Cool Blog Entry Using Cool Tool

Thanks so much to the inimitable Cathy Jo Nelson for sharing this via Facebook: http://yourteacherlibrarian.wikispaces.com/Are+You+Ready%3F

And it was made with ANOTHER cool tool. I am looking forward to playing with this as soon as I finish grading for this semester. It is called Thinglink: http://www.thinglink.com/

Just One Cool Site Today...

But it lists a bunch MORE cool sites. I saw several listed that were new to me. The title of the site is Edudemic. Here is the main URL: http://edudemic.com/

Here is the page with a bunch a of neat links...but explore the whole site!
http://edudemic.com/2010/07/the-35-best-web-2-0-classroom-tools-chosen-by-you/

Cool Sites for Today

I am grading student work, an activity I really enjoy. One of my requirements when I make up an assignment is to be sure the response will be something I enjoy grading. I think this can be achieved without much difficulty if I just ask students to perform interesting tasks. One thing I learn from students is great new sites. Here are the ones I picked up today:
1. Capzles--http://www.capzles.com This site allows you to make timelines. They can include video clips, photos, text. I am already thinking how great this site would be for students writing travel journals!
2. eduTecher--http://www.edutecher.net/ This is a great clearinghouse for all things Web 2.0. I had to force myself to continue grading and not go off on tangents exploring the many great resources and links.
3. Doodle.ly-- http://doodle.ly/ This nifty little tool does just what you would think!
4. Ducksters--http://www.ducksters.com/
This is a very cute directory site for kids with lots of good links and a safe search window.
5. Easy Kid Recipes: International Recipes for Kids--http://www.easy-kids-recipes.com/international-recipes.html

Kick-Starting My Blog Again!

Next January I won't have to think too hard to come up with a New Year's Resolution. I can just use this year's. My resolution was to post daily to this blog. I know lots of other people do this, and I gave myself an easy way to succeed by saying that just posting a link and a short blurb would suffice, with longer more thoughtful entries to be added when time permitted I had a perfect record all through January. But that was a long time ago. Indeed January seems like distant past for reasons other than my blog. It was the beginning of a semester that presented more stress and worry about schools and finances than I can remember in my life, and frankly that's a long time. All during fall 2010 we were told that the State of Texas was in great financial shape, due to the wise conservative leadership of "Governor" Rick Perry. He managed to defeat a good and decent man, Bill White, to gain another tem as governor. Almost immediately we were told that calculations were incorrect and that our state had joined just about everybody else in hard financial times.

A combination of factors kept me from keeping up my blog but I think one was pure discouragement. It is hard not to feel beat down when your hard work is devalued and your profession is under fire. The strong anti-higher education mood in Texas, on top of the radical cuts to K-12 schools, made for a gloomy outlook on my part. Beyond that, I was not feeling up to par and was barely keeping up with my responsibilities as a professosr and department chair. But enough of that! Crying over spilt milk or oil or Bluebell ice cream or whatever we are currently spilling in Texas will not make things better.

Thus I am officially kick-starting my blog today. Will I be posting every day as per resolution? Well I hope to come close! And so, for the 3rd time in 2011, I am instigating a do-over and hoping to make the resolution stick this time. This entry is long and way too much about me so I will close with a cool link. I shared this one via Twitter and Facebook earlier this week, but if you haven't seen it, take time to enjoy. It does put my piddling blog into perspective. The title is The Scale of the Universe and it lives up to this lofty title:
http://uploads.ungrounded.net/525000/525347_scale_of_universe_ng.swf

Texas School Districts Fighting Against the Governmental Assault on Public Schools

I started working on this post over a week ago. Time is way too scarce these days. Still I want to tell the story. About 10 days ago we had our bi-annual Teacher Job Fair and Sam Houston State University. The coliseum floor is filled with tables and displays from area school districts, and the aisles are crowded with graduating and newly minted teachers. There are giveaways, sign-up sheets, and lots of bright and shiny faces. I find it touching to watch the hopeful applicants wait their turns to visit with prospective employers. This time the feeling is bittersweet. For the first time ever, I wonder if all grads will find jobs. I worry that if they do, they will be faced with oversized classes and undersupplied classrooms. Seems like all of the sudden, after the November 2010 elections, we learned that the economy was NOT hunky dory in our state. After hearing our “governor” brag about how his leadership kept us from being “like California,” we learned the real truth of his words. We are different all right…we are worse off. I know these young grads are well prepared. Our programs are exemplary. Just ask our accrediting body, NCATE. We are a model of what a College of Education should be.

