Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Twas the week before Christmas ...

If you know me you know that my idea of a perfect day is pajamas, coffee, and a stack of books!  Well, I am having that perfect day (actually, morning, since I will be springing into action this afternoon!).  I am in Canada, visiting my son, there is the gentlest hint of snow lazily drifting to the ground, and holiday music as my mood enhancer.  I have several books to read: "The Rules of Survival" by Nancy Werlin, which I will be using as part of English 11's tiered novels; "Marked," the first book of the House of Night series and part of my quest to read the fiction section of my new high school library; "Bal's Quick & Healthy Indian," my son's latest attempt to get me to eat healthier!  I am about to put a new Christmas novel on my Kindle, something warm and mushy, sentimental, and fun -- anyone with a suggestion??
Of course, there is also a stack of work by my chair, which I am currently ignoring; a few articles to flesh out, some lesson plans to critique, a newsletter to create, and planning to do.  All of these can just wait until later, I am enjoying that endangered art of enjoying a good book. So ... Here's hoping you are also having that perfect day ...


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Wondering and Rambling Thoughts

Are  the holidays here?  I guess it depends on whether yours begins before or after school is out for the winter break!! I have 3 days (but who's counting?) before my official holiday break-- two weeks with no alarm clock, a stack of books to read, and no schedule run by bells!
I've been doing a lot of reading about trends in education, the flipped classroom, curating instead of collecting, uses for cell phones in classrooms and all of these have me thinking -- can we convince the educator leaders that school libraries are the next great trend? After all, we can flip, our media centers.  They can be used to accommodate the inquiry learning of individuals, small groups, or large classes.  We can share all the potentials of smart phones (and how to get information without one!), and all the other new technologies.  We curate all the time, by pulling collections, in print and online.  Thinking about this, those educational leaders should say we are their most economical investment in education!  Anyone out there using these tools for 21st century learning with their faculty?  Do you have a winning strategy for building that collaboration?