Easy Like Sunday Morning: Can You Say Hectic?

Today's post is going to be a compilation of several posts from eight days, some #late and some very current.  I was so busy posting on my other blog, I totally forgot about this one.  In addition, I have four papers and a presentation I need to hammer out this week.  Here we go!


Chicago Public Library's:  Bam! The Power of Comics and Graphics
October 21st
This conference was needed in my life as I am now running a Anime/Manga Club.  Besides the awesome keynote address, my favorite presentation was by CAKE.

Making Mini-Comics

Book Donation

Thank you Lydia Breiseth for the donation of much needed books.  Lydia is the Manager of the Learning of the Media Department at WETA Public Television in Colorin, Colorado.   She read about the Phillips Library Media Center and generously donated books for my avid readers.  On behalf of my students, many-many-many thanks!

Pictures from the School Library Journal Leadership Summit

October 24th-26th

St. Paul, MN

Attending this leadership summit has inspired me greatly.  I am so glad I attended and had the opportunity to meet so many leaders in the school library world.  I can't wait to attend next year!

The Plane

The beautiful hotel

My mother accompanied me on this trip
There I am, talking about the importance of speaking up.

Listening to 'Mr. Minnesota', Dr. Doug Johnson

My friend Karen Latrice made the beautiful cards.
I'm pictured with Dr. Joyce Valenza, Dr. Doug Johnson and
School Library Journal's Librarian of the Year, Michelle Coulte

My mother, SLJ's Executive Editor, Kathy Ishizuka and I

Listening to a presentation

Anime/Manga Club Elections

I am so glad the voting and elections are over with.  The student speeches were a trip!

Turning in their ballots

The Strangest Things Take Place In the Library Media Center

Have you ever really took a look inside of your student's bookbag?  Normally you will find chips, a water bottle, books and other teen items.  One of my students Cameron carries a lint brush everywhere he goes.  Always concerned about his appearance, 'he wants to look good'.

Students Helping Each Other:  

Cameron gives Orlanda a lesson on ironing dress pants with a crease before she heads off to work.

See, you do it like this!

Make sure the iron is set at the correct temperature.

Lunch Periods in the LMC:  Peer Tutoring, Socializing, Computer Access and more.

Social Time

Time for Math XL 

Mistakes Are Made

Why did I say I have a new Galaxy Note 4?  Here you see the children decided to take selfies...with my phone.  

This was taken Friday at dismissal.

Circulation Desk Display

I let my students create this circulation desk display.  It's a combination of Poetry Month and my birthday celebration.  Somehow, they figured out a way to fit Wendy Phillips in.  My students....you've gotta love them!

Funny Stories

I often share funny stories about my students and events that take place in my Library Media Center with my family.  Here's two doozies for you.

Teens are always eating/snacking on something.  Normally I have to deal with my students eating chips  and sunflower seeds.  I caught one of my favorite students making a bee-line to the lab with her class with a box of Trix under her arm.  She swore she wasn't going to eat it while she was in the lab.  I guess I was born yesterday.  You can see the look of surprise on her face when I took the cereal and informed her she could get it after dismissal.  

Pure comedy!

This one took the cake.  

This year I began making really elaborate book displays.  I have a 'DIVA' book display by the front door of the LMC where I showcase books that appeal to teen girls.  'Wendy' as I call her is super chic, glasses, boa and all.  She even sports one of my old lace front human hair wigs.   The girls enjoy playing with the hair while checking out the books on the display.

During a week's visit in the LMC, a all male leadership class used the wig to shoot a public service announcement on the iPads.  After three class periods, the wig disappeared and no one knew what happened to the wig.  Fingers were pointing and no one was talking...typical right.  Wendy had to sport a stylish headscarf for about a week.  Finally a teacher on the other side of the building remembered that I had the display and informed me that he found the wig.  One of the school's jokesters was caught wearing the wig in his class as a joke.    When I got the wig back, it was matted and tangled.  Well, Wendy's wig is back, she's looking chic and the wig is glued to her head.

Teenage Boys!!!!

Phillips Students Visit Spain!

