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It’s Standardized Testing Time!
Get your supplies ready…
It’s that time of year, folks.
Buy a whole pack of #2 and sharpen them all, buddy, because we’re doing this for the next three weeks.
Yeah, you heard me right. THREE. WEEKS.
Personally, I think this time of year is my personal version of hell. I have to sit with students for four hours each day, and I literally can do nothing except watch them take the test. I can’t read, write, doodle, sleep, or do anything except watch my kids fill in bubbles. My brain needs mental stimulation and I can’t handle just watching the clock tick for hours and hours over three days of testing and three days of retesting.
Testing in my state (and probably in yours!) bothers me because it’s too much. There are so many stakeholders in education: teachers, administrators, parents, community members, policy makers, and even the students themselves. Because each of these groups are demanding MORE data and MORE accountability, we equate that with MORE tests, LONGER tests, MORE days of pre- and re-testing, and MORE testing security. As a result, we spend at least fifteen days pre-testing, testing, and re-testing our students just for the main test — that’s not counting, ESL, writing, vocational, and high school-level exams. We also devote several hours each morning over fifteen days for school-wide “tutoring” and remediation, in addition to our government-sponsored after school and Saturday tutoring.
Testing is important because we get an individual score for the student, the teacher, the school, and the district. We calculate pass/fail rates, growth, and value added by the teacher. Score are tied to the school improvement plan and goals for the following year. We are constantly shown data and graphs telling us how we rank against other schools in our district. When our school shows up at the bottom of the graph, teachers and administrators are told we aren’t working hard enough. When we are at the top it is assumed that we are doing something right. Everything comes down to the test.
Testing fascinates me because I think we do too much of it. Too much rides on one test, and I don’t believe the test gives an accurate picture of a student’s success. Don’t get me wrong — the scores are definitely useful. They show us patterns and areas we need to target. However, I think we can get these same results with a shorter test. Two hours of math one day, and two hours of reading the next would suffice — no quarter tests. No retests. No four hour testing sessions. While testing stresses the kids out, most of them realize it does not define them as students. Their grades don’t always correlate with their test scores, and they are almost always promoted to the next grade level, even if they fail. We aren’t making our kids pre- and re-test for their benefit, we are making them pre- and re-test so we can force them to get the highest possible score on a very specific test. The adults (teachers and administrators) need the highest possible scores to justify budgets, teacher quality, and policies.
Our students would fare better and learn more if we took back our thirty days of testing and tutoring and put those back into teaching curriculum. If we’d stop teaching to the test, students might actually perform better on the test itself.
Just a thought.
Since I can’t do much else during testing but think, I’ll be thinking a lot about these issues over the next three weeks. I hope folks across the nation are thinking about some of the same things, and that one day we can scale back on our death-by-assessment practices.
So tell me…what do you think of testing? Love it? Hate it? Necessary evil? Do you have to participate in testing? Does it numb your brain like it numbs mine?
Don’t Know Much About…Tenure
I’ve been an educator for five years, which means I have tenure. We actually don’t call it tenure — we call it Career Status — but the basic idea is still the same. In talking with non-educators and educators alike, and also in listening to, watching, and reading various media, it appears that a lot of people are really confused about what tenure actually is and what it isn’t.
Even tenured teachers can’t throw kickballs at their students’ faces on purpose (photo from the movie Bad Teacher, staring Cameron Diaz)
There’s a misconception that tenure means a teacher can’t be fired. They believe that tenure laws allow bad teachers to keep on being bad teachers and nobody can do anything about it because they are floating on a fluffy cloud of protected, elite status. Apparently teachers just work really hard for four years until they are handed a golden key and then they are untouchable.
Not true.
All tenure really does is allow teachers the protection of due process when their job is on the line.
The Track to Tenure/Career Status
(This is all based on how this works in my district, but the general process is the same across the country)
Years 1-4(ish) — For the first 2-4 years of a teacher’s career, he or she is hired on a probationary status. The teacher’s contract is renewed for each year and the teacher can be let go for any reason. There is support given, including a mentor and professional development (whether these actually help is a different story). Probationary teachers are also reviewed more often. In my district, probationary teachers have four observations and follow up reviews each year. These can include a combination of announced and unannounced observations, peer and administrator reviews, a self-evaluation, and formative and summative evaluations.
After four years — The teacher is given career status/”tenure” if she or he has had good performance reviews. Teachers may become probationary for a single year if they move to a new school in the district, or for several more years if they move to a new district or state.
What Tenure Is
Tenure status essentially means that a specific process must be followed to fire a teacher. There must be a specific reason for firing the teacher, documentation must be provided, and a hearing must be held with the school board.
