In preparation for this afternoon (last day of term 2), I put this list together:
Wiggle and swim
Robot
Line up - wavy arms
Walk
Sideways shuffle
Kissy hands
Stop hands
Train whistle
Wiggle
Rock climb
Walk
Slow wiggle
Guns
Thump floor
Punch down
Flap arms
Crocodile claps
Line up and link arms
Step forward
Final pose!
And no, nobody at teachers' college EVER told us about preparing lists like this. It's a choreography list. And before you ask, as a dancer I am a FABULOUS teacher librarian.
We have a concert on the last afternoon of term 2; performances from students and staff. It's the finale to Spirit Week, when there are special events on each day as well as dress themes, and the kids are fundraising for charity. So this week I have done my poor best to garb with bling, rock and roll, ninjas or pirates, and horror. The kids have done a great job (my fave was the kid in jeans and a hoodie on the pirates or ninjas day. I'm a software pirate, he said. That's clever!) and enjoyed themselves.
If you look at this video, and imagine gaffer-taped stuffed animals, costumes made up of salad-cover headwear, shower-curtain dresses and headwear, balloons stapled to a garbage bag dress and, oh, a bunch more invention-of-the-moment Gaga costumery - well, you have a flavour of the part of this afternoon in which I was involved (together with one of the two faculties who did a faculty performance).
(Link: http://youtu.be/Z_bRDeY89A4 )
We finally rehearsed at lunchtime, minutes before.... we did have a colleague holding up cue cards from that list, which helped. The students liked it, anyway!
I showed the choreography list to the dance teacher a couple of days ago. She was very very polite; but the slight widening of her eyes was a giveaway. Guess I haven't nailed the terminology yet....!! (but you know, it was clear enough for my equally non-dance expert colleagues, so that's what matters!)
The happy life of teacher librarians: so you think you can dance? (No. Entertain? More probable.)
It was fun. And now it's hols. YAY!
Enjoy your break, if you're having one. See you back here next term.
Cheers
Ruth
PS The longer I teach, the more I realise about how many things they didn't tell us/teach us about in teachers' college. Garbage bag/balloon couture, for example.
PPS I discovered how to date myself instantly among younger teaching colleagues. Use the term "teachers' college".
Showing posts with label school environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school environment. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Hallelujah!
For ten years I used to sing in the Radio Community Chest choir's annual performances of Handel's Messiah. Love this flash mob rendition from Canada of the Hallelujah chorus.
Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE
Two weeks of term and the school year left to go. Along with another teacher, I am one of the organisers (Archangels) of our staff secret angel scheme which runs in the last week of school. Like the performance in the video, it's about changing the atmosphere (given that the peeps can be a tad tired in that last week), adding joy, creating fun. We've been doing that for over ten years, and enjoy facilitating the fun that ensues for all those who participate - and of course it spills over to the place generally, all good!
If you nag me enough I could put the details of how our secret angel scheme runs here...just don't have it by me right now.
*C*h*e*e*r*s* (with fairy lights)
Ruth
PS. Have to show you our school library Christmas trees - all about books and kids! Sometime this week, I promise! We're busy with the annual stocktake, and have the Year 6 into 7 Orientation this week, and I don't know what all.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Oustanding teachers fight for recognition
From Megan Johnston in this week's Education section of the Sydney Morning Herald, an article about outstanding teachers and the impact of school leadership. It begins:
Pause a moment to ponder your school years. Most of us would remember fondly at least one teacher for their enthusiasm, spirited classes and willingness to push students to achieve their best. At some stage, however, many people have also encountered the opposite: a mediocre teacher who struggled with students and delivered dreary lessons.
Teachers at either end of the spectrum are now recognised as potentially the biggest influence on a student's academic achievement. Research has widely shown the effect is greater than the type of school or even who heads it.
But what separates top teachers from their lacklustre counterparts is not exactly clear. Creative nous, intelligence and resources obviously play some role, but the most dynamic schools are more than the sum of their teachers.
And, as many educators, parents and researchers will attest, the quality of a school is often determined by the people who lead it.
