Schools : Let's celebrate School Libraries Month !

credits : Chris OBrien

http://www.chrisobrion.com/

"Without libraries what do we have? We have not past and no future."

Ray Bradbury

No it's not about public libraries. However they very important in our city. It's about school libraries.

School Library Day US

http://www.ala.org/aasl/slm/2015

Every October school librarians - United States is in April - are encouraged to create activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in a students education and career.

International School Library Month

http://iasl-online.mlanet.org/

Throughout October, every year, the world celebrates International School Library Month, the perfect time for students to visit their own school library and browse through the hundreds of books and e-books available.

October is the International School Libraries Month. In Portugal, schools celebrate SLM on 26 October 2015. This is the reason I am writing today about the SLM, thinking in all students and school libraries that will be celebrating it on the next Monday.

The SLM theme 2015 is "The School Library Rocks"

credits : Peter H. Reynolds

http://www.peterhreynolds.com/

International School Library Month allows those in charge of school libraries around the world to choose a day, week, or the entire month of October to celebrate the importance of school libraries.

The first International School Library Day was celebrated on 18 October 1999, with the theme, "A Day in the Life..."

The change to International School Library Month was approved by the IASL Board in December 2007.

Kids reading at school library, Canada

http://img.radio-canada.ca/

Education:

"There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing."

Isaac D'Israeli

Activities :

You will find some suggestions to celebrate this day on my post International School Libraries Day 2015 (my blog to Portuguese students and teachers)

However the ISLM is organizing special activities. There is information on the ISLM website to help you. Take part in one of the special activities :

• ISLM Bookmark Project

The ISLM Bookmark Project involves matched schools making homemade bookmarks - be creative - to exchange with each other.

This year Marie O’Brien of Australia and a team of her school colleagues will co-ordinate the 2015 Bookmark Exchange Project and Skype Project.

Aim:

The Bookmark Exchange Project is a simple, fun way of sharing the pleasure and delights of books and libraries and of making new friends through school libraries worldwide. If you and your students did not get involved last year perhaps you will this year.

You might wish your students to communicate with each other as you make your bookmarks so that they can learn something about another culture and a different way of life. 

If you don’t want to do either of these things you can simply just swap bookmarks or devise your own activity.

You will be able to register your interest by entering your details into a Google Spreadsheet

If you are unable to use the spreadsheet you can email Marie O'Brien. Register for the project, using either the Google spreadsheet or by email, as soon as possible. For detailed information, visit the ISLM Bookmark Project.

ISLM Skype Project

• ISLM Skype Project

Would your students like to talk to others in a far away country during ISLM2015? 

Join in the fun! If you would like to be part of the Skype Skype Project, complete the Survey Monkey form to receive a possible match for your school.

If you experience difficulties completing the form or have any queries please contact Marie for assistance.

• What people are doing for ISLM 2015:

You want to submit your school activities for the ISLM ? Send in your submissions for What people are doing for ISLM 2015 by email to the IASL Secretariat.

For detailed information, visit the ISLM's activities page

Deadline : November 15th 2015

By country : 

You would like to know what other schools from you country are doing? After the deadline, the ISLM website will publish.

Other activities:

In Portugal we have a different activity using social networks. I like it a lot.

Tweeting in SLD

Teachers invite students, parents, other teachers, and school staff to write a #tweet (140 characters) about the importance of school libraries. They will be published at the Twitter school/class account using the hashtag #IMSL15

The best tweets of each class/ group will be delivered to the school librarian. The school librarian choose the most creative to publish on the school library website.

My thoughts:

School libraries in the XXI century must have the books, e-books, e-readers and tablets in order to motivate the new generations.

School libraries meet the needs of all kind of learners. Never forget children's preparation to use e-books, especially the students from disadvantaged social backgrounds or having special needs.

Integrating digital literacy as critical elements for education (all levels) is essential to keep our students happy and captivated at the school libraries.

As I already wrote on this blog, implementing these new digital books is about more than just jumping on the latest technological bandwagon or attempting to reinvent the library and printed books in order to stay relevant.

Le Petit Nicolas pop-up

http://www.babelio.com/

School libraries must be prepared to introduce innovative devices without forget the enchantment of printed books. The smell of paper, the illustrations, some pop-up for the younger readers, the pleasure to touch or turn the page. Just beautiful gestures that we must keep.

Teachers must be innovative of course. So printed books and e-books are both welcome.

School libraries are integrating learning spaces that values connections between home, school, community, and the world.

Encourage students to be creative and never let them lose their sense of wonder. So let's keep reading all over the year in the classroom, encouraging our students to become lifelong avid readers.

