Teen Read Week planners

We have a group of enthusiastic reading aficionados who meet once a week during Dolphin Wednesdays. These students were chosen by their teachers because of their love of reading and leadership qualities to be advocates for the library media center throughout the school. Their most recent project has been to plan activities and a timeline for Teen Read Week, which runs October 18 through 24. This national program, sponsored by the American Library Association, encourages reading through motivating programs and activities. Our Dolphin Readers brainstormed daily and weekly activities and came up with three original ideas: a bookmark contest, a costume contest, and a scavenger hunt. Students separated into three small groups and are busy fine-tuning the planning of these events. They're realizing that there are a lot of small details that need to occur before implementation! All activities center around the theme "Beyond Reality @ Your Library." More details (and photos) will be posted in the coming weeks . . . .

-Ms. Z

Collecting data . . .

The culture at DRMS promotes collaborative partnerships among teachers, sharing resources that foster student achievement, and posting visual representations of data throughout the building. Using some of our beginning-of-year student orientation survey data and library media program goals, we created a DRMS Library Media Program Data Wall. This visual display showcases important areas of the program that impact student achievement and student use of the library media center.

Some of this baseline data includes a snapshot of where we are at the beginning of a project. For example, we did a collection map of our Sports collection (including fiction, biography, and nonfiction sports-related resources). This process provided a starting point for how many titles are in this portion of the collection, the average age of the materials, and, along with student-interest survey data, the popularity of these items. Upon selecting and purchasing new materials to update this collection this school year, we will add updated data to show improvement in this area.

Ms. BC and I are also collecting research class data. What types of projects are we working on with teachers? Are they cooperative, where we work with classes for just a small segment of the project? Or, are they fully collaborative experiences, which provide a collaborative partnership between the library media specialist and classroom teacher from the beginning to the end of the project? Using our media center reservation book, we are analyzing all research class sign-ups and designating them using the following criteria:

1. no contact (teachers sign up to use the media center, but don't communicate with the media staff about what their students will be working on.)

2. consultant (teachers who just let us know what they'll be doing in the MC ~ no formal library media specialist involvement.)

3. simple collaboration ("library lesson" at some point during the project)

4. total collaboration (library media specialist partners with classroom teacher from beginning to end of project).

Our goal is to increase the number of simple and total collaborative projects over the course of this school year.

Because our focus this year is "Back to Basics: focus on reading", we are tracking student fiction and nonfiction circulation data to show growth in student book check outs. This will be encouraged through booktalking, Dolphin Reader advocacy, and increased communication between the library media staff and Language Arts teachers to make the media center most accessible for student book check-out.

We're excited to use this data to analyze and improve programs and services offered through the library media center, which ultimately affect student achievement.

-Ms. Z

Investigating Literature

We welcomed track 3 students this week when we met with our Dolphin Readers group. After a quick introduction to their role as media program and reading advocates, these 7th and 8th graders joined our track 1 students who have already been working hard at reading, writing book reviews, and sharing with each other. All students selected a “Book Starter” slip to select their next book to read and review. Slips contained a specific statement, which guided students as they searched through the media collection to find a matching book. Starter Slip statements included ~

• Find a book that has a main character with siblings.


• Find a book that was written when you were 5 years old.


• Find a book that has the name of a food in the title.


• Find a book set in a place you'd like to visit.
  

After selecting a book, students began a NoveList investigation. This K-8 Literature database contains some wonderful search features, book lists, and curriculum-related lessons. Dolphin Readers began preparing a short presentation which they will share with their classmates in a few weeks. My favorite features of this site are the "describe a plot" search and "find similar books" option. These two search strategies allow students to truly customize their searching to find books they'll be most interested in. I'm looking forward to seeing what neat NoveList features our Dolphin Readers uncover in their investigations over the coming weeks.

-Ms. Z

Books we're talking about . . .

Today, we booktalked to all 7th grade track 2 Language Arts classes. The range of titles reflected the diversity of this group of readers. Short-story collections were chosen to spark interest in reluctant readers and a variety of genres in fiction chapter books appealed to specific reading tastes. Our booktalking styles varied ~ sometimes reading a segment from the book, or summarizing a story, but always leaving students with a "hook" to spark their interest and create a contagious environment for reading. Since we booktalked to 3 class periods and have a limited number of each title in the media center collection, students wrote their name on a slip of paper and enterred it into a drawing for the book they're most interested in checking out. Names of students will be drawn at the end of the day to determine who gets to check out each title.

