Talented Guitarist Effortlessly Performs Eight Different Songs With Varyingly Odd Time Signatures

when in the stacks I must resist The urge to make A pefect fist And punch the books All in the spine To shelve them straight- I’ll get a fine.

Humor funny Beauty Beast library

Talented Guitarist Effortlessly Performs Eight Different Songs With Varyingly Odd Time Signatures

I’m laughing so hard cause this is deadass what bees do 😂

Save them

Your middle school librarian has never failed on a book request. As a prank, you request a copy of the Necronomicon. Ten minutes later, the librarian returns, slightly scorched, ancient book in hand, saying, “Due back in 3 weeks.”

School Libraries, standards, and where we fit in

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged anything. I guess it’s time to come back from that hiatus! Clearly, I have a great love of school libraries. I think that they are spaces where amazing things can happen within our educational communities. However, my background is that I ran a school library in a district that had cut its librarians, so I most decidedly have my concerns about the future or our profession. Why, you may ask, did I come back to school when I basically had the power of a librarian at my old job? To be perfectly honest, I felt like I had the ability to make a difference in children’s lives, and that my hands were tied by the fact that I didn’t have a degree. I wanted the ability to have a greater impact than I could have as a clerk. It took a few years, but at one point I looked in the mirror and said to myself, “I am more than this.”

What we need to do is be certain that we allow people to understand that we are more than clerks. We need to do this by clearly stating what it is that we do in our profession and by differentiating ourselves as the dual role of educators and librarians. Here is where I run into many of my concerns.

First, I will address the AASL standards. These standards are what I like to call “specifically vague.” There are many of them to wade through, and there are four different categories. One of my personal favorites is, “4.2.1 Display curiosity by pursuing interests through multiple resources.” What exactly do we mean by this? How can this even be measured? Who knows what students might be exploring and what tools they might be using at home? Don’t get me wrong; there are some standards in there that are vaguely specific enough that they make good sense. However, if I showed this document to my mom, I can almost guarantee that she would read it over, turn to me, and say, “So, what exactly is it that school librarians do?” In my opinion, that’s a question that we cannot afford for people to be asking with any amount of regularity.

The other issue I take with the standards is that in each of the four areas, there is a standard that refers to making connections to prior knowledge and/or the world around you, or your community—etc, etc, etc. Basically, the standards state the same thing four different times using slightly different vocabulary. Ummmm…are we being repetitive on purpose to drive a point home? Or would someone read this and say, “geez, you just said that in areas 1, 2, and 3 and now you’re giving it to me in four too?”

Clearly, we want our standards to be relevant for our students and relevant for the times that we live in. Ironically enough, I just wrote a paper on standards based reform for my education reform class last semester. Standards are most certainly a tricky business, as was made evident in this week’s reading by Pappas. Pappas points out that one of the positives of NCLB is that school library media specialists can collaborate with teachers in order to help remember and digest information in more meaningful ways. Indeed, this is a nice idea. However, the recent incident experienced by the school library media specialists in California puts me on edge about this. As far as accountability was concerned, the district wanted to see that the librarians assigned grades, took attendance, etc. So, while collaborating is wonderful and certainly what we hope that we can do with teachers, my concern is that if school library media specialists do not have the same types of accountability as teachers, that it will put us in danger. This is concerning, since we deal with any and all subject areas. Adding to the difficulty here is that many teachers do not understand what we offer. I was in a class with undergraduates about to go into student teaching, and most of them did not realize that school librarians are certified teachers who are willing and happy to collaborate with them. Of course, there is also the problem of convincing teachers that they should collaborate with us. So, between accountability and teachers who are not educated about the role of the library media specialist, there is certainly cause for concern.

Finally, I will turn to the reading from Woolls. She states that school libraries have escaped recycling. I would amend that and say that they have barely escaped recycling. I actually knew someone who had worked in a school district that completely shut the doors on its school library. That’s not even recycling folks—that’s the dumpster. Certainly, it is not like this everywhere and thank goodness for that!

The portion of the Woolls reading that discussed Information Power was particularly interesting to me, especially the following parts (which I’m piecing together in the interest of my readership’s time): “The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information…by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas…resources and activities are planned that contribute to lifelong learning.” This is all wonderful. However, couldn’t you easily apply this to any classroom? What is it that makes us different? How do any of these comments convince someone of the importance of a school library? After all, I would certainly hope that teachers do most of these things as well!

That being said, after reading Wooll’s account of school libraries, a lot sounded familiar to me. Teachers still hover like vultures around resources retired and relocated teachers have left behind. I also found it interesting that “in the 1980s the school library media picture seemed bleak.” Huh. How can we change this?

I think the answer lies in being proactive. In keeping our doors open all the time and making sure we’re not sitting behind out desks. In making sure that we are a positive, helpful presence in our schools. In offering to teach lessons for teachers that have to do with information seeking and gathering or technology so that they’re aware they can turn to us in the future. In proactively informing the administration about what we’re doing instead of making them ask us. In inviting parents in to see our spaces and experiment with the technologies we’re teaching their children. In getting people to understand that our standards are applicable across the board in all subjects. And folks, it’s no small task, but I certainly think it’s one that we’re up for.

Exhale Hard. #yogagirl Art by @huebucket

DIY Harry Potter Book Ornaments from Bakingdom.

This tutorial shows how to make mini Harry Potter books that appear to float in clear ornaments. I like this tutorial because the miniature book tutorial can be used for so much more than ornaments. 

For everything DIY Harry Potter go here including an amazing DIY Harry Potter Monopoly Game and DIY Harry Potter Chess Set.

Also, if you are a Harry Potter fan, Bakingdom has posted photos of her Harry Potter themed Christmas tree. At the top is Fawkes with his red tail wrapping around the tree like a feathery garland. (via EPBOT on Facebook).

Books, planets in the universe / Libros, planetas del universo (ilustración de Harriet Russell)

Unknown (via creatingaquietmind)

You can get the e-book following the link. Spoiler: 1. Sugar 2. Worry 3. Multitasking 4. Poor Sleep 5. Screensucking

Interesting read with some suggestions for alternative habits and behaviors. Check it out.

“School library marketing has to begin and end with impact.”