Araw ni Ninoy Aquino

 

@titazeeh7 Ngayon ay Araw ni Ninoy Aquino. Magbasa tayo ng mga aklat tungkol sa kanyang buhay, pamana at impluwensya sa makabagong panahon. #booktok #ninoyaquino #agosto21 ♬ Fight Song - Instrumental - Relaxing Piano Man

Recommended Reads for World Mental Health Day 2023

@titazeeh7 #WorldMentalHealthDay2023 #booktok ♬ Motivation - Study Music

Library Promotions: Book List and Recommended Reads

One promotional strategy, and the easiest to do (at least to me), for new books to get noticed is to send a list with short reviews of selected titles through the school's mailing list. Sharing with you this email I sent to teachers and staff.

Good day everyone!

Attached is the list of new acquisitions. Choice picks from this harvest:

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan - satire meets chic lit; something for the coming term break if you want a light and fun read.

Silence by Shusaka Endo - if you feel like reading something moving and thought provoking; for those familiar with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; for those who are fascinated with Japan's culture, history and geography; for those who are baffled by silence.

This Explains Everything, edited by John Brockman - a compilation of essays on varied subjects and disciplines, from Evolutionary Genetics, Language and Natural Selection, The Universe Growing Like A Baby, Commitment, Simplicity, Fitness Landscapes, Feynman's Lifeguard, Equations and Their Continuity, Sex at Your Fingertips -- almost everything, really! The writing is TOKish, and (kinda) metacognitive.

Strategies for Application by David Wilson - tips and techniques for applying one's self in the classroom and in life, in general. 

How To Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson - Differentiated Instruction 101; it has the basic principles of differentiating instruction; makes for a good companion to R. Jackson's Never Work Harder Than Your Students.

That's it, pansit. Hope to see you at the library! For queries, shoot us an email: 

library@beaconacademy.ph (Flynn - who will provide you with basic sourcing and reference services) 

librarian@beaconacademy.ph (Zarah - who can be your sounding board for instructional or pedagogical matters and teaching partner in research skills instruction)

Check our OPAC for queries on specific titles of books - tbalibrary.org 

I apply a different strategy when promoting books to students. Watch out for the next post on library promotions!

Support Systems for School Libraries: Technology Department and Communications Team

Study Skills and Recommended Reads

Where I work, I am a one-man/woman librarian. I have a staff, though, who assists and helps me in all administrative, clerical and technical matters of library work. Early on in our journey of setting up the library, it had been our agreement to start right. This meant, setting up systems and structures that are efficient and productive so that, we can concentrate on readers' services and user education.

My staff and I have been together for the past five years and so far, we have been doing pretty well. The work doesn't end there since we are to evaluate the systems and structures we set up. While we get feedback from the community, a formal evaluation is necessary. Annual reports are there to qualify the numbers, but I am looking for a more client centered method. More on that in a future post as this would involve Design Thinking for school libraries.

This academic year is also our International Baccalaureate (IB) authorization process. In some ways, it is a way of analyzing and evaluating our library services and programs through the lens of outsiders, otherwise known as IB evaluators. For the past few weeks, I have been deep into writing reports, reviewing statistics and attending meetings. Did I say that there's been requests for Information Literacy sessions, acquisition and cataloging work, management of technology and teacher - librarian collaborations?

More Recommended Reading

Yep. I am a busy bee!

What helps see us through, is the supportive people in our learning ecosystem. Ah, the advantage of working in a small school. One of these people happens to be the Communication Associate who is always on the ear for good news to share with our community. Since school started in August, the library is getting space in the weekly school newsletter. Students, teachers and leadership are regularly informed of our new titles, events and activities and updates in art and culture through the school's mailing list. There, another system that supports the library - the Tech department!

The inclusion of library updates in the weekly school newsletter is one way of putting a face of the library to the bigger members of our community: the parents, the alumni, possible donors and organizations to partner with. In a bigger sense, the library is seen as a part of a bigger whole that belongs to a school community and its ecosystem for learning.

Top Ten Books to Movies Adaptation (Part 1)

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel for young adults opened in local theaters last 21 March to the delight of many fans. I tried my best to collect titles representative of the different genres though most of the books in the list carry the same themes found in the The Hunger Games. Dystopian literature is the trend in reading and in publishing but If you have your own list, share it with us!

Let’s create a ripple effect!

Let’s READ!

1. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

The identity of a mysteriously burned man affected three people who were picking up pieces of their lives at the end of World War II. A nurse, a sapper and a thief form constructs of the English Patient. By doing so, it enabled them to fill in the gaps of their own emptiness.

2. Never Let You Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Three friends, cloned to be organ donors, grapple with the roles designed for them by science and society. If dystopian literature is your kind of reading material, include this book in your reading list this year!

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A lawyer defends a black man charged with rape. It’s a storyline that’s been used before but Harper Lee’s narrative style is a tactile experience.

4. The Reader by Bernard Schlink

Michael Berg, a young law student, witnesses the trial of his lover who took part in the burning of a church where 300 Jewish women died. A post-holocaust story that describes the painful process survivors go through years after the war.

5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

A crime novel whose popularity was surpassed by its movie adaptation. The Godfather portrays Michael “Mikey” Corleone’s hesitance to accept the role bestowed upon him by his father as head of the family and its business, that is, running a criminal organization.

6. Stardust by Neil Gaiman

A fantasy novel set in graphic format, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess team up to offer readers an escape from the mundane and non-magical world. Tristan Thorn entered the Wall as his father did seventeen years ago and he came out from the Wall a changed man.

7. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

An unauthorized biography of John Forbes Nash Jr., whose journey to professional success (Nobel Prize in Economics) was marred by his personal battle with schizophrenia.

8. Dracula by Bram Stoker

The seminal gothic novel that inspired artists to create versions of their own, Stoker’s Dracula captures the horror and mystery of the man from Transylvania in epistolary format.

Making it to the list are two Filipino novels --

9. Dekada ‘70 by Lualhati Bautista

A family drama set during the Martial Law years. Amanda Bartolome, a mother of five boys, experienced how her family went through changes in the face of social, political and ideological upheaval that shaped the decade.

10. Kangkong 1896 by Ceres Alabado

A historical fiction set in 1896 when Filipinos took up arms to fight for independence from Spain. Alabado narrates Plorante Acabo’s coming of age journey at the height of the revolution.