Look what I found! Treasures from the Collections of the Library of Congress

For April I have highlighted an American memory collection from the Library of Congress: Civil War Treasures. 
 
“The images in this digital collection are drawn from the New-York Historical Society’s rich archival collections that document the Civil War. They include recruiting posters for New York City regiments of volunteers; stereographic views documenting the mustering of soldiers and of popular support for the Union in New York City; photography showing the war’s impact, both in the north and south; and drawings and writings by ordinary soldiers on both sides.”

The New-York Historical owns approximately 3,000 unused envelopes dating from the Civil War years. Of these, 490 were scanned for this project. They are printed with caricatures, allegories, slogans, portraits, etc. relating to Civil War events and personalities. The vast majority is Union-oriented; most were produced by New York printers ca. 1861-65.

The 304 posters chosen for imaging are primarily recruiting posters, but they also include auction and meeting advertisements. They date from the earliest days of the Civil War through March 1865.

732 stereographs offer an immediate and graphic look at the war. When seen with a stereograph viewer which creates a three-dimensional effect, the small views become even more vivid and detailed. While photographers did not usually depict actual battle scenes, they captured images of camp life before battles and of battlefields afterward. 
 
I hope you enjoy browsing this amazing collection!  Pictorial envelopes would make a great student project idea at any grade level!  Students could even write an appropriate letter to tuck inside!

Legislative Alert

 

*Legislative Alert*   LEGISLATIVE ALERT As Day 35 approaches – Thursday, March 27th – both the House and Senate continue to work diligently to pass the Supplemental FY 08 and FY 09 Budgets and other legislation.  The issues below are of importance to GLMA members and can have a statewide impact on students, media specialists, and media centers. FY 2009 BUDGET On Thursday, March 20th, the House passed the FY09 Budget which includes a restoration of $90 million in austerity cuts.  The House Appropriations Committee members worked very hard to fully restore the total $141 million in austerity cuts, but had to adjust the amount restored due to the Governor’s reduction in recommendations due to the shortfall in state revenues. The House version of the FY09 Budget includes: $90,000,000 – restoration of austerity cuts 2.5% pay raise for all teachers $1.5 million from the Foreign Language Program – absorbed into the $90 million austerity restoration – it is unknown at this time if this money will be used to increase the media center FTE within the QBE formula Funds included to offer $100 Classroom Card to each media center The Senate subcommittees will now review the FY09 Budget, and will make changes as they see fit.  It is likely the budget will then go to Conference Committee (a committee made up of House and Senate members) where a compromise on state spending will have to be made. ACTION:  Contact members of the Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee (view here) and YOUR Senator.  Ask Senators to keep the $90 million austerity restoration and the $100 Classroom Cards for Media Centers.  Describe to them what you do as a Media Specialist and why fully funding Media Center FTEs is important to the education of Georgia students. HB 157: RETURN TO WORK This legislation affects retirees who want to return to work full time.  It strikes counselors, librarians and improvement specialists from current law, and strikes the language about the effective date — “December 31, 2003″ — and inserts the language — “retired for at least 12 calendar months”.   This legislation does not affect teachers who want to return to work part-time at 49% after one month out. To view HB 157 in it’s most current form, click here.  HB 157 is pending action in the Senate Retirement Committee – view members here.ACTION:  Contact members of the Senate Retirement Committee and YOUR Senator now!  A hearing has not yet been scheduled for this bill, but could happen at any time.  Don’t delay — explain why school media specialists need to be included in such an important piece of legislation. HB 1209: IE2 SCHOOL SYSTEM FLEXIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY HB 1209 stems from the IE2 Task Force and is backed by Governor Perdue.  Though the IE2 Task Force was charged with creating a new funding formula to replace the current QBE formula, the legislation currently pending is far from a new formula.HB 1209 allows school systems to enter into a contract with the State Board of Education, requesting “…increased flexibility from certain state laws, rules, and regulations in exchange for increased accountability and defined consequences…”  Areas systems can request flexibility include: Class size requirements Expenditure Controls and categorical allotment requirements Certification requirements Salary schedule requirements State curriculum requirements GLMA members may find that, if this legislation passes, their program funding may decrease (expenditure controls/category allotments), and certification and curriculum may change.  At this point, it is uncertain how this legislation will allow systems to operate, but these examples are possibilities. To view HB 1209 in it’s most current form, click here.  (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the most recent version) HB 1209 is pending action in the Senate Education and Youth Committee – view members here.ACTION:  Contact your Senator today!  Express your concerns with the legislation, offer suggestions for limiting the language, and ask what he or she can do to help protect your students and programs.  Contact members of the Senate Education and Youth Committee – tell them why you fear passage of this legislation would harm your students and media centers.   KNOW YOUR LEGISLATORS! To locate your Representative and Senator, click here.  Enter your zip code in the top, left corner.  When the next page opens, enter your address in the center of the page – your local Rep. and Senator will be appear.   Find email addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers for your legislators!   GA House of Representatives GA Senate   QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK ABOUT LEGISLATION?   Contact us at (404) 299-7700 lasaj@jlh-consulting.com michelle@jlh-consulting.com   STAY TUNED…   Lasa Joiner & Michelle Crider

Internet Fact or Fiction?

