Monday was “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” using an iPhone app I purchased for our program.  Unfortunately, I had an emergency that took me away from the library prior to the program, but my mentor teacher, Mrs. M., and Amy, my library intern, took over.  We used a document camera and LCD projector to project the iPhone app on a screen.  There were two teams of students who took turns choosing and answering questions.   The team that answered the most questions by the end of lunch won goodie bags.

Tuesday was the “Amazing Race” where students competed in a race consisting of four party type games.  The team that completed all four segments first, won the goodie bags.  The challenge was they had to finish one round before they could move onto the next event.  They all got stuck at building a two tier house of cards!  Again, real life interfered with our program in that I forgot I had a class schedule for 5th period.  Our school runs on a 7 period a day schedule with two lunches and an overlapping 5th period class – lunch 1 goes to lunch and then 5th and lunch 2 goes to 5th then lunch – there is a 20 minute time where both 5ths are in session.  So, Mrs. M to the rescue again!  We moved the event into the Family & Consumer Science classroom.

Wednesday was “Survivor” and students had to complete a “Survivor Challenge” involving a puzzle and clue – they had to put the puzzle together to get to the clue, then solve the riddle.  The riddle/clue required the students to use our card catalog to find a specific book on the shelves.  The first team to bring me the trophy cutout from inside the book won the challenge.  I have to give special kudos to Amy, my intern for coming up with such clever clues – each team had a different clue/book so they couldn’t cheat off each other!  First lunch went very well and they solved the clue quickly – however, yes, there was a glitch.  The book was a career book and just that morning the Freshman Academy teachers took all of the books out of the career section and back to the academy wing for a collaborative unit!  Yikes, would this week ever run smoothly?!  Then during second lunch, apparently I didn’t explain the challenge clearly.  After they solved the puzzle, they all thought that was it, I had to re-state the second part of the challenge, solve the clue! Another problem came in that all teams first part of the clue was the same: “The centre of info will help you in your search for victory” – which directed students to use the card catalog “InfoCentre Search.”  However, the second part was different for each team.  A couple of the teams didn’t realize this and were trying to solve another teams clue!

Thursday was “Wagener-Salley Idol” karaoke contest.  This is an activity we’ve done before for TRW.  The teens really seem to like this one, so it’s kinda become a tradition I can’t leave out.

We didn’t have school on Friday.   Overall, I would have to say the week was a roaring success.  Each day we had more students sign up at the last minute to participate.   I think it wasn’t all the due to the programs, but to the goodie bags!  Each bag had a mix of candy, chips, school supplies, and a small token (stress ball, party toy, etc.)  I’ve even had students (the winners of course!) ask when we’re going to have another event like this one.   Again, I have to give a special thanks to Amy for coming up with most of the ideas for the events – I can only take credit for wanting to base the event around the Reality TV theme and the karaoke contest.

Keeping Up:

Here is the first “page” of apps on my iPhone.  Most come standard: messages, contacts, notes (great for my to do and grocery lists), camera, calendar (keeps me organized by combining my iCal, Google, and Moodle calendars), photos, settings, voice memo, clock (customizable alarms ensures I don’t forget to set up the laptops three times a week for pullout class!), and calculator.

Ones I added:

Just Light (free) – as the name implies, a blank white screen used as a flash light – you never know when you’ll have a power outage and need a light.  And I have used it a time or two already.

Twitterific - Free Twitter app that I downloaded as soon as I got the iPhone. and for a free app it is pretty good.  Liked the dark screen with light text vs white screen with black text – less harsh on my eyes.

Tweetie2 – the Twitter app that I use now.  Cost $2.99 but was worth the price.  Just wish I could customize the screen & text colors.  Has more bells and whistles, but for the light Twitter user, Twitterific works just fine and is free.

Reader – Free Google Reader – mobile app takes a bit of getting used to, but love being able to quickly clean out the reader when I’m on the go.

Evernote (free) and Delicious Bookmarks (free) are new and I haven’t had a chance to explore them just yet.

Games:

FlowerzLite – free match game – just for time wasting!

reMovem – also just a free time waster game I like.

Wild Things – movie tie-in/ad for Where the Wild Things Are – totally cute.  You interact with Carol who throws things at the screen and when he gets angry he “smashes” your screen (both cause the iPhone to vibrate).  Scared the beegeebers out of me the first time my screen “cracked” and vibrated.  Again, a time waster, but cute and free.

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader – $4.99 app that I purchased for our Teen Read Week program.  We used a document camera and the questions from the game for the competition.  The two teams took turns choosing a category and answering the question.  Right answers earned them a point.  Team with the most points at the end of the period won.

Action bowling isn’t really my game, but it was free.

