tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44954431401030488982024-03-05T11:32:39.881-05:00The YA LibrarianProfessional mumbo-jumbo for librarians and educators serving young adults. If you are not a YA professional, my posts may seem subversive, one-sided, grammatically creative, and snarky. To the rest of us, this content is a natural manifestation of "occupational-hazard" disorder.Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-11277337344334850812010-09-21T18:58:00.009-04:002010-09-21T19:54:54.380-04:00Speed Up or Slow Down?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/ALA_BBW_Poster_2010.jpg"><br /></a><br />I just realized my last posting was in July, talking about the beginning of the school year. Two months have gone by already? As I chronicle my last year in this school librarian position, I fluctuate as to whether I want things to slow down or to move along faster. <div><br /></div><div>Funny thing about time, it will go as it does and there really isn't much I can do about it. However, it is interesting to think about the times over the last eight weeks I have longingly looked forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, or frantacally pulled the emergency break.<div><br /></div><div>Slow Down!</div><div><br /></div><div>One of my legacy goals is to have the library facility as teen friendly as a learning commons can possibly be. We have moved about 20,000 volumes and moved furniture around to accommodate five (and then some) different flexible learning spaces for classroom sized groups. But the signs need to be changed and the fun stuff is not yet on the walls. I only have 4 more weeks to make this happen and stay on schedule. Thank goodness for my wonderful co-workers. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have not even started cleaning up the catalog or began populating a digital repository. I know, I know, is that really necessary? Do school librarians need to have cataloging concerns to be student-centered? Part of making the library facility more teen centered includes, in my opinion, the digital library and the library catalog. Unfortunately, our union catalog has serious issues, and a federation search does not even exist for all of our resources. I seem to be the only one in a hurry to make this all better (shocking) and I have no idea how much time this will take.</div><div><br /></div><div>My colleagues and I are supposed to write three grants this week to fund a student driven literacy initiative. Tomorrow is Wednesday and I just today set up the google doc for our collaborative writing. At least we are on the way and the kids are so excited!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm">Banned Books Week</a>? What? Already? OMG - my favorite school library holiday and I just today realized it is next week. Good news, I got my order into the ALA store in time and my promotional stuff came in yesterday evening. Bad news, I am going to drive everyone around me crazy with last minute requests. I just emailed my TV-Media teacher to see if we can run PSA's. Today, I was frantically planning with my honors teachers about changing up our annual BBW introduction to Huck Finn so that the kids can share resources using Diigo, which is of course, blocked for students and requires a request to open (see iTunes U woes below). Finally, I just contacted my robotics sponsor to see if we can throw together a publicity stunt in the cafeteria for 3000 students. Why robotics you say, well, look at ALA's cool logo this year! OHHH I hope it works! Robots are so cool.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/ALA_BBW_Poster_2010_sm.png" alt="banned books week 2010 poster" /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have not even scratched the surface of my slow down panic attacks. </div><div><br /></div><div>Speed Up!</div><div><br /></div><div>This section only deserves bullet points</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>One of my new favorite collaboration teachers STILL can't access iTunes University even through access was approved in July and our request was submitted last April.</li><li>Yet another hour long battle with a database manager about how yes, I really am an expert in using the library automation system, so it is OK to allow me access and grant my requests without a fight.</li><li>Another year of paid licensing fees for a CMS that we will not be able to use because it just isn't working right on our network and/or talking nice to the SMS.</li><li>Speaking of SMS, our "slave to the student management system and scheduling function" mindset has once again put my students in the wrong classes and they are not getting switched.</li><li>I recently felt like I was being interrogated under a bright, hot, white light about my M.O. for writing a grant to create a new special library collection, and then berated for my audacity in asking for matching funds.</li><li>The library sign-in system, which was promised by July, has not been installed because the licensing renewal bill was not paid on time.</li><li>I feel like I am playing a mental chess game (and all bets are NOT on me to win) in order to figure out the absolute best time to officially resign so that my colleagues and students have a fighting chance that my job will be filled next year, and by a qualified librarian.</li></ul><div>Humm, I think I am seeing a pattern. If you see it, I will send you a Banned Books Week prize.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's to focusing on those things that make me want to take my sweet time in finishing out this school year!</div></div>Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-4028176713950883812010-07-24T10:29:00.003-04:002010-07-24T10:30:57.878-04:00And so it begins, but with thoughts of the end...<div style="margin-top: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(94, 94, 94); font-size: 13px; background-image: url(http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/index/logo.gif); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">The school year is about to begin, and it will be an interesting one. I have been a teacher librarian for 7 years in practice and after this year I will be taking some time to concentrate on my own research and studies.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">I have been enrolled in a Teacher Leadership program since Summer of 2008, and am finishing my second master's this year. My studies have been wonderful, exhilarating, and life changing and I don't want to stop. By definition, I guess this makes me an intrinsically motivated lifelong learner. And yet despite these flow like feelings I am increasingly frustrated (on good days) and downright ambivalent (on bad days) as a result of living two connected but separate academic lives.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">In addition to my ongoing research and studies, I crave MOST of the activities and responsibilities inherent in my role as a high school librarian. And while my job and my scholarship are intricately woven together and seamlessly whole at times this is not always the case. The daily battles I fight on behalf of my teachers and students (access, funding, technology integration, and relevant instructional practices) suck the life energy out of my being as if I were Bella and bad educational policy was a vicious coven of nomad vampires. If I am to remain productive, creative, and, well, fun to be around, I can no longer serve two masters.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">My year begins with an interesting dilemma that makes me think of Chris Cruncher's novel,</span> <b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Deadline</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">. Ben Wolfe, the protagonist, has a year to live and must decide what projects will fill his remaining days. Unlike Ben, fortunately, I am not dying a physical death nor am I keeping my time limits secret from everyone around me. Like Ben, I need to decide how best to devote my limited resources. I have a lot of thoughts on this matter, but only two rules.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">I must intrinsically enjoy whatever I devote myself to achieving this year. Why? Because this means whatever I leave as my tangible legacy to the school will be AWESOME!<br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Everything I do during my contacted time MUST be student centered. Each goal must begin and end with a litmus test of how to best to create optimal learning environments and structure individualized learning opportunities for all of my students, no exceptions. Given it is a school of 3000 teens, well, "enjoyable" isn't exclusively synonymous with "easy."</span></li></ol></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">So, if you had one more year as an employed school librarian, and you knew it, what would you do with your time?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div></div>Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-60177088881376423292010-05-20T22:09:00.012-04:002010-06-06T17:11:15.475-04:00Answer: Charter Schools, What-If's, and The Cranberries Debut AlbumQuestion: What seemingly random but really connected stuff is flowing through my brain tonight?<br /><br />I know what you are thinking: Alex Trebek just awarded me 200 under the category, "I have been eating crazy cakes while reading educational theory again." And now you are thinking of his mustache. Don't worry, it's natural, everybody does it.<br /><br />If you are a Gen X’er like me, then you probably have heard of the Irish rock band <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Cranberries</span>. Their US debut album, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?,</span> hit the charts in a big way in the early 90’s. At that time I was just entering my 20’s and I remember often wondering at the story behind this particular LP title.<br /><br />Almost 20 years later, I am again thinking of The Cranberries and that album title. This sudden reminiscing is the product of my recent visit to an urban charter high school. In Indiana, charters are still considered “alternative.” Basically, this means that in some way, shape, or form, these schools are different than our traditional township public schools. They are public, they are schools, but they are not playing follow-the-leader when it comes to education.<br /><br />And because there is money involved, and it is tax money, there is a lot of controversy surrounding charters, especially in the Midwest. On this issue even a liberal educator can't count on tried and true political teams to help determine which side of the debate is right, left, or independent. It's kind of like this: imagine liberal and conservative lawmakers, teachers, administrators, and the unions as represented by the the main cast from the Gen X defining movie <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Breakfast Club</span>. I don't know who is what, you figure it out. In the final scene, everyone is lined up on the statehouse steps picking teams for a kickball game. First, the socially unacceptable and dirty poor kid gets picked by the popular cheerleader girl. Next up, the hottie quarterback picks the wallflower with bad hair, combat boots, and a serious nutritional deficiency. Finally, the nerd, custodian, and detention monitor dude decide to form some weird third party independent team. Anyway, they start out by playing what seems to be kickball (cue a Cranberries soundtrack that has not yet been recorded) and then, all of a sudden, and right before a vote is called on educational funding, they randomly start running in circles, yelling and screaming, creating new teams, and playing rugby. And through all of this, the public (who is, of course, the spectators) act like nothing weird is going on. No wonder I am visiting charter schools and loosing my mind. This kind of stuff is like the flame to my moth.<br /><br />Usually when I go on these site visits, I get excited and energized and inspired. I covet the flexibility to create progressive learning spaces, course work, assessment practices, and scheduling options. On the flip side, I am always, without fail, depressed and disappointed at the lack of a school library or a good school library/information literacy program. If they even attempt a library, it kind of resembles an extra study hall room or a neglected supply closet. That kind of thing is not good for learning.<br /><br />Think of what a library represents: equitable access to intellectual, academic, and interest based information, in multiple media formats, and provided regardless of a person's education, age, gender, race, or socioeconomic status. Now, think of the role of a teacher-librarian: information and knowledge organizer, user needs specialists, digital information expert, intellectual freedom advocate, defender of First Amendment rights, copyright and intellectual property knowledge base, professional researcher, avid reader, and teacher of information literacy. Think about it: what type of message does a school send when there is no library, or a neglected library, and no school librarian on staff? What would a school rather invest in anyway? How do these "other" things help foster an ongoing love of learning? Does a love of learning and the ability to independently think matter in this school?<br /><br />I can't help it. I have to verbally paint a caricature of this scenario or I will explode. Behold, the picture of a school that does not have a solid library program.<br /><br />In this scene, you will see a group of teachers who are both unknowingly and intentionally swapping copyright protected music with their students. Now they are running a full-length film festival themed around how Walt Disney got history all wrong in his movies. Clever, but dangerously illegal. And while they escape notice by the Feds for these activities, for now, something else wicked, and not so enjoyable, lurks just around the corner. Watch as this teacher runs to the staff workroom during the 11th hour to frantically copying class sets of material for today's course readings. Oh, but the school only owns a single copy of this textbook. Oh my, now the copyright police have show up, and the teacher is screaming something about fair use to plead his innocence. But it seems that only the intellectual property attorney know what "fair use" really means. <br /><br />Watch the court proceedings now and how the defense attorney is laughing hysterically at the client before entering the court room. Why, what's the joke? It seems that the class set of illegal copies were made from a textbook full of outdated crap that no one wanted to buy in the first place. Clearly the teacher would have been better off letting the students using Wikipedia in the first place. Oh shoot, the judge just ruled in favor of the Texas based textbook company who will now use the summary judgment funds to build a new fundamental church of squeaky-clean, America-first ignorance (ouch, that one will get me some all-American hate-mail for sure).<br /><br />In our next scene, we are back in the school where kids are having regular, unprotected, and simultaneous relationships with Facebook, Wikipedia, Google's search engine, and, (shudder) Fox News online. Everyone is "doing it" because the topic of informed prevention is uncomfortable for the all knowing adults. Without a school librarian, the school's "soft" policy becomes one of avoidance or abstinence, or both. Let's watch as these teachers passively avoid the subject, and the problem, by saying "the kids know more than we do about computers anyway, so what can we do." Can anyone say, "gag me with a cop-out?" And over in this classroom, a teacher who knows she does not have the resources or expertise to teach relevant and productive online strategies is afraid to admit it, begins a righteously preached sermon of Google abstinence. <br /><br />Focus again on those darn young folks. No matter what, they are still finding ways to engage in promiscuous online research and social networking. Well of course they are gonna do it, they are teenagers for the love of Pete. And besides, if you look closely, all of the adults are all doing it too! Now for a commercial break about how mind-numbing anarchy leads to an information illiterate nation.