Welcome Back!

I’m looking forward to continuing and improving my work with the fantastic staff at South Hills.  I hope that you have received my brochure about the library services I provide.  I would like to see an increase in circulation and research this year.  In our research activities, I will be seeking to improve our methods of instruction utilizing the Big6 process in the hopes of instilling in our students greater information skills.  I have materials on that process that I would be happy to share with you.  The library and your librarian are at your service.

Email / 003 South Hills folder
Please be sure to check email at least every day.  Rather than add to your email with all the things and ideas I find and want to share, I attempt to send you one email a week with a link to this blog where I will have a post with all the info.  Take a look at previous posts, too.

Scheduling the Library and Computer Lab
Contact me to schedule time in the library or computer lab.  The library schedule is now online in the 003 folder of email.  There you can view availability and email me your requested time.  To request time you will need to fill out a request form, also in the 003 folder.  The computer lab schedule is still paper-based.  The computer lab has 26 computers.  You need to complete a seating chart for each class you take.  We will have training again that you need to attend before using the lab.

Research in the Library
As I mentioned, I would like to utilize the Big6 method for conducting research.  I feel we are doing our students a disservice when we tell them we are doing research, yet are not really teaching them the research process.  They are not prepared for college level research expectations.  There are some relatively easy things we can do to help them.  They will however, require some extra time; consider whether  you can adequately conduct research in one class.

Fort Worth After School Program
We’re continuing the after school program this year.  Please check that your students are aware of this; there are some great classes being offered.  In addition, the library will be open from 7:30-8:30 on Mon, Wed, and Fri.  I will offer some short tutorials on various web-based technologies and more.   See Mr. Cardoso or Ms. Phillips for more info.

The Newspaper
We do not receive the newspaper.  However, it is available in an online version of the print with the nice capability to pull up individual articles and print them, as well as ads.  Several students came in today looking for a newspaper ( I think they hadn’t done their homework)  You can set up an account with a password for students to access the newspaper anywhere.  Go to http://nie.startelegram.com, set up your account and classes.  Remember the password you set up for each class.  Give students the username and password.  A perfect use of the activboard would be to demonstrate accessing the newspaper, pulling up an article and printing the article.  I will gladly show you what this looks like.

FORT WORTH ISD COLLEGE FOUNDATIONS PROGRAM
http://www.fwisd.org/News/Pages/2009-09-02_collegefoundations.aspx

Art Cyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/

OWL at Purdue
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Occupational Outlook Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco/

http://www.visuwords.com/?word=library

Reverse Dictionary
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml

Resources for Learning
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/index.php
“Resources for Learning, a site from the American Museum of Natural History, is a collection of activities, articles, evidence and analysis and more, for educators, families, students and anyone interested in teaching or learning about science. There are over 1137 resources to choose from.”

FBI History: Famous Cases
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/famcases.htm
“Since its founding in 1908, the FBI has been involved in many famous cases. Inasmuch as inquiries often are received about them, the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs has prepared monographs on some of the most frequently requested, closed investigations. The monographs listed have been made available for your use. You may download them for any noncommercial use without obtaining permission from the FBI.”