Tenure protects the teacher from being fired without reason. For example, a principal cannot fire an experienced teacher, who makes more money, simply to hire a cheaper new teacher. They can’t be fired based on their political beliefs, sexual orientation, disagreeing with administrators, personal conflicts, or any other arbitrary reason unrelated to job performance.
Tenure does not protect teachers who break the law or codes of conduct, teachers who have poor job performance over time without improvement, or teachers who fail to show up for work on a regular basis. Essentially, tenure protected teachers before employment laws protected all employees, but now they are essentially the same thing.
Why Tenure Gets A Bad Reputation
Tenure gets a bad reputation because bad teachers are still in the classroom. The general public, as well as educators, wants to believe that all teachers could, would, and should be GOOD teachers and all bad teachers should be fired. This is simply not possible — in ANY profession. I would ask professionals of any profession to think about your coworkers and how hard it is to fire an employee at your company. Do people just get shifted around? Does it take six to twelve months to get a person out? Does a manager not see the whole picture of the employee’s performance? The same things happen in education.
Bad teachers are still in the classroom because:
- There are varying definitions of “bad” — A parent may believe a teacher is bad because of issues arising with an individual child. The parent perception of this teacher may be negative, but that does not mean the teacher is a “bad” teacher. There is no such thing as a perfect teacher.
- “Bad” teachers get shuffled around — This happens either because the teacher voluntarily moves around, or because the administration finds excuses to move the teacher out. It takes a while to realize a teacher isn’t performing, and sometimes the teacher has moved on before their poor performance can be documented.
- Due Process takes time — A principal can’t walk in an see a teacher having a bad day and immediately terminate the teacher. The “bad” teaching must occur over time consistently and be documented. The teacher must be notified and allowed to attempt improvement. Teaching is a profession of constant learning, and we have to allow for that.
- The evaluation tools lower the bar — Sometimes the evaluation instruments are too easy. Under these, everyone looks like a good teacher. No one ever gets an “unsatisfactory.” Many school districts have changed their tools to make them stronger and more accurate.
- Administrators are too lenient — Whether from lack of knowledge or assertiveness, some administrators mark teachers as “proficient” even when they aren’t. They also may not follow through on the process of eliminating a bad teacher because it’s too time consuming, they aren’t organized, or they fear the repercussions.
- It’s hard to know what a teacher really does — The only people who really know if a teacher is good or bad are the students and the teacher himself/herself, and both of these are biased. We rely on administrator observations, both formal and informal, to make “objective” decisions about teacher performance. Some teachers teach differently when they know they are being watched…which is a very small percentage of the time. Test scores and grades can’t even tell the whole story.
When “bad” teachers are still in the classroom, the public thinks these folks are being protected by tenure. That simply isn’t the case. There are many other factors in place. Teachers are subject to judgement from such a variety of sources with completely different agendas (students, parents, the public, policy makes, administrators, and other teachers) that the definition of “good” and “bad” is so subjective, anyway. Tenure isn’t a matter of protecting bad teachers, but rather a manner of protecting good teachers from unnecessary termination.
Overall, tenure in K-12 education seems to be a dated concept. Employment laws protect many folks from discrimination, and civil suits can be filed. But I don’t think the system is doing any harm at this point, either. Tenure is not keeping anyone in a job who doesn’t deserve it, those people would still be there without the tenure system due to the reasons listed above.
More Information
What Tenure Is — And What It Is Not (Article from NEA Today)
Pros and Cons of Teacher Tenure from ProCon.org
Nobody Deserves Tenure by Chester E. Finn, Jr. from Education Next
Why Dystopian Lit is So Hot With Teens
I’m not telling you anything earth-shattering when I tell you that dystopian literature is hot in the YA section right now. It’s been super-hot for over a year, and I’ve been in love with it since I learned the word “dystopia” when I was student teaching in 2006. But why has it suddenly exploded? The genre has been around for at least fifty years. Novels like The Giver, House of the Scorpion, City of Ember, and Truesight already existed in kidlit. But the rest of the world didn’t seem too interested. They were off reading about magical boy wizards or sparkling vampires.
All the cool kids are reading it.
But then something happened.
That something was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
In the same way that Harry Potter inspired a surge in fantasy/magical novels and Twilight brought vampires back with a bite, the smash success of Collin’s series has pulled dystopian literature back out of obscurity and into the spotlight.