<br /><br />And don't even get me started on the print collection. Sigh, OK you got me started. Now we will take a tour of the school's supply closet, I mean, library. Here we see dogs and cats, living together, beside battered copies of "Go Ask Alice", and "Alice in Wonderland"on the "New Arrivals" shelf.<br /><br />If you look over to your right, you will see that the full print set of World Book Encyclopedia circa 1991, donated by the principal's grandmother, is now being used to level some dangerously cheap bookcases. All of the set, that is, except for the "B" edition, which is missing, as if anyone would know anyway. This book was just cited as an authoritative source for a report on the 2000 presidential election. After all, the article did state that George Bush was in the running at the time of publication, but unfortunately no one noticed the lack of a W in this entry. To add insult to injury, the 24 year old new teacher who later saw this missing volume B laying on the floor next too the boy's restroom, decided to recommended it to a different student who was doing a report on the war in Iraq... You know, the Freedom one, not the Storm one.<br /><br />And, no, please don't take this little vignette as permission to eliminate the need of a print collection. Ignoring the need to invest in paper books may sound cyber-savvy and fiscally conservative, but it does not help students become more information literate, for many reasons, but mostly because of digital equity.<br /><br />What about digital equity? What does that even mean in a school without a strong library media program? What do teachers really know about digital equity? Are they thinking about this when they construct curriculum? Ok, one more scene before we wrap it up.<br /><br />Let's take a closer look at the two students who used the outdated print World Book volume for research. They really only did this because they did not had a reliable computer or access to high speed internet at home. But you know those crazy teens, they like to pretend they have what everyone else does to avoid embarrassing social labels. Why do they have to be so darned predictable?<br /><br />One of the students is allowed to leave the building with a school provided laptop, let's see him find free Wifi somewhere in the community. Great, he is resourceful! Watch as he sits at a McDonald's and starts to research the 2000 presidential election. One hour and one billion Google hits later, long after his large fries and coke are gone, the manager comes over and starts to provoke our poor student. Someone complained about a loitering teen boy, and that is just not good for business.<br /><br />The other student finally talks a neighbor into giving her a ride to the public library. All of the public computers are full for two hours. When she does finally gets one, it kicks her off after an hour of searching wikipedia. But she just doesn't know enough about her topic yet! Another resourceful student, she tries to get a library card so she can check out the latest book on the Iraqi war. After all, she has been told by a teacher that the card is free! Due to budget cuts, the public library had to tighten their policies on borrowing materials. She is told that in order to get a card, she needs three forms of ID plus a parent present to sign for her, and they need three forms of ID as well, including a birth certificate that proves she is really their child. And yet, she is 17 and 6 months old. Oh well, so much for this public service. <br /><br />Without at strong library and information literacy program, run by a certified and trained school librarian, you will find between the cracks, under the rocks, and in the dark corners of the school, intellectual Armageddon. Some charter schools are so darn close to getting it right, but for some reason, information literacy, libraries, and the importance of both, never make a blip on their radar. Charters will not realize their full potential, or even their potential half-life, if they don't invest in these programs.<br /><br />I know, I like to sugar coat things rather than tell you how I really feel.<br /><br />As you can see, these visits are pretty much bad for my mental health. I go a little bipolar and a lot manic for days afterward. I start writing crazy long blogs that look more like a treatise on educational socialism than an article. Being a teacher-librarian you would think that this feeling is old hat by now, but I have not become desensitized.<br /><br />To cope with my discontent, I let myself get lost in questions, the kind that keep me up at night. Specifically, I start asking myself those great and terrible "what if’s." At least this last mess of questions provided material for:<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Brunner's Bullet Points</span></span> (cue The Cranberries music as my theme song today...)<br /><br /><ul><li>What if a secondary curriculum was specifically designed around inquiry-based teaching and learning, not some artificial linear method dictated through scheduling software, textbooks, and teacher-in-a-box programs?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the assessment of student mastery in new concepts and skill development was based on individual growth and not some ass-backward design founded on the bell curve model?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the curriculum reflected an organizational understanding of knowledge as abundance instead of knowledge as scarcity?<br /><br /></li><li>What if schools were not trying to get students to trample one another in a metaphorical “race to the top” (of what I don't know, the top of a bunch of scan-tron sheets and number two pencils?), but instead were thoughtfully and methodically trying to guide students forward as they embark on a lifelong journey that will be fully discovered and explored along the way?<br /><br /></li><li>What if there was a school defined purpose of education supporting global cooperation in learning and problem solving instead of a purpose that is based on some unfounded political blabber that we must prepare children to compete for vital, life saving resources in a terrifying cut-throat global marketplace? And BTW - if you believe this than you must also believe the collective political mindset that only scientists and mathematicians are important and will be able to finesse their way effectually through these difficult social issues (see also: sputnik circa 1950'ish) so if your student is a liberal arts major, they are screwed.<br /><br /></li><li>What if creativity, cultural intelligence, authentic learning, social justice, and progressive intellectualism were valued above obedience, quotas, standards, sociopolitical power, natural physical abilities, and short term memorization skills?<br /><br /></li><li>What if all students were expected to learn how to independently organize, find, and creatively apply information through problem solving instead of being expected to learn how to finish a series of preordained tasks quickly within strictly measured time frames?<br /><br /></li><li>What if students were encouraged to communicate and negotiate with adults while learning to choose their own academic goals instead of being expected to compliantly fail when they don’t agree with or understand goals set before them by people they don’t know?<br /><br /></li><li>What if secondary students were not only given a choice in where they learned, but also how they learned, what they learned, and who taught them?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the collective needs and expectations of the school, township, state, national, and global communities could somehow be balanced with the need to empower and honor the individual learner?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the school was a living, breathing part of the community, not an isolated series of brick and limestone buildings that lock the kids in and the world out?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the local community knew that the best secondary education ensures teen students will be seen and heard in the community on a regular basis, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.? What if teens believed they were expected, supported and welcomed in their communities?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the school building was a sacred learning space, a physical sanctuary, and was open and available to students based on their real world schedules?<br /><br /></li><li>What if intentional social and academic learning did not stop after the school doors were locked, but continued on in a safe and authentic virtual learning space?<br /><br /></li><li>What if teachers were practicing administrators and administrators were practicing teachers and everyone had direct responsibilities for teaching students and no one at in a closed office most of the day?<br /><br /></li><li>What if schools were run like a democracy, and administrators, teachers, and students shared power and decision making responsibilities?<br /><br /></li><li>What if the teachers were trusted by the politicians, the community, and their administrators and were given academic freedom like their colleagues in colleges and universities?<br /><br /></li><li>What if professional development, quiet reading time, original research, and collaborative planning were required to happen during the regular work day instead of being something “extra” and expected to be accomplished outside of a teacher's job description?<br /><br /></li><li>What if building and maintaining relationships with a manageable sized group of students that stayed together for 4 to 6 years was not only a “good idea” in secondary education but part of the school’s best practices?<br /><br /></li><li>What if a school defined a “highly qualified teacher” as someone who could articulate and demonstrate how they have succeeded in fostering a classroom culture that loves and respects learning for the sake of learning, instead of giving that title to those who are assigned to students that will naturally produce the highest test scores, achieve the best attendance rates, and collect the least amount of discipline referrals?<br /><br /></li><li>What if a school community could take for granted that they would always have an excellently funded print and digital library, managed by a teacher-librarian who provided equitable and free access to library materials while teaching students, teachers, and staff how to find and use information?<br /><br /></li><li>What if being technically literate was an expectation for everyone in the school, and in turn, the school was expected to continuously support the ongoing development of technical literacy by investing in up-to-date hardware and software?<br /><br /></li><li>What if a school was built on a foundational layering of social justice, democracy, tolerance, collaboration, and individual freedom for each and every person in the building?<br /></li></ul>So, what if?<i><o:p></o:p></i><br /><br />Most charter schools around me were organized and are run from a business model perspective. Others are run on a social platform and tied to the NFP or service agency who founded the school. I only know of one specific charter in my city and state (although there may be some I have yet to discover) that was founded, organized, and is currently run by professional educators. I know of none, anywhere, that have been founded, organized, and run by teacher-librarians.<br /><br />So, this is how and why the title of The Cranberries debut album came back to me after my recent visit to a charter school. I use it here as a question for progressive educators, and especially progressive school librarians.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?<br /><br /></span>Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-58532992840154826712010-05-16T21:20:00.004-04:002010-05-16T21:58:39.060-04:00My B&N WeekendThis Saturday I drove seven of my students to Barnes and Noble where they picked out a bunch of new books and movies for our school library. It was much fun, even when they kept trying to sneak OT and M graphic novels onto the book cart, or when they slipped in a few rated R DVD's into the pile. I am pretty good at catching that stuff (years of practice from taking kids to the grocery), and was not above giving the ol' "so you want me to get fired over manga soft-porn and Sweeney Todd" stump speech when they continued to peck at me like a peep of biblio-manic chickens. <br /><br />BTW - anyone know why the manga version of One Piece is OT rated? I used to watch that show with my son when he was 6! Not understanding...<br /><br />While the students were shopping and ordering lattes and other sugary caffeinated concoctions, I asked the manager if I could play with a nook. He gave me a demo, which was pretty cool, but I just wanted to get my hands on it. Soon though, he was reluctantly pulled away by a customer who did not come in with a four figure PO, and while he was distracted, I finally got a few minutes with the nook, alone. But just a few minutes... The manager, who must have thought I wanted to buy them in bulk for the school, quickly found a lackey to gift wrap the customer's purchase. But really, I just wanted an eReader for myself. I wasn't even thinking for two seconds about getting one for the library, not yet.<br /><br />I resisted the urge to make that impulse buy (although I have recently been reading reviews on the main eReaders, so it wouldn't have been totally impulsive...) and instead headed out with the RAC RATS (my readers advisory club) to the Chinese buffet. <br /><br />Later that night I was telling my husband about the nook. He asked if I could wait until my birthday. I said "yes, of course'" and then proceeded to give him a hard time about the lack of a proper Mothers' Day gift last week. It was all in jest, really, I wasn't bitter...<br /><br />This morning, I woke up to a husband bringing me coffee, and my two sons running in with a small B&N bag. It was my nook! "OMG, I am not going to get anything done today!" were my first words as I hugged and kissed everyone. I continued to gushed about my perfect gift, for over 10 minutes, becuase that is about how long it took me to figure out how to get the reader out of the packaging... Somewhere in that anti-climactic period (for the kids and husband, not me) the room cleared out and my coffee went cold. I guess my husband's trip to Menard's last night to get paint took him very close to the local B&N. Good man.<br /><br />So, my nook is all charged up, linked to the home wireless network, and I am learning to become one with the navigation. My next two weeks will consist of playing around with the nook, and finishing up that end of school year boring library stuff. After this, I will put together a review of the nook for teens and YA professionals. I also need to post the following sign: WANTED: looking for library folks and teen readers who are also nook owners so we can loan books to each other!"<br /><br />Yay for summer eReading!Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-13177736706595654572010-05-03T21:27:00.009-04:002010-05-03T22:27:50.409-04:00Inquiry Keeps Me From Doing the DishesI found an Edu 2.0 site I love. Actually, it is a 2.0 of a lot of things site. Actually, I didn't really "find" it, I followed my yellow brick road of inquiry of which journey began with a posting through an ISTE group that I joined. If you are not a member of ISTE, and you actually read my blog, you should join (no, they didn't pay me to say this). AAAANNNYWAY, here are the footsteps of my own random inquiry model.<br /><br /><ol><li>I received an email post from Bonnie Bracey, who is the chair of the ISTE Digital Equity special interest group (see: <a href="http://bit.ly/9Q7nTk">bit.ly/9Q7nTk</a>). I read said posting.</li><li>Her email included a link to a blog article about teacher empowerment and the digital divide, and as I am very interested in both topics, I followed this link (<a href="http://oreil.ly/blF6t2">http://oreil.ly/blF6t2</a>)</li><li>The link led me to the an article posted by Lucy Gray, who writes about ed 2.0 for the O'Reilly Radar (see: <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/">http://radar.oreilly.com</a>/).</li><li>This site was so interesting that I mentally filed away the article in the "to read now or maybe later" and bookmarked it so I didn't forget. </li><li>I clicked around for a while, (while thinking "man I want to write for this site") saw the edu 2.0 link, click on it, and again landed on an article by Ms. Gray.