Summer Reading

I have been thinking a lot about summer reading and what it has meant to me. Reading was a part of almost every routine when I was a child. From weekly library trips to “packing” for trips, finding and organizing what books to bring was part of the ritual. Of course, taking the familiar books along on a trip didn’t mean I would actually read them! The Oz books I had so lovingly packed would still be there, and my older sister sister’s books about Captain Horatio Hornblower was sure to be more interesting. My younger sister’s Cherry Ames books were also begging to be read, even though she never thought her older sisters gave them the respect they deserved! I remember visits to used book stores where Amazing Science Fiction magazines with lurid covers and gripping stories could be had for a quarter or less. The bags of books brought from home were never used as an excuse to keep us from gathering more! These books, purchased as a special treat, were conversely never used as a lever to keep us from touching the books that mixed with the treasures in grandma’s attic. There ancient paperbacks (Perry Mason and The Saint originally priced at just 10 or 20￠!) and stacks of old National Geographic magazines shared shelf space with glamorous antique editions and treasures that included an Ouija board. Summer vacation meant freedom to do nothing, and doing nothing often meant lying around reading. Now it takes a certain amount of effort to allow myself to lie around and read. But I am doing it. Along with a lovely collection of childrens’ books (which are half way between work and guilty pleasure) I am reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory. What fun! This also ties in nicely to my enjoyment of the opera Anna Bolena at the Met last year. I wish everyone could have the time to enjoy “summer reading” as much as I do!

Home work and Home Reading

My school requires daily homework of all students, and one standard part of that homework is reading. Students are required to read for a given amount each evening. The number of minutes is different in each grade, with 5th and 6th graders being told to read for an hour or more each night.

I have started wondering how this homework requirement is interpreted by various students. As I check out books to students I often ask them about the books they are returning - whether they enjoyed them, and whether they finished them. Many students are not finishing the number of books I would expect if they actually read for the amount of time that they claim.

Last Friday I was talking to a fifth grade girl about this issue. She does all of her homework, but seems to be stuck in a rut, reading two short and easy books each week. I asked her to record the time she began and ended her nightly reading over the weekend. When we talked on Monday I was surprised that she brought me the times, but had not figured out how many minutes those times represented. In the end it turns out she is reading around 20 minutes a night. Tomorrow I will meet with her again. I expect she will be ready for another book!

I suspect that this girl may not be alone, but I would be interested in finding out how students at different ages are doing with their home reading. I have written a survey that I plan to ask all 2nd - 6th grade students to complete. It should give me some interesting data.

The survey can be accessed here

Google Tips and Tricks

I learned a few tricks from this tutorial
http://mashable.com/2011/11/24/google-search-infographic/

I learned a few tricks from this infographic tutorial by Josh Catone. Looking at this reminded me that I can definitely work on being a smarter searcher.

The world is so full of a number of things

Today I spent a certain amount of time being a sidewalk superintendent. A crane was being assembled for the construction of Columbia's new sports facility on West 218 Street. What a treat to watch this behemoth being assembled like an out-sized Tinker Toy, or Knect construction. The crew assembling it were a real team - focused and synchronized.

I went out to visit the crane three or four times during the day. In the early evening I went out and watched the final assembly and stayed until the crane was up. Wow! There were some other adults hanging out and taking pictures including a professional from an engineering magazine. When the crane was on the way up many of the construction crew also took out their cell phones and took pictures.

I wasn't surprised to see some adults stopping to gawk. After all - so was I! What surprised me was how few children and teenagers bothered to look. In the evening there were two families with pre-school aged children and parents acting as explainers. But this is a neighborhood that is crowded with families! Where were all the kids? Is almost everyone too busy to look at something as extraordinary as this? Or perhaps we have grown so blase since we can watch on the computer or TV as things much bigger and more elaborate than these are built or blown up? Or is anything that isn't announced as an "event" just invisible?

I am puzzled. A lack of background knowledge, the information about and vocabulary describing the world, can be a major obstacle for our students. Where will they get this information if they aren't encouraged to go out and look?

Teaching Digital Citizenship - It's Complicated

I just Read Joyce Valenza's blog entry "On Growing Knowledge Citizens." Joyce, as usual, sets the bar high for the teachers and librarians who follow her thinking.

Every time someone tags a photo, likes a Face Book page or posts internet links to a social link account like Delicious they are contributing to the organization of the internet. All these little actions add up. Of course the more thoughtfully, sensitively, and knowledgeably these contributions are the smarter the internet - our shared public knowledge-base will be.

