CI, etc.

Hi, some random thoughts:
The presentations today were so engaging and provoked a lot of thought.
Also, an early P.S. to our (Group 5) CI: the Library of Congress website (loc.gov) is an useful resource for researching different countries, also historical projects post-sixties (particularly primary sources) and a photo file that contains many free use photos. I have used this site for units on the Great Depression, African American history, and the Gilded Age. The archive also includes some oral narratives, so if you have access to speakers, the students can actually hear a clip of a farmer who lived in the Dust Bowl or a song from long ago.

Does every other person who goes through Philwp feel that his/her group had the best people?
I don't know you very well at all, but just from listening to what each person shared in our discussions, reading what each person wrote, witnessing each person's presentation, I believe each of you are such fine individuals or as Brenda so aptly put it when the Institute first started, "You all are some kind of people." I am awed by your insight and expertise, and proud to call you, my colleague. Best wishes for a great school beginning!

I think our learning at the Institute is one for constructivism. Though sometimes I felt a little unsure when I was doing my assignments, I think in hindsight our facilitators' loose-ness in directions was an effective strategy. The learning came from us engaging in the activity and thinking so hard instead of being imposed from the teacher (facilitator) and following specific steps which requires little thinking. Now that could be a CI, right?

Some of your ideas I think some library journals may be interested in. Here are some addresses if you wish to submit your work for publication:
BookLinks 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611(www.ala.org/booklinks/)
VOYA (Voice of the Youth Advocate) -library magazine serving young adults--(www.voya.com)
Scarecrow Press,Inc., 4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
Also, there are School Library Journal and others but I don't have the addresses handy.

Finally, I wanted to find out what the One Book, One Philadelphia was for 2009 on the FLP site. No luck, but they do have some authors of interest to students coming in the fall. Among them are Cornelia Funke, Toni Morrison, a panel of graphic novelists, David Macauley. Those are the few this fried brain can recall, but if you're interested you can go online and check out these events. Some of them are free; some there is a charge. The FLP offers Teen author events and children's author events, but as I so sadly learned when I missed Jeff McKinney's visit (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, et al), if you aren't on their list, they don't call you or send you stuff. So I must have been on the list for teens, but not children. These events are usually on a school day afternoon and are free. The liason from the FLP comes to your school a few weeks prior to the event and delivers a class set of the author's book. I don't have the telephone number of the woman in charge here at home, but I'm sure you could just call the main library and ask about children's author events or teen author events. B the Book Lady