Social Networking Activity

Social Networking Activity

Vocation	Name	Twitter Name	Date Followed
Professor	Dr. Lesesne	@ProfessorNana	8/26/18
Professor	Dr. Perry	@kperry	8/26/18
Elem. Librarian	Stacy Darwin (506 Followers)	@StacyDarwin	8/26/18
Author	Angie Thomas J.K. Rowling John Green	@angiecthomas @jk_rowling @johngreen	8/26/18
Elem. Teacher	Carrie Gelson (2, 033 Followers)	@CarrieGelson	8/26/18
Literacy Organization	YALSA	@yalsa	8/26/18
Publisher	HarperCollins	@HarperCollins	8/26//18

Reflection:

I have only been on Twitter for eleven weeks now.  I have never used Twitter before and I was apprehensive about using it for this assignment.  I prefer only one social media site, and for me that is Facebook.  Eleven weeks ago, I began to follow these assigned people and organizations on Twitter and I found that it was not difficult to keep up with.  I was able to check in periodically and enjoyed reading the short blurb or link they would post.

Authors:

I followed Angie Thomas, J.K. Rowling, and John Green.  Angie Thomas was very exciting to follow due to the fact that her best-selling book “The Hate U Give” has been made into a motion picture and the premiere was approaching in October.  Angie was constantly supporting her movie by posting about the actors and actresses, announcing which cities the film would be opening in, and retweeting what others have shared as well.  Angie posted several movie trailers for followers.  I love reading a book knowing a movie is coming out.  At the time, I had not read the book yet, and the excitement Angie was sharing about the film was contagious.  It was exciting to watch the movie trailers before reading the book to get a better mental picture of characters and the story line.  The trailers were very moving and gave me chills.  Angie also promoted the soundtrack of the film.  I read the article she shared: ow.ly/FCBF30m5m5cSd.  What I really appreciated that Angie did was provide links to give aways of her novel and free screenings to teachers who have studied the novel with their class.  She even shared a link for curriculum to use with a class. 

John Green has been very busy promoting his brother, Hank, and his new book.  John tweets out youtube videos of different interviews and discussions about his brother and/or books.  One video I view was of Hank and how he reacts to interview questions about comparing him to his brother.  John is traveling with his brother and tweets where they will be.  John also promotes himself on Podcasts and shared when he will be on PBS for an interview.  Of course, there is other news as well, including when he saw Taylor Swift and event encouraged followers to vote.

J.K. Rowling was an “extra” for me to follow and it is only because of my obsession with Harry Potter.  Rowling has been busy promoting the film “Fantastic Beasts:  Crimes of Grindelwald”.  She shares about the actors and actresses and events involving the film.  Rowling also recognizes fans of the series.

After following these authors for eleven weeks now, I have realized how beneficial it can be.  Authors are constantly promoting themselves and their works.  As a future librarian, I am able to capitalize on opportunities.  I would be able to apply for free materials or services.  Knowing which books are being made into motion pictures is a huge advantage.  Reluctant readers would be more interested in a novel knowing a movie is right behind it.  Free screenings would promote reading.  Students also love knowing the “now”.  Knowing what an author is currently up to or working on is exciting. 

Elementary Teacher:

I wanted to see how easy or difficult it would be to search and find an elementary teacher who had a lot of followers and I was able to find Carrie Gelson who currently has over 2,000 followers on Twitter.  Carrie was exciting to follow and I enjoyed when her tweets popped up on my newsfeed.  I learned very quickly that Carrie is a dynamic teacher.  Not only does she post about amazing things and activities in her classroom, she is also an advocate for best practices and students.  I found several posts by Carrie where she shared articles about teacher and student interactions.  I read articles Carrie shared over the benefits of play for young children and how “play” is leaving the school setting and the devastation it is taking on development.  Carrie also encourages teachers with materials and ideas.  Carrie shares books she highly recommends and the subjects and themes behind them.  She shared a book titled, “Find Your Marigold” for first year teachers which I actually suggested to our new music teacher this year.  I love what Carrie does in her classroom.  She regularly posts about “classroom book a day” where she reads to her students a couple of books on a common theme and students vote on which one was their favorite.  An activity I did with my fourth grade students was her “Brainstorm the Titles”.  By only looking at the titles of the books, students brainstormed what they meant, dissected the words, and make connections.  After following Carrie, I feel that she has taught me a lot as an educator.  She obviously has incredible ideas and insight with children, but I really learned from Carrie is not be afraid of sharing.  We need a network of supporters and encouragers to be successful in this profession. 

