Student from PFTSTA Will Moderate the Dark Days Tour


I learned a couple of months ago that a group of young adult authors was going to be on tour together and that New Orleans and Octavia Books was one of only four stops on the tour.The authors are Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, Sophie Jordan, Kiersten White and Claudia Gray. I was hoping that at least one of them would be making a school visit then. Sadly, that was not going to happen. However, one of the owners of Octavia Books, Judith Lafitte, and I cooked up something that I think is going to be equally as exhilirating. Judith was asked to be the moderated for the group, but that is not a role that she enjoys. Together, we thought it might be exciting to have one of my students lead the discussion. Paris Evans, who is the head of the high school library book group, was thrilled when I broached her with the idea. She has taken home copies of the authors' books and plans to read as much as she can before the event on February 21st. I have offered to take her and some of her friends to dinner before the event. We are turning this into a very special outing. If you live anywhere near New Orleans, think about joining us in three weeks at Octavia Books to meet these authors and see Paris in action. Of course, I will blog lots about it afterwards. So stay tuned on this blog to view lots of pics of this action-packed event. Maybe not so much action, it is just a panel discussion, but I think it is going to be loads of fun. 

Open here for details about New Orleans stop

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Holidays from BRiMS and Bookmarked

I run two book groups at Patrick Taylor. My high school book group, Bookmarked , was created in the fall of 2007 which was my second year as librarian at the school. The students really wanted a library club, but the square footage of the library was so small that I could not imagine how any students could do any actual library work. Instead I created a book discussion group. Not only did we meet to talk books, but I tapped these students to help me with fundraisers and special programming like Teen Read Week. Helping me with these special activities seemed to appease the members. I waited until February of 2009 to institute a book discussion group for my middle school students called BRiMS, or Books Rule in Middle School . Both of the groups meet during lunch, and this year, the school added a third lunch. Now BRiMS is made up of only 6th and 7th graders. Bookmarked has 8th-12th grade students. This has actually worked well because in 2014 and 2015, Bookmarked lost a lot of members w
Read more

Banned Book Week: Students Make Comments Pro & Con Censorship

Image
This blog post is being designed as a lesson for the English I students at PFTSTA. The teachers and I have collaborated on an activity to celebrate Banned Book Week (BBW). Many times in the past during BBW, I have invited the 8th graders into the library to discuss the banning and challenging of books in schools and libraries. I usually show some videos and share books owned by our library that have been banned or challenged somewhere in the US. This activity always spurs great discussion among the students and teachers. This year we wanted the students to create a written response to the presentation. We thought there was a real world connection if we had the students post their opinion online as a comment to someone writing about censorship in schools. The teachers and I want the students to learn how to compose a well thought out comment that is supported by evidence and concrete details. How more real world could it be than having the students comment directly on their librar
Read more

Students Weigh in on Banned Books and the Freedom to Read

Image
Every year, for Banned Book Week, I prepare a lesson for our 8th graders. It was always teacher directed with discussion until last year . The English I teachers and I created a lesson for the students that included research and writing. I pulled the materials that I wanted them to read, and the students would write a very short essay declaring their belief in the need for teens to be able to exercise their freedom to read what they want to or the need for certain books to be taken off the shelves of the library or pulled from the English curriculum.  Above is the slide presentation that I have made for the students. Included in the slides are several videos that I thought would get the students thinking. There are slides with links to specific articles that we want the students to read and use for the concrete evidence to support their stance. A rubric is included at the end so the students know exactly what is expected. The teachers and I want the writing to have a rea
Read more