WHHS Library Media Center News
March 2015
#KyGoPlay
KyGoPlay
Pledge for ONE hour this week to play!!! There are SO many cool things I learned last week in Louisville at the KySTE (Kentucky Society for Technology in Education) Conference that I literally CANNOT wait to share with teachers and students. Technology is FUN!!! We all need to take some time and play around with it. Don't be afraid!!! Go Play!!!
New Books Have Arrived!!! LBGTQ Titles Added to the Collection
A year ago library media specialist, Rhonda Bell, began weeding the non-fiction section of the library. It became obvious to her early in that process that the books dealing with homosexuality and gay lifestyles were very out of date. For example, 1991 was a great year; it was the year she graduated from high school, but a lot has changed in our society regarding opinions on homosexuality in the past 23 years. She knew that she could not replace all of the books at one time, but she vowed to develop that part of her collection once she removed the out of date materials.
An article came across Mrs. Bell's Twitter feed and caught her attention. YALSA shared School Library Research's article, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) - Themed Literature for Teens: Are School Libraries Providing Adequate Collections?" Mrs. Bell compared the lists of recommended fiction and non-fiction titles suggested in the article that every high school library should have to the titles already in the Western Hills High School library collection. She then chose the titles the library did not have and added them to her Wish List. On Monday, March 2nd 15 books from the recommended lists arrived at Western Hills High School.
New Titles Include:
- Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence
- Annie on My Mind
- Down to the Bone
- Empress of the World
- From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun
- Gay America: Struggle for Equality
- Geography Club
- GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens
- The Little Black Book for Girlz: A Book on Healthy Sexuality
- The Little Black Book for Guys: Guys Talk about Sex
- Luna
- Misfits
- One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
- Parrotfish
- Rainbow Boys
- The Vast Fields of Ordinary
Blind Date with a Book: Staff Winner
Congratulations to Jessica Rogers! She went on a Blind Date with a book and read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. She rated her date with this book which made her eligible for the grand prize drawing. She chose the book, Open Road Summer by Emery Lord as her prize.
Mrs. Rogers also helped promote the event by encouraging many students to check out books and go on a blind date. Thanks for reading!!!
Mrs. Rogers also helped promote the event by encouraging many students to check out books and go on a blind date. Thanks for reading!!!
Blind Date with a Book: Student Winner
Congratulations to Shelby McKinney! She went on a Blind Date with a book and read Something Wicked: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery by Alan Gratz. She didn't particularly enjoy her blind date with that book, but she willingly filled out a "Rate Your Date" form and checked out another book more to her liking.
Thanks, Shelby, for participating in this library event.
Thanks, Shelby, for participating in this library event.
Techy Student Volunteers His Time and Talent
What did you do on Thursday, February 26th? If you are a student or teacher at Western Hills High School, you probably enjoyed an unexpected day off thanks to the boiler being out. Instead of taking the day off Dylan Ruble volunteered at WHHS installing and setting up Apple TVs in nine classrooms. Dylan goes out of his way to help people set up and keep their technology working. Thanks, Dylan, for all of your hard work. You are appreciated!
Library Media Center Teacher Spotlight for February: Kelly Caldwell
In Algebra 2 class recently Kelly Caldwell's students asked her when she was going to start reviewing them for the upcoming ACT test. She assured them that she had been reviewing with them through bellringers all year long. She suggested that if they wanted more review, then they should visit the library and check out one of the ACT Practice books available. That day alone SEVEN ACT prep books were checked out. Thanks, Kelly, for pointing students to the library to use resources from the College and Career Center. That's why it exists.