Sprucetrap

New Photo Source

2010-11-08T19:17:00.001-05:00

Hey all you bloggers (teachers: show this to your blogging students) out there. I just came across wylio.com from a mention on Techcrunch. I like the way the attribution is automatically assigned and all photos have Creative Commons licenses...so go ahead and express yourself. The embed code is provided. It's snowing today; snow on trees and grass, gray slush on the road. To celebrate the first snow, here's a copyright clean photo from wylio.com:
photo © 2006 Hamed Saber | more info(via: Wylio)

Lillies are about to Bloom

2010-06-21T18:40:00.001-04:00

Lillies are about to Bloom

Red Barber, the legendary sportscaster, was a regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition back when Bob Edwards hosted the program. Red would always begin his commentary on sports and life in general with an observation of flowers coming into bloom at his Florida home. So, in the spirit of Red Barber, I noticed that lillies are budding fullness in gardens and along the roadside. This can mean only one thing: the school year is about to end. It's been a school year of macro and micro challenges leaving me with forward vision looking for good things to come next year for our students. The winds of change are beginning to blow. I'm hoping to catch and ride a zephyr. When the gentians and rose of sharon bloom, it will be time for another school year to begin. In the meantime, we have the long days of summer to shift gears. I'm looking forward to learning, sharing, collaborating, and playing.

Access My Library

2010-05-26T10:40:00.005-04:00

It's here. The iPhone app for on-the-go access to our Gale Cengage information products is now live. Our library databases and e-books are now accessible everywhere. If you have an iPhone, as many of our students and staff have them, just download the "Access My Library-School Edition" free app from the app store. No jailbreak needed, but you do need to get the password from one of our wonderful library people.

Tula Olympiad 2010

2010-05-11T21:18:00.008-04:00

Tula Olympiad

April 2010, Tula Russia

Muscle cars, Tupac Shakur, Star Wars, Campbell's Soup, South Park, Wu Tang, Hunter Thompson, Gone With Wind. These were some of the student presentation topics for the first American Olympiad competition, April 2010. Impressive! But the real story rests with the students themselves. Measured against a rigorous design, knowledge, application, and presentation rubric the students shined. More on that shortly, but let's back up a bit.

The beginning of the competition required much planning, coordination, and collaboration. Sergey Pukhanov needed his technical support team at Tula State University to design an online test with unique student registrations complete with usernames and passwords to assure integrity. Round One was a smashing success. Round Two consisted of written responses to American history questions in essay form; highest scores going interpretation and significance. The Schenectady High School educators were looking for more than merely restating facts. Of the four competition categories (high school, college non-English majors, college 1-2 year English majors, and college 3-4 year English majors), my stack of essay responses were so superb that I had to check for plagiarism. The highest scoring essay yielded an excellent assessment in originality from a Turnitin upload. Well done!

The final part of the competition, I will admit, was quite challenging; essay responses to Capital Region history questions. Again, the results were beyond our expectations. But, let's get back to the student presentations, which for me were the competition's highlight. Using Microsoft PowerPoint, the students' performances were for the most part impeccable. Limited to seven minutes, most students had perfect timing. Many students actually ran their slides on automatic advance while standing in front of the display knowing exactly the sequence and pace. Embedded video and sound clips along with excellent design choices made for riveting presentations and difficult judging.

Our winners!

I am proud of the hard work, dedication, and skill demonstrated by the students from Tula Russia. In a way, I felt embarrassed that they know so much more about my country's history and culture than I know about theirs. I have much learning ahead of me. Russia is a fascinating and interesting country. With a collaboration framework in place, it is my hope that our students will work with their Russian counterparts on authentic and enduring real-world constructivist projects.

A familiar Moscow sight.

"information becomes a distraction"

2010-05-10T18:29:00.001-04:00

"...information becomes a distraction" President Obama May 9, 2010

Hampton University invited President Obama to deliver the 2010 commencement address this past weekend. The president warned against information "becoming a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment". Very interesting. The President said "with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — (laughter) — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation".

