EdCamp Model for Summer Reading

Here's my most recent post about the EdCamp model for professional summer reading.

Goodbye Shelfari. Hello Goodreads.

It's been a fun 8 years: http://aislnews.org/?p=3461

Print Reading Preferences by Millenials

This article echoes what I've heard from many students. They like technology for skimming and print for long-form reading, though they don't like long-form reading very much at all because there are so many constraints on their time. Digital Natives Reading Print

Although American University student Cooper Nordquist, 21, uses his laptop most of the day, he still likes to read from the printed word for enjoyment. Despite that fact that most college students do a majority of their socializing and school work electronically, many still like to read from actual hard copy printed books. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

 

By Michael S. Rosenwald February 22

Frank Schembari loves books — printed books. He loves how they smell. He loves scribbling in the margins, underlining interesting sentences, folding a page corner to mark his place.
Schembari is not a retiree who sips tea at Politics and Prose or some other bookstore. He is 20, a junior at American University, and paging through a thick history of Israel between classes, he is evidence of a peculiar irony of the Internet age: Digital natives prefer reading in print.
“I like the feeling of it,” Schembari said, reading under natural light in a campus atrium, his smartphone next to him. “I like holding it. It’s not going off. It’s not making sounds.”
Textbook makers, bookstore owners and college student surveys all say millennials still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises reading experts given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally. A University of Washington pilot study of digital textbooks found that a quarter of students still bought print versions of e-textbooks that they were given for free.
“These are people who aren’t supposed to remember what it’s like to even smell books,” said Naomi S. Baron, an American University linguist who studies digital communication. “It’s quite astounding.”

