No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the Earth, I’ve just been EXTREMELY busy. Quick update:

My intern is a gem! She has gone all out to help our library celebrate Banned Book Week and plan our Teen Read Week activities.

The photo is the sign on a box of snack size popcorn she brought in for our faculty.  Each packet had a sticker with the phrase you see on the sign.  She put the box out in the faculty workroom and it was empty before LUNCH!

I’ll post our plans for TRW once I get the okay from my principal to the activities we’re wanting to provide – I’m excited, but at the same time exhausted just thinking about them!

I’m buried up to my neck in High Schools That Work/Technical Assistance Visit preparations.  I’m steadily working to pull together our notebook that we have to send off in three weeks.  It’s huge and I’m not finished adding all we’re required to provide.  Send good thoughts my way!

Lastly, if you’re one of my faculty, you know this already, but for the rest of you: APPLE OPENED A STORE IN AUGUSTA!  Yes, I was there for the grand opening and was one of the first 1000 – got the free shirt! (Yes, Cathyjo, you’ll get it eventually so stop pouting!)  Both my guidance counselor and assistant principal came up to tell me I was famous now.

FYI: I gave into temptation and purchased the iPhone!  I’m loving it, even if there is no service in Wagener!  *Sigh*  Come on AT&T, get on the ball and expand your coverage!

The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) has come out with NEW standards for school librarians – Standards for the 21st-Century Learner – that we are supposed to be using to educate our students.  If you go to the standards website you can download copies of these standards.  However, before you do so, I recommend you follow the link “Rights and permission on the use of the learning standards.”  When you do, the first paragraph states that you can use the standards for your own personal or educational use; however, if you read down further you find that in order to use these standards you have to request permission and possibly PURCHASE the rights to use them.  WHAT!

In addition,

• we cannot LINK to the documents without obtaining permission, which is why I didn’t link to it above.  If you want to read them, Google AASL and “Standards for the 21st-Century Learner” yourself as I don’t want to be in violation of the copyright.

• we cannot list standards on curriculum maps, lesson plans, or other educational documentation unless we obtain permission – which may have a price tag.

• we cannot train other educators using these standards in training handouts, PowerPoint/SlideShare or other mediums without obtaining permission – which may have a price tag.

Now, I’m not always the brightest bulb in the pack, but what is the point of having taken the time to compile a set of standards and then restrict their implementation by making us have to request permission EVERY TIME WE NEED TO USE THEM!  Bureaucracy in action folks!

Come on AASL.  Get with the program.  Free the Standards by making them available under a Creative Commons license.

To read more about the issue, check out Joyce Valenza’s NeverEndingSearch blog posts “#FreeTheStandards” and “#FreeTheStandards — David’s Take” as they are more eloquent stated than my own ranting.

Today was the 5th annual Garcia Theatre Project One-Act Play Festival at USC Aiken.  Our school performed Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.”

Our students were awesome and the lady behind me said “we were robbed” when we didn’t win best play.  I said, “Thank You,” but agreed with the judges that our rival school, Ridge Spring Monetta High, deserved the Best Play award.  Their two actresses were amazing.

Aiken HS and North Augusta High also performed, and Aiken High’s play, “Girl Town,” won runner up.   As for Wagener-Salley and our students, Samuel Leguizamon received Best Actor, Eden Wells received a special award for Best Sound Crew, and our play received Best Set Decoration & Costumes.  The judges also had lots of praise for our efforts to tackle a literary play and the fact that we (Mrs. Shaffer and I) adapted the story ourselves.  They were MOST impressed that Sam was able to memorize and DELIVER the basically, 15 minute monologue without any mistakes.  As I said, this is the fifth year that we’ve competed in the festival and that I co-sponsored our school’s drama club.  Each year we (and by we, I mean the drama club students as well as us sponsors) continue to grow, and while we didn’t receive the coveted best play, I think we did darn well!   I’m proud of all of the students (both ours and those from the other schools) and believe that they are all winners.  Also, shout out to Mrs. Jean Pesce, who did an outstanding job on our costumes!  That woman is amazing!  Who knew you could turn gold buttons to silver by covering them in aluminum foil?  Or should I say, I never would have thought of that!

Thanks again to Mr. & Mrs. Carlos Garcia, USC Aiken & the Performing Arts faculty, Public Education Partners, Aiken County Public Schools, and this year’s additional sponsors: RCS Corporation, the American Association of University Women, URS Washington Division, and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC for their support and recognition of the need for theatre and the arts in public education.

Final shout out to Natalie Fox, aka. Organizer Extrodinaire, and Diane Mangiante of PEP – thank you for all you do for Aiken schools and for continuing to organize the GTP festival each year.

Wired: “Where Gadgets Go To Die: Facility Strips, Rips and Recycles” – interesting look at how a facility sorts and recycles old electronic equipment.

Library of Congress YouTube Channel – “Timeless treasures and contemporary presentations from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. As the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, we are the steward of millions of recordings dating from the earliest Edison films to the present…”

World Digital Library – looks interesting and will become active on April 21st.  “The World Digital Library will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials…”

New York Times: “A Story of a Teenager’s Suicide Becomes a Best Seller” – article about the origins of the book TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY by Jay Asher.  This title is on our South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee list this year.  The article also mentioned the YouTube video campaign that shows someone listening to Hannah Baker’s tapes.

Chicago Tribune: “Annoying ‘mosquito’ noise keeps students moving” – the article shares how an Indiana high school uses the mosquito machine to deter students from socializing in an area of the hallway between classes and instead get to classes on time.  I’ve written previously about this machine here and the mosquito ringtone here.  I am opposed to this device being used, especially INSIDE a school, and not just because I can still hear the tone.  There are other ways to ensure students keep it moving in the hallways – HELLO, teachers, stand at your doors and don’t let the kids stop to chat.  When I stand at the library doors, the students don’t loiter between classes.  When I’m not there, the do – doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.

This is just a quick post to announce the winners for the 2009 SC Book Award Winners.

Picture Book Award – Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli.  There were 243 schools participating with 54,971 students who voted.  Hero Cat won by 8,291 votes.

Children’s Book Award – How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor.  There were 184 participating schools with 10,495 students who voted.  How to Steal a Dog won by 1,330 votes.

Junior Book Award – Cracker!: the Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata.  There were 98 schools participating with 6,210 students who voted.  Cracker! won by 850 votes.

Young Adult Book Award – New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.  There were 73 participating schools with 2,024 students who voted.  New Moon won by 487 votes.