Happy New Year! My 3 Fave Apps of the Year

I might as well do it. I might as well start the year off with a blog entry. I started this blog because of a New Year's Resolution back in 2007. Since then I have had ups and downs, never quite reaching and maintaining the level of activity I resolve to attain. Last year I did well in the early months but then dropped off sharply as job duties eclipsed all other activities. But I am hoping to make THIS they year when I hit my stride and keep it going!

For a starting-off entry I asked myself what are some applications that I have found to be compelling and even addictive in the past year. Here are several. If you have not tried any of these, I offer them up for your consideration:

• Dropbox: Why oh why did I wait so long to try this? I have been a constant user for several months now and don't know how I managed without it. I have the convenience of getting my files anywhere at any time, plus the security of knowing they are stored one more place for security--in the cloud. For some reason it gives me a huge charge to pull up my MS Office docs on my iPhone.
• Instagram--This is my new favorite iPhone app. It combines social networking with love of photographers. I follow a mix of sincere amateurs like myself and professionals who share amazing pictures. We comment on one another's submissions. I am on this site several times a day. As far as I can tell it is strictly an iPhone app. It has reawakened my interest in photographer and refreshed the way I see the world. That's a lot for a free app!
• Pininterest--Like a lot of folks, I find this site addictive. I have two boards that are active right now, and add to one or both almost daily. There are tons of great sites out there, and here are my two. I confess to being a bit proud of them:
• Ma Bell's Medicine Show for Raising Morale: http://pinterest.com/drmaryannbell/ma-bell-s-medicine-show-for-raising-morale/
• I Can See Clearly Now: Great Visuals: http://pinterest.com/drmaryannbell/i-can-see-clearly-now-great-visuals/
• Both titles are pretty descriptive. With the first board, I started out collecting humor and then expanded to include sites that make me smile or just plain feel good. I have an ongoing interest in digital images and visualization, which led to the second board. 
• While I find it hard to blog regularly, I add to these almost daily. Go figure.

I keep thinking there are some others I really like, but these are the standouts. What about you? What apps or sites have changed how you think or do things this past year?

The Power of Images

One of my ongoing interests is infographics. I love the many cool informational images that are available on the web. I think they are great for working with students of all ages, both to show and share, and also to have them create their own. Today I was struck by the impact of one such graphic on me personally. There is a great site called Daily Infographic (http://dailyinfographic.com/), which offers just what it says. The one I happened upon is called Sitting Down is Killing You (http://dailyinfographic.com/sitting-down-is-killing-you-infographic). For some reason it really grabbed me and made me think about something I already knew...that I am far too sedentary. Because of this graphic I got out of my recliner on Saturday, the first day of Christmas Break. I mowed the grass and swept the walks. Then I took my good boy dog for a walk. I am almost positive I would not have done any of that if not for the graphic. That's pretty powerful! I think I feel a New Year's Resolution coming on...

With a Heavy Heart I Write to Defend Child Labor Laws

The reason I am sad is that it seems child labor laws in our country NEED defending. It appears that Newt Gingrich's cynical idea of striking down those laws is actually gaining some traction. This prompts feel I have to respond and try to explain why those laws must not be diluted, much less repealed. To my Facebook friends, I am just trying to explain what I tried to say there about child labor. Here goes:

I find it distressing to feel the need to explain why I think child labor laws should not be repealed in our country. To me, it is like having to explain why laws against fraud or theft should not be repealed. But we have a presidential candidate who says child labor laws are outmoded and should be eliminated. This is a verbatim quotation from Newt Gingrich’s description of his idea: “"It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid," said the former House speaker, according to CNN. "Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising."

