New Twilight Merchandise at Nordstrom Store

Stephenie Meyer's books have given rise to a whole lot of products available at your local nordstrom shop. For example, you can buy the Forks High School dress. It is one of the best kept secrets out there. There are Twilight tours that are being organized all over the country. People are showing up dressed up at parties. It is a new cottage industry created by the lovers of books or bibliophiles.

Twilight Book Theme: What Others Are Saying about The Twilight Saga, Its Vampires, and Author

The Cullens are actually a local coven of vampires. Edward has been 17 since 1918. He is superstrong and superfast, he can hear people's thoughts, and he does not breathe or sleep or age. His skin is cold, and when exposed to the sun, he doesn't burn--he glitters. Edward and the Cullens aren't ordinary vampires: they have renounced human blood on moral grounds, feeding instead on wild animals, which they hunt by night. He and Bella are instantly, overwhelmingly attracted to each other, but he is also wildly hungry for her blood.

Resisting that temptation is a constant struggle. Edward's choice--and the willingness to choose a different way in general--is a major theme in Meyer's books. "I really think that's the underlying metaphor of my vampires," she says. "It doesn't matter where you're stuck in life or what you think you have to do; you can always choose something else. There's always a different path."

Their tension comes from prolonged, superhuman acts of self-restraint. There's a scene midway through Twilight in which, for the first time, Edward leans in close and sniffs the aroma of Bella's exposed neck. "Just because I'm resisting the wine doesn't mean I can't appreciate the bouquet," he says. "You have a very floral smell, like lavender ... or freesia." He barely touches her, but there's more sex in that one paragraph than in all the snogging in Harry Potter.

It's never quite clear whether Edward wants to sleep with Bella or rip her throat out or both, but he wants something, and he wants it bad, and you feel it all the more because he never gets it. That's the power of the Twilight books: they're squeaky, geeky clean on the surface, but right below it, they are absolutely, deliciously filthy.

Twilight Vampires:

....Twilight vampires are certainly worthy of envy. The lithe and beautiful Edward Cullen looks at protagonist Bella with loving eyes (even as he fights his urge to, well, suck her blood). His gorgeous siblings are athletic, drive great cars and are far less awkward than their classmates. Of course, they don't lead a typical teen lifestyle: instead of McDonald's, they subsist on blood. Since they want to live among humans, they force themselves to feed on animals rather than people.

...Through Bella and the vampiric Cullen family, Meyer conveys the importance of making one's own decisions

Laptop Policy - another view

Our school's laptop policy is still being tweaked and revised, evolving in light of experience.

I was interested to read Will Richardson's take on school computer policies on Weblogg-ed.  Make sure you read the comments, too.

As a significant architect of our school's policy - not its final arbiter, but a carpenter creating a structure - one focus was to put things in positive terms, wherever possible.  One does not of course want to discourage students from using their laptops - instead, fuelling and directing their enthusiasm is a great educational opportunity.  On the other hand, the reality of life in schools is that it's important that students are aware of the necessary boundaries, such as respecting copyright, and treating other people respectfully.

So ours is still a work in progress.  Feedback from the students has been positive - they appreciate clarity, because it's calmed some fears they had, from gossip/chat, about what might happen if...

Cheers

Ruth

Edward Cullen and Bella Swan

Edward Cullen and Bella Swan

The Twilight Series Fansites List

A Chemical Reacts RPG

A Twilight Life

Academy Volterra

Alicefan's Twilight Fans

AliceForever

All Things Twilight

Amore di Anima

An Edward & Bella Fan

An Apple Each Day

Apple in Hand

Australian Site: Fire and Ice

Australian Site: Twilight_Aus (LiveJournal)

Australian Site: Twilight Australia

B

Be Bitten — The Twilight Series Boards

Be My Obsession

Bella and Edward Forever

The Bella Cullen Project (Twilight Fan Band)

Bella and Edward Obsession

Bella Luna (RPG)

Bella Penombra

Bella Rocks! (Twilight-inspired band)

BellaandEdward.com

BellaFans

BellandEdward

Beyond Twilight

Bite at Dawn

Bite Me

Bite Me: A Twilight Podcast

Bite of Twilight

Bitten

Bitten: Twilight Podcasting

Bitter Sweet Forever

Bloody Craving

Blurring Boundaries

Bring on the Shackles

C

CafeMom: Fans of Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series

Can't FIGHT an eclipse

Club Twilight

Cold Twilight

Comet at Twilight

Coven of Eternal Twilight

A Coven of Wolves

Craving Cullens

Crazy for Twilight

Cullen and Hale

Cullen Boys Anonymous

Cullen City

The Cullen Clan

The Cullen Clan!

