School's almost out. For me, that means a lot of end-of-the-year questions, like which reports should be run for final statistics and that sort of thing. Other than that, it's fairly quiet, which is why I thought today would be a fine day to take as a vacation day and recover from a VERY busy weekend.
Here's the thing...I'm working on two shows at once. Well, actually three. Our kids' theatre group had 67 kids audition, so we split them into two groups and are doing two shows. It's kind of mind-boggling...I'm not so sure we should've done it, but there you are.
The other show doesn't go up till this fall, but we're getting a head start on it now; it's "Evita" and that's a pretty massive show. Had auditions this past weekend, and between the three days of auditions for that and an all-morning rehearsal for the kids' shows, I was pretty beat. So, as I said, I opted to stay home and sleep.
I should have known better. It seems that every time I think it's going to be quiet and I can take a day, something happens. Today it was server issues. Had to log on via VPN to reset a server. Of course, I always foolishly check my email, and there was a pretty full inbox today, even though when I left last Friday I had it down to three.
So I've got plenty to do tomorrow. First thing I need to do is make that the troubleshooting sheet I left with Kelli is up-to-date and that she remembers to actually use it! :-)
Showing posts with label Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library. Show all posts
Monday, June 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Yikes!
Here it is almost the end of May, and I haven't posted anything for ages. It's been SUCH a busy month...finished "The Odd Couple" (female version) for Elmira Little Theatre (I was Mickey the Cop) and am preparing for the kids' summer show ("Kokonut Island" makes a reprise this year) as well as ELT's fall show - "Evita." More on that to come, I'm sure!
Work-wise, May usually brings plenty of inventories (yes, my trigger finger is sore!) and preparation for the end of the year. Evaluations, all that. A couple of classes, and lots of catalog cleanup and tedious type work!
Of course I've been following the plight of the Giant Pandas in China who were affected by the recent terrible earthquake, especially those at the Wolong Nature Reserve, which was very close to the epicenter of the quake. Amazingly, only two pandas were injured, and six escaped, but five were either recaptured or wandered back. There's one still missing, though. Hope they find it soon! All the panda houses were damaged or destroyed, and sadly, five staff were killed at the reserve.
If you're interested in finding out more about the pandas or helping out with the people & pandas in China, visit the Pandas International website. They have great pictures and information. The National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo also have good information and links.
Happy May!
(The six pandas on the left were moved from the Wolong Reserve to another reserve that was less affected by the earthquake.)
Work-wise, May usually brings plenty of inventories (yes, my trigger finger is sore!) and preparation for the end of the year. Evaluations, all that. A couple of classes, and lots of catalog cleanup and tedious type work!
Of course I've been following the plight of the Giant Pandas in China who were affected by the recent terrible earthquake, especially those at the Wolong Nature Reserve, which was very close to the epicenter of the quake. Amazingly, only two pandas were injured, and six escaped, but five were either recaptured or wandered back. There's one still missing, though. Hope they find it soon! All the panda houses were damaged or destroyed, and sadly, five staff were killed at the reserve.
If you're interested in finding out more about the pandas or helping out with the people & pandas in China, visit the Pandas International website. They have great pictures and information. The National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo also have good information and links.Happy May!
(The six pandas on the left were moved from the Wolong Reserve to another reserve that was less affected by the earthquake.)
Friday, March 07, 2008
Success
There's nothing like successfully outwitting a computer, especially on a Friday.
Well, okay, I didn't actually outwit it. I mean, computers can't actually think for themselves, although it sometimes seems that way. So it was actually more like getting it to do something that I wanted it to do that I previously wasn't sure how to do. And I've actually done it three times today - once by getting the OPAC to display a new icon next to the bib records for a Playaway, once to get a computer that was stuck in maintenance mode (DeepFreeze) OUT of maintenance mode, and once to be able to edit this blog from my Infowench account instead of my other Google account. Probably all small, unimportant things, but they made me happy (and in the case of the OPAC icon, they'll make a librarian happy).
It's a good feeling.
Well, okay, I didn't actually outwit it. I mean, computers can't actually think for themselves, although it sometimes seems that way. So it was actually more like getting it to do something that I wanted it to do that I previously wasn't sure how to do. And I've actually done it three times today - once by getting the OPAC to display a new icon next to the bib records for a Playaway, once to get a computer that was stuck in maintenance mode (DeepFreeze) OUT of maintenance mode, and once to be able to edit this blog from my Infowench account instead of my other Google account. Probably all small, unimportant things, but they made me happy (and in the case of the OPAC icon, they'll make a librarian happy).
