Jonathan Maberry@Salpointe

Zombies scare me.  I can barely sit through an episode of Walking Dead without getting up to walk around the room, yet I loved Jonathan Maberry's series that starts with Rot & Ruin.  Benny Imura lives in a town fortified against the zombie plague.  His famous brother Tom makes a living helping the locals arrange peaceful deaths for their zombified family members.  Benny, raised by his older half-brother, has nothing but disdain for his quiet, respectful sibling.  Instead he glorifies the local bounty hunters who fan the flames of adoration with stories of slaughter and near escape.  At age 15, if you want to remain inside the fence, you have to choose a profession.  Benny reluctantly follows Tom into the Rot & Ruin, as his apprentice.

Benny's experiences in the zombie wasteland, known as the Rot & Ruin, drag him kicking and screaming, into a new understanding of what it is to be a man.  His friends Morgie, Chong and Nix, come along for the ride.  Unlike the Walking Dead, Maberry gives us reason to hope for a better future for the characters who have become our friends.  I usually don't read a series because I just don't have the time, but I made an exception for this one.  Addicted, I read them one after the other.  I even paid money to get the next book, rather than waiting, as I usually do, in the queue at the public library

Jonathan Maberry is a prolific author, thank goodness.  He has a popular series of books featuring the former detective, Joe Ledger and several stand-alone books and graphic novels.  I have loaded Ghost Road Blues onto my ipad to read over Rodeo.  While he is here for the Tucson Festival of Books, Jonathan Maberry has graciously accepted an invitation to join the Salpointe Book Club during our March 13th meeting.  If you have read any of his titles, feel free to join us.

 

Tucson Festival of Books 2015

 March 13 -14

  
For the first time, the Tucson Festival of Books will not coincide with the Salpointe Spring Break.  I'm hoping this encourages more teens to attend the festival.  They always have a very eclectic group of authors for teens to choose from every day.   This year I am excited to attend talks featuring young adult authors E. Lockhart, Andrew Smith and Jonathan Maberry.  The Salpointe Book Club is reading Heist Society by Ally Carter, hoping to get answers from the source.  

It's a great volunteer opportunity for teens and adults.  I've been a driver for R.L Stine and Lisa Lutz and a moderator for Arizona authors Erin Lange and Tom Leveen.  As a volunteer you get a parking pass and a t-shirt, almost enough incentive by itself.  Salpointe's own Marcy Euler marshalls her volunteer army and runs the whole show.

This year the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band of authors, featuring Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Scott Turow and Dave Barry will be providing a night of entertainment, raising funds for literacy organizations.  Since its inception in 2009 the TFOB has given more than one million dollars to organizations providing literacy education. 

You go to see specific authors, but you get so much more.  One year while wandering through the booths I stopped to listen to J. A. Jance and Janis Ian (singer, songwriter) discussing writing and their lives that had me rolling on the ground with laughter.  This year I intend to get to the presentations by Leonard Pitts and Amy Tan among others.  The National Parks area is always one of my favorites with native American music, naturalists and a great book display.  The Science Alive area is very popular as are the chef/cooking venues.  They will be instituting a system to circumvent the waiting times at author venues so you can see more of the presentations.

Join the fun! Help your kids understand the importance of literacy and dedicate themselves to lifelong learning through reading.

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

Suicide happens.  Everyone wants the answer to why their loved one or friend made that irrevocable choice.  The author, Jay Asher, wanted to know what kind of despair could lead someone to take their own life. His quest for understanding became Thirteen Reasons Why.  Hannah prepares for her suicide and seeks to explain to the characters in her life, what role they played in her choice.  She makes a set of seven cassette tapes with her reasons why. As the audiotapes make their way from person to person, you come to understand that it wasn't just the awful things people did that made a difference but what the people in her life didn't do, that influenced her decision.

The book spent 130 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List.  As the author met with teenage audiences and read blog comments about the book, he began to realize that adolescents were focused on the bullying and just general snarkiness that is part of every teenager's life, not just the suicide.  As Hannah says in the book "In the end, everything matters" (Asher).

Teens live their lives just below adult radar.  TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY provides us with an opportunity. As Jay Asher said “Novels are a safe way to talk about things, and to let teens know that we do affect each other for good or for bad, and everyone has different issues they’re dealing with and different thresholds they can handle. It’s important to make teens realize the influence they have over others (Lodge)”  At least 28 percent of students in middle school and high school admit being bullied (Simmons).  At one time, home was a haven, but bullying has taken on new meaning in a society dominated by social media.  There is no place to hide.  Yes, we've all lived through our own version of it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't devastating at the time. By the end of Thirteen Reasons Why, the narrator, Clay chooses not to be a bystander in his own life. 

Penguin Books is sponsoring the 50 States Against Bullying Tour.  Jay Asher's stop in Arizona will be at Salpointe Catholic High School on December 8th, 2014.  We have purchased books to sell at a discount. There are seven circulating copies and the library has ordered three eBooks.  Students who have read the book are eligible to attend. 

Glogster

Works Cited

Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. New York: Razorbill, 2007. Print.

