Gossard_Theresa_BlogShare

     

https://www.stayingcoolinthelibrary.us/blog/

When I was looking for a blog to share I wanted to make sure the information was current and relevant to my current position as a high school librarian.  The Blog I would like to highlight today is Staying Cool in the Library.  This blog site is an amazing resource for librarians.  What first drew me to this site was the way the home page is set up.  It looked easy to navigate and user-friendly.  The use of color and graphics was another thing that made me explore the site further.  The site is very organized and neat with up-to-date articles and information.  Other blog sites I looked at had older articles and information.  I wanted to make sure the blog site I chose was up to date and something I would use while being a first year librarian. 

This blog has articles archived and organized under subheadings.  Some of the subheadings you can click on are about library management, lesson plans, ideas for reading motivation, library skills and research.  As a former teacher and a current first year librarian, I find it helpful that this blog has lesson plans and reading motivation ideas. It helps that each article has a graphic along with a summary of what the article is about.  When I read articles I am attracted to the ones that have some sort of visual graphic to draw me in.  To me, having a visual graphic is like having a welcoming sign.  I feel like when someone takes the time to make their site visually appealing they have more wholesome information to offer.  This site also has a resource library tab where additional resources such as worksheets and activities can be found.

This blog site provides relevant and current resources to librarians.  On August 22, 2023, Staying Cool in the Library posted a blog entitled Read-Alouds made easy:  10 Tips for successful storytelling.  This blog is a great read for storytellers.  Several of the tips are some we learned in our Storytelling class such as bringing emotions into the story and encouraging active participation in read alouds.  On the bottom of the article it gives you a link to click if you would like to know more about planning the perfect read aloud.  I like how it gives suggestions for more appropriate articles that may interest me.  It keeps me from going down the rabbit hole of information.  Hours later I realized that I had been on this site for a while reading blog after blog.

Another article I found interesting as a storyteller is the one from June 30, 2023 entitled Benefits of Graphic Novels:  Explore the Power of Visual Storytelling.  Since we have to complete a digital storytelling activity for this class I figured this article could remind us of the power of visual storytelling.  They bring up a good point, which is the importance of visual literacy for kids.  In visual literacy there are hidden languages such as facial expressions and body language sequencing.  Graphic novels are an example that portrays more than written language.  Another thing the blog talks about is cultural and historical awareness.  Graphic novels are a great way to teach cultural awareness.  Using pictures is an entertaining way to bring history to life.  

One Blog article that really made me think and reflect was the one on November 2, 2023, entitled Map Books:  A Journey to Introduce Students to the World of Maps.  Staying Cool in the Library wrote this Blog to bring up the importance of Map books.  Maps are visual tools for students and are used throughout life.  I never thought of maps as being a genre of books but I guess it could have its own collection.  This blog would be a good tool for Geography teachers to show how maps are taught.  The blog also provides a list of books that talk about maps.  They provide fiction and nonfiction titles along with a summary of the book.   There are links to resources about maps at the bottom of the blog.  They provide activities and printable resources for teachers.  

This week we had to read seven comedy stories.  I used the Staying Cool in the Library site to find what month would go well with comedy stories.  Using the blog article, Library Book Displays Ideas for Every Month of the Year, I found that April is the jokes and comedy month since it is home to April Fool’s Day.  So April would be a good month to showcase the books I read this week.  I have printed this blog article out and bookmarked it.  As a first year librarian I was just thinking yesterday about my next book display.  Since I am a high school librarian it can be tricky walking the line between elementary displays and high school book displays.  I am glad I now have an ideal list of possible displays to choose from.  In order to keep students reading I feel it is important to create creative book displays to keep students coming back for more.  

7 Comedy stories I read this week:

Gossard_Theresa_Free Choice

 Blog #7 - Free Choice - Blog Share

Link to Library Learners:  https://librarylearners.com/blog/

Library Learners is a website that has a tab for a Blog.  Under the blog tab, you will find several blogs that pertain to school libraries.  The blog's topics cover everything from supplies librarians should order to teaching library skills and everything in between.  As a new librarian, I am looking for activities I can use with the students that get them up and moving.  Anytime I can get physical movement added to my lessons I take advantage of it.  I enjoy stories where I can physically be involved in the telling of the story in some way.  As a teacher, I used to incorporate optional physical exercise activities for my students, even though it was optional I always had 100% class participation.  They loved being able to get up and move with the educational activities or brain teasers I would give them.  The students would look forward to snack time, not only because of the food, but they knew I would also have a physical activity they could participate in.  

