Weekend Reads

DON'T FORGET: Spring break is next week (as if that would just slip our minds) so stock up on a few good books to hold you over until we return!

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

"A stunning debut novel in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter's life, sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together the shocking truth about the last days of her life." This thriller, which earned 4/5 stars on GoodReads, is compelling and relevent.

Find it in the Fiction section under F McC.

BRITISH Harry Potters!

Have you read all of the Harry Potters more than once? Well, two Harry Potters were donated to the library that were published in the UK! There aren't very many differences, but if you are a Harry Potter aficionado these are two books you won't want to miss!

Find them the Fantasy Section: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Throwback by Jason Kendall

Spring Training is well underway in Florida, and that means baseball is coming back to Pittsburgh! Get ready for days at the ballpark with one of our books about baseball, located in the 796 section in  nonfiction. A good one to read is Throwback by Jason Kendall. Kendall, a former Pirate, tells readers about what it's really like to be a baseball player, and shares "pregame rituals, what to look for when a pitcher warms up between innings, the signs a catcher uses to communicate with the pitcher, and so much more." So if you are planning to see the Pirates this spring or summer, read Throwback so you can have an inside view of what's happening on the field.

Find it in Nonfiction under 796.35 KEN

Digital Resources: PicMonkey

A few years ago I discovered a great website called Picnik that allowed me to use pictures with filters, overlays and text to create some really pretty designs. Although Picnik closed down in 2013 (thanks Google), their mantle has been taken up by PicMonkey. It's easy to use and (mostly) free - although there are some features that are only available to paid subscribers - but what I love about it is that I can make stuff. I've used it for work (for signs, postcards, handouts, etc.) and for personal stuff (HOLIDAY CARDS!!). It's basically custom stationery without the cost.

Where: www.picmonkey.com

Cost: Free (with paid upgrade)

What: Web-based graphic design studio

Students! Try PicMonkey if you need to...

make a poster

create a website

design an advertising campaign

put some pretty in an assignment or hand

create flyers for fundraisers or extracurricular activities

Teachers! Try PicMonkey if you need to...

make handouts

display student work digitally (they have a great collage feature that allows you to put several pictures into one file!)

create a website

use photos

MAKE HOLIDAY CARDS (or any other type of card, like thank yous for all of the great gifts you get before winter break)

Makeshop Monday: Phone Stand

So the makeshop has lots of tools that you can use to make things, but the expanse of possibility can be intimidating. One way that you can make something without having to go through the whole design process is to use a tool called Thingiverse. You can find tons design files, which allows you to skip the creation of a computer assisted design (CAD) file part of 3D printing and go straight to the printing part.

Today's design file combines a nautical theme with a useful accessory. 

The octopus phone stand allows you to set your phone (or other device) on a table at a comfortable viewing angle without sacrificing your commitment to pretending we live near an ocean.

Download the file for printing at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:607518 and happy making!

(Mrs. Hickman can help you print your Octopus Phone Stand if this is your first "thing" and you're not sure where to start!)

Weekend Reads

Happy Friday! Weekend reading is all about fun, engrossing stories and characters. All titles are available in the Avonworth Resource Center (unless someone else got to them first!) This weekend, think about reading:

Somebody on This Bus is Going to be Famous by J.E. Cheaney

There are a lot of characters in this book, which can make it a little confusing, but their personalities and ambitions are what drives the mystery indicated in the title. One of these nine students will become famous, and each character has a whole host of reasons why they could be "the one". 

You can find it in the fiction section under F CHE.

Outpost by Christopher Hill

The jacket describes Outpost as "an inside-the-room memoir from one of our most distinguished ambassadors who - in a career of service to the country - was sent to some of them most dangerous outposts of American diplomacy" Ambassador Hill's career took him to the Yugoslavia as it was breaking up, Bosnia and Kosovo during their wartime, Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and finally Iraq. He also joined our students last month for a video conference.

Find it in the Biography section under B HILL

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Set in the English countryside in the late 1990's, Kazuo Ishiguro's novel is narrated by Kathy H., a 31-year-old woman who is an alumna of Hailsham. She tells readers the story of her childhood at Hailsham, and even though Kathy is placid and accepting, readers come to understand that something about Hailsham isn't quite right. It's the mystery of "what is really going on here??" that makes this read so compelling.
Find it in the Fiction section under F ISH

Digital Resources

Sometimes you just run out of things to do. For those of you who have grown bored of the side-scrolling games, why not try something a little more educational and productive? Here are some still-fun-but-also-brain-boosting-good-doing ideas below.

