Category Archives: Michelle Koski

What to Read Next???

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I find it harder and harder to keep up with finding, reading/reviewing and buying new books for our Library collection. The number of books for YA have grown each year and I just don’t find the time to keep up. (I am still about 6 months behind is reading Booklist – a magazine book buyer/reader advisory publication)

So when I saw another Librarian posted the question? “How do you keep up-to-date on the best and trending children’s and teen books?” to a Library Listserv I was interested to see the results – and oh there were many.


Some go traditional and use print media (also available digitally) targeted at Librarians and Booksellers: The Horn Book, School Library Journal, Booklist, Bookmarks, Gale/Cengage, Salem Press, Greenhaven, Lerner or Cavendish Square


Use digital media targeted at Librarians and Booksellers:
 Netgalley, Edelweiss, Titlewave, Kirkus reviews, Junior Library Guild


Some use publisher’s lists, print or digital media targeted at the everyday reader:
NY TImes Books, NPR, Paste Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly newsletters, 
NYTimes book supplement, and Indie Next list.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgtorOQ4j79YmD-Rggl04XlLetU9M_c37


Some use the blogs and listservs written by Librarians or Library groups:
VOYA
YALSAHub http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/
yalsa-bk https://lists.ala.org/sympa/info/yalsa-bk


And then there are those who are just passionate about books and reading and want to tell the whole world through :

Edi Campbell’s blog https://crazyquiltedi.blog/
Lee & Low, #weneeddiversebooks https://www.leeandlow.com/
Bookish
Rich in Color
BookRiot
2020 YA/MG Books with POC Leads https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/124900.2020_YA_MG_Books_With_POC_Leads
We Need Diverse Books
The Brown Bookshelf
American Indians in Children’s Literature
Reading While White (on this blog, there is a list in the right-hand column of “Kindred Spirits”–other blogs with a similar purpose)
Pinterest lists


And some have time to keep lists that they share with others:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12-HyFGc5xQB7yigy0J8L1RVnh9jvWm02L27FpLhpaW4/edit#gid=744337181


Personally, I just can’t keep up with it – sad to say that I bought one of these books a couple years ago (after hearing Michael Cart speak at a conference) and I still haven’t finished it, and it’s only 105 pages!



When I was in Library school I was reading 4-5 Young Adults books a week minimum, now I am lucky to finish 1 book a week – where has all my time gone! I am like our students, I took a stack of books home over Christmas break and they are still there – unread in a pile in my living room – and then feeling guilty that I am keeping them from someone else reading them. So now my goal is to spend 30 minutes each day reading one of my advisory magazines, books or blogs and hoping that I can get back into a daily routine of staying just a little up to date on what is going on in bookland. 

Not just recycle – UPcycle

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Sad to say the clothing/fashion industry is not very sustainable – and for years it has been thought to be the second largest contributor to pollution after oil. And while it may not hold second place  (see NY Time article) clothing and fashion still has a ways to go in cleaning up their act.

That is why I was excited to see an UpCycle challenge on Project Runway. I have to admit that Project Runway is the only reality TV competition that I routinely watch – usually on mute. I like to see how the designers approach challenges and I (like many of you) am always on the lookout for how I can meld my classroom lessons with the real world.

That is why this week’s hands on project in Period 3 Costume and Fashion Design is to create a new outfit from the pile of clothes I bought at Goodwill. Each student needs to use at least 2 articles of clothing and re-work them into at least 1 new garment.

To help them get started I shared about a costume we re-made in Company last spring for Pygmalion. We had an odd pair of wide legged pants (which 3 people could fit into), but the fabric pattern was fantastic. I suggested we make a coat out of it for one of the characters. So, Emily Walsh and Maggie Heiskell cut and ripped apart the seams and then Emily laid out the pieces and using the measurements of the actor we cut and sewed a coat.

I am excited to see what my students come up with – several of them jumped right into it,

Alexa and Christina cut and measure 2 men’s t-shirt that they will rework into shorts, mini-skirt and new tops.
Isabelle draped a scarf on a dress form to make a blouse and is cutting away the excess.
while a couple others needed more time to consider what it is they wanted to create and how they should go about doing it.

Ruth, Allie, Malia and Stella look online for inspiration from online fashion sites and Pintrest.

