Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

Summer break is a time to sit back, relax and read a book! For those of you who teach in South Carolina, I recommend you check out the SC Book Award Nominees. (And even if you aren’t in SC, I still recommend them!) You can find a list for your level (picture book, children, junior, or young adult) at www.scasl.net. Since I was on the young adult committee, my drama students recorded podcasts for the SC Young Adult Book Award Nominees. You can find them on our school’s podcast page. You can find podcasts for the other levels at the SCASL website, too!

My summer reading list includes:

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson, M.D. (Dr. Carson will be speaking at our first District Inservice in August!)

What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel L. Pink

The Power of the Media Specialist to Improve Academic Achievement and Strengthen At-Risk Students by Jami Biles Jones and Alana M. Zambone

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

City of Bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Night Road by A.M. Jenkins

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

Whirlwind, The Caretaker Trilogy: Book 2 by David Klass

So, what’s on your summer reading list?

Today was graduation day for our seniors. To me, it was a day early as we usually have graduation on Fridays. Because of it being a day earlier than normal, I almost didn’t get our senior tribute video completed. I kept thinking I had an extra day!

During graduation we show a “video” as a look back over the seniors’ high school experience. The first part consists of a baby picture followed by a senior photo for each of the graduates. The second part contains candid shots from around school and at school events. Each section is set to appropriate music. I was up reeeealllyyy late last night going through all of the photos I’d been collecting over the years. It was extremely difficult to narrow them down to a manageable level AND make sure I had one for all of the graduates (which I never do, but oh, well!) From experience I knew to be organized and had been pulling out senior photos all year long. I still spent most of the morning editing the photos and adding the music and effects.

Thankfully, I got all my tears out during the time it took to pull the video together and only teared up once during the ceremony. This is the second graduating class that I’ve taught since the kids were incoming freshman. Five of my actors as well as six of my crew were among the graduates, making if feel as if my own offspring were leaving me! I’ve worked, cried, screamed, laughed, and bonded with these kids for the last four years! I don’t want to see them leave, even though it is time for them to go off to bigger and better things.

Today also marks the end of the school year, even though we have one more day for closing up our rooms. Of course, I’ll not be finished for a few more days, still lots of library books to inventory now that textbooks are (mostly) taken done. I’m soooo looking forward to having a new assistant principal next year and turning over textbooks to him. SC is moving to a statewide textbook circulation system and, lucky us, Aiken County was one of the first ones to convert. Since our current asst. princ. is retiring this year, and he’s not too tech savvy, I agreed to be trained and assist him this year. I know, never volunteer, as they tell me I’ll never get rid of it! But Mr. Mac is the best and I’d do anything to help him out. The school is loosing one of it’s best assets, that’s all I’m saying.

Anyhoo, just needed an outlet to reflect on the closing of another school year. They never tell you in library (or teacher) school how hard it is to let go when you get attached to students, teachers, administrators, and staff. We’re loosing some great folks. I just have to keep in mind that we’re getting new folks, and new folks mean new excitement, enthusiasm, ideas, and more. So, adeu Class of 2008 and here’s looking forward to a new school year….after two months of summer vacation to recharge!

BBC News: “Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil” - It is hard to imagine in this day and age that there are still parts of this world unexplored.

CNN.com: “How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space” - I found this alternative energy source idea very appealing.

CNN.com: “Stonehenge was a place of burial, researchers say” - I so would love to visit this site. Maybe one of these days!?

New York Times: “Billboards That Look Back” - Creepy. I’m against this. Security cameras are one thing, but billboards that are “watching” me is going too far in my opinion.

New York Times: “The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Taste Buds” - I think this would be interesting to try…wonder if it would make “health” foods taste better? Maybe I’d be able to eat Brussels sprouts and other good for you foods I can’t stand. Of course, at $2 - $2.50 a berry, I don’t think it’s something I’ll be trying anytime soon.

MyRocketbook.com - I haven’t had a chance to explore completely and I’ve only looked at the free access stuff for the Scarlet Letter, but looks good! When I have time (ha, ha) I’ll see what it takes to register to access the rest of their offerings.

A couple of things have happened recently that have got me thinking about books, readers, snap judgments, and personal preferences, and I needed to vent my spleen. First, I posted a comment over at Dear Author regarding a review of Melissa Marr’s new book, Ink Exchange. Secondly, there has been a HUGE debate over Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight on the YALSA listserv between those who “love” it and those who “hate” it and everyone in between. [I'm an in between.] I’m not going to rehash or try to summarize the debate or the back and forth responses, but you can read the blog that sparked the debate here.

What I would like to do is share what I’ve taken away from this “lively discussion:” that everyone has their own likes, dislikes, preference, etc. A couple of people have commented that a reader will take what they need from a book. TRUE! That every book has a reader. TRUE! Therefore, what I may enjoy reading others may not. What I may “read into” a book could just be my own imagining, history, or personal baggage and not what the author intended. That I may totally not “get” the author’s message at all - if there was even an intended message to begin with! That as an adult, I tend to over think a book where a teen probably won’t.

The other item I took away from this is a greater appreciation for the power of books and of words. That authors (& books) get people talking, debating, discussing, and just plain READING! No matter what the author’s intentions were with their story, the fact that people enjoy them (or hate them) means that people are READING! And in my case, the TEENS are READING! Both the girls AND the guys! Isn’t that what I, as a librarian, want? Heck, YES! Do I have concerns with these books, yes, but that is an opportunity to open discussion, not a time to shoot down the books and/or author.

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, myself included, we shouldn’t be telling anyone (adult or teen) what they should/shouldn’t read. Leave it up to the reader to form their own opinion! If one of my patrons checks out a book I didn’t like, I don’t tell them “That’s a horrible book, don’t waste your time!” I usually ask them to tell me what they think of the book after they’ve read it. I’d love to have their opinion, whether or not it matches my own. Okay, ‘nough said, stepping down from my soapbox.