Lead story, School's out 2007

District meetings

In large districts where there is a supervisor for library media specialists, monthly meetings are routinely held, just as for any other subject area. However, if you are typical, your supervisor is your principal or perhaps someone who oversees several departments in the building. As a result, you have little or no communications with the library media specialists in the other schools.

A reason to meet

Generally, people try to avoid meetings, but having regular contact with your colleagues is important. You have common concerns. Technically, you follow the same curriculum and face similar challenges. If you are at the secondary level, it's helpful to know what students have learned about research in middle school. If you are at an elementary school, you should be aware of what information literacy skills are expected at the next level.

Most of you are the sole library media specialist in your building. This is your chance to get and give advice. In addition, you can advocate as a group and/or apply for grants together. But without an official supervisor how do you get together on a regular basis?

Getting started

A query was received from a library media specialist who had been accustomed to the benefits of monthly meetings and missed them when she moved to a new district. She wanted to establish them but had no idea how to get started and was concerned that she would appear "pushy." While there is a basis for her worry, the most difficult task is setting up the first one.

Speak with your principal to learn the best way to go about the process. Should you schedule it on a regular faculty meeting day, getting approval from the other principals? Would it be best for the first one to be on another day? How close can you get to 100 percent attendance?

Leading without a leader

For the first meeting -- and all subsequent ones -- provide food. After a long day, energy dips and having something to nibble on always puts a positive spin on whatever is being discussed. The host school can be responsible for the snacks.

Since there is no supervisor, rotate who leads and hosts each meeting, either the same or a different person. An added benefit of this is you get to see all the media centers in the district. Have one person take minutes which should be sent to the principals and superintendent to let them know what you have covered.

Topics and ground rules

Stay positive from the outset by asking everyone to come with a solution they have found to a challenging situation. Allow time for sharing. Have a strategy in place to prevent "whining." Propose that when any of you brings a concern, the purpose is to find a solution rather than just to vent about a difficult situation. Avoid the word "problems;" some people are negative enough. Eliminating that word will shift their perspective. Within reason, others can help the complainer resolve the issue, but don't let that take up too much of the available time. Suggest that those with ideas to help can email them after the meeting.

Identify areas that you want to look at as a group. Possible examples are:

  • Collection analysis (as a means of using data to improve budgets or for other purposes)
  • Inventory (when and how)
  • Writing or revising the library media curriculum
  • Assessment in the media centers
  • Automation system (Who needs help? Is it working well? Do you want to change it?)
  • Summer reading lists.
You will undoubtedly come up with many others. Prioritize the suggestions so you know what will be discussed each month. The support you can give each other will be worth the extra time you spend at a meeting.



Previous issues

Spring 2007: Strangers in a strange land

The 400th anniversary of the settlement in Jamestown provides a focus for grades 3-5 to study colonial America. While the basic content will probably be covered in the classroom, you can enhance student learning with some simple research activities. Be sure to keep teachers informed as to what you are doing so they can build on it.

You will have to scour your collection to help students find pictures of how the wealthy and poor lived in England because the Internet will be of little help. (Searches yield complex sites with few pictures.) Also look for illustrations of how the colonists lived, particularly in Virginia. Picture books set in colonial times can help students visualize the past.

Traveling into trouble

Start the project by asking if any students have moved from one place to another. Let them recall what made it difficult for them and how they become comfortable in the new place. Then talk about the first settlers in Jamestown who had to travel for eighteen weeks on small ships to a place that looked nothing like what they had known. There were no houses waiting for them and no supermarkets where they could buy food. What did they have to do?

After a brief discussion with students sharing what they think would be necessary, continue by reminding them that Native Americans were living in the land the colonists expected to take over. Have them consider what it would have been like for both groups of people. What problems might happen?

Developing understanding

Divide the class into four groups with each exploring one topic on the Information Sheet at the end of this article. In addition to what you have in your collection, direct them to specific websites, also listed at the end of this article.

Once most of their research is completed, have students talk about what they have learned. Add to their understanding by reading a nonfiction account of settling the colony. One excellent resource is Kids Make History: A New Look at America's Story by Susan Buckley and Elspeth Leacock (ill. by Randy Jones, Houghton, 2006, 48 p. 978-0-618-22329-9). The two pages each for "Powhatan's Favorite Daughter: 1607" and "James Towne Boy: 1608," will find an eager audience since they now have the background to recognize what is going on and will appreciate the differing perspectives of two young people, one a Native American dealing with strange-looking people and the other a colonist who has experienced hardship and loss. Another possibility is "1607: Pocahontas of Virginia" in The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History by Jennifer Armstrong (ill. by Roger Roth, Knopf, 2006, 358 p. 978-0-375-81256-9).

