Book Review: Warden of Greyrock

Part of my job as a teacher librarian is to read great books, it is definitely one of the perks. I am participating in the review process for my school division and picked up four paperbacks for review. Blogging makes a great living record so I am going to save my thoughts here.

K.V. Johansen adds to the Warlocks of Talverdin series with , Warden of Greyrock. As a fantasy fan, this book has great appeal for me. I have read the previous two books in the series and this one does not disappoint. It is layered and complex, adding to the mythology and geography of the previous parts of the series. It would be a tricky read without the context of the previous two but not impossible. Having read the previous two, the fill-ins for new readers were noticeable but would be necessary and were even helpful given the lag time for me between the first two the this new one. These novels are plot driven, heart stopping adventures. They demand sophisticated reading comprehension skills. The characters are compelling, the plot imaginative and interesting and the themes timeless.

Suitable for a young adult reader
Possible curricular connections – fantasy and other worlds, the nature of conflict and bigotry

GPS: Quote and Reflect

I really want to do this. I have a wish to be more creative, more interesting. Somewhere inside me I hope there is a writer an inner Robertson Davies or Madeline L’Engle. I know writing takes practice and I believe I can improve so when Paul at QuoteReflections started to invite people to pursue their craft in a more deliberate way, I knew I had to do it.

Photo by Arslan

Lately, I have had even more cause to believe I must start to cultivate my creative self. Jill Bolte Taylor, author of My Stroke of Insight, has given me renewed hope my creative side exists and has simply been dominated by my more logical analytical self. Jill suffered a major stroke at the age of 37. She is a neurolanatomist and has written about her experience and its blessings. She experienced massive damage to the left side of her brain and found her right side experienced the world in quite a different fashion. Her right side was capable of great joy and being in the moment. Her left side organized her thoughts and helped her to communicate. (This is an extreme simplification, please read the book). She found with practice following her recovery, she could more deliberately choose which of her characteristics she would allow dominance.

“Some of us have nurtured both of our characters and are really good at utilizing the skills and personalities of both sides of our brain, allowing them to support, influence, and temper one another as we live our lives. Others of us, however, are quite uinlateral in our thiking – either exhibiting extremely rigid thinking patterns athat are analytically critical (extreme left brain), or we seldom connect to a common reality and spend most of our time “with our head in the clouds” *extreme right brain).

I believe writing and reflecting, drawing and painting, singing and playing an instrument have been past times which helped me to balance my natural tendencies to criticize and judge. I believe nurturing my other capacities will have some long term health benefits and perhaps even has eternal consequences. (That’s a philosophical discussion I don’t have time for).

I am intrigued by the alignment of the reading I have done sporadically over this year. Each piece has given me reason to take another step in the direction of developing my ‘right’ brain abilities. I am hopeful about the changes it may bring to me.

Thank you for the invitation Paul.

Working on a Library Report

I read Joyce’s library report and thought, “Now that’s intimidating!”  Although I know she’s been doing this awhile now and wouldn’t mean to frighten anyone.  After the intimidation, I thought, “I need one of those”.  So I wrote my own library report.

Brevoort Park School Library Report 2008-2009

Highlights

Willow Launch 2008

January Book Clubs 2009

Freedom to Read 2009

Replaced rolling computer desks with furniture

Added YA spinner

Added First Reader section in baskets

Improved front entry display

Added magazine rack and newspaper rack

Curriculum Highlights

Kindergarten and Grade One classes came throughout the year for weekly read alouds and borrowing with the Teacher Librarian.  We enjoyed reading the Willow Books together and learning to make critical judgments about what makes a good book.  Grade Ones also received instruction on the Dewey Decimal system and received assistance in their Writer’s Club.  Grade Three Social Studies studied the City and did a research project on a world destination.  They were working to use critical thinking to assess the ability of a city to contribute to the inhabitants’ happiness.  Grade Three/Four studied the Willows books and co-authored blog postings reviewing the books.  They were involved in beginning a classroom blog writing about the activities in their classroom.  Grade Four prepared for their Fort Carlton trip and studied some of the events which make Fort Carlton important to Saskatchewan’s history.  They used critical thinking strategies to assess the time period and events of photographs and produced tableaux to demonstrate their learning.  Grade Four/Five completed a Genre study and developed their ability to categorize a book using evidence.  They studied famous Canadians and researched them to produce a PowerPoint slide and written paragraphs.  They learned to make judgments about the heroic nature of people.  Grade Six/Seven were involved in beginning stages of blog writing.  Grade Seven/Eight studied and researched Canadian Immigrants.  They were answering the question, “How are the identities of these immigrant groups and their stories, similar or different from my own identity and story?”  They were encouraged to use a variety of sources and to expand their use of good search terms.

