Battle of the Books

Some of you might not be following School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books, but these results are very interesting. They are certainly books I’ll be looking at for my library. Here is the link if you want to follow some of the ongoing battle. The judges are fabulous, with Lois Lowry making the final determination.

Check out the current status here.

Starting Anew- My Views

I have been remiss in posting comments about the books I’ve read and loved (or otherwise) and I am going to make a concerted effort to rectify that. I know how much other people’s insights have meant to me and to my task of choosing books for my readers. I am always thrilled when a new issue of Resource Links appears as well as a number of other bloggers whose reviews I have come to enjoy and trust. But to clarify my blogging style, I do not pretend for a moment to provide the in-depth reviews of Resource Links, CM reviews or many of the other superior publications. My intent is mainly to share my heart: my enthusiasms, my questions, and my feelings about the readers these books may attract and perhaps to pique your interest in these materials for yourself or readers you may know. I confess to reading a lot- it is one of my great joys since I can remember. As a child, I ran out of reading materials and remember that feeling of despair as I searched for new books. I joined a book club sponsored by the Regina Public Library where they would send me one book per month. One Book! It was barely enough to whet my appetite. When around the age of 10, they sent me a copy of Dickens” Tale of Two Cities’, which I dutifully read, I decided that perhaps they were not well qualified to choose my reading for me. So today as I look around my well-stocked library, I sometimes am still overwhelmed with the choices available for students today. For the first time in my life, I am close to saying.” Are there TOO many books being published?” I ask that for two reasons. One, many of the exemplary books are being read by too few. Second, there are books that really aren’t deserving of their place on the shelf. I never want to appear calloused as I do have a glimmer of understanding of what it takes to write and publish a book. But there are times where I read one of my latest acquisitions and question the author’s intent, the editor’s attention to detail, or the somewhat superficial exploration of a topic. That is not to say that all books need to be deep and weighty: but in my opinion need to speak in some way to the human condition. Forgive my ramblings, but know that if you choose to follow my blog, you may occasionally get some of the same. But in the midst of it all, I hope you find some gems, some thoughts to inspire you and the children you serve.
As an aside, I also would ask you to make a comment from time to time. Ask a question, agree or disagree- it doesn’t matter to me. Without comments, a blogger feels that they are writing into a vacuum and motivation dulls. So take a moment to let me know you’re out there.

Safety- an issue

In response to Chris’s post on this subject, I don’t think we will actually err on the side of caution. I have watched videos and seen many pictures on blogs of people’s children and my heart always does a little-uh-oh!I understand that simply posting these things is not unsafe but the idea of just ANYONE seeing them is a bit unnerving. It reminds me of a colleague who posted something on her blog that seemed rather condescending to those who were not yet up to speed on Web2.0. When I brought it to her attention, her response was: “But I thought I was writing just to my fellow Web2.0 buddies.” There we have it- informed, intelligent beings who also forget that what you put out there is for everyone to see.

So I just watched the slide show again and once again, it strikes me that, we the teachers, have largely taken on the role that rightly belongs to parents. I don’t mean in its entirety but in partnership. And there is where the difficulty comes in- how to educate the parents! We can easily block sites at school or at the very least, moniter what they are doing on the Web, but it is at home that many of them are involved in socail networks. I read(somewhere) that about 66% are careful about what information they post. Not bad! But what about the other third of our children who may be putting themselves at risk? How do we reach them with the enormity of the conseqences of revealing too much to who knows whom?

A lot to think about- a lot to care about.

Copyright- What matters?

Well, after reading as much information on this as I can process at this time, I probably have more questions than answers. When we were dealing primarily with books and encyclopedias, it was relatively easy to know how to teach about the importance of copyright and what we could and could not do. Since the advent of the Web, there seems to have been a bit more haziness around the issue, with many assuming that its public format meant it was free to be used in any way we saw fit. Cutting and pasting made writing those term papers all too easy,Google images are copied freely and there seems to be many who are not aware that copyright of any work must always be assumed. I read recently that pictures from Flickr were used without permission for commercial gain and that person is being sued. Yet many of those pictures are posted (I believe) with the understanding that they may be used with certain provisos in place. Creative Commons, which I was unfamiliar with, allows persons to license their work for sharing purposes. It also becomes clear that even if sharing is allowed, acknowledgement must still be made. What I do see, though, is that very few people are able to keep up with the changing rules, least of all busy teachers, who still sometimes allow students to “surf” the Web and use whatever they find.

I think what students need to understand is that all published work is copyrighted. They need to know that their own original work is copyrighted. They need to know how to determine if work can be used because of Creative Commons licensing or other sharing privileges. They need to know that the use of any information must still be credited.

I had a brief discussion over lunch today with some of my staff about copyright in regards to the internet. Certainly, very little thought has been given to this issue- in fact, I would say it appears to be more of a non-issue for adults and students alike. Some of the questions raised were in regards to pictures or graphics. May we still use a portion for our own use and may we still use 10% if used for educational purposes?