The most popular titles today were: A Nightmare's Dozen: stories from the dark edited by Michael Stearns; Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg; and Firebirds Rising: an anthology of original science fiction and fantasy edited by Sharyn November. Students were able to circulate and check out library books after the booktalks and were excited to find books similar to topics found in the featured books. Some books will "sell themselves" through their intriguing cover art, but the library media center holds many treasures that excite readers because of a personal introduction to the plot, setting, and characters. We look forward to our next collection of literary introductions . . . .

-Ms. Z

A new chapter . . .

Today is Mrs. V's last day as the library media assistant at DRMS. We are thrilled for her as she is "promoted" to her new position as a high school library media specialist (we like to think of it as "graduating" from middle school and moving on to high-school). A steady stream of staff have come through wishing her well and telling her how much they're going to miss her. Each person in this building makes a difference in the lives of our students and staff. Goodbyes are bittersweet, but they allow us to reflect on the impact one individual has had on so many others. Mrs. V has definitely had a positive impact in the lives of DRMS students and staff. Her kindness with others, knowledge of "all things library," and unfailing work ethic are qualities that made her such a valuable addition to our staff.

We wish Mrs. V well as she begins this new chapter in her career (no pun intended!). Our loss is her new school's gain as she forms professional relationships with staff and positively impacts student learning through her management of the library media program. Cheers, Mrs. V!

-Ms. Z

Research using the Web

How often do students use the web to find information? All the time. However, they don't always know if the information they are collecting is the most reliable and valid that can be obtained. With that knowledge, Mrs. Dempsey requested that I discuss with her students how to evaluate web pages before they start their research project.

Using information from " The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources" and "Five criteria for evaluating Web pages" from Olin & Uris Libraries, I put together a powerpoint using Presentation Zen principles. The five criteria used to evaluate web pages are authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage. Each criteria was discussed and reinforced using valid/currenct examples. Students then proceeded to use the evaluation tool to begin their research and will continue to use in the future.

Ms. BC

Dolphin Readers

This morning was our first official "Dolphin Wednesday." This 40-minute class period starts the school day on most Wednesday mornings. Students are divided into small groups throughout the school ~ some for remediation and others for enrichment. Our Dolphin Readers group is a library media student advocacy group dedicated to sharing the love of reading with their classmates, providing selection recommendations for media center purchases, and planning library events and programs during the school year. This morning, students explored "Cool, Hot, New" fiction, nonfiction, and biography titles through a book pass and selected one book from their table to read by next week. They will prepare a "Pro/Con" speech arguing "For" or "Against" the title they selected.

Before leaving, students brainstormed for 2 minutes on the question, "Why do you like to read?" The picture shows a visual word collage containing their responses. My favorite words are "calms" and "unburdened." For many of our students, reading offers a chance to escape the real world and discover new and exciting characters and settings. Why do YOU like to read?

-Ms. Z

"My favorite thing about the library is the tissue box at the check-out desk!"

This was a 7th grade student's response to the question, "What's your favorite thing about the DRMS media center?" It continues to amaze me what students will notice and what they overlook. In my opinion, the media center should be an inviting and exciting place to explore. If a cool tissue box is what motivates some students to visit the media center, then I think that's a wonderful thing. This makes the media center memorable for this student, which motivates he or she to enter the door and provides an opportunity for the library media staff to encourage reading and media center use. And, let's face it, it is a cool tissue box. :-)

-Ms. Z

We'll see you in the media center!

We're already nearing the end of our 2nd full week of the 2009-2010 school year! The media center has been bustling with classes of students coming through for their annual media center orientation. All track 1, 2 and 3 sixth graders came through last week. Students learned about media center policies and procedures, research, book clubs, and reading programs. Of course, students' favorite part of orientation is a chance to explore the media center on their own and look for books. The DRMS media staff feel this is the most important part of orientation. Many 6th graders were eager to find out how many books they could check out (which is 3), then quickly selected 3 titles they were interested in. I always chuckle at how new 6th graders gravitate towards the biggest books in the media center (Harry Potter, Eragon, etc.). They look so proud as they carry their armfull of books back to their classroom.