Day 2 of Projects. . .More students actively cutting up their clothes.
Stella even had her mom go with her to Goodwill to pick up new items as she had decided to change her project from Wednesday. She show up on Friday with a purple skirt, a pair of jeans and a picture of a halter dress that is her inspiration. Several of the girls at her table plan to transforms jeans into a skirt or dress and we talked a lot about where/what to cut and how the shape of the jeans would help us decide where we cut.

One student got the whole table to laugh when, after asking my advice on how she should cut sher jeans she remarked “Wow, you really know what you’re doing.” I was impressed when Bridget, who hasn’t fully engaged in the class, came to see me on Monday (the day we closed campus) to ask to take her project home so she could work on it. This is not required as most girls don’t have access to equipment so I paused this project and we switch to a unit on Fashion History.

In an interest survey given to the class I already know that most of my students want to do hands on projects over slide presentations, reading, research or writing. I am hopeful that I can keep them engages as we transition to Online Learning during March.

Here are the pics from Day 2:

These Seniors are fully engaged trying to figure out how to deconstruct their clothing items.

Bridget surprised me on Monday asking to take her project home so she would work on it while campus was closed.

I like having several students at the machines at one time. They can help each other out with questions, since I can’t be everywhere at once.

Christina is trying to figure out how to do a half shirt, half halter on the dressform.

Voice, Choice, and Ownership in PBL

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Have you considered doing more project-based learning in your classroom but have concerns
about planning projects properly, using class time wisely, and teaching standards effectively?
With these concerns in mind, Michelle Koski and I attended a PBL Design Camp at High Tech High
in San Diego, and here are some highlights of what we learned:

  1. Planning projects can be time-consuming but is doable and worth it.
  2. Yes, you can have traditional standards-based teaching with PBL, and you should!
  3. There is no “right” way to begin or plan a project.
  4. Ask students for their feedback, not just after the project but before and during the project as well.
  5. Students are PROUD of their work (not their grade).
Voice, Choice and Ownership in PBL! So, how does that happen?
At High Tech High’s PBL Design Camp, middle and high school educators from all over the country came together, each with the spark of an idea for a project. By working with their school partners and hearing critique from other camp participants, they were able to develop a project that suited the needs of their students and their teachers. 
Michelle and I are two such participants who have benefitted from the PBL design process. The idea for our cross-curricular project came while discussing two independent projects we do for our students. My Dystopian Fiction students write dystopian scenes that focus on world building, character development and action sequences. Michelle’s Costume and Fashion Design students create costumes for plays based on fashion trends. For our project, we have decided to combine the two and have Michelle’s students design costumes for my students’ writing. My writer’s will pitch their story ideas to her designers who will choose a partner to work with. The partners will meet regularly during the design phase of the costumes to work on revisions of both the writing and the costumes. 
We plan to conduct this project during fourth quarter. Here is what we hope to gain in terms of learning outcomes:
  • Both classes will learn the process of critique and revision
  • As writers, Dystopian Fiction students will learn to clearly communicate their vision with sensory imagery and vivid language.
  • As designers, Costume and Fashion Design students will learn to collaborate and communicate with a “client” in order to create a product that reflects more than the artist’s vision.

Stay tuned for the results of our project…


Surrounded by Experts

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Sometimes our school focus on collaboration has felt like an added pressure, a box to check or a goal to complete. When asked to be intentional about collaboration and include it in my goals, I have sometimes felt that I am trying to force something to happen. Who will I collaborate with within my department? What about across departments? How do our subjects align or complement each other? How can we help students make connections?

    At the beginning of this year I created goals to help me collaborate effectively. My most collaboration-centric goal focused on my teaching of the Frosh Wellness: Mind, Body, Spirit course, which requires intense, daily work between religious studies and kinesiology. While I have been focusing a great deal on effective collaboration for the Frosh Wellness course, I have also found myself collaborating in surprising ways. 