Historically, most dystopian novels were products of both the Cold War and a fear of technology/the future. These books were aimed at adults. I’m talking about novels such as:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Most of us read at least one of these in high school. But it was never a young adult thing. This is partly because young adult only become a “thing” in the 1960′s, and didn’t gain real traction and credibility until the 21st century. Dystopian novels are dark, political, sometimes violent, and often sophisticated. YA was seen as light and simple. But a few authors decided to write novels that fit within this genre, one hit the jackpot, and it suddenly took off! This may have been a surprise to the general public or the publishing industry, but upon further examination it actually makes a lot of sense that teens would flock to dystopian fiction. Let’s take a closer look at why it works:
1.) Teens are forced to follow rules
The future societies in these books usually live in a world with a lot of rules. The government determines what you eat, what you wear, where you work, who you love, and even when you die. One step out of line and a police officer of some sort is going to take you away. The consequences are strict. Teenagers feel like they live in this kind of world. There are rules at home, curfews, driving laws, high school codes of conduct, and even the unwritten rules of behavior in social and peer groups.
Example: In Matched by Ally Condie, the government chooses who Cassia will marry, what her career will be, what she eats, and what she does with each hour of her day.
2.) Teens are becoming more independent
A major theme of many YA dystopian novels is leaving one’s family behind. Sometimes this is by choice, and sometimes by force, but the protagonist must face the world alone. Though this is a typical feature of young adult novels, it is particularly strong in dystopia. Leaving the family represents rejecting the rules of the society. The choice is tough and the consequences final, but strong convictions override all of that. It’s not a matter of seeking a talisman or falling in love, but more about rejecting a particular way of life…or seeking a better one.
Example: In Divergent by Veronica Roth, Tris leaves her family’s faction of abnegation to join Dauntless.
3.) Teens are questioning authority
At some point in most dystopian novels, the protagonist has the realization that the orderly government is flawed or corrupt. And once a single flaw is discovered, the additional realization is made that there might be additional flaws. The government is not perfect and they don’t know everything. Young adults often start having similar realizations: their parents aren’t cool, their teachers don’t know everything, and even the president makes mistakes.
Example: In Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Lena realizes that love is not the terrible, dangerous thing her government has always warned her about.
4.) Teens Like Action, Romance, and Victory
Nothing fuels teen hormones like passionate make-out sessions in the middle of a life-or-death situation. Dystopias always have action-packed pages. The adrenaline level is high because the fate of the main character is at stake — but also the fate of the whole society. Of course, the protagonist always fights a brave battle, gets the girl/boy, and defeats the bad guy. While this is true of other genres, it’s also a necessary feature of dystopia for capturing the YA audience.
Example: In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss may not always know what she wants, but readers get what they want!
5.) Sometimes, The Future Looks Bleak. But They Want to Fix It.
In this economy, a lot of teens are aware that the future will be difficult. Money is tight, politicians are fighting on the news, and divorce rates are high. They can identify with the political chaos in these novels and the feeling that one person can be at the heart of change. Whether purposefully or accidentally, the protagonists in many dystopian novels are the catalyst for change.
Example: Connor, Risa, and Lev in Unwind by Neal Schusterman.
6.) It’s Realistic
Though set in the future, many of the scenarios presented are possible in next hundred years. Many readers believe that magic, vampires, ghosts, talking animals, mermaids, and zombies aren’t real. For folks who need an element of realism and logic, but fall asleep in contemporary YA, this is their genre.
I would also point out that dystopian YA is largely popular because it’s being read by all ages. Current twenty-somethings read these novels for all of the same reasons listed above because we’re still trying to find our place in the world. But while fantasy and vampire novels might be read for escape or to satisfy the imagination, or romance novels are read as a form of wish-fulfillment, there is also a draw to dystopia that is very “now” and very relevant.
A Sampling of YA Dystopian Novels:
(most are trilogies, but pace yourself and focus on the first one!)
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Delirium by Lauren Oliver
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Unwind by Neal Schusterman
- Matched by Ally Condie
- Uglies by Scott Westerfield
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
- Wither by Lauren DeStefano
- Bumped by Megan McCafferty
- Feed by MT Anderson
- Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien
- Among The Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
And for More Information:
Teenage Wastelands: How Dystopian YA Became Publishing’s Next Big Thing by Scott Westerfeld (author of Uglies)
Author Alison Stewart on YA Books and Dystopian Novels from Penguin Teacher’s Corner
Why is Dystopia So Appealing to Young Adults? from The Guardian, by Moira Young (author of Blood Red Road)
Full List of YA Dystopian Novels on Goodreads (voted by readers)
Sharing Is Caring
I share my library and my collection with an elementary school. I mention it from time to time, but today I wanted to elaborate on this unique situation and how it is a challenge.
So here’s the set-up: two completely different schools, one physical space for the library. The folks who dreamed up this campus thought this would be an effective use of space and a great concept. The folks who put the books in the space and automated the system made a decision to put both collections in the same online system.
