No reading? Not exactly

This seems like a very strange image for any librarian to post, but today I was inspired to do this by an article in the latest issue of LMC, Library Media Connection (March/April 2009, 27:5). It's entitled "Why We Need to Stop Promoting Reading," by Mindy Miner Holland. We all have "READ" posters and bookmarks. The author asks if these promotions are effective. What really makes kids want to read? She decided to ask her students what would motivate them to read. Guess what they said? More books! Better books! I recommend this article to you for her suggestions for going beyond our READ posters and buttons.

Top 10 Web 2.0

From T.H.E. Journal News Update for 2-4-09

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

Gail Lovely is adamant about the nature and potential of Web-based learning tools. "Web 2.0 is about trust," she said at a recent talk. "It's about sharing and collaborating." And, she insisted, it's about putting the power to learn and create in the hands of the students. More

This a great list that includes several tools that we all learned to use while completing School Library Learning 2.0, plus some great new ones. Here's to a great 2.0 new year!

How About Hosting a Technology Fair for Teen Tech Week?

From the latest School Library Journal online:
"Looking for a way to integrate your school’s technology program with Teen Tech Week? St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD), Longmont, Colorado has put together an award-winning Student Technology Fair project, and since Teen Tech Week 2009 is just around the corner (March 8-14), now is time to start planning." Read the article here.

New Reason to Use Google Reader

Interesting thing I just discovered with my Google Reader here at school - You can read the pop-up blog posts in Google Reader, even if the home site is one that is blocked at your school site. This is something new to me, at least.

I started following Sarah Dessen's blog (Just Listen, Lock and Key) on LiveJournal, which is blocked here at school. However, when I checked my Google Reader blog roll, I could still read her posts in Google Reader. What a concept! I think it's just great that a web 2.0 tool is helping me to get around the block my district puts on this kind of site. Who knew! Try it for yourself.

CSLA Conference Day 3

Well, so much for finishing my blog posting from the conference. My 24 hours ran out on the Hyatt network and as I was leaving on Sat. in the early evening, I didn't bother to pay for another day. It's truly my hope that wifi will become ubiquitous at conference venues and as an organization we won't be required to pay high fees to give the conference attendees access.

The conference was a great success and hats off once again to all of the planners and organizers. We don't say thank you enough, but we truly appreciate you!

P.S. I highly recommend volunteering to work at the registration desk. You get to see everyone arriving, find friends and make a lot of new ones. It was great fun.

News from the Conference Day 2

Greetings on day 2. Today I began the day with a very early breakfast and then got over to the convention center to work at the registration desk at 7:00 am. What was I thinking? It was great, though. I can highly recommend it as a place to volunteer to see people as they arrive and make new friends too. George Pilling was there and brought us some of the CALIBK12 stickers for those of us who forgot to print them out. We pasted them on any badge holders we got our hands on. Thanks, George, even if we don't win a prize.

Those of us at registration didn't make it to all of the opening session, but I did get to go hear the featured speaker, Joe McHugh, present Slaying the Gorgon - Storytelling and Media in the Electronic Age. He was fantastic! A great story teller and very creative in bringing together images from advertising and the web to illustrate his points. I wish we had video so everyone in CSLA could see and hear his talk. Kudos once again to the conference committee for finding an amazing, entertaining and inspiring keynote speaker.

After the opening session, attendees had a chance to visit the exhibits for an hour or so before the first concurrent session. I still haven't gotten in there except for a brief tour last night. There's always tomorrow.

1st concurrent session: ABC's of Leadership - Barbara Jeefus, Jim Duke, Chela Cortez, Claudette McLinn, Jeanne Nelson shared their road to leadership in our organization. Sandy Schuckett facilitated this interesting peek at what brought them all to CSLA. It was the conclusion of the attendees that this needs to be presented in a larger forum to inspire more people to participate in CSLA as officers and chairs, and it's a job for all of us.

Next on to the Legislative Lunch with informative words from our own Jeff Frost. The word is not good on the budget situation, even for this current school year. We all need to continue to contact our legislators, especially the 30 newbies in the Senate and Assembly. If you have a supportive legislator, why don't you encourage he or she to mentor a new person on the importance of school libraries to student achievement? We need to watch for the dates to be announced by CSLA for legi days in the district, etc.

2nd. session: I attended the session on Textbook Management, with Rob Darrow, Gene Menicucci, and online with us, Paula Ford. I got lots of great ideas to pass on to my district to upgrade our textbook software. We do a pretty good job of retrieval of textbooks at my HS, but the district as a whole, needs to get better control, so I can go home with some good info.

3rd. session: I attended "Is the Google Generation Information Literate?" Zorana Ercegovac presnted her findings from a case study with secondary school students. I think we all related to her findings and she will share her presentation and pretest with all of us to use at our schools. She has a new edition of her book just published based on this study as well. It would probably be great for my teachers to read.

Well, I'm off to the President's Reception with a live radio show, refreshments and goodies to take home. Don't you wish you were here? I do!

News from the Conference Day 1

Well, the first day is over. I've seen some old friends, made some new ones and spent time in 2 interesting workshops. So far, the only disappointing thing is that the convention center doesn't have wifi for us, so we can't really be as green as we all anticipated. Here at the Hyatt one has to pay by the day to get online, so I probably won't be able to write as much as I wanted to.

Sometimes, when I spend my days with so many connected high school kids, it seems like the entire world is connected, and maybe it really isn't.

Ah well, off to bed. In a weak moment I actually volunteered to work in registration at 7:oo am! What was I thinking?

Librarymum in Sacramento