Cullen Coven

Cullen Crazay

The Cullen Crypt

Cullen Cults

The Cullen Family

The Cullens and other Twilight characters

Cullenx

Cullen's Family

Cullen Vampires

D

Dark Dusk (RPG)

Dazzle Me Please

Devoted Twilighters

Dream Come True

Dream Twilight

Dreaming of Twilight

Dusk to Dawn

E

The EC Fan Club

The Edward and Bella Fan Club

Edward and Bella for life and beyond

Edward Cullen .net

Edward Cullen completes me

Edward Cullen Coven

Edward Cullen - Every Girl's Dream

Edward Cullen last forever

Edward Cullen Online

Edward Cullen the One and Only

Edward-our-fantasy

The Edward Plushie Club

Edward vs. Jacob

Edward's Meadow

Edward's Volvo

Enough for Forever (LJ)

Enough for Forever (darkbb)

Epoch -- Twilight

Equinox (RPG site)

Eternal Annoyances

Eternal Love

Eternal Twilight

Eventide Alchemy (RPG)

Everglow -- EdwardandBella.net

Everlasting Twilight

Everything Twilight

Exactly His Brand of Heroine

F

FanFiction Net Twilight Page

Fanpire Forums

Fanpop: The Twilight Fan Club

FantasticTwiHards (youtube channel)

Fatal Attraction

Fire and Ice: A Twilight Podcast

For Forks' Sake

For the Twilight Series Lover

Forbidden - A Twilight RPG

The Forbidden Fruit

The Forbidden Fruit Tastes The Sweetest

Forbidden Love

Forest's Edge

Forever Dawn .net

Forever in Ice

Forever in the Meadow

Forever Twilight

Forks, Washington rpg

From Twilight to Eclipse

G

Glittery Boyfriend

H

His Crooked Smile

His Golden Eyes

I

IFeltHope.net - A Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen Fansite

Infinite Twilight

Into the Twilight

Irish Twilight Fans

Irritable Grizzly

Is Twilight your brand of heroin?

I-DazzleYou

J

Jacob Black Fans

Jacob Fans

Jacob_Vs_Edward

Jasper/Alice: A fan community

K

Kelmett (Kellan Lutz as Emmett)

Kismet: The Lion and the Lamb

L

Life Beyond Twilight

Lion and Lamb Love

The Lion and the Lamb

Lion and Lamb (Piczo site)

The Lion and the Lamb (Piczo)

The Lion and the Lamb, RPG

The Lion fell in love with the Lamb (LiveJournal)

Lions and Lambs in Luv

The Love of Edward and Bella

Love the Cullens

M

The Mitch Hansen Band (Twilight-Inspired Music)

Mobile site: GoTwilight.mobi

Moonlit Temptation

Morte Romantica

Movie Casting Site

Mrs. Cullen

My Bella

My Brand of Heroin

My Twilight Purgatory

Myspace Blog: Fans of Jacob Black

Myspace Group: Edward, Bella and Jacob

Myspace Group: Edward's Team

Myspace Group: Official Cullenist Group

Myspace Group: Official Alice & Jasper Site

Myspace Group: TWiLiGHT

Myspace Group: Twilight Book

Myspace Group: Twilight Equals Love

Myspace Group: Twilight is My Bible

Myspace Group: Twilight Moms

Myspace Page: Twilight_Movie

Myspace Page: Twilight Movie

Myspace Group: Twilight TM

Myspace Group: We all want to be Bella

Mystical Scent

N

No More Marbles (on youtube.com)

O

Obsessed with Edward

Official Team Jempwarth Website

OME, a Twilight Sorority

Once you go Black, you never go back! (Jacob Fan Club)

Our Twilight Chronicles

Ostentatious

P

Paper Moons: A Twilight inspired RPG

Passion Eternal

Peace, Love, TWILIGHT!

