Day 8: We arrive in Syria

I don't think that I had ever heard of Aleppo before the head of the ICARDA International School  put a note in my pigeon hole at the ECIS job fair in 1995.  We had been living in Cyprus for 5 years and we all had island fever, which is like cabin fever but doesn't involve being snowed in!   It was time to move on.  I was offered a job in Zambia and one in Aleppo, and at the time, Aleppo seemed the safer bet.

Larnaca to Damascus is a half our flight.  After the ride up to Aleppo from Damascus, I might have wished that we had also taken the half hour flight from Damascus up but for some reason we didn't. In retrospect, we would have missed out on a rather uncomfortable adventure if we had.

We left Cyprus in the early evening and flew into Damascus with no idea what to expect.  We didn't have entry visas but were assured by the school that someone would meet us and sort everything out. When the man in front of us was taken from the queue and sent back to Cyprus for not having one, we did start to get worried.  I hoped that being a family of four might make us seem less threatening or suspicious.  We shuffled nervously toward the front.  I think that it was about then that one of us, or perhaps one of the airport guards, noticed that someone was waving at us from the other side of the room.  The guard motioned for me to go over and it was then that I met Mr. Jabri, our future banker, travel agent and sponsor in Syria.  He introduced himself briefly, and handed me the paperwork. What a relief!

We passed through immigration after answering the questions which soon became a standing joke with us and other Europeans we worked with:  mother's name? father's name?  I never knew why their names were so important.  My father was dead but it was easier to give his name than try to explain that, when I didn't speak Arabic and the immigration officer didn't speak English.

We came out of customs hot and bewildered into the warm embrace of Alem and Asma from the school.  And so it began!

Day 7 Aleppo

It's the weekend and I'd like to stray from writing about education for one day at least.

I used to live in Aleppo in northern Syria.  Today someone posted a picture of the souk in Aleppo and the memories came flooding back.  We used to go to there often, not every weekend but probably twice a month.  A friend introduced us to Aladdin shortly after we arrived and we would always make sure to visit him whenever we went.  What an amazing young man!  He could converse with almost every nationality that came to his shop.  If he didn't have what we wanted, one of his many brothers would and would be sent for, while we sat and drank sweet, mint tea, surrounded by scarves, blankets, table cloths, soap and so much more.  

The pictures below gives you a sense of what it was like but it's missing the donkeys!  You could sit and watch the world go by in Aladdin's shop and that would include a number of donkeys carrying loads of goods to their owners' stalls.

The souk has sections for different products.  Near the entrance we used to go in, there were a number of sellers of women's under garments, the most interesting being the knickers with flashing lights.  My daughters called them 'landing lights'.  I wish I had a photograph or two of those.  The wedding dresses were also located in the same area. Quite spectacular!

I miss Aleppo.  I always planned to go back but never got round to it and now I never will.   I mourn the loss of such a beautiful city, so many wonderful people, and a their way of life.

Day 6 Nearly Past Me By

Here we are at Day 6 and I am still ill and writing from my bed.  Not fair!  I was hoping to go up to London tomorrow to visit the Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the London Museum.  Ah well, half term is coming up in one week and I can go then.  I had better do this blog entry now or my lurgi may claim me back and I will have let down the side!

I had intended to keep pursuing the issues I've been having with my library but two other topics are pressing me more closely and so I will leave the library for the moment.  A friend and former colleague, Nina O'Connor, retired from international teaching 6 or 7 years ago and went back to live in Michigan.  She is working for the university and has also started a series of cooking programmes on YouTube in French.  The idea is to help people improve their French while learning how to make simple French recipes.  Her first recipe was for a vinaigrette.

This reminded me of the time I did a salad and a vinaigrette with a class when I was being observed.  It was the best vinaigrette I have ever made and I have never again been able to make one as good.  Funny how that happens.  I'm not sure whether you could use this series with beginners but I'm sure you could with students who have a few years of French under their belts.  Kids love cooking in class and it doesn't have to cost much.  Nina's next recipe is for a salade niçoise.  I think you could do that one in class as well.  Nothing to really cook. It's just a matter of putting everything together.  A baguette would go well with it.