</li><li>This article was published today and was about the New Media Consortium's Horizon Report: 2010 K-12 Edition, of which publication Ms. Gray sits on the advisory board (see: <a href="http://blogs.oreilly.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/10544">http://blogs.oreilly.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/10544</a>).</li><li>I began to read the 40 something page report, well, because she asked me to (well she asked her readers to) and she also asked for comments. I could not resist, and it was time for a new blog entry anyway.</li><li>I, being an awesome librarian and research, skimmed the table of contents of the report, read the sections that were most interesting to me, and wrote a comment.<br /></li><li>I have included the comment below, but please read her article and at least skim the document. It is worth your time. For my blog, I have fixed many typos but not for my comment to her post (lord I wish blog comments could be edited). So, no worries about me quitting my day job to blog for O'Reilly Radar since I clearly would have to pay my own personal editor.</li><li>Oh, I also bookmarked this page, and shared it through various social networks.</li></ol>Not a full inquiry cycle, but you see how it goes...<br /><br />My comment:<br /><br />"From what I have read so far, I can appreciate this and other published documents by this group as being helpful for school librarians (like me) and other forward thinking tech educators. Many of us are currently attempting to work within traditional public school districts to integrate authentic information literacy standards (see: <a href="http://bit.ly/9RkbIG%29" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/9RkbIG)</a> through professional development and modeling instructional practice.<br /><br />Specifically, I was drawn to the "Critical Challenges" section with regards to digital literacy (top of pdf page 7). Please accept these comments as an insider who teaches in a large urban high school.<br /><br />One of the main roadblocks for information literacy integration in secondary education is a misguided internet phobia (especially 2.0) on the part of decision makers. They are concerned about what harmful content "may potentially" be accessed during the school day. What occurs then is excessive filtering put in place by network administrators who are not educators, and/or, for whom it is much easier to block web-based tools using prefab software settings. Instead, they should trust the professionals (school librarians and tech savvy classroom teachers) with the opportunity to teach students how to use 2.0 ethically, productively, and safely .<br /><br />When pressured for more open access, the argument soon centers around E-Rate, legal counsel advice, and the inability of IT to differentiate filter settings by age and grade of the user. More often than not, teachers are blocked from content as well, or have very limited access to 2.0 through time restricted override authentication. I won’t begin to address how troubling this is when considering the social, college, and workplace readiness of our digital divide students.<br /><br />From mentoring and collaborating with new and pre-service teachers, it is clear that even these “almost” digital natives are not arriving to the field of teaching as digitally literate educators. There doesn’t seem to be any recognition of 21st century learning or ISTE standards in undergrad, graduate, and administrative programs at the university level.<br /><br />Considering the economic climate, the integration of cloud computing and outsourcing of the “business of Information Technology” seems to me a no-brainer. I think schools are wasting so much money forking over millions annually (per school) for licensing alone. The instructional technology integration can, in my opinion, be handled very effectively and efficiently. However, again, many of my peers are not able to get far with their advocacy. I suppose this problem could be a simple matter of innovation potentially disrupting the sustainability of highly paid positions held by those with a mindset entrenched in decades of tradition? For sure, there is not enough power sharing where decisions of technically innovative methods are concerned.<br /><br />What is having the most impact on the tech ed market right now is online learning environments. As a progressive educator, I see so much potential in this border-less learning space. As a researcher and scholar, I use PLN’s and as many social tools as possible. However, here is the reality. For-profits are making huge profits by replacing teachers with packaged software programs. School buildings and virtual schools alike are becoming “credit mills” that rely on low level thinking and testing skills. Fewer teachers equal more money to acquire an ungodly number of licenses and to increase the pay of administrators. What I hope to see soon is more open access courses created by quality educators that can be accessed and applied easily by teachers and learners alike. Again, this may be difficulty as it would threaten the stability of traditional K-12 organizations and the bottom line of corporate educational publisher of content and software.<br /><br />Consequently, I am wondering within your implementation guidelines if you will more thoroughly discuss team based decision making and collaborative integration. Will this be a top down approach, or grassroots? Will you strive to work with University Education programs? Who will be on that team? If your team decides to take a pragmatic/human approach to implementation, please don’t forget to include school librarians (media specialists). We are information specialists and teachers by training, and have a lot of offer, especially when looking at how best to organize and search for 2.0 content, and apply it through inquiry based learning."<br /><br />Good lord! Does everything I write end up as a stump speech?<br /><br />Some women have shoes in every color, The YA Librarian has a soap box in every color. It's what I do...<br /><br />Read the report and tell Ms. Gray what do you think. And, you might want to make sure you proof read it, or she might think I posted under another name.Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-13762590378380474692010-04-29T21:47:00.003-04:002010-04-29T22:18:12.413-04:00Be Afraid, Be Very Afriad<span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Indiana district pulls Toni Morrison book from hands of students</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Board member vows to keep 'Song of Solomon' out of Franklin Twp. schools.</span><br /><br />Source: Indystar.com - <a href="http://bit.ly/ahTLoa">http://bit.ly/ahTLoa</a><br /><br />I was thinking of pulling some of the quotes from the article for you, but I am adamantly opposed to furthering American sound-byte mentality. Please exercise your constitutional right to read this article in it's entirety and make your own decisions. If you are under the age of 18, I recommend that you fully read the article and then, if possible, discuss it with your parents, guardians, and trusted adults.<br /><br />After you read the article, you may want to read my comment without scrolling through the 400+ comments posted. If so, here is the recap:<br /><br />Their actions are unconstitutional. Totalitarian & undemocratic leaders have violated several young citizens' right to free speech. By controlling individual freedom to read & discuss, decisions have been made in place of parents. Do these "leaders" think they can educate better than teachers & raise children better than parents? These few in power view public education through moral & religious lenses that do not represent the school community. These same controlling individuals decided to fire many school librarians & decrease library funding. In doing so they silenced the teachers who would most vocally advocate for the 1st Amendment rights of students & educators. The libraries in this district will no longer be a haven for academic freedom & intellectual study, but one of controlled & manipulated content intended to force a certain way of thinking. This “leadership” was practiced by Nazis prior to & during the Holocaust. We cannot allow this to happen in our country.<br /><br />And that my friends is theyalibrarian's attempt at brevity when kept to 1000 characters or less.<br /><br />Please comment your thoughts on this indystar.com article. I am so glad book banning is still newsworthy.Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-39294938440829677202010-04-20T02:39:00.009-04:002010-04-20T12:10:44.220-04:00Questions That Keep Me Up At NightQ. What do you call a library without a librarian?<br /><br />A. A warehouse of unrealized potential and a waste of taxpayer money.<br /><br />Q. How many school library positions could possibly be cut in Indiana in one year?<br /><br />A. I am thinking of a number between 129 and 131, but the year isn't over.<br /><br />Q. How much does the Indiana Code require that schools spend on their library programs every year?<br /><br />A. $8 per student (see below).<br /><br /><br />Q. How many schools comply with this law?<br /><br />A. Due to a lack of transparency in the way compliance forms are shared, tracked, and reported, we must try to answer this question using a collection of anecdotal data. The answer is approximately: Not Very Many<br /><br />Q. Please read the following statement. Then find and define the phrase "<span style="font-weight: bold;">all schools</span>" and the word "<span style="font-weight: bold;">integral.</span>"<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style=""></span></b></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="">511 IAC 6.1-5-6 Media program</span></b><span style=""></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Authority: IC 20-19-2-8; IC 20-31-4-17 Affected: IC 20-31-4-1 </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Sec. 6. All schools shall have a media program that is an integral part of the educational program. A licensed media specialist shall supervise the media program. Each school shall spend at least eight dollars ($8) per student per year from its 22200 account to maintain its media program. <i>(Indiana State Board of Education; 511 IAC 6.1-5-6; filed Jan 9, 1989, 11:00 a.m.: 12 IR 1192;</i></span><i><span style="">readopted filed Oct 12, 2001, 12:55 p.m.: 25 IR 937; readopted filed Nov 20, 2007, 11:36 a.m.: 20071219-IR-511070386RFA)</span></i><br /></p><span style="">Source: <span style=""><a href="https://owa.pike.k12.in.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/20071219-IR-511070386RFA.xml.html" target="_blank"><span style="">http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/20071219-IR-511070386RFA.xml.html</span></a></span></span></blockquote>A. All schools = all schools, oh, they must mean all of the schools in one school district. Wow, legalese if fun!<br /><br />Integral = warehouse? No, how about this,<br /><br />Integral = I am not really sure but if we have to have one librarian we could say they are the supervisor of record in the high school. Then we can disregard student achievement AND maintain accreditation status for our information illiterate graduates (shhh, don't tell higher ed...).<br /><br />I mean, after all, a fiscally responsible school would never consider paying for a specialist in the elementary school building who is actually devoted to helping children learn to read, think about what they read, communicate what they learned from reading, and do it over again because they love it not because it is required. And don't even get me started on middle schools...<br /><br />Q. I can't believe someone hasn't done something about that law!<br /><br />A. Actually, the DOE/ Professional Standards Board tried. Here is a nifty draft they worked so hard on. Notice in the media section what they tried to do to the meaning of "integral." <a href="http://www.doe.in.gov/news/2009/07-July/documents/09-481.pdf">http://www.doe.in.gov/news/2009/07-July/documents/09-481.pdf</a><br /><br />Q. How much does the average school librarian pay out of pocket to be a member of their teachers' association, and what has said association done to help save school librarian jobs?<br /><br />A. Between 500 and 700 per year. Oh, I'm sorry, was there another question? What? School librarians are teachers?<br /><br />Q. Doesn't seem like you have a lot of friends in high places theses days, does it?<br /><br />A. Nope, it sure doesn't.<br /><br />Q. What is the average cost of a new, library-ready, nonfiction book for secondary students?<br /><br />A. Between $25 and $30 (see minimum pseudo-required budget above)<br /><br />Q. Well, everything is online right? Even books? Just buy online books, how much could that cost?<br /><br />A. No.<br />Yes, but not all of them.<br />It depends on the license, but for one good database subscription in a mid-sized high school somewhere between $1,500 and $4,000 per year.<br /><br />Q. Can't kids just use what they find "on" Google for homework? It's free.<br /><br />A. They could, but no intelligent person would ever do or teach academic research this way, at least not yet (waiting on Googlebooks info, but in no way will it be free). And, there is still a high rate of our students who do not have a reliable computer or high speed internet at home.<br /><br />Q. What! everyone has a computer right? I don't believe you, how many kids are we talking about?<br /><br />A. We have little empirical data on this issue locally, but a nonscientific sample of one metropolitan district shows that at least 15% of students fall into that category.<br /><br />Q. That isn't much, why the big deal?<br /><br />A. Maybe I should restate that more specifically. In a district sample of 1000 students, 15% means 150 children.<br /><br />Q. Well, most will be OK, right?<br /><br />A. It depends on your definition of OK. Many people call this social injustice the digital divide. Others refer to it as digital apartheid. Some say it kind of reminds them of something the old timers used to call Jim Crow. Take your pick.<br /><br />Q. OK, now you are just trying to confuse me with all that techno-babble. I know that the State says if 90% of the kids graduate on time, then schools are doing a great job! What does NCLB stand for again?<br /><br />A. No Child Left Behind - the US Educational Policy that has been adopted by our state as law. You are correct in your definition of what an excellent high school looks like to the DOE. In a school of 1000 that means it is not OK but EXCELLENT for the schools to fail 100 children. Have you ever been in a room with 100 children? That is a lot of children! And we are only talking about one school. Decide what 10% means in your high school. Of course most of our high schools have not yet reached the percentage of excellence. But there is still time, right? And, just because kids do pass the "test" and are allowed to legally graduate, that doesn't mean they are "well educated."<br /><br />Q. Right, so you don't like high-stakes testing then? What kind of crazy liberal are you?<br /><br />A. Pretty crazy. Whether or not I like standardized testing is not the issue. The issue is school library programs not being valued in an "institution of education."<br /><br />However, if you believe that kids who pass bubble tests are intelligence incarnate, then you may want to know that research studies from multiple states, including the great Hoosier boot, found that students in schools with certified librarians and well funded library programs are more likely to do better in school. That means they pass tests more often. And yes, researchers controlled for all those crazy empirical things like poverty and race. Here is a link to all of the state studies in case you are interested: <a href="http://www.doe.in.gov/news/2009/07-July/documents/09-481.pdf">http://www.lrs.org/impact.php</a>.<br /><br /><br />Q. Computers, tests, budgeting, teaching? But, all you do is shush people, stamp books, and berate students who forget their library cards. Why should I listen to you about this? Who is the expert in you building? Let me talk to him.