Field Notes

• From Pat and Celia: News they were the lucky winners of $500 worth of books, a prize from Rogers Chocolates and the BC Book Prize group. Check out the photo of Pat and Celia with a giant cheque!
  
• From Steve, Angela, and ME here at the "mother ship": Look for packages in the mail, if you are an elementary or annex TL, with a That's a Family DVD and Teacher Guide; elementary TLs will also find a book entitled The Misfits.
  


• From Meredyth, one "cubby" over, on the window side, Floor 4: ReadWriteThink.org [from the International Reading Association and the US National Council of Teachers of English] has just put up its new reading resource called Learning Beyond the Classroom, described as "a site designed to help children and teens continue to build their literacy learning outside of school, offers activities for children ages 4 to 18, as well as booklists, reading logs, book review podcasts, and best practice videos to help caregivers and tutors make the most of summer reading and writing opportunities."



• From Alan Z: Parents can access All the Right Type cheaply for student home use. There is a $12 home user download price.
  
• From moi: The "hybrid" Google Tools after-school workshop was attended by over 20 educators, more teachers than TLs, some elementary, some secondary. Alan Z, David, and I co-presented ... well, Alan and David did most of the presenting. I did a little show-and-tell and the organizing, promoting, and delivering of food. It was a great session.
  
  Part 2 is May 21 at Kerrisdale and will feature the collaborative capacity of Google's applications and tools. Homework: Find Waldo atop a building in Vancouver, using Google Earth (but before you spend too much time on this, the maps have probably not been updated since when Waldo was painted by a local artist). Also, create your own iGoogle. Sign up for gmail. Check out Tools for Educators, including Page Creator, Earth, Picasa, iGoogle, and Notebook.
  
  Here's my Poetry Notebook; it's an annotated bookmarking site with organizational capacities. The opening paragraph explains Google Notebook. The categories of poetry sites are found in the lefthand sidebar. It can be "published" (as this is) or open only to invitees. Nice possibilities for having students collect "websites" and construct projects.
  


• From Sylvia Z: The first completed order form for BC Books for Vancouver Kids, joyfully submitted! Way to go, girl!
  
• From Gwen: Word that Moberly is buying a cow ... for a village in Uganda. It's true, and it all began with a collaboratively developed Global Issues unit that incorporated resource-based inquiry in the school library. Amazing!


• From Webbits: Study the Earth using Digital Library for Earth Sysem Education, an easy-to-search site with "electronic materials for both teachers and learners, such as lesson plans, maps, images, data sets, visualizations, assessment activities, curriculum, online courses, and much more" in the area of the study of the Earth
  
• From our unretiring Karen C: Susan Juby grew up in Smithers, BC, and is the author of the popular and multi-award winning Alice books: Alice, I Think; Miss Smithers; and Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last. They were adapted into a television series which aired on CTV and the Comedy Network. Her new novel will be released in September 2007. Susan Juby's course, Writing for Children and Young Adults, is July 14th to 18th.
  
  From the UBC website: "Join Susan Juby, the popular author of the Alice series, for this intensive workshop. This writing workshop will inspire you to start or complete your own work and will teach you how to understand the components of successful children’s books. Guest speakers including a publisher, an illustrator and a children’s literature professor will share their expertise in what will prove to be an informative and enjoyable week in the land of imagination. " For those of you who didn't hear Susan speak at the VPL or at the BCTLA Conference, she's a dynamic and engaging presenter ... I bet this class will be loads of fun.
  
• There are also some other courses worth considering, including spring session evening courses - Children's Book Workshop and Children's book Illustration among others. Check out the UBC Writing Centre course descriptions.
  
• From Sarah Bagshaw, Web Manager, Vancouver Kidsbooks: "We are hosting a Mo Willems event. He is the author of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny picture books. This will be a great event for all teacher/librarians in elementary schools as these books are hilarious read alouds for the primary grades. This event is going to sell out -- it's on Friday, April 25, 6:30pm, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Gymnasium, 2550 Camosun @ 10th Ave. Tickets are $5.00; everyone attending has to have a ticket and they must be purchased before the event. For more information, see Kidsbooks' Events page.
  
• From Amanda Holland: "Journey through the pages of time. The Province Newspaper published its first edition on March 26, 1898. To celebrate our 110-year anniversary, we're providing an historic front page from our archives on every day we publish until the end of 2008. You can download the page and see it just as it appeared on the day it hit newsstands. On some pages, particularly older ones, the text may be slightly difficult to read. We've done our best to make it readable. If you have trouble, try zooming in close using Adobe Reader. Please check back every Sunday through Friday for a new page to download."
  
• From Carol H, busy Kitchener weeder: I have been weeding ... but as I do [it, I see] how behind we have all got, partly I'm sure for not wanting empty shelves. Today I just deleted Cybersurfer the Owl Internet Guide for Kids, which I'm embarrassed to say has a 1996 publication date. But the real horror is that 66 schools still have this in their collection.
  
