September @ The Cube

Reflections on 9th Grade Orientation

This is the first time in 12 years as a Teacher-Librarian that I've made Freshmen Orientation completely a hands-on task. As such, I thought it called for a moment of reflection.

Soooo...this was good. It was. At the end of two days, I feel like I've done more than reinforce the stereotype of boring libraries to 300 kids. Every student was engaged every period from bell to bell.

     

• Did it work perfectly? No
• Did they leave knowing what I needed them to know about the library? I hope so.
• Was it my most successful orientation? Absolutely!

First period Day 1 was a COMPLETE disaster! Students don't have access to YouTube, so my screencast video of how to search on the OPAC wasn't accessible. The ThingLink contained waaaaay too much information, and the ipads needed to access the audiotour were locked in the cart to which the key had disappeared. Talk about a lesson plan going south.

Thankfully, Mrs. Skinner and her first period students were all SUPER gracious, helped me breathe through the mess, and promised they'd come back for do-overs. By second period, though, an AP came to the rescue with lock-cutters, I revamped the ThingLink and questionnaire, and I decided to run the Destiny video from the library Smart board. (Why I didn't think of that to begin with, I don't know.) 

Even though things were running a heck of a lot more smoothly, it was just too much. We never had time to puzzle the activity, and every period ran out of time to play the formative assessment--a Kahoot quiz covering what they'd learned that day, so they left without me knowing exactly how much was gleaned from each station.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Skinner suggested that I nix the MakerSpace station to preserve time for the more need-to-know stations, and I thought that a good idea. To ensure each student received the information I needed them to know, I also changed the puzzle activity to a simple activity rotation. Day 2 went much better all the way around; however, I felt a bit of that not-enough feeling when a student asked me at the beginning of first period, "Do we get to do the MakerSpace today? I heard that was really fun!" DOH!!! 

At the end of Day 2, Mrs. Offenbaker's feedback was to give the ThingLink to the classroom teachers as an in-class pre-teach the day before in preparation for them coming to the library the following day. I liked that idea too. 

At the end of the day, here are my successes:

• Students had fun in the library! (ALWAYS a win!!)
• Students interacted with library equipment: Smart board, Destiny catalog, ipads, etc.
• Students learned the layout of the library and how to locate books in a genrefied system.
• I didn't talk all day....snoooooooozzzzzzzzzzzze....
  And...here are my takeaways:

• Keep the station rotation to ensure every student is presented with the information I need them to know.
• Consider partnering with English 1 teachers to Pre-Teach the ThingLink information prior to orientation day to allow time for lesson closure and formative assessment.
• Consider scheduling a "maker" day orientation with various projects students could choose from paired with a blogging reflective piece to cover the English TEKS in lieu of trying to cram it in with definite need-to-know information.

Even though we ran out of time on both days, I guess the biggest testament to a successful orientation was that Monday morning, The Cube was teaming with freshmen. I'd call that a win!

The Cube Welcomes CHS Class of 2020

Welcome Class of 2020 to The Cube at Castleberry High School. The resources on this page will be used today during your orientation.

The Cube Audio Tour

Please scan the QR code below and begin your audio tour at the entrance to The Cube. Follow the audio prompts to learn important information about each section of the library available for your use.

The Cube's Policies and Procedures

Click on the picture below to connect to a ThingLink of The Cube. Mouse over each of the targeted areas. Each target provides information you and your friends need to be successful in The Cube. Please read each target and fill in the blanks on your note sheet.

How to Locate Books in The Cube

Watch the following video that will walk you through searching for a book using Destiny, our online catalog. THEN, follow the directions below the video to complete your station task.

After you have completed the video, please visit The Cube's catalog search computer (located by the printer) and use Destiny to find a book of your choice. Write the title and call number on a scratch sheet of paper located under the computer screen. Find the book in the stacks (shelves of books), and bring both your scratch paper and your book to Mrs. Daily for her to sign.

What's The MakerSpace

MakerSpace Experts will be creating yarn pom-pom bookmarks while you learn about all that's available for student use!

When You Complete Your Station Task...

...return to your group table and determine what the MUST know information is about your station. You're group is counting on you to give them the information they need to succeed in The Battle of The Cube!

Secrets of a Former English Teacher

 April is National Poetry Month. I need to confess something here: this.is.NOT.my.favorite reading celebration. In fact, I've never even drawn attention to it before. I'm not hatin'; it's just really not my thing.

I've tried to like poetry. I tried in third grade when I was required to keep a poetry notebook of all the poems I memorized and recited in class. I tried in seventh grade with "Casey at the Bat," which...honestly...I did enjoy...somewhat...but it's too dang disappointing every time Mighty Casey strikes out. I must have also been somewhat impressed with this quirkiness because I still remember it 23 years later:

One dark day

In the middle of the night

Two dead men got up to fight.

Back to back, they faced each other

Drew their swords and shot each other.

I don't remember much about poetry in high school other than studying meter, which is sure to snuff out any spark of enjoyment that might have abounded. I finally drew the "I'm out!" line in college where as an English major, I was determined to conquer my beef with the writing form and took an American poetry class. When the professor's interpretation of Whitman's "Song of Myself" did not, would not, could not EVER...in a box with a fox even...align with mine, I cashed it in for a British short story class and haven't looked back since...

UNTIL NOW...

The Cube at CHS is encouraging our students to...