Earlier this month, Baron published “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World,” a book (hardcover and electronic) that examines university students’ preferences for print and explains the science of why dead-tree versions are often superior to digital. Readers tend to skim on screens, distraction is inevitable and comprehension suffers.
In years of surveys, Baron asked students what they liked least about reading in print. Her favorite response: “It takes me longer because I read more carefully.”
The preference for print over digital can be found at independent bookstores such as the Curious Iguana in downtown Frederick, Md., where owner Marlene England said millennials regularly tell her they prefer print because it’s “easier to follow stories.” Pew studies show the highest print readership rates are among those ages 18 to 29, and the same age group is still using public libraries in large numbers.
It can be seen in the struggle of college textbook makers to shift their businesses to more profitable e-versions. Don Kilburn, North American president for Pearson, the largest publisher in the world and the dominant player in education, said the move to digital “doesn’t look like a revolution right now. It looks like an evolution, and it’s lumpy at best.”
And it can be seen most prominently on college campuses, where students still lug backpacks stuffed with books, even as they increasingly take notes (or check Facebook) on laptops during class. At American, Cooper Nordquist, a junior studying political science, is even willing to schlep around Alexis de Tocqueville’s 900-plus-page “Democracy in America.”
“I can’t imagine reading Tocqueville or understanding him electronically,” Nordquist said in between classes while checking his e-mail. “That would just be awful.”
Without having read Baron’s book, he offered reasons for his print preference that squared with her findings.
The most important one to him is “building a physical map in my mind of where things are.” Researchers say readers remember the location of information simply by page and text layout — that, say, the key piece of dialogue was on that page early in the book with that one long paragraph and a smudge on the corner. Researchers think this plays a key role in comprehension.
But that is more difficult on screens, primarily because the time we devote to reading online is usually spent scanning and skimming, with few places (or little time) for mental markers. Baron cites research showing readers spend a little more than one minute on Web pages, and only 16 percent of people read word-by-word. That behavior can bleed into reading patterns when trying to tackle even lengthier texts on-screen.
“I don’t absorb as much,” one student told Baron. Another said, “It’s harder to keep your place online.”
Another significant problem, especially for college students, is distraction. The lives of millennials are increasingly lived on screens. In her surveys, Baron writes that she found “jaw-dropping” results to the question of whether students were more likely to multitask in hard copy (1 percent) vs. reading on-screen (90 percent).
Earlier this month, while speaking to sophomores about digital behavior, Baron brought up the problem of paying close attention while studying on-screen.
“You just get so distracted,” one student said. “It’s like if I finish a paragraph, I’ll go on Tumblr, and then three hours later you’re still not done with reading.”
There are quirky, possibly lazy reasons many college students prefer print, too: They like renting textbooks that are already highlighted and have notes in the margins.
While Nordquist called this a crapshoot, Wallis Neff, a sophomore studying journalism, said she was delighted to get a psychology textbook last year that had been “run through the mill a few times.”
“It had a bunch of notes and things, explaining what this versus that was,” she said. “It was very useful.”
When do students say they prefer digital?
For science and math classes, whose electronic textbooks often include access to online portals that help walk them through study problems and monitor their learning. Textbook makers are pushing these “digital learning environments” to make screen learning more attractive.
They prefer them for classes in which locating information quickly is key — there is no control-F in a printed book to quickly find key words.
And they prefer them for cost — particularly when the price is free. The Book Industry Study Group recently found that about a quarter of 1,600 students polled either downloaded or knew someone who downloaded pirated textbooks. Students, it turns out, are not as noble in their reading habits when they need beer money. They become knowledge thieves.
But stealing texts probably is more a reflection on the spiraling cost of higher education — and the price of textbooks, up 82 percent from 2002 to 2012 — than some secret desire of students to read digitally. If price weren’t a factor, Baron’s research shows that students overwhelmingly prefer print. Other studies show similar results.
The problem, Baron writes, is that there has been “pedagogical reboot” where faculty and textbook makers are increasingly pushing their students to digital to help defray costs “with little thought for educational consequences.”
“We need to think more carefully about students’ mounting rejection of long-form reading,” Baron writes.
And that thinking shouldn’t be limited to millennials, Baron said. Around the country, school systems are buying millions of tablets and laptops for classroom use, promising easier textbook updates, lower costs, less back strain from heavy book bags, and more interactivity. But the potential downsides aren’t being considered, she said.
“What’s happening in American education today?” she said. “That’s what I’m concerned about. What’s happening to the American mind?”
When Baron started researching her book on reading, some of her colleagues responded with pity.
“Did I fail to understand that technology marches on?” she writes. “That cars supplanted horses and buggies? That printing replaced handwritten manuscripts, computers replaced typewriters and digital screens were replacing books? Hadn’t I read the statistics on how many eReaders and tablets were being sold? Didn’t I see all those people reading eBooks on their mobile devices? Was I simply unable to adapt?”
But after learning what millennials truly think about print, Baron concluded, “I was roundly vindicated.”

Harper Lee - To Set a Watchman - The Plot Thickens

The comments are as telling as the article. It's only a controversy if people care. I think this is making it clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is indeed a "great American novel." 

New York Times Harper Lee Redux

Speed Selection Games for MS Reading

Heard about speed dating? Not with 7th graders...hence "speed selection." This is the 7th graders first introduction to the library that they'll be using for the next six years, so why not make it memorable. On library blogs and listservs, around February and Valentine's Day you start seeing suggestions for speed dating library activities. The premise is that students have access to a preselected number of books. They have a few minutes to choose, then a few minutes to read. You run through several rounds, until everyone has found a selection they'd like to take home for the next few weeks. It's kind of a competition, but not really, and different enough than coming to a silent library so it draws the attention of the boys.

There was a fair amount of forethought that went into this, not the least just moving tables and obtaining enough green tablecloths. I decided on several general categories, based largely on what has interested Middle Schoolers in past years. There were so many ideas, but my final signs are: sports/adventure, worlds gone wrong, realistic fiction (both heartbreaking and hilarious), nonfiction vs. graphic novels, read around the world and into the past, and down the rabbit hole-magic, fantasy, and other worlds. There's also one "blind date" table: Don't Choose a Book by its Cover. This was a chance to showcase books with ugly or uninteresting covers. All of these books were covered with black paper. There is a drawing or map or poem or other short description on each. I was honest with the kids and told them that this was for fun; I didn't want it to be all about grabbing those books and just opening them to the title page right away.