By the end of this week, all track 1, 2, and 3 seventh graders and most eighth graders will have attended their orientation. These students enjoy a self-guided tour through seven orientation stations where they refresh on media policies and complete a handout. This year, all seventh and eighth graders are completing an online media survey containing questions about their past media center use, books they're interested in the media center purchasing, changes they'd like to see made in the media program, etc. The library media staff has already started analyzing results (remember . . . we love data!) and are excited to implement some new ideas and programs to address these issues.

Orientation has been a great success this year. We look forward to seeing all of you in the media center!

-Ms. Z

Driven by data

Ok. Maybe it's because I was a math teacher, but I am a HUGE fan of data. Collecting data . . . organizing data . . . analyzing data . . . . it all makes me very, very excited. :-) It's no wonder that I enjoy this time of the school year. Not only do I get renewed energy by the end-of-the-school-year/beginning-of-the-school-year transition, but in May and June, each media program in the district must submit an annual county and state media and technology report. It's always exciting to compare current stats with information from previous years. Here were a few notables from this year's reports:

1. The current average age of our collection is 1995. We have been diligent with our "weeding and feeding" over the past few years and were surprised to find the average year was still this low. Upon further investigation, we realized we need to update some of the copyright years for titles in the collection that were dragging down the average. We're looking forward to discovering a more accurate result.

2. Our average weekly circulation dropped from 506 items in 2007-2008 to 436 items in 2008-2009. This was a bit disheartening, but we realized that with carpet replacement in the fall (which closed the media center for 2 weeks), fewer reading programs and special events occurring this school year, and a decrease in whole-class circulation may have contributed to this downfall. It provides wonderful opportunities for improvement in the future! Especially since it seems we've identified the biggest culprits.

3. We purchased 957 books for the library media center this year. This growth has benefitted ALL students and staff!

Next year, we plan on focusing on media center data, especially as it relates to student achievement, information literacy, and reading. These reports provide a great foundation of initial data from which to build from and improve on. I'm certainly looking forward to reviewing data year-round, instead of eagerly anticipating May and June to roll around each year. :-)

-Ms. Z

Back to Basics . . .

Today, I've been brainstorming ideas for next school year and our vision for the media program. For the second half of this school year, I have consistently read articles and blogs that emphasize the impact reading has on all aspects of a person's life. There is a correlation between students who read consistently and increased test scores; students who read consistently have a better understanding of this world and those who live differently from us; and students' creativity and imaginations are enhanced by experiencing new worlds and situations found in books. All of these examples are obviously found in the "plus column," so why wouldn't we talk about it more?

Facilitating conversations about reading is always a great place to start. Books initiate discussions; people like to talk about what they're reading. I enjoy talking about books with our teachers and watch their faces light up when they recall a favorite book they've read. This positive reading attitude translates to our students, who observe teachers as their reading role models. It's my goal next school year to facilitate a culture of reading in our school, sharing books with others and developing new opportunities through the media program that enrich students' middle school experience. Sound like lofty goals? If students aren't reading, then they aren't achieving as high as they could and are experiencing a limited view of the world. How can I NOT carry out this vision?

-Ms. Z

13 things your librarian won't tell you

In the spirit of Reader's Digest, two high school librarians and I collaboratively created the following list this afternoon ~ 13 things your Librarian won't tell you. Enjoy!

1. We hate taking fine money from patrons but it's the only method we can think of to make people responsible for returning materials.

2. Contrary to popular belief, we don't know everything.

3 . We DO want you to check out the books. We also want you to treat them well and return them on time and intact.

4. We don't own lots of cats, wear thick glasses with a safety chain around our neck, and pull our hair back in a bun.

5. We don't say "shhhh" anymore.

6. Students always recommend the best books to read.

7. Librarians LIKE using the internet.

8. We use Wikipedia, too.

9. We know what books you're looking at when you're giggling with your friends back in the 613s section. ;-)

10. We really DO have eyes in the backs of our heads!

11. Patrons, not salaries, inspire us to stay later, read outside our favorite genres, research new strategies, and look forward to more the next day.

