There are few things that sadden me more than seeing a school library that is not useable by every student on campus. Maybe it’s not intentional: perhaps your library administrator isn’t “into” improving access, maybe she doesn’t think it’s necessary or valuable, or does not really understand how to create a viable academic resource for [...]
Universal Design is a concept that seems so simple, yet has not been incorporated as a standard of excellence for educators. The concept is simple: plan something from the beginning so that anyone can use it successfully. One common example of Universal Design is incorporating ramps into the design of a building. Everyone can benefit [...]
The Extreme Read Challenge made the Long Beach Press Telegram’s ”Reader Page!” This article and picture was submitted by our PTA president, Jeri Lynn Cullison (who has also been a great supporter of this event for all three years). It reads: The Marshall Academy of Scholars Librarian, Ameelia Ghareeb is surrounded by participating students at the [...]
Today is the day! The Extreme Read Challenge is a fun, collaborative event that encourages nothing more that sitting ad reading. We have 50 students already signed up, plus guests, family members, and school staff. Over the course of 4 hours we will add all the minutes read by everyone to come up with our total; Last [...]
Every year, about this time, the great mission begins: getting kids to turn in all those library books and pay for lost books before the end of the school year. Here are some ideas I’ve used to get those kids to settle up. Prevention, Prevention, Prevention. Aside from doing an extensive library introduction, and demonstrating [...]
Today is the last day of Spring Break. Come Monday, I’ll be back at school, bookfair driving me crazy, kids forgetting their books for the hundredth time, teachers demanding this and than and everything else. It’ll be like I never left. But this time of year always brings up waves of deep emotional inquest for [...]
So far this week, I’m 0-for-3. I sent all three books I was reviewing for my library back to Library Services with the same post-it attached: Too mature for middle school, please send for high school review. There has been much discussion in our district about where boundaries are between middle school and high school [...]
Anyone else think it’s pretty cool when your profession gets a “shout-out” from CNN? Public libraries (and school libraries for that matter) find themselves in high demand when things go south in the economy. Here’s an article that looks at how this wonderful establishment is helping Americans get back on their feet. From Cnn.com: [...]
I did not believe it would ever happen. Our Book Truck Guy strolls in: “I’ve got some books for you.” Ms. G looks at his empty hands for a moment, puzzled. She’s thinking, “So. . .where are they? I don’t see any books? Why would you tell me you have books when you don’t have [...]
In a few weeks I’ll be presenting at the annual TRLD Conference (Technology, Reading, Learning and Diversity) in San Francisco. The title of my presentation, session 2309, is “A is for Access, Create an Inclusive Library with Universal Design” This is a similar presentation I gave to the Long Beach Teacher Librarians, focusing on what [...]
