The Bard's Books

Representation is important. We know this. And there have been a great number of wonderful books that focus on diversity and the lives of diverse people and their struggles/challenges. Those books absolutely should be on our library shelves. But representation isn't JUST about telling the stories of adversity. Representation is about reflecting a diverse population in everyday, sometimes mundane situations. Where race/gender/culture ISN'T integral to the story. I could write 15 paragraphs about "Snowy Day" and why it was groundbreaking (and the fact that it had to break ground is heartbreaking). This removes the "otherness" from the "others" and brings us together. So, now that I'm done soapboxing - here's some of my favorite books with diverse characters that aren't about diversity.  1. Princeless. I LOVE this series. Like, really love it. First off, it's a graphic novel, which means it never stays on my shelf. 2nd, the main char...

I admit it. I'm a bit of a sucker for memes. And I love the idea behind this quote. However, I pretty much refuse to post ANYTHING online without verifying. So, today's Pick Me Up Monday comes with a side of Don't Believe Everything You Read on the Internet. I saved this a few months ago to my phone, just because the quote resonated with me. I'm a big picture kind of gal, and I'm more likely to try and fail at something big than start out saying it can't be done. I love this about myself, and when I start to get down because things aren't going just right, it's a good reminder of why I aim big in the first place. Big dreams can reap big rewards. However, like I said, I like to fact check. I hate to be embarrassed, especially if I could have avoided being inaccurate by doing a little legwork. In this case, I googled the first line of the meme and Churchill. Most results were just this quote, but no history of attribution, so I kept looking. Finally...

You may remember from my Learning New Things post back in October that I've created a Pets in the Library program to help boost student interest in my nonfiction section of my library. I've expanded the program recently to include Library Pet Manager positions. Students use a Google form to apply for a LPM position with the animal of their choice. The link to the Google form is posted on their Seesaw accounts for student and parent access. Once students apply, I assign LPM jobs and post them outside the library door so students can see when they are scheduled. I also send out reminders to parents via Seesaw. My 10 LPMs come to the library every morning of their week at 7:45 (15 minutes before school starts). On Mondays, the previous week's LPMs train the incoming ones and for the rest of the week they handle all the feeding, habitat care and learn more about their assigned pet. It has been insanely popular. Out of my 300ish students, over 50 have signed up to do a job. ...

Today's haul came from the Boystown Thrift Store on Olmos in San Antonio. $20 total. Let's break it down: Soar - Bluebonnet book that I don't have. Plus, a student asked me for a novel about baseball the other day and I realized, I don't have any. 39 Clues - These still fly off the shelves and I don't have this one. Green - Caldecott & Giesel Honor book. Yes, please. Minecraft - We had none when I got here. Now we have two. Yay. Lemony Snicket is always a winner. The Geronimo Stilton's also fly off the shelves, and I've had several donated paperbacks of them. At $1 each, it doesn't bother me too much if they only last a year. Brown Bear - the music teacher in me loves this book. It was also a student request last week that I didn't have. Fart Powder - because what 3rd grader isn't drawn to a book with Fart Powder in the title. Dragons Love Tacos - and I love this book. Yoink! And finally - the only book that didn'...

Welcome to Review Wednesday! Today, I'm going to review Donald Trump by Rebecca Felix. Part of a series about US Presidents, this book is published by Abdo and was one of only two Trump biographies available for me to buy with Book Fair funds. I'd had several students request a Trump bio, so even though I wanted to wait a while to see what the options were and how the reviews from my library sources said, I went ahead and ordered it.  Overall, the book is fine. It gives facts, has lots of photos. The indices are really nice at the back of the book. I was looking for an unbiased presidential biography, especially because of our current political climate, and this book does an ok job at that. There are two pages that felt a little opinionated instead of fact based, but it will do for now.  You can find more info about the book here:  http://abdopublishing.com/shop/show/9086

Now that my internship semester is complete and all I've got left is portfolio, and I've somewhat settled into my new job, it is time to go back to regular blog posting. And I've figured out how to post from on campus (something that was driving me crazy!) I've got an idea to keep the ideas flowing - a blog schedule! So, here's how it's going to go: Pick Me Up Mondays - Positivity Posts. Tech Tuesdays - Blog posts about technology I've tried or am interested in trying. Book Review Wednesdays - I finally have time to read again - yay!! Thrifty Thursdays - The days I talk about my most recent thrift store book or library related finds. Free For All Fridays - Whatever I want to post about. I can't wait to get cracking!

It has been a while since my last update, so first here's what's been going on. I left my music teacher position of 14 years to take a 1/2 library 1/2 music position at a public PK-3rd grade Academy that focuses on using GT best practices for all students, whether or not they've been identified as gifted. I inherited a library that was staffed the previous year by a 1/2 time librarian and a 1/2 time assistant, who were both on another campus 1/2 time, which is tough. I've gotten really lucky to be mentored by a phenomenal librarian who is only blocks from my school, knows a TON about the district I'm in and how it's run and is just a great person. Because I could basically do the music job in my sleep, I've spent something like 3/4 of my time in the library, trying to get my bearings, get programs off the ground and provide a welcoming space for my teachers and students. So far, it's been going well. This first post back is going to be focusing on a ...