More connections

To reinforce concepts, have students create colonial crafts. In addition to what is in your collection, consider Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa (Nomad Press, 2006, 118 p. paperback 0-9771294-0-3). Each project is accompanied by an explanation of how it fitted into colonial life. For example, along with directions for making a Ring and Pin Game, there is information on Native American Games and Toys, specifically the popularity of this one.

For a final assessment, have students write a letter to a friend in England as if they were a colonist. The contents should include a description of what they like about Jamestown, what difficulties they experienced, and whether they think their friend should come and why. Hang the letters in the corridor outside the media center to celebrate both the anniversary and students' skills and knowledge.

Information sheet

England in the early 1600s
  • Who was the ruler when Jamestown was settled?
  • How did rich people dress?
  • What did poor people wear?
  • Find pictures of how people lived in London and in small towns in England.

The Jamestown colonists

  • In addition to the first colonists, twice ships brought more people to Jamestown. How many people came?
  • How many people survived?
  • What occupations did the colonists have? Which ones would be helpful?
  • What made life so hard for the colonists?

Native Americans

  • What is the real story of Pocahontas?
  • How did the Native Americans help the colonists?
  • Why did they fight with the colonists?

Famous people

  • Captain John Smith
  • Pocahontas
  • Powhatan
  • John Rolfe


Websites

America's Story: Jamestown was Established May 14, 1607: Good overview from the Library of Congress

Jamestown 2007 Online Games for Kids: Includes history and culture. Also, see The Jamestown Online Adventure for an interactive game that has students comparing their decisions with the ones the colonists made.

History of Jamestown: The text is best for 5th graders but younger students can go to this site for colonists and their occupations.



Winter 2007: Organizing a tour

Most of you at the middle and high school level collaborate on a regular basis with World Language teachers. Their curriculum requires students to learn about the countries where the language is spoken, so they use the media center to explore culture, history, and geography. However, these assignments tend to fall into a pattern most often culminating in a travel brochure.

While this is somewhat creative, it becomes less so when repeated several years in a row, and particularly when the requirements are heavily teacher-defined. Talk to the teachers with whom you work well and suggest a variation that offers more individual input. By allowing students to select areas that appeal to them, they become more involved with their research and learning.

Setting the scene

Teachers launch the project in class, informing students that they are going to be "working" at a tour agency in a country that speaks the language they are studying. Their boss wants them to develop a trip to attract travelers with specialized interests. For example, they might create a package for food lovers, or theater and performing arts aficionados, or one that appeals to literature-lovers who want to visit sites from famous literary works (students can choose ones they have studied in class).

It is up to students to choose not only the focus but also the specific places to take the tourists. They must also identify related places or ones that they feel no visitors should miss, as well as identify hotels at which they can stay. Once they have designed the tour, they need to decide on the audience. Among the possibilities are: showing it to their boss for approval, reviewing it with travel agents whose business they want, or placing it on their company's website. Once again the choice is theirs, but they must in some way defend what they have created.

Web and print: perfect together

Teachers set up groups in advance and can also have students select their focus areas before coming to the media center. Hand out the Information Sheets and spend about five minutes reviewing the strategies they are planning to use. Wikipedia (their favorite first choice) will give them an overview that is likely to be as good as traditional encyclopedias, and you should remind them of any online ones to which you subscribe. However, they need to have an idea of where to go next. If you have not done so as yet, introduce them to search engines in the language they are studying such as www.google.fr or www.es.yahoo.com.

While some group members are working online, gather the others and show them the reference and circulating materials that also relate to their topics. For example, recipes abound on the Internet, but cookbooks often have easy-to-access information on local ingredients and the geography that affects them, and guidebooks you own are usually a quicker way of discovering the ratings of hotels.

When groups work at assembling the pieces of their project, you and the teacher should move among them to ensure they have addressed all aspects listed on the Information Sheets. Although there is less than usual need for authoritative websites, do a brief check of the ones they selected to be sure they have made wise choices. Keep reminding them that they need to show what makes their tour worth premium prices.

