Just Google It

Last week, Miss A came home with her first project.  Miss A is in year 2 this year but has been put in a year 2/3 class so instead of continuing stage 1 work (Kindy-2), she is now doing stage 2 work (yrs 3-4).  I'm in mixed minds about this but I'm not focusing on this in today's blog post.

Back to the project.  So this is the project:

During each Term this year you will be given an outline for a project to work on at home.  The projects will be linked to that Term's theme in HSIE.  While not compulsory, we hope you will take these opportunities to further develop valuable skills in research and presentation.

Our theme in Term 1 is early Australian history: sea exploration, reasons for colonisation, and first settlement.

For this Term's project you should choose one of the following:

• A biography of a convict.  This can be any convict who became well-known, e.g. Francis Greenway, James Ruse, John Cadman.  If you know you have a convict as an ancestor, you can do your project on him or her.
• A famous shipwreck, e.g. Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp or Trial (there are two - one in WA and another at South West Rocks)
• This year is the bicentenary of the crossing of the Blue Mountains by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson in 1813.  Explain why it took 35 years to find a way over the mountains west of Sydney, and why it was so important for the colony of NSW.

And it goes on to explain how the project is to be presented.

Imagine my shock when Miss A told me that the teacher (not her teacher) explaining the project told them to use Google.  I asked - did they mention books, the school library, the public library??  She said no.

So like any good mother, I visited her teacher and mentioned that I wasn't very happy that the students were told to use Google and I'd happily offer the students a session on how to find information in the public library - which is just down the road from the school.

This week I'm providing "how to find information" sessions for the year 2/3's, 3/4's and 5/6's from my daughter's school.

Now I don't dismiss having students use Google to find information.  But I do get disappointed when there is no explanation on how to define what they should be looking for, no discussion of keywords, no discussion of how to evaluate the information found, and no discussion of the other research tools and resources that could be used.

I also find it disappointing that the school librarian is not insisting on offering "how to find information" sessions to the students.  

I understand that there can be many reasons why this doesn't happen - lack of funds, lack of support by the teachers, lack of time etc etc.  But what if I my daughter was not at this school? Who else would jump in and ask that the students be given the opportunity to be taught these skills?  Especially since the project states that it is allowing the students to further develop their research skills - well how about giving them research skills to develop instead of giving a project without the basic support to get them started?

Even if the school had not agreed to allow the students to come to the library, Miss A would still be provided with a lesson in finding information from me - but what about the other students?

And I'm trying very hard not to think about the other schools in our area that are also not providing their students with the basic start in finding information.

What are your thoughts on this?

My Love of The Outsiders Fan Fiction

Ok there are some readers that will know I love The Outsiders and that I have also mentioned my love of some, not all, The Outsiders Fan Fiction.  But here I will share a little bit more on why I love some of The Outsiders Fan Fiction.

To quote from Wikipedia: Fan fiction (alternatively referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or simply fic) is a broadly-defined fan labor term for stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. 

I stumbled across The Outsiders Fan Fiction purely by accident - so much so I can't even remember how and why I found it.  Regardless, I haven't looked back since finding it.

For me it is the ability for the characters to continue to live on once I finished the book that does it for me.  And while some fan fiction is absolutely terrible, others I have found to be quite good - even up there with the original book.

I admit that I don't always feel in the mood to go to it and I have my The Outsiders on and off phases but it is something I keep coming back to.

I have re-read the original book to many times to remember but at times I feel I have out done it (definately not out grown it) - but am over it and want the to see the characters move on and that is exactly what fan fiction has allowed me to do.

Sometimes you find a story that you just shake your head in disbelief at what they put the characters through.  Others try to re-write the original with different endings - some I have liked, others I haven't.

I now have a few fan fiction authors that I have feeds for so I know when they write a new chapter or new story.  It is frustrating at times at how slow they release the chapters but most are very much worth waiting for.  Other stories have been started and left abandoned - I have found a few where it has been a real shame that this has happened.

Did you know that Fifty Shades of Grey started as a Twilight Fan Fiction story?  So fan fiction can be and has been a starter for some successful authors.

Anyway, for those who share my love of The Outsiders - here are some links to what I think have been good stories/authors:

• FeistyFeist
• A Sideways Smile
• Mars on Fire

They used to have Wrong Side of the Tracks awards for the best The Outsiders FanFic but it hasn't been updated for many years.

