Auntie Librarian

In June I attended the amazing and free Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, SC. Of course, I learned about the conference through my invaluable SCASL network. Silly me, I neglected to register for the conference. I heard rumors of a limited amount of first-come-first-serve onsite registrations. So, I decided to get up at the crack o' dawn and head on over to Greenville to see if I could snag one of those onsite tickets. Lo and behold, I was one of the first people there, which means I also got an awesome parking place. I enjoyed the oatmeal and coffee I brought while I waited for the conference folks to get the tickets. I later learned that they turned away over 100 people after the onsite tickets were gone.

I got a golden ticket!

Now, would this conference be worth the early morning rise? I had never been to one, so I was was eager to find out. It was most definitely worth getting up early for. The conference is extremely well organized, and the variety of sessions offered are unbelievable. Below are some session notes.

The first session I attended was presented by Lisa Fisher and Jared Johnson of Orangeburg 5 and Lexington 2 School Districts. Their session focused on using iPods and iPads in the classroom. Our school just got an iPad lab, and this session was very helpful to me. What I learned will help me create an iPad policy for the use of our new lab. Here are some of my favorite take aways:

screen shots - capture research, pictures using a screen shot on the iPad by pressing power and the "home" circle button on the bottom of the iPad, also a good tool for classroom management use to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Have students stop and take screen shots to document that they were on task.
reset - resetting the iPad will not erase the content or apps on the iPad. Teachers may find this useful when students have made changes to the iPad that they cannot undo.
Teachers using the iPad lab will have to teach their students the basics of the iPad before any real instruction can begin.
Use EdModo with iPads to help organize instructional content such as websites, videos and documents.
Socratic is a great app to try that makes your iPads into student response systems
Use Interactive White board apps such as screen chomp, educreations and show me to have students record what they are doing. For example, while recording, have students work a math problem and explain the steps on their iPads using one of these programs.

I also attended a session on Google Sketch up which is now called Trimble Sketch up. Presenter Josh Loso who teaches math at Hillcrest Middle taught participants how to use Sketch up and modeled an excellent math lesson. I am now confident that I can help my faculty learn to harness the power of Sketch up in their classrooms. I need to find out if the program is still going to be free for our schools after Trimble purchased it.

Cathy Jo Nelson presented a session on the 2011 AASL's Best Websites for teaching and learning. She showed us the sites and gave us tips on how to incorporate them into lessons. Cathy also gave us tips on how to use Twitter to find out about good websites and apps.

The most influential, sticky aspect of UTC was Lodge McCammon and his keynote and session on Flipping the classroom. My next post will be dedicated to this concept and its possibilities.

Many thanks to UTC and its organizers for presenting a great conference for FREE!

This year I decided to check out books to students over the summer. "You'll never get 'em back!" says the wicked witch in my head. It reminds me of the "You'll shoot your eye out! You'll shoot your eye out!" sass from Ralphie's teacher in A Christmas Story. I thought it was a revolutionary idea, because all I ever heard was, "You'll never get the books back." Well, it's NOT a revolutionary idea and lots of great librarians do it. I posted a query to the SCASL list-serv asking, "Do you check out books over the summer?" and one person replied "as many as they want. . " that's when I knew I had to do it. Here are some other reasons:

1. The only students who are going to check out books are the ones who love to read, those are my regular customers and they are pretty reliable about returning their books to the library. We need to make more students who love to read. But for me right now, the number of students interested in summer book check out is not overwhelming.

2. Which is more important? Getting all the books back or kids reading over the summer? Students reading over the summer is much more important than the potential loss of a few library books.

3. I used it as an incentive for students to clear their library account and return all of their books on or before the last week of school. Students could not check out books for the summer unless they had no check outs or overdue books or fines on their library account.

4. Checking out books over the summer helps build a culture of reading.

5. I decided to allow only the 6th and 7th graders to check out books because they will be returning to the school next year. I did check out a few books to 8th graders who asked about checking out books and told them to return the books to the High School library or our public library.

All in all this has been a positive experience that I will almost certainly repeat next year. I started a summer book club with four books to choose from and scheduled meetings on the two dates I opened the library.
Even if we don't get many people, this is a start. I will be able to kick the year off by continuing the summer book club into the first two weeks of school.

Check out the SMS Library Blog to see what we read and some of the activities we tried.