    This year I have taken advantage of the fact that I am surrounded by experts in their fields. For those who may not know, this is my 8th year at Carondelet, but my first year full time teaching. As you can imagine, this new role has brought about new challenges and opportunities. I teach 3 sections of the junior religious studies course, Symbols & Ethics. The two central focuses of this course are Sacraments and social ethics. The students learn about the 7 sacraments, as well as topics such as sustainability and the environment, abortion, poverty, hunger, immigration, racism, the criminal justice system, sexism and a variety of other topics that impact our world today. My background is in theology and yet I find myself touching on climate (the environment), art (sacraments & spirituality), biology (abortion), economics (poverty & hunger), globalization & politics (immigration) and the list goes on and on. With every social/ ethical topic that we cover we look at 

Sacred Scripture – What does the Bible have to say about this topic?
  1. Sacred Tradition – What does the Catholic Church have to say about this topic?
  2. Logic/ Science/ Reason – What can we learn about this topic from experts and from the world around us?
  3. Personal Experience – What experiences have you had that impact your understanding of this topic? (Example: Your race may impact how you understand racism)
  4. When teaching #3 – What science and experts in the field can teach us about a particular topic – I have found myself seeking out colleagues for help. When I taught about our responsibility to care for all of God’s creation, I sought Susan Domanico and Michelle Koshi for help. I had the students research environmental concerns and write advocacy letters to people in positions of power (politicians, CEOs of companies, etc). Susan helped me come up with a list of potential environmental concerns and gave me an extensive list of resources. Similarly, Michelle, connected me with a number of online resources based on the different topics that students would be researching. Susan’s knowledge of environmental science and Michelle’s competency in library science empowered me to teach with greater confidence and depth. 

    When I taught the Sacrament of baptism, I wanted to incorporate religious art to highlight the important symbols and theological themes of baptism. I reached out to Andrew Kjera and he was able to come into my class to share a guest-lecture on symbolism within religious art. The students were then invited to create a piece of art using Sketchbook (an app that I was not familiar with, but that Andrew recommended), to express their personal connection to the themes of baptism through symbols. The outcome was tremendous! See a few examples below…

    When teaching about Hunger, students watched a documentary called “A Place at the Table,” which tells the story of hunger in the United States. The documentary touched on US agricultural policies and farm subsidies. Knowing very little about this topic, I sought out Mitch for conversation. Our short conversation in room 26 during break helped prepare me to tackle this topic in class. Similarly, when teaching about poverty, I wanted to touch on income inequality, and taxes. I went to Christina Leveque who teaches Financial Algebra with my questions and after a brief conversation felt ready to include these topics in my lesson. 

    I have brainstormed best practices to help students think critically about assigned reading with Michael Schooler. Phil Miller and I have talked about the history of labor unions in the United States (my class studied labor unions as part of our unit on the Dignity of Work)… and the list goes on and on. 

    If you are like me, you may feel slightly intimidated by the culture of collaboration at Carondelet. However, I have began to overcome my apprehension to collaborate by recognizing the great resource that my colleagues are to me. Collaboration is not a forced goal to achieve, but instead begins with an acceptance of the gift of my colleagues – experts in their field, thoughtful and eager to share what they know. Any time I have asked colleagues about their area of expertise I am always humbled by their willingness to share their knowledge and time. They are excited about their subject and have such great insights and ideas. I have truly learned so much from these mini collaborations that have taken place this year and will continue to seek out the expertise of my colleagues in the future. 

    I’m wondering – what kind of mini collaborations have taken place for others this year? Who has helped you understand a topic with greater depth or brought expertise to your curriculum that has enriched your classroom? 

She Kills Monsters (Drama 101)

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Monster Time!!!

Students work on numerous Costume and/or Monster building activities on a Wednesday afternoon at Company.
So whether you know what it means to LARP (Live Action Role Play) or maybe you remember D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) or maybe you just felt like the odd kid out, this play’s for you.
The fall production of She Kills Monsters is in full swing and Wednesday afternoons are Monster building time.
We have goblins, demons, kobalds, succubi, and so much more.

We also need to build the armor that will protect our heroine and her crew as they fight these monsters.

On any given Wednesday the Costume room at the theatre could have as many as 10 students working on building the monster costumes. While it can be hectic, I find it is quite fun to be moving around the room helping students troubleshoot their costume construction hurdles or suggest other methods for getting a similar result.

Emily Walsh as a “BugBear”.
Emily, a sophomore, serves as Costumes Crew Head and is designing and building 6 BugBear costumes for the play.