"To build up a library is to create a life. It’s never just a random collection of books."

Carlos María Domínguez

G-Souto 

25.10.2015

Copyright © 2015G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Let's celebrate School Libraries Month ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

October rundown of the most read posts : resources

screenshot Pottermore

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/

Harry Potter fans were counting down to last Friday. Just in time for Halloween, Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling published a new essay one of her greatest villains: the Hogwarts professor and witch, Dolores Umbridge. 

She was introduced to the world of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when she taught Defense Against the Dark Arts to Harry and his schoolmates.

screenshot Pottermore

https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/

It follows a string of new Potter material released by Rowling this year via Pottermore.com. In July a fake news story about the Quidditch World Cup that gave an update on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, a snarky World Cup liveblog from the notorious Rita Skeeter, and a deep look at the singing witch Celestina Warbeck.

I could not write about the Umbridge new story Umbridge new story on October 31. But I published the news on my Facebook page.

It's the end of the month and as I do every month I have put together a list of the most popular posts of the month. You will find posts written in English, French and Portuguese.

Here my list of the most popular posts of the month:

Apps in Education: Photomath, the dream for students

Are you read to code at school ? EU Code Week 2014

World Teacher's Day : Respect4Teachers 

Teaching Great Women in Humanities & Science 

Dr Jonas Salk, the scientist & inventor of Polio vaccine 

Let's Celebrate School Libraries Month, reading!

Catching the Orionid Shower : Science curriculum 

Concurso Literatura Portuguesa: Achas que sabes ler?

Education : Are you ready to code with Dr Who ?

Et voilà l'art ! Google doodle à l'école 

Hope you had fun on Halloween. The winter is back after a sunny and warming October, we had a chilly Halloween suddenly. A spooky Halloween poem?

The skies they were ashen and sober;

      The leaves they were crisped and sere—

      The leaves they were withering and sere;

It was night in the lonesome October

      Of my most immemorial year;

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

      In the misty mid region of Weir—

It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. (...)

Edgar Allan Poe, To -- -- -- Unalumed : A Ballad

Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you have time for something fun too.

I'm back to posting the normal roundup this week.

G-Souto

02.10.2014

Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

October rundown of the most read posts : back to school by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : October rund down of the most-read posts

credits: Corbis Bridge / Alamy/Alamy

https://static.guim.co.uk/

"Finding mutual respect for kids is important. We are all teachers, and we are all students."

Marc Prensky

This rundown of the most-read posts of October is a bit late because I have been at Brussels (Belgium) to participate at a seminar, last week. But here I am.


I am glad for sharing Marc Prensky's quote that I found on Twitter, reading and tweeting this morning.

The readers of my blog know that the quote identifies the way I always teach and the values of my pedagogical proposals introduced in school curricula to my students.

And yes, indeed, we are all teachers and we are all students. I wrote it  in different posts sharing with you throughout the years on this blog my attitude in education.

I believe and practice the differentiation as a value too by focusing on individual identity of my students. 

They are free to be creative by discovering, learning, discussing. And I am there as a facilitator or a tutor, sometimes as e-tutor, just the sufficient to let them comfortable in their learning and research. Finding mutual respect for kids is essential. 

The classroom must be an open window to the world. Students must feel free to talk and share ideas about all the subjects they care about, in and around every curriculum.

October rundown shows the diversity of subjects and some of my values in teaching, and summarize the most-read topics in a collection of six posts.

As you already know I write in English, French, and Portuguese on this blog:

Le jour le plus court

credits: ARTE TV

ARTE, le jour le plus court, un défi en cours. A l'occasion du "Jour le plus court" initié par le CNC le 21 décembre 2012, Court-Circuit propose un nouveau concours de courts métrages ouvert à tout public.

Le jour le plus court de l'année est sur ARTE le jour des courts métrages. Cette année, le magazine Court-Circuit organise alors un concours de courts métrages sur Internet.

Le court métrage doit être réalisé sans paroles ou en langue française, achevé après le 1er janvier 2009 et sa durée n'excèdera pas 2 minutes. La bande annonce du concours est disponible sur le site Arte.TV

Le jour le plus court

credits: ARTE TV

ARTE sollicite cette année la créativité de tous, à partir de 18 ans, pour accompagner cet évènement, en organisant un concours de courts métrages sur le thème "21/12/2012, le jour le plus court". 

Et le 21/12/2012 n’est pas seulement le jour le plus court de l’année, c’est également celui de la "fin du monde" selon différentes rumeurs, dont notamment  celle inspirée de l’interprétation du calendrier Maya. 

