Achieving National Board Certification

The last two days have been the longest of my life. These are the interval between the time I was notified that National Board Certification results would be available and the hour/minute they actually posted. Funny, considering that I was not stressed out about the entire process but the two days awaiting results put me over the edge.

So at 9:05 a.m. today, November 20, 2009 -after several hours of intimacy with the F5 key, I received congratulations on achieving National Board certification. Considering that only 40% of candidates in my certification area achieve on the first try, I was not expecting to hear this news. But boy, am I grateful.

I don't know if I truly understand what the implications of National Board certification may be. I know I am employable in almost any state now. More importantly, I have validation that I can TEACH. I am so thankful I engaged in this process.

Will be voice be more respected as an NBCT? Maybe. Hopefully. Will I have more opportunities? I hope so. I filled out an application to be an assessor, and I would really like to teach library media specialists in training.

What will be my next challenge? I have no clue, but I'll keep looking!

Sincerely,
Suzie Martin, NBCT

Ideas from the Exploratorium

Those who know me know that I am somewhat agoraphobic, even if I balk at the description. I contend I do not fear the marketplace; instead I loathe the marketplace. Despite this, I could not wait to get to the Exploratorium this afternoon.

The exploratorium is like a science fair meets a flea market: librarians and some vendors from all areas of the country and Canada display their best practices in a large hall for participants to browse. Here are some of the best ideas I have taken away from this year's exploratorium.

Paula Griffith analyzed reading interests of middle school students in accordance to the top 25 most popular titles and Havighurst's Adolescent Task model. One of the most interesting aspects of this presentation was clarifying how children proceed from series books (Goosebumps and The Series of Unfortunate Events) to sequels (Alice McKinley and Harry Potter) to stand alone novels. I had not realized the extent of plot development and character changes that separate series from sequels, even though one of the elements I admired the most about the Harry Potter books was how J.K. Rowling made the characters developmentally symbolic of their ages. For example, in The Order of the Phoenix Harry is sullen. This is a very appropriate emotion for a 15 year-old. Griffith's work is summarized at http://aaslbloggerscafe.wikispaces.com/file/view/Adolescents+and+Their+Fiction+handout.Griffith.pdf.

Daniella Smith presented 10 Tips for Improving Media Specialist Involvement in Schools. Each of these tips is packed with subpoints library media specialists can use to increase their visibility and importance at the school level. For example, under the heading Use Technology, she suggests circulating a library newsletter online and starting an online book discussion with students. Her two-page PDF handout is well worth reading, and the suggested reading list in wonderful.

Barbara Ray presented a display on action research to improve library media practice. Her very simple four-slide PowerPoint presented everything the viewer needs to consider to begin her own action research project. The first slide tells the viewer to consider the "whats" (resources, policies, procedures, and services) and the "whos" (the stakeholders and their effects on the school library.) The second step is to determine what you want to improve, what the experts say about your particular problem, and to decide what questions to ask of whom. What data will be collected?. The third step is to develop a review the findings and form an action plan to improve services.

Craig Coleman's Sticky Note Wiki presentation was wonderful. It is a teaching activity that helps children understand how wikis are made and how they are subject to error. Using this activity, students research a topic and take notes on sticky notes. The notes are posted on butcher paper or some other display area. Students are asked to look for inaccurate information in the posted sticky notes. By doing this, students understand that the construction of wikis are similar in nature and should be subjected to the same scrutiny as the sticky note activity they just completed. This is an excellent resource to help students value verification of information.

Researching the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

My first session was a preconference led by Donna Shannon of the University of South Carolina and Gail Dickinson. The purpose of the preconference was to write researchable questions that would be worthy of grant-funded initiatives.

While this session was not what I expected (I wanted to hear what the research said), I found it very interesting. The presenters provided participants with a bibliography of resources dicussing ways 21st century students learn. The participants were invited to add additional resources to the bibliography, thereby expanding the knowledge base. Next the participants were divided into four groups to look at each of the aspects of the new standards. We were ask for formulate our questions intensely looking at the standards.

My group dealt with Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth. I am very interested in this standard, because to me, it truly showcases students lifelong learning and information using practices. Much of the skills, dispositions, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies discussed here must become second nature to users or all media. But because of the nature of the media, this internalization of dispositions is very hard to gauge. Age of the users and the training the users received must impact these dispositions. How can dispositions be measured?

In our quest to help young people become wise and ethical users of technology and ideas we face many obstacles. One is how to teach children to guard their privacy on social networking sites when many of these sites are blocked. Sure, in blocking these sites we prevent some problems, but we also lose the opportunities to guide and teach.

If I were to conduct any research right now, I think I would like to see what, if any, generational differences in regard to privacy occur among my friends on Facebook. My friends' ages range from 6 to 83.

Information on this session can be found at http://aaslconference.pbworks.com/ .