Let me break this down for you non-library folks:
- Two schools, with completely different administrations, staff, budgets, and accounts.
- One space.
- And all of our books are in the same catalog. All of our patrons and reports are in the same computer system.
It is a difficult. Even the nicest and sweetest of folks would get frustrated working in an environment like this.
Our shared media center space
(click to see a larger image)
Physical Space
For starters, just sharing the physical space is rough. It would be one thing if we were a true K-8 school where we were all coworkers and a cohesive school with the same mission and the same boss. We are not. There is a constant conflict over behavior expectations of students and staff. Objectively, our problem is not so much in the actual behaviors, but in the perception of what those behavior are and should be. Our middle school teachers are routinely bothered by the behaviors of the elementary students and staff. The elementary teachers are constantly complaining about the behaviors of the middle school students and staff.
Here’s two examples that have happened recently:
- Our middle school boys, on their way to the bathroom, were playfully telling each other to shut up. This offended a kindergarten teacher and her class that we walking in the door, because kindergarteners take “shut up” seriously.
- While I was trying to do a serious research project with a sixth grade class, an elementary teacher was doing a lot of singing, clapping, and cutesy stuff with her class while they checked out books. The teacher I was working with was offended because the class was distracting.
What exactly are we supposed to do in these situations? We utilize teachable moments constantly, but it’s kind of tiring to constantly have to hold eighth grade boys to the standard of being “good role models to the kindergarteners” when it is out of their normal standard of behavior. I can’t write a kid up for saying “shut-up.” The elementary teacher in the above scenario was doing an appropriate activity with her kids to make library time fun. Nobody is “wrong” in these situations, but both sides think the other is out of line and tension results.
I get so tired of trying to anticipate problems and calm people down. I get tired of being the diplomat. I get tired of holding eighth graders to unrealistic behavior standards. I get tired of listening to elementary school activities (I’m sorry — they are cute…sometimes. But I don’t teach elementary school for a reason, y’all).
Our schools don’t collaborate on scheduling AT ALL. Everything is done as if we don’t share the space. Communication is non-existent, and I can’t fix that alone. No matter how much I want to.
Also, another pitfall: everyone has to stay on their own side of the library. The space is basically a large rectangle, divided into two symmetrical spaces by an invisible line. Students can see books that they aren’t allowed to check out. Teachers can see a free, open space that they aren’t allowed to use. We have a huge problems with students and teachers trying to use the wrong computers. And no one seems to understand that the staff is completely different for each school. It’s hard for me to explain that I can’t help them with things because I am not their librarian. I am not a back-up librarian for them, and neither is my media assistant. We are both overly helpful people, but we learned quickly that giving in to this behavior quickly becomes a huge burden and takes a lot of time/energy away from doing our own work for our school.
Shared Database
The bigger problem than the shared space is the shared database. Not a shared COLLECTION, mind you. I buy my own books with my own money and store them on my own side of the library. But our catalog is lumped together as one big school. I can see why someone thought this would be a good idea — with all the books in the same room, it would be way too confusing to have two different databases. However, this causes a lot of problems in reality.
The first problem is in labeling exactly what belongs to which school, both on the physical item and in the computer record. Apparently no one thought about this when they first automated the collection, so this has been done very poorly. Fixing 40,000 items is overwhelming, but it needs to be done. There is no good way to tell if something is owned by the elementary school or the middle school.
Now imagine trying to run reports in that environment. A nightmare. They are always wrong! We have to gestimate who owns what, and it sucks. I can’t get accurate statistics or numbers on ANYTHING. Running overdue notices is tough, too. And fine collection is a pain because it can be hard to tell who the fine is owed to and fines are always sent to the wrong accounts.
It also sucks when the kids search for a book and they don’t understand that it actually belongs to the other school.
The Big Picture
Working in this environment is frustrating over time. My first two years I was very much of the “we just make it work!” mindset. And we do make it work. The frustration crops up more some days than others. Most of the time things move along smoothly. But there is an above-average amount of conflict and confusion. It would take a very special personal to stay in this environment for all thirty-plus years of his or her career, and that person is not me! I guess I’m too much of a control freak.
It’s not the worst situation in the world — far from it. But, given the choice, I would want to work in a media center where I had more control over my space and my records. We’ve cleaned a lot of it up in three years, but it’s only made a dent.
There are positives, of course. I don’t have to worry about purchasing lower-level books, because we are able to use those on a limited basic from the elementary school collection. We can collaborate with elementary teachers and students. I’ve even made friends with some of the elementary school staff. I always have another media specialist to ask questions to and two media assistants around to gain insight from. Our students mostly come from the elementary school, so we can keep up with fines more easily. We have a great sense of community and the media center is always busy with multiple activities, so it is obvious that we have a great space for learning that is essential to both schools.