Elementary Librarian:

I decided to follow an elementary librarian who lives in North Carolina, Stacy Darwin.  Stacy has over 500 followers.  I have never met Stacy personally, however we have a mutual friend who is responsible for connecting us.  I wanted to follow Stacy because not only is she a librarian whom I feel I know from a distance, I have been told that we are very much alike.  I was excited to see what a real-life, every day librarian does.  Stacy is an enthusiastic librarian which fun and creative ideas.  She shares activities going on in her library such as students using the research process and learning about technology.  I loved her activity with “Makers with a cause…” where students were sending books to hurricane victims but adding bookmarks with words of encouragement.  She also shared a great idea to use in the beginning of the year with the book titled “Wishtree” which I have never read.  It was exciting for me as a Library Science student to read her posts about “access to information” and students looking through “mirrors and windows” with novels.  I was encouraged to see empathy being promoted in the library through reading.  I really enjoyed following Stacy.  It was excited to what we are learning in class used in the library.  I did learn she does not post as frequently as one who has many followers.  I was encouraged to follow more librarians in order to connect and gain knowledge from.  (I discovered Stacy Darwin also follows @ProfessorNana).

Literacy Organization and Publisher:

These two were my least favorite to follow on Twitter.  YALSA and Harper Collins give excellent and reliable information, but I found I am more connected to a person I am following rather a company.  YALSA shared booklists that is beneficial to know and use as a future librarian.  I would open the links to book lists and view the material.  I am thankful to know of another place I can find that resource when I am ordering books or recommending them.  I also learned one can apply to blog for YALSA or do other services for the organization.  The main thing I found interesting was learning there were grants I could apply for.  Budgets seem to be an issue in libraries so knowing where I could go for a grant is very beneficial.  Harper Collins mainly promoted books the company publishes.  The company tweets out promotions with selling books and shares about its authors.  I came across a post about the “Top 20 Best Thriller” novels and read the recommendations.  I have decided to read one over Christmas break and torn between “We Were Mothers” or “Under My Skin”.  I have learned that it is important to follow organizations and companies to gain the insight and knowledge of the materials I will be using. 

Professors:

 I was very excited to see we were asked to follow Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry for this assignment.  I love looking at what others are reading when Dr. Perry asks, “…what are you reading tonight?”  A response that made me laugh out loud when I began to follow Dr. Perry was the answer of someone with “the syllabus”.  I love the sketchnoting Dr. Perry shares.  I am proud to say I have used this concept in my fourth grade classroom.  It is not digital, but the students have loved it.  We studied Native Americans and I asked my students to create a sketchnote of what they learned about each tribe.  I used Dr. Perry’s sketchnote pictures as a reference for them and they loved it.  Students were able to share what they learned in a creative way.  I have also enjoyed reading Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry’s book suggestions.  Through the online textbook for our course and the video lectures, I feel like I know who these two professors are.  I highly respect their criteria for book recommendations and their insight for children and young adult literature.  There was a post Dr. Perry tweeted that really stood out to me.  What drew me to the post is it included, “…I usually don’t do this but…” so I just had to read it.  Her post was about books involving the usually diversity topics of race, religion, and so on, however there are few books with overweight characters that don’t lose the weight during the story.  She explains that many overweight characters will lose the weight and then maybe the boy ends up liking them.  That is what I enjoy about these two professors.  I have had my eyes opened on literature this semester.  I also really enjoyed the causal posts about life.  In particular the post about Dr. Perry forgetting one of her bags on a trip and when she thought she had colorful post it notes but they were only the boring yellow ones.  I cannot express enough how much I enjoy Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry’s insight.  I am excited to continue to learn and grow.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I am very pleased with my social networking activity.  I was apprehensive to get on Twitter before this assignment and now I view it as a useful tool as a future librarian.  I am able to connect with others and get great ideas.  I am also able to access more resources and information to use and recommend to others.  On a personal note, I was also encouraged through this assignment to share more about what I am doing in the classroom and how I am using what I am learning in my courses.  Networking is an important tool and may be used for professional growth. 