(While I was in the process of writing this blog, I was asked to write a blurb for the Alumnae Newsletter and I think it does a great job of expressing my feelings about working with Company).

When I graduated in 1998, I never thought I would one day be back and teaching at Carondelet. But after working as an elementary School Librarian in San Francisco for four years, and getting tired of using all my money on rent, I felt the need to return to the East Bay.

As I was looking to see what was available for someone with a Masters in Library & Information Science (San Jose State ’05) and a love of Theatre Arts, I found a posting for a Library Assistant position at Carondelet. While I knew I was over qualified, I was also drawn to opportunity to work at my Alma Mater, to give back to the school that had helped shape me. 


Now as I start my 13th year on campus as a Faculty member and I can’t help but look back at all the students I have worked with and the opportunities that have come my way since I returned in the fall of 2007 to Carondelet. 

I am told that I wear a lot of hats on campus: I am the Librarian & Textbook Manager, the Yearbook Advisor, teach in the Visual & Performing Arts Department, and help moderate Company, our amazing theater program with De La Salle. As a student, it was through Company that I found my place and explored my passion for sewing and costume design which led me to major in Theatre Arts in college with an emphasis in Costume Design & Arts Management (BA Theatre Arts, Notre Dame de Namur University ’02). Now it is my pleasure to help guide and mentor students interested in Costume, MakeUp or Hair design. Three days a week after school, you can find me at the DLS Theater in the old band room working with students on the current show.

This year’s fall production of She Kill Monsters really takes me back to high school. It is set in 1995 in a small midwest high school and focuses on a pair of sisters, Agnes and Tilly. She Kill Monsters is a comedic and action-packed story about a high school girl who discovers her dead little sister had a life she knew nothing about. Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-Playing Game was Tilly’s refuge and a place of freedom.  By the end of the story, the audience can decide who the real monsters are. Helping my students recreate the look and feel of 1995 (grunge, preppy, etc) as well as creating the fantasy characters in D&D has been so much fun. I hope you can join us!

Social Fabric: Oakland School for the Arts Fashion Show (and campus visit)

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Amy has been nudging me to visit OSA (Oakland School for the Arts) for about a year now.

So a couple weeks agoe, she and I took off in the afternoon to check out their Fashion Design class/program with Linda Riccardi. There was such great energy in the room while we were there as they are getting ready for their annual Fashion Design Show.

I had to laugh as Linda took us around the campus to her classroom. For those of you who aren’t familiar with OSA it is a charter school that is in the same building as the Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. Linda kept apologizing for the size of her room and the mess–I told her I wish I had her space–especially as I saw what she had. Her room is a little larger than Andrew’s (room 45) with a smaller room storeroom attached. The room is set up as a fashion/clothing workroom.

Along one wall are 5 sewing machines and assorted measuring tools.:

 
Brother semi-pro line as used on Project Runway Juniors. Variety of Seamstress rulers and hoops.

 Along another wall are threads and 2 more specialty machines. And around the room are 6-8 professional dress forms.

Another wall had slopers (hand drawn/measured pattern blanks)

In the center of the room are three large cutting tables (on adjustable stands). With students busy at work completing their designs for the upcoming show.

Amy and I were able to take the time to wander around the room and talk to the students about their work, how they developed their ideas, what their backgrounds are like and how many of them are working with Linda for the first, second or third year (the program is only three years old).
Mia’s crocheting to represent Irish Lace
 
Seeing the student’s work and hearing their stories around their collections gave me such ideas for invigorating my curriculum and pushing my students to the next level. Meeting the students, and seeing how Linda pushes these students made me want to do more in my class. Too often I find myself struggling to get the students to produce something that sometimes I am willing to accept anything that comes close to what they are asked for. Now I know that most of the students in my class are not looking to pursue a career in design or fashion, but by lowering the bar for all of them I wonder if I have done them a disservice. As I stood in the room at OSA and talked with these students I started to have all these ideas of how I could redesign the curriculum to better engage the students to get them to that depth point that we want instead of just skimming the surface.
Friday night I was able to attend the OSA Fashion Design Class spring show: Social Fabric
I was blown away with the detail and depth to which some of the students were able to reach with their pieces.
Here are some of my favs:
The student called her collection “ghosts” and played with the idea that ghosts are often tied or bound to earth instead of being able to move on–she also explored the idea that the faces are obscured.
                                    

