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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

For those of you unfamiliar with the program, each year the SC Young Adult Book Award committee chooses 20 titles from books published within the last three years.  Teens are encouraged to read as many of the titles as possible; however, they must read at least three title to be eligible to vote.  In February, students vote for which book they feel should win the award.  The winning nominee is announced each year at the annual SC Association of School Librarians Conference.  The ‘09-’10 nominees are:

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
• Beanball by Gene Fehler
• Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught
• Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
• The Circle of Blood: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
• Enter Three Witches: a Story of Macbeth by Caroline B. Cooney
• Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
• Game by Walter Dean Myers
• Good Enough by Paula Yoo
• Gym Candy by Carl Deuker
• In the Name of God by Paula Jolin
• Mad Kestrel by Misty Massey
• Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Silenced by James DeVita
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Wake by Lisa McMann
• Yellow Flag by Robert Lipsyte

Having served on the YA committee in the past, I know how difficult is is to choose among the many great titles submitted each year.  I am looking forward to reading this years nominees, many of which were already on my to be read list.

The 2008-09 SCYABA winner will be announced on Friday, March 13th and I will post it to the blog.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – the video does a pretty good job of breaking down how our economy got the way it is today.

iSerenity – room too quiet (or has an annoying noise in the background)? Use iSerenity for soothing ambient noise?  I particularly like the Library Lullaby.

“My Top Tips for Teaching Teens” by Alan Sitomer – examines issues such as teaching teens to “bounce back,” change their attitudes, set goals, never give up, etc.  Well worth reading.

Last, but definately not least, two sites that highlight the Inauguration of President Obama.  The first is “The Big Picture” from The Boston Globe which has photographs of the event and from around the world.  The second is from Gigapan and has one large photograph that you can zoom or pull out to get the whole effect of the swearing in of President Obama.  Yes, it’s a little late in the scheme of things, but it’s still useful!

I love the fact that Riverbanks allows you to feed the giraffes – which lets you get up close with them.  When we took the biology classes there last year, the giraffes were the crowd favorites.

If you haven’t visited Riverbank’s website, I encourage you to do so.  They have a live webcam – today they are featuring the Koalas.  The last time I watched, they featured the penguins.  I wonder if they’ll feature the giraffes soon now that baby Lewis has arrived?!

OnGuardOnline.gov – “… a multimedia campaign to help consumers be on guard against Internet fraud, secure their computers, and protect their personal information. …  Includes: tips, articles, games and videos in both English and Spanish. … Contains modules about … spyware, social networking, wireless access, laptop security, Internet auctions, and file-sharing…”  Created in partnership with the Federal trade Commission and other federal agencies.

BubbleComment – record a video comment on a website.  Would be a great way to direct students who were absent are homebound to areas or information on the site that you covered in class.

My friend, Fran Bullington shares “The Wally Principal” over at her Informania blog.  I’ve shared it with a few of my teachers, but think it is too good a point not to share with the rest of you!!  I agree we do our students a disservice by judging them solely by their ability to memorize facts.

My Brochure Maker – quick and simple way to create a basic brochure or flyer brought to you by DoodleLabs.  Could be a great way for your students who don’t have MS Publisher (or MS Word) at home to still create a brochure for your lovely projects!  Granted, you have limited choices and you cannot move the objects around, but sometimes, simple is better!

Suburban Journals: County library labels teen books with sexual content – Okay, this last item I debated on if I should post or not.  So I’ll just put it up and leave you with the comment, “WHAT!!!!” — Well, guess keeping my opinion to myself isn’t likely.  Hey, it’s my blog! — So if you get enough pressure from your patrons, does that mean you’re going to start labeling all of your books for each and every item they don’t like?  Too religious, too violent, crude language, promotes homosexuality, …  IMHO this is just another example of censorship – and isn’t that what libraries are AGAINST? Or am I off track here?

Lifehacker: “WhichBook Will Help Fill Your Reading Lists” – With WhichBook, use slide rule to select characteristics you enjoy in your books, such as happy/sad or funny/serious.  Also mentioned in the article are What Should I Read Next and BookLamp which also help you find other reading selections.

LitWeb: The Norton Introduction to Literature Website – I was looking for the text for a short story and found this site.  It has stories, poetry, and some drama/plays, as well as quizzes and flashcards for literary terms.

Elona Hartjes – Teachers At Risk: Improve a child’s reading skills by having him read to a dog – Honest! – explains the Paws to Read program of having kids read to a non-judgmental audience – a dog!

Coraline: Explore a Hand-Made World - very engaging website to correspond with the movie release.  Be sure to check out the The Other Mother’s Workshop: Button Your Eyes page (sorry, I wont share my results – way too scary!)  Can’t wait to see the movie!  In case you didn’t know, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book received this years Newbery Medal Award.  You can watch/listen to Mr. Gaiman read The Graveyard Book via videos recorded on his video tour.