It's a good feeling.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Podcasting booktalks
I love podcasting booktalks.
It's all my friend Jill's fault. She asked me to do one for her middle school kids as an example, and now I just love doing them. I find myself planning them and when I read a book I think about what piece of it I might use to do a booktalk on it. I even want to do booktalks on books I haven't yet read!
It's really not all that unusual, I guess - booktalking was one of my favorite things in Youth Lit class when I was in grad school. I remember doing a booktalk on "Child of the Northern Spring" (Persia Woolley - it's the King Arthur story told from Guinevere's perspective) and I did it in the first person as Guinevere. Perhaps it's the theatre in me that likes booktalking so well.
In any case, I've done three booktalks for Jill so far and have gotten my friend John to agree to do one, too - he has a GREAT voice and will be Nicholas Flamel for a booktalk on Michael Scott's "The Alchemyst."
Last Friday I went to Jill's library and worked with some of her kids on the finer points of expression and performance when creating and reading their own podcasts, as well as some of finer points of editing in Audacity. We had a fine time, and they started a few new podcasts that I'm hoping to hear soon on their site. It's so cool - not only are the kids getting into this (and Jill says that the books that they podcast are flying off the shelves), but the teachers are getting into it, too, and volunteering (or in some cases, agreeing) to read booktalks. Some of them are interested enough to pick music for the background, and some of them are happy to let the group of sixth-graders who are the "podcasters" for the school do the editing and choose the music. What a great collaboration - and how great for the kids to be seen as the experts on this!
It's good to work with librarians. It's good to BE a librarian. What other teaching job allows you to study ALL subjects instead of just focusing on one?
Hmm, does that make me indecisive?
It's all my friend Jill's fault. She asked me to do one for her middle school kids as an example, and now I just love doing them. I find myself planning them and when I read a book I think about what piece of it I might use to do a booktalk on it. I even want to do booktalks on books I haven't yet read!
It's really not all that unusual, I guess - booktalking was one of my favorite things in Youth Lit class when I was in grad school. I remember doing a booktalk on "Child of the Northern Spring" (Persia Woolley - it's the King Arthur story told from Guinevere's perspective) and I did it in the first person as Guinevere. Perhaps it's the theatre in me that likes booktalking so well.
In any case, I've done three booktalks for Jill so far and have gotten my friend John to agree to do one, too - he has a GREAT voice and will be Nicholas Flamel for a booktalk on Michael Scott's "The Alchemyst."
Last Friday I went to Jill's library and worked with some of her kids on the finer points of expression and performance when creating and reading their own podcasts, as well as some of finer points of editing in Audacity. We had a fine time, and they started a few new podcasts that I'm hoping to hear soon on their site. It's so cool - not only are the kids getting into this (and Jill says that the books that they podcast are flying off the shelves), but the teachers are getting into it, too, and volunteering (or in some cases, agreeing) to read booktalks. Some of them are interested enough to pick music for the background, and some of them are happy to let the group of sixth-graders who are the "podcasters" for the school do the editing and choose the music. What a great collaboration - and how great for the kids to be seen as the experts on this!
It's good to work with librarians. It's good to BE a librarian. What other teaching job allows you to study ALL subjects instead of just focusing on one?
Hmm, does that make me indecisive?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
What drives you crazy?
So today I'm working in catalogs, and there are things I find that make me crazy:
- Records entered entirely in caps
- "Your holding symbol" (instead of the 4-character school code)
- Records without call numbers (how can you find it?)
- Misspellings
Okay, so maybe I'm obsessive-compulsive, or just way too left-brained. (Kind of funny for someone who's so involved in music & theatre, isn't it?)
But while I'm waiting for the replace to finish on editing these records, I just thought I'd get this off my chest!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Catching up again
Some weeks just seem to fly right by, don't they? Having finally managed to be in the office for more than an hour, I've almost caught up with the email and checked my RSS feeds. Thursday being the day the Librarian's Internet Index posts their picks for the week, I've added a bunch of interesting sites for Mandarin Study Group next week. I think the list of web sites for the month will be pretty large!
Loved this one that Sue Canfield forwarded to me:
http://www.visuwords.com/
It's a graphical dictionary. How fun is that?
More later, I think...
Loved this one that Sue Canfield forwarded to me:
http://www.visuwords.com/
It's a graphical dictionary. How fun is that?
