Shenandoah Shares

Reading Celebrations, Books, Fun, and Literacy!

Greetings fellow teacher-librarians and lovers of books! I am a library media specialist at Strasburg High School in Shenandoah County Virginia! I am seeking like minded individuals to share reading celebrations ideas, powerful reading incentives, and fun stuff that has been met with success with your students! Let’s encourage reading for fun and enjoyment…literacy….what better way to start?

Celebrate Reading! Click here for secondary reading celebration ideas!

Welcome to Shenandoah Shares!!! As a library media specialist, I am all too aware of how challenging it has become to motivate students to read for enjoyment. There is just too much competition in the electronic world, not to mention sports, hanging with friends and after school jobs! HELP!! After struggling with new library software and feeling pretty disenchanted with the whole enchilada, I decided to take a good look at WHY I am here! My passion has been and continues to be, instilling a love of reading in young adults. After reading an article in the March, 2006 American Libraries entitled “The Greatest Challenge” by Michael Gorman, I am more convinced than ever, that our “greatest challenge” as teacher-librarians is indeed, to promote literacy and a love of reading: The decline in literacy is a grave problem in our society and libraries of all kinds must be an important part of the solution.

Using technology as a tool while teaching research skills and the importance of citations and evaluation of both print and online sources will continue to be vital in our library curriculum, however, as we become increasingly mired in electronics and library software, it is important to take a giant step backward, take a deep breath, and “hold the phone”….why are we here?????? READING! READING! READING! If our students leave us having never read and ENJOYED reading a book, what is the point?

And so….here goes…my first blog…please join me!

If you have a neat POSITIVE idea for a reading celebration, FUN activity, or would like to share some cutting edge ideas from a class or conference, please take a moment to share. Have you had success with a particular genre, author, or title? Do you have a fun idea to promote library use and reading?? Support the cause and jump right in…let’s hear those amazing ideas!!

Let’s get started…

SHS had a “Feed the Need to Read” reading celebration. VERY SIMPLE: check out a book, read it (or at least tell me you did), fill out an entry form and put it in the pot. You may enter as many times as you want. After about six weeks, we drew about 30 names. We got a deal on pizza, served soda and candy bars…yum, yum…The big thing was, we served this on the stage in the cafeteria. The winners had their special meal during lunch and the other kids were like “wow…what’s up with that???” This year, we hope that all of those folks will “Feed the Need to Read” and enter the contest! It was FUN, QUICK, EASY and we had over 200 entries….we WILL do it again.

PLEASE CLICK HERE AND ADD YOUR COMMENTS...looking for fabulous and even not so fabulous ideas!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Lunch with Crutcher

Chris Crutcher will be speaking at Strasburg High School on September 23, 2008.
How would you like to have “Lunch with Crutcher” in the library and have the opportunity to ask him a question? The English teachers at SHS will help select the winning entries. There are two categories and you may enter more than once. Please complete a thoughtful paragraph (blog below) in either category and be sure to include your question for Mr. Crutcher:
1.Intellectual Freedom: What does it mean to you? Take a look at the Intellectual Freedom posts on this blog for more informaton. If you had the opportunity to ask Chris Crutcher one question, what would it be?
2. What is your favorite Chris Crutcher book and why? If you had the opportunity to ask Chris Crutcher one question, what would it be?
CLICK HERE to view entries from last spring.
Click on comments to enter NOW!
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chris Himelright
I am reading Running Loose. It is one of the best books about football I have ever read. It has kept me wanting to read more and find out what will happen.
Mr. Crutcher: Do you have a favorite football team?

September 10, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Anonymous said...

Joe Racey
I liked Running Loose because I like football. What is his next book going to be about?

September 12, 2008 at 7:57 AM
Anonymous said...

Kasy Sibert
I read Deadline by Chris Crutcher last year and it was great. It had great detail and kept my attention until the very end. It was one of the best books I read last year. Mr. Crutcher, was there anything that editors have ever taken out of one of your books that you really wish they had not?

September 12, 2008 at 7:59 AM
Anonymous said...

i read the sleding hill by Chris Crutcher. it was a rally great book. it kept my attention the whole time. it was a story that touched on subjects i don't think about everyday, but can occur everyday.
Mr. Crutcher: Where do you get the ideas that go into your books?? like Deadline and the Sleding Hill are about death...not something i think about everyday but something that happens everyday.

September 15, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Anonymous said...

the above comment is mine.

Brittany Lantz

September 15, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Anonymous said...

I read The O Foods, an inside look about hazing in high school sports. It was interesting and humorous. I would ask Mr. Crutcher why there is still censorship in in the media, when nowadays we are warned so thoroughly about everything that reading a banned book is ultimately a personal choice

-Aaron Way

September 16, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...

Ricky Perry
I have Read "The Sledding Hill" and I really enjoyed the content and style of your writing. I find your books fun and interesting. My question: What got you into writing to begin with?

September 16, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...

Christopher Frye
I just finished reading Deadline and it was amazing. It kept me wanting to find out what happened to the main character. It was just a great book to read. I would recommend it to anyone that likes books with good plots and different twists. Mr. Crutcher: if yo had to change anything at all in the book, what would you change and why?

September 16, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Anonymous said...

i read the ironman it was nothing like the movie it was Amazing!! Bo kept me interested the whole time and the story line was interesting. Chris crutcher realy has a way of writing and keeping teens interested.


Quirsten Martoncik

September 18, 2008 at 9:08 AM

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