For the Love of Learning

"First Day of My New Job..." by theunquietlibrarian

Personal friend, and professional inspiration, Buffy Hamilton, recently left her position as a high school teacher librarian to join the staff of the Cleveland Public Library.

Her job title at CPL is "Learning Strategist." Not "School Strategist," or "Library Strategist" but "LEARNING Strategist," an inclusive term embracing a wide range of possibilities.

As a semi-retired, (Medicare) card carrying Senior Citizen, I'm concerned with staying mentally active and professionally involved. While doing the Sudoku and Cryptogram each morning is fun, it's hardly a spur to intellectual growth.  So I'd like to adapt the Learning Strategist concept and apply it to my own life.

I will try to

• make a conscious effort to leave my comfort zone Volunteering to do an Ignite! presentation at the ALA Annual Conference last year was a challenging, somewhat scary, but ultimately very satisfying experience which taught me a lot about presentation zen.

• read, analyze, and apply Taking in information isn't enough; creation of new knowledge is the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Lifelong learning should be authentic and relevant.

•  interact with others Social isolation may trigger psychological issues; it can affect any age group, but older citizens are especially vulnerable. Networking, both online and face to face, not only forestalls feelings of isolation, but also serves to deepen understanding through dialog and collaboration.

Buffy and I will be moving in different directions as we explore what it means to be a Learning Strategist. But we will continue to share our experiences and LEARN from each other.

"The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you’re learning you’re not old." -Rosalyn S. Yalow

Unquiet in Cleveland

"Visualization of Buffy Hamilton's Enchantment Talk" by theunquietlibrarian

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate my professional colleague, and personal friend, Buffy Hamilton on her new position as the Cleveland Public's Learning Strategist.

Some might consider this move a career change, leaving a school setting to join the staff of a public library. Yet, if you read the CPL's overview of the position, you will note that the words "learning" and "teaching" figure prominently:

She [Buffy Hamilton] will serve as an internal consultant to management and staff on matters related to CPL’s mission as the “People’s University”, the center of learning for a diverse and inclusive community. Ms. Hamilton will champion the formation of innovative, sustainable, library-supported communities of participatory learning throughout the city with special attention and focus on those that address specific deficits affecting our community. She will also work to coordinate and design a learning and teaching agenda based on the 2012-2014 strategic plan, and work with the new Literacy & Education Coordinator to build an array of effective learning programs at each of CPL’s onsite Learning Centers. As CPL’s liaison to the school systems, she will develop strategies to support curricula through library resources and services.

This is more an expansion of her current practice than a completely new direction. Buffy has been, and will continue to be, a thought leader in the library world. Her move into the public sector is a natural progression, when you consider her interest in participatory librarianship, transliteracy, and maker spaces. She perceives opportunities - to blur the boundaries between the various library genres (school, academic, public, special) - where others see barriers.

Public and school librarians, in particular, frequently serve the same population. I would love to see more collaboration, sharing of staff, and launching of joint programs. Buffy will be uniquely placed to facilitate such services. I look forward to following her progress.

Have fun, my friend!

"Diane Cordell and Buffy Hamilton" by dmcordell

Picturing Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, a celebration of verse initiated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996.

Last year, inspired by friend and professional colleague Buffy Hamilton, I created a SlideShare that linked poems and images, using both my own photographs and some found via a Creative Commons search.

In 2012, I challenged myself to use only images I had captured to illustrate the words of poets - and to provide one slide for each day of April. While the finished product may lack some of the visual impact of last year's effort, it provided me with even more personal satisfaction.

Picturing poetry

View more presentations from Diane Cordell

There are many ways to celebrate National Poetry Month in the library and classroom. April 26 is Poem in Your Pocket Day. Last year I Skyped with students in a number of states, sharing a favorite poem and listening to the children read their own choices.

This year, I've already read about an interesting Poem in Your Pocket Day activity from Cathy Jo Nelson:

"All the 'pockets' have poems ready to be had, and the pockets also have a qr code to poems from poets.org so kids can save them to their smart-phones as an option."

...and I'm sure that John Schumacher and Shannon Miller, of Two Libraries, One Voice, will have some wonderful, interactive celebration planned, as they did last year.

