information at them and hoping that they soak it in. I need more interesting and invigorating ways to excite students about learning, even when I know it will bore them to death! I want them to want to be here! And what do you do when there is no parent support at home?? How can we be the only one that encourages them enough to make them crave knowledge?
I am currently a 20 year veteran teacher in ELAR and am in my final semester of earning my MLS! I love to read and just want to spread the love of reading to others! My blog includes tips, tricks, websites, anything to help you spread the love of reading, especially to those that are reluctant!
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The UDL! Learn it...use it...love it...teach by it!
information at them and hoping that they soak it in. I need more interesting and invigorating ways to excite students about learning, even when I know it will bore them to death! I want them to want to be here! And what do you do when there is no parent support at home?? How can we be the only one that encourages them enough to make them crave knowledge?
Friday, November 19, 2021
Friday, November 12, 2021
Creating a Podcast!
I have not been much into podcasts until recently because they were to be included in my Master's classes. I have created a couple and it was a lot easier than expected when I first started! I have to admit it was a scary experience at first, mostly due to me not enjoying the sound of my voice, but the advantage is that at least my face doesn't have to be seen! That's always a perk! Better my voice than my face! No dressing up needed! LOL! Once I got into the groove of creating a podcast and reading on the how-to's, I have it down for the most part.
There are quite a few sites that can help you create and distribute your podcast...
Soundcloud: First off this seems like strictly for sharing your music that you have created and create playlists. And the biggest thing, it is not free! I am all about at least needing a free trial. No free trial, no trial run! It is what it is! We are teachers and librarians...not a lot of money to play with! The good part, if you are willing to pay the yearly price, is that you do get a lot of air time and your listener count increases greatly. The other perk is that you can integrate it with other platforms. Oh wait...you do get a three hour time limit for free...but what's 3 hours?!? That's nothing in teacher/librarian time! This doesn't seem like the best fit, especially for me.Podbean: This is my go-to for podcast creating. I started out using Podbean and haven't turned back yet. I think it is the fact that I know how to use it and am comfortable with it. The website is free and you have a free domain. Yes you only get the basic functions, but for beginners like myself, it's perfect. Very user friendly and just enough for what I need to do. And even though it's just the basics, there are plenty of tools to work with and manipulate to create a great podcast. This site is used fby many popular companies for their podcast, such a JP Morgan and IBM. Podbean was my librarian partner's and my choice of podcast tools.
Buzzsprout: This site starts out free, but after 90 days, your podcasts are deleted. So therefore, you couldn't run a complete show on here for free. Bummer. There are different plans you can purchase, though, ranging from $12-$24 a month. The monly price also depends on how many hours you use as well. But it is simple to use and you can transfer from other platforms. It has optimization features and an audio transcription service that are quite useful as well. A downfall is that there are download and bandwidth limits.
Podcasts can be of great use within your library. They can always help to spread the word about goings-on, new arrivals, book reviews, and book club sessions. Guest can be invited to speak about books and other resources/media. I believe podcasts would be more highly used to advertise and get the younger generations attention than other forms of media. They are always glued to their cell phones and such, and every teenager seems to have a set of Air Pods! Podcasts could get around to more people and create a bigger buzz.
Check out our Tired Twins podcast, by Candi and myself, below to hear about several of our favorite books that we have encountered over our years of teaching and librarianship! It is just a fun and light-hearted podcast that we hope you enjoy and find refreshing, maybe even learn some new book choices!
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-6vt7i-112c188
Some really good educational podcasts are found below...
Teachers in America
Teaching Keating with Weston and Molly Keischnick
This Teacher Life
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-teacher-life/id1477926278
The Book Love Foundation Podcast
https://www.booklovefoundation.org/podcasts
10 Minute Teacher Podcast
https://www.coolcatteacher.com/podcast/
The Creative Classroom
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-creative-classroom-with-john-spencer/id1141442116
Truth for Teachers
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/
The House of #EdTech Podcast
https://www.chrisnesi.com/episodes/
Class Dismissed
https://classdismissedpodcast.com/category/podcasts/
The Sparky Creative Teacher Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-spark-creativity-teacher-podcast-education/id1241054855
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Honored Favorites for YA!