I just thought I’d share my unique situation to those of you who might be curious. I’d also be interested in hearing about your unique media center or education spaces if you have one! There is no “normal” in education, so I’m sure we all have stories!
Alice 101
So I’ve been talking a lot about the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor lately as I’m re-reading my way through all of the books. However, I figured this series needs a little bit of explanation for those who are unfamiliar with what it’s all about and why I love it SO MUCH. So I’m writing you a post on Alice 101 as a primer on the series.
What Is It?
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor published the first Alice book in 1985, The Agony of Alice. Starting with book #3 (Reluctantly Alice) in 1991, Naylor has written and published one book every single year. Book #24, Alice on Board, comes out this May. The final book, Always Alice, will come out in May 2013.
The series starts with Alice in the sixth grade, and ends with Alice graduating from high school. The final book will tell what happens in Alice’s life in college through age 60. The reading level, length, and content all grow with Alice — so the earlier books are short, typical middle grades books. The later books are longer, more intense YA novels. In Alice’s high school years, there are three books for each year of school: summer, fall, and spring. Alice faces some of the issues herself, but mostly she experience things second hand: teen pregnancy, discrimination, divorce, death, etc.
When and Where
The series started in 1985 and ends in the current day, so some of the early books feel a bit dated. In general, though, Naylor tries to make the story “timeless” so as to appeal to readers for generations to come. Alice lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.
Characters
Though many characters come and go from Alice’s life, these are the major players throughout the series:
Alice McKinley — Alice is strawberry-blond and quite average. She’s shortish, not quite fat or skinny, intelligent but not a genius. She’s open-minded, awkward, and not afraid to ask questions. Throughout the series she spends a lot of time seeking female role models because she lost her mother to leukemia at age 5.
Pamela Jones — Alice’s best friend since 7th grade. Pamela is blond and boy-crazy, and not afraid to take risks. Sometimes she gets herself into trouble by getting involved in situations she’s not ready for.
Elizabeth Price — A beautiful brunette with creamy skin, Elizabeth is Catholic and sheltered. She’s scared of all things related to sex, bodily functions, and boys. She gets better as the series continues, but she is the most conservative of Alice’s friends.
Gwen Wheeler — Gwen first appears in #11, Alice on the Outside. She’s African-American, brilliant, and wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Over time she becomes best friends with Alice, Pamela, and Elizabeth.
Ben McKinley — Alice’s dad. He manages a music store called The Melody Inn. He is a sweet, gentle man who likes to write letters and has a master’s degree, but he is sometimes clueless on how to raise a teenage girl.
Sylvia Summers — Alice’s 7th grade language arts teacher who starts dating Alice’s dad when Alice sets them up in #4, All But Alice. Alice loves Miss Summers and desperately wants her to become her stepmom.
Lester McKinley — Alice’s older brother. He’s seven years older, and in college for much of the series. He’s a typical college guy, and dates several different women throughout the series.
Crystal Hawkins and Marilyn Rawley — Two girls that Lester dates through much of the series, and Alice sees both as female role models.
Aunt Sally — Alice’s mother’s older sister, who lives in Chicago and checks up on Alice’s family regularly. Aunt Sally is kind of old-school. Her daughter, Carol, is in her early twenties and Alice ADORES her.
Patrick Long — Alice’s main love interest throughout the series. He’s very, very smart and a talented drummer.
Why I Love It
I love Alice because she feels real. In developing a character over twenty five novels and watching her grow up, readers really see Alice change over time. A lot of the series focuses on Alice wondering when she’s going to grow up, what life is like for grown-ups, and how she’s going end up. As a teenager reading the book, I had the same questions. Watching Alice grow up was like watching an older sister go through life before I had to go through it myself. Alice’s personal thoughts often mirrored my own, especially when she thought things that I would never had admitted to my friends! I wouldn’t say I felt “alone” as a teenager, but she certainly made me feel more normal.
Naylor writes Alice as a very honest, imperfect character. She asks questions, makes mistakes, and tells it how it is (though sometimes quite awkwardly). The external thought process is just as important as the internal thought process in answering the questions about growing up.
I also like the Alice series because Naylor doesn’t shy away from real issues. These issues are a real part of growing up, and sometimes appear on kids’ radars earlier than we’d like — but that doesn’t mean kids don’t have questions! For example, Alice deals with a friend’s suicide in the seventh grade. She deals with issues about sexuality, racism, divorce, drugs, bullying, death, and the list goes on and on. Sometimes the topics feel a bit like an after school special, but I know I dealt with almost all of those in some capacity by the time I left high school. It’s reality. But Naylor also focuses on things I’ve rarely seen other authors focus on: teaching girls to be aware of their own anatomy, what sex feels like, female role models, how to put in a tampon, etc. Most of these moments are brief, but important. I know I learned a few things from Alice in my pre-teen years.