Some useful resources for educators include

• The Children's Poetry Archive
• Children's Poetry
  
• Poetry 180 (a poem a day for American high schools, from the Library of Congress)
• 30 Great Poems Everyone Should Know
  
• 30 Ways to Celebrate
  
• Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month with the New York Times (an impressive collection of links and resources)

In her essay, Why We Should Read Poetry, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Amy Lowell called poetry "the height and quintessence of emotion, of every sort of emotion" She concluded,

"We should read Poetry because only in that way can we know man in all his moods - in the most beautiful thoughts of his heart, in his farthest reaches of imagination in the tenderness of his love, in the nakedness and awe of his soul confronted with the terror and wonder of the Universe. Poetry and history are the textbooks to the heart of man, and poetry is at once the most intimate and the most enduring."

So share a poem, write a poem, illustrate a poem, memorize a poem, recite a poem. The possibilities are endless and rewarding.


Related postings:

• In My Grandfather's Voice: Found Poetry
• A Poetry Sampler
• The Journey
• From the Heart
• The Reader
• 365 Project: April
• The Rainbow Connection
  

Learning More Deeply

"measuring up" by woodleywonderworks

In a recent posting, Buffy Hamilton took advantage of winter break to reflect on her professional practice:

"My colleague Kristin Fontichiaro inspired me earlier this year to hone in on helping teachers and students go beyond surface level knowledge and the 'shininess' of students merely producing something with a web 2.0 tool and to look at how digitally created content reflects rigor in terms of content and composition."

I would strongly recommend that you visit The Unquiet Librarian and read Midyear Reflections: Challenges of Supporting Student Digital Nonfiction Composition in its entirety. Buffy's self-assessment is tough but fair, displaying the type of rigor, that can be defined as "the quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate" rather than "severity or strictness; excessive sternness."

If our educational goal is to have students acquire knowledge, rather than merely complete tasks, we must provide the scaffolding, exemplary models, and formative assessments that Buffy is striving to infuse into her students' learning experiences.


"It might be easier to define rigor by noting what it is not: Rigor is not a synonym for ‘harder,’ and it does not mean moving first-grade curriculum into kindergarten, or algebra into the seventh grade. … Rigor means teaching and learning things more thoroughly – more deeply." -Nancy Flanagan

Civil Discourse

"couple yelling at each other" by hang_in_there

There have been numerous mentions in my network recently of an online petition to Save School Libraries, which recommends that:

"Any school receiving Federal funds should be required to have a credentialed School Librarian on staff full time with a library that contains a minimum of 18 books per student. Failure to have a school library open to all students and/or failure to have a credentialed School Librarian to run that library should be punishable by a immediate withdrawal of all Federal monies."

While many people supported this proposal, Buffy Hamilton chose to blog about Why I Am Not Signing the "Save Libraries" Petition. Doug Johnson voiced his agreement with Buffy in You can't mandate quality, but you can mandate mediocrity. Each of these postings was thoughtful, reasoned, dispassionate. Unfortunately, many of the comments added by readers were not.

During my classroom days, I sometimes shared with my students the Rules of Civility that were written by a teenage George Washington. Although we laughed at some of the caveats ("Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire especially if there be meat before it."), and shook our heads at others ("In Speaking to men of Quality do not lean nor Look them full in the Face, nor approach too near them at lest Keep a full Pace from them.") we found some recommendations that still hold true after more than 250 years.

In regards to conversation, Washington admonishes:

• Use no Reproachfull Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile.
• Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for 'tis a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion admit Reason to Govern.
• When you deliver a matter do it without passion & with discretion, however mean the person be you do it too.

Two hot topics in education today are cyberbullying and good digital citizenship. We cannot just pontificate on these issues. We need to model positive behavior for our students. Disagreeing with a professional colleague in a respectful manner is appropriate; personal attacks and name-calling are not.

When engaging in a public discussion, please remember to keep a civil tongue in your head.

School Libraries...Free eBook

School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come

Ebook By Kristin Fontichiaro
$0.00 Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: Oct. 15, 2011
Category: Non-Fiction » Education and Study Guides » Teaching
Category: Essay » Technology
Words: 45706 (approximate)
Language: English

A crowdsourced collection of over 100 essays from around the world about trends in school libraries written by librarians, teachers, publishers, and library vendors. Edited by Kristin Fontichiaro and Buffy Hamilton. Foreword by R. David Lankes. Photographs by Diane Cordell.

