NCHS Library News

In preparation for library booktalks with her Language Literature and Composition classes, Ms. Deambrosio surveyed her students about their reading preferences. Librarians found student responses most helpful for matching titles with student interests. Dystopian fiction is still a favorite, followed by fantasy, realism, and historical fiction. Forty nine percent of respondents said they enjoyed reading, while 37% said they had not recently found a book they liked. Nearly 500 library books, excluding textbooks, were circulated in the past month.

The library set up a Moodle (learning management system) course for each graduating class. Within those courses, students are organized into individual course sections, then grouped by teacher (i.e., Class of 2019, AP World History I, Phillips, Pd 2). As learners work through various research tasks across courses and disciplines, they will upload and receive feedback on checkpoint assignments, such as research questions, works cited, thesis statements, and outlines. This course setup will help students document their research learning as they move through their high school career.

The ninth graders are learning how to use print books for research. Using tables of contents and indices challenges learners to think critically about research tasks, research questions and keywords. While it might be a given that navigating a book is second nature to millennial ninth graders, we are finding that it is not. The “book lesson” is available on the library’s YouTube channel, and posted below.

Somewhat Virtual Book Club met on October 7th to discuss Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun via Google Hangouts with six schools in four other states (California, Oregon, South Carolina, New Jersey) and the American School in Japan! Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA facilitated the discussion and challenged participants to answer thought-provoking questions. The club will next meet on November 4th at 6PM in the high school library to discuss Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Impossible Knife of Memory. Dorman High School, in Roebuck, South Carolina will facilitate the discussion.

During the summer of 2016, EasyBib, the online citation tool used at Saxe and New Canaan High School, will be sunsetted. EasyBib repackaged the citation generator with course management software, research skill building tools, and close reading aides in Imagine Easy Scholar. The library launched a free trial to pilot with the ninth grade class through December.

As part of a 10 month roll out plan, the library introduced the Take Apart station to its makerspace this week. On the first day, students disassembled a television set and two hard drives. Learners are devising systems to organize and repurpose these materials. Donations (unwanted computers and electronics) are welcome!

The library collection’s iPad 1s and iPad 2s will be replaced next week with iPad Airs. Approximately 25 devices will be available for checkout.

We post much of our research instruction on THE ANNEX@ (our instructional blog). It's the go to resource for students who wish to review what we taught in class.

Email: contact@nchslibrary.info
Website: nchslibrary.info
Location: 11 Farm Road, New Canaan, CT, United States
Phone: (615) 669 6670
Facebook: facebook.com/nchslibrary
Twitter: @nchslmc