Friday Focus
Friday, August 12, 2022, vol. 10, no. 2
Friday Focus is a quick digest of news and notes
for members of The Indianapolis Public Library Shared System.
What to Do with an Old Book
Look at what one of my high schoolers made with old book pages. She used the die cut machine to cut squares of old picture book pages and then origami folded each square into petals. (See photos below.) Amazing.
Sarah Marot
School Library Manager, Christel House South
Editor's NoteHere are some books on origami. (My two favorite titles were Not-quite-so-easy Origami and Sort-of-difficult Origami. I would need to go with one of the several entitled Easy Origami.) You and the art teacher could work out a deal! You supply the materials. They supply the instruction. You supply the display space!
Get Ready for Banned Books Week Sept. 18-24
Visit the American Library Association Banned and Challenged Books site for free downloads of flyers and social media. If you're new to the library, or new to the cause, you might also look at the FAQs, and the activity ideas. If you get really into it, you might shop for stickers, bookmarks or bracelets!
By the Numbers
Elementary schools by now are likely aware of how they did on the IREAD-3, the statewide test of reading for third graders. (If you're curious, WFYI has analyzed the results and included a list of pass rates and improvement since last year's test.) In keeping with the chart from the State Department of Education above, WFYI's analysis shows that every possible grouping of students scored lower than before the pandemic, some more drastically than others. On the good news front this year, ten Shared System schools had a 90 percent pass rate or higher and twelve had a pass rate higher than the state average of 81.6 percent. Three had double digit improvement over last year's scores while twelve more showed single digit improvement. (These didn't necessarily overlap with the schools with a high pass rate!)
Here are three conclusions from the DOE analysis of test results:
- "While Black and Hispanic students had a small percentage gain, Black students continue to perform 20 percentage points below their peers, while Hispanic students continue to perform 15 percentage points below their peers."
- "Despite a small gain by students receiving free or reduced priced lunches, low income students continue to perform 15.3 percentage points below their peers."
- "The proficiency gap between English learners and their peers doubled in comparison to last year, growing the gap between the two to almost 20 percentage points for the 2021-2022 school year."
Many of you have heard this before, but it always bears repeating. Your job is not to develop a love of reading in your students. That's like saying you're going to make your kids love peas or lima beans. Can't be done. It's a matter of taste. Your job is to put books into kids' hands that they WANT to read, so that they DO read. When they read, they practice the reading skills they're learning in class, they grow their vocabulary, they develop background knowledge about all the other stuff they're going to be learning in the future. And when they develop those reading skills, they, you know, do better on statewide reading tests.
When you describe your job a as putting engaging books into kids' hands, you will discover some of your practices aren't all that important, while others are essential. For example:
- book mending. If you spend more than 30 seconds putting a piece of tape on a torn page, you're wasting time. You can get any book you want from the catalog until you have the money to replace the damaged book in your hand.
- weeding. Get rid of stuff that's outdated, grubby, ugly or dull. Your too-full shelves are hiding the titles kids might want to read. Shelves stuffed with worn out books are a turn-off. Making time to weed pays off.
- visiting a library branch. Talk to a librarian to find out what's the next GOAT series. Then check them out (on your personal card), take them back to school and check them in. Put them out on display and see who bites. If they fly off the shelves, put them on your shopping list, or your wish list!
- pick lists. Seriously. It takes a village to raise a reader. Remember how happy your students are when the books they request come in for them and be diligent about paying it forward. (Remember, we aren't turning on requestability for your books till three weeks after your first day of school.)
There's more...there's always more. Let me know what you come up with!
“Over the long term, kids’ reading achievement is driven substantially by whether they’re getting access to the content, the science and social studies and things about the world,” said Darling-Hammond, “because what you understand from what you read depends on whether you can hook it to concepts and topics that you have some knowledge about.”