Class Visits and Usage

Kindergarten, Grade One, Grade Two/Three came for weekly book exchanges.  Grade Three/Four used drop in book exchange and sporadically held group exchanges.

Grade Four/Five worked fairly intensively with the teacher librarian throughout the year, often meeting twice a week.   Grades Six/Seven/Eight made use of the library predominately without the assistance of the teacher librarian.

Circulation Statistics

Library Materials By Homeroom

K – 588

1 – 1 577

2/3- 1 458

3/4 – 1 676

4/5 – 2 011

6/7 – 932

7/8 – 520

Library Materials by Faculty

K – unquantifable

1 – 191

2/3 – 165

3/4 – 723

4/5 – 165

6/7 – 116

7/8 – 122

The picture of circulation statistics by classroom illustrates the need for some time and effort into the reading habits and needs of the grades 6, 7 and 8 students.  Both the students and the teachers within these classrooms have lower borrowing rates.  Students in the grade three/four classroom had a large number of books available to them within the classroom throughout the year.  The grade four/five classroom were avid personal borrowers.  The Kindergarten classroom only appears to have low statistics as the class size was significantly smaller then others.

Staff and Hours

Our library is staffed by Susan Funk, teacher librarian, and, library technician.  A number of volunteers help to keep things running.  Student helpers work to assist with book exchanges and __________ works on shelving and mac-tacing new materials.  A SIAST student, _______, interned for several weeks in the spring jointly supervised by, Susan Funk and in our partner school, Wildwood.  The library is open with full services Monday through Thursday.  Friday we are not staffed, teachers may use the space and student helpers can be made available for check out on Friday.  Monday and Wednesday morning recess during the winter months, the library was available for senior students as a commons’ room.  On severe weather days, the library is home to a variety of grades for break times.

Additional Activities – Community and beyond

Many school and community events occur in the library space.  Once a month on Thursdays, the Zoo Club has visits from the Saskatoon Zoo.  Reading Buddies is held weekly from September to May on Wednesday at noon.  PreSchool Story time, hosted by our principal, occurs weekly as well as borrowing for the children in Creative Care.  Monthly School Community Council (SCC) meetings take place in the library.  As well as the community events organized by the SCC on topics such as, math curriculum, family literacy and bully prevention.

Professional Activities

I have read carefully the newly produced School Library Support Document.  This document outlines the roles and responsibilities of the various administrators, teachers and technicians working with the libraries in Saskatoon Public Schools.  I was involved with the Middle Years Professional Inquiry Cycle, both as a personal journey but also as a supporting partner for, in her first year at this grade level.  We were exploring the issues around teaching reading strategies and cultivating readers.  Our work in exploring genre was well-received by colleagues and is being distributed for wider use.  I attended the Kaleidoscope conference in Calgary with a number of teacher librarian colleagues.  This was a tremendously enriching experience which introduced me to new authors and illustrators.  I was able to purchase some of their work to add to the collection and would be delighted to add more in the coming year. In addition, I attended the Technology in Learning conference organized by the Saskatchewan Professional Development Unit. This two day conference highlighted some of the technological applications and activities which can be used to improve and enhance student learning.  I attended this conference with two colleagues from Brevoort Park.

Committees and Networks

I was a member of the Teacher Librarian Committee (TLC).  I attended monthly meetings on Tuesday after school.  I also attended the teacher librarian networking meetings (four annually).  I had a teacher librarian mentor whom I met on two occasions, once in the fall and once at year end.  I hope to meet more regularly in the coming year.

Issues

Many students routinely use Google as a ‘source’ without recognizing Google as a search tool and not a source.  They do not reference the materials they find and they cut and paste copyrighted materials without the knowledge or concern that this is an illegal practice.  They need to learn better search strategies, better sources of information and how to use Creative Commons materials when producing work.  These behaviours are particularly evident in the middle year’s students.  Some of them take the teacher librarian assistance and improve their practice, more often; they use what they like when they are not supervised.

We had several incidents of student use of materials which were blatantly false or racist.  In the case of the racist materials, the information was blocked at school, so the student used it from home.  The student did not question the site being blocked at school as many sites are blocked at school.  Unfortunately, no time was given for the appropriate follow up.  The false information was caught at the end of the student’s project.  The teacher followed up with excellent teaching about site validity and using critical thinking when finding information on the internet.

