3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge — Day Three

I have been nominated to participate in the bloggers’ 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge. Thank you, The Daily Geekette, for nominating me!

The rules of the challenge are, as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days (one quote per day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day!

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”

My final quote for the challenge comes from the play (and film) “The History Boys“, by  Alan Bennett.  If you haven’t seen the film (which used the play’s cast), go rent it right now! I saw this play in its limited run on Broadway, and was so struck by this line. I frantically scribbled it on a bit of paper from my purse, sitting in the dark there in the theater, with tears in my eyes. I thought, YES! That’s it! This guy gets it. And though it is written by a white man, voiced by a character who is a white man, likely talking about books written by the proverbial old dead white guys, it is so applicable in the world of #WNDB, and such a good argument against banning books.

EVERYONE deserves, no NEEDS to experience those moments of recognition, acknowledgment, and validation. Everyone should feel that hand reaching out and taking theirs. And that’s what books, all kinds of books by all kinds of people, do for us.

I nominate:

Deb Reese, of American Indians in Children’s Literature

Gwyneth Jones, of The Daring Librarian

Shannon McClintock Miller, of The Library Voice

 

 

 

3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge — Day Two

I have been nominated to participate in the bloggers’ 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge. Thank you, The Daily Geekette, for nominating me!

The rules of the challenge are, as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days (one quote per day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day!

My second quote is from Peter and Wendy, by J.M. Barrie:

“I taught you to fight and to fly. What more could there be?”

This quote I chose in honor of my daughter, Emily, who turns 22 today. She is both a fighter and a flier, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

I nominate:

Emma, of Miss Print

Ingrid, of MagpieLibrarian

Sarah of WhatSaraRead

 

 

 

 

3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge

I have been nominated to participate in the bloggers’ 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge. Thank you, The Daily Geekette, for nominating me!

The rules of the challenge are as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for three consecutive days (one quote per day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day!

My first quote is from Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery.

“True friends are always together in spirit.” (Anne Shirley).  

I felt great affinity with Anne, because she was also a redhead, and a reader, who marched to the beat of her own drum, and wore her heart on her sleeve. A quick perusal of Pinterest leaves no doubt that Anne’s reflections, a perfect combination of realism and idealism, were made for memes and English-class posters. But I’m not just choosing this quote because it’s a platitude that looks good on a FB wall.

I got some news yesterday. An old friend, Paige, recently passed away unexpectedly.  Her mom called my mom; thought we’d like to know. We were BEST friends from the time I moved in next door to her, about age 3, to the time my family moved away, just before I turned 7. We started school together, at Robbinswood Elementary, waiting for the school bus singing “Bus, bus, b-u-s!”. We watched Felix the Cat, and Here Come the Brides, and Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella.  We listened to “Charming Billy” on her little portable record player, and tried out her mom’s Dippity Do with that pink zig-zag-edged tape for making curls. She had one of those pink portable hair dryers, too, the ones that had a little dipstick you could dip in perfume so your hair would be infused with the scent… We’d sing “Georgy Girl”, and (as her she reminded her mom not long before she died) “Pumpkin pie makes you die, Comet makes you vomit”… We each had two sisters, and our moms spent a lot of time together, and so did we.  We were inseparable, until we were on opposite coasts.

I hadn’t actually seen Paige since we were about 8 or 9. We wrote letters to each other for YEARS, though it slowed down once we hit high school and college. But we kept in touch, usually by Christmas cards, and an occasional call, up until a few years ago. Not sure why it fell off — you know how it goes: most of us don’t send cards and letters like we used to — but we always figured we could catch up.  You sort of assume that the person is out there, living their life, and that eventually you can reconnect, but it’s never a real priority, so you don’t go out of your way. We all have lives to lead and we all get busy. But… this is the SECOND friend of mine from my youth who has died after a period of disconnect — that I didn’t get a chance to catch up with, or say goodbye to. And a friend of my husband’s from college, as well. This is a scary little dose of reality, and it’s difficult to avoid being a little maudlin.

It is startling when a contemporary dies: facing one’s mortality is rarely comfortable. Hey, my generation isn’t that old! But I guess we are.  I guess we are. I’m sad for her mother, who didn’t expect to outlive her child, and her son, going off to college in September, and her two sisters, who are devastated. But I’m also sad because a bit of my childhood is gone with her.  She knew me when I was young, and I knew her.  Those shared memories are gone. The world we shared is gone. It slips through your fingers so easily you don’t realize you no longer hold it until it’s gone.

Perhaps Anne Shirley would comfort me, telling me that by remembering Paige, and our childhood friendship, she will always be with me in spirit. It’s a lovely sentiment. But I’m still sorry I missed the chance to connect, one more time. This Sunday would have been Paige’s 53rd birthday. So, I’ll remember her then, and remember who I was, as well.

 

I nominate Liz Burns, Eden Grey, and Nori.

Using Google Slides to Create Choose-Your-Own-Adventures

The grad students that I mentor often ask me how to achieve collaboration with teachers.  It doesn’t happen overnight, and you have to lay a LOT of foundation before you can build something from the ground up. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how fortunate I am to have phenomenal support from my administration, and buy-in from so many teachers — I couldn’t do ANY of what I do without that.  With a completely flex schedule, I am at the mercy of the teachers’ schedules and plans.  You have to put yourself out there, make yourself and your resources known and available, and meet them where THEY are, not where you think they should be.