Lodge, Sally. Jay Asher Headlines ‘50 States Against Bullying Campaign'. Publishers Weekly 27 Feb. 2014:  PW. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/61215-jay-asher-headlines-50-states-against-bullying-campaign.html>.

Simmons, Kate D., and Yvette P. Bynam. Cyberbullying: Six Things Administrators Can Do. Mobile, AL: Education, 2014. Print.  http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA374694688&v=2.1&u=tucs81925&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=b8fdb9f1496b0435dc1e53862e034922

Wright, Jim. “Preventing Classroom Bullying: What Teachers Can Do.” JimWrightonline.com. Intervention Central, Feb. 2004. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.  http://www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/bully/bullyBooklet.pdf

College Research Ready?

Employers at Microsoft, the FBI and the Smithsonian, are finding that new hires dazzle with techno glitz but “were dismayed to find that most of these college hires were tethered to their computers. They rarely went beyond a Google search and the first page of results looking for “the” answer to a workplace problem.” (Head) They suffer from the delusion that all answers can be found on the World Wide Web.

Salpointe’s students will be expected to navigate the choppy waters of college level research when they graduate.  As they progress through higher education they will have to pick out the essential elements of intricate research problems, glean evidence from the mountains of information, explore new ever expanding sources and then repeat the research/writing process several times to experience success. (Reich)  They start learning the skills and techniques they need to understand the process in high school.  It’s a twenty first century skill set.

To encourage the development of this skill set, we have purchased a Citelighter subscription for the 2014 - 2015 school year.  It allows students to capture information from databases and reliable websites, to a dashboard that collects the quote and citation information and provides a comment box to paraphrase the information or make an incisive observation.  It scaffolds the organizational process and exports to Microsoft Word or a Google doc.  Citations are attached to the concrete details and quotes students are using to support their ideas.

Teachers view “writing instruction [not] as a set of discrete processes, but rather a continuum where teachers must engage with students at the moment they are struggling. The new platform supports teachers and students alike with tools to create, draft, and edit writing tasks, which provides guidance, a sense of transparency, and collaborative opportunities throughout the entire writing process.” (Lepi).  Tools provided by Citelighter can help teachers look at the process not just the product.  Citelighter’s tools for teachers include cognitive prints of the writing research process, rubrics that can be applied within the application and formative assessment feedback for each group of students.  Students can sign up for a Citelighter account at citelighter.com and use "Salpointe" to join and receive their Pro level account.  

Citelighter Prezi

Works Cited

Head, Alison. “Old-School Job Skills You Won’t Find on Google.” The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times, 8 December 2012. Web. 16 May 2014. <http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019857185_alisonheadopedxml.html>.

Lepi, Katie. “3 Powerful New Citelighter Tools.” Edudemic. 22 April 2014. Web. 14 May 2014 <http://www.edudemic.com/citelighter-news-giveaway/>.

Mackey, Kitty. “Research Process Daisy.” Chart. IRIS. Clark College, 28 Aug. 2009. Web. 16 May 2014. http://www.clark.edu/Library/iris/types/research_process/research_process_p3.shtml.

Reich, Justin. “Are Freshmen Ready for College Research?”  EdTech Researcher. Education Week. 28 January 2014 Web. 7 May 2014. <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2014/01/are_freshman_ready_for_college_research…>.

During the Dog Days of Summer

image by Tony Alter

Summer reading is still vitally important to achievement.  Students lose approximately twenty five percent of their reading fluency over the summer.  Inadequate access to books is one of the major factors in reading loss.  

The library is open for business this summer.  Not physically mind you, but digitally.  We have invested in the Magic Wall eBook system from Baker and Taylor.  Because they are one of the largest book vendors in the nation and are relatively new to the eBook business, they are eager to accept smaller clients, like school libraries.  The market for eBooks in libraries has been dominated by Overdrive.  They allow you to lease the titles, but you don't own them.  The Pima County Public Library subscribes to Overdrive, but we don't have their deep pockets.   Barnes and Noble and Amazon are the other big time vendors but you have to pay for your easy to use interface.  Our eBooks are free and up-to-date.  

Future purchases for the Magic Wall will partially be determined through student requests. The form is on the library web page.  Of course I will still check reviews to determine whether an eBook belongs in our library.  Before school is out I will be visiting English classrooms to help students sign up for the Magic Wall and get the apps they need to make it work on their devices (tablets, phones, e-readers).

Common threads among students who identify as readers:

• like to discuss what they are reading with family and friends
• reading is part of who they are - Readers
• see reading as a recreational activity and devote time to it as individuals and as a family
• have access and support for reading beyond the basics, lots of choice 
• "readers read no matter what"

Students Need:

• models of reading enjoyment (parents, siblings, friends)
• access to interesting books (Magic Wall, Public Library, bookstores)
• free choice in what they read

Suggestions for Summer Reading can be gleaned from:

Goodreads Choice Awards 2013
Outstanding Books For the College Bound

YALSA's Teen Book Finder App

Works Cited

McGaha, Julie M., and L. Brent Igo. “Assessing High School Students’ Reading Motivation In A Voluntary Summer Reading Program.” Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy55.5 (2012): 417-427. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

         <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=70857420&site=ehost-live>

Mraz, M., and T. V. Rasinski. “Summer Reading Loss.” Reading Teacher May 2007: 784-89. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=24958565&site=ehost-live>.