Now, why is this a bad idea?
• Kids can already work at age 14. At the age of 11 they can have paper routes. They can also do agricultural work. So Gingrich seems to mean to “emancipate” younger kids than 14, or in the exceptions, the age of 11. Is this really what we want?
• Picture the end of a school day. The kids with parents who can provide for them welcome the bell. They are off for scout meetings, music lessons, soccer or softball or whatever sport they enjoy. If they are lucky, they are off for a little goofing off in the back yard before it’s homework. The other kids, the poor kids, report to a “master janitor.” They are in for several hours of cleaning up after their more affluent peers. No down time for them! No after school programs, computer clubs like the one I used to sponsor, or boys and girls clubs which now often serve kids regardless of income. No tutorials or other extra help offered after school. After all they have to work, right? THEN for all, there IS HOMEWORK after supper. Who will have the energy and wherewithal to do a good job on it?
• Oh yes, and maybe they can work in libraries. Of course. Because all librarians do is stamp books and then put them on their shelves. Those books get evaluated, selected, budgeted, acquired, processed, and promoted by… well by whom? And who teaches kids how to navigate in the sea of digital information in which we all flounder today? Far too few people know what a teacher-librarian does. To say KIDS could take on the job of teacher-librarian or, for that matter for custodian, is demeaning to the adults who work hard to do the best for the kids at their schools.
• If you don’t think this will result in a level of classism that is far more pronounced to what already exists in public schools, you are naïve. What is to stop the rich kids from purposely creating extra work for the poor kids? This is a likely and sad by-product.
• And what to the “rich kids” learn? They learn that there is an underclass that serves them, even from the earliest age.

Does this make me a liberal wingnut who wants to enable the poor to remain lazy and shiftless? I don’t think so. First of all, to say that poor people are in that state due to their own laziness is a cruel and cynical lie. Many people are out of work today due to our economy, remember? And many others are under-employed. I worked with kids in public schools for 25 years and I do not recall ever specifically remember knowing of a family of welfare cheaters. At the same time I knew plenty of poor kids and their parents.

OK so why am I against having kids work in schools and libraries? Well I am not, of course! As a classroom teacher I had student assistants at the junior high where I worked in Spring Branch. I have followed their progress into their adult lives. They were more than students to me, they were my special kids. The same held true when I was a junior high librarian. I was lucky enough to work in a school, York Junior High in Conroe ISD, TX, where I had 2-3 library assistants every period. At York, you had to prove you were worthy of being a student assistant. It was an honor. I interviewed my future helpers, who were top students and great kids. They were the ones who maintained our shelves and they were proud and diligent workers. Beyond that I had a library club. I started it in the first days of my new library job. We named it TLC, The Library Club. These were also kids who wanted to help in the library. They came in before and after school and during lunch. Further, I always asked to work with hearing disabled kids. They would come in with their aides and work. There were other kids working in our school in the counselor’s office, nurse’s office, and administrators’ offices. Anyone who does not know that kids daily perform valuable work in schools right now every day has not spent much time in a public school to see how it really works. But it’s not for pay and it should not be.

Another thing that was mentioned in the Facebook exchange was that we adults worked as kids and it didn’t hurt us a bit. Well, right. I worked in my family business from age 12. We all pitched in, with Mom and Dad working long hours in the kitchen after supper to crank out the documents, abstracts, for our title business…and I do mean cranking out. They used a manual mimeograph machine. We kids would clean the kitchen and help with other chores, As soon as I could type, I was working in the office. BUT I was also in scouts, the band, the pep squad, and clubs. If I had a big assignment due, I didn’t have to work. School always came first. Surely people can see the difference between this and the situations that will rise from the repeal of child labor laws?

The notion of repealing child labor laws is horrifying to me. If people really think this is OK, it means our country has sunk to a lower level than I ever imagined. It took years of hard work to enact these laws. Before that, children were terribly exploited. And by the way, kids are still badly exploited today, especially in our growing fields. To go back to the pre-Depression days when kids were widely employed in factories is not a possibility I ever dreamed would be presented by a political candidate. To know it is gaining some traction literally hurts my heart.

Wisdom of Kathy Schrock about Collaboration

For several years I have been, as my dad would say, "treatnin' to" write a book about the need for collaboration between school librarians and school technology specialists. Ever since hearing Marla McGee and Barb Jansen present about their book, The Principal's Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program, I have thought there should be something of that kind to advise librarians and tech teachers. The problem was...I had no answers as to how to make things better when there is not a good working relationship between the two entities. Finally I decided to propose the book anyway and find answers as I went along. I enlisted to wonderful colleagues, Dr. Holly Weimar and James VanRoekel, and we are hoping to conclude this project before too very long. I sought advice from the experts, mostly from those in the trenches. Today I also gathered up my courage and contacted some of my heroes. Within two hours I had a wonderful and very practical response from KATHY SCHROCK! Here is what she had to say:

“I would strongly encourage them to create a three-sided teaching model that includes the librarian, technology specialist, and content specialist in the development of the curriculum. "Library" and "computers" are not subjects, in my opinion. They are both very important components of curriculum that both allow students to showcase knowledge as well as become proficient in all of the 21st century skillsets.” She went on to say, “I would suggest a sit-down together, each listing the types of things they do with students, and first see the overlap. I am guessing that the librarian list, among other things, will include some type of information literacy model that is used to make sure students develop good questions, pick the appropriate resources, effective searching skills and critical evaluation of the information they find, with the addition of correctly citing the information. In addition, the librarians will talk about copyright, fair use, and Creative Commons and the respect for the intellectual property of others.

The technology specialists will talk about having students pick the correct tool for the job, whether on the computer or tablet, or Web-based. They might include tools that help students gather information and collaborate in real-time as well as the creation of project-based things that culminate in a movie or presentation. This group will also include the overview of publishing material with respect to font and color and how best to communicate using technology. They will include the fact they cover cyber-safety and identify protection and proper Internet etiquette.

The third part of the triangle that should be invited to the table is the content specialist (the classroom teacher). The classroom teacher should be one to drive the content of both of the other two, and work with them to development appropriate formative and summative assessments that both showcase mastery of the content as well as use of the technology and information literacy skillsets.”

Such a meeting of minds could not help but be beneficial to all concerned. Kathy is absolutely right that the third side of the triangular model, the classroom teacher, must never be overlooked. The librarian and technology specialist share the responsibility of supporting classroom teachers in all their efforts and needs from immediate quick answers to staff developments to collaborative projects. And it should be added that the real raison d’etre for the entire set of efforts is the students. I wish I had this back when I was in a school library and working with our technology specialist. Having a formal model and keeping the principal in the loop would have been very beneficial.

HELPING HELICOPTER PARENTS...AND THEIR KIDS!

HELPING HELICOPTER PARENTS...AND THEIR KIDS!
I wish I was an every-single-day blogger like my hero Teri Lesesne. Or even three times a week as I have done for a while in the past. But I am not yet quite un-busy enough to get my act together for that. However there are times when nothing fills the bill for me like a blog post so here goes...and I am FARMING OUT THE REST! I had a wonderful response to a question last week and want to share it (with her permission). The question was...how do you help ratchet down the fear that helicopter parents have about their kids? The wise answer was from:

Lisa Hunt, NBCT 2005
School Library Media Specialist
Apple Creek Elementary
Moore, OK
lisa3moon@yahoo.com

And here is what she said:

Helicopter parents? I combat that in the way I run the library. Our students use self-check-out and it works. Students beginning in 1st grade learn their ID number, type that into the Circ Desk and check out their own books. I have a rug below the Circ Desk keyboard and we have a rule... one person on the rug at a time. I do this to begin lessons on Identity Security. No one needs to see the screen when someone is doing library business. One person on the rug and everyone else waiting patiently in line teaches students that it is wrong and rude to peer over someones shoulder as they conduct business, and society expects us to be able to wait patiently in a line for our own turn. Students need these lessons to do business as adults at an ATM, the Post Office, a bank, or any other place they conduct private business.

So, this expectation sets the stage. I also use Skoob the Shelf Elf as part of my library behavior program. His message demonstrates expected library behavior from the students. They work as a class to earn the Golden Shelf Elf certificates that I award (and additional recognitions.) I build cooperation and teamwork among the classmates when they come to the library.

Now, back to those Helicopter Parents. I've watched over the years as parents and some primary teachers are amazed at the behavior our students exhibit in "Their Library." The sense of ownership that students feel is the best part of how I run the library and that is why it works. Recently, our district opened a new elementary school that took 150+_of our students. That faculty "voted" that the librarian or clerk would check out books and there would be no self-check-out. ( I was incensed that my friend who was opening that library would allow the faculty to make such a decision, but she said she was going for unity.) Anyway, many parents (many of them volunteers in that library) complained that students weren't feeling the ownership of their library like "they had at the old school" and it was because they didn't independently check-out books and make their own behavior decisions when they visited the library. That was one year ago, and this year the librarian took back her domain and changed several things.