I love making book recommendations, but I think I like getting recommendations from others even more. I visited one of our district's Early Childhood Center (PreK & Head Start) campuses last week to take some books from my library that teachers had requested and to see if I could help them out a little since they don't have a librarian and their library is basically empty. While there, one of the bilingual teachers asked about my school's Spanish book section, which is actually pretty sad. She recommended a book called La Tortilla Corredora by Laura Herrera and illustrated by Scarlet Narciso. I immediately grabbed it off Amazon . You see, I know a lot about books, but I don't know everything. And I certainly don't know enough about pictures books in Spanish. You know who knows about those? PreK Bilingual teachers. And if a PreK Bilingual teacher says La Tortilla Corredora is amazing, then I'm going to believe her. And I'm going to add that book to my...

Summary:  Ella receives the gift of obedience from a foolish fairy, which turns out to be a curse instead of a gift. Forced to always follow orders, headstrong Ella fights the curse. When Ella's mother dies and her father remarries Dame Olga for her money, Ella finds herself in an untenable situation. Her stepsisters use her curse to keep Ella under their thumbs. Meanwhile, Ella has befriended and subsequently fallen in love with Prince Char, but is afraid her curse could be used to harm him. When Char comes back from a diplomatic mission, a ball is held in his honor. Ella attends in disguise but is unmasked. Char orders her to marry him but Ella, still afraid for his safety, is able to fight her curse and refused. This refusal breaks the curse and Ella then accepts his proposal and they are married. Strengths:  The novel's strength lies in the character of Ella. Headstrong, intelligent and kind, Ella fights against convention and the enchantment put on her in creative ...

Summary:  Thea lives in Gracehope, an underground colony underneath Greenland. Global warming is causing to melt away. When Thea finds a map and tunnel leading to the surface, she meets Peter, an outsider who makes connections between talismans of the people of Gracehope and his mother's research. The two realize they have a lot in common despite growing up in very different worlds. Together, Thea and Peter must convince the people of Gracehope that their lives are in danger and that they must leave Gracehope for the surface. Strengths:  Alternating chapters told from the perspectives of Thea and Peter allows the characters to become well developed before they meet and join together for their common goal. The realistic backdrop of global warming and scientific research into ice melt lends scientific credibility to the story. The elements of science and history make the plot unique and interesting. The icy setting is well described, immersing the reader into both Graceho...

Summary:  In Fairfold, regular people live side by side with magical Folk. Tourists come to visit Fairfold and its main attraction, a strange faerie prince lies sleeping in a glass casket. Hazel and her brother pretend they are his knights, but Hazel knows he will never wake up. Then one day, he does. Hazel discovers that in her past she made a bargain with the Fae so that Ben could go music school, but has kept this a secret. Hazel and Ben both have to remember and use their pasts to save the present. Strengths: The Darkest Part of the Forest is an urban fantasy. Black merges the real world with that of the Folk seamlessly. She also incorporates a gay romance subplot that doesn't feel forced or unnecessary. The book is dark and has some creepy elements. Characterization is handled well with Hazel, Ben and Jack being multi faceted and complex. The plot progresses through fractured pieces of present and past chapters, mostly told by Hazel, though a few are told from Ben...

For this course, I was required to interact and evaluate a plethora of technology tools for use in the library. Some technology was geared toward student use, other pieces were used for faculty or staff use or for connecting with parents or other library patrons. I think this may have been one of the most useful courses I've had thus far in my LibSci grad program. On top of absolutely loving the way assignments have been handled through blog posts, the hands on experience and ability to look at how other students are using the same tools was so incredibly useful. The list of blogs for other students also gives me a future resource when I am looking for ways to use these tools. My favorite tools were definitely the web 2.0 tools that I can use with students to create. Whether using them for lesson plans, makerspaces or with clubs, these creative ways to use technology to further understanding will likely be a core piece of instruction as a librarian. I imagine I will be using ...

I can't help but compare TLA to TMEA. They are similar types of conferences. Both seem well run, with a variety of speakers but TLA has the ritz factor. The small touches that probably help explain the extreme differences in price go to TLA. There are Ozarka water dispensers every few feet in the halls (maybe that's just this convention center?), amazing free snacks/dinner thingies. I know I'm a bit everywhere - maybe sleep deprivation? But here's another observation. Diversity is a huge issue with librarians. Since I'm doing my degree online, I had no idea how...same...the majority of librarians seem. Not that we aren't all different people with different experiences, but I walked into a session with ~500 people and only 3 were men, and maybe a dozen were people of color. I hope this is changing institutionally. I need to do some research about this stuff. I have more thoughts on TLA, it was a really positive experience for me and I can't wait to see what...