We just hung a beautiful sculpture in the library. There's a story behind it, and in honor of my Mother I am going to write about it.

I went to Florida the summer after my mother passed away. I drove down by myself. I guess you could say I was looking for my mom and for myself too. The trip was magical. Weird things just seemed to happen. Beautiful things.

One of my first stops was Anna Maria island, a place we often went as a family. It's been over twenty years since I was last here.I passed by the house we used to stay in. I sat on the pier I used to fish from as a kid. I took a walk on the beach my sisters and cousins used to play on. My head was filled with so many wonderful memories. It was sunset time, and the water was smooth. I couldn't help but roll my pants up and walk into the water. Like the air, the water was quiet and warm and still. When I saw the dolphin fins emerge from the water, I could not believe my eyes. At first I was terrified, thinking, "shark!" I was delighted when, silently and slowly, a mother dolphin and her baby swam so close to me I could almost reach out to touch them.

My next stop was Longboat Key, another special place full of memories. While I was there, a manatee swam along the shore of the beach near my hotel. This rarely happens as manatees prefer mangrove areas and channels. I spotted its dark shape from my lounger, threw down my magazine and ran to the shore line. A crowd of people began to form around me as I pointed to the manatee.

I have never been so close to dolphins and manatees before.

St. Petersburg was the last stop on my trip. My mother used to live there. I visited Mary Ann, a longtime family friend. Mary Ann took me to to see the Morean Arts Center's Chihuly Collection. I have seen a few of Chihuly's pieces in hotels and Casinos and loved them all, but not to the point of emotion. I had never seen a whole collection exhibited. I was deeply engrossed in the beauty of the glass pieces featured in the collection when I came to the last part of the exhibit, the Fiori. Chihuly makes large pieces of art called fiori, which is Italian for the word flower. These particular pieces are so large they take up an entire room. I walked into the black room where the fiori piece was. It was like a spectacular glass garden laid out before me. Beautiful, bright colors and shapes sprouted from the ground. I was so blown away by the beauty of it I had to sit down. It literally brought tears to my eyes.

I have never seen such vibrant colors and fantastic shapes before.

Mary Ann and I also visited a hot shop, and watched a live glass blowing demonstration. The whole time I was in St.Pete looking at all this art, I was thinking of my friend Amanda, who teaches art at my school. I snapped photos and took video clips and sent them on to my art teacher friend. I knew she would love to see all of this. She sent me a text saying, "more!"

Seeing how much I loved Chihuly's art, Mary Ann gave me a
Chihuly poster and Chihuly books and postcards. I put them in
my car and headed back home.

As I am driving home from this wonderful trip, barreling down one of those lovely flat, smooth Florida highways with the music turned up loud, up in the horizon, dozens of colorful hot air balloons are lifting into the air. Another magic moment. This turned out to be an amazing trip.

When I get back home, I bring the Chihuly books and poster to my art teacher friend Amanda to use in her classroom. Soon after, Amanda comes up with this great idea for a Chihuly-like sculpture for her students to make.

Amanda and I plan a virtual Chihuly tour in the library's computer lab to introduce the sculpture project to the students. We turned out the lights and tried to replicate a gallery setting. We showed the students examples of blown glass. We watched videos and played music softly in the background. The students loved it. They were excited. The lesson was a wonderful collaborative effort.

The art students work on the sculpture. Collecting bottles,
painting, assembling. Two years go by.

Today, a gorgeous sculpture hangs from the ceiling in the library I work in every day. What a gift! The art project started and ended in the library. How cool is that?

And it reminds me of my mother.

And Amanda the art teacher reminds me of my mother.

Because she sees something and she lets it inspire her into creating something beautiful. Just like my mother would. She makes beautiful things.

The trip I took to Florida was surreal. I felt as if my mother was blessing me with these beautiful treats in the forms of dolphin, manatee, the warmth of childhood memories, Chihuly art, sunsets, good friends, and hot air balloons. I had nothing to show for it but a few pictures, memories and stories.

Not anymore.

Most people will look up at this sculpture and see only a
beautiful sculpture. When I look at it, I see a journey, a gift, a
wonderful collaboration, friendships, and a little magic.

And I see my mother.

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Auntie Librarian

featured Slider

Upstate Technology Conference Wow!

Reasons why I am opening the library and checking out books over the summer

A Beautiful Sculpture

About Me

Search This Blog