The final projects will take many different forms depending on the focus and audience selected by the groups. The teacher can have the class create a rubric for assessing these presentations, and students can vote on the trip they would most like to take. Put the best examples on display when your school celebrates a world language month.

Information sheet

Country:

Region(s)/ city or cities:

Number of days:

Focus:

Additional areas:

Stops and highlights:

Hotels:

Audience for presentation of tour:

What makes this an outstanding choice for people having this special interest?




Foreign language standards

(From the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)

Communication: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

Connections: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language. Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures.

Communities: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.








New Year 2007

We are special

The title sounds like the affirmations recommended by self-help books. You can use it that way, but it is meant less as a personal statement and more as a reminder of a way to reach out to teachers. Many of you, particularly those in rigidly scheduled elementary schools, are frustrated by your inability to create collaborative units. Even some high school library media specialists find it difficult to break through a focus on high stakes tests that leave little time for research.

Repeatedly trying the same strategies in hopes that one day you will get through is not likely to be successful. Sometimes you need another route around an obstacle. In elementary schools, you, along with the art, music, and physical education teachers, are sometimes referred to as "the specials." Since you are grouped together, it's time you acted together. They struggle as much as you do with the sense of being babysitters, not really valued by the rest of the faculty. By reaching out to them and pointing out your common situation, you can create something that has a greater impact than any of you could do alone. High school library media specialists might want to work with fine and practical arts teachers.

Starting small

If you haven't done so as yet, get to know the other specials. Determine which of them (perhaps all) might be inclined to work with you. Brainstorm together to identify a topic for a project. It might be centered on an upcoming holiday, special month, or a scheduled assembly.

Once you have the theme, discuss what each of your disciplines can bring to the project. For the research component at the middle and high school levels, they will have to send students to the media center in small groups or possibly bring the class since that would be the only way to include your contribution. At the elementary level you may need to send students to each other's classes depending on what is being done at a given time.

The culminating project is the key to future success. It must be visible so the whole school can see it. Usually the art teacher is best for this, particularly for a not-so-large presentation that you would do for your first collaboration. However, be open to all suggestions as any one of you might come up with a great idea. Be sure that the names of all the specials involved as well as the classes that participated are prominently featured. Take pictures and write it up for the district newsletter.

Center stage

Your first success should encourage you to try something a bit larger. You might even interest a classroom teacher in participating. As you choose your topic, think big and consider the curriculum.

If one of the grades (or subject areas) will be studying U.S. history -- perhaps the founding of Jamestown, discussed elsewhere in this issue -- the physical education teacher might host an indoor field day set in the past. The decorations can be created in art with appropriate music taped in advance to be sung as background by students. Your role is to help classes with all the related research.

The computer teacher can get involved by having students design brochures to hand out to attendees and/or create a slide show to accompany the music. Parents should be invited as guests and helpers. Once you do something on this scale, newspapers and local cable outlets will be interested in covering it. Their presence gives you an opportunity to send your combined message on how you are not just "special" but vital.


Fall 2006

Safe in cyberspace

Concern about safety on the Internet, begun with the early days of chat rooms, has reached new heights with the advent of what some are calling Web 2.0, the online social networking and collaboration that is an integral part of contemporary life beginning with the pre-teen years. While Wikis, discussed in the last issue, are one aspect of this new phenomenon, sites such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Livejournal.com, and Xanga.com attract teens in such numbers that the issue has even reached Congress.

While the press has honed in on the presence of pedophiles trolling these sites, another threat comes in the form of cyber bullying. E-mail and blogs were the first places students used to harass others, but MySpace and similar pages spread the harsh words faster and to more people. In your role as Information Specialist, you need to alert parents, teachers and students to both dangers, giving them the knowledge and tools to prevent and avoid them.

Communication and resources

Since many districts filter these social networking sites, you cannot observe students as when they access them nor show them to teachers. However, you can schedule workshops for parents and faculty, requesting the Tech Department to unblock the ones you will focus on for the length of your program. Once you have raised awareness and understanding with these groups, plan to incorporate safety procedures and rules against cyber bullying into your orientations.

Explore the following sites to find the best resources for your school community:

Pro-active not restrictive

The tendency to prevent students from blogging or accessing social networks from school computers is understandable. The Board of Education may be sued if someone's use of them results in a student being harmed physically or psychologically. But forbidding the use of something is a sure-fire way to create interest.