This student was inspired by his African Heritage and envisioned Africa in the Future–his headdresses were so detailed and had so much color.

This is the finished piece to to one of the earlier photos–this student sewed yarn strand by strand onto clear vinyl to make her designs.

Right now as we wind down this school year–I actually can’t wait for next year to get here to tryo out the new ideas I have for helping my students dive deeper fashion and costume design and how even if they don’t think they can “do art” or “draw”–that they can still develop their and express their creativity through textiles and clothing.

Inspiring Woman–Barbie?

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As a child, my mom never bought me a Barbie Doll (or a Cabbage Patch Doll) however, I was gifted with several as birthday presents from other family members or friends.

It was what started me on my path to creating and sewing clothes. My mom wouldn’t buy me the store bought clothes for my dolls–it was too expensive and we didn’t have the money–so I started to make the clothes that I saw for Barbie in the stores or at my friend’s house. Later, as neighbors and cousins out grew their Barbies, my collection of dolls and clothes grew.

Which is why I was excited by a 2016 cover article from TIME Magazine about Mattel’s new looks for Barbie, (Mattel updated the Barbie line by introducing a new variety of body types, skin colors and hair. Basically they tried to follow what American Girl had been successfully doing–selling to the individual.) I decided that this needed to be part of the discussion in my Costume & Fashion Class.

So at the end of Unit 1 I have my students read the TIME article and respond to questions (to me and to each other) on Schoology and then then ask my students to create their own Barbie doll.

You will create a your own personal Barbie. (Think “Build a Bear”–only its a Barbie) This will be an original design but can be influenced by contemporary or historical images.  
The design must include:

    • Name–give her a name
    • full-figure sketches of your doll.
    • Images of clothing–2 complete outfits
    • Accessories or other items she needs (for a job, sport, activity).
This year, I have updated my assignment to go along with what most of the girls are doing in English 2 (I teach mostly sophs with a few seniors). Currently the English 2 students are researching and writing about issues important to women. (ie: “pink tax” or female inmates) So while I still have my students the read and respond to the TIME magazine article, I wanted it more updated for today. Then I found out that for Barbie’s 60th Anniversary Mattel has introduced the Barbie Inspiring Women line (currently available & story behind their idea). So this year my students will design for this line.
You will create/design a Barbie for Mattel that would fit into their Inspiring Woman line. (Visit Mattel’s website to see & read more about it)
The design must include
    • Name–Who is she? (Should be based on a real person)
    • Story–Why should she be included in the “Inspiring Women” collection? (4-6 sentences)
    • Full-figure sketches* of your doll:
    • She needs 2 outfits with at least 1 accessory for each outfit. 
    • Include 2-3 reference images of your real-life inspiring woman.
*You can hand draw/color images and then take a photo to include on the page with your other images. I will not be judging the quality of your drawing, but looking at the ideas you are expressing and how you are representing the woman you have chosen.
After everyone has presented their ideas to the class we will vote and decide if we want to let Mattel know who we think should be included in their Inspiring Woman line.
So far, the students are really excited about designing their Barbies–maybe a little too excited, since they want to jump right to designing and drawing and not read the article, but we will get there. 
(Stay tuned–I will post images once all the students have submitted their designs.)

Stepping Back and Letting Go

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We all want to move toward a student centered environment where the students take the lead and help lead and share their knowledge with one another.

I have been looking forward to Company this spring, since for the first time in 10 years, I won’t be designing the main stage production. Instead, Zoe Heilmann, will be in charge of the Costume Design and the Costumes Crew for Pygmalion.


However as Monday taught me, Zoe and I might both be ready for her to take lead, but the other students on the crew aren’t so sure about it. I spent most of the 2 hours after school telling students to “Ask Zoe”, “Show Zoe”, “Zoe come here and answer____ question.”

Since the show is a work in progress, I plan to give updates here all semester, so check back to see how we do.

Zoe Heilmann measures Dante Williams for his costume.

Puppets & Play (Learning by Trial and Error)

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Watching the Muppets on Seasame Street and Fraggle Rock made my imagination grow, and I am still fascinated with puppets today. Which is why I was so excited to be part of the Audrey II team and work with the students to build the 4 puppets needed for our spring production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Making the Audrey II puppets started in August with a workshop and have continued 2-3 days a week since then. Since January it has been 4-5 days a week afterschool and at lunch/x-block.