Please read what my esteemed colleague Buffy Hamilton from Georgia so eloquently wrote in her open letter to President Obama.

In October 2009 President Obama declared NATIONAL INFORMATION LITERACY AWARENESS MONTH, 2009. Then in January 2010 President Obama killed the Improving Literacy for School Libraries grant program by omitting it from his 2011 budget proposal to Congress. Now in May 2010, the president sounds further information literacy warnings. Sorry, information is not the problem, nor are the delivery devices. The problem is that the only educators in a position to bring about real information literacy pedagogical change are school librarians who's largely non-mandated positions must annually be defended against de-funding. We are the change-agents. We are the solution to the information literacy problems identified by President Obama. I sense a disconnect between his rhetoric and his actions. I hope he takes Buffy up on her offer to spend time together next month when she's in Washington, D.C. for the American Library Association convention. Keep up the good work, Buffy!

Greeting from Moscow!

2010-04-13T03:16:00.003-04:00

Sprucetrap is back! This time from Moscow Russia. I'm here with two fellow teachers as part of the Albany-Tula Alliance. We are participating in the first American Olympiad...a competition for high school and college students in Tula Russia. There are several rounds to the competition...United States history, American cultural icons, and local New York state and Capital Region history. Also in Tula I will be conducting a seminar for university students on social media in American society. I'm very much looking forward to discussing our collective views on this transformative flow in information in both Russian and American society. More on that later. Meanwhile, we had great two days here in Moscow (we're heading south to Tula later today). Yesterday we had the most wonderful private tour of the city. Ludmilla, our guide was fabulous. The highlights were Novodevichy Cemetery (Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Gogol, Checkov, etc. buried here), Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Bolshoi Theatre, and of course Red Square and the Kremlin. Muscovites appear at first to be cold and distant, but once you engage them...they are the most warm and comfortable people you have ever met. The city has ostentatious wealth as evidenced by the cars (Bentleys, Ferraris, Maserattis) on the streets, bars, restaurants, and the center city shops. But, as Ludmilla our guide said, the new market economy and internationalism has been a radical adjustment for Moscow...not quite sure what to do with it. There's towering steel and glass new construction (Moscow City project), grand new hotels (Four Seasons, Raddisson, Ritz Carlton), but also deep depairing poverty just outside the city. This is a truly fascinating city.

Now Reading:

2010-01-29T06:31:00.001-05:00

Now Reading:

2010 Horizon Report I look forward to this every year, but I also like to look back at previous years' reports to see where we've come...check it out.

The Big Burn Reads like a novel; early 1900's political machinations make our current political mess seem like kindergarten.

Magician's Elephant Kate DiCamillo's latest darkly mystical tale.

I Education App Review

2009-12-14T19:18:00.003-05:00

You should definitely plug iear.org (I Education App Review) into your feed reader. Cool, new apps are reviewed (you can submit a review too!) for their educational value. In the library we are so not into "drill and kill"...inquiry rules the day...but, this recent review of gFlash+ looks great. I can't wait to test drive.

Students and Smartphones

2009-12-14T19:09:00.002-05:00

I took an informal poll of our 9th graders as they came to the Schenectady High School Library orientation back in September. 35% of the students said "yes' to the question: "How many of you can connect to the Internet with your cell phones...right now, at this moment?" Most were shy about responding; thinking they would get busted or somehow disciplined...naturally. I assured them that my query was simply to satisfy my curiosity. So, what does this mean? 35% to me was a surprisingly high percentage. Would the percentage be higher with the upper classes? Students don't need our network...filters and all. Is it a fair assumption that this percentage will increase next year and beyond? National Public Radio reported on Young Latinos, Blacks Answer call of Mobile Devices on December 1, 2009. Citing research from the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about a third of Americans have accessed the Internet via a cell phone or hand-held device. The Pew study takes the data further. The demographics with the most robust growth in usage are young Latinos and blacks. Of the four reasons given: social connections with friends and family members, relatively low cost for Internet access, low cost communication with family members outside of this country, and convenience; two have struck me as significant. Relatively low cost for Internet access...families do not need to purchase home computers and do not need to pay an ISP (Time Warner or Verizon). Is there a digital divide? Are we asking the right question when we ask our students if they have a working computer at home that can connect to the Internet? The real question should be: Do have a computer (phone) in your pocket that can connect to the Internet? Low cost communication with family members outside of this country...this certainly applies to many of our students. Are we ready for the day when 90% of our students have a computer in their pocket that can connect to the Internet?