Crazy House - Book Review

Patterson, J. (2017). Crazy house. NY: JIMMY Patterson Books

Crazy House is a dystopia, suspense filled science fiction of teenage twins who live in a futuristic society of what is now the United States.  The sisters live in a “cell”, which is a mandated community by the “United”, which is the governing body.  Each cell produces a certain good or product, that is then distributed to the other cells.  Cassie and Becca live in an agricultural cell where farming is the main vocation.  In school, the sisters are taught that the most important things in life are being good citizens and contributing to the United.  They are assigned a vocation at a young age, and all of their education is centered around that vocation.  Cassie is the model student and citizen.  She is surprised when her rebel sister, Becca, disappears, but is not completely shocked, just things Becca is acting out again.  However, when she can not find Becca, she starts to panic and frantically search for her sister.  Since their mother was taken away by the government for a “mood-adjustment” and never returned, and their father has been hospitalized after a failed suicide attempt, it was up to Cassie to find Becca on her own.  She searches in some of the places Becca usually hangs out with her other “loser” friends, and finds out that Becca was taken.  By who?  No one knows.  During her search, Cassie finds out that Becca was an “outsider”, a group of people who rebel against the government.  In this group is also the Provost’s son, Nate, which is shocking since the Provost is the leader of their cell.  Nate decides to help Cassie find Becca and the other missing children from their cell.  When Cassie gets expelled from school and loses her vocation because of being associated with the bad citizens within her family, she decides to venture beyond the cell boundary where she is also kidnapped.  Both sisters are taken to a prison called Crazy House where all of the inmates are children on death row.  In this prison, they are tested in every way imaginable from mental tests on subjects they learned in school, physical tests of training and combating other children, to emotional testing of watching other inmates being executed.  Surprisingly, Nate and a local boy who lived outside the prison, decide to try to break into the prison to try to free Cassie and Becca.  However, they are also captured.  After countless near death experiences, the four of them, Cassie, Becca, Nate, and the local boy, devise a plan to try to escape through a legendary tunnel the local boy heard about.  They actually manage to find the tunnel, survive the life threatening crawl, and return to their cells. Upon returning, the twin sisters find that their home is being sold and their future is bleak if they remain in their home cell.  The Provost is furious and blames the sisters for getting his son involved.  Miraculously, the girls share their horror story of the Crazy House where children are imprisoned and executed and gets members of the community to follow them back to the prison to rescue the remaining children.  When they arrive back at the Crazy House, it is completely deserted leaving the sisters looking like liars, manipulators, and worse of all, bad citizens.  Just when they think they are at rock bottom with no hope, they are kidnapped again and brought to where the Crazy House has been relocated.  It is there that the leader of the Crazy House, Ms. Strepp, reveals that the Crazy House is actually a part of the “outsiders” rebellion against the government and that they have been training the girls to be the next leaders of the rebellion.  The children were not really being executed.  They were using the appearance of execution, mental, physical, and emotional torture, and the ultimate complete break down of the children to prepare them for the battles of ahead.  They now did not fear death, and could therefore lead the rebels against the suppressive government. 