This is a story about the meeting of minds: one SLMS, one teacher, and about 70 students.  It illustrates how collaboration can draw on the separate skills, knowledge, and strengths of partnering professionals to create a dynamic learning experience for students. This is the kind of thing you learn about in library school. It doesn’t always happen this way, to be honest. But when you find a teacher willing to take that leap with you, it’s magic.

The project starts with my own PLN, because I’m not a genius and librarians are REALLY good at sharing.  I’d seen a presentation on using a Jeopardy-style template in Google Slides for study guides or quiz prep, with Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (CYOA) as another use.  Being a geek, I thought it would be a fun excuse to teach the kids about the old DOS text-based computer games. You have to be prepared if you want teachers to see the potential. So, I started pulling together CYOA books and researching the text games.  I created my own hyper-linked Slides template, and a Google site in our district’s private domain with images, video, links, and instructions. It might never get used, but at least I was ready.

Our district has always supported teachers teaching teachers. Through PD workshops in a relaxed environment, I share what the media center has to offer, and they help me better understand their needs and their students’. Not everything will be a hit. School librarians, especially those in middle or high school, have to remember that just because you think it’s cool doesn’t mean it will be relevant or useful for classroom teachers. But when we’re bouncing ideas off of each other, we do find things that work. I’m happy if I find one new thing a year, and pilot it with one or two teachers. If it works well, other teachers hear about it and join in. That’s how you build connections, and that’s how you expand a library program. In a PD workshop about Google Apps, I added CYOAs to my list of potential classroom uses, and showed the teachers a quick demo. Nobody jumped at it right away.  But periodically throughout the school year (usually when I see I have a ‘light’ week coming up in my flex schedule), I send out fishing e-mails to teachers, reminding them of possible lessons or activities or asking if they need booktalks for independent reading.

Carla, an 8th grade LAL teacher, approached me on her prep one day, saying that her students were unhappy with the ending of The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, a “core” novel for our 8th graders. Her students were reacting strongly to decisions and causes/effects in the novel that ended badly for the characters.  She said that they expressed ideas about how the novel could have changed, if only the characters had made different decisions.  Carla had taken my workshop, and the e-mail jogged her memory: she thought that her students would appreciate the chance to change the story, and that the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure format would be a perfect fit.  All the stars were aligning!

We discussed the project at length, reflecting that it would:

• require high-level thinking skills (synthesizing what they know about the plot, characters, and setting of the novel, as well as exploring decision-making skills that could have real-world applications),
• allow for creativity (writing their own versions of what could have happened)
• incorporate technology in an engaging and exciting way.
• require ethical use of materials, by requiring that only copyright-free images be used.

We discussed the logistics, figuring out the best way to keep the students from getting confused, and agreeing that they would need:

• time to write and storyboard
• a graphic organizer/slide list on which they could note which slides would need to be hyper-linked to which other slides, in order for the digital story to flow smoothly.
• a lesson on how to use Google Presentations, especially the hyper-link feature
• time to finish putting it together

We scheduled time in the library (2 days) and computer lab (4 days) for three separate classes of students.

 

I created a Slide Sheet graphic organizer for facilitating/organizing slides/hyperlinks. This was shared with Carla and the students. Since I didn’t have very many CYOA books in our collection, I requested some from other district libraries, as well as LAL teachers, to have them on hand as examples.

 

Carla prepared the students for the project in the classroom: introducing the idea, brainstorming the original decisions/actions in the book and alternate story paths, and created with the students a basic core timeline of events of the story which they could use as a foundation to branch off from (which events/actions/decisions could change? what might happen in the story if that change occurred — what would the potential result be?). This was a new activity for both me and Carla, and the students were excited to be the “guinea pigs”.

 

When they came to the media center, I lead a discussion on the history of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories, showing both print examples and online text-based computer games, which they thought were hilariously ‘old-school’, a.k.a. from the age of the dinosaurs.  I explained the common traits, and invited students to share their personal experience/knowledge, which was pretty limited. We explained the process, and what the finished product would be; Carla laid out the expectations/rubric (she would be the one grading the assignment). Students were working individually, but were encouraged to talk it out with their classmates.

 

Carla and I assisted the students in story-boarding in the Media Center. This took about two days (two of the classes had two time blocks, or 80 minutes, per day with her; the E-group, or advanced class, has only one 40 minute period). The students spread out all over the library, using large easel paper and either color-coded post-its or index cards with jotted notes of events/actions to plan out their stories. They didn’t have to write out the entire story on the post-its; they could put basic events/decisions as placeholders for themselves. Students drew arrows or lines to represent story lines and connections, and had to follow each thread to ensure continuity. This was the hardest part, but also the most important, because it was the foundation on which everything would be built. Some of the students were confused at this point, and needed help to both keep the story lines straight, and to craft their own endings, not just re-tell the story as it was. Struggling students who were having trouble juggling all the story lines were guided to just finish one at a time all the way through, THEN go back and do another branch, one at a time.

