinking of ways a school library could incorporate this event before and/or after the author visits the school. 

Hang fliers prior to the event

Have a display of the book(s) written by the author visiting the school

Have a display of the books written by all the authors participating in the festival

Have the kids create book jackets or posters for the books written by the participating authors to display

Hang/display crafts or projects done at the festival/community day by the kids who were there

Other ideas?

What the boys were reading

This week was standardized testing week at my school.  I asked the kids to bring in homework or a book to read if they finished the section before time was up.  About mid-week I had finished with this week’s class reading and decided to see what the boys were reading.

Here is the list:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Showcase Presents: Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1 by Janck Miller and Joe Certa

I had a couple of boys who put their head down after finishing a test.  I encouraged them to go to the bookshelf and pick out something to read.  They chose the following:

Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Best-kept Secrets by John Farndon

The White House: An Illustrated History by Catherine O. Grace

I feel like they were right inline with what the readings said the boys would read.  We had adventure, fantasy, history, a graphic novel, and a random fact book.  

McKechnie, Lynne (2006). Becoming a Reader: Childhood Years.  In Ross, Catherine Sheldrick, McKechnie, Lynne, and Rothbauer, Paulette M. (Eds). Reading Matters: What the Research Reveals About Reading, Libraries, and Community (p. 63-100) . Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Sullivan, M. (2004). Why Johnny Won't Read. School Library Journal, 50(8), 36-39.

Books to Movies

I have been thinking about books that have become movies and it seems that I am not the only one.  One of the blogs I have been following posted a list of YA books that are being released as movies. 

I was thinking about a couple of books to movies that were not on that list.  One would be the Twilight series with the upcoming release of the last Twilight movie.  I remember when the first one was released in 2008.  All the girls in my class had read the book and were going to the opening night screening (yes, they went to a midnight show on a school night).  They were so excited and couldn’t wait to tell me about it the next day.  I don’t recall any of the ones released after that getting the same reaction.  One of my students did tell me today that she was looking forward to seeing the next one.

This year it was The Hunger Games.  All spring students were talking about the books and the movie.   Not just the girls in the class but the boys read these books and saw the movie as well.   I feel like the Harry Potter books/movies generated enthusiasm with the girls and boys as each one was released. 

Twilight, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games were popular books at the time they were made into movies.  I feel like a lot of kids and adults read or reread the Narnia books when the movies were released and the same goes for the Lord of the Rings movies. 

So, will kids read books like The Hobbit when the movie is released?  Do libraries have books that are movies displays in the YA and children’s sections?  Should they?  What about having a launch party at the library when the movie is about to release?  Win copy of the book in a raffle? Or better yet, check out the book and get your name in a drawing for free movie tickets (maybe the theater will donate a couple of tickets)?

Cyberbullying

I had been reading Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online by Anastasia Goodstein when I was sent an e-mail about a seminar that was going to be given by a police officer on cyberbullying.  I had been to a seminar given by this same officer a couple of years ago and had decided that I wasn’t going to go. 

After reading the chapter on cyberbullying in the book, I decided that I would go to hear what he had to say.  Things are different now then they were just a couple of years ago and it seems that teens and tweens have a lot more ways to access the digital world now then they did then.  He talked about how kids were using tweets and posting pictures to photo sharing sites in addition to the other social networking sites that were popular with them a couple of years ago. 

Both the book and the police officer gave examples of real world situations—some were about empowerment and some were very sad. 

The officer said that cyberbullying was not just a juvenile problem but also a community problem.   He talked about monitoring mobile devices, computers, and connected gaming consoles.  Since libraries are part of the community and often offer these devises for check out or use in the library, I looked at a few public library internet/computer use policies and found them to be similar library to library. 

I did an article search and found a couple of interesting articles in the Young Adult Library Services Journal.  “Stick, Stones, and Words Can Hurt You:  Antibullying Resources” by Madelene Barand offers a list of books, fiction and non-fiction, for teens and adults as well as a list of online resources.  The officer talked about using stories such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as an example of bullying, a story well known to all kids.  “Cyberbullying and Teens What YA Librarians Can Do to Help” offers information about who the bullies are, who their victims and what YA librarians can do to help.  There is also a list of resources and information about reporting cyberbullying. 

I’m interested in it, I am sad about it, and soon I will be dancing about it.  Some of the schools in the area are bringing in a group to have an assembly for middle schoolers about bullying and cyberbullying.  My principal asked if I would be willing to be in one of the skits, a hip-hop style dance, and I agreed.  I apparently have a 75-minute rehearsal to attend that morning—I am part of the community.   We’ll see how it goes.  

Agosto, D. E., Forte, A., & Magee, R. (2012). Cyberbullying and Teens What YA Librarians Can Do to Help. Young Adult Library Services, 10(2), 38-43.

Barnard, M. (2009). Sticks, Stones, and Words Can Hurt You: Antibullying Resources. Young Adult Library Services, 8(1), 33-39.

Goodstein, Anastasia. (2007) Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online. New York, NY: Saint Martin's Griffin.