Bringing Back the Book Pass

I often see posts encouraging patrons of libraries and book stores to have a "blind date with a book." The concept is simple: a book is wrapped in plain paper and several attributes are listed on the outside. Patrons check out or purchase the book based on the description alone without, in effect, judging it by its cover. On the other hand, I have always wanted to invent bookshelves that allow all covers to be out because I think kids are more likely to pick up books when they can see the covers. However, covers can also be a turnoff and some don't tell the whole story, so librarians have the job of hand-selling and booktalking many titles that may otherwise sit on the shelf without any readers.

During his first library visit this year, one of our seventh graders told his teacher that he likes the Origami Yoda series and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Those series are both popular and all of my copies were checked out, but I offered several other options including Charlie Joe Jackson, The Clone Chronicles, and I Funny and Middle School. None of these were deemed acceptable substitutes which led me to a discussion with the teacher about how students often need a push to step out of their comfort zones. We decided to do a book pass on her next visit.

A book pass is an activity I have used in the past to introduce kids to new books. I arrange four books at each table and provide a form that the students use to take notes. Each book is passed in a clockwise direction based on a timer. Students are asked to look at the front cover, back cover, inside flap, and read the first page or two. We then have them write about whether they might check that book out and tell why or why not. I purposely put out books that they students may not have seen and carefully provide a mix of fiction and nonfiction.

Following the activity, I survey the students about the books and the activity:

• Did they find a book that they might like to check out?
• Were they surprised by the content of a book based on what they might have thought seeing the cover only?
• Was there a book on the table that they had no idea our library owned?
• Did this activity help them think about different types of books they might explore?

There were some tables that had to negotiate (rock-paper-scissors) to see who got to check out a particular book first and who would go on the hold list. At other tables, no one wanted any of the books. I like to see which books are coveted and which draw little interest because that helps with both marketing and purchasing.

My next step was to collect all of the forms and read them. Yes, I do participate as an equal teacher and expect myself to read and comment on assignments that happen in the library. I never want to add to the workload of our staff, but instead find ways to enhance what they are already doing. Reading the forms gives me insight and allows me to have conversations with the students around books that might not otherwise happen. 

This student make a connection to his life and decided to check out the book following the activity. I am looking forward to talking to him about how he liked the book.

I am looking forward to our next visit and the opportunity to talk about which books were favorites and which ones ended up not working out. I have also planned to do this activity with another team in the coming weeks. Reader's Advisory is an important aspect of creating lifelong readers and helping students work toward self-advocacy and independence. I plan to continue exploring different methods of putting books in my students' hands as the year continues.

Gary Schmidt at Bookbug

Signed to the Maple Street Readers

The owners of Bookbug, a local independent bookstore, invited me to have dinner with Gary Schmidt last week before he did a reading of his new title Orbiting Jupiter at their store. Bookbug is a special place. It opened about eight years ago as a book store for children and has since expanded to include adult titles as well. I can go in and get lost for hours among the books and unique book-related items they stock. I was thrilled to be included among a group of local librarians and educators and enjoyed conversation with Gary about obscure picture books, the class he teaches at Calvin College, and his day visiting several local schools.

After our dinner, we arrived at the store and Schmidt told us about his inspiration for Orbiting Jupiter (an article he read years ago combined with a visit to a juvenile prison in Northern Michigan) and read a chapter from the book. He also told about the incredible experience of editing his late wife's picture books. I always find audience questions add depth to an author visit and this time was no different. Schmidt was asked about how he finds the voice of his protagonists and he shared some experiences that have helped him bring his characters alive. I like to make not of quotes when I hear a speaker and my favorite of the evening was definitely, "Everyone remembers middle school vividly, but no one wants to relive it." As I have interacted with middle schoolers each day of the past 16 years, I tend to agree with that sentiment. However, the fodder for character development is rich and plentiful!

I purchased a copy of Orbiting Jupiter and had it signed for our library. I read it in a couple of days and the characters remain with me a week later. I'm thinking about kids who fall through cracks and how one act could be the action that changes the course of a person's life. It's interesting that this theme finds me again: G. Neri had me thinking similarly earlier this month--and he named Gary Schmidt as one of his favorite authors and inspirations. The world is a small place indeed.