 

Once they were all done with all of their story lines, students filled out their slide sheet graphic organizer, with a brief few words to identify the action or decision of each slide, and a notation of which other slides it linked to. Our students used printed organizers, but it could have been done electronically. This was kind of a counter-intuitive task, as students wondered what order to list the slides, and whether to go in order of each story branch. But we told them it didn’t really matter what order they put the slides, because they would all be accessed with hyperlinks.  They could do it in whatever order made sense to them. The important thing was that they know which slides linked to which other slides.  As long as they listed all the slides first, then each had an assigned number, and they could go back and fill in the numbers for the hyperlinks to the appropriate slides.

 

Now they were ready to put it all together. This was the easy part! I demonstrated how to locate copyright-free images (from SearchCreativeCommons and other links on my web site). I instructed them in the use of Google Slides. Since they already were familiar with PowerPoint, they didn’t need much help with the basics, including embedding images (this task is much easier now that you can copy/paste right into Slides).  I did have to show them how to use the hyperlink function, but they quickly picked that up.  I assisted with whatever technical problems or questions arose as they worked on their projects, mostly because they hadn’t written down the right slide links.  If necessary, students went back to their storyboards. Carla assisted with the writer’s craft, now that they were actually writing out their versions of the story. I reminded them that to improve their reader’s aesthetic experience, they needed legible fonts and limited text on a slide, that the text shouldn’t take away from the image (and vice versa), and that they could periodically have a ‘click’ to just continue to the next slide (without a decision/choice). When they had finished, they were asked to test their links by viewing the ‘presentation’ and clicking through all the branches of their story, fixing any problem areas. Then students shared and viewed each others’ stories, offering peer review suggestions and comments.

 

Finally, I created a sub-pages on the CYOA Google site, giving Carla and all students editorial privileges. I showed the students how to edit Google sites, and how to set the ‘share’ settings on their presentations so that they were viewable by anyone in the district, and how to embed them on the site.  This was a little bit ungainly a task, because Google sites only allows one person to edit a page at a time.  We did have one or two glitches where students’ edits got written over, but we all figured it out together, and proceeded with them adding one at a time.  Since they finished at staggered times, there wasn’t too much wait time.  They viewed each others’ work and posted constructive criticism comments to the page until we were ready.

 

Two student examples:

Student example 1

Student example 2

One of the other tools I had demonstrated in that PD workshop was a survey via Google Forms.  Carla created one to serve as a reflection for the students after the project was over. Here’s a snapshot of some of their responses. Generally, the responses were really positive. It’s an enormously valuable piece to the project, because even more than the finished products, it reflects the students’ learning process, where they got confused, how they figured it out, what they learned about decision-making, how they solved problems, and so on.  It also helped me and Carla reflect on how we might tweak the project. At the students’ suggestion, we would definitely give them a chance to read CYOAs and play the text-based games, rather than just showing them. In hindsight, more time was needed to plan than hyperlink, and embedding the presentations took longer than we anticipated, because they couldn’t do it simultaneously.

I believe that this CYOA format could work in other subject areas such as science or social studies.  I think it would be a lot of fun for students to rewrite history, changing events and decisions. It would incorporate writing across the curriculum, and address, at the very least, the technology and subject-related standards.

In the interests of sharing, the way ideas and tools were shared with me, I will put up the whole lesson plan.

Gotta Love a Library Sale

This weekend was the Friends of the Library book sale at our local public library. I have two serious addictions to which this annual event beckons: I can’t pass up a bargain, and I MUST buy books. Add in that it supports the library, and it’s a trifecta!

It’s not hard to see how most of the books are donated to the sale. I imagine exhausted family members clearing out the homes of their elderly, dropping off musty boxes of yellowed, dog-eared copies. Voracious mystery and romance readers making room for the latest titles. Exasperated moms declaring “clean up your room!” and swooping up books their kids have ‘outgrown’. Usually there are scores of our district’s summer required reading titles: once the assignment is done, nobody wants to keep it (this time there was only one, and it’s not a requirement any more).  All of this is more than a little sad; I feel a little sorry for each and every book for being ‘discarded’. But I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to books. I still have the paperbacks I bought through Scholastic magazines in grade school.  The donor’s loss is my gain. I am more than willing to give each of them a happy home.

Of course I’m buying for myself and my family, but most of the books I buy go to school with me. If they’re in good shape, I add them to the collection, in a shame-free stretching of my library budget. The rest are given away to students or teachers, on “Free Book Friday” about once a month: discards, ARCs, and books I buy are kept on a book cart that’s always accessible to the kids.  The way their faces and voices light up when they confirm “I can keep it??” is worth every penny. I firmly believe that kids will read more, and treasure that book, if it is theirs for keeps.

The first day, I filled three huge tote bags. The volunteer manning the desk laughed when she saw me come in with my rolling cart, saying “She’s ready to shop!”.  Pretty sure I was their biggest customer that day. When children’s and YA books are only 25 cents for paperback and 50 cents for hardcover, there’s no need to be discerning!  Adult books are double that price, and DVDS and audio-books are a $1 apiece, but still dirt cheap. I went back the second day for those and filled another couple of bags. I definitely did my part to support the public library, helped out my school library, made my students happy, and added to my own TBR pile, in one fell swoop!

This year, I was excited to see a bunch of manga — they’re not in the pictures, but I scored a few Black Cat, an Inuyasha, and a few others. With upwards of 75 students in my Anime/Manga Club, there will be plenty of takers for those! There was a whole set of Sarah Dessens in mint condition, and two Jane Yolen Dinosaur picture books (I ALWAYS look for Jane). The Patrick Ness and the Baldacci were brand new. The library needed Kingdom Keepers III. There was a spectacular book of World War II photography. There were a few titles I’d read and loved, but didn’t own, and a couple that I do own, but wanted lending copies of. There were a couple of authors I know, but titles I didn’t, so I scooped those up, and some that were completely new to me.  It was a good day!

