March 2009

Blog Bits

A few more interesting bits from the blogs:

a. Global Collaboration and Personal Learning Networks - detailed blog post by Julie Lindsay on "flattening" the classroom with global collaborations. Does this suggest a new concept of an "international school"?

b. New Fair Use Code of Practice - more on copyright for teachers by Wes Fryer, including a great Slideshare presentation.

c. Empty Praise - post by Kristin Fontichiaro features a video interview by Will Richardson with Carol Dweck on the danger of overpraising students as connected with the student's willingness to be a risk-taker. Gives examples of how to "praise the process" in a way that builds a growth mindset.

Stars and A Wish

Many thanks to all who shared suggestions for the library. Here is a summary of the suggestions that were made:

- more books in "diary" format
- more biographies
- more Eyewitness history books
- books addressing social and emotional needs of students
- more books in Portuguese
- more books about Native Americans
- more picture books about science
- more audio books
- more books from the countries of origin of our students

Another suggestion was to build more connections between the library and the arts.

I was delighted to receive these suggestions. Look for growth in these areas thanks to your thoughts.

Electronic Resources for Next Year

We will be renewing our library electronic resources subscriptions in April. As always, but especially in the current economic situation, we want to be sure to purchase resources that teachers and students like and will use. Many of our databases are purchased through our MISBO membership.

To see which databases MISBO is offering for next year and to access free trials of those resources, go to this MISBO webpage. Please let me know which MISBO databases you like the most.

We also subscribe to GALILEO for a number of our databases and buy several others, such as Bookwhere, Tumblebooks and World Book Online, separately. Any feedback on those resources would be much appreciated as well. We will also be looking at usage statistics to determine which resources are being utilized.

Thanks for your help in the selection process - this is your chance to speak up on what you like . . . and what you don't like.

PS Library Moodle

Some of you may not know that the PS Library has a Moodle page under "Library" (near the bottom of the list). There you will find electronic resources and citation information, as well as library lessons for particular units and links to resources. The PS Library E-Bulletin Board is also linked through the Moodle, so you can reach both areas from one portal.

If you have suggestions as to material to add to the PS Library Moodle, please let me know.

Visit by Paul Janeczko

Poet Paul Janeczko, award-winning poet and poetry anthologist, visited AIS on Thursday, March 5, and shared his books about poetry with our 4th graders. Students seemed particularly impressed with his concrete poems and with his strategies for journaling and idea generation. Visit the library to check out books by Paul Janeczko for this April, National Poetry Month!

Your Favorite Childhood Book or Poem?

What was your favorite childhood book or poem? I'd like to do a display of teacher favorites. Even better - please add several sentences about why you liked the book or poem. We did this a few years ago and the students really enjoyed seeing "who liked what".