Yesterday students from Mrs. Carter-Richardson's honors Spanish class left O'Hare/JFK airports to travel to  Madrid, Spain.  This is a WONDERFUL experience for our students, some of which who have never left the city of the Chicago.  Throughout the trip (wifi permitting!!!) the students will be sending me pictures from their travels.   As I receive pictures from the students, I will upload them to the Phillips Pinterest account.  

WPAHS Honors Spanish Class Visits Spain -

  -  http://www.pinterest.com/auslwpahs/wpahs-honors-spanish-class-trip-to-spain/

Here's a iPhone exchange between John 'the photographer' and I before they departed from JFK.

Sneak Peek: Phillips Virtual Tour

Here's a sneak peek of the Phillips High School's 'Virtual Tour'.  Though in it's rough stages, the students still have some work to complete before they can properly use it as part of their upcoming tours.

The Breathing Zone

This app really works!

The Breathing Zone

Lately I've been in 'discovery' mode with the new iPads. Sometimes I'm successful, but more often I fail miserably. Frustration levels can get high and sometimes I feel like I didn't accomplish anything.  I really like The Breathing Zone app because it helps you return back to a 'normal' state of mind and just calm down.

This app works for me and I discovered that it works well with my students too.   My student *Stacy came into the Library Media Center, fired up about the typical 'girl' drama.  I immediately grabbed my iPhone, instructed her to sit down, close her eyes and listen to the breathing instructions.  After three minutes, Stacy came back from the edge of teenage drama.

I was really fortunate to catch this app when it was posted free for 24 hours in the app store.   For those who are considering purchasing this app, it is well worth the $3.99 price.  You can set the time, music and male/female voice in the settings.  In addition, there is a nice log that can track your progress over a period of time.  The breathing analyzer provides a deeper monitoring of breathing activity and encourages the user to meet goals for optimal breathing patterns.

Just try it!

*For privacy purposes, the student's name has been changed.

So Long 2013

- Taking down decorations

- Judging student foot traffic and deadlines

- The Cold Weather

- Christmas shopping

- Holiday Assembly

- Prepping for January Behind the Paws shows

Here's a couple pictures that describe the last two weeks of school. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE AUDACIOUS LIBRARIAN!

Teens, Language & Texting

Just pulled this off of Twitter.   Very interesting....

If I were a parent, I would especially 

pay attention to this one below!

Databases for Research

     This lesson was an introduction to using databases for my freshman and sophomore classes.  I engaged the students in a brief discussion about upcoming research based assignments for their classes.  I then introduced and encouraged the students to listen critically to a short video describing internet search engines vs. library databases.  Next, I led the students in a brief discussion about Google and Wikipedia as a respected primary source for research. 

     The lesson concluded with the students logging onto Gale Student Resources and conducting a simple search using the subject:  Chicago Violence.

Saying Goodbye

I hate saying goodbye...especially to students.  My student Jessica was a joy to have in class.  On her last day, the Behind the Paws crew held a class party and ate cupcakes.   I'm so glad social media will play a part in keeping in touch.

Jessica is second from the right

Behind the Paws - S2, E2

Here's the latest episode of Behind the Paws....enjoy!

Behind the Paws S2 E2 from WPAHS Video Page on Vimeo.

#TeamAnimal

My first post using the Blogger app on my Galaxy 3!

Guess who's #TeamAnimal, my student Dana.  Dana is a voracious reader of the genre Street Literature.  After conducting a Reader's Advisory interview, K'wan's Animal was the next and natural reading selection for this student. 

Dana visits the Library Media Center about three times a week during 8th period.   In this case with this book, Dana read the adult Street Lit book in one day.  As she explained to me, she gets much of her reading accomplished while using public transportation and when she completes classwork early. 

When she returned this book yesterday, she immediately inquired about the sequel.   As I informed her,   Animal II is scheduled for release on November 19th.   In the mean time, she is enjoying reading some of K'wan's previous books.

A Gift From My Students

My students have given me a gift...the flu then a very bad cold.  

I haven't had the flu since 1999, so this bug really hit me hard.   

All I have to say is....I suffered, I endured and I am now over it.

Now it's time to play catch up on EVERYTHING.....I'm so far behind.