A young man saw me sorting, and asked me if I was a book dealer — with a hint of disapproval in his voice. When I told him I was a school librarian and would give the books away to my students, he grinned, “Oh, cool! That’s nice.”

Here’s my haul:

Books I’ll give away on “Free Book Friday” to my students.

Books I’ll add to our school library collection.

Keepers!

More keepers.

DVDs for movie-hound daughters — this is only about half of them

Bammy Nomination

 

Thanks to an amazing colleague, I just got nominated in the School Librarian category for a 2015 Bammy Award (I told her about it because I wanted to nominate her, then she backed out and nominated me, instead!).

This isn’t about ‘winning’ or being awesome, but about being a good collaborator, making a contribution to education, and making a difference, rather than personal achievements. It’s not about being superior or better than other School Librarians, just about contributing to my educational community in a collaborative way.

Anyone can vote for me in the Educator’s Voice Awards, including teachers, students, parents, family, friends, and the general public.

The deadline is May 15, 2015.

To register and vote, please visit the Bammy site: http://www.bammyawards.org/

 

Poetry beyond April: Ideas for Librarians and Teachers

In schools, poetry is usually relegated to its ‘sponsored’ month of April, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Poetry can be incorporated into almost any curriculum. If you’re like my district, you’ve been interrupted by standardized testing again, and are running a little behind, anyway.  Here are a few ideas to use poetry all year round:

Poetic Art

Use library books for “Book Spine Poetry“, using the words on books’ spines stacked to “write” found-word poems. I’ve been doing this for two years in my middle school, and my students actually walk out saying “This was fun!”. Even students who aren’t normally successful writers in LAL classes get into it and are really good at it. I start with a sample, and explain that they can ONLY use what’s visible on the spine (labels cover some words).  I pull a cart-full of fiction/non-fiction likely suspects, but the students are allowed to roam the library and pull out whatever they want. You will be blown away by what they create. Check out what my students did last week:

This was my exemplar.

Wow.

Lots were about love gone wrong ❤

This from a boy who has suffered from severe anxiety.

I admit,this was my fave.

Recycle recently discarded books, magazines or newspapers using markers to create “Blackout Poetry“: leaving behind only the words you want read.

Use images (from informational texts or wordless picture books like The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, newspapers, magazines, museum sites, or photo sites such as Unsplash, SearchCreativeCommons, Getty Images) as writing prompts. Celebrate America: In Poetry and Art, edited by Nora Panzer, is a nice example of poetry that was inspired by famous American artwork. But it doesn’t have to be well-known: the photos could even be from family photo albums.

Collaborate with the art teacher by having students write poems about work they create in art class, or illustrate the poems they have written. Include peer review elements by having students illustrate a partner’s work, which would involve reading and comprehension skills (understanding the poem well enough to illustrate it), and exploring the difference between writer’s intent and illustrator’s interpretation.

 

Incorporate Technology

Use online informational news sources (Newsela, Scholastic Magazines, TimeforKids,  or subscription database articles (ScienceFlix, TrueFlix, Facts on File’s History databases, EBSCO, Pop Culture Universe, etc.) as inspiration for writing a poem about a historical event, a la “In Flanders Field“, or a science topic (like these).

Use a video source on any topic, or a video specifically about poetry from databases such as DiscoveryEd or FactsonFile Classroom Video.  With the video element included in the Research Simulation Task in PARCC testing, you have a built-in excuse to address student preference for learning through the medium of video. Just as with print sources, use what students learn as fodder for poem-writing.

Once the poems are written, use digital tools like Audacity, Sound Recorder, Voki, or VoiceThread to record, graphics tools like S’more or WordSwag, and/or video tools like iMovie, Animoto, MovieMaker or Photostory to create and share student work in creative multimedia formats, combining text, images, illustration, audio or video. Create a Google site or Edmodo classroom and invite students to upload their poems, then read and comment on each others’. Collect them into an anthology, save as a PDF, and upload to Flipsnack to make a virtual book which you can share with teachers, parents, and administrators.

 

Make Creative Use of Library Resources

Think out of the box about how you can use your existing library resources in connections to poetry lessons and activities. Increase your circ stats, too!

Students can hone writing skills with instructional books on writer’s craft. Use rhyming dictionaries for slams, raps, and rhyme schemes. Use thesauri for expanding vocabularies. There are humorous picture books that explain idioms (Monkey Business, My Teacher Likes to Say, Go Fly a Kite!, In a Pickle) and a terrific series by Ruth Heller about word types (adjectives, verbs, collective nouns, etc.). Give students time to discover and browse.

Picture books make perfect models for writer’s craft; separate out their text, and they read like poetry.  I suggest Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side, Show Way, or Each Kindness, Karen Hesse’s Come On, Rain, Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher, All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan, I Have Heard of a Land by Joyce Carol Thomas, and Jane Yolen’s Welcome to the Greenhouse or Sacred Places, just to name a few.

