Tales from a Loud Librarian

I was asked to pass this along:   "We are excited to announce the Southeast Louisiana Writing Region affiliate of the Alliance of Young Artists & Writers will host the second annual Scholastic Writing Awards of Southeast Louisiana. The non-profit organization, sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Writing Project, will administer the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards to outstanding young writers across Louisiana. Through the success of last year’s competition, we were able to fund scholarships for students to attend summer writing programs and issue the top winners more than $6,000 in cash awards. For almost 90 years, the Awards have helped identify, motivate and validate talented 7th-12 th graders across the United States. It is our job as your regional affiliate to facilitate the regional competition and awards ceremony and help our young writers, along with their teachers and parents, through the process. Teachers and counselors: please keep this oppo

The 8th and 9th graders were blown away when Heather Brewer began talking at 9:30AM, Wednesday the 28th. She called all the teens in the room her minions. She believes in "world domination." With world domination, she and her minions could change the world to be a more accepting place. A place where there would be no bullies and everyone is accepted for who they are whatever that may be. Heather Brewer knows bullies, as she was not treated well by her peers in school. One of the students said it was the best author visit ever, and two teachers said the talk was awesome because Heather was so real. She spoke with honesty from the heart, and the students could relate. There were many hugs when she arrived and even during her talk. One student couldn't contain herself when she found out that Green Day was one of Auntie Heather's fav bands. She ran up for some love, and Heather was extremely accommodating. The main character in the Vladimir Tod Chronicles  is

This is just a quickie because I don't have much time, but I wanted to share some pics of the day. I will say this, Heather Brewer was AWESOME!!! The kids loved her talk, and she was so inspirational.  The librarian stops for a second to get a photo with the author.  Signing the books and having some one on one with Auntie Heather was a highlight for many students.   Hey, I don't need to get a book signed, she can sign my arm!!!! 

On Thursday, September 22nd, the seventh graders were treated to a visit by local author, Whitney Stewart . The students have begun the research process for their social studies fair papers in English class. I asked Whitney if she would visit PFTSTA to talk to the students about how she goes about researching when she begins a new non-fiction book. She has been very fortunate to actually meet the subjects of some of her biographies including Sir Edmund Hillary, the 14th Dalai Lama, and Aung San Suu Kyi. To meet these remarkable people she has traveled extensively throughout Asia. The students were blown away by this. She even made suggestions to the students on how they could contact people that might give them first hand information on the topics that they selected for the social studies fair. She had some wonderful insights for the students that neither the teacher nor I had thought about.

On Monday, my book group and I were brainstorming ideas for October's TRW. Teen Read Week is always a big event at PFTSTA. Every year, I try to design a fun photo activity that the kids can do in the library during lunch for TRW. We don't have a lot of time, so it has to be something that we can do quickly. We print out all the fun photos and post on a bulletin board outside the library. It always generates a good buzz from visitors to our building. I am going to choose a generator with a number of options, so everyone can choose their own place to "hang out." We are going to call it, Pic-Ception: Where will we find you next? Look what I made by using Dumpr : I also tried Photofunia   and put myself on the front page of a newspaper and Photo 505 where you see me pixelated on a billboard: I am going to choose a generator with a number of options, so everyone can choose their own place to "hang out." We are going to call it, Pic-Ception: Where

In this episode of my digital book talks, Get Reading, I review Where She Went by Gayle Forman and the Sweet Hereafter by Angela Johnson. I talk about companion books which share characters or setting.

Read this article that was posted in the Times Picayune on Saturday. A construction company has been selected, and the new facility should be completed in the fall of 2013. Click here to open the article .

YALSA posted a map highlighting activities for Teen Read Week all over the US. Of course, we will be there October 17th-21st. The PFTSTA Library always has a whirlwind week of activities planned for TRW to entice teens into the library with activities, contests and prizes.  (click the map below to see it in a larger size)

Gale and Library Media Connection Announce Winners of the 2011 TEAMS Award Click the link above to read all about it. Of course, I want you to read it because I am one of the winners. Lisa Valence, an English teacher, and I wrote the application for the award. We are so excited about it. The press release explains it all.

I am having the best time writing and creating Get Reading: digital book talks for teens who love to read . I still want to figure out a way to use something other than Photostory and Moviemaker for these creations. Right now these tools do what I want with the audio and video. If I did not want a narration track without music, then I could use other tools that are available. I played around with Stupeflix this afternoon, and I loved what it did with the photos. I could add narration, but then it talked over the video piece. I needed the sounds to be separate. It is not possible with this tool. This week's episode focuses on two stories set during the winter holidays, one is in New York: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan ; and the other in Paris: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly . Every book that I talk up on Get Reading is one that I recommend. Here is a link to Get Reading 6: http://vimeo.com/28631905 . Check it out!!

One of my goals for this school year is to create 2-3 minute mini-lessons that teach students how to use the library databases and create citations for their research. This is the current trend called a flipped classroom or blended classroom. If students can get to the how-tos at home, then at school I can spend time hands on with helping them in their research. I have created a few videos, but it is slow going. To speed up the process, I have enlisted some student helpers. The students chose what they wanted to teach and used Screencast-o-matic  to create their tutorials. When I make the videos, I use my laptop and a microphone. The students decided it would be easier for them to create them by using the interactive white board. The pictures below show two students as they create their screencast. All instructional videos can be found on the PFTSTA Channel in Vimeo .