Sarah’s Key – Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah’s Key would be a distressing read if the author had chosen to tell it in the first person and completely immersed us  in the historical time period of the Second World War.  It is still a difficult story within a dreadful time period of history, however, de Rosnay’s use of flashback and third person limited point of view, allow the reader some valuable distance from the tragic events of Paris 1942.  I appreciated this distance while I experienced the events surrounding Vel’ d’Hiv.

The story of Vel’ d’Hiv is not one which is well-known, at that is de Rosnay’s contention within the novel. I haven’t researched how well or often it has been told.  It is the story of the rounding up and subsequent dispersion and extermination of the Jewish community of Paris.  It was an appalling event and hearing it told hurts the empathetic reader.   Within the story the fictional character of Julia Jarmond is determined to learn about Vel’ d’Hiv and it’s impact on her family and the family home.  She comes across resistance within the French community to acknowledge the event and the complicity of the French authorities and populous.  I can relate to this experience of reluctance to face our societal culpability.  I remember clearly standing at the Manitoba Legislature during a First Nation’s demonstration in the Fall of 1990.  It was the first time I faced the fact that as a white person in Canada, I was a part of the treacherous events which disenfranchised and marginalized First Nations people within Canada.  I remember listening to the drums and wondering how it could be made right and how I could ever feel as if I deserved to be in Canada at all.  It is an important act to recognize and admit collective societal guilt.  Books, such as, Sarah’s Key help us to acknowledge the terrible within ourselves.  I am both Sarah and Edouard; both victim and perpetrator.

Sarah’s Key shines a light on issues and events which are difficult and painful allowing us to appreciate the human and the heroic within people.  I enjoyed Julia’s tenacity and her daughter, Zoe’s forthrightness.  de Rosnay’s characters are complete and real.  I felt as if I knew them as people and might meet them on the street.  I know only a few ‘real’ French people but they feel old European to me.  de Rosnay understands family politics and her portrayal of the family meltdown was altogether believable.

Again this is a book which was read for an adult book club but would be appropriate for a 9-12 school library.  It would be of interest for teachers of World War II history, as well as for themes of family, divorce, conflict, guilt, responsibility, and racism.

Nightline Review compared with Cutting for Stone

Camera Adventure

I purchased a new camera this year.  I have been playing around with it and mostly using it as a point and shoot but it is a DSLR and I want to know more and use it more effectively.  Although I am very impressed at what it can do without my knowing very much at all.

So I took a book out at the library, appropriately enough for a teacher librarian.  It is called, “Digital SLR from Click to Print” by Will Cheung.  I am using it as a text book and setting myself some reading and practising goals.

Today I was playing with what is meant by and what can be done with aperture and focal length.  I went to a park to take pictures.  I found that in most modes on my camera, I can’t even see what the focal length is on the display.  I can see it in the little numbers through the view finder.  I can play with the focal length when I am in manual focus.  Focal length is other wise decided by the auto focus feature, so it seems.   Depth of field is most apparent when the subject is a bit further away from the background.  If you are taking a picture of a leaf on the ground.  The leaf is too close to the ground for any difference between the focus on the leaf and focus on the ground.  In addition, when the subject is too far away, there doesn’t seem to be huge differences in what the focal length can do to adjust the clarity of the background compared to the subject.

When I played with the ISO, I found that the lower number led to less time of exposure.  This may be self-evident to experts but it was news to me.  I took a picture of a leaf with ISO 800 and it was washed out but at ISO 100 it was perfect.  The sunlight was fairly strong at times today, I’m sure this would make a difference too.  I have much to learn but this was lesson number one.

Leaf taken with ISO 100, f 5.6 1/125

Leaf taken with ISO 100, f 5.6 1/125

Inspired by…

Ken Allan at Middle Earth has set the theme for this month’s Green Pen Society blogging.  He asked for reflections on, “What gets you flying”?   I am not a natural writer.  I have experienced failure in writing on numerous occasions.  I brought poems in grade ten to my English teacher.  He gave a muted, less than enthusiastic response to my writing.  I was discouraged.  I regularly received grades of a “B” or less in university at twice the effort of my husband-to-be’s A papers.  My comments were routinely something like, “A well-researched paper”.  My mother often mentioned having difficulty making sense of my writing.  I recall comments such as, “What are you talking about here?”  Still, I became a blogger.  Why?  I was and am exploring the fun and features of the world wide web.  I want to understand how it works, and what it can be used for.  I write to save my ideas, play with avatar makers, learn to post pictures and videos.  I enjoy hearing from people around the world and batting ideas around with them.  I feel connected to some of my online colleagues and participate because of my relationship with them. I am inspired by my colleagues.