Searching for fiction texts to teach English/Language Arts/Literature themes? Explore poems that tell a story, such as: YA narrative poetry novels (Sonya Sones, Margarita Engle, Angela Johnson, Ron Koertge, Karen Hesse, Jen Bryant, Hope Anita Smith, Ann Burg, Helen Frost, Kwame Alexander, Thanhha Lai), collections that hang together to tell a story, such as Paul B. Janeczko’s Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto, classic epics like “Gilgamesh”, “The Odyssey” or “The Song of Roland”, modern ones like Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat“, and quirky ones like “The O-Filler” by Alastair Reid. Students can try telling a story they know well (a fairy tale, a movie, a book they’ve read, a video game, a sports event, a personal experience) in the form of an epic or narrative poem.

Find nonfiction inspiration.  Whatever they’re into (baseball, rollercoasters, animal rights), let kids mine informational texts for words and ideas for their own poetry writing. Collaborate with teachers (science, social studies, health, math, computers, whatever) to connect poetry writing with curriculum students are learning in their other classes. Check out Gotta Book, for “Fib” poems with syllable counts based on the Fibonacci sequence.

 

Stop using the same old, same old

We all love Shel Silverstein but there are LOTS of others out there that kids will respond to. Introduce students to somebody they’ve never heard before. Try classics like “Adventures of Isabel” or “Custard the Dragon” by Ogden Nash, “The Owl and the Pussycat” by Edward Lear, “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” or “The Duel” by Eugene Field, anything from Carl Sandburg or X.J. Kennedy or Aliki. Paul Janeczko‘s anthologies are full of treasures. For sound and rhythm and internal rhyme, check out “The Cataract of Lodore“, a poem about a waterfall Robert Southey wrote for his children. For circular text, description, and rhyme, try Cats by A.S.J. Tessimond. Browse poetry sites and books yourself to find something new.

Almost any poem can serve as a model for students to emulate. Teachers in my middle school have been using “Honey, I Love” by Eloise Greenfield and “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon for years, because they lend themselves really well to personalized student writing.  I suggest “How to Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam as a great model for metaphor, and a fave from my childhood, “A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts” by Wallace Stevens for imagery. I highly recommend Naomi Shihab Nye and Jane Yolen for their exquisite use of language.

For any age, bring back nursery rhymes. Some are riddles; some refer to history (caveat: “Ring Around the Rosy” is NOT actually about the plague); some can be used to teach skills. They are great examples of rhythm and rhyme, character and setting. Have students revamp, sample, or continue the narrative in their own writing. For older students, they could even be a jumping off point to researching Mother Goose, criticism of children’s literature, history, John Newbery, authorship, or folklore.

Song lyrics are engaging and accessible to students of any age, but would be especially welcome with middle and high schoolers. My district’s high school has a semester course on “Lyric Poetry” in which students critically examine current popular song lyrics, and compare to literary lyric poetry, which addresses the reader directly and expresses the authors thoughts, emotions, or perceptions. This can also be an information literacy teachable moment for evaluating web sites (not all online sources for lyrics are accurate and there are issues with copyright), as well as a discussion on copyright infringements in the music industry.  A popular song for high schoolers with numerous lesson plans is “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, used to explore the 20th century history references (see the video here). I still remember studying “Morning Has Broken” (Cat Stevens) and the “Sympathy for the Devil” (The Rolling Stones) in a high school English class. You could compare songs and poems with similar themes, or have students use a program like Garage Band to compose music to their own or classmates’ poems (if a student is not musically inclined, they can use copyright-free music available online — choosing music that matches the tone, feeling, and subject matter of the words), or to score the work of famous poets. Talk to the music teacher about what music forms or styles they are studying, and match with relevant poetry, or have students write poems/lyrics inspired by the music they are learning.

 

Public Speaking & Performance

Poetry as performance — generations ago, everyone had to recite memorized poems as part of their elocution lessons, but few do it, now.  When my oldest daughter was in 4th grade, her teacher made every kid in the class memorize and recite a poem. It was a big event, one that they practiced and prepared for. No other 4th grade classes did this, and many thought it was torture for the kids. It was hard. But in later years, when those kids had to give presentations in classes, they were more prepared and successful than their classmates, because of that experience. Public speaking is one of the most common fears of adults, but that’s because we don’t get many chances to do it. Poetry readings can help build those skills.

Host a poetry slam. I brought Mayhem Poets and Chris Rockwell to my school and the kids LOVED them! If you’re going to have students write their own, numerous examples of poetry readings and poetry slams, including thought-provoking ones like “Shrinking Women” by Lily Myers, and the powerful and moving testimony of spoken word poetry from Sarah Kay, poet and founder of Project V.O.I.C.E., in her Ted Talk, “If I Should Have a Daughter” are easily found online. Students enjoy watching, but they are the participatory generation, so I recommend giving them a chance to perform their own slam poetry. Check out Poetry Out Loud and Poetry Slam, Inc. for more information.

After the hard work of writing is done, host a Coffee House for your class. Invite parents, the principal, the Superintendent, other classes, etc. Have copies of an anthology of your students’ work on hand or posted around the room (poster-size), and encourage students to recite their poems, then talk about the inspiration behind them. Soft music playing and refreshments would make it festive and celebrate their accomplishments.

Record students doing readings of their own or memorized poems on video, especially those who are too shy to do it in public, and post on a school site, blog, Edmodo classroom, or YouTube/SchoolTube channel, or simply play on a small scale in the classroom. You could also have them playing on a loop at the Coffee House.

