All posts by Abby

Storytime

Nerves

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Storytimes start again today, and I’m ridiculously nervous.

I’ve done this particular storytime (Toddler ~ Babies) before; I know more than half of the kids and parents who will be attending; and I stayed a half hour late on Saturday and got to work a half hour early today (off the clock, of course) to do prep work.  And, as usual, I did prep work yesterday (Sunday), and when one of the books I’d planned on using was sub-par, Jim drove me to the library at Patriots half time to pick up a different book.

There is absolutely NO reason for me to be nervous.  But I am.  Wish me luck!

Etc., Teaching

How I know summer’s really over…

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…I started tutoring again last night. 

It was great to see M. again (she’s my only student this year, with two lessons a week), and to have my ego pumped by finding out how much she disliked working with another tutor up at their summer home these past couple of months.  (Let’s face it: we all like to have our ego pumped up.  It’s part of being human.)  And I’m happy to report that tutoring on Monday and Wednesday nights feels much more manageable and sane than last year’s Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday schedule.  It’s a good feeling to do my tutoring gigs at the beginning of the week, when I’m fresh – or at least fresher.

The interesting side of my lesson with M. last night was discovering that her Wilson tutor for the summer didn’t faithfully adhere to the Wilson lesson plan and techniques.  A bit puzzling, considering that when I got certified in Wilson (in the summer of 2001), my trainer was extremely strict about following the structure of the Wilson Reading System to the letter (so to speak).  No deviations were allowed.  Period.  If we trainees didn’t follow the system, we wouldn’t get certified. 

And then I find out that M.’s summer tutor deviated in odd ways from the Wilson system.  For example, this tutor wouldn’t let M. see the sound cards in the decoding Quick Drill; M. told me that the tutor “hid the cards” from M. and simply asked her “What are the keywords for ‘a’?”  Wait a second – what about the sound/symbol connection, Ms. Summer Tutor?  Don’t you realize that is a hugely important part of teaching a child with dyslexia??

Ms. Summer Tutor also didn’t have M. write down any sounds on her dictation pages – once again demonstrating a clear lack of understanding of how the WRS works.  And Ms. Tutor didn’t have M. set up her own dictation pages, but instead used the pre-made dictation forms that can be downloaded from the Wilson website.  I feel the student’s setting up of her own dictation page is incredibly important, as it both builds a sense of being a partner in her own education, and also helps the student with transfering information from one page (the dictation template) to another (the actual dictation page) - a skill which comes into play when trying to copy information and assignments from the teacher’s whiteboard to the student’s notes. 

Another deviation that Ms. Summer Tutor made was to completely and totally skip the Step 10 Posttest.  This tutor simply moved M. on to Step 11 without confirming that M. had mastered the concepts of Step 10.  Wait a second.  The Wilson Reading System, as I was taught it, is all about achieving mastery and fluency.  There are firm guidelines for grading the posttests to ensure that the student has mastered all of the taught concepts and is fully fluent in decoding and encoding words with those concepts.  If the student fails the posttest, review of the step is required before moving on to the next step.  Skipping the posttest isn’t an option.  Most interestingly, Ms. Summer Tutor sent me an update saying that substep 10.5 had been introduced but not mastered, and that substep 11.1 also had been introduced.  So it was a conscious shirking of the mastery and fluency rules.  What’s up with that??

It’s disappointing to me that a parent looking for a Wilson tutor has to know how to ask all the right questions, and can’t simply depend upon the tutor having official Wilson certification.  I take my role as a Wilson certified tutor very, very seriously, and I don’t invent things or change things.  Barbara Wilson spent many years and much research developing this system, and it works.  Don’t mess with it.  In not messing with the WRS, I’ve had a great deal of success teaching students with dyslexia and other language based learning disabilities.  Other Wilson certified tutors should have respect for Barbara Wilson’ s work, and not mess around with what she spent years perfecting. 

Wow, I sound like some sort of cult member.  But seriously, my many successful students prove my point, and justify this soap box moment of mine.  And now I’ll step down from that soap box.  Thanks for listening!!

Storytime

Again?

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Now that I’m about to start back up with the Toddler Storytimes (a week to go and counting…), I’ve been going back to the first lesson plans that I created last year.  And, well, they’re substandard.  That is to say, by the end of last year I’d worked out a nice system for these storytimes, and I’d gotten rather picky about the quality of my felt pieces for the feltboard stories.  These early plans just don’t measure up to the standards that I had set once I got in the flow of the toddler storytimes.  And thinking back, I didn’t even have a feltboard on which to tell feltboard stories at the very beginning of last year.

So I’m kind of starting all over with these early plans.  Reselecting books to use and recommend (I’d made some lousy choices early last year), redoing felt pieces, rewriting the handouts that each child receives at the end of the storytime.  Granted, I’m much more experienced with the whole system now, and thus am able to speed through the preparation process much more quickly, but…I had sort of thought I was done with this when school finished last June. 