Even more serious is the fact that without educating students to the dangers, they will be on these websites when they are at home and far more apt to get into trouble. While you probably have little say as to what is blocked by filters, you can address these issues in other ways. Work on establishing procedures to identify cyber bullying and instituting consequences for this behavior. Keep students, teachers, and parents informed of the latest developments whether they are new threats or tools to combat them. For the sake of your students, take a leading role in teaching everyone how to be safe on the Internet.


School begins 2006: Changing the world

Many who enjoy nonfiction books have a special affinity for biographies. Learning about famous people's lives not only solidifies the impact these individuals have had on our society, it also often leads readers to understand and try to emulate what has been done in the past. Several books show how ideas evolve or how to put them into action. These titles focus on inventors, thinkers, leaders, and creative activities to get your students thinking.

Scientists and statesmen

Krull, Kathleen. Isaac Newton. Ill. by Boris Kulikov. Giants of Science. Viking, 2006, 126 p.0-670-05921-8
Kathleen Krull's fascinating depiction of Isaac Newton, (part of her Giants of Science series), offers plentiful anecdotes and clear explanations of the huge impact this strange genius, living from 1642 to 1727, had on the future of science. Beginning with his miserable childhood and throughout his solitary life, Newton questioned, figured, and thought things through for long periods of time, coming up with answers to new ideas like gravity (after an apple fell on his head), calculus (the explanation for determining where something will land even though its speed and direction changes), and optics (how light travels and the role of the prism). He introduced the scientific method, feuded with several other scientists, and was knighted by Queen Anne. Includes a Bibliography, Web Sites and Index. (Gr. 5-8)

Barasch, Lynne. Ask Albert Einstein. Frances Foster Books, Farrar, 2005, unp., ill. 0-374-30435-1
One of those benefiting from Newton's work centuries later was Albert Einstein, "the most famous scientist and mathematician in the world" according to Lynne Barasch in Ask Albert Einstein. This picture book for Gr. 2-4 relates to an article that appeared in The New York Times of May 1952 describing Einstein?s helping a high school girl with a math problem she could not solve by offering her a diagram and formula. It will introduce him to younger students through the book's narrator purported to be the 7-year-old sister of the girl who wrote to ask him for assistance. The end pages depict Einstein doing things he enjoyed along with some of his quotes.

Barretta, Gene. Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin. Holt, 2006, unp. ill. 0-8050-7917-3
Benjamin Franklin, whose 300th birthday was celebrated last January 17, stars in Now & Ben in which Gene Barretta shows ideas and inventions still in use today as first created by Ben "more than 200 years ago." These include a political cartoon, bifocals, a gadget he called "Long Arm" to grab things from high shelves, wooden flippers to help people swim faster, how to gather electricity from lightning, an armonica that made musical sounds, a rocking chair, an odometer, the first library, sanitation truck, hospital, and post office, and Daylight Savings Time. Perhaps some students in Gr. 2-4 reading this lively picture book will think of new items to invent for the future.

Smith, Lane. John, Paul, George & Ben. Hyperion, 2006, unp. ill. 0-7868-4893-6
In John, Paul, George & Ben, Lane Smith gives young readers a quick and entertaining course on the quirks and foibles of the boys who became the Founding Fathers (adding a fifth -- Tom -- to the mix). According to Smith, John Hancock?s huge signature, Paul Revere's loud voice, George Washington's honesty, Ben Franklin's clever sayings, and Thomas Jefferson's independence were all"vital to what happened when they grew up and fought for "life, liberty and happiness." A "True or False Section" at the end lets readers know when he "changed" history in this picture book for Gr. 2-4

Creative women

McCully, Emily Arnold. Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor. Farrar, 2006, unp. ill. 0-374-34810-3
Since many girls also read biographies, the younger ones will appreciate your handing them Marvelous Mattie, Emily Arnold McCully's picture book celebrating Margaret E. Knight, who lived from 1838 to 1914. Using her dead father's tool box, she began experimenting at a young age, inventing new things and adding parts to pieces of machinery to improve them. The kites and sleds she made for her older brothers were the envy of the neighborhood. At 12, she had to leave school and work in the mills of Manchester, N.H. where, after witnessing an accident, she came up with an idea to stop a runaway shuttle with a metal guard. Working in a factory in Massachusetts, she designed a machine to produce flat-bottomed paper bags and filed a patent on it. When a man stole her idea, Maggie had to convince the judge that she had invented the machine, showing him her sketches. Drawings of her ideas appear throughout the book and an Author's Note adds information. (Gr.1-3)