 

Publish

Self-publish your student work via one of the many companies that take your student’s writing and send you back printed hardcover books. Do separate ones for each student, if they have written multiple poems and short stories or essays, or collect all the students’ work into one anthology. All the parents will want one. Make sure the school library gets a copy!!

Talented students can be encouraged to submit to publications, online and in print, that accept student work. A few suggestions (check submission guidelines carefully):

TeenInk 

Tween Tribune

Figment

Stone Soup
Potluck Children’s Literary Magazine

Hanging Loose Press

The Writer’s Slate

Newport Review

BrickRhetoric: Greystone 

ChixLit (ages 13-17) or ChixLITtle (ages 7-12)

Claremont Review

Cicada Slam
Redwing’s Nest
New Moon Girls
GirlSpeak

KidsMagination

Merlyn’s Pen

Skipping Stones

Jewish Girls Unite

Blue Pencil

Crashtest 

More here at National Writing Project

A Paean to Independent Bookstores

I am a person of the book. Books have always been my friends, my shelters, my escapes, my filters. Along with libraries and gardens, bookstores are my favorite places, where I can easily lose hours, and am constitutionally unable to walk out without purchasing something (a trait my daughters still take full advantage of!).

In today’s society, we purport to value individuality. Yet most of our stores and restaurants are chains: monuments to continuity, comfort in familiarity.  Local flavor is disappearing: you get the same food, clothes, and home decor in Atlanta as you get in Portland. There’s a freaking Banana Republic on the Champs Elysée! Online it’s even worse, because we are fed only what we already know and ‘like’, and we have to work harder than most are cognizant of or willing to do to get out of the box.

As a librarian, I’m all about choice and freedom, so I don’t judge where people get their books. But the best bookstores are the independent bookstores, which are characters and destinations in themselves. They have personality, wit, intellect, charm. Each is unique, and often specialized. Indies represent old-school individualized service that the big box stores try hard to replicate, but can’t quite provide. While indies usually stock the bestsellers, and will get you whatever’s on the latest recommended lists, they will also champion the quirky, the obscure, the local.

Indies are staffed by people of the book. They understand and cater to the needs and desires of readers. They know what we want, but even better — they know what we will love but don’t even know about yet. Not unlike librarians, indies have perfected the art of hand-selling that just right, “Goldilocks” book to the right person, and can even make or break a book or author. They also host readings, author signings, children’s programming, book clubs, writer’s groups.

The real draw of indies is experiential. The feeling that you belong, of being at home, welcomed, loved, taken care of. A languid afternoon. The hard-to-locate research resource. A Proustian memory launched upon the discovery of a forgotten childhood favorite. That chance meeting with a stranger who is a kindred spirit.  Chatting up your favorite author. The literary equivalent of a bar where everyone knows your name. I want to tell you about a few that matter to me.

Harding’s Rare Books, on Route 1 in Wells, Maine, is an antiquarian bookstore. They specialize in New England history and genealogy, maps, antique prints, art and antiques. As my family’s genealogist, I find them indispensable, and have visited them almost every summer for more than a decade. They have a large space — 14 rooms, including a map room, and a room for children’s books, where my kids hang out while I pore over the file of family and town histories. Doug Harding, proprietor, has an encyclopedic knowledge of his extensive stock. My father was a collector of signed, first editions of Kenneth Roberts’ books.  For years, Doug was his connection, keeping special lookout at estate sales and auctions and calling Dad whenever he found a new treasure. When my father died in 2007, Doug helped sell that collection, too. He’s family.

Food & Books, Traveler Restaurant in Union, Connecticut is my absolute favorite rest stop between home and family in Boston. Easy-on, easy-off, Exit 74, I think, off Route 84. Try the tomato soup and grilled cheese, and choose a free book off the table-side shelves that line the tables like diner jukeboxes.  Or, venture downstairs to the warren of shelves filled with used books.  While generally not rare or valuable, there is an extensive and well-organized collection. The best ones are shelved on the landing half-way down. I dare you to walk out without a bag full!

Books of Wonder is the mother of all children’s bookstores: THE source for new and rare/antiquarian children’s books and artwork, especially Oz books. I usually attend their YA mega-signings, and have so much fun even just waiting on line — because the bloggers, librarians, readers, & teens on line are my peeps. Once, at a signing, a woman and her tween daughter stood next to me while we all chose books to purchase.  I can’t help myself.  I picked up a copy of Monument 14, and started to ‘booktalk’ it, singing its praises.  The woman grinned, and said “Thanks, I wrote it!”  It was EMMY LAYBOURNE!!!!  I was so embarrassed, but she was thrilled, because she knew my recommendation was completely honest.  Owner Peter Glassman is the MAN.  He knows his stuff, and gets all the best authors to come there.  I saw Brian Selznick do an AWESOME presentation there about the inspiration and writing of Wonderstruck. I also attended Neil Gaiman and Adam Rex’s hilarious reading of Chu’s Day.  I actually joined Twitter that day JUST so I could know when my number was called to meet Neil Gaiman.

As if you needed an excuse

The American Booksellers Association, the professional organization for indies, cites surveys and reports to make a solid case that shopping at indies is good for the economy, (local businesses reinvest in the local community), good for the environment (less traffic and pollution), and “helps other local businesses, which creates greater diversity and helps the community maintain its unique appeal.” (source). Check out their advocacy page for more information on how to support indies and why, censorship & free speech issues, programs, plus current news (including articles that might just make you swear off Amazon for good).

