Written Plan Summary

Beverly Riggen

December 8, 2006

Final Project

Written Plan Summary

Audience

The audience for the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award includes:

• Educators who are currently involved with the ‘Rosie Award’ for their high school students and those who are interested in the program.

• High school students who use LibraryThing and the ‘Rosie Award’ blog to learn more about and to discuss the books that are nominated.

• The Indiana Library Federation who has information on their website about the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award. My hope is that they will consider using some of this information to help promote the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award on their website. Currently, the ILF has little information about the ‘Rosie Award’ that gets the student involved. Perhaps if the Indiana Library Federation included LibraryThing and ‘Rosie Award’ blog, more students would become excited about and involved with the program.

• Others who are interested in the ‘Rosie Award’ and want contribute to the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book wiki.

Need and Goals

With Indiana’s declining graduation rate and proof that reading every day can improve reading score, Indiana has a great opportunity to introduce great books to their students through the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award nominees each year. Currently, high school students don’t have the opportunity to expand and share their interest of the ‘Rosie Award’ nominees. Social networks, such as LibraryThing and blogs are perfect ways to expand their knowledge of these nominees. Studies have shown that a student’s attitudes toward learning and school are positively affected by computer use. My goal is that high school students will become excited about the ‘Rosie Award’ nominees and be inspired to read more! Ultimately, my hope is that the ‘Rosie Award’, through reading will improve student’s scores and contribute to Indiana’s graduation rate improving.

Technology Elements Incorporated in the Written Plan

LibraryThing

Blog

Wiki

Technology Effectiveness

Because evidence indicates that computers can help students improve their performance on tests of basic skills and writing, educational social networks are a great opportunity for students to increase their proficiency in these areas.

By having the written plan on the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award wiki (currently protected until after grades are posted!), collaboration will continue to improve the written plan.

Technology Issues

Two of the major technology issues that students encounter when using social networks in an educational setting are: computer filtering and student safety on the computer. Another technology issue is having the written plan on a wiki. A wiki brings potential concerns such as vandals and inappropriate content being added to the written plan since it can be changed by anyone.

Implementation of the Plan

The Educator’s Introduction to the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award provides the educator with a rationale as to why the ‘Rosie Award’ is important and how social networks can contribute to its success. Implementation of student’s access to LibraryThing, blog, and wiki are discussed.

Location of the Written Plan and Technology Elements

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award wiki.

*For this assignment, I have also included a copy of text on the wiki, which follows this summary.

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award

Educator’s Introduction

It is predicted that Indiana’s statewide graduation rate for 2005-2006 will be approximately 76 percent. This statistic is very disturbing for students, parents, and educators. What can our libraries, especially high school libraries do to help keep students in school? One step is to encourage our high school students to read!
Recently the Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) posted some interesting facts about teen reading on their website. Did you know that National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that students who read for fun almost every day had higher reading scores than those who said that they never or hardly ever read for fun? For example, if a teen reads just 15 minutes per day, at an average of 300 words per minutes, this would add up to 31,500 words per week. Studies have also shown that for every 100,000 words read, the reader’s vocabulary growth is 50%. So, what motivates high school students to read for fun? Good books! In fact, a majority of teens that responded to a SmartGirl.org survey reported said they would read more if they knew about more good books and other materials to read.
Here in Indiana we have a great opportunity for high school students to read great books. This program is called the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award named after a fictional character in Kurt Vonnegut’s novels. Every year a committee of Indiana high school students, media specialists, public librarians, and English teachers compile a list of nominated titles. The purpose of the ‘Rosie Award’ is to encourage high school students to read fun! Currently there are 230 Indiana high schools that participate in this program.

Now that you’re interested, where can your students find out more about the 2007-2008 nominees for the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award? Here are two great websites for your students to explore the 2007-2008 nominees.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a great site for book lovers. LibraryThing connects people based on the books they share. LibraryThing knows a lot about books. The book information page gives you library-quality data and the social information page shows you who has the book and what they think about it. You can create and join groups on LibraryThing based on your library interest. This is a perfect way for your high school students to learn about the nominees for 2007-2008.
LibraryThing has an Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award library that contains the books and reviews of the nominees for 2007-2008. Go to LibraryThing and check out the list. Book reviews can be found by clicking on ‘see reviews’. These reviews are from respected resources such Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly. If you are looking for a particular book, chose alphabetical and LibraryThing sorts the list for you. On the right hand side of the page there are also great reviews from other LibraryThing members who have read the books. This is a great way for your students to see what others think about the books.
Once you’re finished with the reviews, click on profile to go back. If you would like to more information about the book, such as what the cover of the book looks like, go to ‘see catalog’. The catalog page also recommends what other books your students might like. This is really cool. For instance, if your student enjoyed 13 Little Blue Envelopes, click on it and LibraryThing will recommend another group of books they might be interested in. This is a great way to keep your students reading! Be sure click on ‘back to catalog’ in the upper right hand side of the page to look at other books. Once you’re done exploring the catalog, choose ‘profile’ to go back to it.
Now here’s where the fun of sharing begins! LibraryThing also has a group for your students to join once they have read the book and want to ‘talk’ about! On the ‘profile’ page, you will see a ‘Groups’ that is listed on the left hand side of the page. Click on ‘Rosie Award Book Lovers’. Your students may join this forum by joining LibraryThing first. There is absolutely no charge and all you have to do is click on ‘Your groups’ in the lower right hand corner of the page. All that is required is a user name and password. Please don’t have your student give a first and last name, but rather a user name that is meaningful to them. Please remind them to keep it clean and fun for everyone.