Everyone please take care of yourself!

My Avid Reader

     This is Davion a high energy and a voracious reader.  I will never forget the first time I met him.  It was August and he was a freshman student excited about attending high school.  He came into the library media center with a laundry list of Street Lit. titles...some I had not even heard of.  It is Davion that I credit for changing my policy on students checking out adult Street Lit. books.  

    Until I met Davion, I only circulated the books to my juniors and seniors.  I wanted to guide my freshman and sophomore students into reading young adult books that they had not been exposed to in grammar school.  Davion like other students that year really challenged me.  They had read Street Lit. young adult books while enrolled in grammar school and they wanted to read the adult versions.  I couldn't tell them no, so my principal and I devised a plan for the circulation of the books with the parent's permission.

    I've experienced much criticism for circulating the adult titles to teens.  The interesting thing is the parents support the circulation and they read the books too.  Since implementing this, I've had less than a handful of parents that have rejected it.  At the end of the day, literacy is spread in the home and the student enjoys reading a good book.

     In part 2 of 'Conversations at the Circulation Desk' sophomore student Davion describes why he enjoys using eReaders, participating in the Phillips book club and shares some of his favorite books.  If you would like to view part one of the series, just click the link provided below.

Conversations from the Circulation Desk, part 1 - http://theaudaciouslibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/09/conversations-at-circulation-desk.html 

Student ID Woes

     I can't wait until the students receive their ID's.  Right now I'm using the old sign in sheet system and it's driving me nuts.  I didn't want to delay lunchtime gaming so I began circulating iPads two weeks ago.  So far the kids are having a ball enjoying their 20 minute free period/lunch.  If my students want to 'Game' on my Library Media Center iPads during their lunch period, they are either giving up their cell phone or their book bag.  I'm not playing this year.  
#libraries #librarians #tlchat #elearning

Conversations At The Circulation Desk

I've served numerous communities as school librarian for Chicago Public Schools for a number of years.  During this time I have heard stories that would make you cry, have had conversations that will raise an eyebrow and have heard stories that will just crack you up.   My students at my current school often times come in the Library Media Center and address me as 'Ma'.  (RANT - I blame my principal who started calling me 'Mama Boyd' in front of the children...LOL!)  I used to really trip out of this 'term of endearment',  but now I take this in stride.   In all of the years I have taught, I've learned one major thing about teens:  the will not share personal information with you if they do not like you.  #RealTalk

Conversations At The Circulation Desk is a new video series that I have created that celebrates the teen mind.  Videos shared through this series feature some of my students and the funny and prolific things that they say.  All students who appear in this video series have approved the use of their image and have had their parent sign a media release form for the school.   I'm a little late posting this video. I actually started taping this series in June and got sidetracked with other projects.  In this first episode, Junior student Rebeca talks about why teens enjoy reading Street Literature.   I hope you will enjoy what she says.

500th Tweet!

I'm so proud of the Behind the Paws crew. They have successfully completed their 500th tweet!

 

Chicago Violence

Have you ever thought about what it is like to be a teen living in Chicago?  My colleague Mrs. Henderson recently challenged her students to write poems/skits describing what is taking place in some neighborhoods in Chicago.  Like my previous post, "Breaking the Cycle" these students are dealing with a reality that is not kind and shows no mercy.

These spoken word videos are raw, unflinching and describe a reality that many don't want to deal with.  My students are brave and despite of the obstacles placed in their path are determined to succeed.  The concept for these videos were solely the students with guidance from their teacher.  After developing a concept, poem and presentation style, I worked with the students to edit and finalize the project using iMovie.   All video was shot on the Library Media Center's iPads and images that appear in these videos are from Google images.

I'm really going to miss this group of graduating seniors.  I hope you will enjoy just a small sample of these presentations as much as I have working with the students.  Please feel free to leave a comment in the comment section of this post.  All comments will shared with the students.


Henderson 1st period Keyon, Mike from WPAHS Video Page on Vimeo.

Henderson 8th period Kendrick, Briana from WPAHS Video Page on Vimeo.

Henderson 7th period Tatiana, Leon, Don from WPAHS Video Page on Vimeo.