Of course, they also have some YouTube clips where fans have put together some clips from the movie to appropriate or sometimes inappropriate song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4EHMS7a-IU

But if you are an Outsiders fan - you can't go past this website http://www.theoutsidersbookandmovie.com/Index.html

Is the grass greener?

Ok, so I'm haven't been posting to my blog at least once a week.  Honestly, so far this year I'm feeling flat.  Usually on return from the Christmas/New Year break, I am excited and revitalised about work and the year to come.  I'm ready to launch into planning heaps of exciting activities and seeking out opportunities to promote the library.

This year, it's not happening.  Each morning I wake up thinking this is the morning my motivation will return.  This is the morning I'll feel a skip in my step and anticipation for the day ahead.  Nope - not happening.

I'm not quite sure if I can pinpoint just one reason as to why this is happening.  I mean, I took a longer break and I didn't fill my break with drives to Qld which normally exhaust me and make me feel I really haven't had a break. No this holiday I relaxed and I spent lots of time at the beach and quality time with my family.  So it's not because I didn't have a good holiday.

I think it might be a combination of things.  Currently I don't have enough relief staff so I am constantly on edge that someone is going to get sick and we'll have no one to back fill.

One of my long term, highly organised staff members is off sick, so it has been hard to pick up the things that they would normally do without thinking.

I'm also involved in another project at work that I'm having an internal battle trying to devote time to - also trying to get my head around exactly how to tackle it and get it done in the very tight deadline is stressful.  I'm also supposed to be able to pull myself out of my day job to complete this - but that brings me back to the lack of relief staff.

Other things that may be at play are the fact that I do keep an eye on what jobs are going in the library industry and often find a job that I think would be much better than the one I'm in now - be it to be closer to family and friends, less responsibility, higher pay, better conditions, etc.  So there have been a few that have come up recently that I have thought maybe I should go for them.  But in reality I'm probably only trying to run away from this situation and is the grass really greener elsewhere?!?

I am coming up to having been in this job for 5 years.  In the past I always had a 3 year rule - no more than 3 years in the same job.  However, since having a child and she is in school, I have longed for somewhere to be long term.  To be in the same place so that we don't have to move and Miss A doesn't have to change schools and I'll actually get to get one of those certificates saying I've been in an organisation for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years etc.  To actually be somewhere long enough to make some big changes or go through some big changes and come out the other side better than before.

That said, there are some big changes happening - restructure, possible (probably more like inevitable) changes to local government models/boundaries in NSW, the never ending battle for funding.  And for me that creates a feeling of uncertainty.  What happens if my job no longer exists - what then?

Of course, I then kick myself for being worried about something that has not happened yet.

So I'm sorry for this post being so personal and probably a bit depressing, but I felt I had to write down how I am feeling and see if it gives me a light at the end of the tunnel moment.

And perhaps it has, because when I drive to work this morning and I go over the river and past the beautiful scenery which may be a bit muddy and wet at the moment, I'm sure to feel lucky to live here.  And if I think about what we did over the holidays - is it really so bad that I should give up this lifestyle??  Is it really as bad as it seems??

Honestly, I think I'm just going through a phase but I really hope that it hurry's up and passes me by.

Back to the grind

Well I promised at least one blog post a week and what a good time to do it when I've been back at work 2 days and am about to launch into my first whole week back at work.

Yesterday's Destiny Card was Fun and I'm going to leave it as my card for today as well.

The family and I had loads of fun yesterday morning at the beach.  We spent over an hour splashing in the waves before returning home for a prawn and lettuce roll.  After that we kicked back and relaxed.  I caught up with the news via Library Press Display and checked FB and twitter.

I finished the day with my usual hour long afternoon walk and returned home soaked in sweat.  It was pretty humid yesterday, in fact it has been pretty humid/hot the last week or so - which I'm not complaining about but it doesn't make for an attractive Sharon when I go walking.

Unfortunately, today I suspect I won't have much fun.  On Thursday and Friday last week some things happened at work which have caused me some stress.  In fact, in usual Sharon fashion I have not slept well since because my brain keeps churning over these issues when I'm trying to sleep.  This is why I promised I would not think about work while on leave.

