End of the Year Reflections

Here it is! The last workday of the year!

Walking through the parking lot this morning, I realized that, for the first time in many years, I made it from January through June without missing any school days for being sick.

Wow!

I don't mean being at school while fighting off a cold (or bronchitis). Actually, I have had the healthiest six months of my 20 years of working in schools! And I still feel great!

Now that all the shelves are dusted, the blinds are closed, the counters clear, and the teachers are all checked off for having returned their materials, what have I learned this year?

From the first half of the year, at the elementary school:

1. No matter the planning, live streaming is not always going to go smoothly. Especially if the streaming code has one little number or letter wrong. Fortunately, it's a easy fix, even for fifth grade technicians.
2. Kindergartners can drive you batty, make you cry, and make you smile...all within one class period. Momar...you were one of the reasons I loved kindergartners. Thank you for the beautiful picture of me when you drew your favorite thing in the library.  It will remain on my desk for a long time.
3. When technology services "upgrades" the operating system, be prepared for the older devices to rebel. Especially in the middle of a research project in all upper grades. Fortunately, we could take turns on the desktops when the minis refused to start up.
4. You never realize how much there is to do until you create a manual explaining everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING!) the administration, faculty, parents, and students have come to expect. I don't think the 3-inch binder with 22 tabs was too long. Was it?
5. This is a great school, with a great staff and students. I'm thankful for my many experiences and for my students.

From the second half of the year, at the high school:

1. Wow. I thought my own teenagers were tall...I went from being taller than all my students to being shorter than the vast majority. It's nice to feel "petite"!
2. When one English teacher begins a research project, all English teachers will want to begin a research project. Creative and strategic scheduling is necessary to get everyone into the databases. And heaven help the schedule when we miss a week due to snow!
3. Very few teachers and students remember to use the e-books. Some serious advertising will need to take place next year, as well as staff training so these wonderful resources are used adequately.
4. You can learn to draw anything using You Tube. Several of my students worked on their drawing skills during SMART lunch. The number of ways to draw eyes is amazing.
5. Collaboration with the art teachers means phenomenal artwork to be displayed in the media center. One of the judging criteria: will I grow tired of it after the next ten years? (And in conjunction with this and #4: WOW! This school is FILLED with talented artists!)
6. This is where I have wanted to be for awhile. The wait has been worth it. I love working at this school with its great faculty and students. Arrrrgh! Go Pirates!

Hungry for a Good Book?

Ah, the last 2 weeks of school. This is that wonderful time of year when my days are filled with...

...exams.

Administering, proctoring, monitoring. EOCs, NCFEs, TMFEs, CTE....no matter the acronym, grade level, or duty assignment, it makes for some fairly lengthy days. (Unfortunately, the rules say no reading -gasp!- while exams are taking place.)

However, as I walked up and down the rows of tables, students diligently typing answers for online assessments or bubbling tiny circles with their #2 pencils, my gaze occasionally fell upon the fiction books in the center of the media center. And, then, a title would catch my eye. (For any and all aspiring writers, the title and how it's written on the spine can be very important. Forget fancy fonts...too hard to read at a glance.) Some titles, like Unbroken, The Trials of..., or Zombie ? did not attract much attention. Others, however, had me taking note of their location and returning to them once the testing session had concluded. As a result, I have enjoyed several books I might not have noticed otherwise. (That is the problem with over 22,000 titles: you can't read them all!)

How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles:
I must admit, I had to stifle quite a few giggles since the students had been told by the test administrator to remain quiet. (Testing was still ongoing in the conference room of the media center.) Between the accidental fathering of puppies, the Israeli commando boyfriend, and everything else going on in Amy's life, I couldn't help but smile often during this book. Kudos to Ms. Elkeles for the fabulous voice she created for Amy. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her "How to Ruin..." series.

Geek High by Piper Banks:
Okay. I'll be honest. I had a preconceived notion of what this book would entail from the title alone. Don't you? Maybe a romance between the geek and the most popular kid at school? Stereotypes galore? Well......you don't always get what you expect. Another believable and funny book complete with mostly wicked stepmother, seemingly wicked stepsister, a school dance, the new school blog, and a host of characters who defy or embrace the label of "geek".  This book is also the first in a series so I have more reading to do!

New Books!

Since students are unable to checkout books this close to the end of the year, I got to read the newest books first. (Just one of many benefits to being the media coordinator!) This month's selections were very different from last month, and I'd like to talk a bit about them. First, all of them are realistic fiction (although one has some paranormal activity) with characters who do not fit in with their peers. That sounds like typical teen fiction, but these are not typical plots. In fact, not all the main characters are likable, but all generate sympathy from the reader over some of the things they have to handle in their young lives.

Boys Don't Knit (In Public) by T.S. Easton

Ben Fletcher is not a "normal" teen, thanks to a bizarre set of circumstances and his semi-delinquent friends, Ben must keep a journal (even though he already has a diary in order to stay sane with his slightly dysfunctional family), "give back" to the "victim" of his crime (even though she pelts him with various household items, including hemorrhoid creme tubes), and take a class at the local community center (of which his choices are limited to his dad's auto mechanics class, how-to use Microsoft office, pottery, or knitting). Through the same bad luck that follows him everywhere, he ends up in the knitting class where he discovers a talent to read the patterns and envision the mechanics of getting there. Naturally, however, he must hide this from his father, friends, bullies, and the girl he likes. It's a fun read that is actually targeted to guys.

Still Waters by Ash Parsons

Jason has very little positives in his life, with the exception of his little sister and a fearsome reputation as the guy you DON'T want to mess with. Having spent time in juvie for hitting a teacher and being thought of as "crazy" when he laughed after another student punched him, Jason cultivates this fear from his classmates as the only power he has in life. He takes a job being the "friend" of an incredibly spoiled, wealthy classmate in order to save enough money to escape his abusive father and care for his sister. There is too much that goes on to mention without spoiling the plot as it unfolds. Definitely well-written and worth the read. 

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

This book is told through the point of view of Amber, a teenager convicted of sabotaging her abusive step-father's truck and causing his horrific death, and Violet, a ballet dancer whose best friend, Ori, was convicted of murdering two of the other dancers in their studio. Through the eyes of Amber, we see the events leading to tragedy at the Aurora Hills juvenile girls' dentention center, including Ori's time there. Violet's viewpoint shows there's more to a person than how wealthy and talented she might be. When we learn what really happened the night of the dance recital and what occurred at the Aurora Hills tragedy, we also see the paranormal come into play. Sometimes, all is not what it seems and sometimes it is EXACTLY what it first appeared to be.

Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert

What would you do if your father is looking at the death penalty and it is your testimony that will secure his freedom or put him on death row? And what if you blame yourself for the events leading to that situation in the first place? Then, on top of that, you want to reconnect with the older brother you haven't seen in 10 years who is now your guardian, you are trying to make a bargain with God to keep your life together, and the high school baseball state championship rests upon your shoulder (literally since you're the pitcher). Could you hold it together? Will you tell the truth on the stand? Could you choose between God and your father? Braden faces all of those problems, and has to redefine the way he looks at himself, his family, and his faith.