If so, check out this Advisory Board opportunity from the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources program.
Application deadline: April 28
(via @joycevalenza)
Today was a very weird day. Today I resigned as a school librarian effective June 30. My mind is muddled up with memories of big kids who used to be little, heads bent over work, stories we’ve told both in the library and over lunch.
I’m leaving my district at the end of this school year to become a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information (SI). Beginning in August, I’ll be coordinating the school library media specialization, continuing to teach the children’s lit and school library management course, and adding a course in professional practice and ethics. Because I don’t yet have a PhD, “clinical” denotes that my position will reflect my practitioner experience, not my academic experiences, though I’ll also have the chance to pursue a subsidized PhD as part of the package once I’ve settled in. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’m thrilled, honored, and, as the Brits say, a bit gob-smacked to accept. It’s an amazing group of students; a progressive, fluid program; the pride of returning to my alma mater (and favorite town); and a chance to focus some more of my professional time on writing, reflecting, and synthesizing. Plus, I hear that sometimes, professors get to sleep later than teachers do!
I’ve known about the UM gig for some time, but some paperwork issues came up in my district. It took until today to iron that out, so I’ve kept this mostly under wraps.
I’m full of jumbled-up feelings. I know I’m seizing the moment and making a great decision that excites me in ways I never anticipated. I have gotten so much pleasure out of being an adjunct lecturer at SI — I’ve tested the waters and found them to be to my liking. The cohort of future school librarians is dynamic and motivated and constantly inspires me about what school librarians can be. I’ll get a brand-new office. My name on the door. Go to the bathroom when I need to. Get more than 20 minutes for lunch.
But just for today, I wonder what it will be like not to distribute Band-Aids or find notes in the Writing Castle or watch young minds light up or tie shoes or say, “Sit flat on your bottom” or endlessly shelve Babymouse or have a kid I never expected write a poem just because he knows we’ll stop everything to let him read it to the class. Just for today.
My friend Laura is looking for a districtwide read for her incoming sixth graders. With permission, her original post is republished below. Can you help?
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My school district has been awarded a grant to provide resources for summer reading to each of our rising fifth graders. Each student will be allowed to choose seven books that will be sent to their homes over the summer based on their personal interests and reading level. In addition, all students will be sent one common book. We are hoping to provide a book that will be a springboard to discussions that will continue throughout the 2010-2011 school year.In order to select this book, our administrator provided a list as a starting point and asked us to recommend other titles that we might want to consider. This is her list (taken from the March issue ofEducational Leadership):
Gone by Michael Grant
Heat by Mike Lupica
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
Masterpiece by Elise Broach
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley
Peak by Roland Smith
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowicz
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
When I first saw this list, I was inclined to remove several titles immediately for several reasons. One reason is that a book might fit better at another grade level in terms of content or curriculum. The Lightning Thief is an example of this. I have a seventh grade social studies teacher who uses this title as part of his study of mythology. He gets students interested and excited about his subject using this book. I don’t want to usurp his work with our book choice.
Although I love The Hunger Games, it’s also off my final list. I’m not sure it’s a book for every 10-year-old. There are many heavy issues that take discussion to fully grasp. I also think it’s over-exposed and will only become more so when Mockingjay and the movie are released. I would rather see a title that not every student will be exposed to chosen for this purpose.
Finally, The Maze of Bones is not a book I would choose because it is one in a series of 10. It is not a complete story on its own and it would take nine additional books to “finish” this one. I prefer to offer a book that is either stand-alone or part of a much shorter series.
The question becomes, “Where do I go from here?” I have enlisted a group of teachers to work with me on making our recommendations. We are reading any books we have not from the above list. We also created another list of books that we are reading as well. The new list includes:
Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Heart of a Shepherd by Roseanne Parry
Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristin Clark Venuti
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Chochrane
Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes
We are reading these titles as well in hopes of adding to the original selections and offering a few more options. Once we have read them all, I’m hoping to have some rich discussions about which book we will choose and why it will be important to all sixth graders.
What do you think? If all of your sixth graders could read one common book, what would it be? Is it on our list? If so, let us know what it is and why. If not, let us know what titles we should add for consideration!