"You can have good teaching without having a good school but you can't have a good school without good leadership," says Professor Stephen Dinham, the research director of teaching, learning and leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
"Leadership is an enabler, bringing the school together and driving it forward," he says.
But effective leadership is no simple matter. Many experts, Dinham included, believe it comes in many forms and is not restricted to the formal role of principal.
A senior education lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Dr Jane Wilkinson, refers to "lighthouse teachers" as those who guide their peers. "The ones with credibility, the ones others look to - we're talking about very influential teachers," she says. ''They … are recognised as leaders because of their credibility in the classroom."
Read the rest of the article here and consider the lighthouse/leadership role possibilities of teacher librarianship...
Cheers
Ruth
Pause a moment to ponder your school years. Most of us would remember fondly at least one teacher for their enthusiasm, spirited classes and willingness to push students to achieve their best. At some stage, however, many people have also encountered the opposite: a mediocre teacher who struggled with students and delivered dreary lessons.
Teachers at either end of the spectrum are now recognised as potentially the biggest influence on a student's academic achievement. Research has widely shown the effect is greater than the type of school or even who heads it.
But what separates top teachers from their lacklustre counterparts is not exactly clear. Creative nous, intelligence and resources obviously play some role, but the most dynamic schools are more than the sum of their teachers.
And, as many educators, parents and researchers will attest, the quality of a school is often determined by the people who lead it.
"You can have good teaching without having a good school but you can't have a good school without good leadership," says Professor Stephen Dinham, the research director of teaching, learning and leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
"Leadership is an enabler, bringing the school together and driving it forward," he says.
But effective leadership is no simple matter. Many experts, Dinham included, believe it comes in many forms and is not restricted to the formal role of principal.
A senior education lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Dr Jane Wilkinson, refers to "lighthouse teachers" as those who guide their peers. "The ones with credibility, the ones others look to - we're talking about very influential teachers," she says. ''They … are recognised as leaders because of their credibility in the classroom."
Read the rest of the article here and consider the lighthouse/leadership role possibilities of teacher librarianship...
Cheers
Ruth
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
In praise of teachers...
Feeling like it's hump day, Wednesday, a bit teacher-weary?
Read this entry on the Alien Onion blog. It's fabulous.
If I was making my own list:
Mrs B, who let the school choir sing the latest cool music, like Fernando by Abba. Even if it was transposed up so we had to screech in some sections. And who taught me the soprano descant for Silent Night. I can still sing it.
Mr B, who loved putting on school musicals, so we got to be a part of that wonderful experience - yay for Oklahoma!
Mrs A, the fiercest, most uncompromising PE teacher ever - and the one we most wanted to have
Mrs B, (a different one) who showed me a little of the beauty of mathematical equations. I bought a calculator after my HSC and have never looked back, but still remember that aha! moment.
Ms B (a third one!), who made 3 unit English a joy - Romeo and Juliet, Ted Hughes - still some of the best literature study I've experienced
Mrs ?? whose name eludes me, but whose weekly coloured chalk illustrations from children's books made her term as primary teacher librarian when I was in grade 5 utterly memorable
Mrs E, who taught Ancient History with style, verve, and many handwritten purple fordigraph sheets: I've never forgotten that Alcibiades won the trifecta. Or that scent of metho from freshly-produced fordigraph sheets...
At tertiary level:
WC: best English literature tutor ever.
MH, who inspired me to be a teacher librarian. Thank you.
Who would be on your list?
Cheers
Ruth
who once had one of my Year 12 students say how much she remembered my salad sandwiches. Right. You never know the impact you're going to have...!!
Read this entry on the Alien Onion blog. It's fabulous.
If I was making my own list:
Mrs B, who let the school choir sing the latest cool music, like Fernando by Abba. Even if it was transposed up so we had to screech in some sections. And who taught me the soprano descant for Silent Night. I can still sing it.
Mr B, who loved putting on school musicals, so we got to be a part of that wonderful experience - yay for Oklahoma!
