Week 4 Blogs

Awful Library Books- The name alone made me sign up for their blog! I know it’s not technology or Library Commons related, but I couldn’t keep myself from blogging about it at least once! So overall, the blog is pretty self explanatory, ridiculous books that are still being found in our public libraries. I decided to do this week just to prove a point- how out dated some libraries still are. Too often collections are not weeded out, and horrible literature or how-to’s are crowding the shelves making it overwhelming for someone who wants to find information. This has happened to me several times at our library. This week’s book is called ‘Mask Making’, originally published in 1954. The book has been rebound so many times that the cover is unrecognizable (which makes me ponder, was it really that popular?), and there is a lovely grease stain on the title page. One of two reasons would make me automatically yank this from the shelf; 1.condition 2. Out of date information.

School Library Journal- With all the media and resources floating around it is good to see books that make an impact on students. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one such series that students the world over have grown to love. Today there was an article that showed a NJ teenager winning a contest, judged by the author himself, that won her 500$, and her school 1,000$. Not only is Kinney making an impact in schools by his writing style, but also understands the importance of supporting students and schools financially. I wish I would have known about this contest, because my students absolutely adore these books. I’ve bought the series to keep in my classroom, and never have a single book for more than a day!

Larry Ferlazzo- His blog has to be one of my favorites because there’s always something new that I can use! He doesn’t get overly wordy and just makes sure the information and links are there for you to explore. This week one of his articles caught my eye titled ‘Video Book Trailers’. In our school AR pretty much runs the regiment for independent reading. I understand why it’s a benefit to students, but it also prevents us from doing fun activities such as this. What he does is have his students go to this website called fotobabble, where they create 1 minute long videos about their book using photos. After thinking about this, I think it may be possible to have my students do something like this to ‘promote’ their guided reading book. These are the books that they read in groups and discuss. This not only would be a great discussion start, but also a great comprehension check.

Free Technology for Teachers- The title of the article is ’29,000 eBooks’. Need I explain more? Currently, I do not own an eReader (sigh), but I’m always on the lookout for great deals and promotions in case I ever do get one! This year in my class one of my students was visually impaired, but was very interested in starting chapter books. He hadn’t had that opportunity yet, because the text was too small, and he was embarrassed by the use of a magnifying glass or other visual tools during guided reading time. During his IEP meeting, his mother and I sat down and talked about different options, and that’s when she mentioned his love for technology, “Ding, Ding, Ding” went off in my head. After school that day I went down to talk to the librarian, who is very up to date. Needless to say, a few short weeks later that student had his Kindle available! So even though I wouldn’t be able to use this site for myself, I would have definitely pulled this student up and had him look through age appropriate titles to see if anything caught his eye.

The Unquiet Librarian- In my foundations class we have looked at a few articles regarding the new Media 21 projects. This week she posted what looks like a power point that goes through and not only promotes the idea, but explains why they should be integrated into the classrooms. The slide show (which is 103 slides) is very convincing. However, I think it will take awhile before 5th graders are up to that caliber of work!