Senior students are making use of library materials without signing them out.  It is difficult to track this behaviour.  A possible contributing factor is unsupervised use of the library on Fridays.  As there is not always an adult in the library when the students are making use of it, they may not bother to check out the books.  In addition, when there is no one to open the circulation desk, they may be unable to sign out materials even if they would like to.

Access to computers continues to be a struggle for all in the building.  The computers in the lab are old, broken and slow.  Often groups need to divide between the good computers in the library and the poor computers in the computer lab leaving the teacher trying to supervise in two locations.  This is not at all ideal for managing access to materials and facilitating appropriate use.

Goals

Drop in borrowing – I would like to see regular drop in borrowing by students in all classrooms.  I would like to staff the circulation desk all mornings from 9:00-9:30 and all afternoons from 12:50-1:20.  I would like to reduce the number of classes coming for group borrowing.  Students need to come for books as they need them rather than coming as a group when some need books and others do not.

Lending to Classrooms – I would like to continue to supplement classroom libraries with school library materials.  This allows students to access more non-fiction titles and better quality fiction titles.

Selling books to Middle Years – I would like to improve student participation in leisure reading.  I believe teaching students about blogs and RSS is one way to hook students into reading.  I would like to work at using student reviewers to pass books along and recommend to their peers.

Inquiry and Research – I would like to work with each class during the coming year on a research topic.  I want to improve all students’ ability to ask questions, find information, assess its validity and share their findings.

Technology – I want to teach the middle years students about the appropriate use policy (aup) at the beginning of the year and work at improving their understanding and compliance with it.  I want to develop a continuum of skills working from grade 2/3 up, in order to teach good habits for searching and using online materials and tools.  I will advocate for a laptop cart and wireless hub, as well as headsets and microphones to be purchased for the school.  Integration of technology into the ongoing learning of a classroom allows teachers to improve instruction and enhance student learning.

Reflection and Planning

I know I have been a non-blogging blogger most of this year.  I think I’m still getting a handle on what it means to blog when I don’t have to do it for my Masters work.  I like the opportunity to write and publish but I struggle to do it as a regular task.  Hence the sporadic work of this year.  I need to find a way to integrate it into my practice.  Still working at it.

I have a begun to reflect on the last year, my first as a teacher librarian.  I have been able to start to work towards what I believe best practice in a library resource center means.  I fall far short of my own expectations.  I am hoping the gap between my ideals and my practice will continue to shrink over time.  Or perhaps it will remain but the edges will move along the continuum.

I believe my job as a teacher librarian is to facilitate the use of the resources of the library in an integrated and meaningful way for students.  I believe I need to work together with my teaching colleagues to provide this teaching in a connected way to the classroom experience rather than as an isolated library program.  But which skills and at what ages?  What activities suit Kindergarten and grade one?  Which are more suited to grade three and four?  Which do I really need to teach prior to grade seven and eight and what can be left for the grade sevens and eights as ‘new’ and exciting?

I am writing this post as a plea for ideas.  As a result I will embed in it the names of my blogging community, in hopes that they will come and bring their friends to help me to think about library skills and technology in the elementary setting.  Ok Blogosphere Doug at BlueSkunk, Doug in the Borderland, Paul over Reflecting, Chris Discoursing, Clarence with the Random Access, Joyce on her Neverending Search, Vicki the CoolCat, Scott who is Irrelevant, Rob in California, Alec in the Open, Carolyn in the Future, Jane on Books... I believe in your help, I have learned much from listening to your tweets and comments, by listening to your reflections and dreams and I know I comment far to little but please if you can, blog and ping me, comment or tweet your response.  What should I do next year?  The book exchange and read aloud are not fulfilling my dreams.

Death by Powerpoint

I’m attending an IT conference. This is the problem. I’m enjoying the wireless connection on my laptop but my session is not inspired. I am a slide presentation snob. I do not want to read a presentation, I want to see the visuals which tell the story. Best advice I ever received was from a math colleague, Power point is not “Tell and Tell”, it is “Show and Tell”.

That is not to say that he isn’t sharing good ideas but it could be so much more powerful if he showed what he was saying. “I’ll show you later”. Why? You could show us at the same time.

Reading and the Mind

I am always interested in the science behind brain function and learning. Thanks to Stephen Downes leading me to this new study and to Helge for posting it.  Scientists studied brain function while reading and found the process in the brain while reading remarkably similar to the brain while actually experiencing similar events.  Readers create mental simulations of events while reading.  I wonder if the effect is the same for effective readers as for ineffective readers.  I expect studies would show a remarkable difference in the brain patterns of ineffective readers versus those of effective readers.  This I think makes the task of teachers at once more clear and clearly more amazing.  We are teaching students to make complex mental simulations while they read.  Not just teaching them to decode the words and understand the syntax but create the pictures,the sound and the emotional context of their reading.