My point here is that my students learn independence and demonstrate pride in the way they operate in their library. Parents (and there have been many) and even some of my teachers have exclaimed "I love the way you allow students to have this control! It really boost their esteem to do their own business. I never thought my 7 year old was capable of doing something like this without adult help." I even had one teacher new to our building but with 11 years experience (other states and other districts) tell me, "I love the way you run this library. It is the most efficiently run school library I've ever used." For the first time in 5 years I have no assistant this year. Also, know that our district is a flexible scheduling district and library time is not part of the rotation.

Basically, I combat helicopter parent syndrome by building independent information literacy. I tell students in almost every lesson, "You are becoming good consumers of information, and you need these skills to survive!"

Onward and Upward

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a milestone one. Nah I don't try to hide it even if I cannot quite say the exact number (rhumes with bixty hive). Neither do I plan to retire. My dad worked right on up to age 95 and only quit because his wheelchair was unwieldy in the office. He is my hero and I believe that, like him, I am not a person who would retire well. BUT I have taken a major step in the direction of a less stressful and tiring work schedule. As of September 1, I am no longer Chair of the Department of Library Science at Sam Houston State University. I am resuming my "old identity" as full time Associate Professor of Library Science. I am able to do this because my friend and colleague, Dr. Holly Weimar, has agreed to step up into the Chair's position. Last Friday was moving day. She moved into the 4th floor corner office with the great view. She will get to have the business cards with CHAIR on them. I am so grateful to her for taking on this largely thankless job. It does come with a decreased class load and a humorously diminutive stipend. Well maybe its not so funny but laughing about it helped me. I will go back to doing the things I really love--teaching, writing, and presenting. I will also serve as Assistant Chair and promise to help Holly at every opportunity. Maybe, maybe, I will also post to my blog more often! I am grateful to all the great folks in our department who supported me, listened to me vent, and went above and beyond the expected in helping with department initiatives, including our dramatic increase in enrollment in the last two years. Thanks everybody and especially Holly! The job has many rewards as well as headaches. I confess to feeling a great weight removed from my shoulders and I am humbly grateful for that.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday and I am all alone. My daughter is on a trip. I chose to stay off the roads over Labor Day because I always hate the holiday traffic. So here I am with just my dog and cat. One thing I tend to do on my birthday is remember past ones. I remember a backyard party with a pinata. Maybe my all time favorite memory is a surprise birthday party on my 16th. Another time, many years later, I looked up from the circulation desk in my library to see kids pushing a piano through the door. A wave of irritation swept over me because I had no notice of an event being scheduled that day. But then the choir trooped in and sang Happy Birthday. What a thrill! I remember black balloons on a couply of landmark birthdays. And I remember one sad day when I went to work and not a single person mentioned my birthday. My daughter was away at school and my husband was spending the week down in Houston. By the end of the day I was enveloped in gloom. I came home and checked mail. No cards there either. I had been surrounded by people all day but felt very, very lonesome.

Today I have not had any calls. No cards came in the mail, another sad reminder that Dad is gone, because he always sent one. BUT I am overwhelmed by an avalanche of great greeting! I have a wonderful collection of Facebook greetings and ecards. I have heard from old high school friends, many of them who were at that surprise party. I have heard from colleagues, students, and even some of my heroes! I do not feel a bit downhearted about my choice to spend this beautiful day relaxing on my back porch, enjoying incredible weather, and watching all the events in my back yard. I got my fountain up and going this morning after weeks of weather so dreadfully hot that I didn't have the heart for it. I am truly blessed to have such a nice day. And I am very grateful for social networking and specifically Facebook.

I am not one of those naysayers who want to claim social networking isolates people. This gloomy description still pops up despite a very credible PEW research survey to the contrary. I did a quick search and found that there are still people out there making this claim. Here is the wackiest article I could find:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1149207/How-using-Facebook-raise-risk-cancer.html

ANYTHING can be done in excess. I have had students who READ constantly and were very isolated from their peers. I had a friend whose husband got obsessed with playing darts in bars. They divorced over that. Another guy got hooked on playing those games where you snag the toys with the little crane. Shopping is fun but too much of it can break your pocketbook and your marriage.

As for me, I just want to say thanks for all the wonderful messages! I treasure them one and all. I have actually lost count of how many I have received, but counting would be a little obsessive anyway, huh? So thanks again to all my online friends. I am off to buy myself something online for my birthday...