I felt like this author did a great job of creating a futuristic society that seemed far-fetched, but also possible at the same time.  In this society, they created a perfect balance for efficiency, which included population control.  When someone died, a baby was born.  This was controlled by having a baby wait list that couples would join if they wanted children.  When they were notified that it was their turn on the list, they were given three months to get pregnant, otherwise they were moved back to the bottom of the list.  Deaths were controlled through a Suicide Assistance Service (SAS), where the government would offer the free service of painlessly assisting in lethal injection.  This was presented as a service to the society if you were no longer contributing because it allowed a new potential good citizen to be born.  While reading, a part of me thought about how crazy and unrealistic these ideas are in today’s world.  However, the other part of me thought how scary it would be if our society transformed into this Crazy House idea.  I enjoyed the relationship between the twin sisters, Cassie and Becca.  I loved how they were different, but still loved and accepted each other’s differences.  I enjoyed the sisterly banter of being annoyed and competitive with each other, but at the end of day (or end of their lives in this case), there was no one they loved more than their twin.  This novel was also a great example of empowering teenagers to change the world.  In this story, the characters saw a problem and fixed their eyes on setting it right for all types of people.  They believed in themselves and accomplished the unimaginable at the tender young ages of teenagers. 

To learn more about the author, visit this website:  http://www.jamespatterson.com/

Bossypants - Book Review

Fey, T. (2011). Bossypants. NY: Little, Brown and Company

There is more to Tina Fey than just funny.  Before all her fame and success, Tina was just a Greek girl with dreams.  Written by Tina Fey herself, she takes readers to different times of her life and describes what life was like for Tina.  She begins by telling readers about her home-life as a child.  She is eight years younger than her brother and her parents had her in their forties.  Tina explains how she got the scare on her face as a kindergartener, and what it was like going through puberty by getting a “my first period” kit.  Tina describes her teenage years and getting dumped at 17, her time at the University of Virginia, and eventually moving out to Chicago in 1992 to study improvisation at a comedy theater.  Her love of theater developed as she worked at Summer Showtime as a kid and even directed plays at age 12.  Tina shares her experience with Saturday Night Live, developing characters, and writing movies and shows such as “30 Rock”.  Tina was the boss of 200 employees and did it well.  Her show gained fame and Emmy Awards and even the attention of Oprah.  Tina also had her personal life to attend too.  Readers will learn about her eventful honeymoon with her husband and how no one recognized her on the cruise ship.  Tina enlightens readers on the rules of improvisation and how the same rules can apply to life.  Not only do readers gain more insight into Tina Fey’s life and journey, they will laugh all the way through the book.

Tina Fey sends a great message to readers and especially women through her book.  She also reminds us to not take things too seriously.  Her views on weight, diets, politics, and relationships are heartfelt and genuine, but keep readers laughing.  Tina included several formats in her book including lists and scripts.  I loved reading a copy of a Saturday Night Live script when she played Sarah Palin.  I loved getting her insight on what it was like to publically tease and make fun of others.  She describes where she draws the line when it gets too personal. 

Readers can read more about Tina Fey here:  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0275486/bio

Adventure Time: The Flip Side - Book Review

Coover, C. & Tobin, P. (2014). Adventure time: The flip side. Los Angeles, CA: KaBOOM

Finn and Jake are off for an adventure of a life time.  Finn has been suffering from “Quest Deficiency” so Jake is trying to find a quest fast!  Not just any quest, it must be a great one.  Jake goes to the Quest Board which is a place for others to post quests that are needed.  He finds a quest worthy of their time on the back of the board.  He is not sure why Princess Bubblegum is upset about getting a quest from the back of the board.  Finn and Jake quickly learn that they have actually accepted a reverse quest.  Their quest was to rescue Painting Princess from the Monkey Wizard but Painting Princess has not yet been kidnapped by the Monkey Wizard.  They must now convince Monkey Wizard to kidnap her or all of Ooo will be doomed.  Finn and Jake encounter con men, ogres, and many other obstacles and tests they must pass such as eating a ton of ice cream in order to move on in their quest.  Ooo begins to unravel, with everything being in a reversed world.  Zombies attack the town when finally the Monkey Wizard agrees to kidnap Painting Princess to set Ooo straight again. 