Perfect for Forever

Perpetual Twilight

Phases: A Twilight Podcast

Piczo site: Apple Each Day

Place 4 all things Twilight

R

Rain, Clouds, and Edward

Ramblings and Thoughts' Twilight section

Real Men Glitter

Red Apple

S

Secret Betrayal

The Shiny Vampire Club

Simply Addicted

Simply Twilight

Single Drop of Blood

Sometimes, Kismet Happens

Sort of Beautiful (LiveJournal)

SoulMates: A Jasper and Alice Fansite

Spiritual Love: Esme and Carlisle

Stay Twilight

Stealing Yellow Cars

Step into the Story

Stephenie Meyer Fans Website

Stephenie Meyer Web

Stephenie Says

Stupid Shiny Volvo Owner

__Sweet Lullaby

T

TeamEdwardCullen

Team-Edward

Team Jacob

Team Switzerland

Teen Twilightist

Third Epiphany

Tickle Me Twilight

Time is Running Out

Time Stands Still

Topaz and Debussy

Topaz Eyes

Topaz Obsession

TopazEyes

Touched by Twilight

TwiLife

Twilight 20somethings

Twilight Academy

Twilight Addicts

Twilight Advisor

Twilight Amazing RP and Discussion

Twilight Archives

The Twilight Awards

Twilight BeDazzled

Twilight billet-doux (Piczo)

Twilight Boards

Twilight Book Fansite (Piczo)

Twilight Central

Twilight Continued...from another point of view (Facebook)

Twilight Couple (youtube)

The Twilight Coven

Twilight Coven Philippines

Twilight Cults

Twilight Disorder

Twilight Dreamers

Twilight: Edward and Bella Fansite

Twilight Eternity

Twilight Experience

Twilight Extravaganza

Twilight Extremists

Twilight Facebook

Twilight Fan

Twilight Fan Center

Twilight Fan Fiction

Twilight Fanatics

Twilight FanForum

Twilight Fans Invited

Twilight Fans on Writing.com

Twilight Fans Unite!

Twilight Fans United

Twilight Fansite: a very addictive book

Twilight Fanspace

Twilight Fantasy

Twilight Forever (Gaia profile)

Twilight Forever (on freewebs.com)

Twilight Forever (a Piczo site)

Twilight: forever bitten by its greatness

Twilight Forever: Where Twilight IS Forever (on freewebs.com)

The Twilight Forums

The Twilight Forums (at forumotion.com)

Twilight Forums (at seethesun.org)

Twilight Forums .org

Twilight Freaks

Twilight Guy

The Twilight Hour

Twilight: If someone dared you...

Twilight Indonesia

The Twilight Lexicon

The Twilight Lounge

Twilight Love

Twilight Lovers Rejoice

Twilight Madness

Twilight Mafia

Twilight Magic

Twilight Mania

Twilight Mania! (at weebly.com)

Twilight Manipulations

Twilight Moms

Twilight Mom (on blogspot)

Twilight Movies

Twilight Newborns

Twilight/New Moon/Cast (Facebook)

Twilight Novel: Forever Twilight

Twilight-O-Holics

Twilight Obsession

Twilight Obsessors

Twilight Originals

Twilight Point

Twilight Poison

Twilight Puerto Rico

The Twilight Pursuit

Twilight Renegades

Twilight Rocks! (Chat site)

Twilight Roleplaying site

Twilight Rox

The Twilight Saga

Twilight Saga Central

Twilight Saga Fanaticz

The Twilight Saga for the Slightly Obsessed

Twilight Saga Lovers

The Twilight Saga Multiply

Twilight Saga Review

The Twilight Saga Wiki

The Twilight Saga (Yahoo group)

The Twilight Saga (on webs.com)

The Twilight Saga and The Host (on webs.com)

Twilight Series Fandom (LiveJournal)

Twilight Teams

Twilight Series Theories

Twilight Series (on freewebs)

Twilight Seires Fanatics

Twilight Source

Twilight Thirsty

Twilight Treasury

Twilight Twenties

Twilight Twins

Twilight UK

Twilight Ultimate

Twilight Uninterrupted

Twilight Universe

Twilight Vampire Evolution

Twilight Vampires

Twilight Weekly

Twilight (at Runboard)

Twilight (by Sarah)

Twilighted

Twilighted (at piczo.com)

Twilighter (ning.com)

Twilighter (at forumotion)

Twilighters

Twilighters Anonymous

Twilighters Down Under

Twilighter's Hub

Twilighters United

Twilighters Writers

TwilightGurl

Twilights

Twilight's Destiny

TwilightTheObsession

Twilight — A Way of Life

Twilight-Headed

Twilight-Lovers

Twilight... my life

Twilight! The Apple Book

Twilight!!!