In the 1980s and 1990s, as educational technology was first becoming a budding field, Richard Clark published an analysis of data where he determined that the media that delivers instruction is no more than a delivery tool. He used an analogy of a truck carrying the information to the learner. He concluded that the media chosen has no effect on the learning taking place - that the instruction in the only thing that influences the learning.  In 1994, Kozma responded and prompted the current debate. Kozma states that some media have specific characteristics that do effect learning as more than a vehicle. While there is little research to support Kozma's claim, he suggests that the way the media helps shape the learning does have impact and that evaluating this impact requires more than raw data as the media and the way we use it has become more complex and nuanced. Clark has stood by his original conclusions and has even subsequently released articles further supporting his stanc...

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to podcasting. My husband, the Chainmail Ninja, is a hobbyist podcaster and professional book narrator so we have quite a recording setup in our home office. He worked in radio for 10+ years so he does the production side of things as well as the recording. I've tossed around the idea of contributing on his podcasts, which are mostly about geek culture and hobbies, but haven't had time to put this plan in action. But for today's blog post, I went ahead and made some time to create a podcast using our equipment. There are three main steps to creating a podcast. First, is the planning stage. Some podcasters prepare using various methods. Some research their topics, but don't do any other prep and speak mostly off the cuff. Many podcasters create a notes page to make sure they hit all the points they want to. Others create detailed scripts for their podcasts. The second step is recording the podcast. This can be done using the inter...

Let's look at cartoons and how they can be used in the library with students. I tried three different cartoon generating tools. First, I created a little comic about reserving library books using ToonDoo. ToonDo was fairly easy to use, but inserting text and changing the size was a little tricky. Saving was really easy. There was quite a bit of variety, but the quality of the pictures and backgrounds wasn't fantastic. My second comic was created using Pixton. What I liked about Pixton was that the graphic choices were really vibrant. The backgrounds were more fun than at ToonDoo. I made a cute little easy comic of a library joke. It was easy to save, but difficult to place the characters where I wanted. Lastly, I used MakeBeliefsComix to make a 3rd comic strip. I think MakeBeliefsComix was my favorite generator. I found the creation process to be the most intuitive using this tool. I would use comics with my classes in several way. Many of the generators had w...

Many libraries are already doing great things with youtube for their students. I browsed several school library youtube channels and found some gems.  First, here are two videos from BBMSmedia's channel, which can be found here. The video I found most useful for students would be the tutorial on how to use Noodle to create a book citation.    A video I found that I think students would love from this channel is this one that is a parody of Let It Go from Frozen about returning library books.  Norman High School Library has a great library of youtube videos, including this really helpful tutorial for their students on how to access the library webpage and use the resources contained there.  And this hilarious Harry Potter Dark Lord Funk video is definitely going to be a hit with students! The Unquiet Library includes this really useful video of how to embed a Prezi presentation into a wikispaces page.  And the...

I love screencast programs. I've used screencasts in my music classroom as sub lesson plans, as directions in centers and when I'm having voice problems like strep and I need to be able to teach the same lesson every day of the week without putting strain of my voice. Today, I'm going to show you two different ways to use screencast using two different screencast programs. Screencast-O-Matic Screencast-O-Matic is a web based screen capture program. You can find it here . You will need to download the record launcher, but once you do that, Screencast-O-Matic is really simple to use. A window pops up for you to select settings and once you do that, a small bar appears on your screen with controls while recording. Every time you press record, the recorder gives you a 3 second count down so you can get ready to go. You can pause, which is very useful. In addition, you can back up the recording and record over a previous mistake. I love this feature. There is a 15 minute lim...

I've been tasked to create an infographic for one of my grad school classes, so I got to play around with a few infographic editors this week. I chose to make my inforgraphic using www.easel.ly . I used data from a PEW research study conducted on the perceptions of online privacy and security, focusing on the results as they pertained to young adults/teenagers. Here's my first try at this. I really enjoyed working on this project, and hope to make some even cooler/cleaner looking infographics in the future. Easel.ly has some really neat templates.

I'm a huge blog reader. I love learning and reading about others' perspectives and I find blogs to be a great way to be entertained or educated. When you follow a lot of blogs like I do, you are going to need a feed reader, or you're going to spend a lot of time checking for new blog posts that aren't up yet, or missing great reads because you stop checking. Back in the day, I used Google's RSS feed reader, which I loved. But Google did away with it, so it was off to shop for a new one. I now use Feedreader, which you can find here . It's simple. It's been around for a long time and it gets high ratings from other users. I'm not that picky as long as interfaces are generally intuitive, and Feedreader is a simple, barebones, feed reader that works. Now, when I started out reading blogs, it was an extension of reading Live Journals. I'm not sure how many of you remember LJ and it's darker cousin, Dead Journal. I had accounts at both and wrote the...