Tools at the Library: Atomic Learning

Dave, who's now blogging library stuff over at Big Building, Lots of Books, was cool enough to check out Atomic Learning. Atomic Learning provided training movies (screencasts) that teach you how to use different applications, from the practical Microsoft Office programs to things like PowerTeacher Gradebook. The tutorials are short, step-by-step videos that teach you how to use the program you are interested in. I have been using it to get a better grasp of how to use Excel and also to learn DreamWeaver. It also provides a whole list of other resources, like their Lesson Accelerators, which are basically project-based lesson plans, that you can use with your students.

As a school, you can get a subscription for teachers and students, which is another added bonus. We have students who love just opening up Photoshop or Publisher and just go in and try to figure things out by clicking away. Since we do not really offer classes in using these tools, this is another way to let students learn on their own.

So far I am pretty excited about it and have shared it with students who are interested in programming. I think, it might be a great way to get more girls interested in technology. This way they can learn on their own time, at home and not feel so self-conscious about being a girl who likes programming.

Is anyone else out there using this in their schools? And if so, how are you using?

Web 2.0 lessons - Networking and Kids

For the past couple of classes, we have been having our students explore various web 2.0 tools. One of them happens to be networking (I'm dropping the "social" and the "educational" because that is a whole other post) tools available online. A few of my students are comparing Myspace, Facebook and Imbee. One of them came up with the an amusing analogy after I asked them to describe the difference between the three tools and how the privacy tools work. This student is really energetic so just picture someone talking very excitedly about the topic.

Student: "Ok. Ok. so Myspace is like a kid jumping off a cliff. right?" He then proceeds to "jump off a cliff)

"and Facebook is like, you know, a normal kid." (then he points to himself)

and all the while his partner is agreeing with him and then throws in

"and Imbee is like a kid wrapped in bubble wrap!!!"

Eureka!

I cannot wait to see how they demonstrate and talk about these tools and am steering them towards the educational value of these sites but sometimes it's just fun to hear them talk.

Safety in the Children's Library

On Saturday, a man was arrested for trying to lure kids out of the library by telling them that he had a puppy and he wanted to show it to them. The older you get, the more distance you have from those old PSAs and educational movies we watched in Elementary school. However, working with children, it is still such a real danger. This is just a reminder to be aware. Get to know the kids who go to your library so that they are comfortable enough to tell you when someone is acting strange or making them feel uncomfortable. A coworker thwarted this attempted kidnapping by being aware and approachable.

However, I am not saying that we, as librarians, are the only ones who need to be responsible for the well-being of our youngest patrons. Parents need to be there. They need to not assume that librarians are there to babysit their children. They need to educate their kids on some harsh realities and give kids strategies on what to do if this happens to them. Yes, sometimes they laugh at those PSAs "stranger danger! stranger danger!" But this is twice that I have heard of and seen on the news that that call has helped a kid stay out of harm's way.

Here are some links:
Safefromharmvideo.com - they have a good video to watch with your kids and it's free!
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Alert Registry - you can keep aware of child predators in your neighborhood
The LAPD or your local police department
McGruff - the National Crime Prevention Council (as a kid, I loved McGruff)
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention - great resources for parents, kids and educators, etc.

Book Review: "My Year of Meats" by Ruth L. Ozeki (rated 4 stars)

My Year of Meats

by Ruth L. Ozeki

I checked out this book from the public library because of a workshop I attended in preparation for my study tour to China. Yes, how does it relate? Well, our speaker is a professor of Asian American literature at UCLA so she mentioned some authors that she discusses with her undergraduate students. I have never read any of Ruth Ozeki’s books but I was interested in her movie “Halving the Bones” which again lead me to her writings.
This book probably does not help in my obsession with Michael Pollan and the food industry in the United States. Ozeki goes pretty in depth into the meat industry by using it as a focal point for a novel about women and the idealization of women in the home. The premise of the story is that Jane Takagi-Little, a half-Japanese and half-American, must help a Japanese business man, create a show called “My American Wife.” The show follows the ideal American wife, white, upper middle class, fit, etc., and shows her life as well as features a particular type of meat, preferrably beef, receipe.

However, Jane goes against the rules because she is a documentarian. She sees her role as producing this show for the greater good and sometimes, for the greater good, you need to show the truth. That may include showing an “imperfect family”, for example, a couple that adopted 6 Korean kids in addition to their two and one happens to be pregnant or a lesbian couple who have 2 adopted children or a couple who’s daughter happens to be in a wheelchair. And these couples even be vegetarian which goes against the real premise for the show, which is to promote the beef industry in Japan.

