Middle Schooler's Perspective

For today's post on The Teaching Voice of Mrs. Boyce, I've invited a seventh grade student, Lev Guirel, to share his thoughts on Middle School, in general. I hope you'll enjoy reading his remarks: Middle School is a place that is filled with drama, excitement and also stress. Middle School can be stressful sometimes because there can be times when there are tests, quizzes, and many more stressful activities, but don't forget it can also be very exciting. Sometimes you can enjoy spending time with your friends, having fun in classes, and doing interesting activities as groups or as a class. Middle School is also very often filled with drama. Lots of rumors could often spread, and Middle School is a place where kids spend a lot of time. That means that if some bad rumor spreads through the school, the child might get stressed and might have trouble learning. It is proven that when you are under stress, it is harder to study, and memorize and learn information. This means that school is not just a place where students learn, but its also a place where a lot of teenagers experience their first teenage years.

Author Response

A student quietly entered the library this morning and waited patiently in line for his turn to check out a book. The students in front of him were in no hurry, but this student was! As soon as everyone else had left, he told me, with the widest smile on his face, that he got a response from an author to a letter he wrote and sent a few months ago. Wow--Music to my ears--perhaps one of the most exciting things a librarian could hear from a student! After some discussion, I learned that my student wrote to Darren Shan, author of the Cirque du Freak series that are still so popular with middle schoolers. He's read so many books by this author. He asked the author a question about one of the characters. It's a horror series, so I have managed to stay away from it all these years. Stay tuned. I hope to be able to post the correspondence here in a future post. In the meantime, you can learn more at www.darrenshan.com

Pep Rally

The Friday before our February break always includes an afternoon pep rally. This year was no exception. Because it was also Valentine's Day, we departed a bit from promoting the wearing of our school colors, and encouraged students and staff to wear pink, white or red. Our pep rallies are often linked to our curriculum in some way and are very activity-oriented. This pep rally began with some male teachers shaving their heads and/or facial hair as a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Afterwards, students were involved in friendly team competitions such as a Stacked Hearts Relay or a Snowball Toss. Cheering for friends can be heard way down the hall. For those students who have issues with loud, noisy environments, the library is

open. Over the past few years, more and more students have opted to spend their time in the library rather than the pep rally. The problem is. . .after a short period of time, due to the increase in numbers of students, the library is no longer a quiet refuge from the noise. Hmmmm... need to work on that.

Book Review: Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

It's another day off from school, so I had some time to finish a great book I was reading while I ate a leisurely breakfast this morning. The snow is beautiful, but too many more of these snow days will keep us in school until late in June! Chris Crutcher has got to be one of my favorite YA authors of all time. His books are classic and timeless. I loved his swim team of misfit characters in this book. Their true personalities begin to unfold as the book progresses and the reader becomes their biggest cheerleader. There are actually two stories going on here--one about the high school boys, their challenges, rivalries, and friendships, the other about the adults in the book and how their childhoods have shaped their adult lives and drive them toward helping others. This book has some violence and tough street language, but overall is a very poignant story that will stay with me for some time. If you've read this book, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you haven't read it yet, I hope I've inspired you to pick it up and enjoy it or some other book by this fabulous author. Read more about Chris Crutcher and his books here.

Air Pods

If you want to know any details about the latest technology, just ask a middle schooler! After Christmas break, air pods could be seen sticking out of many ears within the hallways and classrooms of our middle school. I didn't think much about it until I started taking a closer look and asking questions. Students can get permission from their teachers to listen to music while working online if that helps them to focus. I require students to use earbuds if they are watching and listening to video clips from any of the databases they use for research. Rather than pulling out and untangling colorful wires with earbuds at the end, students are reaching for a small white container the shape and size of dental floss. They pull some newfangled-looking earbuds out of the container--a charger, actually--and put one in each ear. Students have synced these with Bluetooth on their laptops, iphones or other electronic device so that they can listen without it being attached to wires. Very cool! These coveted devices sometimes hang from lanyards or fit nicely in pockets. Maybe these ubiquitous earbuds are not the newest technology anymore, and I'll probably splurge for a set of my own one day, but I'm still learning about them--from my middle schoolers. Did I forget anything students? If so, send a comment to let me know!

Scavenger Hunt

One of my classes of sixth grade students needed to get caught up on an assignment they missed due to time constraints in our schedule last week. They learned about lots of print resources in our library to use for conducting research. Many of these resources are older, but are still effective for searching for general information. On the other hand, some of these resources are new and up to date. The assignment was a collaborative "scavenger hunt" with several questions that needed to be answered using the books. It was wonderful to see students able to find the information they needed in the books. We are so quick to turn to the Internet with all of our questions when sometimes it is just as convenient and easy to grab an atlas, encyclopedia or almanac to learn about other people, places and things. The buzzing of their voices as they read to find the appropriate print resource and information to answer the questions

was music to my ears. Some students even veered from the topic at hand and browsed these nonfiction resources, learning random and interesting facts. It is my hope that these inquisitive sixth graders will return to the nonfiction section of our library and take the time to read more about a favorite topic, whether for research or just for fun.

Snowy Day!

It was snowing when my alarm woke me at 5 a.m. this morning. After two consecutive snow days last week, followed by the weekend, I was more than ready to head back to school to review content with my middle school students and to re-connect with colleagues. But, this winter weather was relentless. When my cell phone rang at about 5:15 a.m., Andy, our districts' Director of Transportation and one of my favorite voices to hear first thing on a snowy morning, announced that our schools would have a two-hour delay. This gave me an opportunity to finish reading the book I started last week and to do some cleaning that didn't get done over the weekend. The drive to school was a bit slower than usual and I arrived just before our students. The library was in full swing this morning! Lots of students were returning books and looking for recommendations for their next books. When my first group of students arrived, I took the opportunity to share with them a few more online resources they could use for research. Previously, I shared some subscription databases and demonstrated for them how to create their own accounts. Today, one of the free databases that I introduced them to was Digital Maine Library. Check it out. One of the most relevant and useful databases to be found in this vast collection is Novelist K-8. According to their description, it is "Created especially for children and the adults who work with them. It helps kids find books that are just right for their reading level and interests. Parents, teachers, and librarians can also find tools to teach with books and engage young readers." When students don't know what book they want to read next, they may experience a lag time in their reading or give up all together. I use this great tool often to show students how they can independently look for their next great book to read.