Twiliner

Twi-Hard (a site for Twilight saga fans)

Twi-Hards

Twi-Light

TwiMamas

Tworts

_Twilight_

U

Unconditionally and Irrevocably

Unified Twilight Society

Unite Twilight

V

Vampire Bites

Vampire Hunt

Vampire obsession

Vampire Obsessions

Vampires Released

Vampires are Forever

Vampires of Forks, Washington

Vampires of Nite

Vampire_Obsession

Vamps Go Veg

Vesperarium Graphics

Visions of the Night

W

Wanna Bet

We Love Edward!

We Love the Twilight Series

We Support Stephenie Meyer

When you can live forever, what do you live for?

With You

Y

Yellow Porschey

You Are Exactly My Brand of Heroin
Z

Zazzle Site



Twilight Series
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn
Midnight Sun
Fansites

Dazzled by Twilight Port Angels Waiting for Your Business

Dazzled by Twilight Port Angeles is an expansion of the Forks, Washington storefront. It features specialty and collectible memorabilia from the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. It is located across the street from Bella Italia, the movie theater and bookstores.
If you are going on a trip in this side of the country, you can start your own Twilight adventure there and get info on tours, pick up a map, or snap a photo with Edward in the meadow etc...

More and more people, Twilight fans are going to the locations mentioned in the book. They hope to see the buildings and landscape they read about. Why not head out to Phoenix and other filming locations?

Get more info about the new store by visiting its Facebook page, Dazzledbytwilightportangels...Visit www.dazzledbytwilight.com

Plus-size Halloween costumes

Laptops, Day 4: so kids, what do you think?

Before the end of term on Friday this week, the school has decided to survey the students to see how they're going with their laptops at this early stage.  A couple of classes did this as a group talkytalky exercise in class this morning; on the basis of that, I refined the survey to fine-tune some questions, and every year 9 student has been given the opportunity to participate via email.

Here are the questions we've asked - they are open-ended by design, to give room for a variety of answers (although I know it's more time-consuming to collate):

• These are things I like about my laptop:
• These are things I don’t like about my laptop:
• These are things that haven’t worked:
• Please note any of these that have been fixed, and if so how (eg. teacher advice, TSO assistance, a friend helped me, it worked the next time I tried it):
• These are sites/software I would like to have unblocked:
• Schoolwork related:
• Personal interest (eg. MySpace, MSN):
• The school guidelines (outlined on Friday) were clear? Yes / No / Mostly
• If you chose No or Mostly, please add what could be done to improve them:
• Is there anything else that you think should be added to the school guidelines?
• I have used my laptop in class in the following subjects:
• With my laptop, I hope that I can: (if you mention replacing books, please be specific –eg. workbooks, textbooks)
• If I was in charge of the laptop program for the Department of Education, I would:

 As we speak, replies are rolling into my inbox.  I kinda sorta hope all 200+ of them don't feel compelled to reply...

From the talkytalky this morning, the most popular answer to the final question after "unblock sites like MSN and My Space" was, interestingly, let people have them in any colour they want: which is a marked lack of enthusiasm for a perfectly pleasant metallic red and faintly bewildering in that they are free to personalise their laptops with stickers etc, so they can cover up the offending red.  (Kids.  Some days they're shallow enough to paddle in, aren't they??!!).

Cheers

Ruth

PS If you use or base a survey on the list above, can you please credit its source?  Thank you.

Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart: Edward and Bella

Forks, Washington: Relevant Sites for the Twilight Tour

Forks Police Station: That is where Bella's father works

Forks High School: That is where Bella attends school and spends a lot of her time.