Mythology! Update

2009-11-21T07:31:00.003-05:00

Before I begin I need to say CONGRATULATIONS to my teaching colleagues Sara Kramer and Meg Libertucci on becoming National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Certified Teachers! I am proud of you, your hard work, professionalism and most of all...your dedication to our students.

OK...on to Mythology!
A bump in the road.
My teaching partner, Sara (see above...Yeah Sara!) has been dealing with a serious family medical situation that has required her to be in three places at once; Syracuse, NY, the classroom, and home with husband Jim Kramer. I have stayed with the class keeping the project moving forward. We have a project wiki, creating a virtual classroom. When Sara is in Syracuse, she is actively engaged with her students being online from the hospital while the kids are in the classroom using laptop computers. We use Noodletools for citations and note taking. Sara and I monitor their work in real time...commenting and encouraging. The students have posted their draft thesis statements on their respective class wiki pages. Students have "writer" access and are peer reviewing and editing, not only learning how to craft their own thesis statements, but teaching their classmates as well. They are learning from each other. On November 25th all notecards and final thesis statements will be due and we'll be ready to begin rough drafts. Our successful progess to date would not be possible without the use of our powerful social media tools, Noodletools and wiki.

Standards.
Of course we're all over the ELA standards, but reading Buffy Hamilton's blog posts over at The Unquiet Librarian has made me think more carefully about the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner and the ISTE National Educational Standards for Students. I'll write more about using the standards later, but for now it has impacted my assessment of student progress. Our kids have come a very long way in the past month.

How are you using ISTE, AASL standards and social media tools?

Hello...Is anyone out there?

2009-11-11T20:07:00.003-05:00

danah boyd said that a blog is read, on the average, by six people. Technorati two years ago said they were tracking 112 million blogs. A new blog is born every 1/2 second. You do the math. I'll repeat the question....Is anyone out there? If danah's right, I should find six comments. Oh, and by the way, the lack of proper name capitalization is ms. boyd's deal, not mine. Distinctive, yes?

Art in the library. We love it!

2009-11-06T14:41:00.003-05:00

Art in the library. We love it! The colors, expressions and the way the art work fills the space is perfect. Thank you to Mr. Sarnacki and his Introduction to Sculpture classes for adding life in another dimension to our library. Please stop by and have a look at our students' work. Crank it up!

Do Schools Still Need Brick and Mortar Libraries?

2009-10-29T14:14:00.004-04:00

This is the Point / Counterpoint essential question in ISTE's Learning & Leading with Technology magazine November 2009 issue. Doug Johnson addressed the "yes" answer while Keith Mastrion took on the "no" side of the argument. Over at Joyce Valenza's "Neverending Search", she gives us the backstory, so go ahead and read it there...I'll wait right here for you. Ok, you're back. On Tuesday when I got my magazine copy, I read this article with horror. It was not so much the fine points of the two arguments being presented, but the fact that this question had been raised in the first place.

Here in the Capital Region we have the brand new Tech Valley High School. "The focus of the school is to provide an education on 21st Century Skills in a project-based learning environment." Tech Valley High School has neither a library or a librarian. According to their website: "Information literacy: Students find, gather and evaluate information from diverse sources, including publications, Web sites, interviews, data, works of art and other media. They also learn to differentiate between reliable and misleading sources." Yet, librarians' advanced graduate degree required for school certification is now "Information Science"...no longer "Library Science". Tech Valley High School is new and needs to be given a chance to evolve. Let's hope that they have both a library and librarian on campus in the very near future.