Pitcher, Sharon M., et al.  “Assessing Adolescents’ Motivation to Read.”  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 50.5 (2007): 378-396. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 April 2014  http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=23913236&site=ehost-live

Strommen, Linda Teran and Barbara Fowles Mates. “Learning to Love Reading: Interviews with Older Children and Teens.”  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 48.3 (2004)188-200 Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr 2014 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=15096999&site=ehost-live>

Free Audiobooks for Teens

Hopefully all of you read to your children when they were small.  That experience is cherished by both parents and their children.  You can still enjoy a similar experience  listening to an audiobook. The skills of an audiobook listener are very similar to the comprehension techniques used by readers.  Listening gives you the freedom to improve vocabulary and understanding without being constrained by word recognition and decoding.  It builds background, and increases fluency, understanding, motivation, and vocabulary.

Direct instruction in content vocabulary can result in a gain of 300-400 words per year.  Students who wish to advance, need 2,500 to 3,000 new words per year just to keep up.  The only way to accomplish this is to read widely.  A fifth grader reading an hour a day will read 2,250,000 words.  Between two and five percent of those words fall into the unknown word category.   They can learn five to ten percent of those words from a single reading of a text which results in a gain of 2,250 new words per year. 

    

If you aren’t an avid reader, you can fall behind your peers quickly.  Encourage your teen to start listening to books, if they aren’t prolific readers.  It is a painless technique that allows you to multi-task.

Why:

You are more likely to stick with an audiobook, so there is more of a chance you will remember what you’ve learned

You can listen while exercising, walking the dog, and driving to work or school

You can listen to texts above your reading level and gain vocabulary

The music of the words, prosody, can improve understanding (Shakespeare)

The Mathew Effect applies.  The more you read or listen the better you become at reading and listening.

It’s a myth that listening isn’t reading

Sync YA Literature into Your Earphones - http://www.audiobooksync.com/free-sync-downloads/sync-schedule-13/

Free - Public library – Overdrive, One Click Digital   
Pay sites - Audible.com, iTunes

Works Cited

Anderson, R. C., Paul T. Wilson, and Linda G. Fielding. "Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School." University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for the Study of Reading, Sept. 1986. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/18003/ctrstreadtechrepv01986i00389_opt.pdf?sequence=1>.

Cunningham, Anne E., and Keith E. Stanovich. "What Reading Does for the Mind." A Virtual Classroom. California State University-Northridge, July 2001. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Reading/Useful%20Articles/Cunningham-What%20Reading%20Does%20for%20the%20Mind.pdf>.

"Promoting Vocabulary Development Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction." Texas Education Agency. Meadows Center For Preventing Educational Risk, 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://resources.buildingrti.utexas.org/PDF/redbk5.pdf>.

Rideout, Victoria J., Ulla G. Foehr, and Donald F. Roberts. "GENERATION M2 Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds." Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/8010.pdf>.

Shaywitz, David A. "The Elements of Success Talent and Hard Work, Yes, But Plenty of Other Ingredients Seem Essential to Achievement." Wall Street Journal 15 Nov. 2008: n. pag. Wall Street Journal. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122671469296530435?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB122671469296530435.html>.

Sullivan, Alice, and Matt Brown. "Social Inequalities in Cognitive Scores at Age 16: The Role of Reading." Centre for Longitudinal Studies. Economic & Social Research Council, Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cls.ioe.ac.uk%2Fshared%2Fget-file.ashx%3Fitemtype%3Ddocument%26id%3D1719&ei=rIfiUqHRJoTDoAT3yoGIDg&usg=AFQjCNFmEQw1q-QzwyqqQ9RStYp49rwDuw&bvm=bv.59930103,d.cGU>.

Wren, Stephen, Ph.D. "Developing Research-Based Resources for the Balanced Reading Teacher: Vocabulary." BalancedReading.com. http://www.balancedreading.com/vocabulary.html, 7 Aug. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Going, Going, Gone to Hall of Fame

The DeConcini Library as you know it, is disappearing April 17th.  We will reopen in a limited capacity within a week, in our new temporary location, the Hall of Fame.  It is a relatively small space so we won't be bringing books with us.  Until the end of this school year we will have to make do with our eighteen laptops and four Chromebooks. The Study Hall function of the library will still be offered from 3:30 until 5:00 in the computer lab.

We will meet student needs with eBooks and databases.  Next fall we will have a class set of laptops and are considering a class set of Chromebooks.  All of our computer furniture will move to Hall of Fame, but the desktops will go in to classrooms.  Hall of Fame is used by much of the campus and community in the off-school hours so the technology needs to be secured against loss.  The laptops have a locking cabinet making them safer to store in a remote location.  

The library will have a grand opening in December of 2014 in its new location as part of the Student Center next to the Chapel and cafeteria.  In our old location they will be creating a S.T.E.M. center and new classrooms to replace our two smallest Science classrooms.

Library Technology Center

Chapel

Atrium View, Student Center