1. Best Fiction for YA: McGinnis, M. (2021). Be not far from me. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Blog: The novel takes readers through an unimaginable experience yet makes it realistic enough that you will never set foot in a forest again without shivers from Ashley’s story resurfacing. Throughout her grim journey in the Smokies, Ashley finds herself becoming one with nature and unapologetically enjoying life. Anecdotes from her ruthless upbringing explain how she became the tough young adult she is. Absorbed in her fight to survive, you’ll be rooting for her even when she’s not. By pulling the reader into Ashley’s heroic and action-packed survival narrative, McGinnis makes it easier to sleep at night knowing there’s a vivid page-turner to go back to in the morning.
Summary: The world is not tame. Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof. So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine. Morning brings the realization that she’s alone—and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive with the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.
Similar Titles: I am me by Kai Strand; Unleashed: a teen spy thriller by Susan Allred; Life before by Michele Bacon
2. Quick Picks: Anderson, L. H. (2020). Shout. New York: Penguin Books.
Blog: With this searing memoir in verse, Anderson revisits the trauma that sliced through her and her family: the father shattered by memories of serving in World War II, the mother worn down by picking up the pieces, and the rape that buried teenage Laurie in a deep depression and laid the roots for her novel Speak. Anderson's wordplay is sophisticated, disturbing imagery underscoring her pain-a girl without eyelids, a girl submerged in cement. She's as witheringly sarcastic as her protagonists, yet she possesses hard-won wisdom and a mixture of honesty and tenderness. It's as though Speak's Melinda made it through the fire, emerging as a warrior bent on combating rape culture. Though the rape devastated Anderson, she stresses that a lifetime of seemingly small injustices (entitled boys, flirtatious professors) also eroded her self-worth. Her rage on behalf of all those who have been wounded is palpable, yet she envisions a different world, where consent and respect are the norm.
Summary: Laurie Halse Anderson is known for her way that she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before.
Similar Titles: Speak by Laurie Halse; Punching the air by Yusef Salaam; Dark horses by Susan Mihalic
3. Printz Honor: LaCour, N. (2020). We are okay. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.
Blog: Her first semester of college behind her, Marin stays alone in the dorms over break, even with the threat of a snowstorm looming, rather than return to San Francisco, where bad memories lurk. Her best friend Mabel comes to stay with her, and over the next few days, Marin contemplates the events of last spring and summer and deals with her complicated relationship with Mabel. Slowly, readers learn more about Marin's life, like the surfer mother who drowned when Marin was young, the father she never knew, the loving grandfather who raised her but whose concealed secrets kept a wall between them, and the painful events that sent Marin fleeing San Francisco. Though there's little action, with most of the writing devoted to Marin's memories and thoughts, the author's nuanced and sensitive depiction of the protagonist's complex and turbulent inner life makes for a rich narrative. Marin is a beautifully crafted character, and her voice is spot-on, conveying isolation, grief, and, eventually, hope. With hauntingly spare prose, the emphasis on the past, and references to gothic tales, this is realistic fiction edged with the melancholy tinge of a ghost story. This book kept my interest due to the friendship of Marin and Mabel and the things they went through. And adding the ghost story touch just intrigued me even more!
Summary: Marin hasn't spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she's tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that's been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
Similar Titles: The last forever by Deb Caletti; I was here by Gayle Forman; A time for dancing by Davida Hurwin
4. Excellence in Nonfiction for YA: Ogle, R. (2021). Free lunch. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Blog: Recounting his childhood experiences in sixth grade, Ogle’s memoir chronicles the punishing consequences of poverty and violence on himself and his family. The start of middle school brings about unwanted changes in young Rex’s life. His old friendships devolve as his school friends join the football team and slowly edge him out. His new English teacher discriminates against him due to his dark skin (Rex is biracial, with a white absentee dad and a Mexican mom) and secondhand clothes, both too large and too small. Seemingly worse, his mom enrolls him in the school’s free-lunch program, much to his embarrassment. His painful home life proffers little sanctuary thanks to his mom, who swings from occasional caregiver to violent tyrant at the slightest provocation, and his white stepdad, an abusive racist whose aggression out-rivals that of Rex’s mom. Balancing the persistent flashes of brutality, Ogle magnificently includes sprouts of hope, whether it’s the beginnings of a friendship with a “weird” schoolmate, joyful moments with his younger brother, or lessons of perseverance from Abuela. These slivers of relative levity counteract the toxic relationship between young Rex, a boy prone to heated outbursts and suppressed feelings, and his mother, a fully three-dimensional character who’s viciously thrashing against the burden of poverty. It’s a fine balance carried by the author’s outstanding, gracious writing and a clear eye for the penetrating truth. A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism. This book brought a lot of truth home. I teach in a very low-economic school district and we have many of these kiddos. So unfortunate that many feel the same was as Rex.