I've recently had the pleasure of contributing to this project, the brainchild of Kristin Fontichiaro and Buffy Hamilton. The essays were written by a wonderful mix of education professionals, and will hopefully spark many future discussions.

My essay can be found in Chapter 9, Collaboration - "Diane Cordell: Bridging Space and Time: Collaborating for Learning," and my photos are scattered throughout the book.

School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come is available for free download in a variety of formats at Smashwords. Continue the dialog by leaving a review on the site.

The Learning Commons at AASL 2011

Come join us in Minneapolis, and take advantage of the opportunity to Share, Connect, and Grow!

To see the full-screen version, go to AASL 2011 Social Media and Learning Commons

Senior Moment

A member of my network mentioned that today is National Senior Citizens Day, as proclaimed by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1988, and celebrated yearly ever since.

According to New Jersey Senior Citizen Coordinator, Paulette Drogon, "There is no set age when a person becomes a 'senior citizen.' The age requirements for federal and state programs and entitlements are established by legislative action," and range from 60 to 70 years and older, depending on the benefits sought. The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) actively begins recruiting members once they hit the advanced age of 50 (much to the chagrin of some recipients of their mail advertisements!).

Although I meet many of the criteria for being considered a senior citizen, I hardly consider myself "elderly." And while I enjoy interaction with young people, I am honestly not in need of someone to "change a lightbulb" or perform other daily tasks. Some day, maybe, but not quite yet.

I had the chance to spend some time yesterday with a few of my high school classmates. All of us are around the age of 64. We continue to be active in a variety of ways, from the former police chief who now teaches forensic science, to the naval vet who flies State Police helicopters, to the "retired" nurse who is helping a friend renovate a large house. No one is sitting in a lonely room, waiting for someone to come in and entertain them - not now, hopefully not ever.

To coincide with the 2011 Treasure Mountain Research Retreat and the AASL National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kristin Fontichiaro and Buffy Hamilton are accepting submissions for "a collection of crowdsourced short essays on the future of school libraries from multiple perspectives, to be published in e-book format." My contribution to this project (in the Collaboration Chapter) is titled "Bridging Space and Time: Collaborating for Learning," and it represents my vision of a meaningful retirement.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on both the future of collaboration and modern attitudes towards aging.

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."

-J. R. R. Tolkien

"The road goes ever on and on..." by dmcordell

Variations on a Theme: Two Gardens

Located in adjoining towns, within a few minutes driving distance of each other, Hovey Pond Park and the Rite Aid Community Garden share elements of the type of enchantment that Buffy Hamilton so eloquently describes in her presentations.

As I did in my Open Studios Tour posting, I'll try to analyze where the keys to an enchanting experience lie.

Trustworthiness
Hovey Pond Park is maintained by the Town of Queensbury and a squad of volunteer gardeners. Interpretive signs explain both the history and the environmental importance of this area. The land on which the Rite Aid Community Garden rests, formerly an empty lot, is made available to local residents by the adjacent Rite Aid store, as a public service.

Likability
The botanical gardens at Hovey Pond Park are complemented by an assortment of wildflowers which populate the pond and marsh areas (and sometimes "invade" the garden proper). Pathways, benches, a handicapped-accessible fishing platform, playground, and picnic areas invite exploration or quiet contemplation.

Individual plots at the Rite Aid Community Garden reflect the personalities of those who tend them. Whimsical bits of found art, hand-lettered signs, the choice of plants - tomatoes and cabbages cheerfully share their space with sunflowers and marigolds - are reminders that this garden is cultivated by people, not high-powered machinery. Even the tools in evidence reflect a very human, slightly nostalgic, influence.

Fantastic Product or Service
Each garden provides a green oasis; the Community Garden is particularly refreshing to the eyes, being situated close to the heart of the business district in Glens Falls, NY. Both sites are free to use (although you must sign up for a garden plot), environmentally friendly, and invite collaboration from the public. There are opportunities for exercise and multi-generational interaction: older adults and young children can often be seen fishing together at Hovey Pond; Brownie troops, church groups, and local residents of all ages garden side-by-side in the Rite Aid Community Garden.

Applications
There are certainly common elements found in these two gardens which might be applied to a school or library experience. These spaces invite purposeful play. Any rules are clearly written, publicly posted, and designed for the benefit of users. Information is acquired via text, in some instances, but also through human interaction with the environment and with with other people.

