Teen Read Week Title Soundtrack Contest

Celebrate Teen Read Week

We're celebrating Teen Read Week at Algonac High School! Library Science students have created contests with GREAT prizes for students who are participating. Contests include choosing the major motion picture based upon a book that is a true story, a scavenger hunt for a pictorial collection, matching the comic strip with its creator, creating a new book cover for a book of your choice and choosing a song that you would use if the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher were made into a major motion picture.

Submission of your song choice is easy. Simply click the comments button on the bottom of this post. Post your first initial and last name, grade level and first hour teacher. Include a link to the YouTube version of your song. Briefly explain why you think the song is the best choice for the title track of a soundtrack of the movie. Submissions are due by 2:25 Friday, October 21st. Winners will be announced on Monday, October 24th.

Remember, the song needs to meet the PG-13 rating of the movie and relate to the theme of the book. Any questions, see Mrs. W in the LMC. Happy Reading!

New Way To Train

March is......

Most people in education focus on March as reading month. For those who aren't in the know, this is in honor of Theodore Geisel, more commonly know as Dr. Seuss, whose birthday is March 2nd. In high schools across Michigan, the celebration occurs in the middle of MME testing, allowing for little time and attention to celebration! A great opportunity for classroom activities or family discussion is to research Theodore Geisel. He has a very interesting start to his career. As students move into middle school and high school they are ready to consider the meaning behind those delightful rhymes. There are great history and social studies lessons sparkling like little gems. My students in library science were given two activities, using databases instead of web searching, to look at biographical information and to read literary criticism of one of his books. Our county library system pays for Literature Resource Center from Gale which is a great resource for this type of activity. Students were interested to learn of Geisel's career during the war and especially that he was a college drop-out! The Butter Battle criticisms had students thinking differently about children's literature. My recommendation for all social studies teachers is to let the kids bring in the books and then find the connection to history. Who wouldn't love a day spent reading Seuss?

Often over looked in schools during March is the fact that we are also celebrating Women's History Month. As today is the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day I would like to recommend a great read for high school students and adults. The book is Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.  The Pulitzer Prize winning authors take the reader to Africa and India to meet women struggling to survive under dire, often almost unbelievable, circumstances. While the subject matter can be graphic and the reality difficult to consider, the authors always end with a positive experience and example of how the women are being helped by being given the opportunity to help themselves. The book is a great read not just as a reality check for global citizens, but to consider how we distribute our charitable donations. Be amazed at the resilience of womankind.

February is.........

There is a great post every month on the school library listserv LM_Net that I would like to feature, the designated celebrations and observances for the month. This is a great way to incorporate books, reading material, multi-media and movies into your classroom, home, or daily schedule. Look for a way to incorporate the different types of resources. As a parent, I have enjoyed my son's US History teacher's extra credit movie choices. For instance, while studying the Great Depression students could watch Cinderella Man, The Grapes of Wrath and Bonnie and Clyde, then complete specified journal entries for extra credit. Watching the movies as a family generated great discussion, including examining the time period from a variety of experiences and perspectives and looking at current social programs in the United States and the push for more. Relating the currect issues to history created a depth of understanding (in the adults and kid!) that had me wishing I were lucky enough to have had such a great teacher. Please feel free to add your recommendations in commenting on the blog!

Black History Month (or African-American History month)
The Long Walk to Freedom the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. A great companion movie to this is Invictus starrying Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. The poem "Invictus" by Ernest Henley is included in both the book and the movie, so this is a 3 for 1 recommendation. I know that this doesn't follow the African-American theme, but I believe all 3 are thought provoking.

Use this opportunity to look at the AP 101 recommended books for the college bound. Find the black authors on the list and knock one or two of the books of your list this month.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Color Purple  by Alice Walker
Native Son by Richard Wright

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd was also made into a movie, starring Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson. For those of you in the SE of Michigan, the story will be feature in an American Place Theater presenation at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, March 22nd.

ACT Prep

Thank you to the students and parents who attended the ACT prep seminar at the St. Clair Public Library on Saturday. As promised, I will post how to access the the prep course available through the Michigan eLibrary. I apologize for the late posting and the text only instruction, but I am experiencing computer issues.

The following information is for state of Michigan residents only. Although, other states and communities may have access to the database "Learning Express Library" and can follow the instructions after access. On a side note, going to the official ACT website will also allow you to take practice tests, look at a blog and have daily practice questions.

1. Go to the Michigan eLibrary website.
2. Click on the databases link.
3. Choose the database Learning Express Library. 
4. You will be asked to enter a Michigan identification number or choose from the drop down option    St. Clair County library and enter your SCCL card number.
5. In the middle of the LEL homepage choose new users if you haven't yet created an account or returning user if you have.
6. ACT prep is located under the College Preparation option.
7. Added courses to My Center and begin working.
Remember, the best approach is to complete the entire PREP course first before attempting practice tests. Under the high school tab, there are courses in math skills, grammar, writing and reading. If your prep course work indicates difficulty in particular areas use these courses to increase your understanding prior to attempting the practice tests. Focus on competing courses in the specified time as the timing is something students often struggle with without practice. Please post any questions or observations in the comments. Thanks for joining me and GOOD LUCK!

ALA Book Awards

This past Monday ALA announced the book award winners at the winter conference. Any parent, teacher or student looking for a great read should start with the ALA book awards lists. When starting my profession I tried for several years to reinvent the wheel, looking for the freshest, newest reads that were going to suck in teens and hook them on reading forever. A lot of time and energy was put into the process. When I became successful in this endeavor is when I stopped trying to do it on my own. As a fellow librarian said to me, "They win awards for a reason". Indeed.

At the high school level my favorite award is the Alex Award. The award is given to 10 adult titles published in the last year that are appealing to young adults. They are great reads for teens or adults. My only disappointment this year is that there aren't any sports titles. Past sports titles include Blindside: the Evolution of a game and Eagle Blue. To view the list of this year's award winners, and to see titles of previous winners, go to the following link: Alex Award