The SurRural Librarian

First, someone I voted for actually gets to be president. Then, a book I adore wins the Newbery. What’s going on here?

And look at the really sweet post on Gaimain’s journal about getting the phone call from the committee.

Yay for the Graveyard Book!

In response to a post on VTcite, I jotted down a few things I’ve learned working with kids & 2.0 tools, so I thought I’d share them here as well.

• Don’t use tools that require students to use a personal email address. (There are different ways to get around this, some sites like pbwiki now allow you to generate user logins for students. Edublogs will allow blog comments without email addresses, etc.)
• Preview drafts of student work & engage them in editing.
• The teacher should be the admin of the site and, depending on the project, require approval for posts.
• With blog projects, require students comment on each other’s posts. Encourage students to make comments brief, conversational and original.
• Protect their privacy by having students use pseudonyms and develop their online voice by always using the same pseudonym.
• Practice & teach respectful dialogue. (This does not come as easily as you would expect online. Tone is a challenge for new writers and kids love to use all caps and lots of exclamation points, they don’t realize they’re shouting.)
• Make it an assignment, not a suggested activity.
• Give students time in school to use the tool, do not expect kids to do it from home (remember the digital divide).
• Also use it as a fun time-filler for kids who finish other tasks early.

The new White House website went live during the inauguration and it’s got a blog!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

And look at that, blog is even in the URL. As if it needs to be repeated here, whole sale, blind filtering of blogs & wikis in schools has got to end. As if these weren’t argument enough…

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/topnews/blog-index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/
http://www.barackobama.com/blog/
http://www.johnmccain.com/Blog/
http://vsla.info/
http://www.vermontlibraries.org/
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blogs.html

Do school tech admins really want to be adding exceptions to their filters for every single legitamate use of a blog on the web? Or can we focus on teaching our students how to search for & evaluate information online?

Every reader his [or her] book & every book its reader.

These two laws of library science are constantly ringing through my head when I’m selecting books to purchase or weed. I have some readers at school who absorbed just about anything I give them with glee. I’ve got more who are always happy with the same genre and rarely deviate, and a few who are extremely difficult to please. It’s this last group that I spend most of my time thinking about.  Librarians are always on the search for that one book that will hook the potential readers.

Now and then I read a book that strikes me as just the thing to enchant a certain reader. Peter Gould’s Write Naked is one of those possible favorite novels. Peter writes with and about passion in a way rare in YA books. Romantic passion, but also passion for art, for community, for understanding. Knowing Peter & his passion for teaching & drama, this doesn’t surprise me a bit. This is a book I wish every high school would have on its shelves, sitting there waiting for the right reader. And not because I wish Peter well with his novel (which, of course, I do!) but because I’m sure it’s the potential love of some quietly passionate 10th grader out there, who’s just waiting for this book to come into his life.

Vermont kids will be especially drawn to this book. It’s got great local flavor (it’s set just down the road from my house!) and describes our rural life style romantically but truthfully. The characters are unique, unconventional and pretty darn lovable. The title is a little racy but the content is certainly appropriate for high schools. Having heard Peter read a segment at the VSLA conference last fall, I highly recommend him as a school visit. His infectious enthusiasm is just perfect for students. Great job Peter!

Reviews & other info here: http://us.macmillan.com/writenaked