Summary: Rex Ogle recounts his first semester in sixth grade in which he and his younger brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies and he was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger, which is that of a child for his parents' love and care.
Similar Titles: Feeding a hungry world by Charles Gritzner; The inker's shadow by Allen Say; Innovators feeding the planet by Robyn Hardyman
5. Great Graphic Novels for Teens: Steele, H. (2018). Dead Endia. London: Nobrow.
Blog: Trans teen Barney’s new job solves one problem but creates a series of otherworldly challenges he did not see coming. Barney’s friend Norma, a girl of South Asian descent who avoids connecting with people, helps him get a job as a janitor at Dead End, a theme park haunted house. Barney assures Norma that everything is fine at home, but once the park closes he looks around for a place to sleep. Barney and his dog, Pugsley, find out the hard way that the elevator in Dead End doubles as a portal to hell. Demons, ghosts, and angels from other planes arrive throughout the story, each with an agenda. Together, Barney and Norma (assisted by Pugsley) fight various beings while dealing with their emotions in the human realm. Norma confronts her social anxiety with the help of friend Badyah Hassan, and Barney navigates a potential romantic relationship with Logan Nguyen. The art is imaginative and engaging, with rich, evocative color schemes. With time travel, demonic possession, monsters, magic spells, and fights between creatures of pure sadness and pure happiness, there is never a dull moment. Not really my kind of book. I am not a big graphic novel type person.
Summary: Barney and his best friend Norma are just trying to get by and keep their jobs, but working at the Dead End theme park also means battling demonic forces, time traveling wizards, and scariest of all--their love lives! Follow the lives of this diverse group of employees of a haunted house, which may or may not also serve as a portal to hell, in this hilarious and moving graphic novel, complete with talking pugs, vengeful ghosts and LBGTQIA love.
Similar Titles: Dead endia: the broken halo by Steele; Watersnakes by Tony Sandoval; Dead dudes by Christopher Sebela
6. Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Stamper, K. (2018). Word by word: The secret life of dictionaries. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Blog: While most of us might take dictionaries for granted, the process of writing them is in fact as lively and dynamic as language itself. With sharp wit and irreverence, Kory Stamper cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography - from the agonizing decisions about what and how to define, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-changing language. She explains why small words are the most difficult to define (have you ever tried to define "is"?), how it can take nine months to define a single word, and how our biases about language and pronunciation can have tremendous social influence. Throughout, Stamper brings to life the hallowed halls (and highly idiosyncratic cubicles) of Merriam-Webster, a world inhabited by quirky, erudite individuals who quietly shape the way we communicate. A sure delight for all lovers of words, Word by Word might also quietly improve readers' grasp and use of the English language. This was quite interesting to read!
Summary: Brimming with intelligence and personality, a vastly entertaining account of how dictionaries are made - a must read for word mavens.
Similar Titles: Dictionaries: a very short introduction by Lynda Mugglestone; Academy of dictionaries 1600-1800 by John Considine; Dictionary days: A defining passion by Stavans
7. NYT Bestseller: McManus, K. M. (2021). One of us is lying. London: Penguin Books.
Blog: It’s a murder mystery, Breakfast Club–style: five students from different social spheres walk into detention. Only four walk out. Simon, the outcast at the helm of the high school’s brutal (and always true) gossip app has been murdered, and he had dirt on all four students in detention with him. Brainy good-girl Bronwyn knows she didn’t kill Simon, and she doesn’t think drug-dealing Nate, everyone’s favorite suspect, did either. Simon knew something that could ruin homecoming princess Addy’s perfect relationship, but Addy’s always been so timid. And baseball superstar Cooper has a secret, but it’s not what Simon said, and everyone knows Simon was never wrong. Trailed by suspicion, the four team up to clear their names—and find the real killer—even as proving their innocence becomes increasingly more difficult. Told in alternating perspectives among the four, this is a fast-paced thriller with twists that might surprise even the most hardened mystery reader. An engaging, enticing look at the pressures of high school and the things that cause a person to lose control. I really enjoyed this book because of the murder/mystery that plays out! I'm a big ID channel, Forensic Files buff!