Information literacy, the strand of learning that school librarians are teaching and publicizing in their schools, has long out-grown library skills and internet search strategies. Digital citizenship is now a big part of what students need to understand.

Philosophically I am on board. Practically, however, I struggle to understand what this means for me. Facebook, including my library Facebook page, is blocked in school. Google Docs can't be used on the library computers because of the old operating system. It is hard to talk about digital citizenship in the abstract. I also understand that social media can be distracting in the classroom...
Safety is paramount, but I also worry that by blocking social media sites from the view of responsible adults (such as teachers) a dark alley has been created for our students to explore on their own.

Update

Its been a few weeks since I have posted here. I always feel a little harried at the start of a new school year, so I gave myself permission to slack off on a few activities. So here is how things are going now I am firmly "back to school."

All classes in grades 1-6 have had their orientation sessions. This is the lesson where I say all the things that must be said before students start coming to the library independently. Rules, procedures, schedules, and what to do if the fire alarm rings when you are in the library.

I added an emphasis on respecting personal space (not crowding, not touching) to this orientation. The library was very crowded during open access last year, and I am trying to figure out how to keep it comfortable for students even when overfilled. I have also added an acknowledgment that I can't always help with big questions during open access periods. I am asking students with bigger questions to put a note with their name and class in the book drop. The note can be as simple as "I have a question." Perhaps I should also put an "I have a question" form on the library home page. It is frustrating when the big issues - the real library work - gets pushed out of the way by the mechanics of checking books out to students.

Next week I have my first "real" library class sessions - the traditional Google Earth introduction for third grade. My principal is a little annoyed that the classroom teachers get basically a free ride. I do the heavy lifting of planning and teaching the lesson after a conference with the classroom teachers. They participate, guide the content they want the students to remember, but are also learning too. She feels that the teachers should learn how to use and teach this tool. I agree, and have told the third grade team that they are expected to teach their own Google Earth lessons throughout the rest of the year. I will be in the room (either with a small group or on my lunch or prep) to act as a seat belt. This year I am also asking the teachers to give a written assessment checking on the students understanding of the work we do. I feel that I need this both as a check for me, and to add accountability for the students and teachers.

Books for Girls and Boys

I spent the last three days back at school unpacking and beginning to set up for the new year. (Teachers are officially due back next Tuesday.) While unpacking and moving books around to cope with the perpetual problem of much too little shelf-space I was also thinking about what my students did (and didn't) read last year. To buy space on the shelves I moved several more series and popular authors into plastic tubs labeled by author or series. These tubs provide an easy way for students to find a particular type of book, essentially promoting those particular types of books.

This morning while reading the news, list-serve, e-mail etc. while putting off making labels and otherwise working productively, I read a series of articles about the genderization of reading - AKA boys books and girls books.
Charles London for the Huffington Post
Oposing Viewpoints at the School Library Journal
Saundra Mitchell's The Problem is not the books
And this is why the problem is not the books (with book list)

So back to my book tubs: If tubbing up a series or author essentially promotes them, am I "empowering" more boys or girls? What does it say if I put the Time Warp Trio next to the Magic Tree House and Abby Hayes next to Junie B Jones?

Here is a list of some of my tubs - an incomplete list because it is only ones that need new labels or that I clearly remember.
Paula Danziger
R.L. Stine
Lois Lowry
J.K. Rowling
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Magic Tree House / Mary Pope Osborne (2)
Arthur Chapter Books / Stephen Krensky
Horrible Harry / Suzy Kline
My Weird School / Dan Gutman
Rotten School / R.L. Stine
Dragon Slayers Accademy
Junie B. Jones
Dav Pilkey
Abby Hayes / Anne Mazer
Bone / Jeff Smith

Some series are definitely geared more to one gender than the other. I especially notice concern about gender appropriateness towards the older edge of the series age group (end of grade 3 - 5) rather than at the beginning (end of grade 1 - mid 3rd). Sometimes I feel that I see more struggling readers thinking about gender issues. Though perhaps the more proficient readers are more self sufficient...

I do feel that fewer "boy" books are exclusive to boys than to girls. I do recommend the story collection Guys Read Funny Business to anyone who likes funny stories. I would not probably recommend Fairy School Drop-Out or the Allie Finkle series by Meg Cabot to any boy. However, contrary to popular belief, guys do read and enjoy Junie B.