Each folded pocket (origami instructions here) contains a poem--some long, some short, some classic, some modern, some funny, some sad. The idea is for our patrons to pick a poem, read it, and share reflections or thoughts via #CHSLionReads or #CHS_Lions.

If you'd like to join in the Poem for your Pocket festivities, you can find tons of ideas here, here, and here.

In the mean time, enjoy a few more pics from our pocket wall!

Takeaways from TCEA 2016

After a weekend of reflection post-TCEA 2016, I feel I have three big takeaways that really have transformed the way I view technology in education and my role as a teacher-librarian.

Take Away #1: Education is a two-way conversation! For learning to really occur, dialogue must be exchanged between educators, between educators and students, and between students and students. For much too long…like FOREVER…education’s been a one-way street with the teacher taking center stage, delivering content that students must learn or forever be deemed a failure in life. No longer is that the case. My role as a school librarian is to provide spaces—physical and online—for authentic communication to happen. Whether that’s through a blog, an ebook platform that will publish students’ works, or fun things happening in The Cube, I have to get students engaged in conversation where they can reflect, bounce ideas off others (students and adults), fail, and be encouraged to do it all again.

Take Away #2: Digital citizenship is EVERYBODY’S problem and EVERYBODY should be talking about it. As technology is no longer that room contained at the end of the hall where a class goes to type papers, digital citizenship can no longer be addressed only by the technology department. Technology inundates our society, and the use of technology is a life skill. No educator thinks twice about talking to kids about physical safety precautions—look both ways before you cross the street, don’t talk to strangers, eat food that’s good for you, exercise, bathe regularly—we shouldn’t be afraid to address digital citizenship throughout the day—EVERY DAY. Perhaps you shouldn’t show that online; Facebook could make or break you; Don’t steal from others (and yes…using that without citing the original work is STEALING!); How does social media make you feel; If you eat a bag of chips every night after spending three hours on social media, maybe it’s not a great thing for you…let’s talk about alternatives. Digital citizenship includes fair use and copyright issues, cyberbullying, body image issues, digital footprints and how they affect students’ futures, and so much more. In a one-to-one district, this should be an issue on every educator’s radar!

Take Away #3: Classroom instruction and technology are no longer separate entities. In every conference session I attended, I heard a variation of this. For us as educators to be successful 21^st century educators, we must learn to marry our curriculum with technology to engage students. It doesn’t have to be hard or “technical” or confusing. It’s a simple blog post, a discussion board, a Google slide for quick evaluation. It's filtering information through online learning, encouraging discussion within the classes via technology, and planning lessons with technology in mind. In our district, we have great support staff in our ITs and our Teacher-Librarians to support this proposal; just invite us to the party! 

I think the most exciting aspect of TCEA for me was to see how progressive Castleberry ISD really is. What people were presenting as innovative and new, we are doing (or at least talking about doing) in CISD. I came back from Austin Thursday with confidence in our leadership and anticipation for the future of our little district, and I’m happy to be a part of it. 

Book Review: Bone Gap

Ok…so…I didn’t love this book, and I’m giving myself permission not to love it...(I mean, it's unrealistic to think I'm gonna love every book I read)…even though apparently I’m the only one on the face of the planet. It’s not because the writing was poor or the idea of the plot wasn’t interesting…

Here’s the thing; I don’t like it when I don’t know what’s going on. I mean, I can handle stream of consciousness or flashbacks or foreshadowing. This non-sci-fi girl can even handle a fair amount of futuristic, techy, apocalyptic fun. But I can’t handle that whole “what the heck is happening…guess I must’ve missed something somewhere” feeling.

I felt the same way at the first Mission Impossible movie. The year was 1996. I was in eighth grade and felt amazing because my brother’s college girlfriend deemed me cool enough to share a girl’s night. In case you’re wondering why we picked such a movie for a girl’s night, let me assure you that when you live in a town of 2500, you just feel lucky even having a movie to go to…so whatever was showing that week was what you were seeing. And it was Tom Cruise, so I mean, how bad could it be, right? Needless to say, we stepped out of that theatre and didn’t say a word for a loooooooooooong time. Finally, she looked at me and said, “Ok…I feel really dumb…but I totally didn’t get that.” I laughed, relieved, because I didn’t get it either. It happened again some years later when I saw The Matrix, but I think that’s only because I slept through imperative parts. At any rate, I digress…

So…Bone Gap…no idea what was going on for about the first 3/4ths of the book. I even appealed to my awesome librarian’s PLN who told me “just.keep.reading.” So I did. I read and I read and I read…until I ran out of pages to read. And then I closed the book, and I thought, “Well…at least the acknowledgements were good.” The best part actually…for me anyway.

So I’m not going to tell you what happens in this book because I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that Finn and Priscilla and Roza are absolutely adorable and easy-to-love characters, but their actions don’t always ring true. Maybe I’m too “in the box” for this one, but I was left with a ton more questions, confusion, and frustration than satisfaction…until the redeeming acknowledgements that is. If magical realism (oxymoron at its best) is your thing, check out Bone Gap by Laura Ruby.

Continue Reading for a Sample of Bone Gap

References: Ferguson, S. (2015). Bone gap book trailer. Retrieved from  
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9xwdQUFT10.
Ruby, L. (2015). Bone gap. New York, NY: Balzer and Bray.

Back to School @ The Cube