Summary: When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students all four become suspects. It's up to them to solve the case.
Similar Titles: One of us is next by McManus; The girl in the park by Mariah Federicks; Trouble is a friend of mine by Stephanie Tromly
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
7 Fabulous Authors of Young Adult Literature
Check out these 7 authors of young adult literature and a good reads!
1. Acevedo, E. (2020). The poet x. New York, USA: HarperCollins.
Blog: Poetry helps first-generation Dominican-American teen Xiomara Batista come into her own.Fifteen-year old Xiomara is used to standing out: she’s tall with “a little too much body for a young girl.” Street harassed by both boys and grown men and just plain harassed by girls, she copes with her fists. In this novel in verse, Acevedo examines the toxicity of the “strong black woman” trope, highlighting the ways Xiomara’s seeming unbreakability doesn’t allow space for her humanity. The only place Xiomara feels like herself and heard is in her poetry—and later with her love interest, Aman. At church and at home, she’s stifled by her intensely Catholic mother’s rules and fear of sexuality. Her present-but-absent father and even her brother, Twin (yes, her actual twin), are both emotionally unavailable. Though she finds support in a dedicated teacher, in Aman, and in a poetry club and spoken-word competition, it’s Xiomara herself who finally gathers the resources she needs to solve her problems. The happy ending is not a neat one, making it both realistic and satisfying. Themes as diverse as growing up first-generation American, Latin culture, music, burgeoning sexuality, and the power of the written and spoken word are all explored with nuance. Poignant and real, beautiful and intense, this story of a girl struggling to define herself is as powerful as Xiomara’s name: “one who is ready for war.”
Summary: Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers'especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami's determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she doesn't know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can't stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Similar Titles: The shadow girls by Henning Mankell; The young landlords by Walter Myers; With a star in my hand: Ruben Dario, poetry hero by Margarita Engle
2. Alexander, K. (2020). The crossover. London: Andersen Press.
Blog: Alexander uses the structure of a basketball game to divide the story into segments. Narrator Josh Bell's lyrical rap introduces his twin brother Jordan, his exact opposite in everything except love of the game. Dad is a retired professional player, and Mom is the rock that keeps the family grounded. Complications arise and each poem presents a vignette of the Bell family's life. Family conferences abound as Dad's health worsens and budding romance causes division between the twins. Dad collapses playing three on three, and is rushed to the hospital in a coma. The book is filled with hard questions, frank honesty, and profound exchanges that reveal the complexity and depth of characterization created by Alexander in his seemingly simple free verse poems. It is a story about loyalty, friendship, family, and love.
Similar Titles: Booked and Rebound by Alexander (With Crossover, it is a 3 book series.); Dough boys by Paula Chase; Garvey's choice by Nikki Grimes
3. Cormier, R. (2004). The Chocolate War. New York: Knopf.
Summary: A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.
Similar Titles: Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia; Black confession by Pete Hautman; Big mouth and ugly girl by Joyce Carol Oates
Blog: Annie Boots, a talented white teen athlete in long-term foster care, employs an innovative strategy to over-ride an order prohibiting contact with her birth family. The Howard family (Pop, Momma, and son, Marvin) meet Annie’s needs, but she refuses to sever contact with her half sister, Sheila, and their biological mother, Nancy. Annie knows they’re violent drug abusers but hopes to at least help protect Sheila’s disturbed 5-year-old son. She recalls her own miserable early years of repeatedly being removed from, then returned to, Nancy’s custody, skilled as she was at cheating on drug tests. The title references Annie’s practice of combining basketball tournaments with secret birth-family encounters, deliberately losing early games so that more must be played in order for the team to advance. Physical fitness, good looks, and intelligence signal worth in the story, while Annie’s mother and half sister are portrayed as sullen, slovenly, and criminally inclined, repeatedly betraying the children who trust them. The characters deliver didactic pronouncements, among them Annie’s social worker, who rails at a broken child protection system, its failures vaguely attributed to generations of irresponsible parents and incompetent dupes. At a time of growing income inequality and widespread drug addiction, the judgments rendered here appear harsh and simplistic. A portrait of a troubled family that falls short.
