Read, Succeed

Read, Succeed (original, larger)

Works Cited

Databases Interact With Chrome

Everyone has wasted long periods of their life looking for just the right information they need through Google Search.  When you have thousands of results it takes time to cull through them for something spot on, and usable in an academic setting.  Google is ubiquitous, but academic databases are not.  Databases have to be paid for, and therefore don't show up in a google search.  Lots of magazines and  newspapers post articles on the internet, but between the advertising and requests for payment it can be a frustrating experience.  We have a solution - databases.

Opposing Viewpoints was created for the argumentative essay.  It has pro and con articles for hundreds of topics with magazines, newspapers, video clips and reference book articles to provide evidence for class projects and papers. Articles are vetted by publishers and editors, making the reliability of the information much higher than is generally accessible on the web.

The Student Resources in Context database has books, magazines, newspapers, video clips, primary source documents and more, on every topic.  A library's worth of information in a database, accessible from anywhere with a wifi connection.

Both of these databases are available from the library website, but even better, they have been included in the students' bookmarks on every Chromebook.  If students are accessing from home the need to use our password, lancers.  After choosing an article students can highlight it, make notes and save it to a folder.  Use the More button to open the folder to select and download the articles to their Google Drive.  Every article or video comes with a MLA formatted citation that can be exported to Easybib to create their works cited.

The Academic OneFile database is meant to be used at the college level.  It has been added to our database choices because in the near future we will be able to access it in Google Scholar from documents in Drive (use the Tools drop down to open the Research panel). It will make Google Scholar more usable for the students.  No more frustration locating an article only to have it hit a pay firewall, or only allow access to the abstract.

The state of Arizona offers quite a few more databases, 27 or more, available through the LAPR website.  You log on with your zipcode for access.  Pima County Public Libraries has even more, but you have to have a library card to access some of them online.  

Directions for using databases with Google Chrome

12 Secrets About Writing and Rules of the Read

On the Friday before the Tucson Festival of Books we were invited to attend a special event for young authors, the Fiesta CATS Friday (Creative Arts Teen Summit).  It was sponsored by the Fiesta Bowl. Students started the day at an author/illustrator panel that included Jason Reynolds and Amy Nichols.  The authors talked their journeys to publication and the obstacles they had to overcome.  Our students spent some quality time with Amy Nichols, author of Now That You Are Here.  Among other things she gave us her "12 Secrets About Writing", Emma Winn took notes during the presentation.

1. The secret to writing is WRITING. 
2.  "The writer is the person who stays in the room"  quoting Ron Carlson
3.  If you want to write, READ.
4. If you're not surprised while you are writing, the reader won't be either.
5.  Aim to the side of the target.  Don't attack something head-on.
6. You don't have to share the whole room, show what's important to your character.
7.  The magic happens in REVISION.
8.  It gets ugly before it gets beautiful.
9.  When in doubt cut.
10.  Love your characters at all times.
11.  There is always someone who is better than you.  Get over it.
12.  Finish!

Most of us are readers not writers.  As usual, I was over committed during the Tucson Festival of Books.  I picked up my author early in the morning and dropped her off for her first presentation.  I had a few minutes to kill before I escorted Pam Munoz Ryan and Cynthia Kadohata to their venue, so I stopped by the Arizona Daily Star tent to see the current attraction.  It was Julia Keller, a mystery author laying out her "Rules of the Read".  It was one of those serendipitous accidents that makes the festival a wonder to behold. I missed half of the presentation, but what I did hear was awesome.  Her rules apply to new readers and old hands alike.

She began with a quote "Paths of glory lead but to the grave" a line from a Thomas Gray poem.  I can only surmise that she was encouraging her audience to read what they want, not what they should read because time is short for all of us.

Next she explored the idea that you can get just as many facts from fiction as you can from non-fiction.  Julia Keller is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. She calls fiction, the shadow behind the facts. Fiction informed by fact is its own genre.  To read this genre you have to be more discerning, but it is a lot more fun to get your facts from historical fiction.

The experience of writing for a newspaper is very different than the solitary pursuits of the fiction writer. The author writes his book in solitude and a reader consumes the book in solitude.  Solitude is the bridge between a writer and a reader.

You can judge a book by its cover, most of the time.

That book that you've tried to read a couple times could be the right book but you are just trying  to read it at the wrong time.  It's not what you read, but when you read it.  I've heard authors reveal that they read certain books over and over, finding new inspiration, ideas and passion with each reading. 

Beware of genre - don't let it limit you.  It benefits Barnes and Noble to sell to you by genre because people tend to stick to the same type of book.  Read outside your comfort zone.

Argue passionately for the books you love.  You have Ms. Keller's permission to be a book snob, advocate for a book you love.

Make plans now to attend next year's Tucson Festival of Books.

An AZPM video segment about the CATS Fiesta Friday event.  Some of Salpointes own appear in the background.

Works Cited

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: Stanza 9 Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop
     University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Keller, Julia. "Rules of the Read: 10 Essential Truths about Books and Life." Tucson
     Festival of Books. Arizona, Tucson. 14 Mar. 2015. Speech.

Nichols, Amy. "12 Secrets About Writing." Fiesta Cats Friday. University of Arizona,
     Tucson. 13 Mar. 2015. Lecture.

"Thomas A. Gray: Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard." Genius. Genius Media
     Group, Aug.2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://genius.com/2138039/Thomas-gray-
     elegy-written-in-a-countrychurchyard/The-paths-of-glory-lead-but-to-the-grave>. 

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…>.