This morning I read a short but pithy article by Clive Thompson in Wired magazine, The Problem with Advertising. Mr. Thompson writes about how there is an advantage to actually paying for some web services. This resonates with me. I have found myself buying "upgrades" to various web based services that I use to provide information through my library. My Portaportal site, Library Links, for instance is ad free. I also have paid for a subscription to Jing, which makes my screencasts ad free. The disadvantage is that these are recurring fees and I don't get anything concrete for my money. The advantage is that I am not selling the "eyeballs" of students, teachers, and parents when I recommend (or with students require) that they use these tools.
As I have mentioned before, I do have an organizational Facebook page which of course does have ads. The difference is that although I use Facebook to reach out to constituents, I by no means require or even strongly recommend that anyone use it.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Challenge of Nonfiction
Last week I responded to Marc Aronson's post about the challenges of nonfiction. He defines the two challenges as "context and engagement." I have been thinking through what this means for teachers and students. Context (in teacher-speak) is "prior knowledge" - all the stuff you know about a topic that makes it possible to understand what you are reading. Building a store of prior knowledge is a huge reason for reading both nonfiction and a greater variety of fiction. Readers who only read about what they know from their personal experience are not building collecting a store of knowledge that will help them understand the world. Engagement is a bigger problem. Readers who are engaged in their reading not only understand, they care. Perhaps it is easier to be pulled into what you read when the author's voice sounds more like yours - when it is more colloquial or speech-like. It is easier to read and understand simpler text with shorter sentences, but that isn't enough to make them engaging. The most popular fiction books tend to be those where the language of the book - the voice of the narrator and the characters - seems real to the reader. "Relateable" as some students say. (Yes - I realize that relateable is a questionable word, but it is very much in the air.)
It is worth seeking out nonfiction that grabs the reader and pulls them in. Authors such as Marc Aronson that strive to balance connecting to the reader with solid, really interesting research aim to engage readers without watering down the content. After all, finding really interesting and surprising information is one reason why we read nonfiction! It's not all about engaging with the author, it's about the story - and best of all the story is real!
Applying these ideas to the real world of books: This summer I have enjoyed two wonderful adult nonfiction best sellers. (Yes I do sometimes read "grownup" books!) Stacy Schiff's wonderfully entertaining and occasionally racy Cleopatra, and the more staid but equally wonderful 1776 of David McCullough. The Cleopatra biography often strikes a conversational tone. I described it to a friend as Chatty and "snarky." I kept wanting to read snippets out loud just for fun. Although well-researched and densely foot-noted, the author's tone often didn't seem far from the office water-cooler. 1776 on the other hand is written in a more academic style. The sentences are longer and definitely not conversational in tone. The story however is gripping, and I ended feeling I knew the characters in a deeper and more personal way than I had from my prior knowledge history. Both books are wonderful in their own way, but one is easier to engage with on the surface partly because the author chose to use a more colloquial tone with less complex language and a more familiar tone.
It is worth seeking out nonfiction that grabs the reader and pulls them in. Authors such as Marc Aronson that strive to balance connecting to the reader with solid, really interesting research aim to engage readers without watering down the content. After all, finding really interesting and surprising information is one reason why we read nonfiction! It's not all about engaging with the author, it's about the story - and best of all the story is real!
Applying these ideas to the real world of books: This summer I have enjoyed two wonderful adult nonfiction best sellers. (Yes I do sometimes read "grownup" books!) Stacy Schiff's wonderfully entertaining and occasionally racy Cleopatra, and the more staid but equally wonderful 1776 of David McCullough. The Cleopatra biography often strikes a conversational tone. I described it to a friend as Chatty and "snarky." I kept wanting to read snippets out loud just for fun. Although well-researched and densely foot-noted, the author's tone often didn't seem far from the office water-cooler. 1776 on the other hand is written in a more academic style. The sentences are longer and definitely not conversational in tone. The story however is gripping, and I ended feeling I knew the characters in a deeper and more personal way than I had from my prior knowledge history. Both books are wonderful in their own way, but one is easier to engage with on the surface partly because the author chose to use a more colloquial tone with less complex language and a more familiar tone.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Text complexity and the Common Core Learning Standards
The Common Core standards, national standards and benchmarks for language arts and math were officially rolled out last June, almost a year ago. Then they were officially adopted (and renamed the Common Core Learning Standards) by New York State. Now they have been officially adopted by the NYCDOE, which with the Common Core Library has begun to put processes into place for applying them in schools. This year these standards will finally begin to have an impact on classroom practice, although many aspects including new tests won't be completely in place until next year. It will be interesting to see how the spirit of these standards evolves as they are fitted into the real world of teaching and school.