I’m sure all of you are aware that this year’s huge increase in rainfall has caused great damage for the velcro crops in California, that research shows most cats react negatively to men with beards, and that Dihydrogen Monoxide is of grave concern to us in the U.S. These are facts that the savvy library media specialist should know! After all, it’s true because it’s on the Internet!!

As a high school level media specialist for 25 years, I was amazed at how many of my students, year after year, simply accepted web information, such as this listed above, without any type of screening for authenticity. I might expect this at the junior high or elementary levels, but for ninth through twelfth graders to automatically incorporate information into reports and projects simply because it’s “there” was of great concern to me. So, I began a unit through English classes where I presented web pages as “facts” to students. It was not only informative for them, but GREAT fun for all of us!

Invariably, students would view the first sites presented with great interest and even mention, “I didn’t know that,” or “That’s so cool!” Then, slowly, student by student, there would be comments such as “Wait a minute,” and “Are you sure?” Finally, after further presentation of the sites, students would realize this couldn’t be true. What amazed me was that students initially viewed these sites as truth, without questioning credentials of authors, sponsoring groups, reliability of content, currency, or valid links.

Many media specialists presently plan units and work with students to educate them about authenticity of information located on websites. But I learned that equipping students with the skills to identify inaccuracies on websites was an ongoing effort. Revisiting with students the indicators that show information on websites is reliable was something that students needed often.

It is necessary to set a goal to make this process of determining reliability of websites an automatic procedure as students surf the Internet for information if we are going to have a society that functions on truth and factual data. Consistently reminding students of the examination process is worth the time investment so they will learn that “just because it’s on the Internet does NOT mean it’s automatically fact!”

Sample Bogus Websites for Instruction

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/webeval/eval12.htm

(This one includes the Velcro site. It also includes the Dihydrogen Monoxide site.)

http://www.pennmanor.net/schools/hs/library/Bogus.htm

(Aluminum foil deflector is hilarious!)

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/suel/eval_web/bogus.html

(Be sure to check out the tree octopus)

Sample Internet Evaluation Websites for Instruction

http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/tips/eval.html

http://www.lib.purdue.edu/ugrl/staff/sharkey/interneteval/

http://library.albany.edu/usered/webeval/

http://kathyschrock.net/abceval/

Phyllis R. Snipes
University of West Georgia

“Join the circle of knowledge @ your library.”

National Library Week has been observed to recognize the contributions of our nation’s libraries, and of course librarians! Many school libraries will also celebrate the month of April as School Library Media Month. This year, National Library Week will be observed April 13 – 19 with the theme “Join the circle of knowledge @ your library.” I am sure many of you will be planning activities and events to promote your library media center at your school. 

Ideas for Promoting National Library Week:

American Library Association (ALA) Promotional materials and information about National Library Week http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/natlibraryweek/nlw.htm

Campaign for America’s Libraries – Tips for organizing and promoting National Library Week http://www.ala.org/@yourlibrary

Falcon.jmu – Ideas for motivating children’s reading during National Library Week and National Children’s Book Week:  http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/bookweek.htm

Library Spot – Ideas for celebrating National Library Week

http://www.libraryspot.com/spotlight/nationallibraryweek.htm

Education World – Celebrate Library Week!

http://www.education-world.com/a_special/library_week/

AASL News – School Library Media Month and Elections

It is spring so that means that School Library Media Month is just around the corner in April! What do you have planned? This year’s theme is: Join the circle of knowledge @ your library® The AASL School Library Media Month Task Force has been hard at work collaborating to give you some ideas and support for this celebration. All AASL members will soon be receiving a SLMM poster that was created out of a partnership of AASL, American Girl Publishing and HBO. The poster will feature Abigail Breslin in her new role as Kit: An American Girl. The movie will be coming out this summer. The poster also has activities and curriculum ties for this novel and its setting during the Great Depression. Check out the SLMM web page: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/aasladvocacy/schoollibrary.cfm for many new additions, including the PSAs by School Library Media Month spokesperson Carmen Deedy, links to activity ideas and pdfs of the poster and reproducible activities.

