Working on a job description

Hi all,
Liz Clemow and myself are working today on updating her job description. We are playing around with this blog too.

This blog's future...

Hi all
I set this blog up to provide a place to make the content from the 2009 PD day at Whangarei Boys' High School in August readily available to all participants at that course, and to provide an opportunity for participants to have a go at "blogging" if they hadn't done it before.

From now on I'm going to continue to put posts onto my LibraryZest blog rather than this blog, so I imagine that unless the people who attend the Northland annual sec / area / intermediate school pd days want to maintain this blog, it will go into abeyance until perhaps our PD day next year when we can use it again as a place to make the links to resources and presentations, follow up discussions etc.

Let me know what you think, and if you would like another invitation to the LibraryZest blog email me at jeannie.skinner@natlib.govt.nz

In 2010 things will probably change anyway, what with the various online initiatives which National Library is developing.

Thanks to those who have participated by logging on, writing a post or a comment and even doing a photo... Good on you!

Dylan Horrocks at Whangarei Boys' High School

NZ, comic book writer and illustrator with his graphic novel "Hicksville" at WBHS: 27 August 2009

Photos

I have a Dylan Horrocks photo I would like to post. Does anyone know how I would do that?

An interesting day

Jeannie, I am on to it!! Enjoyed the day at Whangarei Boys High. Not enough hours in the day day to do all the searching I wish to do. Elaine

NZ Book Council Wordspace DVDs

The NZ Book Council has produced some DVDs as a resource for high schools, featuring leading New Zealand writers answering students’ questions about writing. Promote these to your school's English department...

Covering a range of writing genres, the 14 DVDs record video-conferenced discussions between writers and secondary school students around the country. They have proved to be a popular and valuable learning tool for schools, linking with many aspects of the New Zealand writing curriculum.

Here is the link to purchase them www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Shop You can get some great author posters there too... The DVDs are $15 each or $60 for set of 5 DVDs from 2007 (includes Fiction, Journalism, Poetry, Reviewing and Creative Non-fiction, and Scripting and Playwriting).

Speedbooking

Here is the link to the handout I gave you on Speedbooking - hope you give it a go in your school as a way to promote different books to students, limit choice for students who have difficulty choosing, engage students in conversations about books... Let us know how it goes if you do !
http://tiny.cc/Speedbooking

Sophisticated picture books

While I was adding the powerpoints to Google Docs to create the links for this blog I noticed a previous shared Google Docs list on sophisticated picture books which I'd uploaded to share, so I thought I'd add it here in case it is of use, even though we didn't focus on this at the PD day...
http://tiny.cc/Sophisticatedpicturebookslist132

Rosemary Tisdall & the NZ Post Book Awards 2009

Thanks you Rosemary, for your entertaining and interesting perspective on being a judge for the NZ Post Book Awards - always fascinating to hear "behind the scenes"...
Here is the link to the website for the 2009 winners -
http://www.booksellers.co.nz/nzpb_main.htm

Graphic novels

Dee, thanks for sharing your experience in developing the really strong collection of graphic novels at Whangarei Boys' High School - perhaps you'd like to post a list of some of the most popular titles - the "must haves" for anyone developing their collection ?
Meanwhile, here are the contact details for a couple of suppliers in Auckland...

Gotham Comics - ask for Jeremy
264 The Mall, Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand, Ph/Fax: 09 634 4399,
gotham@comics.co.nz http://www.comics.co.nz/contact.phphttp://www.comics.co.nz/nz-comics.php

Heroes for Sale K' Rd
277 Karangahape Rd, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand,
heroes4s@heroes4sale.co.nz
http://www.heroes4sale.co.nz/index.php

Usual booksellers such as Jabberwocky, Borders, Fishpond and Wheelers also stock a range of graphic novels.

Reading connects UK

I've added a link to Reading connects - check out the various resources, links, downloadables...
eg the Reading Connects handbook (Primary and Secondary versions) at http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/readingconnects/res-handbook.html

You can look at these resources online or download them to your computer as a pdf. To download a pdf, right click on the link and then click on "save target as" and select a place to save it on your own computer.

Why it matters that all students are readers

Readers / non-readers – it is not black and white, more of a continuum from basic to fluent – but basic level is not enough to cope with the increasing literacy demands of an information society.

Reading is important for students' educational prospects…

• “Reading ability is the litmus test of academic success at secondary school” Wayne Mills, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland
• ‘Being more enthusiastic about reading and a frequent reader was more of an advantage, on its own, than having well-educated parents in good jobs.’ Reading for Change, OECD, 2002 – reading can overcome socio-economic factors

Reading is important for students' personal enrichment, relationships and enjoyment…

• Competent children at 14 – enjoyment of reading correlated with less risky behaviour, better relationships with family, more engagement with school…
• "The core idea of literature is that we can re-present our lives and imaginations… the shared conversation about who we are or might be, what we think, what we imagine, what we feel...” Michael Rosen

Reading is important for students' understanding of the world and for their life…

• “Reading for pleasure is the key to lifelong learning” Jim Knight, UK Minister for Schools and Learning
• “Finding ways to engage students in reading may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change” OECD, PISA 2002

A couple of great quotes...

"If we believe in the value and power of books, stories, poems and plays, we also have to remember that it will never be enough simply to publish good stuff.
We have to be committed, ingenious, flexible and experimental in coming up with ways of making all that literature come alive for every single child - no exceptions allowed."

Author, poet Michael Rosen

"We don't achieve literacy and then give children literature;
we achieve literacy through literature."

Author and children's literature expert Charlotte Huck.

Library Thing

I've put a link up to our LibraryThing page but just a quick post here to say that I have added most of the books that you brought along to promote - I haven't done tags or ratings so you might like to add those - and any other books you'd like to recommend.
This LibraryThing may not keep going, but it is a place to practice if you haven't set your own account up yet.
www.librarything.com
Our username is secpdday and the password is library

Welcome to this blog

Kia ora
It was a good day at Whangarei Boys' High School today - many thanks to Dee and Angela for their hospitality, and thoughts and best wishes to Rosemary.
The catering was amazing - fresh, appealing, varied and bountiful - please thank and congratulate the school's hospitality students.

So, what have you done as a result of attending the course ? If you've logged on to this blog that is a great start - well done. Now, let's hear what else you have been doing ? Visited LibraryThing and added a book or a rating and tags to the book you brought to the course to promote? Shared Google Wonderwheel or the Kids and Teens directory with staff and students? Bought some new graphic novels ? Checked out some of the Web 2.0 applications ?

I'm going to put some resources and links on this blog and then send it out to you. Let's keep it a closed blog for now, just for those invited and logged in, and then you can feel free to have a go at doing things within that friendly local community...