<br /><br />A. I would answer this but it would be difficult to explain to someone who has not seen the inside of a school, or a school library, in over 15 years. But please, feel free to stop in.<br /><br />Q. I went to the public library yesterday. It was nice. We can just send kids over there for this stuff right?<br /><br />A. I'm glad you mentioned this. The public libraries are a big part of the community. And they do have a lot of great resources and programming run by librarians who specialize in helping children and teens. But obviously you don't read the local paper. The public library is funded by property taxes, which have been capped, and the public sector is still feeling the economic backlash from the recession. So, there might not be enough computers, books, or librarians to help kids at your local branch. That is IF it is still open. These libraries are hurting for money too. So, if you get a lot out of your public library, you probably should vote NO to allowing property tax caps to be written into the state constitution. Unless of course you think private citizens are willing to provide enough out of pocket money to pay the library bills...<br /><br />Q. Do schools really need libraries?<br /><br />A. I'm sorry, did you just ask if schools really need brand new football stadiums, that extra gym for the basketball team, the semi truck for the marching band, to purchase that administrator a car? No, of course not, how silly of me, I must have misunderstood.<br /><br /><br />Q. How many School Librarians does it take to educate students for 21st century success?<br /><br />A. The world may never know. Well Indiana may never know. It will be hard to find that information on Google. Oh, wait, maybe not. Wow, look at this: <span style="font-weight: bold;">A Nation without School Librarians</span>: <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117551670433142326244.000482bb91ce51be5802">http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117551670433142326244.000482bb91ce51be5802 </a><br /><br />This is so cool and so sad at the same time. But very organized and clear. I bet it was created by a librarian, or someone who spends a lot of time with librarians.<br /><br />Q. You are just a Google Hater, right?<br /><br />A. No, actually I love Google. I love their free and open source philosophy of web based applications and their helpful resources for educators and librarians. I even like Google Scholar sometimes. In fact, I love Google so much I think if our schools would actually take advantage of these resources instead of selling our souls to Microsoft we could afford wonderful, high-tech, library programs. I would love to be a YA Google Librarian. I bet they hire librarians. Hey Google, we have a lot of librarians (I mean information specialists) in Indiana that need a job! Are you hiring?<br /><br />Q. So, you think you have all the answers?<br /><br />A. Well, I do my best to find them. It's what I do for a living. Oh, and I teach your children how to find answers too. And how to think about questions before they look for answers. And how to present their answers clearly. And how to do this online without violating their student code of ethics. And I organize all kinds of information so they can find it. And I talk to them about great books, and the value of reading. And we create 2.0 environments together. And...<br /><br />Where did you go?Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-35469842821404926322010-04-12T21:36:00.006-04:002010-04-20T02:37:27.103-04:00Library Snapshot DayALA has really earned every penny of membership dues this year. I am starting to feel like my blog is becoming one long commercial for ALA events and services. There is just so much going on with libraries (good, bad, and ugly) that it is amazing we have to still beat it into the public consciousness that libraries are essential AND that they will all go away unless supported through public money.<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-family:webdings;" >--And for you social conservatives, we cannot fund libraries through private money. This is a bad, bad, thing and your mothers would be ashamed of you and wash your mouth out with <a href="http://kitchenretro.blogspot.com/2009/01/old-and-odorous.html">Lifebuoy</a> for even mentioning it!</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;">--</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/statelocalefforts/snapshotday/index.cfm">Library <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Snapshop</span> Day</a> is a phenomenal push towards marketing and PR for libraries. It is a homegrown springboard campaign to capture some of what we information folks do in our complex jobs from day to day. Here is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ALA's</span> summary of national campaign:<br /><blockquote>Library Snapshot Day provides a way for libraries of all types across a state, region, system or community to show what happens in a single day in their libraries. How many books are checked out? How many people receive help finding a job? Doing their taxes? Doing their homework? This initiative provides an easy means to collect statistics, photos and stories that will enable library advocates to prove the value of their libraries to decision-makers and increase public awareness.</blockquote><br />Today was <a href="http://www.in.gov/library/snapshot/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Snapshot Day"</span> for Indiana</a>. I, alas, did not participate. Don't ask my why, just know I am feeling the guilt, and this is probably a matter best addressed within the privacy of the confessional. Thankfully, many of my colleagues took advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I can't wait to see the results.<br /><br />If you are a librarian and a slacker like me, don't wait a year for your chance at a snapshot day. You may not have a job by then, just <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">sayin</span>'. I actually do a "snapshot day" every year in May, but I refer to it as an Annual Report. I am sure this is one of the main reasons I still have a job, as do the other 12 school librarians in my school district.<br /><br />Here is what you do (here come <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Brunner's</span> Bullet Points, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Yay</span>!!!):<br /><br /><ul><li>Take a couple of hours this month, and consider it professional development. Put it on your calendar, and don't miss that appointment! Take it as a paid sick day if you have too. It is preventative care for America people!</li><li>Visit the the page "<a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/advocacyuniversity/librarysnapshotday/index.cfm">Library Snapshot Primer</a>" for details on how to create your own initiative. </li><li>House your snapshot day on a social networking site, or network several sites together for your library gallery. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Facebook</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Flickr</span>, Twitter, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Wikispaces</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Ning</span>, Blogger.</span> The possibilities are endless. </li><li>Can't access any of these in the workplace? Use this as your agenda for getting those sites open for teachers and administrators so you can save your district money, and help the environment, by producing a paperless annual report. Heck, make them quarterly for that matter and you won't have to freak out at the end of the year pulling stuff together!</li><li>Once your site is up and ready, even if it is not perfect, send the link out to the parent email list, or if that is not an option, get your teachers and community friends to start going viral with it. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Retweet</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Repost</span>, Forward, and Share!</span> The best part about publishing in this way is that, you don't have to stress about the content being static. You publish it, find that annoying typo, edit, republish. It is all good.</li></ul>I will post mine sometime this month and would love to see what everyone else is doing! Send me a link so I can be a carrier of your viral initiative!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;font-family:webdings;" >--- Sneaky Link ---</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-family:webdings;" >Did you see it? Sneaky Link is a new viral initiative for me to sneak in a link to online content I enjoy and will pass on to my patrons and colleagues. Look for a link to a blog that I stumbled upon, and laughed, and spent way too much time on. Good stuff!</span>Maureen Brunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735823256026756696noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-79508842756903395962010-04-06T20:18:00.013-04:002010-04-12T21:01:12.826-04:00First, Give the Man His Fish Dinner...... then, when he is no longer starving to death, teach him to catch his own food.<br /><br />This has been the mantra that keeps me going through this trying time of political confusion, blatant <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">classism</span>, and public apathy in response to the destruction of democracy's greatest weapon against forced ignorance, gluttonous greed, and governmental tyranny.<br /><br /><strong>Metaphor Explained Ad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Nauseum</span>:</strong><br /><ul><li>School Librarians & School Libraries = <strong>the "Man" or "Him"</strong></li><li>Permanent School Librarian Positions & Strong School Library Programs = <strong>the "Fish"</strong></li><li>The Advocate = <strong>the</strong> <strong>Implied Subject</strong></li><li>Professional Development in Library Marketing for Sustainable Programs = <strong>Teaching to Fish</strong></li><li>Systematic and proactive advertising, outreach, and promotion of the stuff that makes School Librarians and Libraries essential to the academic achievement of students, lifelong learning of educators, and intellectual freedom of all patrons = <strong>the Independent, Ongoing Act of Fishing</strong></li></ul><strong>The Moral & Lesson</strong><br />ALA has made it unbelievably easy for all of us to be politically savvy library advocates with their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">capwiz</span> tool on the "Issues & Advocacy" page.<br /><br />Here, let me show you.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />Step 1 - click on this link: <a href="http://capwiz.com/ala/home/">http://capwiz.com/ala/home/</a><br />Step 2 - enter your zip code in the box (yes, just look over to the right, yep, you got it)<br />Step 3 - notice the glaringly bright and visually offensive box near the top of the page. If you are color blind (is that still PC?), it looks a lot like this:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGkKlhK4ACtrSWkP_IBUT5iGQYhXe-SAL9p-dg-_6iHdakz5zPfL9m2eAifZeltSa7Qz8O59YUSpnYQxmFqVcJuul04DyvTtGUtK_m2V26P1ockchZsjBVPHTPPj6Kbqubb9vGokTst4l/s1600/alaaa.gif"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyJlTg7wbix0YZofe-9NpgtqcrgYmiLNfycl_rbK1mxpIiiiXmpgPXoPPAh7NHYd8EW8Xril2TakMlWFLR0u-VruUuk13iZV7lm8QMTmaJILS2DIDR5Ay6k5l7USrPrx0xoIeyOOgu3G-/s1600/alaaa.gif"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457197174906759154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyJlTg7wbix0YZofe-9NpgtqcrgYmiLNfycl_rbK1mxpIiiiXmpgPXoPPAh7NHYd8EW8Xril2TakMlWFLR0u-VruUuk13iZV7lm8QMTmaJILS2DIDR5Ay6k5l7USrPrx0xoIeyOOgu3G-/s200/alaaa.gif" style="float: left; height: 93px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 200px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Step 4 - click on all featured links and submit a letter to your elected leaders. Oh, and please, if you could just find a few minutes of your time, DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />** Bonus ** The information fields auto fill for faster fishing, I mean advocacy.<br /><br />Oh, and in case you missed this point:<br /><br />An Organized Group of Employed Librarians = <strong>the assurance that America is really and truly and always run by the people, for the people, because the people will have servant-leaders who ensure access to information and processes that make this form of government possible for everyone.</strong><br /><br />When you have eaten your fill of fillet, here are some more fishing tips.<br /><ul><li>Actually read the text you send to your political powers-that-be</li><li>While reading, pay close attention to the vocabulary that will allow you to intelligently articulate the main political issues, and your own position on said issues, when the opportunities arise</li><li>Go through the other issues that are not quite so time sensitive, but just as important</li><li>Pass this tackle box on to your colleagues and supporters, then teach them how to fish</li></ul>Presto-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Chango</span>! You are no longer the starving man. You my friend are now the Advocate! Pass it on.<br />Thank you ALA for giving us the fish dinner, the tackle box, and the fishing lesson in one neat package for the low, low, price of free.<br />P.S.<br /><br />Butler <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">DAWGS</span>, you <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">RAWK</span>!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-11932895990391463442010-02-22T21:07:00.004-05:002010-02-22T21:46:17.410-05:00A Letter In Support of Student Achievement<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Fellow Parents, Educators and School Leaders,<br /><br />I have the pleasure of serving on the board of my professional association as the school library representative in Indiana District 4. As part of my appointed responsibilities, <b>I am contacting you regarding a very important issue</b>. The students in your district are at risk of losing one of their most valuable assets in the journey to becoming well educated adults: <b>a strong school library program, and a certified school librarian.<br /></b><br />This winter you have been asked to undertake a very difficult and perhaps unprecedented task. You must construct an operational budget for your school district in a time of economic crisis. Though you have been given limited financial and professional resources from our state policy makers, you are expected to finalize a budget without negatively impacting the academic achievement of the children in your schools.<br /><br />Often, in a time of budget downsizing, leaders decide it is necessary to cut professional and support staff positions. While considering staff cuts, you always try to protect positions that directly interact with students and support their learning. Because many of you are currently in this decision making position or have previously made these decisions, it is vital that you more fully understand the fundamental instructional activities that are the responsibility of your school librarians (media specialists). <b>In an effort to help inform your decision, included in this message is research-based information illustrating how school library programs increase student learning and achievement.</b><br /><br />Studies in over 19 states (including Indiana) have found that students tend to perform better on standardized tests in schools with better-staffed, better-stocked, and better-funded school library programs (see - <a href="http://http://bit.ly/yablog1">http://bit.ly/yablog1</a><a href="http://bit.ly/a2vsEX" target="_blank"></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">). I am sure you agree that while standardized testing is only one of many ways we should assess student learning, it is the method most valued by state and national policy makers in education. Test results are most often how lawmakers, the media, and the community evaluate the effectiveness of your school. If the quality of your school library program is reduced by cuts, more than likely student tests scores will drop.