• Re-establish school routines. About a week before school starts get your child use to going to bed early, waking up early, picking out their clothes the night before, and start talking about what is expected from them this upcoming school year.
• Prepare. It’s extremely important that your child has all their school supplies when heading into the classroom. But don’t forget about making sure your child knows how to get home from school. Show bus and train routes pointing out safe zones, such as stores, libraries, etc around the school’s neighborhood.
• Communicate. Talk to your child about any kind of anxiety him/her maybe feeling about going to school. If your child has any special needs inform the teacher and administration before school begins to avoid any issues.
• Be Positive. When talking about school always be enthusiastic; it will keep your child motivated during the school year.
• Make Copies. Have a copy of all emergency and health information for your to school to have. It’s also important to have a copy of all dates for things going on at the school, i.e. parent/teacher’s conference, science fair, etc.
• Designate Homework Area. Your child needs to have an area that is well lit, quiet, and comfortable to read and write.

Here are a few helpful websites to read:

1. Teacher Vision
2. American Academy of Pediatrics
3. KidsHealth
4. TeensHealth
5. Organized Home
6. NASP Resources
7. Amazing Moms

Do not forget the library also supports children’s learning. Staff members are aware of many of the upcoming school assignments and can suggest materials, websites, and programs that can assist with student’s achievement. Check-out the “Parent” section of  HomeworkNYC.org to learn more.

That’s one way to help but sometimes a person is not always around to reinforce that negative way of thinking. After doing some reading, I came across “The Fish Story” (this story works with various age groups).

When the students walk in your classroom or programming room, greet them and hand them a small plastic snack bag with a few goldfish crackers inside.

“Cool, can we eat them?” at least one of them or if not all of them will usually say.
“Not just yet,” is your reply. Then begin the fish story.

This is a story about a fish. It’s not an exaggerated “fish tale.” It’s a true story about a fish that was living in a large tank in New England. This fish was inside the tank because he was being studied by scientists. He was perfectly content. All his needs were being met. At feeding time the scientists would drop some minnows down into his tank. The fish would happily gobble them up. It was a good life.

One day the scientists changed their routine. Instead of dropping the minnows freely into the tank, they placed the small fish inside of a glass tube. The tube was designed so that water could flow freely through it. The large fish swimming in the tank could easily see the tiny fish inside the tube. As the big fish grew hungry he began to try to get to the small fish inside the tube. This was his meal! He pushed the tube against the side of his tank. Of course, the hungrier he became the harder he tried. He knocked that tube with his tail and then with his whole body. Harder and harder he swatted at that tube as his hunger became overwhelming. But eventually the fish learned that he could not get to the minnows, no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn’t open the tube. So he gave up.

After watching the big fish for a while longer, the scientists changed their plan again. They pulled the tube full of small minnows up out of the tank and then dumped them freely right into the large tank alongside the big fish. The poor minnows! Can you imagine what happened next? (Pause to let them think about how fast the big fish would eat those minnows.) The large fish starved to death. (Disbelief fills the room.) With minnows swimming freely all around him, he starved to death.

Why? How could that possibly happen? The answer isn’t obvious, but it is simple. He no longer believed he could eat the fish. Once he stopped believing he could eat the fish, he no longer tried.

When you tell this story to students, at first they accuse you of making it up. But it is a true story. Then one of them will talk about how incredibly stupid that fish was. No human would be so silly, they say. But we are. We are just like that big fish that starved to death. In fact I think that fish is a perfect analogy for life. And I can prove it. “Now,” I say to my students, “eat the fish.” Usually they just stare at me. They have become so engrossed in the story of the fish that starved to death that they will have forgotten about the goldfish crackers you gave them when they walked into the room. They already have become just like the big fish.

“Eat the fish!” you will have to repeat. Slowly they begin to eat.

As they eat you say, “Any time you put limitations on yourself, needless limitations, which keep you from reaching your goal. Remember, those limits are all inside your head. I want you to remember that fish—the one who starved to death with minnows swimming all around him. I want you to remember him and not make the same mistake. You have possibilities all around you! Eat the fish!”

It’s a symbolic way of reminding them that they have to reject pointless limitations. They have to be diligent about rejecting the negative messages that surround them every day. You want them to remember that they are in charge of their own destiny. Maybe making them eat the fish is a little silly, but it is also memorable. Many students will not forget this activity or the important message it illustrates. Refer to it many times throughout the rest of the year. If someone is voicing self-doubt, another student may say, “What are you saying? Eat the fish!”

The fish story is a way to illustrate to students in a very concrete way that beyond the facts and despite the reality that others may doubt their dreams, there still are many wonderful opportunities “swimming” all around them. They still always have the power to create their own future. All they have to do is eat the fish.

This wonderful story and activity came from Dauna Easley, in Techniques (May 1, 2004).  Access via Academic Search Premier.

Dr. boyd is a researcher at Microsoft Research and a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Her research investigates everyday practices involving social media, with specific attention to youth engagement. She recently co-authored Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media. She is currently co-directing the Youth and Media Policy Working Group, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. She blogs at zephoria.org/thoughts and she is on Twitter @zephoria.

