The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

Tiffany Reisz will take you places in her stories that you were never prepared to go. I learned this while reading her Original Sinners series on the recommendation of a friend. I guess I should have learned my lesson but I didn’t and I in truth it really doesn’t matter anyway because whatever Ms. Reisz decides to put on paper I’m going to read it no matter what. She’s just that great a storyteller.

The Bourbon Thief begins in The Rickhouse Bar owned by Cooper McQueen. When Paris walks in his bar he is immediately smitten…or wants to take her to bed. He’s completely thrown off when not only does she not hesitate but tells him, “I could own you by morning!” I think from that moment in the book I was hooked. But Paris has an ulterior motive for not only walking in Cooper’s bar, she has a real reason for wanting in his house. The last known bottle of Red Thread bourbon. After Paris steals the beer, she is caught but instead of immediately calling the police, Cooper allows him to tell her the real history behind Red Thread and what follows is an interwoven tale of deception, revenge, and the sins of a family willing to do anything to keep their bloodline going.

The story of Tamara Maddox and Levi Shelby is not for the weak and timid reader, but the way Ms. Reisz weaves this story together will have you wondering what the heck did you just read? I enjoyed it thoroughly getting lost in the past, the story of the bourbon and a relationship that’ll make you question everything you know about true love.

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A few of my favorite lines from the book...

“And bourbons like the truth, you know.”
“How’s that?”
“The first taste burns, but once you get used to it, it’s the only thing you want in your mouth.”

Thinking About Plagiarizing? Dont!

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

When you hear the word "cheating" what scenarios come to your mind?

• Copying off of someone's test.  
• Copying your friends homework because you forgot to do your own. 

These two things are important, but they are only a small part of plagiarism and academic dishonesty. 

As a student it is your obligation to get an education...an honest education. That means, doing your own work, studying for tests, researching and writing your own papers. 

There are many consequences to "cheating" or "plagiarism." 

But the riskiest consequence, is people's ability to trust you as a person. 

Don't let that happen. Make the effort to be a good student. People who engage in academic dishonesty deprive themselves of a good education. 

The Legal and Ethical Debate of Copyright Law

Inspiration VS Appropriation

Inspiration - something that influences, propels, or inspires you to create something new.

Appropriation - to use someone else’s creative work to make something new, often without their permission. 

There is a debate in the music industry today about sampling and remixing. Some people think it is fair use, while others believe it violates copyright law. People in the music industry have various perspectives on this issue.

Inspiration is when you...

• Write a story in a style that resembles another story you've read, but is something different (Remember all the vampire books that came out after Twilight Series!!) 

Appropriation is when you..

• Use the melody or the base of a song you like to create another song.

For example: 

It's OKAY to be inspired by someone else's creative work to create something of your own but when you copy and paste, or use an entire song as the backdrop for something you created...you are violating copyright law. 

Reference:

Rights, Remixes and and Respect

Common Sense Education

Evaluating Websites

Well...it's that time of year again in my building when students are getting ready for semester exams and are being asked to complete RESEARCH. Last year I worked with a couple of my ENGLISH teachers showing their students how to "evaluate" websites for credible information. One of those teachers has asked me to do this again. Last year her students were researching someone they thought was a "Hero." This year they are doing "Greek Mythology." 

I pulled out my trusty Website Evaluation Form and the PowerPoint presentation and decided to "tweak" them both. 

I decided to create a Prezi (first time) this year instead of using the Powerpoint and made it a little bit shorter. I also created "two" Website Evaluation Forms because a few of her classes needed modifications. 

I'll be presenting with my iPad (first time using my 30-pin to VGA Adapter) and the students will also be using iPads to evaluate two websites chosen by the teacher (one good/one bad). 

At the end of the day, I'll post my reflections from the lesson and let you know what worked and didn't work. 

Reflection and What I Learned...