If I’m honest with myself, these toddler storytime lesson plans and handouts and materials will never really be finished.  The more I do the storytimes, the better I’ll get at them, and I’ll have to tweak my resources to reflect my increased knowledge and experience.  Which isn’t a bad thing: these storytimes will only be good if I’m truly engaged in them, and I won’t be engaged if I’m just regurgitating a plan I wrote two or five or ten years earlier.  Not to forget that there are great new books being published each year that should be considered for use either as the books that I read to the group or for the quiet time reading between parents and children. 

Just like any job, it’s tempting to get settled into a rut and not put forth the effort that one did at the very beginning.  But that type of work ethic doesn’t do anything for the quality of your job performance, nor does it bring much personal satisfaction for a job well done.  So I’ve come to peace with the reworking of these toddler storytimes.  Actually, I might be enjoying the planning process more this second time around.  And now I think it might be time to make those felt pieces for that first storytime of the year, the “Babies” storytime.

Summer reading

Bookplates

This summer (my third at the library, and the third summer with the hybrid summer reading program that I implemented), I noticed a definitive switch in thinking among the kids who participated in the reading program.  Though I bought a large selection of high-quality, fun toys as prizes, more and more kids were focused on earning a bookplate and not on earning prizes.  Many parents told me that their kids really wanted to earn a bookplate, and had set goals for themselves.  Some kids just wanted to reach that thirty hour benchmark, while others wanted to exceed their hourly reading total from the previous summer.  And a few others wanted to have the highest hourly total of all this summer’s bookplates.

Another trend this summer that I found fascinating was that many kids didn’t bother to come in to collect any prizes until the last two weeks of the summer reading program.  These kids truly didn’t care about the toys that they could earn, but were concentrating their reading efforts on getting The Bookplate.   At the six week mark for summer reading, there were only about 3,500 hours logged on to our system; many of the kids who participated had not yet come in to have us enter their hours into the computer.  Now, after the conclusion of all eight and a half weeks of the reading program, there are 6,905 hours logged in – a clear demonstration of how the focus in town has shifted from what you can “get” to taking pride in your reading achievements. 

Most importantly, when kids have come in to select the book in which their bookplate will go, 98% of those kids have chosen a book that they have already read and love: a book that holds meaning for them.  Yesterday I gave up on the book cart full of new books for kids to choose from, putting all of those new books out on the shelves, because only a handful of kids had wanted to consider a new book for their bookplate, let alone choose a new book. 

What does this all mean?  It means that the kids who participate in the summer reading program are now more excited about the act of reading and about the books they read than they are about what toys they can bring home with them.  They are thinking long and hard about the legacy that they are leaving in the library when they choose the book that will hold their bookplate; when someone else checks out “their” book, they know that the unwritten subtext of their bookplate says something like, “I am John, and I loved this book.  I recommend it to you.”  And they are also leaving markers for themselves in the library.  Many kids went to the stacks to look at their bookplate from last year, and smiled at the book that they had chosen a year ago.  As the years pass, they’ll be leaving a trail of books that show their growth as readers from one year to the next.

I remain deeply indebted the Massachusetts children’s librarian who so generously gave me this bookplate idea.  Thank you, thank you, thank you – it’s the best part of our summer reading program.

[And, for the record, this year I decided that I should put a bookplate of my own into a book, since for three summers now I have also read the prerequisite thirty hours.  I chose The Emerald City of Oz, and put into it a bookplate in honor of my mom, since she always bought Oz books for me from the teahouse in Wenham.]

Book groups, Children's literature

Angie Sage

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I posted several entries in July about the letters that the 5th grade book group members and I wrote to Angie Sage, author of Magyk and its sequels.  I told the girls in the book group to not get their hopes set on an answer from Ms. Sage, since she’s a bestselling author and lives in England, and because the letters had to be mailed to Ms. Sage c/o her publisher, since I couldn’t locate an address (either real mail or email) for her anywhere.

But Angie Sage rocks, let me tell you.  Not only is she a great author, she’s also a kind and intelligent person who took the time to write three separate letters (one to me, one to G., and one to P.), each letter specifically addressing questions and comments made in the letters we sent to her.  For example, in her letter to Ms. Sage, P. asked how Ms. Sage was doing, and added that she was probably busy writing.  Ms. Sage answered P.’s question, saying yes indeed she was busy, thank you for asking, and then launched into a long description of the part of her new book (the next in the Septimus Heap series) that she’s currently writing.  Wow.

So far only G. has come in to pick up her letter from Angie Sage, but she was completely and totally thrilled.  Thrilled.  The look on G.’s face as she read the letter – a combination of blissful happiness, awe, and hyper excitement – totally made my day, and I only wish that Angie Sage could have seen it, too.  Thanks, Angie Sage!!  You’re awesome!!