More later, I think...
Friday, May 11, 2007
Getting My Thoughts Together
Haven't posted all week; I'm slipping! But it's been a busy week - after getting back from the SLMS conference last week it took a bit to catch up. Today is a little calmer, so time for a few words, I guess!
First, to recount the rest of the conference - after session 3, we adjourned back to our rooms to check email & all that (I managed to post a number of titles to the book blog), then we got dressed to go to the Knickerbocker Award banquet. We had a good group at our table, but alas, the setup of the hall was such that we couldn't see the speakers at all and we couldn't hear very well, either. It was a bit frustrating.
Saturday I went to see a presentation by Robin Pulver & Tedd Arnold, which was highly entertaining. I recommend them both as speakers! It was very interesting to hear how they approach their writing, and how they collaborated on the Axle Annie books. It's apparently unusual for an author and illustrator to even talk to each other; an author doesn't even usually have a choice as to who illustrates his/her picture book (unless he/she is also an illustrator!). That's determined by the publisher. Who knew?
Tedd showed some of his early sketches for several of his books; among them, The Twin Princes. It was fascinating to see how his original idea changed from having human princes to having chickens as the princes. It was also quite startling when he showed a picture of his real model for the original concept, because it turned out to be someone I knew! Not all that surprising, actually, as Tedd & I live in the same town...
So that's that for the SLMS conference. It was enjoyable and I learned some good things!
This week has gone by quickly; as I said earlier, I had lots to do to catch up, plus I had a couple of meetings, and had to prepare for a class (for administrators) on Intellectual Property and Copyright. Not the most inspiring of topics, particularly at 7:30 a.m. on a Friday, but I found some REALLY good resources in the process of preparing for it:
An article on Education World - actually, a five-part series. I highly recommend it to all educators!
A great copyright chart from Hall Davidson of the Discovery Educator Network. Love this chart. It's concise and clear, and really spells out what you can and can't do as an educator under Fair Use.
Speaking of Fair Use, I really like the Stanford site on this topic. Everything you ever wanted to know about copyright - or links to them, at least!
Guess that's it for now. It's almost time for lunch!
First, to recount the rest of the conference - after session 3, we adjourned back to our rooms to check email & all that (I managed to post a number of titles to the book blog), then we got dressed to go to the Knickerbocker Award banquet. We had a good group at our table, but alas, the setup of the hall was such that we couldn't see the speakers at all and we couldn't hear very well, either. It was a bit frustrating.
Saturday I went to see a presentation by Robin Pulver & Tedd Arnold, which was highly entertaining. I recommend them both as speakers! It was very interesting to hear how they approach their writing, and how they collaborated on the Axle Annie books. It's apparently unusual for an author and illustrator to even talk to each other; an author doesn't even usually have a choice as to who illustrates his/her picture book (unless he/she is also an illustrator!). That's determined by the publisher. Who knew?
Tedd showed some of his early sketches for several of his books; among them, The Twin Princes. It was fascinating to see how his original idea changed from having human princes to having chickens as the princes. It was also quite startling when he showed a picture of his real model for the original concept, because it turned out to be someone I knew! Not all that surprising, actually, as Tedd & I live in the same town...
So that's that for the SLMS conference. It was enjoyable and I learned some good things!
This week has gone by quickly; as I said earlier, I had lots to do to catch up, plus I had a couple of meetings, and had to prepare for a class (for administrators) on Intellectual Property and Copyright. Not the most inspiring of topics, particularly at 7:30 a.m. on a Friday, but I found some REALLY good resources in the process of preparing for it:
An article on Education World - actually, a five-part series. I highly recommend it to all educators!
A great copyright chart from Hall Davidson of the Discovery Educator Network. Love this chart. It's concise and clear, and really spells out what you can and can't do as an educator under Fair Use.
Speaking of Fair Use, I really like the Stanford site on this topic. Everything you ever wanted to know about copyright - or links to them, at least!
Guess that's it for now. It's almost time for lunch!
Friday, May 04, 2007
Session Three
Information Ethics, Rights & Responsibilities and the Unintended Consequences of Technological Change presented by Ed Nizolowski
Ed gave us some very nice handouts on topics of study for this subject, as well as a rubric and a lesson plan.
Ed gave us some very nice handouts on topics of study for this subject, as well as a rubric and a lesson plan.
(Brrr...it's cold in here!)
Well, mostly you'd have to see the handouts, I guess!