It's Been A While

It seems totally unreal that it has been so long since my last post. December seems so far away now, but June - the end of school - and even Spring Break seem even farther away.

Things have changed since December. My new floors have been laid, Christmas has come and gone, and a new semester at WVU is almost over. Chrissi wrecked her car, and I suffered a hit-and-run with the rental car, but now Chrissi's car is returned to her and mine to me. Winter is almost over, and Daylight Savings Time 2008 began this past weekend.

The big news is that Christina is engaged. She and Brian are planning a Summer 2009 wedding at the beach. We've never met Brian's family, but I am sure they are as wonderful as Brian. I am nervous about trying to blend my somewhat outrageous family with his humble and pious one, but I am praying it will work. Our first step is to select a beach house to host the wedding. I am sure whatever we choose will be fine, even if the logistics drive us crazy.

I started back at Weight Watchers, not because of Chrissi's wedding but for general health concerns. I have been so tired all the time, and I suspect diet or excess weight may be the cause. Last summer I was unable to do hardly any work at the farm; hopefully I will be more productive this year.

After one week on the diet I can honestly say I have more energy. I was actually dancing with Roxy on Saturday, and I did not simply want to sleep all weekend, even though the weather was quite conducive. I don't know if my new-found energy is result of dieting or the occurrence of more daylight minutes, but I do believe the change is real.

I have not been terribly hungry until today. This has been a hard day. It's my county cataloging and planning day, so I have not had children to keep my mind off my diet. Weigh-in is tonight. I'm certainly hoping the day's hunger will be rewarded with a nicer number on the scale.

I Have Nothing Positive to Say about Coach Rodriguez at this Time

I'm sure that in a couple years I'll be able to say something nice about the guy. I know he did a lot of good things for West Virginia. At the moment, however, my thoughts are running a less charitable course.
My problem with his leaving has really very little to do with his accepting a better job offer and more to do with the idea that even a native West Virginian does not find us good enough. There is little escaping that thought.
When John Beilein left WVU for the same Michigan, I truly wished him well. Beilein brought so much class to our basketball program. I was sad to see him go.
It is a different story with Coach Rod. He called this his dream job, and as little as two weeks ago he told us we were stuck with him. He lied to all of us.

I need a break.

Maybe it is the barometric pressure. The new fallen snow has enlivened the kids' spirits, but it seems to have made me sensitive to every sound. I hate it when the phone rings. For one thing, there is the noise. For another, a ringing phone can only mean that someone wants something of me. In truth, even if someone simply called to chat, I would be annoyed (back to the noise thing).

I have in the past 10 years or so felt I was affected by the changing seasons. This has become more pronounced this past year. I am reluctant to mention this to the doctor, because I don't want to be identified as a pill-seeker, but there is some truth that I want to be happy and up all the time. I am not unhappy, however; I just am, existing with neither joy or despair.

A 6:00 a.m. conversation

For some inexplicable reason, my 19 year-old daughter and I were instant messaging about housework this morning. The conversation began when there was a delay in her response to me regarding another topic.
"Don't worry," I told her. "I was doing the dishes anyway."
"I wish," I continued, "that I could be obsessed with housework. As it is, I am simply depressed by the state of my house."
"Why worry, Momma?" Lora asked. "No one sees the house anyway."
No one sees my house? Is she kidding? Twice in the past few weeks I have come home after school to find Lora and her sorority sisters lounging in my living room. Her roommate actually came to my house for a shower on Saturday. She told me herself just a few days ago that during rush interviews she told potential pledges that when her sorority sisters are homesick for their pets, she brings them to my house for puppy and kitten time. Did she forget all this?

Actually I am quite happy that Lora brings friends over, but there are some caveats. For one thing, it would be nice is Lora and her roommate actually ran a sweeper once or twice before bringing strangers in my house. After all, two of the cats that shed on my carpet are theirs. Secondly, it would be nice if they did not leave their personal effects and garbage in the living room after the visit. Finally a call to let me know they are bringing company by would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think actually being obsessed about housework would be a good thing, but I don't think hiding in my room to escape the mess in healthy, either. Somewhere there must be a happy medium.

Last week, when Dan was New Castle, I was quite productive, even after school. I straightened the living room and ran the sweeper, changed the litter box (twice), took out the trash, cleaned my bedroom and kept up with the few dishes that needed attention. I even had time for naps. Why is it when people are in my house that I can't get anything done?

I think the answer simply is that people talk to me. Apparently, conversation is exhausting, leaving me with no energy to expend on housework. Add to this the fact that additional humans in the house cause the need for additional housework, and one can see how a virtual tidal wave of dirt and mess would accumulate.

I sincerely believe my options for dealing with this situation are limited. One, I could force myself to clean each night. Two, I could make Lora clean the house before and after she has guests. Three, I could simply not worry about it. Four, I can retreat to my room and ignore the entire situation.

Looks like number four is a winner to me!