Years ago when I started teaching French in Canada, I brought in a set of cooking cards I collected from Marie Claire for my grade 11 French class.  Students chose a recipe, made it at home and brought in the results and talked about making it.  We then had a wonderful time tasting everything.  I can see a way of including the use of the I-pad by having students work in pairs and film the preparation and then present in class.

Joe Dale tweeted yesterday asking for ideas about using the I-pad for primary literacy.  I spent some time thinking about his today and also did a little research.  I've found an article in a journal called The Reading Teacher  (Exploring the Use of the I-pad for Literacy Learning), and later this weekend, I will have a look at it and then report back.

Day 5: How to decide what is most important

I having been worrying over the fact that my circulation of books has dropped dramatically in the last few years.  When I took over in my library, the previous librarian had put very little of her budget into the acquisition of fiction, and especially paperbacks.  In fact I don't think there was a paperback in the entire library, though perhaps that is an exaggeration.  I set about increasing our fiction, only buying paperbacks and housing them on spinners so that students could see the covers of as many as possible.  I also got comfy sofas and set up areas where students could sit and read, play chess or quietly talk.  (As a side note, I hadn't realised that chess is actually a contact sport with middle schoolers and high school students.  Not at all quiet!)

I studied book stores and got ideas on how to display my collection to the best advantage.  I also took my advertising campaign out of the library and around the school.  My circulation started to climb.  I encouraged teachers to bring students in for books talks and though it was mainly middle school classes which came, there was a real buzz about books going on.

Once I had a good collection established and a protocol set for adding new books to the fiction collection, I moved on to my non-fiction collection.  Yes, we are in the age of the internet and internet research.  So, as I have asked myself often in the past, are print books still necessary for students to use for research.? That is a whole other question and I have answered it for myself and won't go back over it here.  Needless to say, I am still buying books, both print and 'e' and students are still using them.  My non-fiction collection is a bit more problematic than the fiction.  It was easy to weed my fiction collection but not so easy to weed non-fiction.

I was discussing this with a man who came over from another school to help me come to terms with certain aspects of our VLE.  He was disappointed that I would consider weeding books on topics that were not part of the curriculum.  I made the argument that if they were never going to be taken off the shelves what was the point of having them there.  Then he reminded me of 'serendipity'.  How would someone come across a book in my library by chance, on a subject they might never have considered, if I got rid of them.

Do you remember that happening to you?  I do.  It has led me to an interest in subjects I might never have considered.  I have become less aggressive in my culling after that conversation.  However, I know that one day another librarian will look at some of the books I've added and wonder, as I do about my predecessor:  why in heavens name did she buy that?

I've wandered away from the title of this post.  I started with the idea of discussing which should be of most importance to me as a librarian - literacy and encouraging it and assisting students in developing information literacy skills.  They are interrelated, I hear you say.  Yes, they are but I am the only person in my library and focussing on both of these equally has become difficult.  By answering this question, I am hoping to find a way forward.

(More musings on this tomorrow!)

Day 4: Am I partly to blame?

Well, hours spent in bed last night left me feeling slightly better and like all good teachers, because it is easier than making sub plans, I staggered in to work.  Mistake!  By the afternoon, I needed my bed but I couldn't leave till 3:30!  I won't be in tomorrow.

However, I did say that I would write every day and so, while the paracetamol is working, here I go.

In a previous post, I noted that I got involved with looking at assessment data because I was concerned about the lexile levels of students at my school.  It's  my theory that students' lexile levels are not increasing year on year at a rate that would allow them to read the text they will encounter at the diploma level (grades 11 and 12) and at university.   I have certainly noticed a drop in circulation. This is particularly noticeable between grade 5 (upper primary) and grade 6.