Mrs A, the fiercest, most uncompromising PE teacher ever - and the one we most wanted to have
Mrs B, (a different one) who showed me a little of the beauty of mathematical equations. I bought a calculator after my HSC and have never looked back, but still remember that aha! moment.
Ms B (a third one!), who made 3 unit English a joy - Romeo and Juliet, Ted Hughes - still some of the best literature study I've experienced
Mrs ?? whose name eludes me, but whose weekly coloured chalk illustrations from children's books made her term as primary teacher librarian when I was in grade 5 utterly memorable
Mrs E, who taught Ancient History with style, verve, and many handwritten purple fordigraph sheets: I've never forgotten that Alcibiades won the trifecta. Or that scent of metho from freshly-produced fordigraph sheets...
At tertiary level:
WC: best English literature tutor ever.
MH, who inspired me to be a teacher librarian. Thank you.
Who would be on your list?
Cheers
Ruth
who once had one of my Year 12 students say how much she remembered my salad sandwiches. Right. You never know the impact you're going to have...!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Set texts vs student choice
In a New York Times article on the future of reading, Motoko Rich describes US programs where instead of a set text, students choose their own reading matter. Very interesting - do read Students Get New Assignment: Pick Books You Like. Room for library involvement in this 'reading workshop' approach...
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I also noted with interest that comfort - something we've been working on this year in the library with, for example, the reading retreat and the floor cushions - is part of the approach, thirty minutes of reading each day in a beanbag or comfortable situation (not just at a school desk).
Author Meg Cabot commented on the NY Times story - read it here.
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Cheers
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Ruth
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I also noted with interest that comfort - something we've been working on this year in the library with, for example, the reading retreat and the floor cushions - is part of the approach, thirty minutes of reading each day in a beanbag or comfortable situation (not just at a school desk).
Author Meg Cabot commented on the NY Times story - read it here.
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Cheers
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Ruth
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Monday, August 17, 2009
Willing to be disturbed: Will Richardson on the conversation we need to have and the culture we need to develop
Brilliant blog entry from Will Richardson on the way forward for teaching and learning in the technological present and technological future. I can't catch the whole thing in a single quote, but here's a section that resonated with me right now:
There is a great deal of “tinkering on the edges” when it comes to technology, districts that hope that if they incrementally add enough technology into the mix that somehow that equals change. I can’t tell you how many schools I’ve seen that have a whiteboard in every room yet have absolutely nothing different happening from a curriculum perspective. Old wine, new bottles.
That fundamental redefinition is hard. It takes an awareness on the part of leaders that the world is indeed changing and that current assessment regimes and requirements are becoming less and less relevant to the learning goals of the organization. It takes a vision to imagine what the change might look like, not to paint it with hard lines but to at least have the basic brushstrokes down. It takes a culture that celebrates learning not just among students but among teachers and front office personnel and administrators alike, what Phillip Schlechty calls a “learning organization.” It takes leadership that while admitting its own discomfort and uncertainty with these shifts is prescient and humble enough to know that the only way to deal with those uncertainties is to meet them full on and to support the messiness that will no doubt occur as the organization works through them. It takes time, years of time, maybe decades to effect these types of changes. It takes money and infrastructure. And I think, most importantly, it takes a plan that’s developed collaboratively with every constituency at the table, one that is constantly worked and reworked and adjusted in the process, but one that makes that long-term investment time well spent instead of time spinning wheels. And it takes more, even, than that.
Read it in full here.
ADDED LATER: and then read this entry from Camilla Elliot's blog, Edubeacon: The Innovation is the Network.
One of the greatest challenges expressed in discussions on change management in schools is the ‘getting it to happen’; the changing of old systems for new ones are more suited to today’s students and society. This podcast addresses the adoption of innovation and successful adoption of new methods within schools.
Go to the blog entry for details on the podcast (Andrew Hargardon on Innovation and Networking)
Cheers
Ruth
There is a great deal of “tinkering on the edges” when it comes to technology, districts that hope that if they incrementally add enough technology into the mix that somehow that equals change. I can’t tell you how many schools I’ve seen that have a whiteboard in every room yet have absolutely nothing different happening from a curriculum perspective. Old wine, new bottles.
