The book is not Dead

Computer Monitors For Sale

Add a second monitor to your computer. Stretch your desktop for extra space and visibility. We are selling used computer monitors (pictured near Mr Lever below) for only $20 for 45cm  and $10 for 38cm.  Most come with power cord and VGA cable. Try before you buy? At these prices they make very cheap stand-by monitor or desktop extension. All proceeds go back into school IT facilities.  Call us to learn more or call in to the library to select a monitor.  Ph 40584349

Vinyl sign2

Inspirational Messages

Our library is looking very inspirational with the addition of some vinyl signs – reminders of our school-wide habits of mind, explicit teaching and thinking strategies. Mr Lever and Ms Cowell  were each caught in the frame.

Vinyl sign1

Featured Article

The book is not dead.  Not while researchers are proving more and more that we comprehend printed text better than digital text. Not while Time magazine is writing interesting reports like: Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer”.  Sub-titled, “Deep reading is vigorous exercise from the brain and increases our real-life capacity for empathy” the article by Annie Murphy Paul begins:-

Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. A 2010 study by Mar found a similar result in young children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their “theory of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions.”   Read more…

NB Students can click on the Time Magazine link during a subject search of our online catalogue to read Time Magazine online via the school subscription.

Featured Book

What better way to develop empathy than through reading literature that focuses on little known historical facts. Works of ‘faction’ can provide alternate or complementary views of history.  Read a review of one of our latest novel purchases suitable for all year levels, “Making Bombs for Hitler” by Marsha Skrypuch.

Differentiation

Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.”  [readingrockets.com]

In keeping with SSHS priorities, including catering to students as individuals, we provide a couple of different avenues of learning for our gifted and talented students.

Reader’s Cup

Reader’s Cup is an annual event for keen readers to pit their reading comprehension skills against literateurs from other high schools in the region. The district challenge is usually held in Malanda, the workplace of the organizer. However since Mrs Sellars’ transfer to Cairns High this year, our team of Year 7 students didn’t have nearly so far to travel.  Congratulations to all the team who were excellent ambassadors for Smithfield High on the day.  Read all about it…

On 5th June, Jack Chapman, Anika Weremchuk, Hamish Howieson, Josh Rueben and Hollie Culleton went to the Reader’s Cup. Even though only four formally participated, everyone enjoyed the interaction with the other schools. We especially loved the food that was brought! There were ten questions on each of the six books we were required to read. Spot questions were organised to win books for our schools and we won a futuristic book for the whole school to enjoy. Afterwards we feasted like kings, and were able to purchase books from the  Cairns Books stall. A special thanks must be given to our District organizer, Mrs Sellars school organiser, Mrs Robins, and all the other volunteers and organisations that donated the books, funds and organised the event. Thank you!  [Anika Weremchuk]

It was a Friday morning and Jack, Hamish, Anika, Josh and I were going to the reader’s cup to compete.  I was the reserve but I knew that they were all pressured.  The last 13 was the hardest book that we had to do. We were all relieved after 2 books to be coming 4th in the progressive scores. We scored 58 points, just 18 points from the winner coming 7th overall out of 17 teams competing.  Everyone did a great job. It was fun and we were happy with the result.  [Hollie Culleton]

L2R Hamish Josh Anika Jack

Trinity Bay Writer’s Festival ~ Focus on Fantasy ~ July 30th-31st.

Annually, our best creative writers are invited to this worthwhile festival for aspiring writers. This year, Mrs White, T’Bay Teacher Librarian, is bringing a stellar line up of Fantasy authors to Cairns, including:  Melaina Faranda, Martin Chaterton, Saffron Bryant and Richard Harland.  The Focus on Fantasy workshops, will enable teenage writers to learn tips and tricks from professional fantasy writers and inspire participants to become published authors.

We encourage all students with an interest in creative writing, to register their interest at our SSHS library as soon as possible, preferably this term, because places are limited. At a cost of only $25 for two whole days of interaction with professional writers, this learning opportunity is not to be missed.

Lastly, research on memory & learning is reported by Glenn Whitman. He demonstrates by argument and by linking to John Cage’s famous composition  by the same name, that our brains need 4 mins and 33 seconds of silence each day, to process what we have learned.  Why not incorporate it into our lessons?  However, judging by the disrespect the MCG crowd showed Wed night at the State of Origin match when asked to participate in a minute’s silence in memory of Ron Clarke, I wonder if we have the self-control?

Deb Robins – Teacher Librarian

Student Reading Survey Results – Aug 2013

Both general findings and some opinions about ebooks are snipped below from our online reading survey conducted last month across the entire student body. We will be sharing more results with you in coming weeks, however we are appreciative of all the students who took the time to respond to the survey and “have a say”.  Thank you for your time.

The largest group to respond was Year 9 who have been issued with tablet PCs this term. Twice as many year 9’s and year 11’s responded as any other year level.

Many more females than males responded approx. 70% females and 30% males.

76% of students wanted more opportunity to borrow books in class time, while 24% of students preferred to borrow in their own time.

66% of students would like to try reading ebooks and 34% elected not to try them.

The most popular genres students would like us to stock are:  Fantasy, Gothic Fiction, Ghost, Supernatural, Action & Adventure, Crime/Mystery, Romance and relationships, Friends family & school life.

The most popular non-fiction books students would like to read more about are: True Adventure and Survival, Biographies, Social problems and issues, Concordances of facts e.g. Guinness book of records.  Topics of moderate interest also included: Cooking, Health & Fitness, Popular culture and lastly war stories and sports.

Some specific authors recommended were:  John Green, Isaac Marion, James Patterson, JK Rowling, Robin Hobb, Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson, Kathy Reich, Jodi Picoult, Nicole Pollizi, Claudia Gray, Kendra Wilkinson, Cassandra Clare, Scott Westerfield, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Roland Smith, David Baldacci, Jeff Hirsch and Natalie Standiford. Jonathan Safran Foer.