“My Year of Meats” is hilarious, heart-breaking, inspiring and informative. It is at times scary but you cannot help but become invested in Ozeki’s characters. Jane is not the only important figure. Her entire crew and the man she works for, that man’s wife as well as the families she films all become significant. There are a number of different themes that Ozeki addresses from being a child of parents from 2 very different cultures, racism, issues of adoption, issues of sexual orientation, tolerance, intolerance, the food industry, and so much more. It is definitely worth picking up and reading.

See more about My Year of Meats

A Glimpse At the China Tour Itinerary

photo from: http://www.4seasonstvl.com/Beijing_Itinerary.htm

I leave for China in less than 2 weeks. Since friends are wondering what I will be doing here is a list. We love lists!

• tour the Forbidden City
• visit the Grand National Opera
• vist the Temple of Heaven
• eat (lots and lots of eatting :))
• go to the Great Wall (which I cannot believe I will be walking on on March 30!!! eeee!)
• go to the Ming Tomb Museum
• visit the Niujie Mosque
• visit a migrant school in Beijing
• EAT!
• Beijing Ancient Observatory
• Summer Palace (whoo-hooo!)
• visit Olympic Park
• visit the Lama Temple
• tour an artists' village
• Fly to Kunming
• round-table discussion on cultural diversity education at Yunnan University
• visit a middle school
• visit the Stone Forest
• visit a Yi village
• Fly to Shanghai (4/5)
• visit Shanghai museum
• vist TongLi
• dinner with Professor Pan Tianshu
• visit Baoshan Community hospital & discussion about China's medical system (this should be interesting since I want national healthcare and China is a huge country like the US)
• visit the Yu Garden
• 4/8 - shoppping! and then fly back to Beijing to go home
  

YA Review: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson (rated 5 stars)

Speak

by Lauriel Halse Anderson

It is the 10 year anniversary of the publication of “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is a National Book Award Finalist and was awarded the Printz Award for Excellence in 1999. This book deserves the praise and recognition it received. A television movie was aired on Showtime and Lifetime in 2005 and stars Kristen Stewart, of Twilight.

This intense novel deals with the issue of rape. Melinda Sordino is an outcast. The only thing that her ex-friends and others know about that night is the Melinda called the cops. As she climbs into the bus that first day of school, no one talks to her. No one sits with her. Someone throws a Ho-hos wrapper at her head. As the year goes on, Melinda gets tormented, she becomes more of a loner, her grades drops and she ditches school. She loses her voice. She stops caring.

Anderson does an amazing job of portraying Melinda and the tension and torture she feels after her ordeal. It is a year long journey in which Melinda finds her voice, finds her strengthand power.

It is a fitting read given the media attention to Rihanna and Chris Brown, though that is about domestic abuse. It will make you uncomfortable but maybe it will help someone find their voice if this is happening to them.

See more about Speak

The Joys of Attending A Professional Day

On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to be able to go to a CAIS sponsored professional day at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California. As some of you know, as a librarian, it is part of our job to read as many of the books coming out as possible in order to help up build collections, connect with our students and other things. It is impossible to read everything coming out, though there are people out there who do have this talent, I am not one of them. One of the best ways to learn about books is to attend a book talk. So, when the opportunity comes to attend one of these events, I like to take it.

We had two speakers, Nicole White, from Penguin Books, and Amanda, from Vroman's. A couple of books that I requested ordered from Penguin is Alison Goodman's Eon: Dragoneye Reborn and Gale Forman's If I Stay. Goodman's book is a fantasy that takes place in Japan. It was recommended by Amanda and another person from Vroman's while we were there so I definitely had to pick that up. Forman's book sounds similar to Anne Sebold's Lovely Bones, which I loved. Amanda had a great list of books as well the main stand out is Kristin Cashore's Graceling, another fantasy book. Also, I ordered Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. Amanda raved about this and she's re-read it 3 times so that was enough to make me want to order it.

Aside from learning about all these books, not just YA also childrens, we were treated to lunch at El Portal which is right across the street from Vroman's.





It was really delicious. I had the tilapia entree and flan for dessert. It was so good. I will have to go there for dinner some time.

Afterwards, we were supposed to go to the Huntington Library but I was not feeling so great so I headed home. Overall, it was a great day and I met some of the other librarians who work at independent schools.

YA Review: "How Not To Be Popular" by Jennifer Ziegler (rated 3 stars)

How Not to Be Popular

by Jennifer Ziegler

Sugar Magnolia Dempsey, aka Maggie, has hippie nomadic parents. She just started settling into life in Portland, Oregon. She has a best friend but better still, she has a boyfriend, Trevor. Now they have to move…AGAIN! And this time, they’re going to Austin, Texas.
This time, there’s more heartache because she is in love. How can they move when she’s finally found someone? Parents can be so clueless!
Maggie vows to not make friends, not be social and become complete nobody to protect herself from the pain of moving and losing friends. She vows to be unpopular. However, that plan fails. In her attempt to be unpopular, Maggie draws more attention to herself and ends up getting more than she bargained for.
This a a great summer read for a middle school and even a high school girl. It’s funny and times and Ziegler starts each chapter with a “rule” or “observation” about the unpopular. It’s a very quick read and is pretty predictable but if you want something light and feel good this is one to pick up. There is a nice twist at the end that made it much better but still it’s a pretty predictable romantic comedy read.

