So, I have been playing with the new computational knowledge search engine, WolframAlpha. It is amazing! This weekend I watched the Overview Video from its home page detailing many of the things it can do, and I was blown away!
It can solve math equations, compare the populations of the United States and France, give you stock information, tell you how many copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have been published and so much more! I have yet to find a computation it cannot do!
Remember this is a computational search engine, so it will not bring you web pages of information. It gives you things it can compute. It is not a Google of sorts. Its purpose is completely different.
I have offered it up to one of our history teachers who is having her students compare the United States with another country in the world. I hope it goes well! I am so excited to see…
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Dream Job
So, I was at the pediatrician’s office with my kids last week, when I had a conversation I find myself having more and more these days. In casual conversation, the doctor asked what I do for a living. Smiling, I answered, “I’m a middle school librarian.” Her response is one I hear often. “I would think that would be a dream job.”
Immediately I jump in, as I often do after this response, with, “Yes, it is an amazing field! I get to work with kids every day. I teach them lessons on finding authentic ‘actual-factual’ information, we use multimedia to teach all the curriculum areas, we help kids build incredible projects using many different types of presentation software, we blog about books we read, and so much more!”
Is this all true? Absolutely! Is it something I really needed to spill out all in a jumble to my daughters’ pediatrician? Probably not. I’ve realized this has become my rote response to this comment. I try to cut someone off before they follow up their awesome “dream job” comment with what I hear all too often… “It must be nice to be able to read all day.”
Never having had the time to read at school, this response irks me. Of course, I love to read and do it all the time on my own time, but there is never an opportunity to do it at work. Why I feel the need to stifle this response from people though, I don’t know. Can’t I just be happy with people thinking, like I do, that I have a dream job? Does anyone else feel they have to “justify” what we do with a qualitative response? Or am I the only crazy one…
Immediately I jump in, as I often do after this response, with, “Yes, it is an amazing field! I get to work with kids every day. I teach them lessons on finding authentic ‘actual-factual’ information, we use multimedia to teach all the curriculum areas, we help kids build incredible projects using many different types of presentation software, we blog about books we read, and so much more!”
Is this all true? Absolutely! Is it something I really needed to spill out all in a jumble to my daughters’ pediatrician? Probably not. I’ve realized this has become my rote response to this comment. I try to cut someone off before they follow up their awesome “dream job” comment with what I hear all too often… “It must be nice to be able to read all day.”
Never having had the time to read at school, this response irks me. Of course, I love to read and do it all the time on my own time, but there is never an opportunity to do it at work. Why I feel the need to stifle this response from people though, I don’t know. Can’t I just be happy with people thinking, like I do, that I have a dream job? Does anyone else feel they have to “justify” what we do with a qualitative response? Or am I the only crazy one…
Thursday, May 21, 2009
My Least Favorite Librarian "Hat"
So, today I had to begin putting on my least favorite librarian hat. It’s the hat I dread wearing each May-- the only part of my job I don’t absolutely love. I began the transition to… Fine Collector. I know it’s a necessary part of the job. I know the process allows us to put at least 100 extra books on our shelves each year, which is so important, especially in this economy. But it is not a hat I like to wear. It doesn’t look good or feel good on me.
We work so hard in our profession to build a good rapport with our students and give them a sanctuary in the school. I feel like the fine collection process wipes away much of that. Leaving my students with that image of the library, and, dare I say it, me as a librarian, is not the way I like to go out for the summer. To make things a little better, I only actively seek out those who owe $1.00 or more, and I always greet with a smile, but still...
Yes, I’m teaching responsibility and the fact that there are consequences when borrowed items aren’t returned on time as promised. I even try to soften the blow by telling them I often owe fines to the public library, but that I eventually need to “take care of my business” just as they need to. It’s still hard. Especially when asking for it in this economy…
We work so hard in our profession to build a good rapport with our students and give them a sanctuary in the school. I feel like the fine collection process wipes away much of that. Leaving my students with that image of the library, and, dare I say it, me as a librarian, is not the way I like to go out for the summer. To make things a little better, I only actively seek out those who owe $1.00 or more, and I always greet with a smile, but still...