Today, I hope a meeting I have planned will give me some options to deal with one of the issues which unfortunately, involves a person.

I'm going to admit here that I have some things to learn when it comes to dealing with people's behaviour and because I'm an emotional person (at times), I really have to learn to detach myself and not let my emotions get the better of me.

The other issues are a result of possible change that is really out of my control.  Silly really to be stressing over something that may or may not happen and you can't control it anyway.  So that is another area I have to work on - only stress over what you can control - well don't stress over it, just deal with it!!

It hasn't really been a positive start to the working year for me and I hope this week ends on a much more positive note than last week.

And if anyone has any advice on how to detach oneself in order to stop letting emotions take over - I'd love to hear it!!

It's the blog that never ends - Epiphany #blog12daysxmas

So I thought I had finished #blog12daysxmas but no I'm supposed to finish up with an epiphany.

Epiphany: a) a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something
 b) a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realisation

Ok well I'm not sure if I had any epiphanies during my blogging challenge but I suppose I did:

• realise that I am very lucky to live where I live and to have a healthy family
• note that I have to reflect more and will be blogging at least once a week to achieve this
• realise that I possibly am too negative about situations at work that I think I can't change and by changing my attitude to positive may result in overcoming these situations
• note that I should try to meet more of my twitter friends IRL
• realise that with perseverance I can overcome anything (well maybe not anything but most things)
• realist that destiny cards do not help when trying to think about what to blog about BTW today's Destiny Card is Prosperity.

And really the one thing participating in these blog challenges helps me to feel is that I am connected.  While somewhat isolated, I still feel connected because I am sharing, discussing, and participating in something with other people.

Blog12daysxmas Post 12 - The end of the road

Today's Destiny Card is Courage.

On the 12th day of Christmas and final day of #blog12daysxmas.... we went to the beach for a swim and then fell on the lounge and watched cricket.

I can not believe that the weather has been so good for my holidays.  I'm not back at work until Thursday 10 January so I am hoping the great weather continues.

You will note from previous posts that it has pretty much rained since we moved here 4 years ago.  This year has been the first "real" summer we have experienced.  And while it is starting to get a bit worryingly dry, I can't help but feel blessed that the weather has turned it on while I'm on leave.

This is also the first summer I have spent at home.  The last 4 years has seen me visit "home" in Qld for a week in January.  After last year's heat wave in Ipswich, I vowed that I will no longer visit Ipswich in summer and give up the beach.  So Ipswich visits will happen outside of summer - sorry to all my Qld family and friends.  But with weather like this can you blame me for wanting to be at the beach.

Well this is my final blog post for #blog12daysxmas and I am proud to say that I blogged for a total of 36 days straight.  My goal for 2013 is to blog at least once a week.

So thank you to all who have followed me on my blogging challenge journey and I look forward to blogging each week and participating in any other blogging challenges that happen in 2013.

Blog12daysxmas Post 11 - We are one, are we not?!

Today's Destiny Card is Harmony.

The combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions with a pleasing effect. The study or composition of musical harmony.

Synonyms concord - accord - unison - agreement - unity I'm actually at a loss of what to post.  In fact, something I read this morning has upset me but as most of those discussing it think it is not worth wasting the energy to respond to it, I'm reluctant to post about it. But at the same time, I'm a bit disgusted that in the LIS profession that something like this has been allowed to be published. I will share: Annoyed Librarian: Do Public Librarians Have Any Standards? How do you feel after reading that post? I mean in the Australian Library and Information Associations journal Incite, there was the Library Provocateur that had a column back in 2010 called On the Edge.  But there was never anything as degrading to the profession as what has been published on the Library Journal site. While our profession is made up of many different industries - public, education, health, etc - I feel that as a profession we are all about unity.  When it comes to fighting for our fellow library professionals whose jobs may be at risk, we all come together to fight the fight.  We don't criticise each other - well not in public anyway 8-)  Which is why I'm a bit stumped as to why Library Journal published this post. I don't particularly like being referred to as a "professional entertainer" and regarded with looking after a persons entertainment not education.  Well my belief is that public libraries are all about lifelong learning and that can include recreation/entertainment because even if it is not considered "education" you are still learning something when participating in recreational/entertainment pursuits. Anyway, this is just making me all worked up - which is probably the author of that posts whole goal. But I am interested in other's thoughts on this.