This graphic novel was a quick read and entertaining.  This was my first “Adventure Time” graphic novel to read and I enjoyed getting to know Finn and Jake.  The illustrations work well with the text to tell of the adventures of Finn and Jake.  The panels are full of action with some wordless frames.  Readers will laugh out loud at the humor in this novel.  For instance, in one panel, Finn says, “You’re…not sure?  Jake…what do I do?” and Jake replies with “I don’t have all the answers dude.  If I did, I could finished this crossword.”  This all takes place while in an intense scene with zombies attacking them. 

To learn more about other “Adventure Time” graphic novels, visit this website:  http://www.simonandschuster.net/series/Adventure-Time/books?options%5Bsort%5D=BOOK_ORDER%7C0%7C%7CSERIES_VOLUME%7C0%7C%7CBOOK_ON_SALE_DATE_SINCE_EPOCH%7C1

Readers will be able to view 57 novels in this series.

Asking For It - Book Review

O’Neill, L. (2016). Asking for it. NY: Quercus

Emma O’Donavan is a beautiful 18 year old in Ireland, who is very aware of the popularity and attention her beauty brings.  Although she has a circle of friends, Emma is not a friend herself.  She is rude, coincided, self-absorbent, arrogant, and sometimes just hateful.  Emma arrives to school one day with her group of friends furious with her and accusing her of stealing boyfriends and sleeping around.  Emma is a little confused about these accusations, and it gets even worse when the entire school is laughing at her, whispering about her, and won’t let her sit with anyone at lunch.  It isn’t until Emma’s brother calls to tell her to look at Facebook that she sees what her friends and the entire school must have been talking about.  A few nights before, Emma consumed too much alcohol and drugs at a party, and was gang raped by several guys who took explicit photos of Emma and posted them on social media.  The only thing Emma remembers is waking up on her doorstep.  As Emma scrolls through the nightmare online, she cannot believe she is the girl in the photos.  The pictures also show one guy throwing up on her and another peeing on her head.  A teacher confronts Emma about the entire situation and introduces the reality to Emma of being raped that night.  Emma is now an outcast and is being blamed for what happened to her.  People are saying that Emma was “asking for it” with her behavior and the way she dresses.  To make things even more complicated for her, Emma somewhat willingly had sexual relations with one of the boys in the photos just before the incident.  Emma lacks the support of her parents as charges are pressed.  She eventually drops all charges with the assumption that she will not win.

The story of Emma O’Donovan is extremely frustrating and gut wrenching to read.  Readers are frustrated with her decision making leading up to the party and incident that resulted in this nightmare.  O’Neill does not hold back in describing the photos that were posted online of Emma.  It was all too real.  I found it very interesting to create a character for this story to be one readers would not like.  Emma is not one readers would be rooting for, however that does not make what happened to her right.  I think the scene that most upset me through it all was the end, when her parents did not fight for Emma to keep fighting.  Emma longed for them to encourage her and they did nothing.  Her mother even said that those boys really were nice kids, just made bad decisions which crushed Emma.  This was a well written novel with a frustrating plot and ending.

To find more information on author Louise O’Neill, go to this website:  https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/Quercus/Authors/Louise+ONeill.page

Here you may find her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more information.

The Baby-sitters Club: Mary Anne Saves the Day - Book Review

Telgemeier, R. (2007). The baby-sitters club: Mary Anne saves the day. NY: Scholastic