I have theories on why this has happened over the past 5 years but I have been working toward the thought that perhaps I should also be looking closer to home as well.  Is it possible that
the library and I may have played a role in this.  I don't think that we have but I can't not take the possibility into consideration.

Over the last 4 years, I have concentrated much of my thinking time on developing strategies for teaching information literacy.  I have continued to develop my fiction and non-fiction collections but I haven't had as much time to advertise or to encourage recreational reading.  Having said that, I think I'm being a little hard on myself.  During the last school year,  I had many classes in for book talks and developed new types, such as speed dating a book.

(To be continued...)

The Lurgi has me but I've written nonetheless!

Here I am on day 3 as sick as a dog!  Not fair and it’s definitely going to cramp my style.  I ache in every part of my body and as I type, my fingers hurt.  My brain is definitely not up to writing anything of great value but I did say that I would write regardless of the circumstances!  However, I didn’t factor in illness.  

So I shall attempt to continue on with the question of using assessment data to improve student learning.  Bored yet?  I think I’m beginning to be! I was going to talk about training teachers to analyse data but really that makes me want to go to sleep even more than my lurgi. ( A book prize for anyone who guesses - not googles - the origin of that word and knows the original cure!)

I got onto the assessment committee because I was and am still concerned about the lexile levels of our students.  From my reading of the data it appears that around 50% of our students in each grade level are not where they need to be so that when they get to grade 12 they will be able to read college level books.  We do have a percentage of EAL students but I don’t think that alone accounts for this.  

I have my theories!  We introduced I-pads across the board last year and the library circulation numbers began to drop.  This coincided with a new English department head who, though he pays lip service to having English classes come to the library for book talks or just book borrowing, he in no way encourages his teachers to do so.  This added to very content heavy English courses and et voila, a fall in circulation.  Yes, you are right, students are likely reading on their mobile devices but it is unlikely that their parents are buying the number of books that students used to take out in print format.  

Have you guessed that’s I’m a teacher-librarian, a rare breed, (originally I wrote 'bread' - see I told you I was sick) it seems, in most secondary schools.  My school is fortunate that the administration believes in the value of libraries.  Now all I need to do is learn how to analyse the lexile scores, and also look for other factors and then find away to turn things around.  I am trying not to make assumptions but of course, what I have just written is full of them.  

Enough!  My bed calls.  Well, actually I’m in it already!  But sleep calls!  Bonne nuit!

Day 2: Post 2B

My second inspiration for writing today came from an email I received while riding the bus home from work.  Almost 4 months ago my husband died after a long and debilitating illness, from peritonitis which developed after the insertion of a PEG.  He received varying treatment in the hospital ranging from good to terribly bad.  Today, the head nurse contacted me to say that the investigation into his death had finally finished and that at a meeting last Friday the report had been shared with her.  Now, she needed to share it with me.

I have found it difficult to reconcile myself to the fact that the hospital was probably to blame, for the most part, for Cliff's death.  You always want to think the best of an institution which is there to help make people better and not to kill them.  I don't actually think that the hospital will admit to having made a mistake.  I say 'the hospital' when what I really mean is the people involved with my husband's care. And how likely are their colleagues who investigated the death, to lay the blame on other staff members?

Do I really believe that Cliff's death was anything more than a series of unfortunate events, which might have gone either way?

I am worried too that I might let myself become consumed by anger about what has happened.  Or, am I working so hard not to be angry that I am trying to forget the whole thing?  My goodness this is all so ... I can't even thing of the word!

So, four months after my husband's death, I now have to face what happened, listen to what the hospital has to say and try and make some sense of it and find a way to move forward. Unfortunately, talking with the hospital won't be the end of it.  The Coroner has yet to decide on whatever they decide.  I have an interim death certificate, the autopsy has shown that he died of natural causes but I think that the coroner has yet to decide whether or not things were done as they should have been.

Sigh!

There will be much more to say about this!