Apocalypse ou nouvelle ère ? Les possibilités d’interprétation sont nombreuses… 

Éducation:

Faites place à la créativé de vos jeunes étudiants, âgés de plus de 18 ans! À eux l'expérimentation: idéaliser, créer, devélopper, enregistrer, réaliser une vidéo, suivis de près par un professeur attentif, réceptif aux idées des étudiants. 

Les vidéos doivent être claires, de qualité, et riches en contenu. Là, peut-être le rôle du mentor|professeur.

Pour améliorer la motivation des étudiants, le professeur enrichit le curriculum. L’enrichissement du curriculum consiste essentiellement à donner plus de responsabilités et d’autonomie, à confier des tâches plus complexes, à permettre à chacun de construire une expertise.

Et voilà le résultat! Les étudiants s'investissent profondément dans des projets dont ils sont les créateurs. Et les professeurs se sentent réalisés dans son objectif. 

Nous avons tous nos domaines de compétence dans lesquels nous excellons. Partageons-les afin qu'ensemble nous élargissions notre savoir par le partage et de nouvelles connaissances que souvent nos élèves nous apprennent !

Pathways to a Culture of Peace

https://wa1.www.unesco.org/

“Through education, we teach children not to hate. Through education, we raise leaders who act with wisdom and compassion. Through education, we establish a true, lasting culture of peace,” 

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General UN

Global Contest for Mutual Understanding is a contest launched at the international level through UNESCO’s networks and partners. 

digital education

https://ec.europa.eu/

Education:

Young participants of the contest are invited to express its experience of how peace and non-violence are or should be produced and reproduced day after day in various environments, what has come to be termed everyday peace.

In a world in complete change, young people have a relevant voice to demonstrate their critical thinking and some ideas about a new intercultural dialogue, interconnectedness, capacity building, in order to innovate the society and build a different world  through important values as Peace and Culture.

Works must express the views of young people based on the following “Peace Cloud”:

Peace wordlest

https://wa1.www.unesco.org/

Wow! Just do it! Start working with your students! You have a month to create amazing contributions.

“We want children and youth to have quality lessons. And we want to strengthen their core values.”

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General UN

https://www.iasl-online.org/

Throughout October, every year, the world celebrates International School Library Month, the perfect time for students to visit their own school library and browse through the hundreds of books and several e-books available to them!

International School Library Day was proclaimed by the IASL President, Dr Blanche Woolls, in 1999 and reaffirmed by the IASL President, Peter Genco, in 2005.

Education:

"We should teach great books; we should teach a love of reading."

B.F. Skinner

Some Suggestions:

Let's begin our lesson today watching with our students this awesome animation about books...

Of course, you must not forget The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. 

And then you can find some other activities that I have included on the post here.


Some conclusions:

In their efforts to implement e-books, school libraries face a set of challenges that differ from those confronting their public and academic counterparts. 

At the school libraries around the world are continuing to look forward to a future rich with ebooks.

School libraries are integrated learning spaces that values connections between home, school, community, and the world.

Flexibility, creativity and the ability to question are some of the most important transferrable skills that children and young people will need in the fluid, changeable and unpredictable world of work they will emerge into when they eventually leave school. So pay attention at the front!

Zoe makes a splash

https://ec.europa.eu/

It's Saturday morning and as usual Zoe is getting ready in the bathroom. 
She has combed her hair and is brushing her teeth. 
She doesn't see that the tap in the bath is running. (...)

Environmental App for Education presents Zoe makes a splash! a new App developed by the Environment Directorate General of the European Commission.

The European Commission has launched this environmental app that can be downloaded to Apple and Android devices. 

This interactive storybook is for Teachers & Parents to use in the classroom or with your child (target group 7-11) to learn about the importance of water in our society, how to use it in moderation, the impact of polluted water on wildlife and habitats and the benefits we get from clean water.

screenshot app Zoe makes a splash

https://lh5.ggpht.com/

Education:

Here I am talking again about Environmental education that is a cross-curricula subject. Schools have an important role promoting environmental education as a Civics value across all school curricula.

All teachers must be "green" in the classroom and help the new generations to involve in educational projects, national or international, about Environment.

I have already published a good number of posts on this blog about Environment & Education along the years. You can read them searching about Environmental Education.

For years, I shared my "green" values with the students in Languages & IT curricula.

I hope that the app in your lessons at school gives you some inspiration for projects and actions about Environment.

Young students will have fun finding the story and will learn about how they can save the environment.

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."

Rachel Carson

https://europeangreens.eu/

"Rampant poverty, which has festered for far too long, is linked to social unrest and threats to peace and security. On this International Day, let us make an investment in our common future by helping to lift people out of poverty so that they, in turn, can help to transform our world."