Lunch & session two
The technology luncheon was not only delicious, it was also both informative and entertaining. Alice Yucht, whom I saw in session one, was the speaker, and she was discussing digital literacy in the 21st century. I wish I had brought the laptop to take notes, but figured it would be in the way at lunch. It was just as well - Sue & I decided to walk to the Embassy Suites, where the luncheon was held (what a GORGEOUS hotel), and we got somewhat lost on the way, so it would've been kind of heavy to carry!
I've added Alice to my Bloglines feeds. I definitely want to continue to hear what she has to say!
Check out her website.
So here I am in the second session. This one is Impact of School Library Programs on Student Motivation and Achievement, conducted by Dr. Ruth Small from the Center for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University.
This project first looked at other studies to see what they did and how they did it, and found that many of the others were based on surveys. They opted to do not only surveys, which focus almost exclusively on student achievement, but also several other research methods:
1) general and in-depth surveys
2) focus groups
3) case studies
Collected data from SLMSs, principals, teachers, students and parents
Studied both student achievement AND motivation
Also looked at technology use, services for students with disabilities and impact on families/communities
The goal is to provide a model for LMS to collect research of their own in schools and districts and improve their programs
Research questions:
1) What factors, related to school library programs, services, and resources, impact NYS students' learning achievement
(State is looking very closely at this study and the data they collect)
2) How do NY school library services and programs affect student motivation for learning
3) What and how are school library services provided to students with disabilities?
4) In what ways do SLMS influence the use of technology by student & teachers & what is subsequent impact on teaching and learning?
5) What, if any, effects do school library services, programs, and resources have on families and communities?
Got lots of comments on the surveys, which they didn't expect!
Preliminary findings:
(presented by Jamie Snyder, doctoral student at Syracuse)
- First went through NYSED data
- Went to SLSA to get representation from SLMS in all areas
38.7% response rate!
Based on 30% response rate for each county. Average is 24% from everywhere except NYC, which has an average 31%.
Principal survey - 11% response rate
K-5 considered Elem., 6-up secondary. Schools which span both are in other
811 Elementary
703 Secondary
131 Other
Based then on Needs resource categories
Initial findings: survey successfully measures librarians' perceptions of:
I've added Alice to my Bloglines feeds. I definitely want to continue to hear what she has to say!
Check out her website.
So here I am in the second session. This one is Impact of School Library Programs on Student Motivation and Achievement, conducted by Dr. Ruth Small from the Center for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University.
This project first looked at other studies to see what they did and how they did it, and found that many of the others were based on surveys. They opted to do not only surveys, which focus almost exclusively on student achievement, but also several other research methods:
1) general and in-depth surveys
2) focus groups
3) case studies
Collected data from SLMSs, principals, teachers, students and parents
Studied both student achievement AND motivation
Also looked at technology use, services for students with disabilities and impact on families/communities
The goal is to provide a model for LMS to collect research of their own in schools and districts and improve their programs
Research questions:
1) What factors, related to school library programs, services, and resources, impact NYS students' learning achievement
(State is looking very closely at this study and the data they collect)
2) How do NY school library services and programs affect student motivation for learning
3) What and how are school library services provided to students with disabilities?
4) In what ways do SLMS influence the use of technology by student & teachers & what is subsequent impact on teaching and learning?
5) What, if any, effects do school library services, programs, and resources have on families and communities?
Got lots of comments on the surveys, which they didn't expect!
Preliminary findings:
(presented by Jamie Snyder, doctoral student at Syracuse)
- First went through NYSED data
- Went to SLSA to get representation from SLMS in all areas
38.7% response rate!
Based on 30% response rate for each county. Average is 24% from everywhere except NYC, which has an average 31%.
Principal survey - 11% response rate
K-5 considered Elem., 6-up secondary. Schools which span both are in other
811 Elementary
703 Secondary
131 Other
Based then on Needs resource categories
Initial findings: survey successfully measures librarians' perceptions of:
- work climate
- student motivation to learn
- leadership within school community
- information literacy
- learning environment
- collaboration within school community
- diversity of collection
Strongest relationships are:
- Motivation & Information Literacy
- leadership & information literacy
- collaboration & leadership
- Motivation & Learning Environment
- Collaboration & Information literacy
motivation & leadership
Measures & grade levels
Grade level & motivation - elementary schools have higher motivation scores than secondary schools
Grade level & collaboration
- Secondary schools have higher collaboration scores than elementary schools
Needs Resource & leadership
- Low-need schools have higher leadership scores than most high-need schools
- Highest collaboration scores came from low-need schools
- In general NYC schools collaborate more than most other high-needs schools
Certified LMS scored higher than uncertified on selecting materials for schools library collection representing different points of view, but not on representing cultural diversity
- 40% respondents provide guidance to students in use of digital resources at least once a day
- 74% at least once a week
- 57% assist students in using information in a variety of media formats at least once a week
- 65% assist staff in using information in a variety of media at least once a week
- 79% make a point of selecting materials in a variety of formats
- About half provide access to the catalog at home
- 9% do not have automated circulation system
In-depth interviews, case studies, and focus groups will take place next year.
