The Reading Renaissance

This week’s reading was…rough. I brought Catalog It! on vacation with me to San Juan and this text is not a beach read. Funnily enough, while I was reading Parable of the Talents (also not really a beach read…), the main character mentions cataloging! I couldn’t get over it. I couldn’t escape cataloging!   “So later in the day, Marc found me sitting with Channa Ryan, sorting and cataloging books. We’re always behind in that, and it needs to be done…Still, cataloging is tedious. I was almost glad when Marc came and interrupted my work” (Butler 146). Most of this week’s content felt completely over my head which was frustrating. I thought I might like trying out the exercises, like a fun little sudoku puzzle. They were not fun and I didn’t like them!   I did feel relieved to see that my classmates had similar feelings about this topic and that even Kaplan describes cataloging as “thorny.” My fingers are crossed that intricacies of cataloging will eventually make more sense to m...

image created using imgflip.com/memegenerator My AP Language and Composition class recently finished this practice exam from 2017 that prompted them to “develop a position on the role, if any, that public libraries should serve in the future.” The sources provided by CollegeBoard along with the discussion my students had in response to the prompt, drew me to Wendy Stephens’s article, “Welcome to Your Post-Coronavirus School Library.” I was drawn to this article because I’m learning that librarians really have to adapt to the ever changing landscape of education. Obviously teachers have to adapt as well but I think it’s easier to stay a bit “old school” in the classroom whereas it seems like a librarian’s livelihood depends on their flexibility. Ultimately, I wanted to read something current and was curious about the author’s ideas for a post-coronavirus library.  Stephen’s main point is that school librarians need to adapt to the changing educational landscape by embracing d...

March Madness Bracket Created Using Kami   My Top Five Tools: This is so boring but I love Google Workspace . It's tried and true. Plus, I found that during my exploration 50% (estimated) of the tools I wanted to use were blocked by my district! My second favorite tool is Padlet . Padlet has so many uses, the possibilities are endless! Well, only if you have the paid account...But seriously, I use it to post the notebook prompts for my students to refer back to if they're absent, I use it for students to complete a virtual KWL chart, and some of my students use it in place of notebook. These are just some ideas! Sora is the best. I know people love Libby but my students can use their BPL card to access multiple libraries. This is especially helpful for students looking for audiobooks which seem to be more and more popular. I've had fun playing around with Kami . They have tons of templates and I like all of the accessibility features that students can use. Plus, it syncs u...

The MSLA conference really exceeded my expectations. Working full time and taking this course makes me feel like I’m already short on time so it was difficult to imagine giving most of my precious Sunday up but I’m so glad I did! I will admit, I considered sleeping in and missing the keynote speaker but I’m thankful that I didn’t. The keynote speaker was Rajani LaRocca who is an author of picture and middle grade books in addition to being a physician. How cool! Her story was so interesting and she was so engaging — hard to do at 8am on a Sunday! Something that resonated with me from her presentation was advice given to her by her high school creative writing teacher. She had told him that although she loved writing, she knew she wanted to be a doctor and he replied, “Who said you can’t be both?” Her presentation was a reminder that we really can do all that we want to. It was the jolt I needed! After listening to her describe her multi-award winning book, “Red, White, and Whole,” I im...

Image created using  imgflip.com/memegenerator Below are eight valuable accounts for English teachers: Blogs Here Wee Read This blog is created by Charnaie Gordon, a content creator, speaker, and children’s book author. I love using children’s books in my high school classes for various lessons. Each year, regardless of the grade I’m teaching, I usually teach a unit about representation. This blog is a great resource for finding children’s books with diverse characters. Read it. Write it. Learn it. Emily Aierstok is an English teacher with 22 years of experience in grades 7-12. She teachers in upstate New York. She has fantastic resources around standards based grading and how to more efficiently give students feedback on their writing. Both are topics that I struggle with so I’ll definitely be spending more time diving into her resources. Write on with Ms. G Ms. G is currently a middle school English teacher and formerly taught at the high school level. One concern I have about mo...

In response to Janet Hopkin's "10 ideas for addressing library accessibility issues for students with disabilities:" The library at my school is underused, and I think it would be interesting for our librarian to research why this is the case. We have a wide range of students; 68.5% of our population are English Language Learners and 24.5% are students with disabilities. I'm wondering how the library could better suit their needs. Something to remember when I become a librarian is to consider why some students may not visit the library and to brainstorm how to address this issue. Our librarian has been working in the district for a long time in several different capacities, so I'm sure she knows who to contact for assistive technology needs. As I found this week, it's pretty easy to find someone in the district to talk to about assistive technology. Our library is physically accessible. There are ramps leading into all entrances, and the space is easy to navig...