<br /><br />Passing tests based on memorized facts is not an adequate predictor of how successful our students will be after leaving high school. Professional educators must look beyond testing and create programs for authentic learning. Because information and ideas are now produced and published at rates never before experienced, it is impossible for any student to understand and remember enough content in core subject areas. In the modern digital age, there is just too much to know! Now that an abundance of facts, figures, and opinions are literally at our fingertips we no longer require rote memorization for efficient problem solving. Instead, our schools must provide effective instruction and meaningful assessment to strengthen students’ critical thinking abilities. To ensure a future of opportunity for our students, we need to teach the skills necessary to find, evaluate, use, and create information using a variety of tools and resources.<span> </span>We are developing minds to deal with a future we cannot predict.<br /><br />No other staff member in today’s school is more poised to lead and provide this instruction than well supported, certified school librarians. In fact, your school librarians may be the only educators in your district that actively plan curriculum for student and teacher development based on two sets of academic standards: The academic learning standards issued by the state, and the Standards for the 21st Century Learner (see -<a href="http://bit.ly/yablog4"> </a></span><a href="http://bit.ly/yablog2"></a><a href="http://bit.ly/yablog4"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/yablog4">http://bit.ly/yablog3</a> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">) developed by our professional organization, the American Association for School Librarians.<br /><br />If you review the framework of the </span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Partnership for the 21st Century Skills</span></em><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> you will note that our students require the development of information, media, and technology skills as the foundation for authentic learning (see - <a href="http://bit.ly/yablog3">http://bit.ly/yablog3</a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">). School librarians are trained to simultaneously deliver instruction in information literacy skills along with core content through collaborative planning and teaching with classroom teachers. When a content area teacher and a school librarian collaborate, the student-teacher ratio is cut in half, response to intervention is more timely and personalized to the needs of each student, and the assessment of understanding is more reflective.<br /><br />While considering cuts of school librarians, library support staff, or library materials funding, you may wonder what children regularly do in the school library under the instruction of a school librarian. Among many other activities, the students: </span><br /> <ul><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Learn and develop a love of reading </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Find stories and information that allow their imagination and creativity to soar </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Discover how to successfully and confidently utilize resources of higher learning </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Understand what it means to be a critical consumer and producer of information in a digital age </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Internalize the importance of ethical and safe behavior in online environments </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Experience how to actively and intelligently participate in a democracy </span></li></ul> <span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">It is important that your school library programs are well funded and contain an exceptional collection of up-to-date, accurate, and age appropriate print and digital resources that directly support the curriculum.<span> </span>It is more important that a certified school librarian is available to teach learners how to appropriately utilize these resources. <b>The library support staff is vital in helping with the day-to-day business of a library. Without their assistance, a school librarian cannot fully respond to the informational and instructional needs of students or teachers.</b> However, because they have not been professionally trained, educated, and licensed in teaching and library science, these individuals cannot replace a school librarian in providing instruction, selecting materials, and preparing students for the 21st century.<br /><br />In a recent blog article, Doug Johnson, author and Director of Media and Technology for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Mankato</span> (MN) Public Schools, tells us that <b>“…in times of budget cuts… a school's true values come starkly into focus” </b>(see - <a href="http://bit.ly/aLJqIY" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://bit.ly/yablog4">http://bit.ly/yablog4</a> )</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">. As you make final decisions about staffing, I ask you to consider the essential role school librarians play in educating students. In the words of our former First Lady, and fellow librarian, Laura Bush, “School libraries help teachers teach and children learn… Books, information technology, and school librarians who are part of the schools' professional team are <b>basic ingredients for student achievement</b>."<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Thank you for taking time to read this message. Please do not hesitate to contact me for additional information.<br /><br />Maureen Sanders-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Brunner</span><br />School Librarian<br />District 4 Representative<br /><a href="http://www.ilfonline.org/index.php?submenu=mediaEducators&src=gendocs&ref=AIME&category=Units">Association for Indiana Media Educators</a><br /><a href="http://www.ilfonline.org/">Indiana Library Federation</a><br /><a href="mailto:mdsbrunner@gmail.com" target="_blank">mdsbrunner@gmail.com</a><br /><br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The above letter was sent via email to over 60 school leaders in Central Indiana. The school districts they represent are considering, or have already, cut funding for school library staff and/or library materials. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />I want to thank Carl Harvey II, for helping me by creating the foundation for this letter. Please read his excellent blog at </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.carl-harvey.com/">http://www.carl-harvey.com/</a><span style="font-style: italic;">. As of the date of this blog, Carl is a candidate for President of </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/index.cfm"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">AASL</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;">, our national professional association.<br /><br /> I also want to thank the amazing school librarians who helped to edit this letter and who serve <a href="http://bit.ly/yablog5AIME">AIME</a>. It is awesome to work with those who are dedicated to helping the most wonderful professionals in the world!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Those who are advocating in support of strong school library and media programs staffed by certified school librarians are encourage to link to or borrow ideas from this post. Also, please visit the <a href="http://bit.ly/9zeogt"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">AASL</span> Advocacy</a> website for a well stocked advocacy toolbox.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-78415190814110476662009-05-12T22:33:00.008-04:002010-04-06T23:44:59.811-04:00Day 2 1/2 Library Legislative Briefing DayMy brain is a frying egg in an iron skillet.<span style=""> </span><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I need to do a little backtracking and pick up where I left off yesterday to tell the story in its entirety.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">John and Corey were up again to discuss Internet and Telecom Issues.<span style=""> </span>Specifically that we need ask for support in simplifying the application process by exempting regular receipts of E-rate from ADA compliance that tie up library funds in unnecessary escrow.<span style=""> </span>Those of us in schools might not have to deal with this directly, but our public library directors can feel the pain.<span style=""> </span>We might also need to get more involved in these discussions in our schools with our IT directors.<span style=""> </span>There were some other issues, but mainly the simplification process is the main issue.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While Yvonne and I were involved in the Internet Telecom briefing, Carol attended a session titled “Stump the Washington Office, Q&A.”<span style=""> </span>Here they reviewed issues that were discussed in the sessions, but more of a open session instead of a panel.<span style=""> </span>If anyone out there was at this session and would like to comment, that would be great.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our final discussion was about Stimulus money.<span style=""> </span>Here things get a little tricky.<span style=""> </span>The first wave of money was basically distributed to the states and is expected to filter down to individual school districts.<span style=""> </span>As many of us know, this happened very quickly and the actually educational practitioners have yet to see the money in action at their schools.<span style=""> </span>My understanding is that most of this money was allotted to Title 1 programs, and that most secondary schools do not quality for Title 1 status.<span style=""> </span>If you are concerned about this money and the transparency of usage, then please comment.<span style=""> </span>I think that school libraries may need to work together to evaluate where and how this money is being used to strengthen literacy instruction of all kinds throughout the schools.<span style=""> </span>Even if we are not able to be part of the decision making process, I believe it is important for us to be part of the conversation and understand how the money is being used.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The second wave of stimulus money will be in the form of competitive grants.<span style=""> </span>Here the Fed is going to encourage partnerships with schools, governments, higher ED, public libraries and perhaps even private companies.<span style=""> </span>We need to make sure that our legislators know that a big chunk of this money needs to be set aside for library services of all kinds.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">By 5:00 we were free to go and debrief in our room.<span style=""> </span>Carol, Yvonne, and I read over our notes and made sure we understood all the issues.<span style=""> </span>I am not saying that I totally get what is going on, but I knew a lot more than before I arrived in DC!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yvonne and I trotted around the capital to the ALA reception where we hobnobbed and shared stories with other US librarians.<span style=""> </span>Here I met up with Kristen from the ALA GRO and we chatted about Tweeting the next day.<span style=""> </span>A group of us talked about using #nlld and #nlld09 as the hash tags.<span style=""> </span>You can search twitter for these tags to find all the postings.<span style=""> </span>I unfortunately FAILED to get many tweets out, but more on that later.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Here is a picture of the reception in the Rayburn foyer.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn7Kf4pRMY5Mc8WAlJ6A-aY_nFpiWnQSTB8zU1PY3j2t62DSo_Mw59ZF1ZlMMrEdSi0fA1U8QkSsiKUUtuWPeED1pp1WeNl3uDVXj2DgKYwmeXfkA5k0FX8RhGYmtfRpr16WL1XLPBZ8k/s1600-h/IMG_0180.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn7Kf4pRMY5Mc8WAlJ6A-aY_nFpiWnQSTB8zU1PY3j2t62DSo_Mw59ZF1ZlMMrEdSi0fA1U8QkSsiKUUtuWPeED1pp1WeNl3uDVXj2DgKYwmeXfkA5k0FX8RhGYmtfRpr16WL1XLPBZ8k/s200/IMG_0180.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335131693311911010" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the way back to the hotel, I looked around the grounds on Capitol Hill.<span style=""> </span>Here is a picture of the rotunda.</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRMV2uRhd4mtmJqwfpir8gzDQTd3AFsPlW6jEbwhB6oXBfTRgHre702BytpdyTfN1x9Vl2MoSZpCAvfWFr98jIXUF4_a0CwR7avLNOI_BfM0RKrVaw0FqbNAWebk_OSP9GoMSE8RVJlc0/s1600-h/IMG_0184.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRMV2uRhd4mtmJqwfpir8gzDQTd3AFsPlW6jEbwhB6oXBfTRgHre702BytpdyTfN1x9Vl2MoSZpCAvfWFr98jIXUF4_a0CwR7avLNOI_BfM0RKrVaw0FqbNAWebk_OSP9GoMSE8RVJlc0/s200/IMG_0184.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335132454785831858" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">Did you notice the weird and menacing clouds?<span style=""> </span>Well, we didn’t!<span style=""> </span>Yvonne and I stopped to ooo and ah over some baby ducklings in the reflection pool and promptly got caught in a rain storm a few blocks from the hotel.<span style=""> </span>We ran, got really cold and wet, and it was NOT fun!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Up in the room, I dried off and went down to the restaurant to get some dinner.<span style=""> </span>The bartender recommended Oyster Po Hoecakes (yes, hoecakes), and feeling adventurous, I ordered it.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Here is a picture of the Hoecakes.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIAxALGuCe3EVm5TjKG_FWEP3I90A3Ot9kFn69hEYGouTBcx3tzBigDxzJLmO7Vb1X88RKmmlgXlV-qHtijfIXe-gpuYoyFoUJ_tvCYUzZAPyspmh0qXeyGATrnI3y8RgA_hvjvLgyIqq/s1600-h/IMG_0185.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIAxALGuCe3EVm5TjKG_FWEP3I90A3Ot9kFn69hEYGouTBcx3tzBigDxzJLmO7Vb1X88RKmmlgXlV-qHtijfIXe-gpuYoyFoUJ_tvCYUzZAPyspmh0qXeyGATrnI3y8RgA_hvjvLgyIqq/s200/IMG_0185.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335132805702402178" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What you are seeing is fried oysters on a bed of shredded lettuce, drizzled with chow chow remoulade on top of very thin cornbread pancakes.<span style=""> </span>It was actually pretty good, and spicy.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After this, I was up in the room blogging.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I will post about the actual meetings with the congressional aids in the next blog.<span style=""> </span></p> If anyone else was in DC, please comment and let us know how things were for you!<p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-73264703204506230042009-05-11T21:34:00.005-04:002010-04-06T23:46:00.446-04:00Briefing Day at National Library Legislative DayAnother big day today. We started the day at 8:00 with a quick breakfast, and a lot of introductions.<br /><br />Here is ALA President Jim Rettig<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdMRh6eDyJcXgBuTlqSqQcCXTxsQ7twNr5v1wQdbxzSCicWg-CAkIESwjN9wwfmp9anJe5Uxlhn6Lp_hUVhFz8A9irVrI3v1-tq4GFdXNI-V-al0USsVY8aAt9zbowNy0-QdiEM30m8-w/s1600-h/IMG_0173.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdMRh6eDyJcXgBuTlqSqQcCXTxsQ7twNr5v1wQdbxzSCicWg-CAkIESwjN9wwfmp9anJe5Uxlhn6Lp_hUVhFz8A9irVrI3v1-tq4GFdXNI-V-al0USsVY8aAt9zbowNy0-QdiEM30m8-w/s200/IMG_0173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334757759749211058" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here are Yvonne, me, and Carol getting ready for our briefing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSk0nS_v0N0B7Kc8lziNl2ZrbRVbPWBUczcYO9nrl5E24eu0iFs9isfg78tx-2pZo1Sj9muWtY8YcTQleR7TQyVwLIA1GQs4Qpk1K0qjtGCim1jGVWgB54VtiuA5R2kIVl1LjAh8bI9TX2/s1600-h/IMG_0171.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSk0nS_v0N0B7Kc8lziNl2ZrbRVbPWBUczcYO9nrl5E24eu0iFs9isfg78tx-2pZo1Sj9muWtY8YcTQleR7TQyVwLIA1GQs4Qpk1K0qjtGCim1jGVWgB54VtiuA5R2kIVl1LjAh8bI9TX2/s200/IMG_0171.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334749606677654210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The first part of the day we were briefed on these issues:<br /><br /><ul><li>USA Patriot Act, reauthorization of section 215, presented by Michelle Richardson, Legislative Council ACLU. Basically, we are asking legislators to balance the protection of civil liberties and privacy rights while assuring national security.</li><li>Appropriations: Plenary Sessions with Adrienne Hallett, and Michale Stephens. We need 300 million for LSTA and 100 million for Improving Literacy Through School Libraries grants.