I first read the standards last summer, and have been thinking about them and reflecting on possible implications for my school and its library. It is tempting to say that there is "nothing new under the sun," and "what goes around comes around." However I don't think that this will be just another variation on a theme, or another raising of the bar. Certain aspects of the standards demand major changes from our schools and teachers. It will take time for the full impact of the changes to be felt in the classroom, but as the Common Core becomes part of educational practice changes will be felt by all involved, including students, teachers, and parents.
What has changed in the ELA (English Language Arts) standards can be explained as four "shifts" (This language was used at a conference I attended last week, it is also used in the Engage NY Common Core Video Series and in presentations from the Indiana Department of Education) 1) Emphasizing informational text 2) Literacy standards across the content areas 3)Emphasis on text complexity 4)The special place of argument.
Of these shifts, the emphases on informational text and on text complexity are the two changes that most effect reading and book choice. ("Argument" is mostly a writing focus, and "content areas" flows out of the emphasis on informational reading.) I expect these cause some immediate changes, some consternation, and unfortunately some over zealous application and misunderstanding. I am expecting teachers to want to know more about "text complexity," and I am worried that students may be dissuaded from reading what they want for pleasure.
Informational text is more challenging for the teacher as well as the students both because it usually demands some prior content knowledge of the reader and because the reader must attend more closely. More complex text is less "natural" and often harder to explain because longer and more complex sentences demand that the reader make connections and understand connecting words to fully understand the meaning. Some teachers, students, and families may feel uncomfortable with more assigned reading being in an academic rather than a colloquial style. Much written English, especially fiction, has gradually become more and more like spoken words. However the academic English that college freshmen need to understand has become if anything more complex and opaque. Academic language is almost foreign to most of our students and even many of our teachers.
So where do I go from here? I have been re-visiting the perennial issue of readability levels and text leveling. I find myself thinking about readability even as I have been reading for pleasure this summer. I will also continue reading as much current non-fiction as I can at the elementary level. As teachers wade into "complex" texts and figure out how to use more non-fiction in their classrooms I will try to be there with books to both fill needs and stir imaginations. I will also be there for my students, urging them to read more, read broadly, and yet read what they want. I want to "feed the need to read." I also want their teachers to find what they need to broaden their students' horizons.
I first read the standards last summer, and have been thinking about them and reflecting on possible implications for my school and its library. It is tempting to say that there is "nothing new under the sun," and "what goes around comes around." However I don't think that this will be just another variation on a theme, or another raising of the bar. Certain aspects of the standards demand major changes from our schools and teachers. It will take time for the full impact of the changes to be felt in the classroom, but as the Common Core becomes part of educational practice changes will be felt by all involved, including students, teachers, and parents.
What has changed in the ELA (English Language Arts) standards can be explained as four "shifts" (This language was used at a conference I attended last week, it is also used in the Engage NY Common Core Video Series and in presentations from the Indiana Department of Education) 1) Emphasizing informational text 2) Literacy standards across the content areas 3)Emphasis on text complexity 4)The special place of argument.
Of these shifts, the emphases on informational text and on text complexity are the two changes that most effect reading and book choice. ("Argument" is mostly a writing focus, and "content areas" flows out of the emphasis on informational reading.) I expect these cause some immediate changes, some consternation, and unfortunately some over zealous application and misunderstanding. I am expecting teachers to want to know more about "text complexity," and I am worried that students may be dissuaded from reading what they want for pleasure.