That fundamental redefinition is hard. It takes an awareness on the part of leaders that the world is indeed changing and that current assessment regimes and requirements are becoming less and less relevant to the learning goals of the organization. It takes a vision to imagine what the change might look like, not to paint it with hard lines but to at least have the basic brushstrokes down. It takes a culture that celebrates learning not just among students but among teachers and front office personnel and administrators alike, what Phillip Schlechty calls a “learning organization.” It takes leadership that while admitting its own discomfort and uncertainty with these shifts is prescient and humble enough to know that the only way to deal with those uncertainties is to meet them full on and to support the messiness that will no doubt occur as the organization works through them. It takes time, years of time, maybe decades to effect these types of changes. It takes money and infrastructure. And I think, most importantly, it takes a plan that’s developed collaboratively with every constituency at the table, one that is constantly worked and reworked and adjusted in the process, but one that makes that long-term investment time well spent instead of time spinning wheels. And it takes more, even, than that.
Read it in full here.
ADDED LATER: and then read this entry from Camilla Elliot's blog, Edubeacon: The Innovation is the Network.
One of the greatest challenges expressed in discussions on change management in schools is the ‘getting it to happen’; the changing of old systems for new ones are more suited to today’s students and society. This podcast addresses the adoption of innovation and successful adoption of new methods within schools.
Go to the blog entry for details on the podcast (Andrew Hargardon on Innovation and Networking)
Cheers
Ruth
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
my library. my life. one school librarian's YouTube video
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Ali Schlipp, a Baltimore school librarian, talks about why she loves her work.
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Did you write a piece as suggested last week, about your work as a teacher librarian? What would you put in a film, or what would be your script if this was about you, not Ali?
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If the embedded video above doesn't work for you, this is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8dSUSxpyeE.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Loan stats - going like a rocket!
At a teacher librarian conference last year, I heard Kevin Hennah speaking about applying retail merchandising principles and ideas to the presentation of school libraries. We had already started on a number of projects in the library with the aim of sprucing up the space to make it more beautiful and useful, and so his ideas were additional useful food for thought.
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One thing he mentioned was keeping a close eye on loan statistics. They don't tell the whole story, but they do give an indication of how things are travelling, given that research shows that a proportion of borrowing is, like buying in shops, impulse rather than deliberate. So at the end of last week, I did a check on how we're going this year, comparing 2009 to 2008 to 2007.
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And the answer? Wow! Going like a rocket! 2008 was 30% higher than 2007. 2009 is 60% higher (than the same period so far in) 2008, and nearly triple the figure for 2007.
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There are multiple possible reasons for this, including:
library renovations (not expensive ones, but ones involving thought and imagination)
the Twilight effect - that series has brought some to reading who were not readers before
focus time at school during roll call, silent reading and literacy programs
more teachers bringing in classes to borrow
resources in the library meeting user needs
and probably more than that. Also, there will be week by week variations, depending on school events (eg. nobody borrows on the day of the school swimming carnival).
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But it's great to look at those figures with satisfaction, and be keen as well to see if we can keep going.
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Overall last year, loans were up 20% on the year before, so that's a figure to aim for again in 2009. We'll see!
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Can I encourage you, if you're a teacher librarian too, to check your loan stats and see what story they're telling you about your library?
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Image source: NASA (copyright free) found via Copyright-Free Photo Archive.
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
Patchwork of ideas on the window
This is a library display I've done for a couple of years now, and it works well each time. The school has an annual week when special activities take place, and this is one way in which the library contributes. Each time there is a theme - this year's was about "respect". In Publisher, I made up a six-form to the page sheet with "I RESPECT" and three categories, which we photocopied onto different coloured papers. Every student received one to fill in and return during roll call.
After (ahem) some necessary editing, we then put them up on the library windows for the week, for everyone to read and enjoy. They do get read, a lot - not just kids looking for their own ones, but kids reading the contributions of others. It's kinda sorta like having thoughts made visible, a patchwork of ideas. Staff complete forms too, and their contributions are added to the display.
