Teen Read Week will be observed for the whole month of October in the JCHS Library....with S'mores!
During the month of October students, teachers and administrators are encouraged to observe Teen Read Week and celebrate their love of reading by creating a book review.
Participants get to continue the celebration by making gooey, chocolatey, s'mores in the JCHS Library "campsite".
Stay tuned to the @JCHS_Library social media feeds for updates all month long!
James Clemens High School holds an overnight team building retreat for teachers. It provides a casual, relaxed atmosphere for us to meet new teachers, catch up with old friends, and get ourselves geared up and ready for the new school year.
This year the creative genius of Allison Miller, Jennifer Flanagan, and Kristi Combs made the team building activities Olympic themed. They even had cool Olympic Medals to award!
After the JCHS Faculty Retreat we had a morning of team building activities with our feeder school, Liberty Middle School. We focused on CONNECTIONS. I was happy to get some time to connect with my friend and fellow librarian, Sandy Brand!
I love that the organizers of this team building session created a website that we can use throughout the school year to stay connected as a team for our students!
Jet Night:
Jet Night is the night before school starts back for students. Students come pick up their schedules, find their classrooms, meet their teachers, join PTA, get a cool Jets t-shirt, take care of various fees, and see old friends.
I had the pleasure of seeing old students who had graduated but came back with younger siblings, meeting new student aides, and showing off our new and improved MakerSpace. I also had our "Welcome To The Rabbit Hole" video running on a loop so that new students could see all the cool stuff we do in our library.
First Three Days of School:
The first three days of school were fast and furious! We unveiled the special JCHS Library SnapChat filter, students started making their mark on the library graffiti window, we got student aides assigned to their classes, Ms. Johnson situated her ACCESS students and settled them into their online courses, we oriented students to the new and improved MakerSpace, presented one on one and small group PD sessions, created an original ebook with our special education self-contained students all about their favorite things, and co-taught classes on building digital portfolios. WHEW! It was an AWESOME start to the new school year!
JCHS Library Tech Tips of the Week:
Watch all of our fun throughout the school year via our social media links!
Sudbury, Massachusetts for a collaborative project; creating Putt Putt Golf courses using the engineering software, Inventor.
Design teams were formed to include students from both schools. Students used email, Google Drive, and other methods to communicate with their team members to create a final presentation regarding their final Putt Putt Golf design.
The project finale took place Monday, May 9th and Tuesday, May 10th as teams presented their projects via Google Hangouts on Air (GHOA).
As with any project such as this there were technology snafus but in the end all teams did a great job.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway mentioned by each team was the importance of communication and time management, job essential skills.
Below are the the two GHOA recording; just be forewarned that you will see "warts" and all.
Additionally, there is a slideshow of pictures taken during the presentation phase of this project.
Professional Development offered at my school (James Clemens High School) is something that, believe it or not, I actually look forward to. Our in house PD is lead by our Instructional Partner, Ms. Kristi Combs. Because our school is the "Jets" our professional development sessions have related names. The two main PDs offered are Flight School and Pilot's Lounge. Flight School happens during each planning block usually once a month. Flight school has really opened my eyes about all the new brain research that is out there and the connection to how we learn. Pilot's Lounge highlights teacher leaders and is offered during Refuel Hour on a monthly basis. Unfortunately Refuel Hour is the busiest time in the JCHS Library MakerSpace so I have missed out on some amazing learning opportunities; but not this past week!
This past week Ms. Alicia Mendez, JCHS English Teacher, was the teacher leader for the Pilot's Lounge PD in May. Ms. Mendez wanted to do a BreakoutEDU with our staff to help introduce this cool learning tool to those who might not know about it or who have wondered about using it but had questions. Ms. Mendez teamed with me and Kristi Combs and together we formulated a plan. The BreakoutEDU we choose was Time Warp. We got all the locks set, resources printed out and/or created, and game parts hidden around the room per game directions. The day before the Pilot's Lounge the three of us "played" the game. It was a good thing we did this because it helped us to be more prepared to nudge and hint if needed when the real game was played. It also double checked us making sure we had all of our ducks in a row before the big day!
The big day came and we decided it would be fun to have the Glee version of Time Warp playing on a loop (thanks to the Magic Action Chrome extension) to greet Pilot's Lounge participants. We started the BreakoutEDU with a few directions and the Time Warp backstory and then set the group loose to "breakout"!
It was fun watching our awesome JCHS teachers as they worked together to solve the clues and break the locks! Our staff is super smart so it was no surprise when they "broke out" in under 20 minutes (we forgot to set the timer..LOL!)
I am proud to announce that The True Adventures of a High School Librarian RETURNS for the 2015-2016 school year!
Starting in August 2015 I will begin a new adventure working at the amazing, innovative, forward thinking, technology driven James Clemens High School in Madison, AL.
While this decision breaks my heart because it will take me away from the wonderful teachers and students at Elkmont High School that I have fallen in love with over the past year, I feel blessed beyond belief that this door has been opened. The potential for professional growth is great and I can't wait to be a part of the JCHS Family!
Super proud of my new school! Read about it below or click HERE.
3 Tennessee Valley schools make Washington Post's 'Top 10 Most Challenging Schools in Alabama' list
MADISON, AL (WAFF) -Three Tennessee Valley schools made the list of the Top 10 Most Challenging Schools in Alabama.
The Washington Post released the list and Bob Jones, Buckhorn, and James Clemens schools are on it. These schools also made the national list.
Madison City was the only school district in Alabama to have more than one school in the top 10 of Alabama Schools. James Clemens placed third and Bob Jones ninth in Alabama.
Several of the top 10 Alabama schools, including number one Jefferson County IB and number two Loveless Academic Magnet Program in Montgomery, are magnet schools.
Buckhorn High School was the only other North Alabama high school in the state's top 10.
Nationally, James Clemens was 651 on the list and Bob Jones was 1,116 on the list of the 2,327 high schools in the Most Challenging High Schools rankings. That list is out of 30,000 public and private high schools nationwide.
The list is based on the number of college-level tests given at a school in the previous calendar year and the number of graduates that year.
Another factor is the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, called equity and excellence, (E&E).