There are about a hundred books at the ready, enough that there are options for the students, but not enough to inspire the dreaded look of overwhelmedness that has surfaced in years past when they are let loose in the entire fiction section. (Which was always a nerve-wracking moment for me anyway, since there are books there that are much more appropriate to 17 years olds than to 13 year olds.) It worked to have three minutes of selection the first time around, followed by four minutes of reading. All subsequent selection times were reduced to two minutes. I noticed that this was enough time for students to wander between tables and smile at their friends and page through books, but it wasn't enough time for them to get entirely off task. Some did wait until the 10 second warning, and then they grabbed the closest book at hand. Also, it started to look a bit like a game of musical chairs as kids rushed to the circle ringing the books. I was prepared for this, and there were double the chairs needed. This hasn't become a contact sport. :)

Lessons learned: 
Dystopias are still reigning in popularity. Next up, football!
Make this a lesson on print books. I wanted to get all of the students logged into Overdrive on the same day (what can I say?, I'm excited about the service) but this ended up being much more efficient focusing solely on print. Next month's activity can be entirely electronic instead. 
Students will still ask for books that they want if they don't see them. Ironically, this provided more time for readers' advisory than simply letting students loose in the stacks. 
My high schoolers are begging me to talk to their English teachers because it's something they didn't get to do in Middle School. I haven't yet had a high school English teacher bring a class in to get books for completely recreational reading. I welcome that opportunity. 


 

Fashion Hits and Misses from YA Historical Fiction Book Covers

Part two of the fashion hits and misses from historical fiction, reposted from the Hub. 

I love historical fiction.  The drama, the intrigue and, oh– the fashion.  I just assume all the period details regarding clothing are accurate.  Or I did until my friend Liz shared it was her secret delight to troll the adult fiction section and find anachronistic apparel.  Curious to know how Liz knows all that she does about fashion?  Check out her bio in the first post Fashion Hits and Misses from YA Historical Fiction Book Covers.

Turns out a lot of books from specific dates and locations feature outfits as cover art that either haven’t been invented yet or were way out of fashion.  I was eager to know if these same mistakes were being made in Young Adult historical fiction. After all, how was I to know? Here are some examples of books that got it right and those that got it wrong.

In Mozart’s Shadow by Carolyn Meyer

Hit, sort of – In Mozart’s Shadow: His Sister’s Story (alternate title In Mozart’s Shadow: Nannerl’s Story) by Carolyn Meyer

The novel In Mozart’s Shadow: His Sister’s Story is set in eighteenth-century Europe. Older sister Nannerl remains home in Salzburg, Austria while her brother Mozart travels and performs.  How does the cover art compare?
The idea of the appropriate style of dress is there, but the quality of the fashion is poor and ill-fitting.   This particular dress looks like one you would wear for an “old-timey” photo.  The style of the time was a low-necked gown made from woven silks in elaborate patterns worn over panniers, a cage-like garment which extended the hips at the sides.  The bodice would be tightly fitted over a stiff pair of stays, known by modern terminology as a corset.  The front of the bodice exposed a stomacher, which was a triangle-shaped piece which was elaborately decorated.  Sleeves were normally close-fitting and worn to the elbow with ruffle and lace embellishments.  The skirt was often open in the front to expose the petticoat which was decorated to match.  There were several different types of dress worn at the time, but most did follow the same silhouette as described here. 

MMA 1750-1775, Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1959

This Robe à la Française is from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History which includes French fashion from 1600–1800 A.D.

Nannerl as a Child, by Peter Anton Lorenzoni, 1763

For more appropriate eighteenth-century gowns that might have been worn by Nannerl see Liz’s Pinterest page: Young Ladies Fashions 1756-1781

Miss – My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris is set in modern times. With time travel, Cat Crawford ends up in 16th century Italy.  The dress featured on the cover is from the 18th century and continued to thrive as a major force in art into the period of this book.