These windows are most often used for general school announcements and so forth, so it's good to change things around. And sometimes very funny to read students' ideas!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Using this blog with my school community
In a recent comment (so far there haven't been many, so the least I can do is be attentive when someone takes the time - and it is a fair question!), Jenny wrote:
Could you add to your blog some of the ways you use this to communicate with your school community?
Um, OK. Right now, I don't. Not won't, but don't.
The school intranet structure has been undergoing a revision this year, with a fairly specific format, and there is a library section on that, although at present it's staff access rather than student access. I'm still learning how that format/software works, so I can see how to exploit it most effectively.
As you probably noticed, this blog exists on the internet, on the web, on an independent platform (Blogger/blogspot). I'm already familiar with wrangling Blogger, so when I started planning a blog related to my work, it was the obvious choice. And then it added scheduling entries (I often create a run on the weekend, and schedule them for during the week - you didn't really think I was blogging ten minutes before the roll call bell, did you?? You login at http://draft.blogger.com) which was useful.
My first goal in setting up this blog was entirely selfish, to bung in one spot stuff I'd found that looked useful, so I could find it again.
My second goal, hard on its heels, was the one common to so many teacher librarians, sharing this stuff in case it helped someone else not have to reinvent the wheel. The community this blog serves is the teacher librarian and teaching community, rather than specifically my school staff/students.
My third was to see what I did find, if almost daily posting was do-able not just in terms of time, but in terms of content/source material.
So far so good, I'm finding and posting and, to judge by the stats, being found by others.
Next comes the best answer I can presently give to your question: I don't know, but I'm thinking. With a body of work established, I have a stronger foundation to go the powers that be at school and suggest ways in which I could adapt this to serve my colleagues. I'm also thinking about how/where I might do a library blog pitched at students (one key: if they trip over it, they're more likely to read it, so where can it go in their login process so they do trip over it?). Lots of questions.
As I've alluded to in posts, I'm consciously drawing on a small part of this for the library piece I write for the school's monthly newsletter, providing some internet resources/ideas for parents. I don't print this blog address in there, because it is, in this form, not an official school-related document.
I do like the way a blog organises itself, stuff getting older and retreating, but findable through tags. That immediacy and regularity has benefits which aren't the same as a complex school library website on the school intranet, and I'm not sure that I have either the time or the wish to create or effectively maintain and develop such a website. I like blogging, and see its benefits in a variety of ways.
I'm not sure if this does answer your question, but it's the best answer I can give right now. I'll keep you posted. Thank you Jenny for your comment and kind words.
Could you add to your blog some of the ways you use this to communicate with your school community?
Um, OK. Right now, I don't. Not won't, but don't.
The school intranet structure has been undergoing a revision this year, with a fairly specific format, and there is a library section on that, although at present it's staff access rather than student access. I'm still learning how that format/software works, so I can see how to exploit it most effectively.
As you probably noticed, this blog exists on the internet, on the web, on an independent platform (Blogger/blogspot). I'm already familiar with wrangling Blogger, so when I started planning a blog related to my work, it was the obvious choice. And then it added scheduling entries (I often create a run on the weekend, and schedule them for during the week - you didn't really think I was blogging ten minutes before the roll call bell, did you?? You login at http://draft.blogger.com) which was useful.
My first goal in setting up this blog was entirely selfish, to bung in one spot stuff I'd found that looked useful, so I could find it again.
My second goal, hard on its heels, was the one common to so many teacher librarians, sharing this stuff in case it helped someone else not have to reinvent the wheel. The community this blog serves is the teacher librarian and teaching community, rather than specifically my school staff/students.
My third was to see what I did find, if almost daily posting was do-able not just in terms of time, but in terms of content/source material.
So far so good, I'm finding and posting and, to judge by the stats, being found by others.
