Keeping+Current+Gems

5/31 1. [] from School Library Journal online, March 24, 2010 This article cites diappointing results from the Nation's Report Card which reveal that fourth grade reading scores remained stagnant across the country, the first time results haven't gone up since 2003. Details in the report indicate that performance may be tied to how much students read for pleasure. While school librarians are just the ones that can feed students' love of reading, they and their budgets are ironically being cut across the country.

2. [] from School Library Monthy, May 2010 This article discusses how school library media specialists can cultivate creativity among students and the importance of doing so. The school library is called "an ideal place in which to build a centralized open-inquiry lab." The author encourages student-driven investigation and problem-solving in the library as a way to build creativity.

3. [] fom School Library Monthly, May 2010 This article provides websites on literacies for 21st century learning. The author states "In the second decade of the 21st Century, K-12 educators must incorporate the principles and skills of all three of these new literacies into their classrooms." Those literacies include information literacy, ICT literacy, and media literacy. These web sites should be useful as we learn how to teach to meet standards beyond information literacy.

6/7 [] "Mature Content: To Label or Noth to Label, That is the Question" by Pat Scales, School Library Journal, 5/1/10 This article discusses the burden placed on librarians to provide age-appropriate content for students while avoiding censorship. It focuses on the difficulties middle school librarians face since students undergo tremendous emotional and social growth from grades 6 through 8. [] "What Are They Reading for Fun?" compiled by Marlene Charnizon, School Library Journal, 05/25/2010 What's more important than keeping books students actually want to read in your collection? This article gives librarians some great titles to keep young readers coming back for more. [] "Il School District Requires Library Cards Too" By Lauren Barack, School Library Journal, 04/06/2010 A school district in Illinois has added public library cards to its list of school supplies students are required to have. What a great way to get families back to the library! It' also a wonderful idea for collaboration and a good PR move for both the school and public library.

[|**http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/articles/collectiondevelopment/856653-343/letaposs_get_this_party_started.html.csp**] "Let's Get This Party Started: Pump up the volume. Streaming music is a great way to connect with older kids." by Kate pritchard, School Library Journal, 3/1/10 This article details a high school librarian's quest to bring studnts back into the library. She decided to find out what THEY wanted from the library, and the answer was music. She began using streaming music sites like pandora and had theme literature discussions and song lists...summer songs for their summer reading list, the sountrack from New Moon for the Twilight book club, etc. [] "Makng the Most of End-of-School Days" Educationworld website provides five end-of-year mini lesson plans to keep students engaged. Among them are creation of a class yearbook, autograph book, and poetry t-shirt. [] Dr. Mac's behavior management site provides some useful strategies to deal with disruptive students and provide a more productive learning environment for all students.
 * Nicole Lee 6/14/10**

"Building lesson plans around a gamig environment creates effective learning" by JP Porcaro, School Library Journal, May 2010** The author encourages school librarians to accept the fact that students are playing video games at home in record numbers and embrace this trend in their project-based learning. Check out this article to learn how to use Poke'mon as a valuable tool for teaching lessons across the curriculum. Are you game?:) As library media specialists we're in the unique position of being able to come in contact with the entire student population. This article discusses how imprtant it is for the library, as the hub of the school, to be a culturally responsive place. This is important to keep in mind when doing collection development. The cultural makeup of many schools has changed over the years, and the library collection needs to catch up with those changes.  This article addresses the need for school librarins to collaborate more with science teachers. Outdated science books in the library is pointed out as an obstacle to collaboration, but the author suggests videos and websites as a budget-friendly way to keep current. This is especially important when environmental issues arise such as the oil spill.
 * Nicole Lee 6/16/10 for 6/21/10
 * "Culturally Responsive Leadership in School Libraries" by Laura Summers, Library Media Connection, April 2010**
 * "You've got the hook" by Marcia Mardis, Library Media Connection, December 2009**

Nicole Lee June 27 for June 28 1. [] Carrie Jones: The Bully Pulpit, School Library Journal, 05/19/2010 Inspired by the tragic death of a Massachusetts teen, two Youg Adult authors have developed an anti-bullying facebook site. It makes sense that technology should be used to fight bullying since bullying has taken on an even meaner, though often anonymous, face online. We, as librarians, need to make our libraries bully-free zones that can be a haven for students who need an escape from the social pressures of school life. 2. [] Report recommends important changes to libraries, Posted Jun 24, 2010 [|By EMC News] American schools should consider following Canada's lead. Instead of making cuts to school library budgets, The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) has released a report discusing how to make school libraries more user-friendly for today's tech-savvy youth. Among the key recommendations: assist schools as they collaboratively develop a new library model known as learning common environments, maintain a commitment to effective computer resources and assistive technology, and improve access to virtual media, including personally owned devices. 3. [] Books with gay themes for young readers take off By LEANNE ITALIE (AP) – 4 days ago In response to the blog L.J. posted about the gay teen who couldn't find any gay themed books in his school library... According to this article, there's no shorage of titles. That librarian needs to do some serious updating to her collection to meet her students' needs.