Results will be available on the SU digital literacy website
Future analyses:
- What is the relationship between student achievement and the measures provided by the general survey?
- Additional factors to be considered:
- NYS LMS certification
- Control of Needs/Resource Categories
Also...
- Do school library media specialist & principals perceive work climate differently?
- Is there a relationship between technology in the school LMC & student achievement?
- Is there a relationship between technology in the school LMC and student motivation?
Next steps:
- Select 48 schools for focused, in-depth surveys (LMS, teachers, students, principals)
- Select 24 schools for focus groups and interviews (LMS, teachers, students, parents, principals)
- Select two schools for comparative case study
Session One!
Alice Yucht, (Itinerate Curmudgeon and Teacher-Librarian) -
Webfeeds 101: How Blog Reading can make you Look Brilliant
"As school librarians, we are and should be the CIOs of our building."
Note to self: check out Jott - Directory of Open Access Journals (you can set up RSS feeds by subject!)
Transl8it - translates IM txt lingo
Infoblog - check it out for a description of what a blog is.
Professional blogs - essential professional development and reading for us
Three types:
Personal/Point-of-View - reports of events & impressions
Partical/Purposeful - links to useful info and new resources
Philosophical/Polemical - Explorations/disccussions of Big Ideas
Blogs are instant - hot topics - lifelong learning - conversation>collaboration
Very cool - children's book series wiki!!! Check it out: http://seriesbinder.lishost.org/index.php/Main_Page
Cyber-learning in the classroom: Current Issues in Education
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
Blogging & RSS is "Like having TIVO for your mind."
http://blip.tv/file/205570/ - really simple explanation of how RSS feeds work.
Why read blogs? You have choice of topics, sources, formats, as well as when where and how much to read. You can "gather useful online resources while you sleep."
Hmmm, note to self: check out Google Reader. Like the star feature.
RSS feeds by subject in EBSCOHost - investigate!
Caveat - RSS feed reading can be addicting! Alice suggests setting a time limit for yourself.
http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/WebfeedsWorkshop
Blog recommendations at http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/YouthServicesBlogList
and http://www.bloglines.com/blog/aliceinfoshow2rss
Webfeeds 101: How Blog Reading can make you Look Brilliant
"As school librarians, we are and should be the CIOs of our building."
Note to self: check out Jott - Directory of Open Access Journals (you can set up RSS feeds by subject!)
Transl8it - translates IM txt lingo
Infoblog - check it out for a description of what a blog is.
Professional blogs - essential professional development and reading for us
Three types:
Personal/Point-of-View - reports of events & impressions
Partical/Purposeful - links to useful info and new resources
Philosophical/Polemical - Explorations/disccussions of Big Ideas
Blogs are instant - hot topics - lifelong learning - conversation>collaboration
Very cool - children's book series wiki!!! Check it out: http://seriesbinder.lishost.org/index.php/Main_Page
Cyber-learning in the classroom: Current Issues in Education
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
Blogging & RSS is "Like having TIVO for your mind."
http://blip.tv/file/205570/ - really simple explanation of how RSS feeds work.
Why read blogs? You have choice of topics, sources, formats, as well as when where and how much to read. You can "gather useful online resources while you sleep."
Hmmm, note to self: check out Google Reader. Like the star feature.
RSS feeds by subject in EBSCOHost - investigate!
Caveat - RSS feed reading can be addicting! Alice suggests setting a time limit for yourself.
http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/WebfeedsWorkshop
Blog recommendations at http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/YouthServicesBlogList
and http://www.bloglines.com/blog/aliceinfoshow2rss
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Today is Read-Aloud Day!
I'm going to read aloud to three classes today - fun! I haven't read to primary kids since last Read-Aloud Day, I'll bet. Tomorrow I get to read to one more class. All in celebration of National Library Week!
:-)
:-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)