Sunday, March 2, 2014
School Age Reading Comprehension Storytimes
I've been experimenting this year with programs that support Ohio's Third Grade Reading Guarantee.My challenge was to create a program that would include sharing fun new books along with a related comprehension activity with groups that varied between 30 to 60 more children at a time. I came up with a thirty minute program called Book Blast.Children are divided into two teams and each given a "buzzer". The "buzzers" are actually three paper circles number 1,2,& 3. The buzzers are held together with metal brads and are color coded for each team.I explain the game before I start reading, emphasizing that they should listen carefully to the story, since teams will be competing to see who remembers most about the book. In a thirty minute program, I ask between 6 and 10 multiple choice questions between the two teams. They answer the questions as a group by using their "buzzers" to hold up the number of the correct answer. So far this works very well. Kids enjoy the game and the buzzers ensure that everyone on the team gets to play!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
A New Chapter in My Library Career!
Today is the last day I will work as a staff member at the Parsons branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library! My proudest accomplishment at this library has been implementing the Reading Buddies program--proof that even struggling learners enjoy reading when exposed to great books in a caring environment! I am relocating to the MLK location and feeling very humbled to become a part of this library's history. Love my career @ CML!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thing 23--My thoughts about Learn & Play
Wow--Learn & Play really opened up a whole new world of information and communication for me! I am so glad I chose to stick with it, and finish all 23 things! Three aspects of the training that have impacted the way I do things since we started (was it August??), are blogging, photos/video resources and use of Web 2.0 tools.
Blogging:
I had a Xanga blog before I started L&P, but it was a short-lived hobby for me. I never really thought about how I could use it to communicate, further than showing off pictures of my cute kids w/ the few friends who subscribed to my Xanga! Since beginning L&P, I now have 3 blogs. I use my Reads2Kids blog, created for L&P for professional communication. I have another that I created for personal use, to communicate with friends & family. Instead keeping up with everyone's emails, I just post things I want to share with the group on my blog(o.k., still mostly pictures of my cute kids)and people can visit it when they have time, vs. my cluttering up their e-mail accounts with pictures of my cute kids!
Photo/Video Resources:
I know that I will be using things like Flickr, YouTube & podcasts more and more in my professional life, but for now I am completely taking advantage of these new skills in my personal life. Being an avid "arts & craftser" I just love exploring all of the fun things that can be done w/ Flicker & Photoshop. I see lots of possibilities for using these resources in children's programming--to develop props, cyber-crafting programs, etc. I also love to post pictures from my children's programs, so nice to explore some fun ways to do this!
Web 2.0 Tools
My favorites from this experience: PBWiki and GoogleDocs. I haven't used PBWiki at work yet, but already have plans for using it in my volunteer work. I actually felt confident enough in my understanding of Wiki "creation" to present the benefits of this concept at a recent volunteer leader meeting! I think GoogleDocs is fabulous and started promoting it like crazy with customers the day after I tried it on L&P. This is just a super resource for those using library computers--no worry about having a flashdrive or disk, or having your computer time run out! This is a great resource for those creating documents as a group. I am currently creating a handbook for one of the organizations I volunteer with using GoogleDocs, but I will be using it at CML as well!
Finally, I just want to say thanks to everyone involved in creating and implementing this training process at CML. In my 18 years with the Library, this is probably the most impressive training experience I have had, which is saying a lot, considering the excellent opportunities we have for professional development at CML. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to learn & understand the "things" presented, and felt encouraged to keep trying, by reading about the experiences of my fellow co-workers (all over CML!). When I started at the library, we used a typewriter and only used the PC in extreme circumstances. The Internet was barely even thought about as a resource for helping customers or doing our daily work. I feel very fortunate to still be "hanging in there" as technology changes libraries, and most of all, to still be working for an organization that supports those of us who have a desire to keep learning. Goodbye L&P friends & thanks for helping me be a life-long learner!
Blogging:
I had a Xanga blog before I started L&P, but it was a short-lived hobby for me. I never really thought about how I could use it to communicate, further than showing off pictures of my cute kids w/ the few friends who subscribed to my Xanga! Since beginning L&P, I now have 3 blogs. I use my Reads2Kids blog, created for L&P for professional communication. I have another that I created for personal use, to communicate with friends & family. Instead keeping up with everyone's emails, I just post things I want to share with the group on my blog(o.k., still mostly pictures of my cute kids)and people can visit it when they have time, vs. my cluttering up their e-mail accounts with pictures of my cute kids!
Photo/Video Resources:
I know that I will be using things like Flickr, YouTube & podcasts more and more in my professional life, but for now I am completely taking advantage of these new skills in my personal life. Being an avid "arts & craftser" I just love exploring all of the fun things that can be done w/ Flicker & Photoshop. I see lots of possibilities for using these resources in children's programming--to develop props, cyber-crafting programs, etc. I also love to post pictures from my children's programs, so nice to explore some fun ways to do this!
Web 2.0 Tools
My favorites from this experience: PBWiki and GoogleDocs. I haven't used PBWiki at work yet, but already have plans for using it in my volunteer work. I actually felt confident enough in my understanding of Wiki "creation" to present the benefits of this concept at a recent volunteer leader meeting! I think GoogleDocs is fabulous and started promoting it like crazy with customers the day after I tried it on L&P. This is just a super resource for those using library computers--no worry about having a flashdrive or disk, or having your computer time run out! This is a great resource for those creating documents as a group. I am currently creating a handbook for one of the organizations I volunteer with using GoogleDocs, but I will be using it at CML as well!
Finally, I just want to say thanks to everyone involved in creating and implementing this training process at CML. In my 18 years with the Library, this is probably the most impressive training experience I have had, which is saying a lot, considering the excellent opportunities we have for professional development at CML. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to learn & understand the "things" presented, and felt encouraged to keep trying, by reading about the experiences of my fellow co-workers (all over CML!). When I started at the library, we used a typewriter and only used the PC in extreme circumstances. The Internet was barely even thought about as a resource for helping customers or doing our daily work. I feel very fortunate to still be "hanging in there" as technology changes libraries, and most of all, to still be working for an organization that supports those of us who have a desire to keep learning. Goodbye L&P friends & thanks for helping me be a life-long learner!
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