The school in which I taught had an open space, visible from my library windows. After being ignored for years, this little courtyard was prettied up with a trellis and some beautiful flowers. But a few years ago, something else was added: a vegetable garden, maintained by student volunteers. It would be wonderful if every school could have an actual, physical garden. But even lacking that, it's possible to add some garden-like elements, both literally and figuratively, to a classroom or library.

Gardens lend enchantment, and enchantment can lead to engagement, passion, and learning.

"Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there." -Thomas Fuller

From Flickr:
Hovey Pond Park Collection
Rite Aid Community Garden


Postscript:
Check out (!) this information from our local public library:

"One Community One Book is back, from its May 19th kickoff through the October 6th finale, featuring Kristin Kimball’s The Dirty Life. In conjunction with our Folklife Center’s “Foodways: Documenting the Local", enjoy the story of a city gal who meets and marries a farmer and moves from metropolitan NYC to upstate Essex. A little bit love story, a lot of dirt. Join the Reference Department for book discussions, alternative farming talks, and movies culminating with a meet the author night on October 6th in the Community Room.

The Children’s Department will present programming using the following: Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath.

Our teens will be reading and discussing Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman and visiting a local farmer’s market. They will also be enjoying Cooking Outside the Pizza Box by Jean Patterson and sharing in a pot luck dinner. Yum- this should prove to be a fun and delicious endeavor and a great way to congregate with our neighbors." -Crandall Public Library

What a perfect example of how to secure engagement by tapping into an area of interest and providing a diverse menu of related activities.

Never Underestimate...

My friend, Buffy Hamilton, recently had a very unsatisfactory conversation with a representative from Amazon Kindle Education. According to the company, Buffy's LibGuides page contained incorrect information about the Amazon End User License as it relates to Kindle use in school libraries. Read the complete posting at the Unquiet Library blog.

The bottom line is that Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, will no longer be purchasing Kindles for its library media center.

With Kindle sales contributing to "robust revenue growth" for Amazon, the loss of business from a single Georgia high school might seem insignificant...except for two pertinent facts:

• this librarian is well-known and well-respected as a library leader; her opinion is trusted
• Buffy used her social networking skills to get her message read: on the day the posting appeared, it received over 4500 hits

Some commenters, reacting to the information shared on the Unquiet Librarian blog, stated that Amazon's policies have convinced them to opt for the NOOK reader as being better suited for school library needs. "Mrs. ReaderPants" enlarges the conversation when she notes, " If Nook is what is in their school library, Nook will be what they are used to. When they are ready to purchase an e-reader for themselves, which one do you think they are most likely to buy?"

I own a Kindle and love its convenience. Amazon one-click shopping means I can purchase a title and have it instantly delivered to my reader electronically. However, if I were acquiring multiple devices for educational use, I would opt for the library-friendly Nook.

Referring to the both the experience and the responses she's received, Buffy wrote this Facebook message, "All I can say is the Amazon has truly underestimated the potential of the K12 market."

Someone in the corporate realm had better be listening.

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -Bill Gates

"Roxanne and Buffy Showing off the New Bouncing Baby Kindles!" by theunquietlibrary

Open Studios Tour: Enchanting Art

On Saturday, my husband and I spent a wonderful day touring artists' studios in Washington County, NY.

I couldn't help but notice that the success of this event depended largely on the infusion of those elements described by Buffy Hamilton in her presentation, libraries as communally constructed sites of participatory learning: creating conversations and connections through enchantment. (video now on YouTube)

Trustworthiness

Open Studios is a juried event. The organizers of this free, self-guided tour made sure that only established artists, with an respected body of work, were featured. This was a celebration of fine art, not a craft fair.


Likability

Each artist was present and eager to talk with visitors. When I asked for permission to take photos, I was encouraged to do so; the artists themselves happily posed with their paintings. Hosts had stories to share: about the evolution of their career, the steps in the creative process, what they choose to incorporate into their art and why. This infused products with meaning and put them into context for interested viewers...both the artists and the art thus became accessible and likable.



Fantastic Product or Service

The Open Studios site advertised that "professional artists will once again open their doors...offering a glimpse into their creative lifestyles, and a unique opportunity to purchase great art directly from their studios," and they delivered on the promise. Artists offered special discounts and personally signed purchases. Casual browsers were greeted as warmly as paying customers. At each venue, some sort of refreshment was offered, from homemade cookies & lemonade to colorfully-wrapped Chinese sweets. In addition, Open Studios of Washington County and its sponsors hosted a complimentary reception for all tour visitors on the first evening of the two-day event, with hors d’oeuvres wine, and "a chance to meet with all the artists and other Open Studios visitors and to share stories and discoveries of the day."