12. Shelving books is really good exercise!

13. Librarians know how to have the most FUN!

-Ms. Z

09-10 NC Young Adult Book Award

The 2009-2010 list for the NCSLMA Young Adult Book Award just came out. This program offers students a chance to have a "voice" by reading at least 4 books on the list and voting for their favorite. Unlike the Battle of the Books list, this selection of titles are all NEW fiction releases from popular young adult authors. I've only read 2 of the 10 titles so far, The Hunger Games and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, but really enjoyed both novels and have recommended them to students.

We won't have all of these titles in the media center collection until next school year, but students can get started by reading the titles we do have. I'm always eager for new book recommendations, so please let me know which book to read next!

-Ms. Z

Promoting Professional Resources

For years, we have subscribed to many wonderful professional periodical publications for our teachers. Titles include The Mailbox, Instructor, Middle School Journal, and Learning and Leading with Technology. These publications provide informative, timely articles on a spectrum of educational topics. Our process has been to ask teachers which periodical(s) they're interested in reading, then adding their name to a "routing list" which allows them to spend several days with the periodical before passing it along to the next person on the list. After everyone has perused the issue, it is stored in the Professional Library collection. This sounds like a fairly orderly system, however teachers' time is valuable and limited and periodicals are not being shared in a timely manner. This week, a teacher apologetically brought back a stack of 7 issues, some dating back to 2007!

So, are these resources valuable to teachers? I believe they are, but it's the delivery system that's flawed. I'm brainstorming new ways of sharing powerful articles and relevant publications with our staff. By providing "Media Moments" at department meetings, I can share pertinent information in these publications that is curriculum-specific. PLC time also allows sharing articles directly related to units of study.

Teachers: Be on the lookout - - - you may find a sticky-noted article in your mailbox indicating something great I want to share with you. :-)

-Ms. Z

Technology confidence

When I first came to this school six years ago, I encountered several teachers who were scared of instructional technology and avoided using it with their students. One of our 6th grade science teachers, Mrs. D, was part of this group and has made amazing progress by getting over her fear of technology and realizing the amazing benefits it offers in the classroom. As I type this, her class is in the media center on a "rescue mission" in outer space. Using The Great Solar System Rescue interactive cd-rom, students gather clues about the location of a lost probe on one of our planets in the Solar System. Students are assigned different roles - - astronomer, geologist, histrorian, and meteorologist - - and use the clues they've gathered by comparing them to notes about each planet in their purple report booklets. This exercise showcases great group-working relationships and allows students to analyze and interpret information to solve a problem. Once students determine which planet their lost probe is on, they venture to that planet to recover the probe, thus "saving the day."

This day was possible because of Mrs. D's courage to step out of her comfort zone and realize that instructional technologies are valuable tools for her students. I'm so proud of her and our other teachers who are venturing into this new territory. This has been a great day for learning!

-Ms. Z

Author visit!

Author Frances O'Roark Dowell visited DRMS on April 6 to talk to our 8th grade students and book club members about what inspired her to become a writer and details about the writing process. We cleared a large space for students to sit on the floor as Ms. Dowell spoke to two separate groups of students.She detailed her journey through various jobs she has held to her ultimate decision to become a writer full time. Afterwards, students asked some wonderful questions about specific books and her life. Students purchased signed personalized copies of her books and the media center will be adding several new copies and titles to the collection by next week. These autographed copies can be enjoyed by all DRMS students.

-Ms. Z

The Holocaust

Track 3 eighth graders have been reading an Anne Frank play in their Language Arts classroom and working in the media center several times a week on a Holocaust research project. Students chose a topic that most interested them about this historical time period (popular choices have been Anne Frank's life in the concentration camp, Auschwitz, and Hitler's childhood). They wrote two questions that they were most interested in finding the answers to. These eighth-grade researchers have used media center books and a variety of online resources, such as museum and educational websites, to answer their research questions.

Once a week, students reflect on their research process by completing a Daily Reflection. This communication tool provides insights into their researching and allows me to help them individually. Students shared the search terms that have been most effective, what resources contained the best information, and what new questions do they have about this project. I write comments on their reflections that will help guide their research during their next project day.