• Know the Student's You are Working With.
• What I mean by this is their reading and comprehension level. The first three classes I worked with needed a shorter version of the Website Evaluation Form. The form I used with them, after talking with the English teacher, I modified it. Instead of having 19 questions to determine if a website was a credible resource, I reduced it down to 8. This really helped those students feel successful. Also, after I worked with the first class, I realized I needed to guide the students through the first website, asking each question on the form and giving the students a few minutes to search for the answer. This helped a lot. 

• Set Time Limits
• It was also helpful to "time" them. Because we only had a limited period of time, they needed a deadline or they would begin discussing other things or get wrapped up in the "research" part of learning about Greek mythology which the teacher didn't want them to really do until the next day. This activity was strictly about finding credible sources. 

• Know The Limits of Your Technology
• My original plan was to have the students complete an "Exit Ticket" about what they learned by clicking on a QR code that would lead them directly to this blog and they would answer the question in the comments. However, because this blog is connected to my "work" Google email account, it required a Google sign in before you could comment. And actually, that's fine because our students DO have school issued Google emails, but, after the first class I ran into students who "forgot" their password. So, instead of having the students use the QR Code, I had them access the "Notes" app on the iPads they were using and answer the question. After, I realized I could "print" their note to a printer in my Media Center because it was connected to the network. Worked like a charm! I was able to print each note, then delete it off the iPad. 

• Easy Access To Pre-Selected Websites To Evaluate
• The teacher pre-selected two websites (one good/one bad) for the students to determine if it was a credible source. I also recommend this for whatever you  will have your students research. If you just send them out there to the WWW who knows what they'll pull up. But, if you give them at least 2 pre-selected websites it'll make it so much easier for this activity. One of the things I knew would be an issue was typing in the correct URL. So, I created QR codes for each website. So, all the students had to do was scan the QR code and answer the questions. It made the whole process very simple. 

• Student Exit Ticket Comments
• "I learned that you have to be very specific about what kind of website you use. Certain websites can give you the wrong information when you're looking information up. I have to be very careful." Sydney J. 
• "Today I learned that not all sites for research are reliable. Some creators of the websites are extremely biased and not accurate." Derrick J. 
• "I learned not to use websites that doesn't give you enough information about what you're looking for." Taishi W. 
• "What I learned today is to always look for the authors info when evaluating a website." Austin H. 
• "You can find real and fake stuff when you evaluate websites." Maria G. 
• "This was a good learning experience because I have trusted Answers.com and now I'm totally like, no." Nina R. 
• "I learned how to check a website to make sure it's relevant." Cedrick C. 
• "I learned specific details about figuring out how to get on a reliable website for new information." Cherlissa M.
• "What I learned today is to always check the website I browse on to see if the information is up to date and relevant." Ivory C. 
• "Some websites may not have correct information to help with certain projects or school work. Always look for the author and credible sources." Timothy J. 

QR Code: A Library Media Orientation Scavenger Hunt

I decided to try something new for library orientation this year with my students. Instead of standing up in front of the students going over a boring PowerPoint Presentation about the library media center, I decided to create a QR Code Library Media Center Scavenger Hunt. I got the idea from The Daring Librarian Blog. 

Usually, I would pull in the English classes to do orientation, but this year I used the Social Studies (Civics and Economics in my building) classes. I had each teacher schedule a full day to spend in the Media Center and I split the class period with the Computer Lab Manager who also set the students up with their school Gmails and Windows accounts.

With help from The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table and my Library Orientation Powerpoint from last year, I had a clear direction of what I wanted my scavenger hunt to look like. It took a lot of work in the beginning: taking pictures, uploading them to Flickr, creating the QR Codes, creating the QR Code Clue pages, BUT it worked out really well in the end. The students enjoyed using the iPads and learning about the library a different way than they were used to.

REFLECTION AND THINGS I LEARNED...