Other Positive Attributes

• choice...of locations and art genres [wouldn't it be fun to initiate a self-guided tour of local libraries, a mix of public, academic & school?]
• each studio displayed both finished pieces and works in progress, giving visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how art is created
• business cards, with website addresses, were freely distributed - interested people could ue the information they contained to learn more about the artists (and perhaps become future customers)
• variety of architectural design: studios were located in renovated barns, farmhouses, and converted factories; common to all were good natural lighting, plentiful space, and numerous display options
• setting: Washington County is largely rural, with small villages rather than big cities. Nature is nearby and evident, creating a calming, creatively-stimulating atmosphere
  

In the Library

Wikipedia defines an artist as "a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art." Librarians fit all of those descriptors, as they assist in the acquisition, creation, and dissemination of information (the artistic product).

In a logical extension of the concept of librarian/artist, libraries would become less like knowledge warehouses and more like artists' studios, incorporating interesting design, transparency, and personalized service.

Enchanting spaces.




See additional photos in the Open Studios of Washington County, NY Flickr set


"Open Studios of Washington County, NY" by dmcordell
"Three Artists: Leslie Parke, Adriano Manocchia, Leslie Peck" by dmcordell
Will Moses signing a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for Hagan" by dmcordell
"110/i365" by Purple Phoenix

Of Innovation and Roadblocks

I've been planning to blog about my friend, Buffy Hamilton, and her new Creekville High School Library Kindle lab.

Buffy has been modeling best practices and transparency, taking us through every stage of the Kindle project, from preparing the devices for circulation to compiling a resource guide; recording a student Kindle promo to documenting the first Kindle checkout.

Wishing to build on this early, success, Buffy attempted to place an order for additional Kindles...and was blindsided by a new Amazon policy:

Due to strong customer demand, the current quantity limit is 3 Kindle devices per customer. We will forward your inquiry to the Kindle team and someone will contact you if we can meet your requirements and schedule.

A long phone conversation with customer service reps resulted in the same response. No exceptions for classrooms or libraries. Three per customer, period.

What has this policy accomplished for Amazon? In the short term, the loss of an order for 20-25 Kindles might seem an insignificant drop in the bucket. But there may be long term repercussions:

• educators who have been debating the relative merits of Kindles, Nooks, and other eBook readers might decide to choose the more school-friendly alternatives
• students will purchase (or request as gifts) the device with which they are familiar
• as the reader goes, so go the book purchases

This could well be a temporary, pre-Christmas, quota system, but if so, it would have been politic for Amazon to indicate this in response to Buffy's queries.

I have to wonder if Amazon is subtly (perhaps not so subtly) trying to discourage Kindle use by libraries in general, rather than make concessions regarding the lending of eBooks.

Visit The Unquiet Librarian blog and follow the progression for yourself: from enthusiasm to frustration; adoption to...alternatives?

What are you thinking, Amazon? Really.



"CVHS Student Caitlyn Checks Out the First Unquiet Library Kindle" by theunquietlibrary

Sometimes Good Things Happen to Good People

"Library Dream Team: Tammy Beasley, Buffy Hamilton, Roxanne Johnson, Dr. Bob Eddy" by theunquietlibrarian


Congratulations to a dear friend, and tireless worker for all that is positive in school libraries,

Buffy Hamilton

who has just been designated "Georgia Library Media Specialist of the Year for 2010"

In August, Buffy (aka The Unquiet Librarian) and her fellow librarian, Roxanne Johnson, received recognition as one of two “exemplary” high school library programs for the state of Georgia.

On October 12, Buffy was named to the National School Boards Association's list of "20 to Watch" for education technology leadership.

Today, the Georgia Library Library Media Association honored Buffy Hamilton for excellence in her profession.

Well done, Buffy, and well-deserved!

"Friendship" by dmcordell

Making It Real

Knowing that I'm "retired" and more apt to have free time than most members of our PLN, my friend Buffy Hamilton asked if I could do a live demo of document sharing in Google Docs this morning.

