Get “All the Feels” With Emoji Booktalks

“All the Feels,” is an expression that has come to mean to experience deep feeling (Grammarphobia).  Identifying genres by the feelings they evoke is a quick and easy way to interest students in a book using this passive display technique.  Pair each book with the emoji of the feels it gives.  Take this a step further, and students create their own emoji booktalks to entice other students to read their favorite book.  

Poetry Every Day. Every. Day.

 Years ago I wrote a Poetry Month article in my School Library Journal column. “As we celebrate Poetry Month,” I wrote, “try reading from the following new titles.”

After it published, Lee Bennett Hopkins, author of more than 100 poetry books, wrote to me. He was unhappy about my promotion of National Poetry Month. In my defense, I didn’t say to only read poetry during poetry month. That was his point: Read poetry every day. Every. Day. 

So let’s do that. Whether it’s April or August. Let’s give them poetry. 

“Give children poetry. It is one of the best gifts you can give them… a gift to last a lifetime.”

--Lee Bennett Hopkins

What are your newest options? 

With the increase of novel-in-verse titles, it’s quite likely that your students are already reading poetry every day. Popular titles include Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover, Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down and Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog. Here are some new award-winning titles you might also consider. You’ll find descriptions at the top of each TeachingBooks book page.

Kent State by Deborah Wiles (YA)

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA)

With a Star in My Hand: Rubén Darí­o, Poetry Hero by Margarita Engle (YA)

White Rose by Kip Wilson (YA)

Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar (MG)

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson (MG)

All He Knew by Helen Frost (MG)

The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling (MG)

CSLF Recognizes Children's book illustrators

The California Library Foundation continues our monthly posts celebrating the children’s book illustrators who have so generously donated their artwork for use on products at The Library Advocacy store,  thereby helping us in our mission to support advocacy for school libraries. (https://www.cafepress.com/csla ). Their work is timeless and inspiring! 

This month’s illustrator is David Biedrzycki. He has written many colorful stories about all sorts of loveable creatures, who overcome challenges big and small. David grew up in the coal-mining town of Taylor, Pennsylvania, and learned the love of reading from his second grade teacher, Mrs. Powell, who found a way to open up the world of illustrated stories to him. It was the spark he needed to see that he could draw and make a living. He began his career, following college by doing work for newspapers, magazines, and ad agencies, and all the while felt that he was having fun!

School Library Programs After the Panademic

Not that COVID-19 will go extinct, but the world is addressing this pandemic and figuring out how to address and live with its aftermath and continued existence at a lower level. Likewise, schools and school libraries need to take this time to reflect on changing practices and how they can most effectively be integrated in the post-pandemic world. 

To this end, we need to examine the practices of teacher librarians and other library workers during the pandemic. What practices worked? What factors facilitated the changing delivery mode? In some cases, teacher librarians have been assigned other jobs: either going back to the classroom or taking on technology functions. In other cases, teacher librarians were busier than ever: curating and introducing online resources for classroom teachers, providing technology leadership through broadening online access and  offering professional development, offering online programs such as guest authors from around the world, developing alternative ways to circulate library materials, and partnering with other libraries and publishers to provide more access to reading materials. 

Request for Nontraditional Certificated Job Descriptions

Our state is participating in the federally funded grant project called SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? (https://libslide.org) The three-year project is examining national data on school librarian employment and how school leaders make the decisions to staff library, learning resources, and instructional technology services for their K-12 students. As a component of the study, a content analysis of school library and instructional technology-related job descriptions will be conducted to learn if and how roles are changing, blending, or morphing with other instructional positions.

• Keith Curry Lance, RSL Research Group, and Deb Kachel, Antioch University Seattle, the project leaders, are asking for job descriptions that are:
• Professional positions related to library, learning resources, and instructional technology for K- 12 students
• Recent or currently in use for school librarians, instructional technology professionals, or related positions that may include some of the work of a librarian
• Full-time or part-time; may be district or school-level positions
• Must include the name of the school district, city, and state on the job description or announcement

Meet CSLA VP of Professional Development Sara Smith

 We would like to introduce VP of Professional Development Sara Smith

Meet Sara

I have been the Teacher Librarian at Sanger High for seven years, and it has been the best job I've ever had.  I get to hang out with books, help all of my colleagues with resources and tech skills, and meet every student on campus.  I have a huge passion for graphic novels, which is evident by the major collection I've curated on my campus. I also read and review graphic novels on my blog, www.graphiclibrary.org.  Other than reading, I enjoy watching HGTV too much, and snuggling with any of my 3 cats.

Vision for CSLA

I want the Professional Development office to encompass a year-long plan with workshops, webinars, and other learning opportunities to benefit our members.  My plan is to have 1-2 webinars a month, 1 workshop, and a playdate.  Playdates are a new learning opportunity President Lisa Bishop had envisioned where members can come and play with a tool, talk about a concept, and just have a low-stakes opportunity to try things out.

Why did you join CSLA?

The biggest reason to join is the networking with other professionals.  I am the only Teacher Librarian in my district at a site, so I don't get a lot of collaboration opportunities other than through the people I know from going to CSLA events.  I now have friends up and down the state of California who I can reach out to and discuss issues or collaborate with.  

Follow Sara

@sm_wordsmith - Twitter