Ed Spicer took this picture of me and Gary Schmidt at Oakwood Bistro. I enjoyed getting to catch up with Ed and hear stories about his first grade classroom, as well as his experiences on the Printz and Caldecott committees.

Spanish Immersion Partnership: Baby Steps

We have added a Spanish Immersion Literature class to our course offerings this year and it has opened an opportunity for a partnership that offers some challenges. First, I do not speak Spanish. That's an obvious challenge. In addition to the language barrier, I am also working overtime to find appropriate resources that will allow the students to complete research and reading in Spanish. There are several options that will work with middle school students, but it does take some tips and tricks to make them work well.

My first option was the MEL (Michigan Electronic Library) Databases. These databases range from elementary to scholarly, so there is something for everyone. They are paid for with Michigan tax dollars, so I encourage everyone to use them--why not use what you pay for? In schools and libraries, the databases will be IP recognized. At home, there is a chance that a Michigan driver license or ID number will be needed to prove Michigan residency upon login. This number is verified and dumped--it it not kept on file for any purpose. Once logged in, I have my younger students and new researchers begin searching using Infotrac Junior (also known as "Research in Context"). When a student from the class I was working with found an acceptable article, I had them translate it into Spanish using the included menu. While this worked well for my demonstration, we did discover an issue with our technology. Google Chrome does not work on our library computers and the translate function only works in Chrome. Therefore, the students could not access that function unless they used my computer. It was cute to see them all sharing, but not very efficient.

Taking turns at the circulation station

On day two, we looked up articles using Grolier Online. Grolier has La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, an online reference encyclopedia in Spanish. Students looked up articles using this resource and were able to locate information in Spanish that was useful to their research.

After searching the online sources, one student asked me, "What if I want to look up books too?" I encouraged him to do so, though the books are not in Spanish. He was able to locate a large selection of books that included most of the topics that the class needed. It was nice to see the books emerge from the shelves and I enjoyed the conversations around the illustrations and diagrams in several of the titles. We also talked about what an index is and how to use one--yet another skill that comes naturally to most adults, but must be taught to students.

Our students looking through some of the books about their research topics with their teacher

The teacher was appreciative of the variety of resources available on the topics--and the availability of articles in Spanish. I will continue to work on selecting resources that will match with the needs of this class as I know we will find additional ways to partner in teaching and learning as this class develops.

G. Neri Visit

85 chairs squeezed in and ready to go--no small feat in our library space

Greg Neri visited Maple Street last week and it was fantastic. Last spring, I was contacted by our public library and asked if we would like to have an author visit. My answer was definitely a yes, but I wanted this visit to be different. I have always partnered with English Language Arts teachers or let students self-select into a book clue when we have had author visits in the past. This time, I discussed the visit with a colleague in Library Services before making any decisions. I wanted to have kids who might not otherwise meet an author get the chance to read one of Neri's books and connect with his story. Fortunately, my colleague gave me some great ideas and I ultimately chose to have five of our READ 180 classes read Ghetto Cowboy in preparation for the visit.

Yummy, the subject of one of Neri's books, was based on a real boy

Neri's stories come from life and headlines

Greg is a fantastic speaker who connected with the students well. He showed a video about urban cowboys, spoke about how he came to write his stories, and shared a bit about several of his published books and future books. He also answered dozens of questions from the eager students. After the visit, two statements resonated with me. First, he said he likes to, "Give a voice to the stories that aren't being told." I like the idea that a book might teach me about something I had never dreamed about. I read Ghetto Cowboy on a plane from Chicago to Seattle and I joked afterwards that I was a good thing I didn't have any Wi-Fi because I would have ended up doing a bunch of research on urban cowboys instead of becoming immersed in the story. This was definitely a story that had not been told in a book for teens and I'm glad my students got to experience it.

Mr. Neri interacting with our students

The second idea that has stuck with me is the statement, "Can a book save a person's life?" I had not done much research on Neri prior to his visit. However, I did read one article about Neri connecting with a struggling student and his librarian that I shared with the teacher who had prepped the kids for the visit. I always hope that our students will connect with that one book which will be a springboard to a love of reading and literature. What if a book could truly save a person's life? We can only imagine.


I highly recommend an author visit featuring Greg Neri. If you have an opportunity to see him speak, you will not be disappointed.