While I am bragging, a word about my niche, the Department of Library Science. NCATE likes us so much that we are on their website as an example of how a program should present itself. Also…YES FOLKS…we have ALA accreditation. Our program is single-purpose, preparing school librarians. Our AASL accreditation is the appropriate one for such a program and we are rated exemplary there too. Our MLS grads are sought by districts all over the state. But if I’m worried about those new teachers, I am even more worried about our new librarians. Because our state is suddenly declared in a fiscal state of emergency, with lots of scare talk and no real facts from our “representatives,” there is a lot of fear for our schools, K-20. I should add that graduate programs are in some ways even more threatened.

Thus with a measure of consternation, I walked the aisles of our event and talked to the HR representatives and administrators from districts large and small, urban and rural. I asked each person I met these questions: “Are you staffing your libraries with certified librarians? Are you trying to maintain these positions?” The first 2-3 people I approached shook their heads no. I don’t remember all the districts with that response, but know that two were Hearne and Splendora, where some or all positions were actually cut before this year. Then a funny thing happened. I started to get positive answers. Each encouraging conversation left me feeling a bit more hopeful. Many educators said they were holding fast and not jumping the gun. They hope, as do I, that things will not be quite as bad as the rumors. Others went so far as to say they would not cut librarians in any case. Yes, they might have to cut aides and other positions, including one district that is drastically cutting assistant principals, but I was heartened to hear the courageous and thoughtful words of so many. By noon I had talked to reps from THIRTY DISTRICTS who are fighting to keep their librarians. I want to send a public shout-out to the districts listed below. They are in no particular order. Some are small, some are large, and demographics vary widely. But they share the attribute of trying to put kids first and not make the easy choice to cut positions.


One of the best conversations I had was with a young man from Lamar Consolidated ISD. He was very proud of his district and had high praise for the district uperintendant. Anyway, this young man told about long meetings to discuss budget cuts. He said every single time they talk about an adjustment, says, “Is this a quick fix or a real solution. We are not going to pass any quick fixes that we’ll regret later.” I even stopped in my tracks and wrote down those words so I could quote them accurately. Kudos to this district and its leaders! And hooray for all the other districts that are fighting what seems to be an all out assault on public education in Texas.

Here is the Honor Roll of districts giving me reason for hope. If one is yours, thank your decision makers and encourage them to continue fighting the good fight. Here they are:

Conroe ISD
Huntsville ISD
Mesquite
Diboll
Houston ISD
New Caney
Bryan
College Station
Galveston
Ft. Bend
LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS—I was pleased to see them at our event.
Aldine
Katy
Deer Park
Spring Branch
Anderson-Shiro (keeping their one K-12 librarian, an SHSU grade)
Royal
Sweeney
Cypress Fairbanks
Lamar Consolidated
Nacogdoches
Cedar Hill (did cut some elementary librarians along with AP’s and counselors but hoping to restore)
Huffman
Crosby
Texas City
Brazosport
Dayton
Alvin

If you are a Texan, you will see that most of these districts are from Southeast Texas, though some are from the Dallas area and there were the nice folks from Arkansas. I would love to hear about other districts that are trying to stand firm against the assault on our schools.

Repeated Posting of Previous Message

NOTE: Due to some formatting errors, the previous posting appeared twice. I have deleted the 2nd rendition, but am leaving this behind because of the comments attached.

Texas Wildflower Links

I always wish that school spring break holidays could coincide with wildflower season in Texas, but they always seem to be at least a week early. Driving from San Marcos to Huntsville yesterday I did see some flowers, especially around Brenham where they are such a big deal. There were even people out taking pictures. I thought on the first day of spring it might be nice to share some wildflower links. Spring IS going to show up this year...I know it is hard to believe in some parts of country but it has arrived in Texas and I am happy to send springtime wishes to friends across the country.

Wildflower Sightings

• You can post in and share here, Texas Department of Transportation site: http://www.lone-star.net/wildflowers/sightings.htm
• Wildflowers in Brenham area: http://www.brenhamtexas.com/WildflowerWatch-Updates.htm
• Johnson City: http://www.johnsoncity-texas.com/wildflower_loop/index.html
• Here is one for all USA! http://uswildflowers.com/

Identifying flowers

• This one is great for Texas: http://www.texaswildflowerpictures.com/wf_index.htm
• This one goes beyond Texas: http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/ColorListing.asp

HAVE A GREAT SPRING EVERYONE!