Informational text is more challenging for the teacher as well as the students both because it usually demands some prior content knowledge of the reader and because the reader must attend more closely. More complex text is less "natural" and often harder to explain because longer and more complex sentences demand that the reader make connections and understand connecting words to fully understand the meaning. Some teachers, students, and families may feel uncomfortable with more assigned reading being in an academic rather than a colloquial style. Much written English, especially fiction, has gradually become more and more like spoken words. However the academic English that college freshmen need to understand has become if anything more complex and opaque. Academic language is almost foreign to most of our students and even many of our teachers.
So where do I go from here? I have been re-visiting the perennial issue of readability levels and text leveling. I find myself thinking about readability even as I have been reading for pleasure this summer. I will also continue reading as much current non-fiction as I can at the elementary level. As teachers wade into "complex" texts and figure out how to use more non-fiction in their classrooms I will try to be there with books to both fill needs and stir imaginations. I will also be there for my students, urging them to read more, read broadly, and yet read what they want. I want to "feed the need to read." I also want their teachers to find what they need to broaden their students' horizons.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Selecting from the information hose pipe
"It's like drinking from a hose." (urban dictionary) "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." "Try something new for 30 days."
These are comments, questions and responses that connect (in my own mind at least) information overload. And not just information, but information management tools that are overwhelming in quantity and diversity.
On Monday I went to a class at the NYPL for social studies teachers and school librarians about primary sources, social studies teaching, and the internet. We looked at materials created by and with the library, we practices creating maps on Google Earth that linked historical pictures from the NYPL collections to locations on the map. We practiced creating Voice Threads with images from the NYPL digital gallery.
Finally - and most pertinently, perhaps - we talked about the "Is it worth it? test." Does technology allow you to do something you couldn't do before? Does it allow you to do something better? I also added, Does it make it easier?
I spend a tremendous amount of time each week looking at things that people I trust or "follow" recommend on the internet. The tools that I love and speak either to me or that I think would be meaningful to a particular group that I work with, I post or talk-up. Some make it to my Portaportal site, some are important enough to go on my home library page, some get a mention on my Facebook page, and some might get a mention here.
Just because I mention something doesn't mean that everyone should try it! Even more importantly, please don't think that everything I mention is right for you! Each person is the final filter. They choose what to explore, what to try, and finally what to use. Each of us only uses a few tools or applications with any frequency. The trick is finding what works for you.
These are comments, questions and responses that connect (in my own mind at least) information overload. And not just information, but information management tools that are overwhelming in quantity and diversity.
On Monday I went to a class at the NYPL for social studies teachers and school librarians about primary sources, social studies teaching, and the internet. We looked at materials created by and with the library, we practices creating maps on Google Earth that linked historical pictures from the NYPL collections to locations on the map. We practiced creating Voice Threads with images from the NYPL digital gallery.
Finally - and most pertinently, perhaps - we talked about the "Is it worth it? test." Does technology allow you to do something you couldn't do before? Does it allow you to do something better? I also added, Does it make it easier?
I spend a tremendous amount of time each week looking at things that people I trust or "follow" recommend on the internet. The tools that I love and speak either to me or that I think would be meaningful to a particular group that I work with, I post or talk-up. Some make it to my Portaportal site, some are important enough to go on my home library page, some get a mention on my Facebook page, and some might get a mention here.
Just because I mention something doesn't mean that everyone should try it! Even more importantly, please don't think that everything I mention is right for you! Each person is the final filter. They choose what to explore, what to try, and finally what to use. Each of us only uses a few tools or applications with any frequency. The trick is finding what works for you.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Reading Ambassadors - and the end of the year
31 students have jumped through all the hoops to be be "Reading Ambassadors." Many more came so close! It is hard to tell students who were hoping to go on our trip to Barnes and Noble that I am so proud of them for what they have done but...
