Alas, it seems like blogger will never return to China - I am using a vpn to access now and have decided to re-start my blog using another provider. It's a shame as I really liked the features offered by blogger but unfortunately there are a number of issues with Google apps in China so better to move to something that works - well hopefully that's the case. I will be starting another Shanghai School Library Slot with Edublogs, so the new address will be http://shanghaischoollibraryslot.edublogs.org/
May take me a day or two to get going so please bear with me.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Monday, 10 August 2009
New school year approaching, new school!
Went in to my new school today to meet the other "newbies" and the senior management. It is so good to be back in an IB environment again. There is just such a different feel, positivity every step of the way, open mindedness...I am feeling inspired again and can't wait to get started.
I will be working with Destiny for the first time and I love it already. The interface is easy to use and very visual for the kids. Our OPAC can be accessed from http://library.wiss.cn I have started to enter a couple of reviews and plan to get some of the upper Primary going on adding some more once term starts.
This will be the first time I have actually started with the other new members of staff, kind of scary to think this is my 4th school in almost as many years. Time to slow down and consolidate some learning in one place now. Previously I have started part-way through a year or slightly after the others like last year so this is a great opportunity to meet everyone at the start and not feel like I am playing catch up all the time.
Plus there is a new library to plan. The space is still being finished and the school director wants CiCi (the Asst Librarian) and I to start visualising how we want the final space to be. Exciting!!
There is to be one glass wall which will open on to a lawn space and I already have ideas about rugs, parasols and deck chairs for some outdoor reading fun.
It will also be a challenge working with Middle School and High School, especially as we are looking at pre-authorisation for the MYP programme later this year. Sure I will be calling on all my colleagues in HK for advice. Luckily the school is still small and one of the new IB English teachers is a Teacher Librarian so I should be able to ask her advice when I need it. We have already had a lively discussion about Graphic Novels, we are both very pro so this is good news.
All in all, a great start to the week. I am going back on Wednesday for the start of the formal orientation and will be immersing myself in the PYP again. Can't wait!!
I will be working with Destiny for the first time and I love it already. The interface is easy to use and very visual for the kids. Our OPAC can be accessed from http://library.wiss.cn I have started to enter a couple of reviews and plan to get some of the upper Primary going on adding some more once term starts.
This will be the first time I have actually started with the other new members of staff, kind of scary to think this is my 4th school in almost as many years. Time to slow down and consolidate some learning in one place now. Previously I have started part-way through a year or slightly after the others like last year so this is a great opportunity to meet everyone at the start and not feel like I am playing catch up all the time.
Plus there is a new library to plan. The space is still being finished and the school director wants CiCi (the Asst Librarian) and I to start visualising how we want the final space to be. Exciting!!
There is to be one glass wall which will open on to a lawn space and I already have ideas about rugs, parasols and deck chairs for some outdoor reading fun.
It will also be a challenge working with Middle School and High School, especially as we are looking at pre-authorisation for the MYP programme later this year. Sure I will be calling on all my colleagues in HK for advice. Luckily the school is still small and one of the new IB English teachers is a Teacher Librarian so I should be able to ask her advice when I need it. We have already had a lively discussion about Graphic Novels, we are both very pro so this is good news.
All in all, a great start to the week. I am going back on Wednesday for the start of the formal orientation and will be immersing myself in the PYP again. Can't wait!!
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
End of the school year
Finally reached the end of term last Friday. Blogger is still blocked in China and looks likely to continue to be blocked for the foreseeable future. Yesterday we also lost Facebook and Twitter so it is getting increasingly difficult to know what will be available.
The last few days of term were spent tidying up and stock taking. It was the first time I have actually done a full stock take and it went surprisingly well. There were less than 40 titles missing in the Library and the staff losses were minimal too. I gave me a chance to really tidy up the database and get rid of all the secondary stock that was moved last year and anything else that I had not re-catalogued at the the start. The database is now in very good shape with everything there and allocated the correct status. If they ever manage to get Oliver up and running at least it will start off with accurate data.
Spent a couple of days doing handover with Emma, my replacement. Great to actually be able to meet the person who will take over for a change. I am sure she will make the Rego Library her own, she has some brilliant ideas.
Even received a couple of orders in the last week. These were ones I had prepared back in December and, of course, they contained some duplicates - things I had bought through Scholastic or at the Book Fair. Still, at least there will be some new stock for next year.
The Final Assemblies were lovely, great for the kids to reflect on the last year. Still one sour note, the acknowledgements for leaving staff were extremely impersonal and apparently I only left Key Stage 1 as I was not even mentioned at the Assembly for the older students in Key Stage 2. It was all a little embarassing as many of my parent helpers were at the second Assembly and were wondering what was going on - not to mention the staff.
It's been a definate learning experience the last 10 months at Rego but I am happy now to be moving back into the IB environment and am lookin forward to joining WISS, Western International School Shanghai.
I met with the PYP coordinator for coffee yesterday and bounced out inspired again. Can't wait to get back to caring, risk-taking and reflecting and being involved in life-long learning.
The last few days of term were spent tidying up and stock taking. It was the first time I have actually done a full stock take and it went surprisingly well. There were less than 40 titles missing in the Library and the staff losses were minimal too. I gave me a chance to really tidy up the database and get rid of all the secondary stock that was moved last year and anything else that I had not re-catalogued at the the start. The database is now in very good shape with everything there and allocated the correct status. If they ever manage to get Oliver up and running at least it will start off with accurate data.