Blog administration

One month

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It’s been one month since my last post – an unplanned hiatus, and a rather long one.  I know it would have been far more polite to have posted a little note saying something like, “This blog will be on vacation for one month,” but, truly, I didn’t really intend to be silent this long.  And, unlike some blog vacations, this hiatus wasn’t because I was burned out, but rather because for once I wasn’t burned out.  Last year was a loooong, tough year, with lots of evening tutoring and seemingly endless hours of my free time spent creating lesson plans for all those new storytimes, on top of the sometimes painful adjustment period of the first full school year in our new on-the-school-campus library building.  Frankly, when July hit and I wasn’t madly making storytime plans, and I wasn’t out tutoring most every weeknight, and school wasn’t in session, I finally took a deep breath and relaxed.  Lots of evening meals out on our deck (when the rain held off, of course) and much needed and much enjoyed quality time with my husband.  Not to forget all those home improvement projects that we indulge in during the summer (our living room is finally painted!  as are our kitchen and our foyer!  woo-hoo!).

So what’s been going on?  Tune in again tomorrow for the first of a series of posts on what happened over the summer, and what will be happening at the library this school year…

Charitable Summer Reading

Donations?

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The past two summers, I’ve sent out emails to friends and family members, asking for people to sponsor my summer reading and make a donation to the library’s summer charity.  I didn’t do that this year, though, partly because it seems gauche to constantly hit up the people I most care about for money, and partly because, well, times are tough and I know that most people are struggling financially these days.

So this year I’m just publishing a general call for donations.  The summer reading charity this year is the World Wildlife Fund, and we will be donating money to sponsor either a manatee, a mountain gorilla, or a polar bear.  The kids in town who are participating in the summer reading program have been voting for their choice of animal (1 vote for every 1 hour of reading), and so far the race is too close to call.  (The library donation to the World Wildlife Fund is generously donated by the Friends of the library.)

I have been keeping track of my reading hours, too, and am currently at 20 1/2 hours.  My goal is to reach 30 hours total.  I have made a personal pledge of 2 dollars for every hour that I read, so if I am able to reach my goal I will make a donation of $60.00 to the World Wildlife Fund, which will be in addition to the money donated by the Friends of the library. 

If anyone would like to make a pledge and sponsor my reading, that would be wonderful.  You needn’t even donate through me or the library; if you feel inclined to make a donation on your own to the World Wildlife Fund, and simply leave a comment here saying that you have done so, that would be terrific too.  Thank you so much for any and all support!!

Library events

Shocked the monkey

I’ve been waiting to write this post until Lisa emails me the photo of Coco and me, but Lisa is on vacation next week, and it’s looking like it will be a while until the photo arrives, so…

Last week the library hosted a terrific show, Hurdy Gurdy, Monkey and Me, with Tony Lupo and Coco the Capuchin monkey.  Tony and Coco are both true professionals, and the show was SO much fun – Lisa and Alyson and I laughed our heads off in the back of the room, and the packed house of kids and parents obviously had a great time, too.

After the show was over, Tony invites kids to come up and have their photo taken with him and Coco (Tony stands between the child and Coco, of course, for Coco’s safety and sanity).  Lisa had brought her camera with her, but we decided that we should hang back and wait for all the children and their parents to get their photos taken before we went up to get ours.

But we waited too long.  Just as Lisa and Alyson and I sidled our way up to the stage, Tony signaled to Coco that the show was over, they were done, time to pack up.

“Oh, wait!” I said, “Can we get our photos taken?  We were waiting until all the children were done…”

“Sure,” said Tony, and he started to refasten Coco’s leash onto her tiny collar.

Coco looked at me with pure, unadulterated hatred, and started to scream her little monkey head off while waggling her tongue out at me.

“Ummm…that’s ok…we can skip the photo,” I said, with more than a little fear.

“No, no, no,” replied Tony, “it’s ok.  She just thought we were done, but it’s ok.”

Coco stopped screaming, but she still shot eye daggers at me.  The photos that Lisa took are evidence of Coco’s hatred of the librarian who  1) couldn’t manage to throw the ball well to Coco earlier in the show – ten feet off target for one throw, and 2) interrupted Coco’s happy routine of being done with work and getting to settle in for a nice nap in her wheeled carrier. 

When Jim heard the story later that night, he grinned devilishly and said, “Ah, you shocked the monkey.”

(But thanks to Tony and Coco for the absolute best show of the summer.  It was a blast, and maybe when I meet Coco again in the spring I can win her over…we’ll see!)

Library events

Just booked…

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Amazingly, though summer is only mid-way done, I’m in the midst of scheduling all of the library’s children’s programs for the coming school year: storytimes, book groups, craft programs, and outside performers.

And I just spoke on the phone with my number one choice for a performer for this year, Alex the Jester, and he has officially inked us in on his calendar.  For those of you who have never heard of Alex, take a look at his website, especially the video of him performing, and you’ll see why children’s librarians all over the state of Massachusetts write rave reviews about his shows.

Since I know we’ll quickly be at capacity for Alex’s show, I won’t be revealing the exact date and time yet…and registration priority will be given to residents of the town in which I work.

Those technical details aside, I am THRILLED that we were able to book Alex!

Teens

On teens and communication

My brother has just posted an excellent entry on his blog that summarizes a presentation that he attended on teenagers and how they communicate and use media.  As a children’s librarian in a library that often swarms with teenagers in the after school hours, I found his post to be enlightening and helpful.Â