 I read through Copyright Matters again and the bottom line for me is that I NEED to become more aware of the rules surrounding copyright; for as the booklet states “you are educating the copyright owners and users of tomorrow.”

RSS and other things of consequence.

So here I am at home today with very little voice and directions from my doctor “not to talk.” If you know me at all, you’ll recognize that as a hardship. So I have been giving some little thought to this last assignment, which for me was the easiest so far. That is because after the IT conference last spring, the first thing I did was set up an RSS feed which I have come to appreciate. Many posts I skim as I can’t give a lot of time to them- others I come back to, and some I actually take careful note of. It is a great way to track information and yet, I know that very few people in my world use it. Why am I surprised? Before last year, I had never heard of an RSS feed, or of many of the other terms that are now becoming somewhat familiar. Yet I realize that in this world of Web 2.0, there is a new term around the corner every day. It would make a great science Fiction question: “What if this world of technology came tumbling down?” Anyway, I won’t write the book!

The new site I am truly coming to appreciate is Delicious!! What a great way to bookmark all of the great sites we enjoy- especially for those of us who are in two schools. Often, I’ll bookmark something at one school but have failed to do so at the other.

I have looked at next week’s assignment in a cursory fashion and once more, am overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information on any given topic. I understand  better why students often sit and gaze at a Google screen bemused or simply begin to copy something from the first site they are directed to. Unfortunately, I think the technology is far ahead of our ability to teach students proper searching skills. For myself, although I am working at it, I still feel inadequate and I simply am not able to reach all students. The classroom teacher is trying to keep abreast of curriculum, reporting demands and just the general preparation involved on a daily basis, so cannot be expected to pursue and embrace this learning as well. When was it they said technology would create a shorter workweek and more leisure time? Too much information simply means more  time spent in trying to ferret out what is relevant and what is not.

Obviously, I shouldn’t stay home- I talk too little and think too much!!

Have a good weekend- one and all.

Blogging for students

I was following the thread about interesting students in blogging on one of your sites and lost track of which one. It’s something that we all seem to be facing- the challenge of getting our students to try new things. As soon as they are associated with school and learning, they lose their edge. If a friend suggested it, they’d be all over it. So the other day, I book-talked the Diamond Willow books to the grade4/5 class at one of my schools. I put my library blog up on the screen and book-talked as I showed them where to find things and how to place comments. They were thoroughly engaged and many can’t wait to read a book and try it out. That particular teacher is also very willing for me to assign the reading and blog response for at least one Diamond book. So maybe we need to catch them a little younger, when they still are not afraid to be enthusiastic about new things. I think many of us felt that if we presented a technology option, they’d be keen immediately. But like so many things in education, we have to have some patience and I do believe as they see others give it a try, it will catch on. Some of the students are also reading other books that they would like to comment on. so it looks like I will be adding a section for Student Picks. I suggested they give me the title and author of the book they’re reding which I will post so that they can begin to comment.
By the way, have you checked out Tanya’s blog? We have a pro in our midst.

Blogging value

In conclusion, it looks as if blogging will be very good for our brains. It holds enormous potential in education, and it could take societal communication and creative exchange onto a whole new level.

This is the conclusion of an excellent article on the value of blogging. And if this is good for my aging brain, I’m in!

Wow!

Can you believe it? An award already and we’ve only just begun! Althought many of you probably already know this, I wanted to see how easy it was to add the graphic and link in. Piece of cake! I hope!

Observations

Although I did not post anything this weekend, I spent some time ruminating on the purpose of blogs. As simple on-line journals, their purpose seems quite straightforward- a personal diary. But as I subscribe to a number of blogs through my RSS feed (which I learned about at last year’s conference), I realize that blogs have as many purposes as authors. So then I thought about what my purpose would be- aside from the fact that this is an assignment to enable us to become comfortable with the blogging format. As you will see from the title of my blog, books are always going to be my focus. So I believe that if I continue this blog after our course is over, it may turn into a rather rambly discourse on what I’m reading and enjoying now; both children and adult literature. Not that I have much time for the adult stuff at the moment.

The other concern for many bloggers seems to be- I write, but will anyone read and comment? Or should we care? So this blogging experience should help me to decide what my priority will be- blogging in such a way and with content others may wish to read or as a way to contain some of my scattered thoughts and memories and make them more useful personally. But enough of that for now!! On to books!

I was saddened last week to read of Madeline L’Engle’s death. I have admired her and loved her works for a long time and had the privilege of meeting her when she came to Bookworm’s Den in Saskatoon. I have a much treasured, autographed copy of a Wrinke In Time. My son in Ontario e-mailed me a link to a site with a review of her life, as we read many of her books at the same time.

This weekend’s read was Eyes of A Stalker- a Shelby Belgarden mystery writtten by Valerie Sherrard. I thoroughy enjoyed this light, fast-paced novel- totally appropriate for our YA section 0f the library. Valerie is the author of Sam’s Light, which was a Snow Willow nomination several years ago and a very powerful novel.

So that’s it for today. I have not included comments on any other of this year’s Snow Willow titles- at this point, they can be found on my library blog.