  Here's a weeding suggestion or two -- have a look at the time-sensitive areas of your collection and at least weed those. Some books have just lost all their relevance. As you delete, you will see the circulation records of that item for other schools. Many times the number is 0 or 1. Try running an IGE for "last CKOs prior to" to get an idea. As you catch these embarrassing items, post the information to the email as a "Weed Alert"!
  
• Finally, from Glenys at Tupper: Thanks for the lovely note about this blog which made my week and nicely offset the tooth I broke on a late-night snack of Grape Nuts! I will endure the drills and needles more readily knowing that the blog is read and appreciated. Thanks again, Glenys.
  
• The Comments feature is available for you to post to this blog if you have a gmail address. As those who attended this week's Google Tools workshop saw, gmail is the key to a great little system of online applications and tools. Get yours now.
  
  

RESOURCES

e-Resources found at SLRCCC: Chris Ball, Head of the UBC Education Library and Associate U. Librarian for Collections and Scholarly Communications, has joined our School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee, along with Colleen Alstad, former TL and now an SFU Education and Political Science Librarian. Chris's report to the committee on campus libraries could lead one to conclude, they have the same problems, only a much much bigger budget. 70% of UBC's library funding is spent on electronic resources -- big implications for how we prepare our students for post-secondary, right? He has sent the link to UBC e-resources which have remote and open access and which may be of interest to secondary schools. And so the mutually beneficial partnership begins!

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Freedom To Read Kits -- As promised, these were ordered and will be in the secondary schools on Friday ... that's today.

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Has anyone seen the free DVD The Boy Inside, the one the Ministry was sending out to all schools?

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February is Black History Month:

This month AwesomeStories includes a feature about Slavery, amongst other topics. Check out the site ... I have recommended this one before. We have an academic membership. I can email you the password if you want to join.

And check out teachingbooks (see Databases page off "webcat" -- you will need the password) for more Black History month resources as well.

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Dragon Books:

I need these next week.

Please let me know if you have

some really good ones set aside for me.

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I checked this Google Maps mashup (click here for Wikipedia definition of mashup) just as someone edited the entry for "Windermere Secondary School" on Wikipedia ... at 11:33 pm! How can this be? or rather, who? Thanks, TL Annabelle, who emailed this really cool tool to explain how it all works but I am not sure how the tool works -- I just can't imagine how it works! I think mashup refers to my brain under the influence of too much technology! "...this Google Maps mashup shows additions to the Wikipedia in REAL-TIME based on where the person is who added it..."

Time for a Break!

Time for a Break!

Rather than add to the size of your email with large summary email missives each week, I am blogging and will be sending out the link.

More Changes in School Libraries

The new TL at the Gladstone library is doing her course work in the TL diploma program and is rumoured to work part-time as well at Kidsbooks.

We will update the TL Directory in January to reflect the many changes.

I have a new assistant.

FPinfomart Training

The FPinfomart Training and Professional Services team will hold classroom training sessions in Vancouver on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008.

If you would like to participate, can you contact Moira before registering with Yvonne Yip at yyip@canwest.com.

If you are unable to attend, please contact Yvonne to set up an alternate virtual or phone training session. For more information on all of the different training opportunities, as well as details on the on-site venues, please visit the Training Schedule.

DVD: The Boy Inside

The Ministry of Education is sending out copies of this DVD for schools, as you will have seen in my earlier email today. We need to catalogue one copy be sent in for cataloguing. Can someone let me know when one is available. Remind your administrator that our centralized resource and expertise services are the best way to retain and promote resources in schools. If anyone should happen to get two copies, we could always add one to the district Media collection!

Lunch with Jamie McKenzie –

I can't tell you how great it was for me to be invited to share in the Nootka potluck luncheon with guest Dr Jamie McKenzie, former superintendent for the Bellingham School District. For those of you who want to find out more about his work in supporting teachers who are integrating technology with teaching and learning and in building strong school library programs go to his From Now On website. And the lunch was fantastic, especially the cream puffs!

Cancelled/un-cancelled/re-scheduled -- Workshop on Accounting --

As I drove back to the VSB from Nootka on Thursday afternoon, the snow appeared to be sticking so, on seeing that most were coming from the East Side, I thought it best to cancel the workshop. In addition to emailing, we phoned the schools. You will have seen the email -- several were also sick. But TLs are a hardy and dedicated breed. Six came, two by bike. And the snow turned to rain. So we had a small but successful workshop. I am planning another one for January as Accounting will still send someone.

Lunch with Author Hadani Ditmars

Author Hadani Ditmars and I had lunch this week ... I don't get out very often like this, I swear! She is widely published with a major article on the loss of culture due in the March issue of The Walrus.

Here is a link to her literary agent's page: http://www.tla1.com/Talent/Hadani_Ditmars/HADANI_DITMARS.htm.