Linda Darling-Hammond,
president of the Learning Policy Institute and professor emeritus of education
Stanford University.
https://hechingerreport.org/four-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-reading-wars/
Kadir Nelson to Give Marian McFadden Lecture Next Month
Luminous. It's the most apt word I can find to describe the work of Kadir Nelson. As soon as you see one of his illustrations, you'll realize you've been admiring them for years. (Brothers of the Knight was published in 1999.) The online database, NoveList, provides a complete list of his books* (there are 31!) with summaries, reading levels, and links to our catalog.
Kadir Nelson is not an artist working only in the medium of book illustration. To learn more about his work visit the IndyPL website post about his upcoming lecture here in Indianapolis There are links to his website, several interviews, and photos of his work outside of book illustrations hanging in places like the Smithsonian.
Kadir Nelson will give the Marian McFadden Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 29th at the Madam Walker Legacy Center. He was supposed to visit in 2020, and again in 2021, but the COVID numbers at the time prohibited travel and large gatherings. In the acceptance speech* he gave when he received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award in 2020, he spoke about what the time was like for him as an artist, but he also provided a vision for the future. A luminous future.
As a global community, as a country, as a people, we must remember where we’ve come from, and be grateful for all of those who faced down adversity and lifted us up so that we may see the light of tomorrow. Nothing is promised to us, but while we’re here, let us continue to celebrate one another. Shine a light on all that is good in us, and work to brighten the dimmer places in our hearts and minds so that we may find peace in ourselves and with one another.
Mark your calendars now!
*These are Ebsco links. Unless you're working in a public library, you may need to login with your IndyPL library card to access them.
National Geographic Updates
National Geographic and National Geographic Kids now have an updated user interface that is consistent with other Gale databases.
Improvements in National Geographic Kids include a new Reader that allows students to browse more easily the Kids Magazine, eBooks, videos, and pictures.
Improvements in National Geographic (the NatGeo database likely to be of more interest to high school and adult users) include the ability to browse magazine issues.
Both have an “Explore Topics” link that breaks the content down into six categories: Animals, Environment, History, People and Cultures, Science and Technology, and Travel.
Remember you need a library card to use the National Geographic databases.
Gale Database Hacks
Did you know you can search both Opposing Viewpoints and Global Issues at the same time or switch between the two? Once you are in the database, the toggle to switch between databases (or search both at the same time) is on the left of the search box, as pictured below. This is also available for the Gale in Context: U.S. History and Gale in Context: World History databases.
Media Center Position Open at Warren Central High School
Warren Central High School is looking for certified LMS, or someone who would qualify for emergency license. Angie Currier, the previous LMS, will be there till 8/26 so could orient a new hire if they got one that soon, or answer questions if anyone is interested. Angie says it's a great place to work - teachers are very responsive and are already begging her to visit their classrooms to talk about the media center resources before she leaves!
Online Resources FOR TEENS
Editor's Note: These resources were featured in last week's Friday Focus, but I mistakenly omitted that they're intended for a TEEN audience! Reread with adolescents in mind!
You can use your library card to access several different databases and online learning modules for both homework or fun. Here are two popular choices. You can see our complete listing here divided into several helpful categories like Arts & Entertainment, Auto Repair, Homework Help Grades 6-12, and more.
Creativebug
Creativebug is a library of free video tutorials taught by designers and artists on sewing, knitting, quilting, painting, drawing, and much more. Apple and Android apps are available. Learn more here.
DrivingTest.org
BMV practice exams, along with additional resources on everything from what to wear on testing day to common testing mistakes. With further practice tests for motorcycle driving or commercial driving licenses, this is your one-stop shop. You can also read or download the Indiana Driver's Handbook.
More from the editor: Creativebug offers live classes that are then recorded and available to watch at your leisure. Each class lists the materials needed for the craft and the video can be broken into segments. You can even download a PDF of the directions so you don't have to take notes!
Be sure to create an account with your library card, then check out this Schoolhouse Sampler: A Daily Embroidery Practice by Rebecca Ringquist - Creativebug. You can watch two minutes a day and then squeeze in a few more minutes of practice time!