</li></ul>Then we had a break where I had the pleasure of meeting Ann Martin, President of ALA.<br /><br />Here we are:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqoKJNJCD7ryorlVvc4PK8oMGIqL34qDNykK2vl3AOs5p-5XABeFPxhcfoqAPj7RU9Z9Wo9lx7mmdb7LodalacaoTk5ZwV4iEc3CNTQsJWcJ7oqFM0aeRUPHBMIY1BiCI9F_5QGf0sQ6k/s1600-h/IMG_0177.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqoKJNJCD7ryorlVvc4PK8oMGIqL34qDNykK2vl3AOs5p-5XABeFPxhcfoqAPj7RU9Z9Wo9lx7mmdb7LodalacaoTk5ZwV4iEc3CNTQsJWcJ7oqFM0aeRUPHBMIY1BiCI9F_5QGf0sQ6k/s200/IMG_0177.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334764861761735298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After break, we had an Advocacy training with Stephanie Vance, advocacy guru, and Lynne Bradley and Kristin Murphy from the Office of Government Resources.<br /><br />Lunch was at Union Station again, this time Greek.<br /><br />After lunch we started on Copyright issues with Corey Williams of the OGR and consultant Jonathan Band, Esq. They did a great job explaining the why the old defeated H.R. 6845 has come back in the form of H.R. 801, and why this is NOT a good thing. This deals with misinformation about peer review.<br /><br />We also discussed Orphan Works and some other issues that might come up.<br /><br />After the briefing, Corey took the time to explain the Google issues with the publishing of online content.<br /><br />Here are Corey and Jonathan:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHk3_DRaXvvyrVPyio3fpxcDgLqVI1tDVxGqKKEUOjW6uUMpEUeTZvkueomrRZwkKE6Xb_wIYWVNuH3obU-5Tegm_2vm9k3sjX3jWVrNwtNSKkwzDjNbYdDAHNe8nNwxOmSLMLzYIHMxU/s1600-h/IMG_0178.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 56px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHk3_DRaXvvyrVPyio3fpxcDgLqVI1tDVxGqKKEUOjW6uUMpEUeTZvkueomrRZwkKE6Xb_wIYWVNuH3obU-5Tegm_2vm9k3sjX3jWVrNwtNSKkwzDjNbYdDAHNe8nNwxOmSLMLzYIHMxU/s200/IMG_0178.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334769686138708882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />More later on Stimulus, Broadband and Telecom, and more!<br /><br />Then we split up for a briefing. Yvonne and I met withUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-83174836120948285322009-05-10T22:03:00.012-04:002009-05-11T08:01:39.572-04:00Mother's Day in DC - Start of Leg Day AdventureToday I traveled for the first time to Washington D.C. My children were stunned. "Mom, you can't leave on Mother's Day!" But leave I did. Around 10:00 a.m., after a lovely breakfast prepared by my husband (my youngest spread butter on the toast) I arrived at Indianapolis International Airport. By noon, I was flying over the muddy Potomac landing in the nation's capital. I can't believe it has taken me 30+ years to actually make the trip to D.C., and it took an act of Congress to make it happen!<br /><br />As an <a href="http://www.ilfonline.org/aime.htm">AIME</a> board member, I was given the opportunity to represent school library media centers during <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/wo/washevents/nlld/nlld2009.cfm">National Library Legislative Day</a>. This coming Tuesday is the actual lobbying appointments, but we get two days to prepare for this major event. Even though I have been in DC for less than 12 hours, I have learned and experienced so much already.<br /><br />After I got off the plane, I was greeted at the airport by Yvonne <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Olinger</span>, Director, Brown County Public Library who is the State Coordinator for Leg (pronounced Ledge Day.) I also met Carol <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lunce</span> from Indiana State University who is traveling along as well.<br /><br />We took the metro to Union Station. The metro is the subway system in D.C. Being an Indy girl all my life, and not widely traveled (or even thinly for that matter) it was my first time on this type of public transit. I felt like a kid looking around in wonder at everything. At Union Station we ate lunch (I had to most awesomely fresh Philadelphia sushi role) and the checked in at the hotel.<br /><br />In line at the front desk, Yvonne, who doesn't know a stranger, introduced herself to Hal Shill, Ph.D., from Penn State. Hal is a Professor of Political Science and also a librarian. Yvonne recognized him as a Leg Day regular. Hal agreed to share a taxi with us and was pressed into service in our group. We only had about 15 minutes to settle in before we had to take off for our Lobbying 101 meeting for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Newbie's</span>. The taxi ride was, well interesting (can you say motion sickness) and arrived at the ALA Washington offices in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods I have ever seen. Here is a pick of the building plate (well, I thought it was cool anyway...).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpq6-kYEY8lvBl-4HDGpLLo29yGapLn8NIf3REbSVva5vBf3HDx7orkQFv4c8b1A246SpXuWInVOjG8Npv8XHxJ18laeCE_W2aBPSbmKE4vGyfIQwKd4AoOGfn1Beh9Lh2TZ0T9ZQsC29Q/s1600-h/IMG_0167.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 87px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpq6-kYEY8lvBl-4HDGpLLo29yGapLn8NIf3REbSVva5vBf3HDx7orkQFv4c8b1A246SpXuWInVOjG8Npv8XHxJ18laeCE_W2aBPSbmKE4vGyfIQwKd4AoOGfn1Beh9Lh2TZ0T9ZQsC29Q/s200/IMG_0167.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334400819598150258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Our main speaker/trainer was Stephanie Vance, who is, well, an advocacy guru! She served as a congressional staff member and is now (in her words, not mine) "a card carrying member of ALA." She is great fun and a very effective presenter. I would love to see her at an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ILF</span> conference! You can find out more about Stephanie and what she does at <a href="http://www.advocacyguru.com">http://www.advocacyguru.com</a>, or on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/advocacyguru.com">http://twitter.com/advocacyguru.com</a>.<br /><br />Here is Stephanie (and me) in the ALA Washington office. She is the very young one on the right.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqFkWUWA_t2xPNpwPuxumORzaTe8aF23WAvgP_PNYITDMPCXRvcjI7tK_2ZU_-b8WVxqu8fCoS3zDxA7bPykGQLqbOsyOCcRjNzsRVFAWZFTS0xNcoK28fiEB0_YEKn0112yVIYK6rdmM/s1600-h/leg+day+2009.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqFkWUWA_t2xPNpwPuxumORzaTe8aF23WAvgP_PNYITDMPCXRvcjI7tK_2ZU_-b8WVxqu8fCoS3zDxA7bPykGQLqbOsyOCcRjNzsRVFAWZFTS0xNcoK28fiEB0_YEKn0112yVIYK6rdmM/s200/leg+day+2009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334394402354982386" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I also got a photo op with ALA Executive Director Keith Michael <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Fiels</span>. Despite his "why am I taking a picture with this woman" look in the picture, he was really a very personable guy!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx7fsxRdH02truOn2emzgtcubJhm0rEVJb6OPSUmQAXM_ktXPHvdDEUUV85bUeFZBGDB6VrE6xA6J8x1twyrb7Vg-AZi3TCDlLL0NmXqVj6OUT4pgDjFVPYgQu_aRBX1V81ol4R5tnuH0I/s1600-h/IMG_0164.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx7fsxRdH02truOn2emzgtcubJhm0rEVJb6OPSUmQAXM_ktXPHvdDEUUV85bUeFZBGDB6VrE6xA6J8x1twyrb7Vg-AZi3TCDlLL0NmXqVj6OUT4pgDjFVPYgQu_aRBX1V81ol4R5tnuH0I/s200/IMG_0164.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334396567326282626" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Probably the highlight of my day was meeting two awesome women from the Office of Intellectual Freedom. Here is a picture of me with Deborah Caldwell-Stone (left), Acting Director and Angela <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Maycock</span> (right), Assistant Director.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLw5_I-XZ2rqVbNPYW044woNYhqWUr7uN7h9XMed1kS2AU8SNxixU5CC4g2S7IlqdXg56rfR_qYeQ0ELrngkqWul5A3CRx1xFNXhXb9gjrzfZtdNVmh-nOnqlDuDX1SclpY-JFTdR6eqH9/s1600-h/IMG_0166.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLw5_I-XZ2rqVbNPYW044woNYhqWUr7uN7h9XMed1kS2AU8SNxixU5CC4g2S7IlqdXg56rfR_qYeQ0ELrngkqWul5A3CRx1xFNXhXb9gjrzfZtdNVmh-nOnqlDuDX1SclpY-JFTdR6eqH9/s200/IMG_0166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334399118763775970" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Those of you who know me can well imagine my excitement at meeting these ladies. For those of you who don't know me, it would be like meeting a rock star or a well respected actor. My love for the implementation of school reform, web 2.0 in school libraries, and speculative fiction is matched only by my passion for protecting the 1st Amendment rights of my teen students.<br /><br />If you would like to view the updates of this meeting on Twitter, please follow me at <a href="http://twitter.com/yalibrary">http://twitter.com/yalibrary</a>, or follow AIME at <a href="http://twitter.com/AIME_ILF">http://twitter.com/AIME_ILF</a>.<br /><br />After we left the meeting, we took a very nice walk (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">OMG</span> the weather was perfect!) around <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Dupont</span> Circle. For those of you who are from Indy, it is like our downtown circle but much more awesome (please no hate mail for saying this, it is true). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Dupont</span> has a famously large GLBT community, more ethnic restaurants in one block than in a 50 miles radios in Indy, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ohhh</span>, the shopping (yes, honey, I got these shoes on sale!)<br /><br />Here are some pics of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Dupont</span> that I didn't take but linked from the www.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mobilemag.com/content/images/4343_large.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 220px;" src="http://www.mobilemag.com/content/images/4343_large.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:1vp1jekfsC77RM:http://frazer.rice.edu/%7Eerkan/blog/archives/dupont.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 125px;" src="http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:1vp1jekfsC77RM:http://frazer.rice.edu/%7Eerkan/blog/archives/dupont.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.yeodoug.com/resources/dc_french/dupont_memorial/dupont_01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 370px;" src="http://www.yeodoug.com/resources/dc_french/dupont_memorial/dupont_01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My group ate some delicious Asian food at the City Lights of China restaurant. I highly recommend it! These sub terrain<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"></span> restaurants are a very exotic experience for me. Do we have anything like this in Indy?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.citylightsofchina.com/images/front.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 394px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.citylightsofchina.com/images/front.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here is the scary escalator I went down on my way back to the Metro station. It took minutes and minutes to reach the bottom. The optical effect of going that far down inside a huge concrete tunnel really messed with me. I felt like I was going to fall into the abyss at any moment. Of course crazy natives were literally jogging down the escalator beside me while I was holding on for dear life.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:wjg07-uvnx-DZM:http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/05/c3/a7/dupont-circle-north-exit.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 100px;" src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:wjg07-uvnx-DZM:http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/05/c3/a7/dupont-circle-north-exit.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Probably the most hilarious experience was when I was busy taking this pic in the metro station. Hal is the blurry figure closest to the camera.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUw8GOdz8yWwqOeIgd0fapEyehSXZzkBUTNOi32v_aB0kZjnEEMOL4r2k2mME-4ZvrpX9YJNKS3shqmq_mwoo3sgSwHJ9ajj6NJVn-NgyXU13QA3a3tNoeao3hi19T8y8dl-j54rsxmEtU/s1600-h/IMG_0169.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUw8GOdz8yWwqOeIgd0fapEyehSXZzkBUTNOi32v_aB0kZjnEEMOL4r2k2mME-4ZvrpX9YJNKS3shqmq_mwoo3sgSwHJ9ajj6NJVn-NgyXU13QA3a3tNoeao3hi19T8y8dl-j54rsxmEtU/s200/IMG_0169.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334407372432195170" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A couple of young girls got in my way and stalled by the doors of the train. When I tried to step forward, the doors closed on me! Oh man, this Midwestern wall flower was being left behind in DC without my group. The looks on the faces of my companions was so shocked, so horrified, that I burst out laughing as they helplessly watched me fade into the background. I laughed for minutes on end while people gave me a wide berth suspecting insanity.<br /><br />Here was the good news:<br /><br />1) The terminal was very clean, well lit, and populated enough that I felt safe. In fact, I am sure it seemed that I was the most dangerous person around with my random laughing!<br />2) Yvonne was such a good teacher that I already knew how to work the Metro system from my airport experience. I knew I was heading for Union Station, that I was already on the red line, and I had a handy little pocket map thanks to the folks at the ALA office.<br />3) The next train was only a 7 minute wait. The signage at these terminals is excellent! We librarians could learn a thing or two from the planner who designed this.<br />4) I am a librarian darn it! I can figure out anything given the right reference sources!!!!<br /><br />My new friends waited for me at Union Station and we had a good laugh about this!<br /><br />So now it is midnight in the hotel lobby where the wireless is free. I guess it is time for me to get some rest before my laptop turns into a pumpkin and all is lost. Busy day tomorrow, more to report. Forgive me for typos that you catch before I do, I am a bit tired.<br /><br />Thanks AIME for providing this opportunity. I hope I am representing you well!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-69876334774053011362009-04-30T21:34:00.004-04:002010-04-07T00:18:00.928-04:00BEDA 30 - Good Night April - A PoemGood night April, Good morning May Day.<br />
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BEDA was a prosperous journey, and greater work still. But now you are going away.<br />
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Not the practice, no, I will still blog, vlog, and Tweet.<br />
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But the marathon is over. Say my brain and conscience "oh sweet!"<br />
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I know now that there are always things to say, to write, to share.<br />
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But now I can think more deeply and actually prepare.<br />
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The news, knowledge, and fun, I would like to present to my peers.<br />
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And so, BEDA, I now drink one for your departure. Cheers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-83955144870039896022009-04-28T20:23:00.005-04:002010-04-07T00:18:56.484-04:00BEDA #28 Read the MovieI am really excited about the Cyber Book Club I am runnign with my co worker this month. My Readers Advisory Club always hosts a Books to Movies night, and this year we are exanding our event to be the celebration mixer after a couple weeks of particpating in the Online Book Club.<br />
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My coworker is moderating <a href="http://dannywallace.com/">Yes Man, by Danny Wallance</a><br />
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I am moderating <a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/books/stardust/ed/118/">Stardust, by Neil Gaiman</a><br />
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One reason I am so excited is because I have never read, nor seen, Stardust. I have been following <a href="http://twitter.com/neilhimself">Neil Gaiman on Twitter </a>for about a month, so I feel I can add a bit more to my the blog discussion with my students.<br />