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, message

for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

The Hard Times Generation: children's rights: Austerity measures widen gap between rich and poor. That is a fact. Every day, in our city we cross homeless people, we know someone that lost his or her job, even the home family.

"Of the 925 million people suffering from chronic hunger, 98 percent live in the developing world. Unlike famines that receive emergency-aid, chronic hunger is a silent, invisible, day-after-day condition."

"When you get up in the morning and don’t know where to go, with nothing to feed your children, that is violence. When you have to fight others to defend the little you own, that is violence.”

A mother from Haiti

Unfortunately, this is no longer a mother's voice of an underdeveloped country. We know that poverty and hunger are disseminated too in developed countries. I wrote about it on my post Child Poverty in Develped Countries.

https://overcomingpoverty.org/

"Extreme poverty destroys the lives and spirit of people; it kills more children, young persons, and adults than any war. Every day, people living in extreme poverty are challenged and threatened by lack of food, shelter and access to essential services. They endure hazardous working conditions and live in precarious, degraded, and insecure living environments."

"As debates rage on austerity measures and social spending cuts, a new report reveals the extent of child poverty and child deprivation in the world’s advanced economies.

Some 13 million children in the European Union (plus Norway and Iceland) lack basic items necessary for their development.

Meanwhile, 30 million children - across 35 countries with developed economies - live in poverty."

UNICEF (Brussels, May 29, 2012)

As chidren across the United Sates, or Canada, and other developed countries in the world.

How can we build a just and peaceful society to the "hard time generation"? 

For some children, socializing and learning are being cruelly complicated by homelessness. And we have this reality in our classroom among some our students!

On this post I had no pedagogical ideas. I only wanted to share with you some messages: 

Child Poverty at a Time of Crisis (UNICEF) 

Pupils speak out about UK child poverty 

Hard Times Generation: homeless kids (Florida children - USA).

Only by listening to chidren living in extreme poverty, can we learn from their courage, experience and knowledge on how to achieve a peaceful world for all. 

Ultimately, the social transformation that is needed to achieve a peaceful society can only be achieved through the active contribution of everyone, regardless of where we live, or our social and cultural background.

But. let's finish this rundown with a beautiful message. International Music Day: let's play the music! 

via Google images

"Music has a power of forming the character and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young."

Aristotle

The IMC was founded in 1949 at the request of UNESCO as a non-governmental advisory body on musical matters. It currently comprises national music committees in 74 countries on all continents as well as 34 organisations representing most fields of musical activity. 

Músicos Inesperados | Porto (Portugal)

credits: Casa da Musica

Education:

Children and young people from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, to make music with others, to learn to sing or to dance, to have the opportunity to progress to the next level of excellence.

"Music should be a very solid part of the education of young children."

Sir George Martin

As I wrote already on this blog: "Music has the potential to achieve social and psychological transformation of children and young people. Their sensibility will be accurate. We must never waste such an opportunity as teachers! Captivating the major interests of our students about Music."

Music, as you can read on several posts, is fundamental in Education of young people.

Jan Lisiecki
via Facebook page

Remember my  post about the young pianist Jan Lisiecki. He is 16 years old, "recognized around the world for his poetic and mature playing", he is already recording for Deutsche Grammophon and he is performing with the best orchestras in famous theaters from different countries.

When we are lucky to study Music and Humanities for example (this is my case), we understand so well the importance of music in our education, in our life, even we are teaching Languages or IT. 

As I, many teachers studied Music or just love music. Some of us feel comfortable to speak about Music in different curricula. So, let's do it!

You must try to talk about Music in the classroom, no matter the curriculum you are teaching. Let your students listen some Music as part of the curriculum.

No matter the kind of Music. Pop or classical. It will depend from the students you are teaching. 

You will feel the enthousiasm of your young students about music!

Músicos Inesperados | Porto (Portugal)

credits: Casa da Musica

Some thoughts:

The holistic immersive approach of Music - classical, electronic, pop, rock, hip hop - and the engagement of important and experienced musicians is central to achieving significant transformation, particularly to the lives of the most vulnerable children.

"High quality music education enables lifelong participation in, and enjoyment of, music, as well as underpinning excellence and professionalism for those who choose not to pursue a career in music."

Department for Education (England)

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, and life to everything… Without music, life would be an error."

Plato

I really hope that you will enjoy every pedagogical proposal written in October (here are more) or will discover some new pedagogical ideas to include into your lessons.

I thank you all the colleagues from around the world that kindly read my blog and are shy to become followers.

G-Souto

14.11.2012

Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : October runddown of the most-read posts by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.