Love, D. Anne. Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypatia. Ill. by Pam Paparone. Holiday House, 2006, unp. 0-8234-1621-6
Another biography about a woman, this one living in fourth century Alexandria, Egypt, is Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypatia. Her father, a professor, decided she should be educated as boys were and taught her philosophy, math, and astronomy. She rode horseback, rowed a boat, studied science, and, having already become proficient in reading, writing and grammar, now saw the beautiful patterns numbers could make. With her father's continued help, she tackled arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Finally, studying philosophy, she had debates with her father, and (as Newton was later to do) spent a lot of time thinking. Hypatia wrote books, became famous as a scholar, and students came from all over to learn from her. D. Anne Love provides an Author?s Note, More About Math, and a Bibliography. (Gr. 2-4)

McClafferty, Carla Killough. Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. Farrar, 2006, 134 p. photographs, 0-374-38036-6
In Something Out of Nothing, Carla Killough McClafferty has drawn an excellent portrait of scientist Marie Curie, born in Poland in 1867, who worked as a governess to earn money to send her sister through school until after eight years she finally arrived in Paris, was first in her class at the Sorbonne in 1893, and became the first woman to receive a master?s degrees in physics. The book covers her marriage to Pierre Curie, their family life and research with radium as well as Marie's becoming the first woman in France to earn a doctorate and the Nobel Prize for its discovery in 1903. The many good and bad happenings including how radium changed from being a miracle drug to a major cause of death make interesting reading. (Marie met Albert Einstein in 1911 and became close friends as shown in one of the photographs.) Source Notes, a Selected Bibliography, Web Sites and Index are included. (Gr. 7-10)

Applied arts

Koscielniak, Bruce. Looking at Glass Through the Ages. Houghton, 2006, unp. ill. 0-618-50750-7
Students may be surprised to learn in Looking at Glass Through the Ages that its origins go back 4,500 years when the Egyptians began designing beads of blue or turquoise colors using sand and soda ash and heating the mixture. A thousand years later the craft expanded to colored glass bottles, and eventually glassblowers developed a wide range of products. Author and illustrator Bruce Koscielniak has produced a beautiful book showing and describing advances over the centuries that will resonate with readers and make them aware of the places that contributed to this industry (see the end pages). Gr. 3-5)

Anderson, Maxine. Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself. Nomad Press, 2006, 122 p. ill. 0-9749344-2-9 (paperback)
The description of someone very talented as a "Renaissance Man? will help readers of Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself understand the famous Italian artist and inventor who lived from 1452 to 1519. Brilliant, he came up with wonderful ideas, many of which they can replicate, using the instructions, drawings, and materials they have around the house including making their own parachute, invisible ink, and monkey wrench; predicting humidity with a hygrometer and wind with an anemometer; and building walk-on-water shoes, webbed gloves, and a portable bridge. Author Maxine Anderson comments, "Leonardo teaches us that imagination is the key to innovation, and believing in your own ideas is as important as having them in the first place." (Gr. 5-8)

Dickinson, Rachel. Tools of the Ancient Romans: A Kid?s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Rome. Nomad Press, 2006, 139 p., ill. 0-9749344-5-3 (paperback)
After they have built some of Leonardo?s inventions, introduce students to Tools of the Ancient Romans. What a great way to learn history as they become familiar with the Roman Empire by mapping it; making a Roman newspaper, a toga and brooch, a mosaic, some Roman ruins, and pots of clay; and do arithmetic with an abacus among other activities. Rachel Dickinson's lively and well rounded history will also be popular with Latin classes. Interesting questions, shaded boxes, and sidebars all lead to more information for Gr. 5-9.

Stuart, Catherine and Neil. With Karen Baicker. Highlights Flight School Paper Planes That Soar. Boyds Mills, 2005, 256 p. ill. 1-59078-388-3, pap
After a short history of paper airplanes and the science of flight, Highlights Flight School Paper Planes That Soar offers students detailed instructions for making 17 easy-to-fold models using single sheets of printer paper. They also get tips on how to launch and fly them. In addition to having this book on your shelves, you might want to suggest the title to parents as a gift so that interested students can tear out the full-color sheets in the back of their own copies when making the paper airplanes. (Gr. 4-8)