As storytellers we can incorporate physical movement in our stories.  One way is to tell your story through a Story Walk.  This is a fun, great way to physically move and get storytime in.  One of the blogs is about the Recipe for a Successful Story Walk.  This is a recently published blog from August 13, 2023.  The blog gives step-by-step instructions to follow to complete a Story Walk through the book.  You will have to deconstruct the book and use it for the activity.  A tip is to get budget-friendly paperback books to use for this activity.  The pages of the book are placed on posters and posted around a walkable path and the students get to view it.  It would be great if each class could do one on the football field and allow the students to visit it one night under the lights of the stadium.  Students could bring their parents and view the Story Walk together.   

Another physical movement blog I found on the Library Learners site was about Musical Books.  On February 19, 2023, Library Learners published an article entitled, Play Musical Books to Promote Reading.  This blog talks about how some students get stuck in a rut while choosing a book to read. One way students could choose a book is by playing musical books.  This way students will get to experience other genres that they may not normally pick from.  The teacher plays music and the students move around the room to the different genres and when the teacher stops the music the students choose a book from the shelf in front of them.  If they can not choose a book from that shelf then they move when the music starts again.  This is a great way to get students interested in other sections of the library.  Some students will only visit the same sections over and over.  This activity forces them to at least look at some of the books in a different section.  

The last physical movement activity that I would like to highlight that the blog talks about is the Library Scavenger Hunt.  On September 13, 2023, Library Learners posted a blog entitled,  Five Powerful Reasons to Teach with Library Scavenger Hunts.  This blog talks about the benefits from having a library scavenger hunt.   Not only is scavenger hunts fun for everyone but they can be educational too. The students get to move around and collaborate with other students. A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep students interested in the topic being studied in the library.  Most library topics can be boring, so by doing a scavenger hunt they can get moving and stay engaged on the topic being discussed.  Library scavenger hunts can be easily differentiated to meet the needs of all the students.  

There was another blog that caught my attention as a librarian.  A blog that I enjoyed learning more about was the one from March 27, 2023 entitled How to Encourage Reading with Wrapped Books.  The wrapped books activity looks like a creative and fun way to encourage students to read books. Since students get to physically wrap the books this will help spark interest in this activity with students that like to do crafty activities.  This activity also has a writing component where the students write a summary of the story.  I am going to do this activity with my Book Club students this month.  The entire activity is broken into smaller lessons.  These lessons are detailed and easy to follow.  

How is classic literature used in storytelling?  We all know there are a few stories that we have heard over and over again.  Many of these stories you will hear told from different people and in many different forms.   Most classic literature books have movies or plays written about them.  Many classics are the same books that my parents and grandparents have read.  A lot of the classics have wording that is not normally used now and it is hard to relate to since times have changed.  I feel it is important for libraries to have copies of classic literature in their collections.  I also feel libraries should have copies of recently published updated classic literature stories.  I read six interesting, classical literature stories this week.  

Gossard_Theresa_Storytelling Experience

 Storytelling is something I never thought I would like doing, especially on video. I am a shy person so I took this class to get me out of my shell and I have ended up loving it. Each week I look forward to sharing the stories I read with everyone and checking out videos of others. Out of all of the storytelling videos that I have had to do, I think I enjoyed the storytelling without a book the best. When I first took this class I went through the syllabus and I was nervous because I thought there was no way I could tell a story without a book. At first, I thought this experience would be the hardest because I had to memorize the story word for word, but that was not the case. I just needed to know the story in detail in order to retell it correctly. I liked that I did not have to retell the story word for word and I could focus on the actual story, not just remembering or recalling the words.  