PAC-MAN – much harder than I thought – moving the guy around the screen takes some skill!  Sol Free – gotta have a solitaire game on your phone.

Ocarina - $0.99 novelty app, but don’t know what to do with it.  It basically turns your iPhone into a flute.  Kinda cool, but another time waster.  You’re supposed to be able to upload your “masterpieces” online to share with others.  I got it just to play around with it.

This is only the first page and a half of my four pages of apps.  I wont bore anyone with the rest, but I’ll share a few at a time that I find useful as I get finished exploring them myself.

I’m also loving the voice memo app which comes in handy when I’m in the car and need to make a note to remember something.  I don’t usually have pen and paper handy.  Which brings up the most wonderful feature(s) of the iPhone – The Apps Store!  I’ve been going wild surfing and downloading apps, but that’ll be another post.

Scholastic.com: Top 20 Teacher Blogs - I subscribed to a couple of these already and will give the others a try.  I’m passing it along because on of my good friends is highlighted on the lists: #14 Best for Media Specialists – TechnoTuesday. Way to go Cathy!

Center for History and New Media – “Providing free access to primary sources, building high-quality online teaching modules, and offering instruction on critical thinking skills.”

PrimaryAccess – “PrimaryAccess is a suite of free online tools that allows students and teachers to use primary source documents to complete meaningful and compelling learning activities with digital movies, storyboards, rebus stories and other online tools.”

Smithsonian American Art Museum – Classroom Activities – “These American Art Museum online features contain interactive or media-rich assets that can easily be used by educators in the classroom. Students can learn by viewing media or taking part in various online activities.”

Lastly, here are a couple of online graphic organizers:

• Lovely Charts - online diagramming program to create flowcharts, site maps, organizational charts, etc.
• Bubbl.us – great for mindmapping/brainstorming

My intern is a gem! She has gone all out to help our library celebrate Banned Book Week and plan our Teen Read Week activities.

The photo is the sign on a box of snack size popcorn she brought in for our faculty.  Each packet had a sticker with the phrase you see on the sign.  She put the box out in the faculty workroom and it was empty before LUNCH!

I’ll post our plans for TRW once I get the okay from my principal to the activities we’re wanting to provide – I’m excited, but at the same time exhausted just thinking about them!

I’m buried up to my neck in High Schools That Work/Technical Assistance Visit preparations.  I’m steadily working to pull together our notebook that we have to send off in three weeks.  It’s huge and I’m not finished adding all we’re required to provide.  Send good thoughts my way!

Lastly, if you’re one of my faculty, you know this already, but for the rest of you: APPLE OPENED A STORE IN AUGUSTA!  Yes, I was there for the grand opening and was one of the first 1000 – got the free shirt! (Yes, Cathyjo, you’ll get it eventually so stop pouting!)  Both my guidance counselor and assistant principal came up to tell me I was famous now.

FYI: I gave into temptation and purchased the iPhone!  I’m loving it, even if there is no service in Wagener!  *Sigh*  Come on AT&T, get on the ball and expand your coverage!

Do some technical difficulties for which I couldn’t fix, I’ve had to move the Wagener-Salley HS podcast page to a new site.   Currently, the site contains podcasts for the 2009-2010 South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees.  I hope to move last years podcast over  to the new site soon.

My wonderful library intern, Amy, has created a bulletin board and book  display for Banned Book Week (September 26 – October 3, 2009).  If you aren’t familiar with BBW, it is a time to bring awareness to everyone’s, even childrens, freedom to read.   Our bulletin board shows just a few of the books our library carries that have been challenged in the United States within the last two years. Why not take some time to read a couple?

Up next is Teen Read Week – “Read Beyond Reality @ Your Library” – look for more details in the weeks ahead.

The Ugly

Due to the overwhelming budget shortfall in our State educational system, my district has initiated a furlough of five days for teachers & instructional staff and 10 days for everybody else.  But at least we all still have jobs – there wasn’t another reduction in force initiative passed.

The Bad

I’ve had a horrible headache for the past three days.  I love the changing of the seasons, but Spring and late Summer/Fall are extremely painful for me.  Add inconsistent air-conditioning in the library, and I’d really like to hibernate at home until the temperatures become constant.  I’m going to have to insist that the district folks come out and check the thermostat register/gauge.  I swear it isn’t accurately measuring the temperature.

The Good

1. I’ve got an LMS intern this fall who started yesterday.  It’s a good thing she and I have already met and have had some interaction before she came here for her first day.  I was so doped up and caffeinated to try and dull my migraine that I’m sure I came across as a hyper schizophrenic woman.  As it was, I know I overloaded her with details on her first day. Sigh.  But on the bright side, I have a nice new Banned Book Week bulletin board – she did an awesome job on it.  Will have to remember to snap a picture before we take it down.