While I give most of the individual Alice books a B, the series as a whole gets an A+ from me. It is realistic and unafraid. The very fact that it’s one of the most challenge series of the past two decades, according to the American Library Association, should tell any reader that this is good stuff. I read the series in the late nineties, my students read the series today, and I hope my future daughter/niece reads them, too.
The Books
Here are the books in the series, in order, which links to my reviews of each:
- The Agony of Alice (all of 6th grade)
- Alice in Rapture, Sort of (summer between 6th and 7th)
- Reluctantly Alice (7th)
- All but Alice (7th)
- Alice in April (7th)
- Alice In-Between (7th)
- Alice the Brave (summer between 7th and 8th)
- Alice in Lace (8th)
- Outrageously Alice (8th)
- Achingly Alice (8th)
- Alice on the Outside (8th)
- The Grooming of Alice (summer between 8th and 9th)
- Alice Alone (9th) (all in pink packaged as I Like Him, He Likes Her)
- Simply Alice (9th)
- Patiently Alice (summer between 9th and 10th)
- Including Alice (10th) (all in red packaged as It’s Not Like I Planned It This Way)
- Alice on Her Way (10th)
- Alice in the Know (summer between 10th and 11th)
- Dangerously Alice (11th) (all in blue packaged as Please Don’t Be True)
- Almost Alice (11th)
- Intensely Alice (summer between 11th and 12th)
- Alice in Charge (12th)
- Incredibly Alice (12th)
- Alice on Board (summer between graduation and college)
- Always Alice (age 18-60)
Top Ten Tips for New Book Bloggers
(I love this new TTT image!)
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the bloggers over at the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers from all around create lists based on the chosen topics, and post links to the host blog to share our love of books. This week we’re looking at the actual practice of book blogging. I’ve learned a lot about blogging in the past year, and I still have a lot to learn. I may not be the most qualified person to dish out advice, but I guess I could give a few pointers that I wish someone had told me when I started all of this. So here we go:
Top Ten Tips for New Book Bloggers
[blogging is fun!]
1.) Write often – When I started blogging, I told myself I was going to post at least three posts a week. Once you get in the habit of writing regularly and reviewing the books you read it will come easily, but it does take some work to build that habit. This is not the first blog I’ve had, but it is the only one where I’ve managed to blog often and regularly — it’s not easy.
2.) Schedule your posts – This tip helps with tip #1. I tend to finish a lot of books at the same time. I review books immediately after reading them, but I schedule those reviews for dates in the future to spread them out. One of my favorite things to do is go to Starbucks on a Sunday afternoon and write lots of posts all at once. In fact, I wrote this post on April 9.
3.) Participate in memes – Memes have been a great way for me to connect with the blogging community. Top Ten Tuesday in particular has connected me with blogs I love, and it has brought many people to my blog! The comments are really great on these posts because we are all tuned in to the same topic for a day, so we have a lot to say. Find a meme you like and participate…you don’t have to do it every week, but give it a try.
4.) …but not too many memes! – That being said, your blog should have some original content. A blog of all memes is not really showcasing your personality or your voice. The best blogs are the ones where I really feel like I know the blogger like a friend. That means sometimes I’ve got to see what topics you want to talk about.
5.) Get on Twitter – I’m not the best at Twitter myself, but I do think it has helped me keep up with all the blogs I love to read. I used to love Google Reader, but now I just follow my favorite bloggers on Twitter and click on posts that interest me. My problem with Twitter is that I try to stay away from social media overload, so I don’t use it as much as I could. But even as casual user, it’s helped connect people with my content and reach out to readers.
6.) Tag your posts – Tagging, especially on WordPress, helps drive visitors to your content who might not otherwise visit. I tag the subjects of some of my books I review (mostly non-fiction, things like religion or science), and I notice a distinct spike in views, comments, and likes on those posts. The tag allows it to show up on tag searches, and people often browse blogs using the tags. I also tag every post with a “books” category.
7.) Challenge yourself – This year I have challenged myself to read 75 books, up from 52 books in the previous years. Keeping track of a number means I read more, or read more books to completion. I also have sub-challenges, like adult fiction, audio books, and classics. When I read more and more variety, my posts are more interesting. I have new opinions and more material to work with.
8.) Read what you want – In the end, though, you have to read what you want. Challenge yourself, step outside of your comfort zone, but never let reading be a chore. You don’t have to read that trendy book just because all the book bloggers are raving about it!
