The Golden Compass : Anti-religious - Yes or No?

There is a email with a snopes link (the urban-legends site) post going around that states that Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass is anti-religious. On the Snopes site, which we actually use as a relevant and reliable site for finding out if hoaxes are true or false, they have an entry that states that The Golden Compass IS anti-religious.

I am not sure who decided that this was true because it is certainly open for discussion.

On Shelfari, there is an interesting discussion about this entry.

If you have not read the book, you really should. I would not trust some random person's assessment of it.

I know some people just want a brief overview so here is the Wikipedia link. (I know, "wikipedia?") but people use it so that is my reason for this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials:_The_Golden_Compass

I just thought I would see what other people think. I really love the books, I do not think they are anti-religious at all. I think they are beautifully written and they certainly make you think about religion and extremism.

But I cannot help but wonder who sent this out? Was it the publisher? Was it the movie company? was it someone just making assumptions? Because it is definitely creating a buzz and the movie is coming out soon.

IL 2007 - "Next Generation Research Tools"

Saturday 1:30 - 4:30 - Preconference Workshop - "Next Generation Research Tools"

Here is a link to the Internet Librarian 2007 blog.

Pam Howard & Mira Foster hosted the workshop. They talked about different Web 2.0 tools, such as Flickr, YouTube, Furl, Zotero, del.icio.us, and Clipmarks, and how these tools have been incorporated into the librarians/researchers repetoire.

They focused on how relationship between the librarian and the user. Librarians need to foster and nurture relationships with users using the tools that their communities are using outside the "library" environment. We also need to take the time to utilize new tools that are transforming how individuals conduct research. There are practices that we are teaching, for example, note taking techniques, that are now being transformed by online tools or new software. Also, multimedia projects are being incorporated into school curricula and we need to be aware and knowledgable on how to use these different tools.

What I really liked about this workshop was the fact that they had practical examples on how students can use RSS aggregators, online note-taking & bibliographic applications, flickr or google maps, in real world assignments.

Tools I am interested in are Zotero, Clipmarks, Noodle and Furl (you can archive webpages). I will post a list of cool links later.

Looking at some of these tools, like Zotero, makes me want to go back to school. It's made creating bibliographies and taking notes from online sources and even collaborating with peers so much easier.

SNS & Education - Thoughts?

I am currently researching the use of social networking sites in the classroom. Does anyone out there have any thoughts on the topic.

I am reading about Ning, Elgg, and Imbee. I think it is best to stay away from MySpace and Facebook.

It would be good if I got some feed back from people out there.

Thanks!

6 days to go...

I am really excited about going to the Internet Librarian conference this year. I have been wanting to go for awhile now and after my friend, Shell, went and told me about all the great things she learned, I became very excited.

I feel very lucky because I did not think I would be able to go this year but my boss approved the trip.

Hurray! I love my boss. She's the coolest.

I am taking 2 podcasting workshops, a workshop on new tech tools, and then checking out panels for the Internet@Schools conference.

I hope to learn a lot of wonderful things and also have time to see the sights.

Another fun-filled retreat

I got back from Joshua Tree on Thursday night and I will say it was certainly an interesting trip. It was a lot of fun but there was also some drama.

Some times, you get a group where the personalities of the kids all seem to mesh and other times, you are not so lucky.

I think, I am at a school that fosters a lot of different personalities. I observe some kids and I know that they probably would not fend very well at a public school. But sometimes, I tend to forget that kids are kids and they can be insensitive and intolerant. That is something I will have to keep in mind during the school year.

There were some things that these kids said or did that totally rubbed me the wrong way. And hopefully, I can point it out and have them think about these things.

Our ethical theme this year is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Just because you can say some things does not mean you should.

Overall, the trip was again pretty amazing. Orion was really bright, we did not have a moon to keep us up on the overnight, there was an amazing breeze and the temperatures were mild. I met some new students and there were moments where they really showed that they could work together, like when we were crawling through some caves or when they were helping each other carry tents out.

I heard some pretty great stories that I probably would not hear during a regular school day.

Retreat Week!!!

It's retreat week again. This year I'm going to the desert again.

I thought about going to the river but am just a lot more excited about being out in the desert.

Last year was really fun even though I did not know the kids but this year, I am pretty excited about the group I am going with. Only the kids who really want to be in the desert go. It is a little rougher than the other trips. 4 days without showering, sleeping in a tent, hanging out with naturalists. Fun times :)

Author Visit: Chris Crutcher

I am so excited. We are having our first author visit on Friday and it will be Chris Crutcher. We are lucky enough to have him come to the school during Banned Books Week and he is also our featured author for Book Bistro.

8 of his books have been challenged due to the topics he writes about, like sexual orientation, racism, gay marriage, divorce, violence, language.

On Thursday, we have our Book Bistro meeting to discuss his writings. It is exciting how the students have become more interested in his older works because he is coming to the school and we, the librarians, are just super excited about him visiting. I noticed this happened with Rick Riordan's "A Titan's Curse" and even for "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows." Our book club has become more and more fun and I hope, we do not lose this momentum as the year progresses.