Buffy's lead off question was, "What are our favorite social media and web 2.0 tools?" I contributed a few favorites, while she showed her students some of the editing options.

Since I had mentioned Google Reader, I opened a tab and checked my subscriptions. One item that caught my attention was Stephanie Sandifer's Education Reform Brainstorming posting. Like many educators, Stephanie has been concerned that "current dialogue around education reform" does not adequately represent all stakeholders. Rather than merely rant or walk away, Stephanie has created a both a survey and a spreadsheet for brainstorming, hoping to built "a space that can become a repository of ideas for everyone involved and invested in improving the schools across our nation."

"EVERYONE is invited to help brainstorm ideas! Teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members, education researchers, anyone and everyone who is interested and who has an idea."

Stephanie mentioned students, those whose lives will be most directly affected by educational reform...or the lack thereof.

So I shared the links with Buffy and her class, a serendipitous opportunity to turn a demonstration into an exercise in authentic learning.




If your students are blocked from accessing these tools from school, please do as I once did with my Current Events classes: have them express their opinions verbally or in writing, then add the student comments yourself to Stephanie's document.

This is an important conversation. ALL voices need to be heard and valued.



"Put Learning in the Hands of Students" by katerha

Inquiry, Search, Results, Applications

Inquiry

The Problem:

While cleaning out some of my fathers, miscellaneous possessions, I found the item pictured above. Since I inherited dad's curious mind, along with material odds and ends, I set myself the task of learning more about these bits of metal.


Search

Facts:

• appears old
• made of metal, possibly silver
• number 13
• 6 charms (hand with pinkie & forefinger extended; heart; bottle?; basket with flowers?; shell; purse with flower design) and space or empty chains for 7 more charms
• Italian heritage

Educated guesses:

• superstition involved because of the number 13
• dated from at least the 1940s, judging from the other things in the same bag
• possibly had some sentimental value

Method:

The people most likely to have personal knowledge of this curious trinket, my grandparents, father, and godmother, are no longer with us. I'll eventually check with my younger uncles, but, for now, I decided to press ahead on my own.

Since "13" is a number with a lot of superstitious connotations, I started with keywords like "Italian superstitions" "Italian charms" "Italian amulets." Within a relatively short time, I came across the term cimaruta (Chee-Mah-Roo-Tah). After that, my search was easy and profitable.



Results

What I Learned:

• The Italian concept of lucky and unlucky numbers is different from other parts of the world. Some older Italian Americans still hold the belief of lucky 13, especially when gambling
• The Cimaruta is an very old charm rooted in Italian folklore. It is used for protection from the bad luck or the evil eye. Cimaruta or cima di ruta means ‘spring of rue’ and the branches of the charm are the branches of that most sacred plant.
  
• The Cimaruta of today is evolved from ancient Etruscan amulets; historical uses are as protective charms against malevolent magic, witchcraft, and the evil eye, especially for infants.
  
• The Neopolitan (both of my father's parents were from the Naples area) custom was to make charms of silver and blood coral since these two materials were sacred to the Moon Goddess (Luna/Diana) and to the Goddess of the Sea, Venus
  
• The hand gesture known as the mano cornuta wards off the Evil Eye by extending only the pinkie and index finger like a pair of horns and pointing it down.
• One example of a Christian addition to the design is the appearance of "the sacred heart" of Jesus. However, ancient Roman charms did include a heart symbol, which may indicate that the heart on the cimaruta is a later Christianization as opposed to an entirely new creation.
• Vervain flower blossom represents protection; a vervain blossom, in Italian lore is connected to fairy lore (and folklorist Charles Leland refers to Diana as the queen of the fairies)

What I Surmise:

• Since my father was never (overtly) superstitious, I would venture a guess that he was given this charm by a friend or relative
• Alternately, it could have belonged to a family member and was cherished by dad as a memento
• At first, I thought this protective amulet might have been intended to protect a soldier in battle; however, after learning more about the traditions associated with cimaruta, I wonder if it were meant to safeguard a baby
• This Cimaruta varies from the traditional design; it may have been an inexpensive lucky piece for a gambler

Applications

I love to learn about the extras in life: family history, homey artifacts, local lore. In a school setting, inquiry-based and authentic learning makes classes more meaningful to students, empowering them to extend their experiences while acquiring "real" information.

Buffy Hamilton had her ninth graders research their surnames on Ancestry.com. Students might also be challenged to learn more about a family heirloom, local landmark, historic photo, etc.