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Here is a video of Neil Gaiman and screen writer Jane Goldman discussing Stardust at Comic-con 2007.<br />
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Md7qa2HxoU8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Md7qa2HxoU8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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Got to go read now! More on the book club later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-90980205533675979762009-04-27T22:23:00.001-04:002010-04-07T00:43:53.407-04:00Forget PC Edutainment GamesLearning happens with real games. Like World of Warcraft, Zelda, Toon <br>Town, the Sims, Pokemon, and yes Senator Lieberman, even Grand Theft <br>Auto.<p>What type of learning? Reading, Writing, Arithmatic, you know, back to <br>basics...<p>Oh yeah, also problem solving, ethics, mythology, economics, food <br>science, horticulture, pet care, and programming. Well, just to name a <br>few.<p>Don't believe me? Please test my shocking claims by following these <br>three simple steps.<p>1. Go to <a href="http://gamesparentsteachers.com">http://gamesparentsteachers.com</a>. Spend 30 minutes on this site.<p>2. Talk with almost any child about video games they like and then <br>play said game(s) with child.<p>3. Read "Don't Bother Me Mom I'm Learning" by Marc Prensky.<p>If you are a teacher/librarian who already knows great learning takes <br>place through gaming, follow these step anyway. If you do, you will <br>amass an arsenal of words, research, and experience with which to <br>persuade power holders to give gaming a chance in K-12 schools.<p>Gotta go, playing Star Wars Leggos with a 6-yr-old.<p>Sent from my iPhoneUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-44661558328175507552009-04-26T14:46:00.002-04:002010-04-07T00:44:17.378-04:00BEDA #26 - Collaborative Writing is Much FunEarlier this week, My BEDA Buddy Karson (see <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed">http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed</a>) posted a Writing Game, called 55. <br /><br />Here are the rules (hoping this isn't cheating by reposting someone else's BEDA...)<br /><br />1. Stories may be only fifty-five words long or shorter.<br />2. If it’s in the dictionary, it counts as a word.<br />3. Contractions count as single words.<br />4. Hyphenated words count as two words if the words become free-standing words when the hyphen is removed. Example: “free-standing” and “blue-green” are counted as two words; “ex-mayor” is counted as one word.<br />5. Initials count as a word because they stand for a word. Examples: “J.K.Rowling” and “L. L. Bean” count as three words each.<br />6. Acronyms count as one word because they are used as words. Examples: NASA, IBM, USA, NATO<br />7. Numbers count as words also. When using digits, numbers count as only one word, but when spelled out, they count as the number of words used. Examples: “twenty-eight” counts as two words, “28” counts as one word.<br />8. Titles may be up to seven words in length. Words used in the title do not count against the fifty-five words allowed in the story.<br />9. The story has to have a beginning, middle, and end.<br />10 Bonus challenge: create a twist or surprise at the end of the story!<br /><br />If you read this, please take a few minutes to particpate. I think this could turn into something really big and cool, or really big and rediculous. Either way, it will be fun. <br /><br />Here is how you participate.<br /><br />First, go to <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lets-play-a-game-called-55">http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lets-play-a-game-called-55</a><br /><br />Read the original post, then <a href="http://phoenixrune.livejournal.com/">Cassandra's</a> contribution, and then mine. Post the next thrilling page in the story. Hope to read your post soon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-90089880963358656732009-04-25T21:01:00.002-04:002010-04-07T00:45:21.371-04:00You can teach with your iPhone<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFqaAr61Ey95fzd02JU37wyenxDrsRDd2_8Tj2mNPnvE0j4LbRlkkRHCGk0fPnz-T5kjH7Xcd-QymUzOm3_fEiAQxRbWcwFEF6E4fj0cfGogjcSPMmdGeRAItA2ezAtb8oI_2nU9OYrgn/s1600-h/photo-782183.jpg"><br /></a></p>There is no doubt. Technology rocks! Is it too simple for my doctoral <br />thesis to be this: It is good to use 2.0 in public schools. It is bad <br />not to.<p>I have now set up Blogger to post my blogs via my email using <br />mail2blogger. I am using my iPhone as my mail device. I can add a <br />picture or a video too. I can teach from my iPhone by delivering <br />content and assignment details to students on my blog.. Student can <br />use their phones to post a reply back to me or to their blogs.</p><p>Here is an "off the cuff" example of a lesson.</p><p>Topic: Native Plants of Indiana Field Research</p><p>Assignment: using your phone, or computer and digital camera, find a <br />plant that is native to Indiana and include an attached photo taken by <br />you.</p><p>Tell us two facts about the plant and then submit a inquiry plan with <br />two research questions and a possible information source you will use <br />to answer your questions.</p><p>Example: This is a young Tulip tree that is indigenous to Indiana and <br />is the official state tree. Right now it is about 2 ft tall. At <br />maturity it can grow to over 75 ft tall. That is around the size of a <br />7 story building.</p><p>I will use the trees database on INSIPRE.net to discover the <br />scientific name of this tree. Then I will try to discover why this was <br />choosen as the state tree.</p><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFqaAr61Ey95fzd02JU37wyenxDrsRDd2_8Tj2mNPnvE0j4LbRlkkRHCGk0fPnz-T5kjH7Xcd-QymUzOm3_fEiAQxRbWcwFEF6E4fj0cfGogjcSPMmdGeRAItA2ezAtb8oI_2nU9OYrgn/s1600-h/photo-782183.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFqaAr61Ey95fzd02JU37wyenxDrsRDd2_8Tj2mNPnvE0j4LbRlkkRHCGk0fPnz-T5kjH7Xcd-QymUzOm3_fEiAQxRbWcwFEF6E4fj0cfGogjcSPMmdGeRAItA2ezAtb8oI_2nU9OYrgn/s320/photo-782183.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328798918591789426" border="0" /></a></p><p class="mobile-photo">Yeah, I can see it...<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-1311886741956645412009-04-24T21:43:00.005-04:002009-04-24T21:51:54.884-04:00Mobile blogger with iPhoneBEDA 24 is a txt blog from my iphone. I registered my phone with blogger and supposedly I can hit send and this will post. You can text mobile blog using SMS, which is what I am doing right now. You can also use MMS. I am not sure what this means except your mobile blog can include pics from you phone as well as text. For iPhone users there is another way to post by using mail2blogger. I will try this tomorrow. Now if my iPhone would only make coffee. Here goes... If you are reading this it worked. Pressing...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-26403219323004452302009-04-23T20:59:00.002-04:002010-04-07T00:51:12.572-04:00Why Students Need Access to Web 2.0 and Why Teachers Need to Master It!A fellow LMS in my district shared some great news with me this week. The National Council for the Social Studies released a position statement on media literacy. Social Studies gets it. Will the other professional organizations be far behind? <br /><br />Below are some key quotes from the statement. Below these quotes is a link to the site.<br />-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />“The 21st century world is media saturated, technologically dependent, and globally connected. We live in a multimedia age where the majority of information people receive comes less often from print sources and more typically from highly constructed visual images, complex sound arrangements, and multiple media formats. The multimedia age requires new skills for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating, and distributing messages within a digital, global, and democratic society. The acquisition and application of critical analysis and media production skills are part of what constitutes media literacy. The Internet and the everyday use of social networking technologies, together with the expansive growth of corporate entertainment media and the integration of popular culture, also require us as social studies educators to link participatory media literacy with civic education.”<br /><br />“These changes in society and the experiences the students bring into the classroom challenge social studies teachers to change both how and what we teach. One reaction is to fear these changes and try to protect our students from things we don’t understand or appreciate. Such an approach is neither helpful nor pedagogically sound. Another response is to take advantage instructionally of the wealth of experiences that young people have making media choices by respecting those choices when consistent with democratic principles.”<br /><br />“Since young people overly rely upon commercial venues for information, the 21st century social studies teacher should guide students to explore different sources of information such as independent blogs, open source sites, wikis, podcasts, and numerous new resources that offer alternatives to corporate media. Teaching students to think critically about the content and the form of mediated messages is an essential requirement for social studies education in this millennium.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/medialiteracy">http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/medialiteracy</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-54301731629455076602009-04-22T22:12:00.004-04:002009-04-22T23:21:34.628-04:00BEDA Buddy Episode 3 - Meet Karson<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Yay</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Yay</span>, It is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Karson's</span> Day!!!<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Karson</span> is another <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">BEDA</span> Buddy that Maureen Johnson was so awesome in picking for me. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">MJ</span> likes to do these match making blogs, and I thought they were kind of silly. But, I know now that she really does have a talent for this, at least for friends.<br /><br />Here is my Top 10 of why <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Karson</span> is Awesome!<br /><br />10. Her name ends in the "n" sound. So do all my children. It really is an awesome name. I would like to know how she got it. If I was still having children, I would name my 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">th</span> child <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Karson</span>. It would not matter if I had a boy or a girl (... must find a novena that covers me from having more children, might have jinxed myself).<br /><br />9. She is on Twitter - @karsonreed - Follow Her Now!<br /><br />8. She has a blog on a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ning</span> site - <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed">http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed</a> - Once again, Follow this NOW! You will learn why if you keep reading.<br /><br />7. She is on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Facebook</span>, but you can't be her friend just <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">because</span> you read this, you have to be special like me. I am HER <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">BEDA</span> Buddy and I will only share her with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Rafia</span> and Cassandra, so no stalking!<br /><br />6. Despite the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">aforementioned</span> #'s 7, 8, and 9, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Karson</span> thinks that she is somehow behind the game on this Web 2.0 thing. I mean, seriously, she is a social networking diva! She even does all this stuff on her phone! <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Egads!</span> woman, what else do you have to do to be high tech??? (wondering... if my iPhone and her Blackberry got together and had 2.0 babies, what would that look like? Thinking my iPhone is the guy, but I could be wrong?)<br /><br />5. She is a teacher. Future of the world in her hands and what not. '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">nuff</span> said!<br /><br />4. She is a Language Arts Teacher. She knows that reading and writing are the most important things in the world (<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">obviously</span> not money or job security considering her vocational calling).<br /><br />3. She is a LA teacher for Middle School kids. I teach 10-12 grade. I do not have the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">cojones</span> to teach students younger than this, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">especially</span> middle school students. They scare me. Check out "<a href="http://www.gomilpitas.com/humor/039.htm">You might teach middle school if...</a>" My personal favorite - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">You believe "</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">extremely annoying</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">" should have its own box on the report card.</span><br /><br />2. She is a Library Media Specialist! She says she "used" to be and is now in a smaller classroom, but really <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Karson</span>, once you get the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">initial</span> retina scan, undergo insertion of the "know it all" data chip in your brain, and learn the secret hand shake, there is no leaving. We are watching! And anyway, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Batgirl</span> was a librarian (wait a minute, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Batgirl</span> kind of looks like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Karson</span>... what if...?)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.valsadie.com/shopping/images/alabatgirl.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 252px;" src="http://www.valsadie.com/shopping/images/alabatgirl.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />#1. She is a writer and can do the most amazing things with just 55 words. It should not be legal. And she blogs about it! Just puts it out there for the whole world to see. <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lets-play-a-game-called-55">Really, you have got to see this!</a> (I WILL answer your challenge <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Karson</span>. I am just not as awesome as you with brevity. I have to tell all my dirty secrets in long hand.)<br /><br />So, you have now met the gang. Twitter, Maureen Johnson, and Providence -- Thanks!<br /><br /><br />P.S. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Karson</span>. It is OK if you correct my grammatical errors. I can handle it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-1162983872830635682009-04-21T21:37:00.004-04:002009-04-21T22:50:02.291-04:00BEDA Buddy Episode 2 - Meet CassandraMaureen Johnson is 2 for 2. Tonight I want to introduce (drum role...) Cassandra, another gal pal in our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BEDA</span> 2.0 chick-posse.<br /><br />So, now that I have had a virtual bowl of chili with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Rafia</span> in Texas while watching vintage episodes of Wonder Woman, I am going to go to some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">nerd's</span> house and play <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome">Dungeons and Dragons</a> with Cassandra. Here we are below as "Specialist Wizards" (original artist Emily <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Fiegenschuh</span>).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/UnA_Gallery/79151.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 342px;" src="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/UnA_Gallery/79151.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Man, we are two, too hot sorceresses! I think the strange thing between us is the guy whose D&D party we are crashing and the guy behind us tried to tell us that D&D, Fantasy Fiction, and reading is for losers.