9.) Comment – Blogging is about community, and commenting is the way we create that. I would love to comment on every post I read, but that’s not always possible. However, I still try. If I have time, I do it. For the blogs I read regularly, once every couple posts is okay. Retweets also go in this category. One of my personal goals is to retweet posts I like more often to spread the love!
10.) Blog for yourself – Don’t worry about statistics or comments or readers at first. Blog because you like it, because you want to write and record your reviews, or because you have opinions on books. I love my blog enough that I’d continue writing it even if I had no readers. In fact, I only had about 30 followers and the occasional sporadic comment for my first 11 months! It took a while to build good content and find my voice. Blogging is a labor of love, not fame and fortune.
What tips do you have for new book bloggers? New bloggers in general? How have you grown as a blogger since you started?
Top Ten TV Shows I Love
This week I am taking a break from the assigned Top Ten Tuesday topic over at The Broke and the Bookish to do a top ten list of my own. The topic today was supposed to be Top Ten Books That Deceived Me, but I didn’t think I could come up with ten and I wasn’t feeling the topic.
So instead I’m going to talk about TV.
‘Cause y’all know I don’t just sit around and read all day. I’d addicted to my TiVo (yes, TiVo. I’m a diehard TiVoer and refuse to use the cable company’s DVR). Though I only have about ten channels at the moment, these are my favs to catch on network TV, Netflix, and Hulu. So here we go with a distinctively non-bookish Top Ten Tuesday:
Top Ten TV Shows I Love
[shows I never miss an episode of]
1.) 30 Rock – I have seen every episode a bajillion times, it’s my go-to show on Netflix. Liz Lemon is my hero, the writing is superb, and the cast is hilarious. There are a million jokes hidden in the dialogue of every episode. I love quoting the show and it always makes me laugh ridiculously hard at least once an episode. It’s my favorite show. Ever.
2.)How I Met Your Mother — Some may say the show is going downhill, but I will continue to watch. I love the continuity within the series and the fact that 2030 Ted is an unreliable narrator, so sometimes the stories are exaggerated. I love Barney Stinson most of all.
3.) Big Bang Theory — Sheldon Cooper. Need I say more? Again, this one is kind of going downhill for me, but the legacy of the first few wonderful seasons keeps it above the pack in TiVo queue.
4.) Modern Family — I’ve just recently really fallen in love with Modern Family. I knew I’d like it, but I just didn’t have time for it. I love the characters and the multiple subplots in each episode. My favorite characters have to be Mitchell Pritchett, Phil Dunphy, and Alex Dunphy…but who am I kidding? I love them all.
5.) Dance Moms — Okay, here’s the part where I proudly announce my love of reality TV. Yes, I love bad reality TV. I love Dance Moms because I like watching the kids dance, but also because I love how badly staged the drama is. It’s so, so, so fake.
6.) Project Runway — I enjoy the sassy outfits and the general fact that this show has historically focused more on the actual competition than the drama back in the living quarters. However, the 1.5 hour format has gone into this a lot more. I don’t really care for the 1.5 hour episodes, but a few “bloop bloop bloops” of the TiVo and I can skip ahead the good stuff: the runway shows. Drool.
7.) Toddlers and Tiaras — Shock and awe. I’m sold. See #5 about my love of trashy TV. It makes me feel like I will be an okay mother one day if there are really people like that running around out there. Plus I totally knew kids and families like that in grade school.
8.) Real Housewives of New York/Orange County — I think this one sprung from many afternoons of Bravo marathons. Those bitches are CRAZY and I eat it up.
9.) Penn and Teller: Bullshit! — I have a hard time finding episodes to watch, since I don’t have Showtime, but I desperately want to own this show on DVD. These guys are libertarians and they aren’t afraid to be skeptical about things and speak their minds about it. Recycling? Family values? Boy Scouts? Nothing is safe. Plus I always laugh.
10.) Downton Abbey — Though I admittedly love the half-hour sitcom and reality TV, Downton Abbey did capture my heart. I’ve watched series 1 on Netflix three times, and I’m trying to get ahold of series 2. This is one show that I put everything away for and focus on 100%.
What TV shows do you love? And do you know where I can find Downton Abbey?
And the book club reads on!
Sixth grade book club finished Stargirl last week, and they were ready to dive into our next novel! After book talking several titles from our class set collection, the kids voted heavily in favor of Matilda by Roald Dahl.
