Friday, May 18, 2018
Summer Reading List is Up!
In our last post, we invited the NCHS learning community to recommend books for our 2018 summer reading list. Here is the list, but it is not too late to add your recommendations! Please add your nominations here. Happy Reading!
Friday, May 4, 2018
Summer Reading 2018
It is time to finalize our summer reading selections and we would love your input! Each ear we compile a list of 50-75 titles of newly published books we recommend for summer reading.
A great deal of thought goes into our list. We consult educators and students in and beyond the high school. We confer with youth services specialists at the New Canaan and Westport Public Libraries. We refer to professional literature, including School Library Journal and Voices of Youth Advocates. We attended workshops on YA Literature at regional conferences. We compile a daunting list of recommended summer books. We carefully eliminate titles until the list was reduced to a manageable size. In the final version, we pay close attention to:
- Quality literature, including but not limited to award winning literature.
- NCHS curriculum – alignment with the curriculum at the high school.
- NCPS goal # 4 - To promote an environment that fosters respect, ethical behavior, and responsible citizenship.
- Student interests.
- Literary genres – all are addressed here.
- Gender representation
- Currency - most of our selections were published within the last five years.
INTEREST AND GRADE LEVELS
High school students’ interests and ability levels vary widely. Rather than prescribe a particular book to a particular grade level, we have indicated the audience (Young Adult [YA] or adult) to which books are marketed. While it is entirely appropriate to recommend books for specific grade levels in the elementary and middle schools, it becomes counterproductive at the high school, where, unfortunately, students’ interest in (or time for) reading for pleasure tends to wane. High School students should be encouraged to read books they enjoy. Some seniors might enjoy YA literature while some freshmen might prefer adult literature. Either way, they will all end up reading adult books in their adult life. Our goal is to let them have fun reading now. The more youngsters read, the more their reading skills improve, whether or not they are reading challenging material.
AWARDS
- ALA TOP 10 BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS: An American Library Association committee selects these winning titles.
- ALEX AWARD: Each year, ten adult books that will appeal to teen readers are selected to receive the Alex Award.
- PRINTZ AWARD: The Michael L. Printz award winners and honor books exemplify literary excellence in young adult literature.
- PULITZER PRIZE: Honors books which address the largest themes in life, the raw passion and tragedy of the human condition.
- TAG PICKS: NCHS has a Teen Advisory Group (TAG) of students who help the media specialists select materials and develop student-friendly policies. “TAG Picks” were recommended by these students.
While there is a book for every student on our final list, not every book is suited for every student. Students must decide whether their selections align with their personal and family values and interests, and adjust accordingly. We encourage members of our learning community to nominate titles for our 2018 list. The form follows.
We continue to document how we divvy up our time. Here is the latest update:
Here are some photos of library learning:
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| Invisible influence with Ms. Steidl |
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| View from the new "standing desk" |
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| the 9th grade lunch bunch |
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| Double the fun in ColLabB |
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| Developing research questions |
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| Bibliography help |
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| Research help |
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| Research help |
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| Junior research paper help |
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| Examining the media's influence on social expectations |
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| Revising thesis statement |
Thursday, March 15, 2018
As Juniors begin working on their second research paper, New Canaan High School librarians are facilitating the transition between the English and social studies research experiences.During the first semester, students participated in a flipped learning unit of instruction. They watched videos, took mini quizzes, were assessed in class, and earned digital badges. Students then submitted their works cited list to the library Moodle for feedback. Additionally, students completed an exit ticket at the end of the semester.
As a result, librarians were able to gather several data points from each student.
Number of digital badges
Score on in-class quiz
Grade(s) on works cited drafts
Responses to exit ticket questions
Score on the English junior research paper
They are compiling this information into customized learning plans for each student.
From the open-ended responses to the exit ticket, we are able to glean what kind of support each student wants from the library for the second semester research paper. We found that there are essentially six categories of help requested.
Finding good sources
Advanced search strategies
Writing the research paper
Creating embedded references
Citing in MLA 8
Work independently
Advanced search strategies
Writing the research paper
Creating embedded references
Citing in MLA 8
Work independently
Combining this information with student performance on various checkpoints such as the MLA 8 quiz, the bibliography, or effort, we are organizing students into learning groups. This allows us to run mini-workshops and offer lots on one on one help to better tailor our instruction to individual students learning needs. We are sharing this information with both the English and the social studies teachers.
In the meantime, we continue to document our days in photos:
In the meantime, we continue to document our days in photos:
And here are some photos of New Canaan High School library learning this week:
Thursday, March 1, 2018
How Will Your Librarian Help You?
Two years ago, we did a 44 day experiment. We set our alarms to ring every period of the school day and one more time at 3PM. Each time our alarm went off, we took a snapshot of what we were doing. At the end of the experiment, we analyzed how we spent our time. Here was the resulting post.
We wanted to see what changed over the last few years. Are services changing? Are we using our time differently? There was only one way to find out so we are rebooting our experiment. We are now three days in and this is what we have so far. It will continue to grow throughout the day, every school day through the end of May. We hope you will follow along!
On February 16, while students were on vacation, teachers spent the afternoon brainstorming strategies to personalize learning at New Canaan High School. Here are a few photos of what teacher learning looks like:
We wanted to see what changed over the last few years. Are services changing? Are we using our time differently? There was only one way to find out so we are rebooting our experiment. We are now three days in and this is what we have so far. It will continue to grow throughout the day, every school day through the end of May. We hope you will follow along!
On February 16, while students were on vacation, teachers spent the afternoon brainstorming strategies to personalize learning at New Canaan High School. Here are a few photos of what teacher learning looks like:
Here are some photos of library learning this week
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