No Shhing Here

In my inspection of the Common Core Standards, I'm totally stuck on the Appendix B exemplars and the emphasis on informational texts. As a result, I'm ignoring all the wonderful ways in which the Common Core align with AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Check out a standards crosswalk here. Common Core IS good news for librarians!! My initial reason for delving into the Common Core is really silly -- I just wanted to create a book display. I was hoping to give teachers examples and ideas of great high-interest non-fiction. Our English teachers were depressed by the idea of "informational texts," so I wanted to display some of the MANY great titles that I thought fell into the category in an attempt to cheer them up. Here's a little peak at my display: Above: Informational texts display with "Common Core" Apples Above: Informational texts display with high interest non-fiction Now that I've spent loads of time with the Stan...

Above: A portion of my bookshelf This is the second post in my series on the Common Core Standards. You can find the first one here .  This is a picture of my bookshelf. I was going for optimism when I labeled my binder for the Common Core Standards. Hearts and smiley faces make everything better, right? Actually, to be honest, I don't hate the standards. I know I was pretty harsh on the text exemplars in my last post , but the standards do have a lot going for them. Even though English teachers in my building are dismayed (and the word dismayed isn't hyperbole), I'm excited about certain aspects of the standards, especially the focus on informational texts. At some point, I promise I'll talk about the GOOD aspects of the standards, but first, I think some clarification is in order. In my previous post, I implied that the text exemplars weren't a prescribed reading list, citing this from Appendix B: "They expressly do not represent a a partial or c...

Lately, I've been thinking about names. What's the purpose of a name? Does a name really impact how something is viewed or perceived? More specifically, I'm contemplating name changes . When I got married a few years ago, changing my name wasn't a big deal. I know other brides agonize over losing their "identity" when dropping their maiden name, but for me it was a non-issue. In stark contrast, the name change I'm contemplating now seems like a HUGE deal - though I wasn't expecting it to cause quite so much of a stir. Our profession seems to undergo name changes on a pretty regular basis. In the first half of the twentieth century, people who did my job were "librarians." Then, in the 1970s, we became "media specialists," with the clarification of "school library" thrown in to reduce confusion. To be honest, I've always had trouble introducing myself as a "school library media specialist" -- it's a mout...

"But there are some people, who don’t wait. I don’t know exactly what going on inside them; but they have this… hunger. It’s almost like an ache. Something inside you says I can’t wait to be asked I just have to jump in and do it." Will Richardson posted this quote on his blog. It's originally from Robert Krulwich of NPR. And it PERFECTLY sums up how I feel on a daily basis. Is it always a good thing? Nope - half the time it causes extra stress or frustration. I try hard to resist jumping at every opportunity. Sometimes I have to sit on my hands, unplug my keyboard, delete an already composed email, or force myself to walk away from an office door before knocking -- but more times than not, I can't resist - I send that email anyway or knock with reckless abandon. And even when jumping causes a headache - I willingly sign up to do it again and again - because I'm addicted to those moments when jumping in results in something amazing. - Posted using Blog...

On Friday I presented at the New York State SLMS conference, "Learning for Life." Many materials from the conference are available online through the conference wiki.  If you'd like to access any of the resources I discussed in my Session II presentation, "Technology and Web 2.0: A Smorgasbord of Engagement Ideas," you can find them here . Image from ALA.org It's always wonderful to leave a conference with great new ideas. These were my two highlights from this weekend: Image from Amazon.com Susan Cambell Bartoletti, author of They Called Themselves the KKK and Hitler Youth (among other things), spoke at Friday's lunch. Because I'm currently obsessing about the new Common Core Standards and their focus on "informational texts," I was DELIGHTED to listen to this non-fiction author speak about her work. Her presentation was insightful and funny, but it also did a wonderful job reminding me that non-fiction books can be incredibly...

Note: This is the first in a series of post where I investigate the new Common Core Standards and their impact on my school library. Imagine walking into a middle school library and seeing a display with a prominent sign stating "Great Stories: Check them out!" Accompanying the sign are the following books: Little Women The Adventures of Tom Sawyer A Wrinkle in Time The Dark is Rising Dragonwings Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry "The People Could Fly" The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks "Eleven" Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad What would you think? Maybe, "Boy, this library needs a good weeding!" or "Oh, this poor library doesn't have any money to buy new books!" I certainly wouldn't be impressed . The average age of these titles is 1958, and the MOST RECENT of these books is nearly twenty years old. These titles aren't an outdated display, but rather a list. A very important list: The grade 6-8 ...