The dress featured on the cover is from the eighteenth-century and could have been worn by Nannerl in the previous book example.  The sixteenth-century, on the other hand, is known for the silhouette of an inverted triangle found in the bodice above a wide triangle shaped skirt.  The fronts of the bodices were completely flat hiding the curve of the bust.  This silhouette was created by a pair of bodies, also known as stays in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and then as a corset from the nineteenth-century to present.  The pair of bodies of this period maintained its flat front by a center busk (a flat piece of wood, metal, bone, or scrimshaw).  The skirts were full and cartridge pleated into a waistband and worn over a form of hoopskirt called a farthingale, which created the large triangle-shape on the bottom.  Skirts were often open at front to expose a decorative underskirt.   Although by description this does sound similar to eighteenth-century dress, in reality they were quite different as can be seen in the image examples.

Portrait of a Woman, mid-16th c. Florence, Italy

Portrait of a Woman, mid-16th c. Florence, Italy (exact artist unknown, possibly Francesco Salviati and, more plausibly, to Michele di Ridolfo Tosini), MMA, The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931 (32.100.66)

Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo and Her Son, ca. 1545, Agnolo di Cosimo (Il Bronzino), Uffizi Gallery, Florence

If you want to learn more about  18th century fashion try:

• Dress in Eigteenth-Century Europe 1715-1789 by Aileen Ribeiro

Or for a more colonial look:

• What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America by Linda Baumgarten

 http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2014/04/01/fashion-hits-and-misses-from-ya-historical-fiction-book-covers-part-2/

Spring Break and Summer Reading

Check out my monthly AISL post Jumping the Gun on Summer Reading

Seriously addicting...

Each week I get an email with tech blurbs, and this one about reading 1000wpm stood out to me.  I'm a fast reader, but I caught myself staring at the image.

Read 1,000 words a minute with Spritz
Carey Dunne writes: “A new technology called Spritz claims to have figured out a way to turn us into speed-readers. By flashing words onto a single point on a screen, much like watching TV, Spritz says it will double your reading speed. In an attempt to redesign reading—and rename it ‘spritzing’—the company streams one word at a time at speeds varying between 250 and 1,000 words per minute. Words are centered around an Optimal Recognition Point in a special display called the Redicle.”..

I went to the site. I lost 30 minutes of my life playing with reading. 

 Want more? Go to the upper right corner and click on the raindrop.
http://www.spritzinc.com/about/
Still reading?

Spritz may let you hoover up text, like speed-eating without chewing, but how does it affect enjoyment of reading? When reading a traditional book, our pace tends to fluctuate according to a sentence's natural rhythm. We can re-read a confusing passage or slow down to savor a particularly beautiful sentence. By rapid-firing words at a robotic clip, Spritz’s system destroys those fluid rhythms and diminishes a reader’s sense of control. After a while, it feels a little like staring into a strobe light.
“If you’re reading Shakespeare, you’re not going to want to do it with Spritz,” Waldman admits. “But with a romance novel, for example, people skim like crazy anyway. They just rip through a book, reading for plot. Are they savoring every word? Probably not.”

 
The demo only goes to 600 wpm, which I find slow for reading though mesmerizing in general. Despite their commentary, it does not stop my subvocalizations. Though they're pretty active all the time, so that would be quite the feat. I like that the company's intent is to encourage quicker processing of mundane reading, rather than to replace more leisurely recreational reading. I agree that it works well for adding to information the reader already knows, using simple words and clear sentence structure. aka, keeping up with the daily news. I was thinking right away about the times when I'm waiting in airport security lines, and it's tough to balance a backpack, suitcase and a magazine. I try to read on my phone, but it seems like I'm clicking to the next page every second. This combines the best of tv and of reading.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it will catch on? Even if your answer is "yes," I'm not calling it Spritzing. Ever.