I picked this book because I am a mom and once was a child, so I could relate to both characters in the book, the mom and the baby llama. Plus, who does not love a good Llama Llama book. This book series is familiar to a lot of students.  They love to see what Llama Llama is going to get into today.  My sister is having her first baby at the age of 38 in the next month so I wanted to gift her this book along with the video for my niece.  Since I am a librarian I thought this would be the perfect gift. I am sure my sister will experience several baby llama nights. Also, I felt this book would be relatable to my students. As Piipponen & Karlsson (2021) stated, an aesthetic storytelling experience captures emotions as well as words.  We have all been a baby Llama at some point in our lives. I wanted to show the students that it is okay to miss your mom and be scared when you are alone. I wanted the students to know that it is normal to feel scared and miss your mom at night. But always remember that mom loves you and will see you in the morning.  

Students can design their own red pajamas as an activity to go along with the book.

Since the name of the book is Llama Llama Red Pajama I decided I wanted to make it my own so I searched for red pajamas to wear while reading it. You would think it would be easy to find red pajamas since it is during the holiday season but that was not the case. I had to visit several stores to find a pair of red pajamas to wear while reading the book. I love shopping so I didn’t mind having to go to several places before finding them. It would be great to share this book on pajama day so the students could wear their pajamas too. I think by having the students wear pajamas it can bring in connections to the story. It also makes reading fun and shows students it can be an enjoyable experience. Some students will always remember the special day they wore pajamas and enjoyed reading this book. 

While reading the story you could have a stuffed Llama wearing red pajamas.

I read the story, Llama, Llama Red Pajama many times. I read the story to myself and out loud to my daughter and my husband. I decided to create an outline for the story. This way I could hit all of the important parts of the story. I recorded the video the first time and then rewatched it to see where I was making mistakes. The first video was way too long so I decided I needed to trim the story some. I knew if the story was too long I could lose interest in the story.  Finding that happy medium between not being too long and getting all of the important points across was tough.  

I do not like watching myself on video but I know I have to do it to make myself a better storyteller.  After viewing and reviewing my videos, something I need to work on is that I talk too fast.  I am normally a fast talker and people in my life have learned to accommodate me but now I need to work on slowing down when storytelling, especially with young children. Talking too fast can ruin the story. I need to pace myself to emphasize what details are important in the story. I want to tell all of the parts of the story but sometimes I get too involved in specific details and the story gets too long, therefore I speed up my pace and I talk too fast. I also found myself swaying during the story. This was the first time I videoed myself telling a story standing up so I had never caught on to this behavior before.    

Storytelling can be powerful when combined with nonfiction. I have read several nonfiction stories this week.  I tend to like the nonfiction genre because it allows me to learn new information.  As a teacher, I have found that some students either really like nonfiction or try to shy away from it all together.  When I took students to the library I saw the same students migrate to only the fiction side of the library.  I have also found that boys seem to be more interested in nonfiction than girls.  This is why I would always make sure I had appealing nonfiction books available to my students during silent reading time.  I tried to make the nonfiction books quick and easy reads in hopes that my students would independently read about something we were currently learning.  

5 Nonfiction Stories I read this week are:

 

References

Piipponen, O. & Karlsson, L.  (2021).  Our stories were pretty weird too’- Children as creators of a shared narrative culture in an intercultural story and drawing experience.  Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883035520318267?via%3Dihub

Gossard_Theresa_Reading Reflection

 Reading Reflection - Digital Storytelling and Poetry Genre 

What do you think of when you hear the word digital storytelling?  According to Dogan (2023), digital storytelling is when people use computer based tools to tell a story of some type.  There are many different digital storytelling formats.  Digital storytelling uses many different techniques together such as animation, video, photos. Digital storytelling can be used to teach concepts as well as to show mastery of concepts.  It is a creative tool that can be used by teachers as well as students. Digital storytelling can also be a very powerful tool to use in the classroom.   As storytellers, digital storytelling is a great, creative tool to use when telling stories.  With digital storytelling, stories can be taken to a new level.  

What is digital storytelling? 

One resource from this week's Module I would like to highlight is the StoryCenter website.  This site has a ton of interesting examples of digital storytelling.  I found myself spending hours watching several of the stories.  Each one spoke to me in a different way.  Many of the stories evoke different feelings especially when they used original photos to retell the stories.  The mission of the StoryCenter (2023), is to help others by providing a place for people to tell their story.  Retelling stories can be a helpful therapy for some people. This site interests me because I am going to be studying trauma therapy next semester and I can see how these two could be used together.  If you get a chance check this site out and let me know what you think.

