Poetry Out Loud competition

Orange High School will participate for the first time in the national Poetry Out Loud poetry recitation contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, administered statewide by the Ohio Arts Council. We will have a local competition (similar to our Slam contest) and a student will be selected to represent OHS at the Ohio competition on Saturday, March 16, 2013. The Ohio winner will advance to the national competition in April 2013. Finalists for the national championship will compete for scholarship prizes totaling $50,000, with the national champion claiming $20,000 in scholarship funding. For Poetry Out Loud contest details, please see me! We will have an informational meeting after the Thanksgiving holiday.

13 popular and affordable eBooks

Mashable shares 13 popular ebooks that cost under $3. “Cheap” and “good” are sometimes incompatible terms — especially when it comes to the bargain-priced e-book shops for NOOK and Kindle...Instead of sorting through the misplaced free and low-priced books on your own, we’ve compiled some of the best low-cost options to download on your e-reader."

The best of 2012 lists are starting to appear

The HuffPost has posted their Best Books of 2012 at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/best-books-2012_n_1952748.html#slide=more255755 

I've read a few on the list and have ordered many more for the library. Which books from the list did you read/like???

Author Dan Chaon

On Monday, October 29, 2012 author Dan Chaon had an amazing visit with OHS students and staff thanks to Vikas Turakhia, English teacher, who also invited teachers, students and the librarian from Copley-Fairlawn High School to participate.

Mr. Chaon read from one of his new books (I loved Await Your Reply) and then had a great Q&A with our students and teachers.

October is Information Literacy Month

Governor John R. Kasich has proclaimed October as Information Literacy Month in Ohio. Governor Kasich’s proclamation “seeks to remind all citizens of the importance of the role of all libraries and librarians - academic, public, school, and special - in teaching information literacy, which fosters educational opportunities, economic prosperity, social cohesion, democracy, and quality of life.”
According to the National Forum on Information Literacy, leaders have stated that no other change in American society has offered greater challenges than the emergence of the Information Age society. Being information literate means knowing how to find, evaluate, and use information to succeed in school, work, and society. According to the U.S. Department of Labor SCANS Report, “80% of future jobs will require skill in effec- tively using information.” 

With the Common Core standards, today’s school librarians build not only students' skills in writing, reading, research, and analysis, but also teachers' skills in teaching them. The standards include power verbs such as "analyze," "integrate," and "formulate," that press students toward more rigor and inquiry-based learn- ing. The common core, with its emphasis on explanation, complex text, and cross-disciplinary synthesis, is an opportunity for teachers to collaborate with librarians as co- instructors. Remember, school librarians have been trained as both teachers and librarians. 

Happy Teen Read Week

October 14-20 is Teen Read Week. The theme is "It Came From the Library!" 

Teen Read Week is a time to celebrate reading for fun, to take advantage of reading in all its forms, and to become regular library users. It’s the national adolescent literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. Teens are encouraged to celebrate Teen Read Week at home, as well as at their school and/or public library. Here are some suggestions for Teen Read Week:

• Visit your library and check out books.
• Set aside time each night to read 
• Share your favorite book - post a book review on the OHS Library Catalog
• Go online to learn about new books or authors.
• Join a book discussion group. 

Vote now for the Teen Buckeye Book Award

Voting is open for the 2012 Buckeye Children’s and Teen Book Awards! The Buckeye Children's Book Award and Teen Buckeye Book Award support youth reading and teacher and librarian involvement, and provide young people the opportunity to share their joy of reading by voting for their favorite books. 

Children and teens in grades K-12 can vote for their favorite books from September 1 through November 10. Vote at http://www.bcbookaward.info/vote-nominate/http://www.bcbookaward.info/vote-nominate/.  Classes, organizations, or entire schools may vote together. More information about the Buckeye Children’s and Teen Book Award... 

ACT & college readiness

A recent article in Education Week I came across  titled "Most Students Still Not College-Ready, ACT Report Find" highlights the following:

• 60% of the class of 2012 test takers failed to meet the benchmarks in 2 out of 4 tested subjects
• ACT’s “ college readiness benchmarks” are set to predict a student has a 75% chance of earning a C or higher or a 50% chance of earning a B or higher in a typical first year college course
  
• The output of educator’s focus on college and career readiness is not apparent yet
• An achievement gap was evident among race and ethnicity with the following scoring highest to lowest: Asians, Whites, Pacific Islanders, Hispanic, American Indian, and African Americans
• Students who take a more challenging caseload are more likely to graduate high school and do well on the college-entrance exam
• Some states now force all juniors to take the ACT, raising the question of how hard students try on the test

This article also pointed out that though slight improvements are visible in the areas of math and science, students are still not meeting benchmarks. One of the suggestions that seems common sense but may be overlooked by students, families, and even educators due to graduation requirements, etc. is the fact that having a more challenging caseload increases a student’s chance for success. “For instance, only 8 percent of students who took fewer than three years of math were considered "college ready," where 54 percent of students who took three years or more of math were college-ready” (Adams, 2012, p. 7). The full article is available through the EBSCO online database.

Author Rebecca Skloot is coming to town!

Rebecca Skloot, best known for her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will be speaking at the Cleveland Public Library (Main Library) on Saturday, October 12 at 2:00 PM. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the true story about Henrietta Lacks, who was born in 1920 and lived in/near Baltimore, MD for most of her young life. In 1951, Henrietta developed cancer and unknowingly doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took tissue samples without her or her family's knowledge. She died without ever knowing that her cancer cells would become immortal. Her cells, also known as HeLA cells, continue to grow and regenerate. HeLa cells have helped in the development of major scientific achievements in the past fifty years such as the polio vaccine, in-vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. To this day, HeLa cells are the most widely used cells in labs worldwide. Her book is a fascinating read because of the moral and ethical debate over scientific/medical advancements while also learning about the person and family that has brought us HeLa. More about the author visit...

2012 Ohioana Award

Congratulations to Dave Lucas for winning the 2012 Ohioana Book Award for Weather (poetry book)! This award is awarded by the Ohioana Library, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and promoting the written work of Ohio's writers, artists, and musicians. More about the award...

ACT & SAT test prep help

ACT, PSAT, SAT and AP test preparation assistance is available! LearningExpress Library is a  great online resource available. There are also high school skills improvement practice exercises and online courses, as well as graduate school and military entrance exam practice tests available. Get started today by clicking on the link for LearningExpress Library, and register if you have not yet logged in. If you already have an account, just enter your username/password.

The iPads are here!

Today was exciting! The OHS Library received 20 brand new iPads! We've doubled the technology capacity in the library. Now we have two PC labs, one MAC lab, 16 MACs in the library proper, and now 20 iPads!!!

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year! A new school year, a new blog, and some exciting new resources are available to the OHS learning community. The library is your resource for information and help. Remember to visit the OHS Library web page often.