Vampire Lexicon Inspired by The Twilight Series: New Upcoming Books

New Releases
The Lost Symbol The Lost Symbol
How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government
True Compass: A Memoir
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
An Echo in the Bone: A Novel
The Lost Symbol
High On Arrival by McKenzie Phillips
A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse)
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Most Wished For
The Lost Symbol
Coders at Work
True Compass: A Memoir True Compass:
The Red Book


action bella swan breaking dawn edward cullen fantasy romance historical romance journal lisa kleypas new moon paranormal romance regency romance romance stephanie meyer stephenie meyer twilight twilight series vampire vampire romance victorian romance young adult

Here are a few Bella Product Bestsellers offered by Bellatwilightshop

The Twilight Soundtrack by Stephenie Meyer: Here is what helped the Famous Author

I thought I was the only one who could not write or work without some music in the background. The famous author also has to have something in the back. Here is what she had when writing the Twilight.

The Twilight Soundtrack:

1. "Why Does it Always Rain on Me?" — Travis
2. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" [video edit] — My Chemical Romance
3. "Creep" [radio edit] — Radiohead
4. "In My Place" — Coldplay
5. "By Myself" — Linkin Park
6. "Dreaming" — OMD
7. "Please Forgive Me" — David Gray
8. "Here With Me" — Dido
9. "With You" [reanimation remix] — Linkin Park
10. "Time is Running Out" — Muse
11. "Dreams" — The Cranberries
12. "Tremble for My Beloved" — Collective Soul
13. "Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)" — Billy Joel

The twilight book series by Stephenie meyer

Get the reviews at
Http://oprahbookclubfan.blogspot.com

Edward and Bella's Life into the limelight

Visit http://videpinions.blogspot.com and http://www.promdressesrock.com/cheerleaders

Prom 2009 and beyond

Go to http://www.promdressesrock.com

Prima Donna collection

Spooky Edward photos

Edward & Bella: twilight, new moon

Fashion masks

Masks and Coffin Sorceress, Fashion Masks

Spartan cheerleaders and Portland Filming Locations

Portland Twilight Filming Locations
The beach where they go surfing is filmed at Ecola State Park-Indian Beach, Cannon Beach, Oregon.

The greenhouses where they go on a field trip was filmed at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, OR.

There is at least one shot of Multnomah Falls, off I-84 in the Columbia River Gorge.

The prom was filmed at the Viewpoint Inn in Corbett, OR.

Several of the Forks town scenes were filmed in St. Helens, OR.

High school scenes took place at Madison High School in Portland, OR.

When they did the lion fell in love with the lamb scene, they did it in Las Angeles.

It almost never stoped raining during the whole time of shooting the movie.

Emperor of evil, Renaissance knight, executioner

Roman empress, Venus goddess, Greek goddess

Skeleton zombie, complete zombie, zombie doctor, metal skull rider

Witchy witch, glam witch costumes

Ninja master

Vamptessa, devil's desire

Cain the vampire tyrant, very cool vamp, victorian vampire

Coffin witch, sorceress, vampire, spooky spirit

Laptops Day 3: some days are diamonds

Already the day 1 lunchtime library laptop mayhem has settled down.  As you would expect, the kids who want to run around at lunchtime and play ball are back at that.  Those who have come into the library have learned that I am a regularly-patrolling, interested observer (so if they're planning mischief, the library maybe ain't the best place to be laptopping).  I've had discussions with some kids about copyright (I'm sure this movie on my USB is legal Miss....No kiddo, I'm sure it's not!) and so forth.

Period 2, a teacher booked in to do a lesson we had jointly planned.  It was based on a website - we'd had the website unblocked by the DET a month or two ago, so it was fine.  The teacher had already had the students set up a notebook in One Note for this subject, and a page with the correct URL of the site.

The best laid plans...

Problem 1: about 1/3 of the laptops wouldn't connect to the internet.  I checked the wireless bars on them - most were showing four white bars, which is dandy-fine.  A couple had these red-x-ed out (hmmm, dunno what that means apart from it oughta find the wireless and it isn't).  The class was the only one in the library using wireless, so there were plenty of access spots available (given that we have 60).

Problem 2: any of the laptops which could get onto the internet could not load the site properly due to a Java problem.  All-righty then.  Bit of a problem, this, since the whole point of the lesson was the Java-based application on the page.  I've been loaned a pool laptop (ie. the same one, same configuration as the kids have, not a teacher laptop) and when I logged in to that, it connected to the internet with no problems and loaded the site fully.  The teacher logged in on her teacher laptop and again the site worked, no hassles.  Hmmmm.  A tad irritating.