Supporting indies is tantamount to appreciating the value of a lifestyle we all aspire to.  As people of the book, we’ve all had that fantasy to retire and run a bookstore, so we’d better keep them around ‘til we’re ready (not that most of us have any clue how hard it is).  And how about financially supporting writers-to-be, who invariably work in bookstores? Did you know Brian Selznick worked at Eeyore’s Books for Children? That clerk swiping your debit card and bagging your latest picture book purchase just might be the next Caldecott Medalist! Then again, maybe he’s just a book lover trying to feed himself and his family. Aren’t we all (writers, sellers, buyers, readers) people of the book? We need each other.

 

Authors Love Indies

Indies support writers and the publishing industry, just as much as they support readers. It’s a symbiotic relationship that works really well, especially when personalized. In recognition of that service and support, the Raven award from Mystery Writers of America has gone to: Aunt Agatha’s, Mysterious Galaxy, Centuries & Sleuths, Once Upon a Crime, Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Kate’s Mystery Books, Mystery Loves Company,  Black Orchid, and Mysterious Bookshop, to name just a few.

I asked some other people of the book you might know to name their favorite indies, too. Aside from protestations of picking favorites, authors jumped at the chance to throw some — what’s the opposite of shade? throw some sun? — at the indies they love. If you want to support authors, support their fave indies.

Kate Milford, whose terrific novel, The Greenglass House, just won the Edgar for best juvenile and reminded me of The Westing Game, touted McNally Jackson in NYC & Reading Reptile in Kansas City. Amy, a.k.a. A.S. King, came out of a self-imposed Twitter break to share her love for “Aaron’s Books in PA, Changing Hands in AZ, and Clinton Book Shop in NJ. Oh! And Children’s Book World near Philly.”  Laura Ruby, whose latest book Bone Gap is EXTRAORDINARY YOU MUST READ THIS IT WILL WIN ALL THE AWARDS, chooses Anderson’s Bookshop in IL, Wild Rumpus Books & Addendum Books in MN. Barry Lyga, my daughter’s favorite author, for the I Hunt Killers series, took a moment from new daddy duties to express “special love for Changing Hands and Rivers End Books.” Patrick Carman, prolific author, including the newest Pulse trilogy, kept it local with “Book and Game in Walla Walla — my hometown bookstore!”  Alexander Gordon Smith, of the infamous Escape from Furnace series, votes for BookHive in Norwich and Books of Wonder in NY!! (because that’s where he met me, of course!).

Author Andrew Smith, who keeps YA Weird and wonderful, says “Picking just one is tough!!! But my fave has to be Little Shop of Stories, in Decatur, GA. It’s a wonderful place, with the perfect atmosphere and location. The staff truly knows and loves books, and their connection to young readers in their community is tremendous. I LOVE Little Shop of Stories. Runner up: Avid Bookshop, in Athens, GA. Great people, great town, great vibe.”

Jen Bryant, who has gotten some serious award-love in the last couple of years, especially for her work with Melissa Sweet, has a place in her heart for three indies: Wellington Square Bookshop for its “signed first-editions [of] Barbara  Kingsolver, Sebastian Junger and Joyce Carol Oates” and “the most charming physical space I’ve encountered in all my years of signing books”;  Chester County Book Company, with “a staff that is unrivalled in their knowledge of all genres and formats and customer service that is hard to beat…(There must be book elves in the back room!)”; and Children’s Book World, because “Hannah and Heather (mother and daughter team) are walking rolodexes of titles, authors, and illustrators and their combined book-biz experience is truly amazing.”

YA author Tessa Gratton’s “favorite indie bookstore is Mysteryscape in Overland Park, KS. The owners Cheri and Acia are warm and welcoming, always ready with a recommendation and happy to discuss books. They’re primarily a mystery bookstore, but have been making an amazing effort to be welcoming to Young Adult and other Kidlit authors and books. They put on great events with class and intimacy, and reach out to the community in a variety of ways, such as being involved in local conferences, having regular Mystery Theater performances, host book clubs and writing groups nearly every weekend.”

Her Highness, the incomparable and inimitable Jane Yolen says, “Well, the four in the running are (in no special order, only that they recently hosted me and I would go back the instant they crooked a little finger) are The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA, the Odyssey Bookshop in St. Hadley, Mass, World’s Eye in Greenfield, MA, and The Red Balloon in Minneapolis, MN. They all feature enthusiastic and knowledgeable booksellers, a commitment to their visiting authors that go above and beyond, a sense of their literary community, a huge relationship with the local schools and libraries, and imagination.”

David Lubar, author, game designer, and nascent stand-up comic, feels “fortunate to have a variety of great indies near me, including three in PA (in Bethlehem, Emmaus, and Collegeville) and the Clinton Book Shop in NJ. But my favorite indie is Children’s Book World… because they have gotten me some great school visits over the years.” David is a devout champion of indies, and writes occasionally on social media about the evils of Amazon. He makes a good case.