Also don’t forget that the AASL elections are now open. All members need to go vote and make your voice heard! The 4,282 ALSC members, and 5,688 YALSA members constitute a strong youth presence within ALA. Add to that the 9,380 AASL members who represent a specific type of library! Representation by all of the above reflected on the governing ALA Council will give voice to youth services and school libraries. By sheer numbers, these combined divisions are a major voting block in ALA.

It is critical that Council has many voices speaking for youth and school members. On our web page, AASL has listed those candidates who are members of youth divisions: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aboutaasl/aaslgovernance/aaslelections/aaslelections.cfm.

Please pay special attention to credentials for the candidates.  We can really make a difference on Council if every AASL, ALSC, and YALSA member votes.

 

Melissa P. Johnston, AASL SLMM Task Force Chair

Media Specialist, Silver City Elementary School

Forsyth County

 

It’s “Tweet”!: Twitter, A Seriously Fun Social Networking Tool

Last summer, I registered for a Twitter account, but drifted away it from it quickly as I thought it was more of a “fun” social networking tool that did not have any real meaningful application.

Was I WRONG!

I reconnected with Twitter last week thanks to my friend Stephen Rahn at the Kennesaw State Ed Tech Center.  In the last week, here is what I have found and/or accomplished thanks to my connections on Twitter:

• I discovered an amazing library blog, http://libpower.blogspot.com/, and connected with a new colleague, Phil Goerner!  Through Phil, I now have great ideas for a “Grab-n-Go” event for our faculty!  Thank you, Phil!
• I am following the Tweets of great leaders in my field like Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza, “Cool Cat” teacher Vicki Davis, and Will Richardson!  Doug Johnson is now one of my “followers”!  It is something akin to rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars at an Oscar party! 
• Discovered and have been listening to some amazing educational podcasts at http://edtechtalk.com/live, an amazing resource!  I haven’t had a chance yet to listen to a live broadcast although I hope to catch one today at 10:00 A.M.
• Discovered the YALSA Blog (which is TERRIFIC!) through a Tweet from YALSA on Twitter!
• Found and installed Twhirl, a Twitter client.
• Found ChitChatEd through Vicki Davis, “Cool Cat Teacher.”
• Found an excellent blog of an Instructional Technology Specialist, http://kenrodoff.blogspot.com/; Ken Rodoff is the ITS at Joyce Valenza’s school.
• Discovered Ted Talks through a link to a post from Will Richardson on Twitter.  Find out more about TedTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/5; this is a COOL resource!  Here is the RSS feed for TedTalks:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video.
• Found this blog, http://plethoratech.blogspot.com/,  through a Tweet from becksintex.
• Found this interesting article from a Tweet from becksintex, http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/is_web_20_an_en.html.

As you can see, Twitter can be a great resource for networking with other people and sharing resources in real time.   You can Twitter me at http://twitter.com/buffyjhamilton!  Come join in this fun way of learning and networking with others!

In addition, here are some ideas for using Twitter in your library:  http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/twitterlibraryapplications

Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S.
Media Specialist
Creekview High School
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com

Flip for Pure Digital’s Video Camera

 

The first time I heard about the Pure Digital “Flip” video camera was during my 8:00 AM TIE Network session at COMO last year.  An audience member shared Flip camera information with the group, and then Rebecca Amerson, TIE Network member in Cherokee County, followed up with a link to the School Library Journal ’s review of the Flip camera.

The “Flip buzz” didn’t stop there!  While watching my DVRed Oprah shows, Oprah gave a shout out to the Flip camera during her recent program featuring the creators of YouTube.  

Then to cap it all off, I received the endorsement of two 11-year-old boys who are relatives of mine.  During a recent family get-together, these two enthusiastic young gentlemen approached me after finding out that I work for GPB.  They wanted to share their “movie making” experience with me, and I couldn’t help but ask them what kind of camera and editing software they used.  You guessed it!  They offered glowing reviews of the Flip video camera.  That’s all I needed to convince me!  When a middle-school student shows that kind of enthusiasm for learning and creating, it’s worth checking out.

I happened to ask Amanda Wooten, TIE Network member in Savannah-Chatham County, where to purchase a Flip camera.  She offered a few suggestions, and then I rushed to Target Wednesday night during GaETC to buy the very last one they had in stock!  It was on sale for $99.99, and offers 30 minutes of recording space. 