Yes, I’m teaching responsibility and the fact that there are consequences when borrowed items aren’t returned on time as promised. I even try to soften the blow by telling them I often owe fines to the public library, but that I eventually need to “take care of my business” just as they need to. It’s still hard. Especially when asking for it in this economy…
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Role of Teacher vs. Librarian
So, I've been contemplating the role of the librarian vs. teacher lately. It's a tough line because we do so much classroom teaching. In fact, I believe as school librarians we MUST teach. If we don't, what's the point of being a SCHOOL librarian? Sometimes I wonder if there is a line between our two professions. My current thought is that there must be a line, a flexible line, between Classroom Teacher and Teacher Librarian.
If we, as librarians, take on the role of pure teacher, then don't we negate the need for a librarian in a school? If we take on roles and lessons that can be taught in the classroom, don't we just diminish the need for a library media specialist and create a need for a "keeper of the books?" So, how can we address the curricular needs of our students, while maintaining the distinct role of librarian as a necessary collaborative teaching partner? My answer is media.
My co-librarian and I have been creating a lot of station activities lately in my school. Usually these consist of six or seven rotating stations centered around a central topic-- say, the Diary of Anne Frank. In a 90-minute class students usually get an introduction, a set up and explanation, six to seven rotating stations for 10 minutes each, and a closure discussion.
Is the Diary of Anne Frank taught in the classroom? Of course. Do they discuss elements of plot and a play in the classroom? Of course. Do they discuss meaning and foreshadowing, tragedy, Anne Frank's symbolism of all the children of the Holocaust, and so much more? Absolutely. So what can we as librarians bring to the table that isn't a "classroom" lesson? Again, my answer is media.
Included in our seven library stations, we have a podcast of British rescuers and a media broadcast of the day a concentration camp was liberated. We have pictures of the actual Secret Annex from the Anne Frank House, a video interview with Otto Frank from 1976, and a transcript of an interview with their protector Miep Gies. We present actual stories in books of other children from different groups of people who were victimized during the Holocaust. All this and more. I argue that it is the primary sources, the actual first-person accounts of the time period, and the media which separate our role. Isn't this just as important? Yet different...
If we, as librarians, take on the role of pure teacher, then don't we negate the need for a librarian in a school? If we take on roles and lessons that can be taught in the classroom, don't we just diminish the need for a library media specialist and create a need for a "keeper of the books?" So, how can we address the curricular needs of our students, while maintaining the distinct role of librarian as a necessary collaborative teaching partner? My answer is media.
My co-librarian and I have been creating a lot of station activities lately in my school. Usually these consist of six or seven rotating stations centered around a central topic-- say, the Diary of Anne Frank. In a 90-minute class students usually get an introduction, a set up and explanation, six to seven rotating stations for 10 minutes each, and a closure discussion.
Is the Diary of Anne Frank taught in the classroom? Of course. Do they discuss elements of plot and a play in the classroom? Of course. Do they discuss meaning and foreshadowing, tragedy, Anne Frank's symbolism of all the children of the Holocaust, and so much more? Absolutely. So what can we as librarians bring to the table that isn't a "classroom" lesson? Again, my answer is media.
Included in our seven library stations, we have a podcast of British rescuers and a media broadcast of the day a concentration camp was liberated. We have pictures of the actual Secret Annex from the Anne Frank House, a video interview with Otto Frank from 1976, and a transcript of an interview with their protector Miep Gies. We present actual stories in books of other children from different groups of people who were victimized during the Holocaust. All this and more. I argue that it is the primary sources, the actual first-person accounts of the time period, and the media which separate our role. Isn't this just as important? Yet different...
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