Mary Anne Spier is a member of the Baby-sitters Club with her friends Kristy, Claudia, and Stacey.  The girls run a small business of baby-sitting and have set rules and systems in place on how to stay organize and run a productive child care system.  Their usual club meeting is taking place when all four girls get in a huge argument and leave the meeting not speaking to each other.  Mary Anne, who is normally a soft spoken girl, stood up for herself but hurt some feelings along the way.  Things are not resolved when they return to school, but Mary Anne finds a new student, Dawn, to sit with so she will not have to eat alone.  The two hit it off right away with their friendship and eventually learn that their parents dated each other while they were in high school.  Mary Anne is being raised by her over protective father who still requires she wear her hair out of her face and has an early curfew.  Her mother passed away when she was a baby.  Dawn is being raised by her mother and the divorce between her parents is the cause of them moving.  It takes a while for the Baby-Sitters Club to make up and return to normal.  Mary Anne plays the role of a peace maker and writes letters to her friends apologizing for what was said in the meeting.  Dawn is accepted as a new member of the club and is thrilled to make more friends.  Mary Anne and Dawn devise a plan to make their parents’ paths cross.  When they do, Mr. Spier asks Dawn’s mother out and the girls are happy to see their parents enjoy another’s company. 

Written in the format of a graphic novel, this classic “Baby-Sitters Club” story is a fun read.  I grew up reading “Baby-Sitters Club” novels and it was exciting to see a fresh spin with the format.  I enjoyed the panels of illustrations with some wordless ones and others full of text.  The story sends a great message of growing pains, longing for independence and trust from parents, and forgiveness with true friends.  I appreciated the consistency of the characters from long ago.  It was almost like running in to an old friend. 

Raina Telgemeier has many graphic novels that readers may find here:  https://goraina.com/

The 57 Bus - Book Review

Slater, D. (2017). The 57 Bus: A true story of two teenagers and the crime that changed their lives. NY: Farrar Straus Giroux

Sasha is a white agender teenager who attends a private school, and Richard is an African American teenager who attends public school in a poor neighborhood.  This true story is of these two teenagers and the crime that would change both of their lives forever.  In 2013 in Oakland, California, Richard and Sasha were both on the 57 bus when Richard lit Sasha’s skirt on fire as she was sleeping on the bus.  The book gives readers a closer look at both teens and events that led up to the incident, the actual event, and events afterward.  Readers will learn Sasha is agender, was born a boy, but does not associate with one gender.  Sasha prefers the pronoun “they”.  Richard had been sentenced to a group home before this incident for being a part of a group fight.  Richard has lost numerous loved ones to murder.  He sees Sasha on the bus sleeping, and prompted by his friends, uses a lighter to light Sasha’s skirt on fire.  Sasha instantly is set into flames.  Richard and his friends exit the bus, and a couple of strangers on the bus rush to Sasha’s aid to put the flames out.  Sasha undergoes multiple surgeries for their third degree burns from calves the thighs.  Richard was arrested at school the next day and was charged with two hate crimes and faced with being tried as an adult.  Dashka Slater used well researched material for this text.  The book includes short chapters, poetry, lists, social media information, text messages, and letters.  Richard wrote letters of apology to Sasha, explaining he never meant to hurt anyone.  At Richard’s sentencing, Sasha’s parents spoke to Richard, saying they hope he is able to learn from this terrible act.  They did not get his letters of apology until fourteen months later and wished they had read them before they spoke.  At Richard’s progress trial, Sasha’s parents give a heart melting speech of forgiveness and hope for Richard.  They ask the judge to not allow Richard to be judged as an adult.  Richard has done his part while in jail, and the judge shortens his sentence and allows him to stay in the juvenile facility. 

Not only is this novel well written with multiple types of text and formats, the information was well researched.  The Author’s Note describes the sources used to create this novel.  I appreciated the way Richard was portrayed in the novel.  He was not a hateful person trying to harm anyone, he made a poor choice and is living the consequences of his decisions.  The author did not victimize him for what he did either.  The chapters describing the incident was eye opening.  Many people ran from Sasha and tried to exit the bus, only a couple of people helped Sasha.  “The man with the mustache” was in awe of what happened, he could not believe what he witnessed.  Readers will learn to be mindful of your actions, to have empathy to others, and to think about how your actions with affect others. 

To view newscast of this event, readers may visit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUBdFm6flLY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9NxK8_mW3g