Since passing around this new, affordable video camera during my Friday morning TIE Network BYOL session, I’ve received a few follow-up emails.  One message from Jeanne Auensen, TIE Network member in Fulton County, included a link to Amazon.com where the 60-minute camera is listed at a good price. 

I’m not suggesting that you purchase this video camera at one store over another.  As always, it’s best to “shop around” for the best deal!  Flip offers an “educational discount” you may want to investigate.  As a former middle-school / high-school teacher though, this camera seems to be a good solution if your goal is to put video cameras into the hands of students so that they can demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a creative way.  The Flip is sturdy, doesn’t require extra cords, imports nicely into Windows Movie Maker free video editing software, is PC and MAC compatible and falls “within budget.” 

For a more detailed review, please visit the Flip website or the School Library Journal ’s online review.  Several TIE Network members have searched for the best Flip prices, and you can read their comments by visiting the Flip Video Camera blog post on the TIE Network website.

Katherine Aiken
Digital Distribution / TIE Network Manager
Georgia Public Broadcasting
kaiken@gpb.org 
http://www.tienetwork.org

What’s the world got to teach us?

As my classes explore Web 2.0 (and even just plain old 1.0 internet resources) we frequently get into discussions about how “we can’t do that in my school-every blog, wiki, fill-in-the-blank, is blocked!”  This makes me think about one of the most memborable trips I’ve taken, which was a trip to England were I got to tour several schools in different communities and at different levels.

The biggest surprise of the trip was that none of the schools I visited had particularly good school libraries and most didn’t have anybody serving in the role of school librarian. I always think of England as such a book-rich country-when you’re sitting on the tube or a bus or a train people are always reading. Sadly I guess they don’t get that habit from great school libraries.

The next great surprise to me was how extensively technology was being used by students-and being used in an independent way. Some of the schools had taken odd little rooms (almost like oversized closets) and turned them into computer rooms for a wing of classrooms. Students from all classrooms would be working in the computer lab without any adult supervision. In one school they’d taken an old storage building in the school courtyard and turned it into the school computer club. Students in the 6th form (like 5th/6th graders) were in charge and did all of the supervision as students from all classes came out to work on special projects in the computer club building.  Just this week I read a short article in TechLearning that reported on a visit made by a group to Scandinavia-they too were struck by how much freedom students were given when it came to using technology intelligently and independently.

We do a lot as media specialists to help our students and teachers understand many ethical issues like copyright and plagiarism but how can we take the conversation to the next level and find ways to make these technologies accessible to our students and teachers? How many of you have to read this blog at home b/c it’s blocked at school? How have we gotten to the place where we can’t use tools that we believe will contribute to student learning b/c we live in a climate of fear and restriction? How do some schools manage to get past this?

Give Me Five: Reader Recognition – Part One

Give Me Five #6 

by Tommy and Linda Johns 

This is another article in a series of articles that has a simple premise.  The articles will take you less than five minutes to read (that’s when you give ME five!) and each will contain an introduction to a problem or concept pertaining to our work encouraging kids to read.  Each article will also include a list of five ideas, reasons, tools, steps or other helpful items (that’s when I give YOU five!) related to the topic of the article.  While none of these articles will claim to be the last word on any topic, I promise to make each one fun, well researched and way beyond the obvious. (If you have missed the first articles, you can view them at http://glma-inc.org/newsletter.htm or e-mail me at tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com and I’ll send you a Word^© file of the articles or an audio CD of the articles along with a bonus article we handed out at COMO.)  Here is Give Me Five…

 #6 – “Reader Recognition: Part One” 

As the school year draws to a close, there are so many things to take care of – inventory, getting books turned in, thanking your volunteers, weeding and pre-ordering for next year, spending any of this year’s funds that cannot be carried over, and so much more.  One of the things that is looming large this time of year is the REWARD for your school’s super readers.  Whether you do AR, a million words, 25 books, a principal’s reading club, Book-It, or your own reading emphasis, this is the time of year to reward those kids who have spent much of their spare time in a book and in the library.

As an educational/motivational school show presenter, a PTA volunteer, and a former teacher, I have attended a number of these soirees, and have seen some rewards/ recognition events that simply fulfilled the promise that was made in August of “We’ll do something for those who reach their goals.”  I have also seen some that worked well, and a few ideas that really made the readers feel like they accomplished something worthwhile.  We all want to reward and motivate our readers in a way that makes them proud and glad for their efforts.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind as you reward your readers this year.