Kayla Farber, book reviewer and blogger over at Daily Geekette celebrates two stores, in particular. “Books of Wonder is a destination for book lovers visiting New York City. It’s a children’s bookstore that also features art, rare and antique books, and boasts some cool author visits. With authors in and out of the store frequently, don’t be surprised if you purchase a book and bring it home to find that it’s signed. My favorite memory at BoW is the Mockingjay Midnight Release Party they threw. With Suzanne Collins. The building was packed with Hunger Games fans all theorizing and getting mockingjay temporary tattoos. Brookline Booksmith is also pretty big as far as indie stores go. They have what looks like a typical bookstore on the ground floor, and then a used section downstairs. I once found a signed Jane Yolen picture book for $3 there. If you’re willing to dig, Brookline Booksmith is full of treasures.  They also have wonderful signings ranging from local Boston authors to highly well-known authors. It’s a very cool place to go hang out.”

Librarian and pop-culture aficionado Sophie Brookover says “I buy from Powell’s when buying new books. They have huge selection & the best online presence of any indie I know of. If I lived in Philly, I would probably rely on Joseph Fox. [My daughter] Nell & I have subscriptions to a variety of comics series at our local comics shop, which is definitely an independent store! We go once a month to pick up Lumberjanes, My Little Pony, Ms. Marvel & others.”

The ever-dapper Bruce Hale, author of the Chet Gecko & Clark the Shark books, whom I met at the Edgar Awards a few years ago, plugs “my hometown indie, Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara. They really get all the details right. It’s a big, rambling space, jam-packed with books from floor to ceiling, and staffed by a knowledgeable, passionate, friendly bunch of book lovers. They’re the kind of people who can give you great recommendations in everything from Buddhist philosophy to the latest thriller. Moreover, they’re big boosters of the SB community, supporting schools and local causes.”

Cynthia Lord, author of Rules, Half A Chance, and Touch Blue, among others, praises “Children’s Book Cellar and DDG Booksellers… I love them because they love books and readers and it shines in everything they do. Both stores are warm, inviting, and full of wonder.”

Pete Hautman, truly a thinking man’s writer, said, “I’ll risk honesty & say Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis cuz it’s what I think a bookstore should be. Quirky and weird.”  (Pete, I’m with you there, and also: remind me to talk to you about “The Walking Dead”.)

Matthew Kirby, award-winning author of Icefall, The Clockwork Three, etc., explains: “The King’s English is a Salt Lake City institution, and SO supportive of local authors. Amazing, friendly people.” Author/Illustrator and hilarious historian Nathan Hale admits his favorite indie “changes from month to month, right now: Blue Willow in Houston.” Shannon Hale, author and articulate advocate for reading without gender assumptions, concurs: “in my hometown King’s English, [and] Blue Willow rocks!”

Elizabeth Wein whom I first met at Horn Book at Simmons, then again at the Edgars, who wrote one of my FAVES of all time (and multiple award-winning), Code Name Verity, is a “huge fan of Main Street Trading Company : fantastic atmosphere & staff in MIDDLE OF NOWHERE Scottish Borders creates community, great events, plus they introduced me to my OTP Nancy Mitford. Also, a picture of my book is on their wall.”

Adult mystery author, winner of the Mary Higgins Clark award, and road warrior Jenny Milchman explains, “Bookstores are so important to me that here is what [my husband and] I did after I finally got published. We rented out our house, traded in two cars for an SUV that could handle Denver in February, took the kids out of school to “car school” them on the road, and toured the bookstores of this great country. All told, we visited about 500…. Despite some reports you may hear, the demise of bookstores has been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase an author whose books are on the shelves of almost every one…. People love bookstores, despite–or maybe precisely because of–how virtual our world has become. There’s a value in the impromptu face to face that takes place: a bookseller saying, “Oh, I loved this book!” (Or even, “I hated it.”) No one-click convenience can duplicate it. So when my third book comes out this summer, you know where I’ll be. At a bookstore–or 300.  –Jenny Milchman

 

Celebrations and Programs

Independent Bookstore Day. 400 bookstores around the country will host special events this Saturday, May 2. Check out NYC activities, author visits & events at bookstoredaynyc. Follow or share the fun with #bookstoredaynyc or #bookstoreday.  BookRiot & The Literary Hub are sponsoring an Afterparty from 9-11:30 p.m. at The PowerHouse Arena in Brooklyn.

During the week of BookExpoAmerica, the annual ABFE Art Auction to Benefit Free Speech in Children’s Books will be held on Tuesday, May 26, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. This year will include special artworks created to honor Judy Blume. Tickets are required. Proceeds support Kids’ Right to Read and Banned Books Week.

IndieBound (from ABA), has a bookstore locator, the IndieNext list of booksellers’ reading recommendations, including those for kids and reading groups, plus where to find signed books, and fun book-nerd gear.

Indies First is a crusade for authors, publishers and the public to support indie bookstores.  On Small Business Saturday (Thanksgiving weekend), authors volunteer to “work” at independent bookstores. The campaign began in 2013 when Sherman Alexie beseeched authors to take part (read his original letter here). Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) began his own initiative for IndiesFirst in 2014: Upstream, a partnership in which authors can sign books to be stocked in indie stores. There’s a registry for authors and stores to connect, and cross-promotion is encouraged.

 

Do it!

A brief list of stores w/locations & links is over here. Please visit one this Saturday, for Independent Bookstore Day. But don’t let it be your only visit to an indie. Keep it going! Feel free to share your own experiences with indie bookstores in the comments.