Hadani is going to be available in January and February for sure and is well suited to social studies global issues topics. I have several schools already interested in setting dates. Here's the "blurb":

Hadani Ditmars’ Dancing in the No Fly Zone chronicles 7 years of reporting from pre and post invasion Iraq. She has read and lectured on Iraq internationally, from the Vancouver Public Library to London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs to Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. Hadani has had a particular interest in the plight of children and youth in war zones, having documented the experience of Lebanese “children of war” in post civil war Beirut, Somali and Palestinian refugees, as well as children in Iraq. Her work lends itself to elementary and secondary social studies. The chapter of No Fly Zone entitled “The Pool People” describes the plight of displaced children and their families camped out in an abandoned aquatic centre in a north Baghdad slum. “In Hospital” focuses on the Baghdad Pediatric Hospital – sadly in worse shape post invasion than it was under draconian sanctions that restricted the importation of basic medicine and supplies.

Iraq, like Canada, was once a secular, multicultural society with one of the best public health and education systems in the world. Today, infant mortality rates are on a par with sub-Saharan Africa and the literacy rate has plummeted. Baghdad’s libraries, museums, schools and public institutions have been burned, looted or co-opted by sectarian militias and a whole generation of children have had their education interrupted or severely curtailed.

Hadani’s book as well as her video and photographic presentations offer a very human and easily accessible way into the lives of average Iraqi men, women and children caught up in war and conflict, and can greatly contribute to widening the worldview of young people in Canada.

Awesome Stories

Membership to this databases of stories, audiostreaming, audio/video clips, online games, and virtual field trips is free. I am getting the monthly newsletters -- December features Beowulf, Who was St Nicholas?, and The Story of Peter Pan. There is a newly located Learning Tools section.

Check out the site, sign up for the newsletter, or subscribe as an individual member: http://www.awesomestories.com/. We could also subscribe as an academic group if there were interest.

SLRCCC (School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee)

We had our second meeting of the year on Tuesday morning this week. The committee was pleased to welcome two academic librarians from the SFU libraries and will be joined by one from the UBC Education Library in January. The introduction of academic librarians to the committee structure is exciting for us. The "big picture" for our students who go on to post-secondary and for what happens to prepare their students who undertake practica in our schools to work with TLs is just a hint of the possibilities of conversations.

"The Role and Responsibilities" document (see Handbook, section 1, pages 10-16) was reviewed and we are now able to announce that it looks as though both VEPVA and VASSA will "endorse" the document as a statement of best practice for TLs. The first page (page 10) will be revised for The Handbook to include the following paragraph and to reflect the additional endorsements:

The “Role and Responsibilities” document is not intended as written policy; rather, it is a working document, a set of guidelines to help new teacher-librarians, those considering teacher-librarianship, and those who work with and support the work of teacher-librarians in schools. As a reflection of what constitutes best practice for Vancouver’s teacher-librarians, it can be used as a tool for assessing professional development needs and a framework for discussions of school library programs where it is important to have common understandings about the work of teacher-librarians.

We wished my assistant well in her new year-long position gifts for our Media and Library Services support staff, as well as for the technicians who keep school libraries up and running, were delivered. We also were informed that there will be no change in the Systems Librarian position.

Handbook Revisions

I will begin to work with my new assistant on the latest revisions to The Handbook. The version in the portal is a little out of date but we are now downloaded and ready to go with updating in January. Input from TLs would be important. If you haven't printed out a copy, you could wait but access the electronic version for your own needs.

Get Carded Info

This is a reminder to those secondary schools who have not yet responded with the number of classes of grade 9s who would be involved with this VPL initiative that it would be important to respond this week coming. Thanks for your help.

Ressources: Encyclopedie Decouverte and World Book for Kids (French)

Always in search of resources to meet the needs of Vancouver's French Immersion students, we have been working with the World Book rep on pricing out the French version of the Discovery Encyclopedia as a district/French Immersion purchase. More information will follow. The actual copies are not due out until the Fall of 2008. The electronic database World Book for Kids (French) is due in February. This is not going to be a cost item to schools.

"That's a Family" DVD and Teacher Guide

The Anti-homophobia Consultant has ordered copies of this kit for every school. You may remember I announced at the multivendor display that we are participating, along with the Anti-racism Consultant, in this acquisition for all elementary schools. We will discuss cataloguing with our "catstaff" and then get them out to the professional collections of our elementary school libraries thereafter. We would anticipate that you will want to promote this engaging and significant resource at professional development opportunities and/or staff meetings.

And finally ...

I hope you have a wonderful, lively, and productive last week of school. Unless there is an accumulation of important news, I don't expect I will need to do a summary next week. Here's wishing you a lovely break and a fulfilling new year. Thanks for all the support you have given me. It has been a busy time but I think I'm getting a handle on the pace and expectations. Now if I could just adjust to life in a cubicle!