• The QR Code Scavenger Hunt has to be specific for "your" library.
• After I looked at my Powerpoint vs. The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table I realized that the scavenger hunt had to be specific for my library and I did have to create my own QR Codes. 
• Have a clear path around your library for the QR Codes. 
• After the first day I realized that the students didn't have a clear path or direction to go in. I had number eight in one location but number nine was clear on the other side of the room. That didn't work. So, I re-did my "table" and made a clear path from 1-14. One was near two. Two was near three, etc. Yes, it is a scavenger hunt, but don't make it too hard of the students to find the next one on the list because they'll spend more time "looking" around your library instead of "learning" about your library. 
• Don't put too many QR Codes in one section.
• I moved the QR Code clues around a couple of times. I found that the students would "bunch" up in the stacks if two many codes were in one aisle of the library. So, I moved the codes around (still in a easy order to find) to create less congestion. 
• Don't start every student at number one. 
• Students also "bunched" up when I started them at number one as well. I found that alternating where the students started on the scavenger hunt and telling the students they "didn't" have to do the scavenger hunt in number order helped with the flow and it moved them along faster. For example, my numbers "two" and "three" were doing an activity at the computer so if I moved the students along to number four, or had them go "backwards" and start with number fourteen, helped relieve the congestion. 
• If there is something you want to know about the students, get that done first. 
• The first thing I had the students do was complete a survey. I didn't want them to just learn some things about the library. I wanted to learn about them too. I wanted to know what their hobbies were, what types of books they liked to read, how often they read for pleasure, how many books they owned at home, etc. However, with the first classes, I had the survey as the "last" thing to do. But, my some of the students in my first couple of classes didn't get to the survey. So, I had them do the survey first. When I changed my "table" I moved the the survey up from number fourteen to number one. 

Getting Ready For Book Club

This year I am very excited to be introducing a book club at the Freshman Campus. I've had this idea in my head since last year and decided I would implement it the 2014-2015 school year. Last year I started thinking about the books we could read and right off I thought about The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Maze Runner by James Dashner because both of those books are being released as movies this year. In my mind I thought...read the book...go see the movie as the culminating activity! Also, Hunger Games: The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is coming out this year too and even if students have read the book already...they'd probably want to read it again to catch themselves up with what happened. 

I've already ordered and received these three books plus one more that I'm excited to read. I have some others in mind but I think I'll let the students come up with some ideas too or give them an opportunity to vote on the books we read. As of today I have 7 students signed up on the Google form I created. All I need is 3 more. Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, September 24th where I'll pass out the book club contract and go over the rules. I got the book contract idea from....wait for it... Doris Borck's Pinterest board/website. (Ya'll know I love Pinterest!) 

The great thing about this book club is the student will get to KEEP the book at the end if they read it! I'm also hoping to come up with some other fun activities to do as a culminating activity, including Skype with an author. I think that will be really fun. There's a grant out there I'm going to apply for that I hope I can use to pay for that. 

To get the word out, I have an announcement running on our daily news, and I also put up this neat little sign this morning one of my Media Aides created for me. 

Hopefully those two things will pull in the last three students I need to get started. I also created a blog I'm going to encourage students to comment on while they read the book. Hopefully we will be reading on October 1st! 

BookJunkie

Readbox Poster!

This year I'm all about getting more kids to come into the library. I created a board in Pinterest of all the great things other library media specialists and teachers have been doing in their libraries/classrooms. I came across this PInterest pin from Lessons With Laughter...

...and thought...what a great idea! 

I had to improvise with my background because we didn't have red bulletin board paper and the order that went in the previous week I was waiting for didn't include "red". I had some "red paper" so I decided to use that instead. With a little elbow work and tape...this is what I came up with. 

I couldn't find any "white" letters, nor would my printer "print" white letters so I decided to just go with black and it actually ended up turning out okay. 

After that I decided what books to use. They had to be available in my library media center, of course, but I also wanted books that had book trailers so I could include a QR code with each of the books. 

I'm hoping that added technology aspect will entice the students to come on in and check out the book. 

This is the end product! 

What do you think? What ideas have you used to entice students into your library media center? 

Note: I did laminate the "Readbox" background. I plan to leave it up and change the books out every couple of weeks. I also laminated the book covers so I can use those again as well. If we end up getting some red bulletin board paper some time this year, I might do this project over but for right now, I like what I came up with. 

The Book Junkie