Another hard thing at this time of year is ending circulation. My line in the sand is that books don't go home now. "You can borrow books in the morning and return them in the afternoon. If there is a bookmark I won't disturb it." Still, during last period today I had a bunch of students, second graders mostly, wandering around the library, gathering books and trying again. Even after a student selects a different book, I still have to say - you can borrow a book in the morning... In a perfect world the school library would stay open through the summer.
Realistically, school ends in three weeks. During that time library accounts have to be closed, inventory started and ended, and the whole operation mothballed for next year. My husband looks at me wringing my hands and says, "it's always like this. It will be finished at the end of June."
Another hard thing at this time of year is ending circulation. My line in the sand is that books don't go home now. "You can borrow books in the morning and return them in the afternoon. If there is a bookmark I won't disturb it." Still, during last period today I had a bunch of students, second graders mostly, wandering around the library, gathering books and trying again. Even after a student selects a different book, I still have to say - you can borrow a book in the morning... In a perfect world the school library would stay open through the summer.
Realistically, school ends in three weeks. During that time library accounts have to be closed, inventory started and ended, and the whole operation mothballed for next year. My husband looks at me wringing my hands and says, "it's always like this. It will be finished at the end of June."
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Non-Fiction and reading diversity
I had two students question today whether it was "fair" to record their non-fiction reading in their "passport." The passport is the reading log for New Yorkers Read, a special program in my school. Ironically, part of the point of this program is to increase reading diversity and make students aware of the cool non-fiction waiting for them in the library! In the end we had a really good talk in this group about how readers have to read more intensely and more thoughtfully when they read non-fiction. Reading good non-fiction can sometimes be more challenging than a novel, even if the book is shorter.
This connects to a thread that I have contributed to in another blog that I follow: Nonfiction Matters with Marc Aronson. Marc writes thought provoking non-fiction usually for middle and high school. His latest book, Sugar changed the world could change your view of history and geography.
This connects to a thread that I have contributed to in another blog that I follow: Nonfiction Matters with Marc Aronson. Marc writes thought provoking non-fiction usually for middle and high school. His latest book, Sugar changed the world could change your view of history and geography.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Screencasting
During the last week I have added screencast tutorials to my library home page. So far I have made tutorials on ebooks, and resource lists from the school catalog. This took a chunk of time - much more than I expected - and is one reason that I didn't blog last weekend.
So far I have posted four five-minute tutorials. So why haven't I done more of these? Quite simply, it is harder than it looks. I am much more appreciative now of the talking heads, especially those that have to use their hands as they talk. Even after lots of practice I still have odd little pauses whenever I move the mouse.
I bought a subscription to Jing Pro over the winter holiday break. It took me this long to finally get started, but now I have finally gotten my feet wet I have many ideas for tutorials that would be helpful to people using the library. They won't be arriving all at once, but I will keep creating them whenever there is an opportune moment.
I am currently debating with myself over whether it is better to write a script, or to plan the tutorial but wing the delivery. At first I was adamant about using a script, but now I am not as sure. I allowed myself to hot dog - do one tutorial planned with bullet points but no script. I think it might actually sound a little better. Not easier, but maybe a little better. I still had to restart the recording five or six times.
So far I have posted four five-minute tutorials. So why haven't I done more of these? Quite simply, it is harder than it looks. I am much more appreciative now of the talking heads, especially those that have to use their hands as they talk. Even after lots of practice I still have odd little pauses whenever I move the mouse.
I bought a subscription to Jing Pro over the winter holiday break. It took me this long to finally get started, but now I have finally gotten my feet wet I have many ideas for tutorials that would be helpful to people using the library. They won't be arriving all at once, but I will keep creating them whenever there is an opportune moment.
I am currently debating with myself over whether it is better to write a script, or to plan the tutorial but wing the delivery. At first I was adamant about using a script, but now I am not as sure. I allowed myself to hot dog - do one tutorial planned with bullet points but no script. I think it might actually sound a little better. Not easier, but maybe a little better. I still had to restart the recording five or six times.
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