Having a blog was my Master’s project but I didnt’ quit when my Master’s was complete.  I have floundered a little as the project was completed and I wasn’t sure how to continue and yet didn’t want to completely shut things down.  I have not been sure of the purpose of my blog and not having a purpose made it difficult to post.  My posts became less frequent and still are.  I am beginning to see a place for myself in book reviews from a teacher librarian’s perspective.  My reviews steer away from lengthy descriptions of plot and character and towards the possible connections and uses for the classroom.  I am inspired by my work.

Mostly the reviews are for me.  I want to remember authors and titles for future endeavours.  I love hearing from authors.  They pop up from time to time and comment on my reviews.  Knowing they might be reading my reviews is a daunting idea.  I want to give honest opinion but I may well hurt someone’s feelings.  I don’t like that idea at all.  I am hoping my awareness of author as audience will not make me censor myself too stringently.  I have a great respect for authors, people who write well and make vibrant and believeable worlds into which I may walk.  I am inspired by great books.

Making Avatars

After reading Joyce’s post on avatars, I went to play at the make a Lego avatar site.

Lego Susan

Linking Past and Future

I am interested in the way we are tied to the land in which we live.  Connection to the land is a precarious part of my cultural history.  I am a bi-ethnic mix of English and Mennonite. Mennonites have a history of refugee status.  Originally from the lowlands of Netherlands and Northern Germany, once known as Prussia, Mennonites joined many groups in settling into the area which is Ukraine and Southern Russia at the request of Catherine the Great.  When conflicts in the region took a nasty turn, Mennonites moved again.  Some early, 1870′s, some later 1920′s, some later yet 1940′s out to the West in Canada.  (Forgive me if I am vague and inaccurate I am recounting this as a descendant and not a historian).  Attachment to the land in which we live is not something which has been a part of my understanding of who I am.  I live on First Nations (Treaty Six) land.  I am a permanent guest.  I can not go home for home in Prussia is so distant as to be impossible and home in Russia equally so.  Here in Canada I am at home.  As at home as I will ever be and I love this land.

In particular, there is a piece of the valley on the North Saskatchewan River which has come to be owned by Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, called Shekinah Retreat Centre.  It is the piece of nature which I have spent considerable time in.  I began as a camper in 1981 and continued as a counselor 1988-1994 (on and off again).  This is my first year sending my son to be a camper there.  Shekinah is an incredible sanctuary.  I love to stand on its hills and feel the prairie wind sweep me off my feet.  I have felt rejuvenated, cleansed and freed by its breath.  I have added my tears to the rain, added my cries to the wind, added my joy to the sunshine.  If there is anywhere I am at home, it is here.  I hope my son feels that same sense of sanctuary, blessing and joy cradled in this valley.  On Treaty land, we are guests, partners, caretakers of this piece of Creation.  I have heard First Nation’s people talk about the reserve as a place where they go to be connected to the land and to their history.  Shekinah is this place for me.  It is where I have been nurtured by nature.

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.

Nearest book meme

Stephen Abram’s nearest book meme came at just the perfect time. I have two books I’ve been meaning to blog about and now I can do it and meme at the same time. What efficiency!  Thanks to Doug for the invite.

“He watched Best Mate racing away down the hill and then disappearing into the trees.”  Michael Morpurgo in Born to Run.

pioggia on flickr

Rules:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence – either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

I had the great fortune to see Michael Morpurgo in person at this year’s Kaleidoscope. He was an entertaining and enjoyable speaker so I rushed out to purchase a few of his books. Born to Run is a novel for middle elementary students. It details the story of a greyhound puppy as he grows and is lost and found a number of times. The narrative alternates in voice between the various owners and the dog. Each scenario is rich in detail. The characters are vibrant and real. I was a little put off by the sections narrated by the dog. I suspect young readers would have less difficulty with the first person point of view. Somehow I no longer can imagine a dog speaking using ‘I’ Still it is an enjoyable read and I must admit I have a certain fondness for an English lilt in fiction, perhaps having grown up on Wind in the Willows and the Narnia series. I felt right at home in Born to Run.

