New Books and Celebrating Black History Month

Though we strive to have books that reflect all of our students available throughout the year, it's nice to highlight books that are appropriate to Black History during February. Some new books have arrived recently that are perfect for this purpose. All four middle schools have copies of each of these titles and several are perfect for reading and sharing aloud--including pictures and photos that work well under a document camera.

Written in poetic format, this picture book (and winner of multiple awards) tells the story of Civil Rights advocate Fannie Lou Hamer. Starting with her childhood and leading into her political career, this book is a captivating story of an important figure.

Weatherford, Carole Boston and Ekua Holmes Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

At a recent SLJ Summit, Adam Lerner of Lerner Publishing stood up to talk about the importance of a new book he was publishing. The Book Itch, written from a child's viewpoint, tells the story of the National Memorial African Bookstore in New York City owned by Lewis Henri Michaux. The illustrated story tells of famous African Americans who visited the store and Mr. Michaux's passion for words. A bibliography of the author's research is included for further reading on this topic.

Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux and R. Gregory Christine The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore

The life and poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar are highlighted in this unique biography which also includes black and white illustrations. Students may be familiar with certain famous African Americans (Civil Rights activists come to mind), but I like the idea of helping them become familiar with poets, inventors, singers, athletes, actors, and entrepreneurs as well. By displaying books that highlight people who have contributed to the arts, students will have the opportunity to see a variety of ways in which they might use their talents and strengths in the future.

Derby, Sally and Sean Qualls Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Through stunning black and white photography, the history of Motown is told including the people and places that made Motown sound famous. As a resident of Michigan, I have long been interested in the rise and fall of Detroit. This book includes information about the rich cultural heritage of the city. An extensive timeline and bibliography are included for those with further research interest.

Davis, Andrea Pinkney Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound

Focus on Bulletin Boards

The bulletin boards in our main hallway represent a lot of real estate. One of my small goals this year is to keep them updated. I spent some time on Pinterest in order to get some ideas (I barely made it out alive from that rabbit hole!) In the end, I decided to start the year with a few things that I have seen posted around the Internet.

Our teachers do some work on Mindset with our students, so I thought a bulletin board in the main hallway highlighting what this concept looks like would be a good way to start the year. I found several versions on Pinterest and, ultimately, settled on this one because I could print PDF files from this blog which made the creation of it so much easier. There are a lot of great ideas on teacher blogs and Pinterest pages--I'm grateful that others are willing to share their work.

I am also concerned about how our students are using technology. I want them to take advantage of their devices for good instead of evil, so I created a version of the popular "Before You . . . Think" bulletin board using social media icons. However, I also added several options of great ways to utilize devices as well. My suggestions include signing up for their teachers' Remind notices, following our PTSO on Facebook, and using the online resources (e books and audiobooks) from the school library. I added QR codes to the posters to make it simple to find the resources. The icons, images, and fonts for this one came straight from the sites themselves and it was pretty simple to create. 

My other displays are located right outside the library doors. I use one to keep students and staff updated about community activities that might be of interest (it was author visits earlier in the year and will be updated to reflect the Social Justice Book Bowl this month). The other display is currently a "Read Box," the librarian's take on Red Box. I was able to use a font and poster created by another librarian/blogger. I then added several book jackets. I will continue to rotate and update the book covers throughout the year. 

I will be changing the larger bulletin boards soon and am always looking for new ideas. What sorts of displays and/or bulletin boards have you created to focus on learning and keep your school attractive?

We Need Diverse Books Because . . .

If someone had taken

that book out of my hand

said You're too old for this

maybe

I'd never have believed

that someone who looked like me

could be in the pages of the book

that someone who looked like me

had a story.

-Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I have been following the We Need Diverse Books campaign and wanted to connect with my students regarding diversity in our library. I decided to create an activity for seventh graders that would allow us to talk a little about what being diverse means to us, as well as looking at some of the resources available in our collection.

In order to facilitate a discussion, I had the students start with a Circle Map. Each Thinking Map has a thinking process that students must go through when completing it. A Circle Map is meant to help define a word or concept. I created a map with "diverse" in the center and students were asked to define it using synonyms and/or words that remind them of diversity. After a short period, students shared their ideas with their shoulder partners and then we shared as a class, adding to our own maps and checking for words we already had written down.

Following the mapping process, I displayed a series of book covers and asked the students to decide if they thought each one was diverse or not and tell why. This was a fascinating look into how kids view book covers and diversity. We discussed how sometimes it is possible to discover diverse attributes from the cover alone and how we often have to look beyond the cover to find out more before we decide.

After our discussions, students wrote exit tickets that are now displayed on a bulletin board in the library answering the prompt, "#Weneeddiversebooks Because." The answers vary from not wanting to be "bored" by the same types of books, to wanting to read a variety of genres, to wanting to see myself, to wanting to learn about other cultures. In other words, the students viewed diversity through a variety of lenses and then responded with their personal viewpoint.

 I am planning to follow up this activity with a series of displays that will help the students see diversity in all of the forms they mentioned, as well as other views. As we continue through the year, I'm hoping that my students will have the opportunity to experience both windows and mirrors in the books they choose from our library.