Similar Titles: Turtles all the way down by John Green; Crazy by Han Nolan; Little red lies by Julie Johnston
5. Green, J. (2018). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton.
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.
Similar Titles: Every day by David Levithan; Love and other unknown variables by Shannon Lee Alexander; Second chance summer by Morgan Matson
6. King, A. S. (2021). Switch. Penguin Young Readers Group.
Summary: Switch tell the story of Tru Beck, a girl who lives in a house with a single mysterious switch at its center. No one knows what the switch controls, but Tru's father spends all his time building progressively larger boxes around the switch, until each of his children is safely isolated in their own box.
Similar Titles: Some quiet place by Kelsey Sutton; Silent echoes by Carla Jablonski; Gateway by Sharon Shinn
7. Smith, A. (2016). The Alex Crow. New York, NY: Speak, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Summary: The story of Ariel, a Middle Eastern refugee who lives with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber, the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century, and a depressed, bionic reincarnated crow.
Similar Titles: Denton Little's deathdate by Lance Rubin; Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman; Gathering blue by Lois Lowry
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Creating Comics for the Library!
Comics are a great way to grab a child's attention. Graphic novels have become very popular in the recent years, and kids are devouring them! Whether Kindergarten or teen, creating comics to use in your classroom and/or library can be very beneficial. Also, giving the students the opportunity to create their own comics about what they have learned, or using as a daily journal, can be quite satisfying as well for the students and the teachers. Below I have evaluated 3 comic creators, along with a creation of my own. I hope that this encourages you to bring comics to life within your classroom/library!
1. http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
Make Beliefs Comix is a very user friendly site. There is a video tutorial located in the tabs at the top of the page that explains the basics. The rest is trial and error. It was a lot of fun to play around and create a comic strip! I have never created a comic strip before, and this was a very easy cite to follow. The options are listed in categories such as backgrounds, characters, objects, etc. Once and object is selected, you can choose from about 3-4 different positions to choose from. Sizes can be changed, and you can add your own text to speech bubbles. I could not figure out how to adjust font and font size, however. This kinda frustrated me a bit. But sometimes fewer options are better than more! There are lesson plans for teachers under the Teacher tab at the top of the page, which I found quit extraordinary! I never realized there was so many ways that comics could be utilized in the classroom! Check out my comic Library Shenanigans! below that I created with Make Beliefs! This comic was created to enforce the Somebody, Wanted, But, So Summarizing strategy AND to alert students of overdue fines within the library!
2. https://edu.pixton.com/educators
The Pixton comic creator site was a bit more fun than the Make Beliefs Comix site! There were many more options to choose from when it came to adding characters and scenes to your comic. You can change everything from hair color to facial expression on your character, as well as position and clothes! It's almost like creating a Bitmoji character that we all know and love! I did not find a tutorial, but this was pretty simple to follow along with because the tabs are well labeled and identifiable. For this comic, I just did a one-boxer comic to be funny and to help warn the kids about copyright and plagiarism. Check out the comic Library Shenanigans! below that I created on Pixton!
FotoJet was quite fun too. This site was a bit more sophisticated than the other two. This site allows you to use more lifelike photos and images. It has you choose how many photos you would like to use, and then works from there. The labels to the left of the screen make it easy to identify your options of what you can manipulate, such as photos, text, and background. Text can be different fonts and colors as well. Sizes can be changed also. There is quite a bit of options that are free, but if you purchase the app, you have more options just like any other site. I basically created a "poster" rather than a comic since the pictures were more life like and realistic. The poster is just encouragement to read and love what you read. See my Library Shenanigans! poster below that I created with FotoJet!
LSSL 5368 Year Long Reading Program: Reading Takes You Places!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bFkDII4Wjp91wcI0N19wzqiiCQmpjd3BQRVCOuFnulo/edit?usp=sharing
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LSSL 5391 Reflection Click to read this book, made with Book Creator https://read.bookcreator.com
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