The possibilities are endless.





"Cimaruta" by dmcordell
"Cimaruta amulet" from SymbolDictionary

Embrace Your Tribe

"I Geek the Geek Tribe!" ribbon by The Daring Librarian

As I've mentioned before, Gwyneth Jones, Joyce Valenza, and I have been busy working on items that will identify tech-loving teacher/librarians as members of the Geek Tribe.

Gwyneth has done her usual amazing job blogging about our efforts. Since she and Joyce will be attending ISTE 2010 in Denver this year, I'll be the Tribe rep at ALA DC 2010. If you haven't ordered a badge or stickers from Zazzle, you can download and print a free membership card using the templates found in the Geek Tribe Logos & Stuff Flickr gallery.

I will be carrying a limited number of Geek Tribe cards and ribbons to hand out to sympathetic souls who proclaim, "I Geek the Geek Tribe."

Any profits from the sale of Geek Tribe items benefit the Teacher Librarian Ning. As Gwyneth so tactfully explains,

If you use our graphics on your website, please do us the courtesy of linking back to the Teacher Librarian Ning , TL Virtual Cafe, or this [Gwyneth's] blog. Most all of my graphics are Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike - BUT if i find you using them to sell T-Shirts, coffee mugs or some other SWAG that doesn't benefit our group i will "hunt you down and skin and wear you like last year's Versace!" - Dina Manzo RHONJ

Those who want to get feeds from both ISTE and ALA should bookmark Geek Tribe member Buffy Hamilton's Netvibes page.



"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -Jane Howard

Tradition, Transition, Transformation

We are living in a time of great change. This is particularly evident in the fields of education and librarianship.

The models which have served us for so long are under intense scrutiny. It is becoming evident that there must be either a remodeling or a total reconstruction of what is ineffective, irrelevant, antiquated.

The question is no longer "whether" but "how" to facilitate the necessary transition.

Our vision remains constant: to serve our community and to prepare our students for life beyond formal schooling.

But as the community we serve, and the world into which our young people emerge, expands, so must the resources we share with them.

In the mid-nineteenth century, "transliteracy" meant substituting the letters of one language for the letters of another. The term now refers to "the ability to read and write using multiple media, including traditional print media, electronic devices, and online tools." A transliterate person is literate across multiple media.

Just as we once taught reading and stocked libraries with paper texts, we now need to teach a multitude of literacies and stock libraries with resources across diverse formats. This evolution certainly does not preclude traditional skills and materials: it enriches and extends them. Transliteracy is transformative, tapping into Information Age expertise, using the tools of modern society to better educate its citizens.

A world in transition should not discard tradition but transform it.



To learn more about transliteracy, I recommend following the Libraries and Transliteracy blog and viewing some of Buffy Hamilton's excellent SlideShare presentations.



"Through the looking glass" by albano alfredo

Be Led By Your Dreams

Today my friend and professional colleague, Buffy Hamilton, took library advocacy one step further. Rather than just promote current practice, Buffy has envisioned what our profession might (must?) become in order to best serve the needs of our students.

In It's Broken; Let's Fix It: The Traditional Model of School Librarianship, Buffy asks "Is it [the traditional] a model that makes sense for today’s culture of learning or for the culture of learning we want to foster in schools?" Her vision is for something different, an approach that is "bolder in scope and practice."

Library programs vary from district to district, state to state. Some librarians, particularly in an elementary setting, are tied to a fixed schedule. Others may find a significant portion of their time devoted to clerical tasks and various non-instructional duties.

There are many - myself included - who believe that the educational system in this country needs to be re-imagined and rebuilt, rather than patched or repaired.

The concept of "librarianship" also requires a radical overhaul. I am convinced that we need more than automated circulation, e-books, and the occasional collaborative project: we need more than a 20th century professional using 21st century tools.

Buffy imagines "a model of school librarianship that embeds us in the classroom whether it be the classroom of a teacher, our library space, or a learning space outside the traditional school building (such as virtual)." This team approach would ensure that librarians were available to "facilitate and support powerful learning experiences with teachers and students" throughout the day and throughout the school year.

I have often thought that a librarian-consultant model might work, with the teacher/librarian in charge of administrative decisions (collection development, budget allocation) but not tied to a fixed schedule or even a fixed location, free to interact and collaborate, providing instruction for students, teachers, and administrators. The librarian-consultant could also be a key member of the professional development team, serving as a conduit for information, empowered to learn and encouraged to be a risk-taker for the benefit of all.