2. Sony has FINALLY made eReader library software available for download on Macs.  Of course, ideally, I’d rather they provide an ONLINE library/store verses having to download it to our computers, but at least they are no longer discriminating against us Mac users.  I was able to search, download, and transfer books to my eReader from my Mac last night.  That was way cool!

3. Apple’s Snow Leopard releases Friday and if you pre-ordered it up through yesterday, you were promised to have it delivered to you on Friday.  We’ll see.  I’ve been reading up on it, and while it doesn’t seem to have too many new “Wow” perks, you can’t beat the price – under $30.

4. We finally received instructions for setting up PowerTeacher Gradebooks.  I’ve been bombarded by teachers asking when it will be ready – they’ve got grades piling up!  Now I just have to put together a training packet – I’m not pleased with the one the district posted – it leaves too much out and some things aren’t explained very well.  Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? Hmm, maybe this should go under the bad!

5. Speaking of this weekend, I’ll most likely be stopping by to see one of my cousins (more like a sister as we practically grew up in the same house) who just had twin boys this morning!  Can’t wait for the pictures.  I have GOT to get a new digital camera.  I keep missing out on photo opportunities.

Well, at least for now the Good outweighs the Bad & the Ugly.  Do any of you have some news to share?

The point of this post isn’t the laminiator, what I wanted was to take a moment to jot down some of the things I’m looking forward to for this upcoming year:

1. My first school library intern – Yikes!  Pressure, Pressure!  I SOOOO don’t do things like we’re taught in library school.  However, I’m really looking forward to having a fresh face and new idea sharing with her.
2. Collaborating with teachers.  I already have some new and exciting plans with our Freshman Academy English teachers and some ideas bouncing around with our wonderful new art teacher.  Did I mention that we now have a FULL TIME ART TEACHER.  Whoohoo!  And our literacy initiatives, part of High Schools That Work, more than likely mean I’ll be interacting with more than just the English teachers for supplemental reading materials.
3. Speaking of reading initiatives, I’m really looking forward to planning some Teen Read Week activities.  This year’s theme is “Read Beyond Reality” and I want to offer events during all of October based around Reality TV:  American Idol; So You Think You Can Dance; America’s Got Talent; Jeopardy (or other game show); etc.  Our students love to perform, and since karaoke is always such a big hit, I’m hoping the other themes will draw more of them to the library.  A couple of teachers have already agreed to help out.  Of course I’ll be creating displays, bulletin boards, and book lists for science fiction and fantasy titles, but I immediately thought of the reality tv rage when I heard of this year’s theme.
4. Being asked by the middle school principal to work with (vertical team) with their new library media specialist.  This was a “duh” moment for me.  I got to thinking if I went over there a few times a month, we (the middle school and elementary school librarians and I) could work together!  The middle and elementary school libraries are beside each other and share a workroom.
5. Re-starting the book club.  I’ve already purchased multiple copies of My Sister’s Keeper by Picoult for one of our meetings.  I’ve been wanting to use it since it originally came out, but couldn’t afford the hardcover or trade paperback prices.  I was jumping for joy when it came out in mass market paperback in May and then the movie came out this summer!
6. Giving 10 Minute Tech training during our faculty meetings.  Some topics I’m thinking of introducing are: Twitter, RSS, Creative Commons, Flickr, VoiceThread, Animoto, DISCUS, Inspiration, PhotoStory, Windows Movie Maker, and many more.  I’ll give out handouts with basic instructions and an invitation for teachers to sign up with me for more in-depth training on their own time.

These are just a few of the things I’m planning for this year both for my library program, teachers, students, and professionally.  What are some things you’re looking forward to this year?

In addition,

• we cannot LINK to the documents without obtaining permission, which is why I didn’t link to it above.  If you want to read them, Google AASL and “Standards for the 21st-Century Learner” yourself as I don’t want to be in violation of the copyright.

• we cannot list standards on curriculum maps, lesson plans, or other educational documentation unless we obtain permission – which may have a price tag.

• we cannot train other educators using these standards in training handouts, PowerPoint/SlideShare or other mediums without obtaining permission – which may have a price tag.

Now, I’m not always the brightest bulb in the pack, but what is the point of having taken the time to compile a set of standards and then restrict their implementation by making us have to request permission EVERY TIME WE NEED TO USE THEM!  Bureaucracy in action folks!

Come on AASL.  Get with the program.  Free the Standards by making them available under a Creative Commons license.

To read more about the issue, check out Joyce Valenza’s NeverEndingSearch blog posts “#FreeTheStandards” and “#FreeTheStandards — David’s Take” as they are more eloquent stated than my own ranting.