Story Center

When reading the article written by Lucy Santos Green (July, 2013), I was startled to learn that in 2009 more than 58% of librarians said their collections had very few non-English materials.  I work at a school that is located near a military base so we have students that speak different languages.  I spoke with our district EOL teacher and expressed the need to have books in other languages available to our students.  A goal of mine, as a first year librarian, is to expand my collections to include different languages.   If we are operating as a true library we should represent the population we serve.  This means materials need to be provided in other languages if they are a part of the library community.  One way to do this is by using digital storytelling.  By introducing the students to free digital storytelling sites we can provide them with a community to learn about stories from their community about their community. 

Stories can be difficult for students with cognitive problems and disabilities to understand (Greene, E. & Negro, J. ,2010).  It is also important that storytellers understand their audience.  Telling stories to special needs students can be a little different.  Special needs students require a little extra warmth and extra sensitivity (Greene, E. & Negro, J, 2010).  Storytelling to these students requires a little more effort but it can be very rewarding.  Digital storytelling could be a good tool to use with students with disabilities.  Students learn in different ways,  some students learn better visually and some audibility.   By using digital storytelling you can put both of these together.  It is also convenient for the students in that it can be accessed easily and it can be recorded for future viewings.  

One creative way to share poems is through digital storytelling.  Poems can be hard to understand with rhyme schemes, alliteration, and the use of other different poetic devices.  By using digital storytelling, the author can get across the important parts of the poem to the reader.  They can do this by creating a digital storytelling of the poem.  By using an inflection in their voice along with pictures and moving animation it will hold the reader's attention. Students are used to watching Tik Tok and other social media apps so it’s hard to compete with those in the classroom.  It is important that teachers use resources that will get and keep students' attention.  By using digital storytelling you can take a genre such as poetry, that may not be the easiest to understand and make it fun and not boring. 

POETRY SLAM!

As a reader and storyteller I enjoy the genre of poetry.  When I taught fifth grade I would use current songs to teach poetry.  I found that many students can really express themselves creatively through writing, speaking and/or performing poetry than any other way.  Poetry Slams are a creative way for students to perform their poetry pieces.  Poetry is a genre that compliments storytelling well.  When you add digital storytelling with poetry it allows people to connect in a deeper way.  It is interactive and sparks interest and it is not just a bunch of boring words on a piece of paper.  Poetry comes alive through digital storytelling. 

10 Poem Books that I enjoyed reading this week are:

References

Dogan, B.  (2023).  What is digital storytelling?  Retrieved from http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/page.cfm?id=27&cid=27

StoryCenter.  (2023).  What we do.  Retrieved from https://www.storycenter.org/about

Greene, E. & Del Negro, J. (2010).  Storytelling: Art and technique.  Libraries Unlimited.   

Gossard_Theresa_Blogshare

 

As a first year High School Librarian the Blog, “Don’t Shush Me! Adventures of a High School Librarian” spoke to me.   The Blog is easy to navigate, colorful and has new, fresh information on it and can be located here: https://dontyoushushme.com/  The creator of this Blog, Kelsey Bogan, is a high school librarian and a professor.  She has also been published in several different journals and magazines.  She has presented at several conferences and events.  I feel like this blog has a wealth of information in it for all librarians but especially for high school librarians.  There is a lot of good information, resources and videos for all librarians as well.  Topics range from collection development to makerspaces.  I can’t talk about everything, so I am going to try to contain myself to a few highlights from this site.  

 

 

Picture of Kelsey Bogan 

Kelsey Bogan started off in 2014 posting reviews on popular Young Adult books.   I found that she originally started this blog as a young adult class assignment but later turned it into her personal High School Librarian blog (Bogan, 2014).   In 2018, she started branching off into sharing articles and videos that focused on helping better the library targeted at high school librarians.  Later she moved on to providing tips and tricks for librarians.  All these resources are archived on her blog page for viewing.  She even makes it easy with a Blog Index at the top of the page so you do not have to search through her monthly posts for the post you need.  She also does presentations and consulting so if you are looking for someone with High School Librarian experience you may want to check her out.  

