the big house library

Dear Graduates,

I know I was hard on your senior project works cited pages and I was sometimes testy with how talkative you were during tutorial, but have I told you lately that I love you, I'm proud of you, and I'll miss you? 

Always,
Ms. Anna Koval :)

links:
senior thank yous podcast :)
casa orchestra national anthem video :)
 
 

while turning the pages of a magazine recently, i saw this very well-done ad. although it doesn't cite the sources of its data, it feels compelling and convincing (as any effective ad should).

it got me thinking, though, that this notion of surfing vs. swimming could apply to more than just internet and magazines. i think this analogy also applies reading in books as well. 

maybe there's research that shows that traditional reading done in non-traditional ways (such as on an iPad) has similar benefits. i'm not sure, but i'm going to be researching this question over the summer for my master's thesis.

at any rate, here's wishing you all a long, leisurely summer of reading whatever however whenever.

the big house library was the proud recipient of a generous PEF grant this year! :)

ms. vanessa hauswald (casa's awesome senior english teacher and senior project coordiator) and ms. erin fender (casa's former assistant principal and small learning communities coordinator) and i co-authored the application to bring more better newer reference books into the library especially for senior projects and SLCs.

the petaluma educational foundation found ours to be a worthy cause and gave us some serious cash to buy books with! :)
 

 
we decided to go with salem press because we already had their series magill's medical guide and weapons and warfare, and seniors were using the heck out of them on HCP and STE senior research papers, both in print and in the accompanying ebook that came free with it (available on the stuff casa pays for page of this website). so i thought, why not get more of the same?

because salem press (and our fabulous rep marvin) quoted us such great prices, we were able to get a lot of bang for our grant's buck. here's we purchased:

* the encyclopedia of american immigration
* the encyclopedia of global warming
* the historical encyclopedia of american business
* salem health: cancer
* salem health genetics

while that probably doesn't sound like a lot, trust me, it is! these books are thousands of pages long each! and, again, we also got the ebooks, which you can search on the stuff casa pays for page. and we'll be getting more books by salem press later this summer.

so, thanks again, to our friends at PEF and salem press for supporting casa's students and their library. have we told you lately that we love you? :)

[click here to see these photos on flickr]
  

 
have you ever spent a ton of time preparing a powerpoint only to have it not open on your teacher's computer, or disappear from the gaucho server, or not download from your email? sucks, doesn't it? well, don't let this happen to you (again). share your presentations on slideshare.

slideshare is "the world's largest online community for sharing presentations," but you can share more than just powerpoints. you can also upload word docs and pdfs and even add audio to turn your presentations into webinars! :) you can also export and upload your sliderockets. you can favorite and comment on presentations you like and follow the people who made them and join groups of slidesharers with similar interests.

the casa people on slideshare so far are:
* mr. buchmann
* mrs. reed
* the counseling department
* and the library

i set up the counseling department's slideshare account last summer. since then, their powerpoints have been seen more than 550 times! that's a lot more looks than they would have got on someone's flash drive!

and as for our teachers, it just makes sense to have students submit assignments in this way so that they can all be viewed anywhere anytime. i taught these teachers and their students how to slideshare, and if you're interested, i can teach you and yours, too! it's fun and it's easy! :)

i think every casa student, teacher, and department ought to have a slideshare account and store their school stuff for free if only as a backup to our school's often unreliable network (aka the gaucho server).

it'd also be nice to have a network of casa staff and students and an electronic record of our teaching and your learning.

for you students, your slideshare account becomes a sort of electronic portfolio of your academic work that you can share with prospective employers and future colleges, not to mention your grandma at christmastime! :)

so check out slideshare, and if you do create an account, post a comment and let us know what you think of it. and be sure to follow us at slideshare.net/bighouselibrary! :)
 

help 4 seniors (memo, eric, derek, and rick) complete their senior projects and help the library plant a garden outside the new computer lab! :) we'll be working the next 3 saturdays from 9am to noon. and community service hours are available! see ms. koval for details. :)