Office training class, Manual High School
Child with loom, James E Roberts School
Child with wood bandsaw, school not listed
Back to School with Digital Indy
Digital Indy has a wealth of primary sources available for all. Every month we make a video on a theme that plays in all IndyPL branches. With school starting again, this month has pictures of classes, mostly from the 1940s and 1950s. Looking at them shows how school has changed over time. I had to pick just three of the most striking to show you! For a class activity, show these to your students and ask them to write about what seems similar and different to their classrooms today.
Other photos included in the video are from Crispus Attucks, Arsenal Tech, Shortridge, and elementary schools 10, 41 and 63. The complete list of photos in the back to school slide show is on WeShare. There's the ashtray making project for the Army, or the one of students making hats, or playing with chickens, or declining Greek nouns on a chalkboard. Three is not enough! You'll want to view them all.
Natasha Hollenbach
Manager, Digital Projects
P.S. Visit any IndyPL branch to see the full video on a big screen!
Navigating the Encyclopedia
The Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (DEOI) has more than articles about people and places. The Natural Features Atlas in the DEOI ties in nicely with sixth grade science standards. Everyone must be a little bit curious about the names and destinations of the streams they cross every day! If you zoom in really closely, you'll see street names, and the actual path of the creeks and streams. The color coded lines are similar to trend lines in a graph.
Special thanks to Elizabeth Van Allen, Manager and Editor of the DEOI for the screenshots and explanations below.
On the landing page for the Natural Features segment of the Atlas one can zoom in to explore watersheds. In the bottom right-hand corner there is a zoom button.
Zooming in allows users to see watersheds and where smaller streams drain into larger/common streams. These are color coded.
You can click on each stream to see the name of the watershed to get information about it.
Q&A: Multiple holds and Record Sets
Q (sort of): Hi Sarah- I'm pretty proud of myself. I was going to email and ask you a question (again), but then I told myself to get into WeShare and look for the answer. And I found it! ;-)
A: My favorite kind of question - one we find the answer to on our own.
Q: I tried to place multiple holds on the book The Phantom Tollbooth, but I think I may have done something wrong. Only two say, "Pending." The other 18 say, "Not supplied." What does that mean??
A: I am not 100% positive, but I think you placed your multiple holds on only the items YOU own, rather than on the copies owned by others, which is why they are unsupplied. Delete those holds and start over! 😊 Remember, schools aren’t running pick lists so if you run out of IndyPL copies, you’ll need to email schools. On the good news front, the directory is now current on WeShare. Just ask them to put the copies in a library envelope addressed to your school abbreviation (also in the directory) and it will come directly to you. You can’t place a hold on it yet, and they shouldn’t check it out to you. When it arrives, check it in and say YES to transfer it back. That way we'll know where it is. You could also check it out immediately to the teacher who asked for the book.
Directions for placing multiple holds are in the operations manual on WeShare. https://weshare.indypl.org/sharednet/resources-for-shared-system-libraries/operations-manual-procedures/. See page 23.
Q: I was able to finish the record sets for all the new classes yesterday. Are you able to go in and mass change the "year homeroom" of each patron to what the name of the record set is? If so, here is a list of the new record sets.
A: Just one thing - make sure you use the naming convention in the procedures manual! Your record sets should be Location_code grad_year homeroom_teacher, as in HCE 2034 Bennett. That way Kimberly can easily cut and paste the grad year homeroom from the name of the record set. Record sets easily sort this way, too, by school, then grad year, then teacher. BE SURE TO DELETE LAST YEAR'S RECORD SETS WHEN YOU FINISH THIS YEAR'S! Otherwise, if you win the lottery, the person who takes your place will be very confused!
Saturday, Sept. 17th - Eiteljorg celebrates Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day - free admission
Thursday, Sept. 29th - Kadir Nelson gives the annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture
Friday, Oct. 7th - Tuesday, Oct. 11th - Indy Library Store Book Sale
About Us
Email: sharedsystem@indypl.org
Website: www.indypl.org/about/shared
Location: Library Service Center, North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Phone: (317) 275-4707