<br /><br />So, Cassandra and I love Fantasy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Fic</span>. We really love YA Fantasy. I love Cassandra because she actually used the phrase "speculative fiction" in her <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">BEDA</span> Buddy classified add. When someone does this, I know they possess very strong <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Magik</span> indeed.<br /><br />We have another very interesting thing in common. We both had a thing for X files. In one of Cassandra's blog entries (which is at <a href="http://phoenixrune.livejournal.com/">http://phoenixrune.livejournal.com/</a>GO FOLLOW NOW!), she has this awesome entry on X files and railroad spikes. (note to educators and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">LMS's</span> --PhoenixRune's entry on X files is THE quintessential example of how true free inquiry based learning should happen!).<br /><br />Well, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">B'B</span>, I have a X files story for you. It has become and always will be a favorite family story.<br /><br />Back in the mid to late 90's I was pretty much obsessed with X-files. I would put my daughter (who is now 16) to bed and then run back to the family room to switch on X-files.<br /><br />One night, she couldn't sleep and came out to sit with me on the couch. I wasn't paying attention to the show much (probably writing a paper or something) and my daughter was traumatized by what is now called the "Popsicle" scene. In this episode, a lady takes her daughter and her little girl's scary doll to the grocery story. Everyone in the store starts mutilating themselves. Back in the frozen food isle, a worker stabs himself in the eye with a Popsicle, INSIDE the freezer case.<br /><br />About the time my daughter witnessed this, I realized what was going on, turned off the TV, and put my daughter to bed again. A few minutes later, she was crying because she was scared. I told her that after I turned the TV back on, the guy pulled a joke Popsicle out of his eye and said in a funny voice "Just Kidding!" Yeah, it was lame and she didn't believe me, and she was only 5 years old." When she was 14, she admitted to me that from that night on, anytime she heard the X-files opening music, she would hide under her covers. And man, I watched that show forever! Bad, bad parenting...<br /><br />I remembered at the time that I thought this episode was a bit scary and horrific even for X-files. After doing some research tonight, I discovered that Stephen King actually wrote this episode! No wonder... I couldn't find the Popsicle scene, but here is the trailer. The episode title is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Chinga</span>:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bCM8eIUepOU&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bCM8eIUepOU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The good news is that my daughter seems to be OK and has not suffered long term trauma. She does like to give me a hard time about it still. It is a source of great pleasure for her :).<br /><br />So, I am thinking that Cassandra and I will get along just fine in our virtual fantasy world. If you Tweet, follow her at @<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">PhoenixRune</span>.<br /><br />Tomorrow, last but not least...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-86255130394631719752009-04-20T20:20:00.005-04:002009-04-20T22:25:29.019-04:00BEDA #20 - BEDA Buddies #1 - Meet RafiaFirst of all, we are going to pretend that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BEDA</span> #19 happened. Actually, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">BEDA</span> 19 is a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">seekrit</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">BEDA</span> #19 is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">actually</span> a lot like <a href="http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/platform9.75.html">Platform 9 3/4 Kings Cross Station in London</a>. If you run fast enough at my blog, and veer a little to the left, you will experience it in all it's glory. But for the love of Pete, just don't ask the blog station master how to get there!<br /><br />Last week, <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/">Maureen Johnson</a> did a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">truly</span> incredible, some might say crazy, thing. She took about 400 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">BEDA</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">bloggers</span> who use her <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ning</span>, follow her blog, or follow her on twitter, and matched them with at least three other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">BEDA</span> buddies. I am not sure if she has time off, if we are her big social experiment, or if she is suffering from writers block and this was just one way to pass the time. However, it was an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">awesome</span> thing to do, especially for someone like me <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">because</span> now I don't have just an imaginary <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">audience</span> anymore (happy, but a little intimidating). So, here is a brief introduction to my one of my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">BEDA</span> Buddies. I will feature the other two in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">BEDA</span> 21 & 22. Gosh, I get virtual friends and three more topics for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">BEDA</span>. This is BIG!<br /><br />Meet <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Rafia</span>! Her blog/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">vlog</span>/<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">multimedia</span> treat for the soul is at <a href="http://cheshire3000.blogspot.com/">http://cheshire3000.blogspot.com/</a> . If you were born before 1975, then her last two blog entries will be a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">nostalgic</span> treat. Honestly, to watch cookie monster disco, and then to click a few minutes later on the same page to see the original introduction video of the Wonder Woman TV series I watched as a kid, well, it gave my heart a little squeeze. I remember wrapping foil into arm and leg band and then running around the house dodging imaginary bullets my brother shot at me. Well, I hope they were <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">imaginary</span> but I wouldn't put <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">anything</span> past him then or now.<br /><br />She also has a "serious" blog for us library folk. And I know if you are reading my blog, and not a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">BEDA</span> Buddie, you follow serious library stuff! Her other blog is <a href="http://seriousblogisserious.blogspot.com/">http://seriousblogisserious.blogspot.com/</a>. Follow it too!<br /><br />I don't know much about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Rafia</span> except that I would probably like to go to a chili cook-off with her and drink some good beer. Why, well <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">besides</span> her obvious wit and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">librarianess</span>, I think she is from Texas. I love people from Texas as a rule. I have not met one I didn't love (bless their collective little hearts). I also love following musicians from Texas like:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bobschneidermusic.com/">Lyle <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Lovett</span><br />Bob Schneider </a><br /><a href="http://dandyer.com/">Dan Dyer</a><br /><br />My <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">favorite</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Spongebob</span> episode is "Texas"<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C_ADjpeLg1w&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C_ADjpeLg1w&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br />To round out the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Rafia</span> experience, don't forget to find her on Twitter, @<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">chesire</span>3000.<br /><br />Tomorrow, another <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">awesome</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">BEDA</span> blogger!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-4393589167070261302009-04-18T21:38:00.004-04:002010-04-07T00:48:55.310-04:00BEDA #18 - Leave a MessageHi all and BEDA Buddies,<br /><br />Busy day, played hostess to the State Media Fair and then a board meeting that went way too long (which is telling because it was the most smooth and quickest meeting yet). Then I picked up my copy of the new <a href="http://www.jim-butcher.com/">Jim Butcher</a>, Dresden Files book, Turn Coat, so now I am too busy reading to write. I am sure you understand. I look forward to reading my BEDA buddies blogs tomorrow and telling everyone about them. Leave a message and I will return it tomorrow. Beeep!<br /><br />P.S. Hope everyone was blessed with beautiful weather today!<br />P.S.S Jim Butcher RAWKS!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jim-butcher.com/"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.jim-butcher.com/pics/turncoat-400.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4495443140103048898.post-73724701015045977142009-04-17T21:28:00.006-04:002010-04-07T00:45:21.378-04:00BEDA #17 - It's Social AND It's Networking - Part OneIf you wonder why I start most of my blogs with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BEDA</span> and a number, I will tell you why again. At the end of March 2009, YA Author <a href="http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com/index1.html">Maureen Johnson</a> started a little revolution via <a href="http://twitter.com/maureenjohnson">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ning</span></a> for people to <a href="http://twitter.com/BEDA09">Blog Every Day April</a>.<br /><br />Last I heard, there were around 400 folks who have decided to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">BEDA</span>. It is a commitment, and can be tedious, but the benefits are outstanding. I decided to jump on board for two reasons. I need practice writing and a warm up for National <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">Novel Writing Month</a>. A group of readers/writers on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Goodreads</span>.com</a> (look me up - Maureen <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Brunner</span>) decided that we would <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">participate</span> in our own <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">NaNoWriMo</span> this summer because we are too busy during the other times of the year. Probably most of us are educators. So, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">BEDA</span> has been my training. Now only if I could lose 100 calories for every word...<br /><br />The second reason is that I am currently enrolled in a course on learning spaces at <a href="http://www.butler.edu/coe/">Butler University College of Education</a>. I am pursuing my second masters degree as the first leg of my doctoral (I hope) journey. Through my blog I am documenting the process of finding that perfect thesis project and a niche for a doctoral speciality. I am leaning towards online learning environments but I am not giving up my love for YA lit. One of my dreams is to start my own school that is 100% student centered and structured around inquiry based learning, social awareness, and exploring <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">relevant</span> topics found in YA fiction and narrative non fiction.<br /><br />My co-worker (see @<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">libraryhipster</span> on Twitter) talked to me about <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">micro blogging</span> earlier this year. Over Spring Break I joined up. In less than a month, I have been in contact through reading and sometimes messaging, with more than 100 people/groups. Over 60 of those folks follow my micro blogs as well. My fellow Tweeters include authors, librarians, educators, teens who love to read, gamers, professional associations, news organizations, some weird and freaky but very cool Zombie dude, Darth <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Vadar</span>, comic book gurus, and many more. I hope I have contributed to Twitter and my followers information flow in some positive way <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">because</span> I have gotten so much in return.<br /><br />Since I started Tweeting, I now feel I am on the cutting edge of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">information</span>. I wonder how I was ever an effective librarian without Twitter. I am frequently the first in my school to read news that effects my profession. I am exploring other interests in depth that I only thought about <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">vaguely</span> before. I am keeping up with teens around the world and what <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">interests</span> them. This really helps me connect with the teens I serve. Conversations with my students are become more relevant and meaningful every day. I am networking with other academics who are interested in creating online learning environments for teens. I have learned about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">vlogs</span> and created one. Really and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">truly</span>, the world has opened up in less than a month. I sincerely hope my head doesn't explode with all this new stuff I am learning. I keep waiting for themes to just repeat themselves over and over again, but that is not happening. I know first hand what "<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Knowledge</span> in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Abundance</span>" means and why schools are wrong to create learning environments that treat <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">knowledge</span> as a scarcity.<br /><br />So, now that Oprah is Tweeting, I am sure more and more people will join up. I think this is wonderful. I hope that I, along with my fellow #educators, can find a way to use Twitter or other micro blogging sites in schools and halt the mass blocking of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">everything</span> social networking. Just like living in the physical world, there are several scary things about living online. But as a society we work to keep the wolves at bay and our children and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">YA's</span> safe. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">foresee</span> the online community become strongly self-monitored (like a neighborhood watch) as more and more people join up. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">foresee</span> schools becoming relevant by helping student <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">navigate</span> their way through this web while still having a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">safety</span> net. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">foresee</span> my library regulars in school making like minded friends <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">around</span> the world without having to worry about the "fit in" or "look" factor. I see so much good. I hope more education power holders will start seeing it too.<br /><br />Tomorrow I would like to introduce everyone to my <a href="http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/forum/topics/beda-buddies"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">BEDA</span> buddies</a> and demonstrate another way social networking can bring more of us together.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2