Code Academy

The idea of learning how to code sounds daunting, but Code Academy (http://www.codecademy.com/) makes it easy. There are a few different ways to approach learning code. If you are totally new to coding, the "Goals" section provides you with three 30 minute tasks that lead you through the process clearly and simply, and with examples. From there, you can learn about coding languages or coding skills that could be helpful to you in the future. 

DIY History

Do you love history? Can you read cursive and have the patience to decipher faded transcripts? Check out DIY History at the University of Iowa (http://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/). You can read and transcribe primary documents from 8 different collections so that others (including scholars, students and the public) can use the information contained within more easily. 

Galaxy Zoo

Astronomy for the masses - Galaxy Zoo (http://www.galaxyzoo.org/) allows you to help out scientists who are classifying galaxies from across the universe. You know how we keep talking about "big data"? Well this data is huge and the team of scientists could use your help. All you need to do is look at pictures of galaxies and click on answers to a few questions. 

Skills for Change    

It's great to make a difference in the world - but study hall only lasts 45 minutes. Skills for Change (http://www.skillsforchange.com/) allows you to contribute a little bit of time and energy to a cause that you're interested in. It's called micro-volunteering, and it gives you a chance to contribute something that nonprofits need. You can choose what types of causes to work on, you can choose the kinds of services you're willing to give and Skills for Change will set you up with "challenges" that take very little time to complete. It's crowdsourcing for a good cause!

What is literacy?

Merriam-Webster defines literacy as "the quality or state of being literate." Okay, Merriam-Webster let's get something clear. This does not help anyone understand what literacy is. 

Since it doesn't tell us about literacy, let's click on the hyperlink provided within the definition. This takes us to the full definition of literate, which is:

Full Definition of LITERATE

1

a :  educated, cultured

b :  able to read and write

2

a :  versed in literature or creative writing :  literary

b :  lucid, polished <a literate essay>

c :  having knowledge or competence <computer-literate> <politically literate>"

Better! I personally like 2 b and c - being literate means that you have lucid, polished knowledge or competence (as if you can only have one or the other - I'd argue that in order to have the latter you must have, to some degree, the former, but I'm just an English-teacher-turned-media-specialist and not a dictionary author or editor, so take my opinion for what it's worth). 

Even this process demands a certain type of literacy. In print dictionaries, authors don't have the option of clicking through to something that is helpful, so patrons then would need to be competent in knowing "oh, well if this didn't tell me what I needed, I'll look at another word from that definition to develop a better understanding." But with the digital dictionary that I used, I needed to know "oh, this didn't tell me much. But since the word 'literate' is blue and underlined, it will take me to another place that may give me the information I need." This is a part of digital literacy - knowing how to use the tools (such as hyperlinks) that are given to you in order to find what you need (such as a definition that actually tells me something about the word I don't know).

Literacy development is directly proportionate to technology development. When information was accessed in limited ways (i.e. print sources), people only had to have a lucid, polished competence in those limited methods. As new technologies developed new ways for us to create an understanding of the world, they demanded new competencies in order to use them effectively.

I often tell my research methods classes that they will never experience not knowing something. The powerful search engines coupled with near-constant access to devices that can connect us to those search engines means that information is literally at our fingertips at anytime we need it. What time does that flight land? What will the weather be like? Who starred in that show that went off the air 20 years ago? All available, all the time - and totally uncurated. Whereas we used to have an intermediary to vet information for us, the vast content of the world wide web is at our fingertips. So now we need to become competent in telling good information from bad - a new kind of literacy.

In addition to consuming information, we can now easily become producers of information (as well as all kinds of other goods and services) and others can access and consume what we've produced. To have a polished competence in making, we have to know how to produce something, what qualities a good "something" should have, and how to distribute that something to others. Yet another type of literacy.

Ultimately, technology has created all kinds of new literacies, and school libraries have become tools that support the development of those literacies in their patrons (both students and teachers). Libraries can help students foster a love of reading, navigate safely through the research process, create meaning from words and images, become producers of tangible and intangible products, and undertake tasks individually or as a group within and outside of their walls, shelves and tables that make up a physical library space. In the end, I want my students to be able to do or make what they want, with whom they want, when they want. For this reason, the aim of the Avonworth Resource Center is to promote literacy in all of its forms. Through this blog, we will share our journey of cultivating literacy.