Blog It!

If you don’t feel comfortable about your students joining LibraryThing to share their thoughts about the books they have read, then blog it! So…what is a blog? A blog can be defined as a live online journal that can be easily updated to share thoughts and ideas. If your school is not currently blogging, please consider the benefits of having your students participate on the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award blog. Read Blogomania by Eric Oatman, Blogging Across the Curriculum by Pattie Belle Hastings, or The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom by David Huffaker to learn of the benefits that blogging offers to your students and education.
The Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award blog lists all the books that are nominated for 2007-2008. Check out the Blog Archives to see the nominated books and comments for each one. Comments on this blog can be totally anonymous. When your student has posted their blog, it will appear immediately on the blog. By clicking on ‘original post’ it will send them back to the blog and their post will appear.
Remember to emphasize that proper blogging etiquette is required to keep this blog fun and clean for all to enjoy. A great example of blogging guidelines for high school students can be found at Arapahoe High School’s website. AHS Blogging Policy is located under curriculum, which is located at the top of the page. Remember, the purpose of the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award is for students to share their thoughts on the nominated books.
The goal of the ‘Rosie Award’ is to promote reading as fun and to get as many high school students as possible excited about the program. Involving your students in these social networks will help motivate them to read the nominated books and be eligible to vote on their favorite. If your high school is not currently participating in the program, please see the Indiana Library Federation website for information as to how your high school can become involved.
Taking it to the Student

If you are involved at your school with the ‘Rosie Award’ and want to encourage greater participation of your students, it’s easy to do. Include LibraryThing for the Rosie Award and the The Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award’ blog on your library’s link for your students. If you cannot add these links to your library website, just make this wiki or LibraryThing and the blog websites available for your students to access directly from the browser. Good luck and get reading! Finally, if you or your students would like to suggest a great book for the Rosie Award or are interested in serving on the Rosie Award Committee, please contact the Indiana Library Federation office, 941 E. 86th St., Suite 260, Indianapolis, IN 46240, Phone: (317) 257-2040, Fax: (317) 257-1389, E-mail:

Final Thought

Technology Effectiveness

LibraryThing and blogging are effective ways for your students to not only share information, but also learn. Research reviews have found that:

• When combined with traditional instruction, the use of computers can increase student learning in the traditional curriculum and basic skills area.
• The integration of computers with traditional instruction produces higher academic achievement in a variety of subject areas than does traditional instruction alone.
• Students learn more quickly and with greater retention when learning with the aid of computers.
• Students like learning with computers and their attitudes toward learning and school are positively affected by computer use.
• The use of computers appears most promising for low achieving and at-risk students.
• Effective and adequate teacher training is an integral element of successful learning programs based or assisted by technology.

If you want more proof that social networking is positive for your high school students, check out YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) findings from a small group of YALSA bloggers who posted their ideas and information about positive uses of social networks in school and libraries. Thirty positive reasons and social networks include LibraryThing and blogging.
Technology Issues
There are technology issues that you may encounter when choosing to use these technology tools. One is filtering on your school’s computers. Some school corporations do not yet allow blogging on their websites since they are fearful of the student’s safety while online. Like those who want to filter web resources, many legislators have also backed bills that block social networking tools such as LibraryThing and blogs. Currently, the American Library Association Legislative Action Center tracks key legislation that impacts freedom of access to information and legislative issues of this type.
The second concern is online safety for your students. If you or your school corporation is concerned about student safety while on the Internet, please read Beth Yoke’s testimony (PDF) before Congress regarding the positive uses of social networks and online communities. Another article that gives an overview of the issues associated with the bill is Larry Magid’s article, House Misfires on Internet Safety
Lastly, having the Educator’s Introduction to the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award on a wiki may cause some potential concerns. Since a wiki can be edited by anyone, it is subject to vandals and inappropriate content. This wiki however, has been set to notify the author automatically of any changes to ensure that the content is relevant.

Resources

“Blog.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Nov. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006 <

“Blogging.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Nov. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006 <

“Kurt Vonnegut.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Nov. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Arapahoe High School. Arapahoe High School. 2005. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Eliot Roseward Indiana High School Book Award. Wikispaces.com. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award. Indiana Library Federation. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award. Blogspot.com. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award. Wikispaces.com. 1 Dec. 2006 <

ETSC: Technology & the EALRs – Writing. Educational Technology Support Center. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Hastings, Pattie. Blogging Across the Curriculum” 24 Aug. 2003. Qunninpiac University. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Huffaker, David. “The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom.”June 2004. First Monday. Vol. 9. No. 6. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Improving Learning with Technology: What Works. Office of Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Indiana’s Graduation Rate. Indiana Department of Education. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Issues & Advocacy. American Library Association. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Jakes, David. “Wild About Wikis.”TechLEARNING. 15 Aug. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006 </

LibraryThing. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Magid, Larry. “House Misfires on Internet Safety.”CBS Broadcasting, Inc. 1 Aug. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Oatman, Eric. “Blogomania!” 1 Aug. 2005. School Library Journal. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Rosie Participating Schools. Indiana Library Federation Online.org. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Social Networking and DOPA. Young Adult Library Services Association. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 31 Oct. 2006 Purdue University Writing Lab. 1 Dec. 2006.

Teen Reading Guide for Parents & Caregivers. American Library Association. 1 Dec. 2006 <

User: RosieAward. LibraryThing. 1 Dec. 2006 <

Yoke, Beth. Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. 1 Dec. 2006 <t