I wonder what kinds of reading materials were read, what background knowledge the readers had, how they compared the mental functioning.  I have many wonders.  Very interesting study because of its answers and because of the many questions it raises.

Obama’s Speech Wordle

I hoped someone would do this. I love visuals and it’s interesting to check out the priorities.

Trying Something New

I have been working slowly with members of my school staff to integrate some technology into a few units here and there. It is by no means a major transformation but a slow trickle to introduce the students and the teachers to some of the tools we can use online. I have the great fortune to be working within a supportive environment.

The latest attempt at trying something out is in the planning stages. I have a colleague who is working on a Heroes or Celebrities unit with her grade four five classroom. My suggestion was to have the final product be a Glogster poster. I love these posters they are simple and can look great. It is tricky however to figure out how to navigate the social side within the public school. Glogster is a social site, or it can be. I use it as a publishing tool and not as a place to hang out. Students could use it as a place to hang out. How do we handle it? My colleague is not hugely comfy with technology and had an immediate retreat response. If we can’t guarantee safety then we need to retreat to powerpoint. I was reluctant to do that and have found a bit of a compromise position. We will not have the students have their own accounts but use a single account which I will manage. I still want to have the conversation about online safety and making good choices in the online community.It is the time of teaching both students and parents about the tools and their positive and negative possibilities which my colleague could see starting to take up more of her program than she wants to lose.

Mostly what this taught me is that it is very difficult to enter the technological online community in small steps which is in practical terms that which Konrad is talking about here.

A second incident with another colleague trying out blogging as a connector between her class and a class in another part of Canada is having similar questions. She’s not ready to change all of her practice, she said something like, “I don’t want it too take too much away from the rest of what is happening in the classroom”. I know what she is running into, it’s a clash between doing the curriculum content and using a technolgical tool with it’s associated new learning and teaching.

It is hard to change things in small ways. Online tools require teaching about community, not just teaching about tools.  Teachers, if my colleagues are indicative, are overwhelmed by the consequences of using the tools.  The natural response to being overwhelmed is to step away after all the tools are optional.

The trouble is the misalignment of what we are asked to do ‘officially’ with curriculum documents and through the current structures and what the new tools demand in teaching and time. Until the official documents and current structures match a new way of doing ‘classroom’. It will be the odd classroom with an unusual teacher which is able to do ‘teaching how to learn’ rather than ‘teaching what to learn’.

We will continue to struggle on in small ways and feel the push-pull of the old and the new. My colleagues are willing and I keep telling them, it’s not hard.  Of course, the tools aren’t hard, the change of mind set is the tricky part.  It’s not hard, really.

What Counts Wordle

In response to Paul, at quotereflections, I am adding to the meme which makes a Wordle from your RSS feed.  I am actually kind of pleased with it.  I wish I knew a bit more about the numbers which make different colours in html so I could make a custom coloured Wordle but time doesn’t permit that exploration today. I’ve been able to reduce the word count and embed the code. That’s enough learning for the day! Like Paul, I’m finding them rather small. I wonder how to change that. hmm.  If you click on it, it will take you to a page view or you can see it at Wordle.

Teacher librarian Rubric Work

Well I have been playing with the ideas in the rubrics for teacher librarians provided to me by our teacher librarian committee and while I have been successful in deepening my own understanding, I don’t know if the rubric I have come up with is an improvement or not.  Simply put, there are too many goals for a single rubric or even two.  Which I suppose is why the site has six.  But I really don’t want to be working on six pages of goals.

The committee from my district had suggested limiting our collective goals to the Resource-Based Learning catagory with a few information literacy goals appended to it.  I’m not sure that will meet my needs.  My goals and needs are related to the collection development side of things.  I’m new to my building and to my role and my training from the last few years has developed my technology understanding and comfort, as well as my curriculum and inquiry understanding and skill.  I’m getting my bearings but there is much to be done for me to get a decent comfort level with the base skill set which my colleagues have.  I am a novice when it comes to collection side and more of a practioner in the inquiry and technology side.  Which basically means, as in most group settings, individualization will be the key to growth.  I suspect they know that.

I am happy with the mind maps from the other day and I have developed a Instructional Leadership Rubric which correlates to the first map.  It breaks down into four sub-areas; Technology, Curriculum, Reading and Collaboration.  The second half will follow, perhaps, if anyone thinks it will be useful.  It would show the Collection Development map ideas as a rubric.  I won’t bother if none of my local group wants it.