Closer to home, here in Schenectady, we are relatively rich in technology when compared to other school districts. We have a great network, outstanding technical support, and forward-thinking leadership. When talking to my colleagues in other school districts, I am reminded of the valuable teaching and learning resources available to our students and teachers. Wireless laptop carts have been deployed to classrooms, Nettrekker has been launched as another valuable source of information, and we have an incredible line-up of subscription databases. District librarians have been a critical component leading to the success of these programs.

My answer to the question...YES. As the role of the school librarian has changed, some things have not. School libraries and the school librarians within incite a love of reading and are the ultimate search engine. Today's school library has information in multiple formats available to users as well as a place to produce information. Today we are all producers as well as consumers of information. It's all happening @ your school library.

Mythology! Ms. Kramer's 9H English Class

2009-10-24T11:01:00.002-04:00

You are invited to join our Mythology exploration taking place in Ms. Kramer's 9th grade honors English class.

Here's our essential question: "How does Western culture revere Greek mythology?"

We spent Friday brainstorming ideas....here's some evidence of Greek mythology in our contemporary lives that we found: mascots, college fraternities and sororities, song titles and lyrics, band names, cars, companies, city names, people names, book titles, movie titles, ships, sneakers, rocket names, restaurant names, planets, constellations, body parts, cartoon chararcters, an Interent radio station, etc.

Did we miss any? What are your ideas?

So what? What does all this mean?

Well, that's what we're going to be working on over the next several weeks. We're going to try to figure out all of this. And you are invited to work with us. Here's how you can help...

We would like to collaborate with experts in the field....college or university professors, marketing experts, artists, anyone with a deep and passionate interest in Greek mythology. Perhaps we could arrange a Skype Q & A session along with wiki participation. Follow along at the Sprucetrap blog where updates will be periodically posted.

We'll be engaged with the information universe available at the Schenectady High School Library.

The Wild Rumpus X 3

2009-10-22T19:19:00.007-04:00

Three things...all rumpus:

"Things That Keep Us Up At Night" redux:
After going back and re-reading Doug Johnson's and Joyce Valenza's SLJ article and following their blog commentaries I'm afraid that those that need to be reading this...aren't. Too bad. Nonetheless, we need to start somewhere. This is as good a place as any. While we reflect on these issues, let's not forget that what we are really talking about is student learning and success. A room full of technology will not engage learners. I wish I could remember where I came upon this expression, but I like it...."Technology becomes transformative only when it becomes invisible".

The Pain of Thesis Statements:
It is so hard to draw thesis statements out of our students. They can do it, but they have such a hard time allowing themselves to take risks and express an opinion....an opinion that they will research and defend. Students beg for the question so that they can answer it. Inquiry is painful as it requires students to come up with their own questions and then find the answers. It is so rewarding, beyond words, when they "get it". Inquiry is messy and painful, but the rewards are immense. I had the pleasure of working with students this week that had breakthroughs in their research projects....one in particular set chills up my spine...it was magnificent. Let's help our kids to take risks with their learning.

Let the wild rumpus start:
I'm looking forward to seeing the big screen version of "Where The Wild Things Are". I have always been captivated by this book as it teeters on the surrealist edge. Although Maurice Sendak's illustrations are double page spreads throughout, his simple and so effective use of wordless text as the rising action leads to the story's climax in a crescendo of "Max-ness and rumpus". I love Max. I hope I love the big screen Max.

Change, Leadership, Teaching and Learning

2009-10-18T22:03:00.006-04:00

There's an important discussion taking place over at Joyce Valenza's Neverending Search. I think it's important that we all take a look at what is being said, not only the original post, but the running commentary. It's about leadership and change. It's about teaching and learning. Where do you fit in? As far as what I see going on around me...I am inspired by those in our school community who are learning and leading and in turn teaching others, who in turn are leading and teaching others and so on. Grassroots. But the question is: what about the others?

Christopher Harris, who is a leader, recently wrote in the September 2009 issue of School Library Journal: "In truth, I abhor change and only survive the process by assuming leadership and taking control of the inevitable process. So how can individual librarians embrace and manage the changes now upon us? Step one is to accept the new reality. Only then can we look at ways to work toward the future."