Students are completing their research this week and will start organizing their notes to write a research paper. They will then share their findings with their classmates in a brief presentation by the middle of April. This unit has provided these students with valuable skills to carry them into high school.

-Ms. Z

Student Reviewers

Since adopting our new library automation program last spring, the library media staff has explored some of the "bells and whistles" that make Destiny so great. I recently implemented student book review capabilities for our DRMS Battle of the Books team members. Students have their own user name and password and are able to log in to Destiny to review current BoB books for all students in the school system to read. This feature allows students to summarize what they've read and "sell" the book to fellow readers. Students save each review, then the DRMS media staff is able to monitor responses, approve and post book reviews for all to see.

-Ms. Z

Valentines for Fines

This is the third year the DRMS media center has run a Valentines for Fines program. Students make a homemade Valentine and turn it in to the media staff to have their library fines cleared. This popular program brought in over 150 student-created Valentines this year. Cards will be delivered to Duke Children's Hospital just in time for Valentine's Day.

I'm always impressed by the number of students who don't have any library fines to clear, but still make a card out of the goodness of their heart (no pun intended!). Our generous students continue to amaze me and showcase why DRMS is such a special place to learn and teach. These greetings will brighten the day of over 150 children. What a priceless gift!

-Ms. Z

Flight of the Bumblebee

On Monday, our 2008-2009 21st Century Pilot Classrooms were announced. Teachers submitted applications to be one of two classrooms selected to receive a multi-media cart containing 21st century learning tools. The winners were announced at our February staff meeting. Carts were adorned with black and yellow streamers as Mrs. V and I ran through the aisles while Flight of the Bumblebee was playing (I still have that tune stuck in my head). :-) These teachers received valuable tools to use in their instruction: an LCD projector, laptop computer, speakers, 2 interwrite tablets and a document camera (otherwise known as "Elmo"). Over the coming months, teachers will share new and innovative instructional methods as they welcome other teachers to their classroom to see this new equipment in action!

-Ms. Z

"I like this library! You all have the best books!"

One of our daily customers exclaimed this morning, "I like this library! You all have the best books!" This young lady regularly asks us, "Do you have any new books?" or "What book would you recommend." Carts and carts of new books are available for students to browse and check out. The media center has been a popular place this week!

Yesterday, the 2009 Newbery Award winner and Honor books were announced. I'm THRILLED with this year's selections! They're kid-friendly and exciting and I know our students are eager to read them. The Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, is a supernatural tale about a boy who has been raised by ghosts. Listening to the author read from his book is mesmerizing! We have three copies of the book and students in the DRMS Newbery Club will be entered into a drawing on Friday to be one of the first to check them out.

So much to read; so little time . . . . . . .
-Ms. Z

Passing books

I've worked with several classes over the last week, many of whom did book passes. A book pass is an instructional strategy that allows students time with many books over a short period of time. Last Friday, 6th grade science students did a Children's literature book pass and recorded examples of literary elements, vocabulary and illustrations used in Children's literature. These students will be creating their own children's book on a space topic, so looking at a collection of kid's books gave them many ideas and sparked their creativity.

Yesterday, I worked with a 6th grade Special Programs class who passed around Poetry books to inspire them as they begin writing their own poetry. They were amazed at the variety of topics poems can be about - - - some were funny; some were serious; some were very, very short (one student found a poem that was only 3-lines long!); some poems were written in creative ways on the page. Students enjoyed the book Food Fight by Michael J. Rosen, which contained a variety of food-related poems and colorful illustrations to match.

Today, the 6th grade science students returned for a space book pass. They gathered information directly related to their space topic and now have a strong collection of facts to use in the children's book they'll be writing. I'm excited to see how they take their science knowledge and create a story out of it.

Until next week . . . .

-Ms. Z

381

We're back after the holiday break . . . . and with a flurry of activity. Classes of students have been through for circulation to return, renew and check out new books this week. On Monday and Tuesday alone, we circulated 381 items!

The library media staff arrived Monday morning to find holiday displays awaiting us. New winter-themed displays were quickly put up. Students have flocked to the stacks all week and we're happy to welcome them back!

-Ms. Z