Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

Odds & Ends is back! I took a little time off and my RSS Reader is slam full of articles for me to read. I’m slowly getting through them. I’m not ready to declare RSS bankruptcy as I would hate to miss something good! Anyhoo, here are some nuggets of information, technology, or news I’ve found so far…

Pat Hensley over at the Successful Teaching Blog posted “Just Doing What’s Right” that brought me to tears over the compassion of those teens! Boy, I’m sure getting emotional in my old age. Be sure to read the comments and follow the link to another example of kids doing what’s right! Now if news reports had more of these types of stories to share, I might just watch the news again!

Edutopia: “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner” by Mark Prensky

A little math humor “I Will Derive” video from College Humor brought to my attention by FrancyLibrarian at the Gargoyles Loose in the Library blog. Too funny!

CNN.com: “School defends drunken driving hoax” - Okay, I find this disturbing. I can see where the authorities were coming from to want to “scare kids straight,” but I think this went overboard. This probably did more damage to the kids than deterred teens from driving drunk.

And lastly, a few news articles I found interesting from BBC.com:

• “Spain treats child phone addicts” - Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I figured it would start with computer games before phones! My question, what do 12 & 13 year olds need with cell phones? Shouldn’t the parents have been monitoring their usage BEFORE things got so out of hand?
• “‘Non-planet’ Pluto gets new class” - “Sorry, Pluto, you’ve been demoted, but to sooth your feelings, we’re going to call all masses like you “plutoids,” what do you think?” Come on, couldn’t they come up with a better name than that?
• “The changing face of Africa” - visual proof that man is destroying the planet faster than nature ever could.
• “Sudoku-playing jurors halt trial” - What! How could the jurors be so rude! This is life and future you’re going to be deciding! I realize lawyers tend to love the sound of their own voice, and you may have been a bit bored, but please, show some respect!

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.

Sorry this is a little late. Edublogs was down for maintenance and then I forgot to finish the post. Forgive me!

The Futures Channel: Connecting learning to the real world - one of my math teachers (thanks Mrs. Thomas) brought this web site to my attention. Their other tag line is “Real Math, Real Science, Real Careers.” The site offers short movies in Shockwave/Flash format that introduce students to fun, interesting, and sometimes unusual careers. Each movie has a corresponding pdf classroom activity file.

European Space Operations Center: “Space debris: evolution in pictures” - VWB over at the A Library By Any Other Name blog posted this awesome picture from the European Space Operations Center . Not only are we littering up our own planet but space, too! VWB provides links to other great online resources on the topic of space junk.

Books for Teen Readers - Betsy Clem posted this over on The Georgia Library Media Association blog. Some great opportunities for teens to provide their input on books, as well as be “in the know” by receiving advanced readers copies of new books!

TheBestNotes.com - Similar to Sparknotes and Cliffs Notes, The Best Notes contain explanations of literary elements and chapter summaries/analysis. Not only does it offer them for the classics, some contemporary novels are dissected, too, such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Now one just for fun. Thanks Sue Waters for sharing this one on Twitter: Animator vs. Animation by Alan Becker. Too funny!

The Unquiet Librarian (Buffy Hamilton) recently posted a heads up about the upcoming Teen Read Week (October 12-18, 2008) theme “Books With Bite.” I’m grateful for this reminder because if I don’t plan ahead, I’d never get anything done. Her post and the TRW Wiki got me thinking about how I want to proceed next year…and I need some help/input.

I team up each year with the media specialist from Midland Valley High for our book club program (we share books to reduce costs) and she mentioned how her school will post a “genre’ of the month” in their student agendas next year. What a wonderful concept! Well, not to be outdone, I was thinking of taking the TRW theme and spreading it out over the school year. The TRW Wiki gave me some suggestions and I’ve added to them.

August 2008: Vampires

• To correspond with the release of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series. I’m focusing only on vampires and not monsters as a whole due to the popularity of vampire books.

September 2008: Edgy Titles/Banned Books

• To tie in with Banned Book Week, I’d like to focus on edgy titles and challenged books.

October 2008: Monsters & Mythical Creatures

• Included here would be werewolves, dragons, faeries, etc. Some authors I’m considering are: Holly Black, Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfeld, Tolkin, Christopher Golden, Anne McCaffrey, and Neal Shusterman.

November 2008: Cooking

• I’d like to include fiction as well as non-fiction titles here. I’ve no problem pulling non-fiction titles, but will need help coming up with a fiction booklist.

That is as far as I’ve gotten on specific monthly themes. Here are some additional themes, but I’m not sure if I’ll use them and/or which month to promote them, plus I need at least two more to have a full school year (10 months) of themes:

• bites as in pests/insects
• bytes as in computer and computer gaming
• bites as in predatory animals
• bites as in “that bites” - the “I’d hate to be you” or troubling/misfortune books
• ?
• ?

What I’m hoping my readers will do is add to my related Books With Bite themes to give me more choices. I’d also like book suggestions for titles that are popular with your students/readers as they relate to each theme. AND if possible, I’d like to have corresponding logos/icons/avatars to go with each category to use on promotional materials. SO if you have any suggestions or ideas, please post a comment. THANKS!