1. Experiences last longer than stuff.  Food is messy and hard to prepare and challenging to get to school.  Bookmarks get lost.  Sharpen a pencil enough times and it’s gone.  But if you give your students something to remember, the experience can last a LONG time!  Instead of a traditional party, allow your top readers to bring their lunch onstage in the lunchroom and have lunch with you and/or the principal at nicely decorated tables.  This will take a few days, but is well worth it!  Bring in a special program (like an educational/ motivational school show presenter!) to do a presentation just for them.  For elementary school, have a fire fighter in full gear or a police officer with a dog come and read a story (Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann comes to mind!) to your reading club.  Invite a local college athlete (from a local college or a local kid who plays at the big state school) to visit and talk about reading.  (I am intentionally leaving out any jokes about athletes and reading here.)  Find someone in the area who values reading and also skateboards, plays in a band or is a local media personality (TV or radio) to talk to the kids and demonstrate/discuss what he or she does.  A karate teacher would LOVE to come and break stuff and talk to or read to the kids.
2. Reward them publicly.  Widespread public recognition rewards readers and motivates other students.  Instead of taking all of the recipients of the reading reward out of class to go to the party, reward them in a public way.  Lunch as mentioned above can be HUGE for these readers.  Have their names scroll across the library computers in screensaver mode, a different grade for each computer.  Make a PowerPoint presentation with names and photos to cycle through on the closed circuit TVs in the hallways all day long for a week.  Make a photo of the group holding favorite books and blow it up to poster size to display in the hall or the entrance to the Media Center (think ALA’s READ posters).  Get a parent to design and display a big bulletin board with photos of your reading ninjas.  Announce a grade a day on the morning announcements or TV show.  Allow them the chance to get their yearbooks first.  Give these achievers a chance to show off what they have achieved!  And such public recognition encourages and motivates other students to work harder next year.
3. Start a tradition.  I have been in a number of schools where the super readers get to hang a plaque at the entrance to the school, display their framed and matted photo/poster on the walls of the Media Center or in the halls outside of the MC, or participate in some other annual, permanent recognition of their efforts.  Some schools allow the readers to vote on and place a book in the Media Center with their seal of approval on the outside.  You are going to buy books anyway – why not buy one for each grade as a reward and an encouragement to others?  Be sure to announce and display your own Award Winners Poster that you update every year along with Caldecott and Newbery!
4. Don’t do it all alone.  So many of us fall into the trap of trying to do the reward alone, or by adding it to the work of the para pros in Media Center.  There are parents, music teachers, art teachers, PE teachers and other talented people who would really enjoy the visibility and the opportunity to be a part of your special event.  Ask the PE teacher to help with some fun games, get the music teacher to sing, play an instrument or teach a song!  Contact yout PTA or PTO volunteer coordinator for the names of people who would like to help with a one-time event or a reading-related event.
5. Record the reward for posterity.  Get someone to take photos or video of the event,  and then create a PowerPoint or video clip to use on your morning show, a dedicated computer in the media center, or as the pre-show to the last PTA/PTO meeting of the year.  Next month, I will be writing about how to market your reading emphasis all year long, and this idea will be a tool you can use then as well.  Using this year’s reward to motivate next year’s readers helps them to SEE, HEAR, and EXPERIENCE at the beginning of the year the fun that good readers will enjoy at the end.

Take these ideas, add to them, adapt them to fit your situation and discuss your successes on the GLMA listserve!  We want to hear what YOU do to encourage and reward those kids whose love for reading inspires others, including their Media Specialist!

Tommy Johns has been motivating and rewarding readers for almost three decades as a school show presenter and educational entertainment specialist.  He and his wife Linda, a library media specialist in training, co-wrote this article on a long car trip through south Georgia and north Florida.  Find out more at www.tommyjohnspresents.com.  He welcomes your comments on this column and ideas for future “Give Me Five!” articles.  You can contact him at tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com.

Spring is in the Air!

 As buds become flowers and I witness other signs of spring, I am reminded that the end of the school year is right around the corner. If you’re like me, during the school year you have gathered many pieces of paper and pictures that together provide a glimpse of a variety of library and school-related activities. This month’s tip is from Gene Hainer’s AASL Conference presentation, “101+ Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program.”

Keep a scrapbook or portfolio of your yearly activities. Include photos of bulletin boards, student work, class projects, awards, games and literacy activities, reading incentives, lesson plans, collaboration plans and debriefings. I have gathered items like these into an accordion file all year. The next step is to place them into a scrapbook/portfolio–a great volunteer project.  I have no doubt that I will use the scrapbook to reflect and plan activities for the next year. Happy Scrapbooking!

Rosalind Dennis

DeKalb County School System