This conversation is by no means limited to librarians. It applies to all teachers, staff, administrators, school board members, everyone in our school community. This calls for dialogue where points of view can be expressed. Are you ready to learn and lead?

This is NOT about student learning

2009-10-14T19:36:00.003-04:00

In the library we know that students learn and we are always looking for evidence. However, this is not about learning. I happened to be looking at the Schenectady High School Library's book circulation statistics today. From the beginning of school to October 14 last year, 35 books were borrowed by students. This year 420 books have circulated in the same time period! Totally amazing!

Why? What's different?

It all started with a concentrated effort at the end of school last year to bring in more popular fiction that appeals to our kids. Librarians Kristen Majkut and Alyssa Whitcher found the books and they were ordered. When the books arrived in September, the library staff constructed several eye-catching displays around the library. Word-of-mouth took care of the rest of the marketing effort. Kids are reading a book a day, coming back for more. Alyssa Whitcher maintains a reading website for students. Students are running in between classes to get new books. This is very exciting. We need to order more books!

Why Students Should Use Google Docs

2009-10-12T11:46:00.004-04:00

Access

Students can access their work from anywhere…anytime. Documents (MS Word), Presentations (MS PowerPoint), or Spreadsheets (MS Excel) live on the cloud. That’s right; no need to worry about “H” drives or file format compatibility. On an average day in the Schenectady High School Library, 2 or 3 students unsuccessfully attempt to upload work from home via their flash drive to their “H” drive. Our school’s network has only one acceptable format, MS Office 2003. Office 2007 or Works…forget it, you’re SOL. And you’ll notice, that Mac format hasn’t been mentioned…????

Collaboration

Students can work on one digital product together…at the same time…from any location. So, does that mean that students from other parts of the city, state, country, and world can work on something together at the same time? YES! Did you say 21^st Century Skills? YES!

Assessment of Student Learning

Google Docs can be used by the teacher as an assessment tool. When the teacher is added (“shared”) as a collaborator, the Doc revision history (complete with a date and time stamp) provides a clear illustration of each student’s participation, hence performance indication. Apply the rubric, and the teacher can assess learning.

Online Publishing

I love this one. When you change the audience, you impact teaching and learning. Move the process from a student producing a product for the teacher, for a grade to something more significant. Move it to a student (or a student collaboration) producing a digital product for their peers, for the parents, for a global audience. This is a powerful idea.

Standards Alignment

Go ahead and pick any NYSED learning standard from any content area and you will find alignment. That’s a bold statement in light of the fact that the standards are ancient and from a bygone era (ELA 1996; Social Studies 1996; Math, Science, Technology 1996, etc.). So, let’s look at something more current; International Society for Technology in Education…National Educational Technology Standards for Students - 2007 or American Association of School Librarians…Standards for the 21^st Century Learner - 2007.

Oh, did I happen to mention that access to Google Docs is free?

These are my ideas. What are yours?

What is a "Sprucetrap"?

2009-10-12T11:07:00.000-04:00

To know one is to love one. If you've ever found yourself on a mountain in the northeastern United States, in the winter, above...let's say 3,500 to 4,000 feet or higher there's a pretty good chance that you know about sprucetraps. Here's how they work. Spruce trees have adapted well to mountain environments. Their branches extend at a downward angle from the trunk enabling them to handle very heavy snow loads. It's common for snow to pile up ten to twenty feet or more in these locations burying everything. The downward branch angle traps air creating "hollow" areas beneath the snow pack. These areas are undetectable from the snow surface until you snowshoe over them...down you go. Remember that the spruce branches are at a downward angle, so they act like the clutches of some demonic mountain creature (think "alligator") holding you down...all while swimming in deep powder in futile attempts to gain the surface. The harder you fight, the harder it is to get out. Keys to success? First of all, try to avoid them (you eventually learn the warning signs). Secondly, you must ease your way out gently while laughing at yourself. Isn't that pretty much like most things in life?

Spruce Traps and How to Avoid Them

2009-09-12T11:34:00.000-04:00

Here we go!

Spruce traps and how to avoid them...
Follow along and we'll see where the trail leads us. Adventure lies ahead.