As an audience member and a user of social media, I found the presentation interesting and insightful. So many questions were answered:

• Why do teens really use social networking?
• Myspace vs. Facebook?
• Do teens use twitter?
• Who is looking online?

So, I’m sure you are reading this wondering, “okay, great program, why write a blog about it?” I wrote this blog because of the overwhelming responses from this event. I figured I should keep the conversation going, create a forum for questions, and hopefully move us all in the same direction.

To watch the panel discussion click on the link “For Librarians> Tweens, Teens, and Social Networking” or “For Parents> Tweens, Teens, and Social Networking” or “For Teachers> Students and Social Networking”

Summerreading.org has launched a great interactive website that allows everyone, young or old to participate in summer reading!

In case you haven’t checked it out, go to the url http://summerreading.org and click where it says, “Register now!” (When registering you do not have to fill-in first name, last name, or email address). Once you have created your account the fun begins. You get to create your virtual person, by dressing it, changing the hair, and picking facial features (trust me, time will escape you when doing this). The next great part is getting your badges. Everyone receives a badge when signing-up. Other ways in getting a badge is by logging in the times you read, going to library programs, etc.

HomeworkNYC has recently created a badge for students and parents to add to their summer reading page.

Here is how to get the HomeworkNYC badge:
• Students must add a homeworknyc app to their social networking page

How to get the Apps in 3 easy steps:
Sign-up for i-Google (if you have a gmail account then you already have an i-Google account)
Click on the link “add stuff” type in homeworknyc in the “search for gadgets” bar and click “search”
The HomeworkNYC app will appear. Click on the “add it now” button

That is it! The apps will appear on your i-Google page.

• Parents must look at the new HomeworkNYC website http://homeworknyc.org/

The badge code is HomeworkApp

**You can also watch screencasts on how to add the HomeworkNYC Apps to your Facebook page on YouTube- type homeworknyc**

Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report (including a complete literature review of safety data):
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/pubrelease/isttf

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
http://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Out-Messing-Around-Geeking/dp/0262013363

My articles and conference talks:
http://www.danah.org/papers/

Welcome to the new HomeworkNYC web site. This is the place for parents, teachers, and librarians to find out how to help students successfully complete their homework, using contemporary technology tools. The revised HomeworkNYC web site is the result of research implemented by New York City libraries (Brooklyn Public, New York Public, and Queens Library) that demonstrated that teens were not using traditional tools provided by the libraries to find information for their homework needs.

The research did show that tweens and teens like to use web 2.0 tools and if libraries provided a way to complete homework that incorporated those tools, students would be more likely to use the libraries’ resources. The libraries therefore decided to focus on developing apps (applications) that work with Facebook and iGoogle so that teens could easily work on their homework, straight from their favorite virtual spaces.

But, the librarians working on this project also knew that adults in a teen’s life, parents, teachers, librarians, and others, were not necessarily familiar with the ways in which current technology can be integrated into homework. That’s what the new HomeworkNYC web site is all about. It’s for you, the adult in a teen’s life, to learn more about technology, so you can more successfully help the teens with whom you might live and/or work with.

How to do a basic Google search?

-When you want to search words as a phrase always put your search terms in “quotation marks.” This will allow Google to search the words as a phrase.

-When specifying your search use “+” to include another topic in your search OR use  “-” to exclude a topic from your search.

-You can also specify what kind of websites you want results from. For example, if you want just education results type “your search term” :edu. For example, China:edu (this will limit your results to websites ending in “.edu”)

Other options in a Google search

-If you do a generic search on “New York City” (type it in the Google search bar and press “search”). You get a list of results but look under the search bar, above the list of results, you see the word “Web” and next to it a link that says, “show options” (click on that link). You get a list of options on the left. Scroll down to where it says, “Standard view” (click on “Wonder wheel” this will break a subject into topics to assign for different people to do research on.

-You can also click on “Timeline” to get a timeline on that topic for your class.

How to get pictures from Google?

-Click on the link, in the top left corner that says “images”. Put in the name of what you want a picture of, i.e. cat, dog

-Click on the link “videos”, to search videos.

Advanced Search in Google

-You can specify a file type here. So if you want to see a Powerpoint on a particular topic, you can click on “advanced search” type in a topic, for example “hurricanes”. Click on down arrow, where it says “File type”, then click on “Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)”, and click “advanced search” button. All your results will be Powerpoint presentations.

This is just a summary of what Google has to offer. On Google’s homepage, click on the link that says “more”, then click on the link that says”even more”. You can translate, make web pages, the sky is the limit!

As a librarian, I do like the many features Google has to offer. But, please remember that the library’s databases offer a great source of information to your students. So when assigning research projects and homework assignments the databases are a good first choice.

Books on this topic

• How to do everything with Google tools by Donna L. Baker
• Google: top 100 simplified tips and tricks by Joe Kraynak
• Google power: unleash the full potential of Google by Chris Sherman