The students were captivated

  A sequel to Ghetto Cowboy may be in the works--imagine a polo team set in Philly

Instructional Conondrums

There has been a lot of talk in school librarian circles about what types of "orientation" instruction to deliver and how it should be done. I am not a fan of teaching isolated skills, but I do believe we level the playing field for our students when we teach skills on an as-needs basis. After listening to Annie Murphy Paul talk about interest at the SLJ Summit in 2013, I began to focus even more intensely on making sure kids got the right book at the right moment. This seems obvious, but in practice 37 kids all clamoring for books simultaneously makes it difficult to meet each student's individual needs. By teaching use of our online catalog explicitly, I can help students meet their own needs.

In order to orient my new sixth graders to the library, I teach several lessons. On the first day they visit, we complete a basic set of two-column notes (Cornell Notes). These notes help the kids with the basics of our library. Most of the students that come to Maple have never attended a school that has a librarian, so helping them understand basic policies, procedures, and locations (fiction vs nonfiction) helps them get an idea of how the resources are organized. While this only takes about ten minutes, it helps answer many questions and define expectations. On this visit, the kids spend time browsing and getting a feel for the space and they have ample time for checking out books.

On the second visit, the primary focus is learning to use the online catalog to look up books. We are a Thinking Maps school, so I use a Flow Map to help the students understand the basic steps to accessing Follett Destiny from our district website. The teacher works with me to demonstrate finding a book on the shelf in both the fiction and nonfiction sections from a computer record. This may seem basic, but it is a new skill for most of my students and teaching how to find resources empowers the students to make choices that follow their interests rather than just taking a shot in the dark on each visit.

Flow Map

Explicit instruction not only helps my students better understand how to use our library, it also allows me to teach using the same strategies that are being used in our classrooms. When I implement the methods that our staff has agreed to use through our School Improvement Plan, I am seen as a teacher and an equal partner in the education of our students. All teacher librarians need to have the time and space necessary to teach skills that will make students more successful. With a focus on literacy, my students' ability to find reading materials that suit their personal interest and curricular needs is extremely important.

AASL's Best Apps and Websites 2015

The American Association of School Librarians publishes a list of the 25 best apps for teaching and learning each year. The 2015 list was unveiled at the American Librarian Association conference in San Francisco in June. The list includes apps in five categories: books, STEM, organization and management, content creation, and social sciences. This was my last year on the committee and I curated the book apps along with John Schumacher. We will be presenting these apps at the AASL National Conference in November as well.

The 2015 Best Websites list was also revealed in San Francisco. Although I served on that committee many years ago, I continue to follow their work as they continue to honor innovative websites and provide excellent models of how technology can be used to improve learning.

Do you have an idea for an app or website that should be honored on the 2016 lists? Please use the nomination links below to let the committees know:

App nomination

Website nomination

Welcome Back!

We're off to a great start for the 2015-2016 school year. There are several key literacy initiatives happening throughout Kalamazoo Public Schools and the libraries are working to make sure all students have access to high-quality books that fulfill their personal interests and curricular needs. In order to connect our students to books and authors, teachers and families are encouraged to have kids meet two visiting authors who will be in Kalamazoo in the coming months.

G. Neri will be in Kalamazoo on October 1, 2015. He will speak with patrons at the Powell Branch Library 5:00-6:00PM--this is a free event and all are welcome. Students from Maple Street's READ 180 classes will have a special chance to meet G. Neri during school on October 1 as well. All of Mr. Unangst's classes will be reading Ghetto Cowboy in order to prepare for the visit.




In addition, Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds will be in Kalamazoo as part of the 2015 Youth Literature Seminar "Mirrors and Windows." Jacqueline will be presenting to students from Mrs. Hampton and Mrs. McKee's English Language Arts classes who are reading Brown Girl Dreaming and will also speak at the KPL Central Library at 6:00PM on November 5, 2015. Teachers and librarians are encourage to attend the seminar which will include a presentation from each author, as well as some great book suggestions for middle and high school students.

                                     
Maple Street was the recipient of 65 new books from a grant received by Kalamazoo Public Library from the Friends of the Library in order to support this visit. We are grateful for our partnership with KPL and the wonderful service they provide to the children in our community.

Each of the middle school libraries will be receiving new books throughout the year which will include both fiction and non-fiction related to student interests and curricular needs. Please take the opportunity to visit your library and see what's new for 2015-2016.