My boys were okay with this selection, but not thrilled. Every single book we have read this year has had a female protagonist, but we are having a really hard time finding (good) books in our class sets that have male protagonists. However, the books we’ve read all have great secondary male characters and universal appeal. Here’s what we’ve read so far, with the female protagonists and their male sidekicks:
- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Miranda, Sid, Marcus)
- A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Meg, Calvin, Charles Wallace)
- Stargirl (Stargirl, Leo, Kevin)
Now technically Stargirl is told from Leo’s point of view. We discussed whether Leo or Stargirl was the protagonist, and the kids agreed that Stargirl was definitely the focal point of the story. So I understand where my boys are coming from when they groan about yet another book with a female main character.
I offered the boys a deal. If they didn’t like Matilda after the first week, we would do a breakout group to read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I only have eight copies of the book, so we can’t read it with the whole club. However, after reading the first chapter of Matilda together during our last book club meeting, I think I have the boys hooked. Matilda may be a girl, but most of my kids can relate to her and they LOVED Dahl’s great style of writing. I’ve saved myself with this particular pick, but my next book really needs to have a male protagonist. I’m thinking either The Mysterious Benedict Society, Peter and the Starcatchers, or Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.
Anyway, we are full steam into Matilda and the kids are loving it. Some have seen the movie, which we will watch when we finish the book, but I don’t think any of them have read it. I’ll keep y’all posted on what the boys think about this read and what all the kids think of the story!
Did you ever read Matilda? What discussion points do you think I should bring up with my students during book club meetings?
Just call me Dr. Anderson…in 3-5 years.
How could I not love this place?
I had a major life event occur over the weekend, which you might have caught if you follow me on Twitter: I got accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill for their Ph.D program in Education! My concentration will be in Culture, Curriculum, and Change, and I will start in the fall of 2012.
I picked this program because it will offer me incredible flexibility in my coursework and my research. Looking at the course list made me giddy! I wanted to take them all! Though I did my undergraduate degree in education at UNC, I will have completely different professors and totally different experience this time around. But I am terribly excited to be going back to my alma mater for another four years(-ish) of being a student!
This news sets me on a new career path! I will be leaving the library and K-12 education to pursue a career in academia as an education professor. Though I love my job, I recognize that our public education system is going through some tough times. I feel the best way for me to contribute to changing public education for the better is through thoughtful research, teaching our future teachers, and utilizing the resources of universities.
I’m still narrowing down my research interests (I want to study everything!!), but I think I will be focusing on either teacher preparation, student transitions to middle school from elementary school, professional development, social media in personal learning networks, or middle grades literacy.
So this blog will still have a librarian focus for the next four months, but eventually my focus will shift. I still plan to primarily read and review young adult literature, but I will likely change the name of the blog and talk about my experiences in academia starting in mid-August. Stay tuned!
Waiter Rant
Is there going to be a book called Teacher Rant? I'd read that for sure.
Waiter Rant: Thanks for Tip — Confessions of Cynical Waiter
by Steve Dublanica, The Waiter
Ecco Press
Purchased on my Nook
[#20 in my 75 Book Challenge]
Sometimes when I’m browsing in the Nook store (which I do almost daily), I go a little crazy and just buy something because I want to read it immediately. Forget everything else on my wish list. Forget researching the title. Forget making it wait in the TBR stack to be sure. I just willy-nilly hit that “BUY NOW” button and tear into it. That’s how I ended up with Waiter Rant.
Waiter Rant comes from the website of the same name. The structure takes the narrative of Dublanica’s journey as a waiter in New York (and a waiter-blogger/waiter-writer) and frames it in individual chapters that each focus on a different aspect of his rants. There are chapters about Mother’s Day, vindictive waiter tricks, tipping, etc.
Overall, I found myself not liking The Waiter. He is certainly someone I wouldn’t be friends with. He does seem aware of his shortcomings and bad behavior, but I still can’t forgive him because he doesn’t seem to care or want to change. He does come off as very entitled, the very behavior he accuses his customers of. Much of the book is spent talking about his blog and trying to get his book deal. Authors don’t necessarily make a whole lot of money, and Dublanica still has to wait tables after he sells his book. But throughout the book I get the feeling he thinks writing the book is going to save him from his direction-less life. Oops.
That being said, I do enjoy books and blogs that give me a sneak peak into worlds that I am not a part of. I have never been a waiter, for good reason. I’d be a terrible waiter! I like reading stories like this to remind myself that my job is awesome and I’ve made good choices in life. I also gain empathy that I take with me into the real world.
Final Grade: C It didn’t change my life, but it was a fun reading experience. I zipped through it in just a few days. Folks that have been waiters might appreciate it more, but it’s worth checking out if you are intrigued. It is definitely an adult non-fiction book, so I wouldn’t put in in my library or recommend it to students. A few friends come to mind that might enjoy it, though.
And some quick questions for my readers: Have you ever been a waiter or waitress? Did you love it/hate it? What would you rant about?