To Ebook or Not to Ebook – That is the Question…

Around 50 of over 100 students who responded, added comments. In the table below, we have divided the comments about ebooks into positive and negative responses and indicated whether other students shared a similarly expressed viewpoint.

FOR

AGAINST

I love reading and would try it out and read more books that interest me X 2 respondents I do like reading, however I get a sense of satisfaction when reading an actual book. It’s a sense of achievement as I turn a page, one step closer towards the resolution. I also tend to get distracted when on my phone and/or tablet/computer…temptation.  X 4 
easier to carry around, easier, you take your phone everywhere, store hundreds of books but not heavy,  more convenient, esp on the bus  X 15  I like turning the pages and holding them in my hand and smelling them, real books not silly-nilly technological books  X 4
I enjoy reading a range of books that i find hard to find in real life.  X 3  Bad for eyes
I didn’t know I could read them on there/interesting    X 4 Books are better and more authentic
It would be easier than having to go to the library X 2 It would be inconvenient /just don’t want to  X 2
Because its fun X4 Are you going to get rid of the books? It wouldn’t be a true library? Ebooks are confusing and not all people  have a smart phone, tablet or computer. It seems too modern and lazy
I would borrow more books and I’d have to read X 2 Because I’m slack
Be good for textbooks so we don’t have to carry them round X 2 The battery will die fast – I prefer books
I do already X 3  
It don’t wreck the book  
Better to read and it’ll get more use  
Many people my age prefer reading a screen and it is the way forward  

If you would like to ask anything about the survey, please email us.

Twenty Twelve

Welcome back to the resource centre. We hope you like our redecorating. Hang onto your hats because there is more to come, but it will take time. As they say in Africa…”Slowly , slowly catchee monkey”!  Over half the library has been recarpeted over the holidays and we redecorated a little to celebrate.  Seniors now have their own space/place to study. Mr  Shenton is pictured below standing  beside our new plants, which we hope will not only oxygenate the library but will make the place more attractive.   

This year is the National Year of Reading and our first theme in the library will centre around all the books being made into movies  this year.  I’m looking forward to The Life of Pi (Yann Martel) and The Hunger Games (Susanne Collins)  in particular. It’s important that we read fiction – at least one novel a month, starting in Year 8 and for the rest of our lives!  Try to read a journal/magazine each month too. It could be any periodical  but most adults read the journal(s) that relate to their chosen profession to be life-long learners and grow in their understanding of their jobs. We’re reading for pleasure, knowledge, interesting facts and insights about all kinds of people and places, which will in turn make us more interesting. But  research has shown that people who read widely have better social skills and they perform best on unseen tests LIKE the core skills test…OR the Naplan tests. Author,  Yann Martel ,shares his ideas about reading in this short clip.

We’re making a Reading Taipan this year. We’re asking everyone staff and students to write their favourite quotes from literature on our paper snake to see how long it can grow.  If you’d rather do it online, we’ve got an online BOOK WALL  where you can stick a post it. Try to cite the title and author of the book at least and if you’re keen, a quote or a comment – and your name too!  We’re also going to feature celebrity readers, so call in and swap your books often to find out who is the latest celebrity reader.   Everyone is encouraged  to use the National Year of Reading logo in your signature file  to spread the word.(Edit your signature file in  MS Outlook – File – Options – Mail – Signatures)

Our new Library management software (V-library) upgrade  is even more interactive.  Investigate our hyperlink “Using the Library” at the top of this blog or just ask staff how you can view films from the library catalogue and also “log in” to check the status of your loans and reserve books that are unavailable. The Library OPAC icon is located on your desktop but you may also use our handy little netbook computer, located on the last bay-end in Non Fiction to search for books anytime.  

If you enjoy using the Web 2.0 tool  “Linoit” to write quotes on our BOOK WALL , then you may also enjoy these similar tools.  Your teachers may use some of these from time to time for an activity called a “Backchannel”. This means that you can express your opinions and ask questions silently on the projected wall, so that all the class can see them and so the teacher can respond.

Here’s a national year of reading blog with a big ambition . The owner is going to post an Australian poem on this blog every single day this year!  Pretty neat, maybe you can check it every day and by the end of the year, you will have read over 300 poems. We featured some Australian texts in our first book display of the year.  Watch for upcoming changes to our Resource Centre webpages to guide you through the Noosphere!

Good Reads #1 /11

As the “love” month draws to an end, we say goodbye to “Blind Dates with Books” and “Speed Dating with Books”.   “Not before time”, say those classes who gave these a go!  Romance is dead? Long live Romance! It was a romantic month for the future king of England, Prince William and his bride to be, Kate Middleton – they mailed out their wedding invitations amidst political upheavals and a spate of natural disasters. But romance lived on even at the Cairo Protests and Christchurch’s terrible earthquake.

There’s a mixture of literary genres in our first batch of “Good Reads” for young adults.  Click on the cover images to read the reviews.

                                                                   
BTW “From Kinglake to Kabul”  comes with Teacher’s Notes.    
The classic “A Day No Pigs Would Die” has found it’s way back to our Fiction collection too. View the trailer .  Read the Spark Notes
Lastly,  for senior students reading in our 15+ collection:  Michael Silverblatt from KCRW (Santa Monica) has interviewed some of the world’s leading authors on his radio show, “The Bookworm” for over 20 years.  He astounds writers with his insights about their novels – Joyce Carol Oats once called him, “The reader writers dream about”.  You can download and listen to his podcasts at the Bookworm website or subscribe through itunes.
Michael Silverblatt

Michael Silverblatt