See more about How Not to Be Popular

Tag! I'm It! : 6 Things That Make Me Happy

My friend, Elizabeth A., who blogs at Archipelago, tagged me with this meme. I like this one because 1) it's only 6 things not 250 which seems to be the case for most of these memes and 2) it's about what makes me happy! And who doesn't want to make a happy list?

Here are the rules because I'm tagging you people!

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post six things that make you happy along with these rules.
• Then tag six others (letting them know, of course..I only tagged 5).
• Let the person who tagged you know when your entry is complete.

What makes me happy at 6:42 in the morning.

• that first cup of coffee after not waking up to the alarm clock.
• using our fun monitoring system to play with the children...Ambookgeek and I have moments of pure happiness this way and it also gets the kids to a little more relaxed around us so that they will come up to us for help later - whether it's for a book recommendation or help researching)
  
• laughing, having fun, and spending time with my loved ones (cheesy but true..my peeps are hilarious and it doesn't even matter what we are doing)
• sitting on a surfboard, waiting for a wave as the sun is setting (it is the most beautiful thing to ever experience and I think, even if you don't surf you should just paddle out there and sit on your board...nothing like it on the planet)
• curling up in bed with a good book and a cup of tea

Ok, I'm tagging some people but if you want to join in please do!

1. tiffanybbrown
2. jasontoney
3. mellemusic
4. miss mahoney
5. miss fel
6. joffi
   
7. 
   

• 
  

"Brevity. Levity. Repetition." thoughts on Daniel Pink's talk

Last night, I attended a lecture given by Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, with Blades and Ambookgeek. It was hosted by Brentwood School which has a yearly lecture series in honor of John Hutson, a loved and respected History teacher of the school. The John Hutson Memorial Lecture Series is open to the public so if you hear about it next year and like the guest you can go.

I read and wrote about how A Whole New Mind completely blew my mind with Pink's ideas about how the world is changing focus from skills that are logical and routine and moving to more towards the artistic side of thinking (this is really simplistic so you should read the book). He reiterated that a bit in this lecture but focused mainly on what needs to be done in education. From the onset, he emphasized that he is not a trained educator but he does talk to those in the fields children are being trained to work in - medicine, law, arts, etc. For me, a lot of what he speaks about is valid. There is a shift and it seems that other places are getting it and the US education system needs to catch up. I am not sure if Arne Duncan will strive to make the public education system better but I hope something changes.

Working at the type of school I work at and being a product of the public school system, I have a real fear for my nieces and nephews. I fear for kids in low-income and middle-income public schools. I work at a public library as well and the gap between middle schools at the public library and the middle schoolers I work with is incredible and I am only commenting on research skills and some technology skills. I am not even sure about other skills in other subjects. Of course, all kinds of factors need to be considered, economics, parent involvement, teacher skills, etc...but it is very appalling witnessing how unprepared students are.

Pink emphasized how important having a well-rounded mind is for our kids and ourselves. There should be a focus on using both sides of our brains - the artsy, creative side as well as the logical side. I am not going do much justice here but if you do have an opportunity to hear him speak, I highly recommend going...but if you cannot see him, here is a link to his lecture from Americans from the Arts website.

Expectations for the China Study Tour

The picture above is from a photocopy of a map of China, I received during 1 of the 3 workshops I added to prepare for the upcoming China study tour. My colleagues and I will leave on March 28th and return on April 8th to take part in a tour that will mainly focus on the education system in China. We will be visiting schools and also major sites as well as taking part in lectures and meeting a number of people in different fields.

One of the projects that Professor Yunxiang Yan, who is leading us in this study tour and also organized all the workshops, suggested we write our expectations for the trip. I have been thinking about this trip and also about all the things we learned about during the intensive workshops we attended but honestly, I think my expectations are pretty simple. Honestly, I don't really know what to expect but that it will be different and fun and I will probably be a little bit out of my comfort zone at times. I am absolutely ok with that. I will probably be shocked by certain things but I also think, I will be kind of comfortable. I feel like certain things will be like the Philippines in some things. For example, there seems to be a big gap between rural and urban communities. But I also expect to see a lot of development. It will be interesting to see how tradition and modern ideas are integrated together. I am also looking forward to see how the schools are run. We are visiting a school for migrant children and also a school for immigrants. There is a difference.

After the workshops, I feel like there were will be so many different things that I should just be open and positive and get ready for any thing. Does that count as an expectation?