Kameron, Zoe and Rachel learn from a puppeteer from Cal Shakes.

Rachel shows the beginning of Audrey II, a complete top mouth with teeth.
Audrey II.1, Audrey II.2 & Audrey II.3 are mostly done–final paint stage. 
Zoe works on the detail painting for Audrey II.3

Audrey II.3 had probably gone through the most  transformation in it’s structure and looks from the drawing in August. This was also a spot in the projects where the students learned that communication is key–that you can’t “assume” that someone else “knows” what they are doing.

Rachel and Zoe both had a lot of fun while making their puppets. Even when the spray glue wouldn’t stick and they had to sew more than they planned or when the paint wouldn’t stick to the pot–these two persevered to bring their creations to the stage.

Fully assembled Alex Lewald (playing Seymour) tries out the puppet that he will have to manipulate during the show.
 Now it is time to make the man-eating largest version of Audrey II. 

Kameron and Zoe have directed most of the Audrey II puppet builds.
Here they test that she her big enough to “eat” people.
The top of the mouth now has “skin”, onto the bottom and insides.
In reflection with the students there was a lot of trial and error on figuring how to make these puppets. No matter if it was the smallest or the largest, each had their own unique challenges.
They appreciated being able to “try things out” and that it was “okay to fail” while figuring out the best way to do something. They also liked that the teachers took a step back and that it was up to them to experiment how to build the puppets and not follow exactly what a teacher told them to do. They like “owning” the project/puppets and look forward to showing them off in April.
In the end the students that worked the hardest, the ones that kept trying to figure it out are the most satisfied with the project.

In Praise of Nonfiction Books

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Our colleague Tiz won a prize at our Christmas party. She could pick any book in our library as her own. This week Tiz chose a book I love – Meta Maus by Art Spiegelman. I cannot explain better than the New York Times Book Review why this is such a good book , “Richly rewarding…The book also serves as a master class on the making and reading of comics”. I was so happy when Tiz choose this and pondered a bit why I was so happy. Part of the reason is I love nonfiction books. I have learned more from nonfiction books than anything else in my life. For me, and I believe for many, they are the best choice as a learning tool. And they offer me learning on my own time, schedule, interests, needs and wants.

Synthesizing information takes a lot of time, and a well-written book allows me to grasp a lot of information quickly and succinctly. I learned much about memory from MoonWalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, without having to do all that research myself! Really, it is amazing when you think about what a well-written book pulls together for you. I learned about memory, the brain, visualization, storytelling, memorizing, and about something I didn’t even know existed,  the U.S. Memory Championship.

A good book can ignite a passion to search for more. The Shakespeare Wars by Ron Rosenbaum did that for me with Shakespeare. Before I read this book, I just could not agree with the crowning of Shakespeare as the literary king of English. “C’mon!” I would think, “it has been 400 years!” The Shakespeare Wars is about people with a passion for Shakespeare and a willingness to go into excruciating detail with and battle for his works.  By reading their debates, and experiencing their passion, I became more and more convinced of the top spot for Shakespeare.  The variations of O in the folios of Hamlet and the difference they make just astonishes me.  I had never paid any attention to the folio differences and was mesmerized by this knowledge.   This book opened up Shakespeare for me.


Books let you explore at your own pace, and in the context of your own needs.  I recently visited Boston and my daughter took me to a wonderful breakfast sandwich place, Mike and Patty’s.  This is located a block away from a Knox Street, and I asked my daughter if Knox Street was named after Henry Knox, a hero of the American Revolution, who organized a difficult transfer of cannon from upstate New York Fort Ticonderoga to Boston.  This extra artillery was key to the end of the Siege of Boston, and I would not be at all surprised if Knox was celebrated by Boston. I knew all this from having read 1776 by David McCullough and was able to pull down the appropriate chapter from my Audible account to confirm this information.  I don’t know if Boston’s Knox street is named after him, but Fort Knox is.

Michelle is working on creating a Joy of Reading in every section of the library.  Books are so important and have everything the educational buzz is all about- putting the path of learning in the reader’s hand.