There are a lot of interesting items to read on her blog site. One thing I really like about her Blog is that she shows the date on the main screen before you click on the article to read it.  This helps me as a reader decide if I want to click on the article or if I think it may be irrelevant because it is too old or unrelated to what you are looking for.  I also like how each article has a picture as well as a title and date.  Having a photo makes it easier to remember what that article was about for quick reference.  Also, having all this information in one place saves the reader a lot of time, especially when citing information.   

The last part of her blog site I would like to talk about is her Who to Follow on TikTok tab.  Being a brand-new librarian, I appreciate that she took the time to include this tab.  I do not know many librarians yet and I am always looking for legitimate librarians on social media.  I have learned a lot of things from TikTok videos, so I am always looking to add them to my professional TikTok library.  She even breaks down the TikTok library into Elementary, Middle and High School levels. I cannot wait to see what I learn from others that are in the same profession.  Keeping up with the latest trends, even if they are TikTok trends, is a part of my job.     

 

The Blog that Bogan wrote on September 10, 2023 about “This or That” questions is a great blog to read to get ideas about asking questions as a storyteller.  I know as storytellers we don’t want to ask the same boring questions over and over so this list could give you some great ideas on new questions.  Also, this blog lists: 50 Would You Rather (This or That, 2023) questions.  These are always fun to incorporate during storytelling at the beginning or the end of the story.  You can also use these as ice breakers or exit slip questions.  These short, quick questions add fun to any lesson.   This Blog inspired me to include a This or That Weekly segment on our morning news.  The students can read the This or That statement of the week and the student will have to come to the library to vote.  For example, next week the This or That question will be, would you rather be invisible or be able to read peoples thoughts?  Then students would have to come to the library to get a token so they can vote in the two jars that I provide.  At the end of the week the winning vote will be announced, and we will start over again.  I hope this will add traffic to my library and I can offer book ideas to the students while they are having a little fun too.   

 

As storytellers, another Blog on Bogan’s (2020) site I would like to highlight is Picture Books for High Schoolers.  As I learned from my lecture (Watson, 2023) this week, back in 1996, Susan  Danoff understood the importance of storytelling in schools.  She was coined with helping create educational programs that implement storytelling in school settings (Watson, 2023).    We are now in 2023 and I still feel storytelling is important at all grade levels.  In this Blog, Bogan (2020) talks about the fact that even high school students enjoy having picture books read aloud to them.  Reading books aloud builds community that high school students are missing.  Bogan (2020) decided to pilot a program where she started reading picture books aloud to high school students.  She called it “bedtime stories.”  The student response was greater than anticipated.  This Fall, she has decided to order more picture books for her high school collection.  Picture books are used by high schoolers for pleasure reading and social and emotional skills (Bogan, 2020).  I too, want to increase the picture book collection at my high school.  Another school in my district made a picture book closet for their Teacher Cadet students.  I am thinking of implementing this same type of project next school year.  I have already heard of some push back from district personal about having picture books in a high school library so I may have to be creative to get it approved.  Even Greene (2010) agrees that children at all grade levels can benefit from storytelling.  The activities the teacher uses with the story may change and differ in difficulty, but the same story can be used at different grade levels, to include high school.   

Two other Blogs of Bogan’s I think storytellers could use are her blog’s from August 10, 2022 & August 18, 2022 on Weeding: For Equity, Accessibility, & Relevancy Part 1 and Part 2. As storytellers it is important for us to weed our collections from time to time. We need to make sure our collections are equitable for everyone. Storytellers could use the tips and tricks to help make sure their storytelling collections are meeting the needs of everyone in their community.  

 

Below are six tall tales I read this week: 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

References 

Bogan, K. (2023, September 10).   Big list of “This or That” questions to use in the library.  Don’t Shush Me.  https://dontyoushushme.com/2023/09/10/big-list-of-this-or-that-questions-to-use-in-the-library/ 

Bogan, K.  (2020, August 10).    Picture books for high schoolers.  Don’t Shush Me. https://dontyoushushme.com/2020/08/10/picture-books-for-high-schoolers/ 

Bogan, K. (2014).   About.  Don’t Shush Me.  https://dontyoushushme.com/about/ 

Watson, S.  (2023).  Storytelling residencies in schools. [PowerPoint Slides]. 

Greene, E. & Del Negro, J. (2010).  Storytelling Art and Technique Fourth Edition. Libraries Unlimited.