The Great Thing About A Library…

…or school.

Via Young Alberta Book Society on Facebook

Born to Learn, Hard-Wired to Take the Risks that Ensure our Survival as a Species

Years ago, when my sons were teenagers, a teacher quipped (with, I thought at the time, his tongue firmly planted in his cheek) that Grade 7 kids should be sent off to an isolated island together to work through their hormonal issues, and then brought back for Grade 10, when you might actually be able to teach them something. This video might explain our shared frustration.

Born to Learn from Born to Learn on Vimeo.

“We shouldn’t belittle adolescence, we should be honouring it for what it really is: the defining struggle; the moment when the next generation challenges the status quo and pioneers new ways of thinking and being that ensure our survival. Now just imagine if we actually gave adolescents the freedom to undertake that struggle.”

I will be on that bandwagon that figures out how to re-invent our education system to accomplish that goal. The teacher I mentioned above may have been being less facetious than I thought. Perhaps many of them should quit school (and have a very wise grandfather) since, “We just don’t learn something unless we’re emotionally engaged with it”.

In defense of the teachers I know, I believe they are quite aware and make valiant attempts to teach by doing, but their success with adolescents is still being stymied by our ‘system’. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the magic transformation theory that can gather immensely diverse teens together in a classroom or school with standardized legislated curriculum and assessment that pleases parents and government overseers. Have you?

Delving Through Delicious (Bookmarks)

Advocating for silence in a noise-addicted world – The Quiet Ones.

8 Tips for the Care and Feeding of the Reluctant Tech User from the Daring Librarian

People of the Bookshelf “Alpha by subject … or by dinner party seating rules? Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks on a shelving obsession.”

Ideas from L_M Net for inexpensive / homemade bookmarks.

Over 250 Free Children’s e-Books for ages 3-11 from Oxford Primary to read online with or without narration. Activities included.

Emoticons at 30 (Or Is It 45? Or 125? Or 131?)

Reconceptualising the School Library as Collaborative Makerspace “We need to deliberately and systematically create spaces and processes in our schools that foster creativity and innovation”

Free Books: 100 Free Sites to Download Literature

New SF bookstore devoted to rescuing out-of-print sf books and making them into free ebooks

B.C. Librarian Judith Comfort’s Fieldnotes:

“Our kids and their teachers are rushed off their feet like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland –“No time, no time,” and as for both student and adult attention and concentration – eye contact is replaced by eye – to screen contact. Factor in the whirling, dervishing technology gurus who have compromise our pedagogy with brilliant myths personalized to seduce us.

I feel I am needed more than ever because my teachers have no time to look for stuff themselves, and have no time to analyze it’s usefulness in terms of their teaching goals. The kids need to be reassured that space and quiet is a good necessary thing; that reading heals their fragmented attention-addled brains.”

* Images in this post have been offered as ‘Free to Use or Share’ according to Google Advanced Search usage rights filter.

Forgetfulness – Billy Collins Animated Poem

Via: Journey Back to Words

30 Dr. Suess Quotes to Live By

Infographic by Mamiverse

Great news, sage advice and a little bit of dreaming to wrap up the school year

Marty Chan

I received some great news the other day in an email from the Young Alberta Book Society, which supports reading, writing and the work of Alberta authors, illustrators and storytellers. YABS hosts an annual literary arts festival for children called Taleblazers. I have participated for almost every one of my thirteen years at the school and I was thrilled to hear that I will be hosting a visit from Marty Chan next October.

Something else to look forward to in the fall is the announcement of the winners of the array of awards —– by The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. You can see all the finalists at the link.

But for now – School’s Out for Summer. The kids will forget all about us for two months. Teachers, administrators and support will try to do the same – on and off – for a few days less than the kids. I don’t expect to be posting much over the summer if at all, but you never know. I might just come across something interesting by accident and have to share it.

Meanwhile, I’ll be at the school as little as possible to tidy up for September. I also have the yearbook to finish, company coming and a few short trips planned, and a couple of weddings to attend. Of course I’ll be reading; I’ll be spending lots of time with my children and grandchildren, my parents and siblings and my friends. I’m looking forward to doing a little horseback riding with my hubby. I want to get out as much as possible with my camera and make some posts for my photography and nature blogs, which have been sorely neglected…

And then…I will try to follow the sage 5-Rs advice of the inimitable Daring Librarian: Relax, Reflect, Revise, Rededicate and Rejoice. Each stage has it’s own challenges and 2 months doesn’t seem like enough time to get through the process, but I will try to fit it all in because I’m a library manager and I’m totally used to biting off way more than I can chew.

From my little town in the woods of Alberta, I wish all of those who wander by here the best of the best during the next two months. See you again in September.

Evening by a Pond on the Hill

Not a Lot of Links

Just a few for this Sunday.

Undergraduates in Professor T. Mills Brown’s innovative Lying About the Past course at George Mason University learned a lot as they planted elaborate hoaxes on the internet.. We can all learn from them as well by reading the Atlantic’s How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit.

George Williams describes Google’s new “Google Search Education” site, which was set up to help teach students information literacy and is complete with free-to-use lesson plans. Lots of good discussion in the comments as well.

The loss of Ray Bradbury on June 5 has spawned a lot of writing this past week. Here’s Quill & Quire’s tribute with a couple of other interesting links within the article .

Loving Words: a short and  poignant story of the gifts of love and literacy, for your pleasure.

YALSA has introduced a new free app for Apple devices called YALSA’s Teen Book Finder ~

Storytelling Opens Communication for People With Dementia and Alzheimer’s

“A method that opens storytelling to everyone by replacing the pressure to remember with encouragement to imagine.”

Read/Listen: Alzheimer’s Patients Turn To Stories Instead Of Memories NPR

Information is Food

“There is no such thing as information overload, there is only filter failure.”