Next comes the best answer I can presently give to your question: I don't know, but I'm thinking. With a body of work established, I have a stronger foundation to go the powers that be at school and suggest ways in which I could adapt this to serve my colleagues. I'm also thinking about how/where I might do a library blog pitched at students (one key: if they trip over it, they're more likely to read it, so where can it go in their login process so they do trip over it?). Lots of questions.
As I've alluded to in posts, I'm consciously drawing on a small part of this for the library piece I write for the school's monthly newsletter, providing some internet resources/ideas for parents. I don't print this blog address in there, because it is, in this form, not an official school-related document.
I do like the way a blog organises itself, stuff getting older and retreating, but findable through tags. That immediacy and regularity has benefits which aren't the same as a complex school library website on the school intranet, and I'm not sure that I have either the time or the wish to create or effectively maintain and develop such a website. I like blogging, and see its benefits in a variety of ways.
I'm not sure if this does answer your question, but it's the best answer I can give right now. I'll keep you posted. Thank you Jenny for your comment and kind words.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Poem of the Week no.11: Fire and Ice
I couldn't go too long without working in a Robert Frost poem. As the seasons turn towards winter, this one seemed apt (although its frame of reference is far wider than the weather).
He died in 1963, so by my calculation, if copyright in the US lasts seventy years after death, his work is still in copyright. So I won't include a copy of the poem here (although I'm sure it's on the internet in multiple locations).
I asked one of the Maths teachers if they'd put the Numbers poem up in their classroom. No, they said, in certain tone of voice I didn't much enjoy, they didn't, because they didn't think it was a particularly good poem. Nor did they want any more poems. OK. I tried. (Note: deliberately gender-obscuring personal pronouns used). I refrained from asking their qualifications in evaluating poetry, and how these outranked, say the Library of Congress Poetry 180 selection committee, or my own tertiary qualifications in English literature and English teaching; or indeed personal opinion should have outweighed support for a school program... You win some, you lose some.
He died in 1963, so by my calculation, if copyright in the US lasts seventy years after death, his work is still in copyright. So I won't include a copy of the poem here (although I'm sure it's on the internet in multiple locations).
I asked one of the Maths teachers if they'd put the Numbers poem up in their classroom. No, they said, in certain tone of voice I didn't much enjoy, they didn't, because they didn't think it was a particularly good poem. Nor did they want any more poems. OK. I tried. (Note: deliberately gender-obscuring personal pronouns used). I refrained from asking their qualifications in evaluating poetry, and how these outranked, say the Library of Congress Poetry 180 selection committee, or my own tertiary qualifications in English literature and English teaching; or indeed personal opinion should have outweighed support for a school program... You win some, you lose some.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Generation Z and their health issues
Generation Z is defined as children 17 years and under. Or, in other words, the kids in our schools right now. The Sydney Morning Herald recently featured an article on the health issues faced by Generation Z (and consequently, issues schools need to consider and where possible, address - mental health being one significant one. I've never worked in a school library where you didn't have at least some of the kids who came in during break times being in the library because they felt safer there).
Quote:
One in four will be bullied, most likely over the internet. Also known as the New Silent Generation, it will be the most educated, financially well-off and technologically literate in history.
Exposed to marketing at a younger age, Zeds are experts at multi-tasking and spend their free time communicating online and texting on their mobile phones. Zeds have older parents, fewer siblings and are more disconnected from their communities than any other generation.
Time magazine has an article asking Why do Women Need to be Perfect? Although it discusses adults, there are kids afflicted by the stifling effect of perfectionism which hinders their achievements; and control is an element in eating disorders. Read more here.
Quote:
One in four will be bullied, most likely over the internet. Also known as the New Silent Generation, it will be the most educated, financially well-off and technologically literate in history.
Exposed to marketing at a younger age, Zeds are experts at multi-tasking and spend their free time communicating online and texting on their mobile phones. Zeds have older parents, fewer siblings and are more disconnected from their communities than any other generation.
Time magazine has an article asking Why do Women Need to be Perfect? Although it discusses adults, there are kids afflicted by the stifling effect of perfectionism which hinders their achievements; and control is an element in eating disorders. Read more here.
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