.storm on flickr

The other book which jumped off the shelf at me is branded by Alissa Quart. This essay on the effects of consumer culture on teenagers is a sobering read. Alissa Quart looks a three sides of the over-marketed state of American youth. First she looks at the adverstising industry and its marketing to youth and use of youth in marketing. She looks at methods such as product placement in video games and movies and use of teen trendspotters. Next she looks at the youth and their own perceptions of the marketing and particularly its influence on body image, university choices and ‘self marketing’ of teen-aged writers. Finally, she looks at the push back of teenagers who wish to reclaim their identities and culture from the marketing machine. As a parent, I cringe at the influence of a globalized culture on my own children and within their environments. There are few public spaces which are free of logos and advertising of some kind. Public buildings, public schools, public universities are making ‘partnerships’ with businesses and as a result very few spaces are free from marketing. This book takes a look at the more detrimental side of these partnerships and advertising methods. It’s well worth reading. I feel I am now walking with my eyes newly opened.

Lara Elizabeth Ens

Lara died very suddenly on Saturday, May 10, 2008. Lara grew up in Saskatoon. She had a very happy childhood and was involved in many activities, particularly music. She sang in the church and school choirs, played violin and played french horn. She enjoyed the opportunity to play in the high school band at Walter Murray Collegiate. After high school, she attended the College of Education, University of Saskatchewan and played in the University Wind Ensemble. She spent one year at Canadian Mennonite Bible College studying voice and theology. Shortly after graduation, she became ill with what was eventually diagnosed as schizophrenia. Although the illness robbed her of much of her energy and vitality, she took on the challenges of the illness with her usual determination and grit. She became an outstanding spokesperson and educator about the illness. Through the Partnership Program she spoke to different audiences in schools, hospitals, the university, police training courses and others. She maintained her sense of humour, her joy of living and especially loved being with her niece and nephew and her many friends. She is survived by her parents, Jake and Barbara Ens, one sister, Susan (James Funk), niece and nephew, Colin and Ella, loving aunts, uncles and many cousins.

She will be missed.

Planning, Plotting, Thinking

My division has this very cool professional development going on in which we choose a topic within a set agenda to research ourselves based on our own burning question.  I think my question began as “Who are boys in the 21st Century and how do we meet their needs as literacy learners?”  Grand intentions.

I’ve done some background reading on motivation and engagement, as well as a little on the effect of gender on literacy experiences.  Just a smattering as yet, but I know already I need to narrow things down and I am also driven in this research much more practically than I was in my Master’s work.  I want to change and adapt my current practice.  I want to meet the needs of these particular students and it’s February.  So now what?

I’ve chosen to prioritize the place of non-fiction in my classroom for the next unit.  I am making sure that there is more non-fiction in my room and trying to increase the opportunities for conversation and  shared reading-writing experiences.    I am a part of a team of teacher in my school looking at developing some exemplars for writing so that students have a visual, concrete guide after which to model their work.

In some ways this work is much more fluid than that of my formal research experience.  I am already changing my classroom to reflect my findings.  I wonder if I need to be more deliberate and strategic or if the ebb and flow of read, try, reflect is sufficient.  By sufficient, I mean will it meet the objectives of my overseers?  Come to think of it, I don’t know if we’ve talked about that.  Hmmm.  Maybe one them will drop by and answer my question.  Honestly, I don’t know if they know exactly where things will go.

I think I need to read about the boys.  More gender stuff.  Long ago in a land so far away, I had a wonderful textbook I thought I didn’t need and sold back to the university which had marvelous psycho-social descriptions of children in various age groups.  It was a wonderful book in the way that is rare with texts and I have often regretted selling it and not retaining at least the title for future reference.   If I had it, that’s where I would start.  I wonder how hard it would be to find.  I wonder if I still have some EdPsy notes somewhere.  (I’m a tosser by nature, isn’t likely).