When librarians are labeled "specials," it means that they are considered extras, add-ons. Not essential, they are, therefore, subject to downsizing or elimination. We don't want to be appendages; we want to be key players, THE key player, in education.

Buffy ends by saying,

"While it may seem like an impossible and improbable reality, effective and real change cannot begin unless we dare to challenge the status quo and to thoroughly interrogate our practice, our beliefs, and our stance on librarianship on a regular basis. Dr. Bob Fecho instilled in me the value of reflection and action through the simple question, 'Why are you doing this?'. When I think about this model of school librarianship, I can’t help but ask, 'Why aren’t we doing this?'"

Lack of funding isn't the entire problem: lack of vision is. How would you answer Buffy's question...Why aren't we doing this?



"Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams." -Anonymous




"Hope_in_a_better_future" by Massimo Valiani

TL Cafe: Crisis Webinar

From Joyce Valenza:


Crisis Webinar

Monday April 19 - 8:00-9:00 pm. EST

Special Guests: Chris Harris and Buffy Hamilton
Hostess: Gwyneth Jones and Carolyn Foote

It's the most exciting time to be a teacher librarian. The opportunities for learning have never been more rich. The studies prove the value of the role of strong school libraries in student achievement. Yet, the pink slips are flying. Where do we go from here? Led by Buffy Hamilton and Chris Harris and moderated by Gwyneth Jones and Carolyn Foote, this webinar is a crisis planning session for moving forward with purpose! Please join us!
TL Cafe events, the first Monday night of each month.

Visit the Elluminate room: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/dropin.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest
(allow around 10 minutes to login!)


To learn about events and access previous, archived webinars, visit the TLVirtualCafe





"Cafe Header" designed by Gwyneth Jones
"This Library Now Closed" by David Gallagher

Welcome to the Jungle

Education Week has just made available online a timely article about the shifting role of school librarians and the evolving purpose of libraries.

The dual title says it all: School Libraries Seek Relevance Through Virtual Access; Librarians' Roles Shifting to Address the Demand for Quality Online Content.

As Cassandra Barnett, the president of the Chicago-based American Association of School Librarians and the school library media specialist for the 2,000-student Fayetteville High School in Arkansas, points out,

"Gone are the days when a library was essentially a warehouse of books...We have really burst out of our walls, and we’re a part of everything in the school now, which I’m not sure was always the case."

Yet even as school libraries work to expand their scope and purpose, budget issues on the local, state, and Federal levels threaten to severely curtain services. Hours of operation, level of staffing, and print and online resources all depend on funding that is increasingly tight.

Why do schools need professional teacher/librarians?

Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the 7,000-student Mankato school system in Minnesota, explains it this way:

"We’ve gone from being a guide in an information desert to a guide in an information jungle," he said. "Instead of having to seek out information, students and teachers are now inundated with it... and it is the librarian’s role to teach them how to judge the 'good resources from the bad resources.'"

Information literacy, the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, and share needed information is “no longer an optional literacy,” said Buffy Hamilton, the media specialist at the 1,500-student Creekview High School in Canton, Ga. “It’s a literacy and a form of cultural capital that I think you have to have in order to fully participate in today’s society.”

Carolyn Foote, the district librarian who works at the 2,500-student Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, speaks of the expansion of services to include not only research, but production

“Students are producing all sorts of products—YouTube videos, PowerPoint presentations, online slideshows, podcasts—and so as librarians, we need to have the skills to work with all those different formats and help students learn how to produce in those formats,” she said.

Continuing this train of thought, Joyce Kasman Valenza, library information specialist for Springfield Township High in Pennsylvania, adds

"...libraries are no longer 'grocery stores' where students can go to pick up ingredients, but 'kitchens,' where they have the resources necessary to create a finished product."

While some might question the need for a physical library, given the pervasiveness of Internet connectivity, advocates say there is still a need for such a space, operating under the guidance of a teacher/librarian:

"Providing students with a space where they can gather, share ideas, and learn is what we try to do,” Ms. Hamilton added, “to be at the heart of learning, both formal and informal.”

"The library is not a shrine for the worship of books...A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas." -Norman Cousins




"Welcome to the jungle" by neeZhom