Tag Archives: Writing

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

How will you deal with end of the year burnout?

I have a plan. (187/365)Many of our academic librarians are already done for the academic year, public librarians are gearing up for summer reading programs, and our K-12 audience is usually coming to the finish line on fumes. Just in case you want to throw your hands up in the air and simply storm out of the worksite at year end, dig deep, and consider taking the time to reflect on the year. Seriously…even if it felt like this year almost killed you! I find it enormously helpful to take a breath, get honest, and take stock about this time of year. Consider the following questions, and write down (and save) your answers if at all possible.

  1. What was hardest this year? Why?
  2. What brought you joy? How often did you feel joy?
  3. What do you know you could do better next year?
  4. What skills must you learn to feel fully up to speed doing your job?

You may be too tired to set goals, but wouldn’t it feel great to have a plan for next year? Wouldn’t it be nice to end next year without feeling completely exhausted, depleted, or sad? The folks at Edutopia recently wrote a Teacher Wellness post about dealing with burnout throughout the year. You will notice one of the strategies is writing it down! A quick read, and you could even save it to put with your notes from this taking stock exercise I described here! You will enter a new academic year confident that you have a plan!

Have a phenomenal summer, you all deserve it.

Patricia-

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/qc788l4, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
General, Public, School Media Specialist

Point users to ReadWriteThink

ReadWriteThinkHave you heard of ReadWriteThink, and more importantly, have teachers and parents heard about it? If you work in a school media center or public library, feel free to point users to this site, as it is a gem.

A few facts about this plethora of materials:

  • Site is assembled by the International Literacy Association
  • 886 lesson plans, 58 student interactives, 106 activities & projects, 23 games & tools, and 25 tips & how-to’s
  • Audience: Educators, parents, and communities
  • Tip:Tool bar on the left side of the page allows you to search and filter by interest area and audience
  • 228 resources are available for professional development
  • At the bottom of the tool bar, check out themes and note that there are 75 resources there specific to holidays!

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Infographics for You to Use: Writing and Grammar

Want to use infographics in your space, but don’t have the time to create your own from scratch?  Well, thanks to A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet, we have infographics of all kinds – this week, five infographics on writing!  Click on the links to see the full infographics.

 verbs 15 Most Useful Phrasal Verbs
 Punctuation The 15 Punctuation Marks
 research paper Guide for Your Research Paper
 mistakes The Most-Annoying Writing Mistakes
 Writing process The Writing Process

More Infographics for You to Use: Reading and its Benefits, Libraries and Librarians, Books and eBooks, Information Literacy, Copyright, Attribution, and Plagiarism, Digital Citizens, Press and Visuals, and Fun Ones!

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Blogging Helps Reluctant Writers

Image by Maria Reyes-McDavis. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Maria Reyes-McDavis. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

The best writers are able to adjust the style of writing to fit the intended audience. Blogging is a web-based, log of information generated by a user(s.) It is often reflective and a less formal medium for writers to share content and deliberate.

In an article by Edudemic,  talks about how blogging helps improve general writing and critical thinking skills at any age. Fioriello encourages this medium to engage reluctant writers stating, “Blogging helps students find their voice.” She further discusses the positive influences it has on writing in the article, How Blogging Can Help Reluctant Writers (August, 2013.)

Blogging facts according to Social Media Today;

  • John Barger coined the term “blog” in 1997
  • 12 million people blog via social media networks
  • 77% of internet users read blogs
  • The Blogger has over 46 million unique visitors each month

Tip: Check out this year’s top ranked blog for school libraries, Blue Skunk.

Don’t forget, about the 23 Mobile Things Program starting soon. Participants from the library profession will be asked to blog about their experiences testing new apps. Click here to learn more about this program.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

The Influence of Technology on Student Writing

Image by PEW Research. Retrieved online October 8, 2013.
Image by PEW Research. Retrieved online October 8, 2013.

In 2012, PEW Research surveyed more than 2,400 teachers involved in Advanced Placement (AP) and/or National Writing Project (NWP) in the United States. The study asked teachers about their middle and high school student’s writing  in relation to, and perception of, the influence of digital tools/technologies.

The study findings indicated that digital tools created a wider, more diverse audience; and encouraged collaboration and personal expression across multiple platforms. Also, undesirable effects of these digital tools were noted which included the use of a more informal writing style and language. The research goes into further detail about copyrighting, plagiarism, comprehension, etc. Click here for the summary of findings,  full report and additional information about survey methodology for the PEW Research study, The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in School by PEW Research’s (July 2013).