Spent a couple of days doing handover with Emma, my replacement. Great to actually be able to meet the person who will take over for a change. I am sure she will make the Rego Library her own, she has some brilliant ideas.
Even received a couple of orders in the last week. These were ones I had prepared back in December and, of course, they contained some duplicates - things I had bought through Scholastic or at the Book Fair. Still, at least there will be some new stock for next year.
The Final Assemblies were lovely, great for the kids to reflect on the last year. Still one sour note, the acknowledgements for leaving staff were extremely impersonal and apparently I only left Key Stage 1 as I was not even mentioned at the Assembly for the older students in Key Stage 2. It was all a little embarassing as many of my parent helpers were at the second Assembly and were wondering what was going on - not to mention the staff.
It's been a definate learning experience the last 10 months at Rego but I am happy now to be moving back into the IB environment and am lookin forward to joining WISS, Western International School Shanghai.
I met with the PYP coordinator for coffee yesterday and bounced out inspired again. Can't wait to get back to caring, risk-taking and reflecting and being involved in life-long learning.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Blogger and the Chinese Firewall
Haven't been able to post for a while as Blogger seems to have been hit by the Great Chinese Firewall. Basically I haven't been able to read or post anything on my blog or any of the others that I follow. Took a couple of weeks but I have finally found a proxy server that will allow me to read and post. Let's hope this works.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Introducing wikis at Rego
A little while since I posted, time flies so quickly. I have been working on an Award Winning Books topic with my Year 5 students and decided to really liven things up. We are discussing what makes books good, why they win awards and trying to critically evaluate those that have won awards. The wonderful parents are in the process of creating another excellent display, (I'll add some pics when I get a chance), and I have separated out all the award winning books I can find on our shelves.
The last Scholastic order brought a great selection of Newbery Medal and Honor books so there should be enough for the 50 or so students in Year 5. I told them I was going to expect them to do a book review and sure enough there were a few groans...do we have to write it, etc etc.....I decided that a wiki would be the answer. Can't access PBwiki here in China as it is blocked but wikispaces works reasonably well so this week we are off.
So far all the students have done is create their own page using a template I made. For the next few weeks they will be expected to complete a review and start to comment of their class and year mates reviews. One of the Year 5 teachers has really got on board and has started another wiki for his class to record their work, spelling sentences etc..... The kids, of course, are having a ball, adding in profile pics, fancy fonts whatever takes their fancy. I have asked them to be as creative as possible so we'll see what transpires.
The Y5 wiki can be viewed at http://srisprimarylibrary.wikispaces.com/
As the Y5s were so enthusiastic, I decided to try another one with Y6. I have an old wiki that I set up when I was in Hong Kong and decided to adapt it for a Web Research exercise. I have shown the class a video form Answers.com call "Mission Impossible" a guide to safe online seraching. Whilst it is quite American and definately biased towards Answer.com, it does have some valid points, especially about different types of websites which students will encounter, e.g. subjective, commerical etc. There is an exercise where the students research a topic and try to find all the different types of websites so this seems ideal for incorporating into a wiki.
My Y6 class this afternoon were very enthusiastic and can't wait to get started. Like the 5s they have only added a page so far but next week we will look at an example page I have created and get them to choose topics to research. As they are coming up to SATs at the moment, the teacher and I have decided they can have free choice in their topic, less pressure and should make it more interesting. This wiki can be viewed at http://searchingexercise.wikispaces.com/
This is certainly the most fun I have had in the last few weeks. Getting the students interested in reading and research and actually having some new books to offer them makes all the difference.
The last Scholastic order brought a great selection of Newbery Medal and Honor books so there should be enough for the 50 or so students in Year 5. I told them I was going to expect them to do a book review and sure enough there were a few groans...do we have to write it, etc etc.....I decided that a wiki would be the answer. Can't access PBwiki here in China as it is blocked but wikispaces works reasonably well so this week we are off.
So far all the students have done is create their own page using a template I made. For the next few weeks they will be expected to complete a review and start to comment of their class and year mates reviews. One of the Year 5 teachers has really got on board and has started another wiki for his class to record their work, spelling sentences etc..... The kids, of course, are having a ball, adding in profile pics, fancy fonts whatever takes their fancy. I have asked them to be as creative as possible so we'll see what transpires.
The Y5 wiki can be viewed at http://srisprimarylibrary.wikispaces.com/
As the Y5s were so enthusiastic, I decided to try another one with Y6. I have an old wiki that I set up when I was in Hong Kong and decided to adapt it for a Web Research exercise. I have shown the class a video form Answers.com call "Mission Impossible" a guide to safe online seraching. Whilst it is quite American and definately biased towards Answer.com, it does have some valid points, especially about different types of websites which students will encounter, e.g. subjective, commerical etc. There is an exercise where the students research a topic and try to find all the different types of websites so this seems ideal for incorporating into a wiki.
My Y6 class this afternoon were very enthusiastic and can't wait to get started. Like the 5s they have only added a page so far but next week we will look at an example page I have created and get them to choose topics to research. As they are coming up to SATs at the moment, the teacher and I have decided they can have free choice in their topic, less pressure and should make it more interesting. This wiki can be viewed at http://searchingexercise.wikispaces.com/
This is certainly the most fun I have had in the last few weeks. Getting the students interested in reading and research and actually having some new books to offer them makes all the difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