We called the TSO (Technical Support Officer) who was free and came down and spent the rest of the lesson tweaking individual machines re the internet problem.  The Java problem is apparently one with Internet Explorer and we asked if this could be addressed as soon as possible.  Which means that, for now, the lesson as planned is impossible to do.

[insert naughty word, said in the mind not with the mouth]

It took a little while to establish the widespread nature of the problem - checking the URL entered and so forth.  Other parts of the site are still blocked, and google searches to get to the site (students tried this when the given URL didn't load properly) came up as blocked too.  By the time we had worked out how badly things had gone awry, a number of students had switched their attention to other entrancing possibilities of their new red babies.

Plan B lesson - one always needs a plan B.  We got the students to look up the artist we were focusing on, using Google images, to see his work.  My laptop travelled around the class so they could see what they should have been doing and how it worked.  Salvage work in progress...

But we really had done our homework before the lesson, and couldn't, as far as I'm aware, have anticipated a multiple failure of this kind.  It was, as you can imagine, on the frustrating end of frustrating for the teacher, for the class, and for me.

So we'll have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again.  And make sure we always have a Plan B lesson (or two) up our sleeves.

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: love your work

I know I bang on with the phrase, 'the happy life of teacher librarians'. I have of course all sorts of agendas for this, but one is to say, look, it can be HEAPS of fun to be a teacher librarian. An article by Charles Waterstreet in the Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend had an apt section quoting Kahlil Gibran:

...when pursuing a career, one should always choose one that coincides with passions, and not just with convenience, the wishes of parents or perhaps even financial security. If you have a job, then love the one you have.


The great Lebanese-born philosopher and poet Kahlil Gibran said it best:

Work is love made visible.


And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.


If you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.


And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.


And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

If we show by our actions and words and the atmosphere we create in our libraries every day that we are happy to be there, it cannot but make our libraries better places to work, better places to visit, more effective in our schools (and it kills off the disappointingly persistent cliche of the cranky librarian).  One of the most important things any teacher brings to a classroom is their enthusiasm for being there.  I know I'm not perfect on this - it's something I have to remember every day.

And thus one can continue working on the happy life of teacher librarians.

(Here endeth...)

Cheers

Ruth

Forks High School Twilight Cheerleaders Learn The Basics of Cheerleading

1. Base - A person who is in direct contact with the performing surface and is supporting another person’s weight.

2. Basket Toss – A stunt in which a top person is tossed by bases whose hands are interlocked.

3. Bracer – A top person that is supporting another top person in a pyramid.

4. Cradle - A dismount from a partner stunt, pyramid or toss in which the top person is caught in a face-up, piked osition before being placed on the performance area or remounting into another stunt, pyramid or loading position.

5. Cupie/Awesome - A stunt in which both feet of the top person are in one hand of a base.

6. Dive Roll - A forward roll where the feet leave the ground before the hands reach the ground.

7. Double Based Suspended Roll - Dismount or transition with a foot-over-head rotation.

8. Elevator/Sponge Toss – A stunt in which the top person loads in to an elevator/sponge loading position and is then tossed into the air.

9. Extended Stunt – A stunt in which the entire body of the top person is extended in an upright position over the base(s). Chairs, torches, flatbacks and straddle lifts are examples of stunts where the bases’ arms are extended overhead, but are NOT considered to be extended stunts since the height of the body of the top person is similar to a shoulder level stunt.

10. Hanging Pyramid – A pyramid in which the top person’s weight is primarily supported by another top person. Examples of hanging pyramids are: a person being suspended between two shoulder stands; a "whirlybird" stunt where one person’s weight is being supported by the legs of a top person in a shoulder sit; and a "diamond head" where two persons are suspended from one shoulder stand.

11. Helicopter Toss - A stunt in which the top person is tossed into the air in a horizontal position and rotates parallel to the ground in the same motion as a helicopter blade.

12. Inverted – A body position where the shoulders are below the waist.

13. Knee Drop – Dropping to the knees without first bearing the majority of the weight on the hands or feet.


Continue to read at all star Promdressesrock Twilight Cheer Squad at Forks High School, Washington

Save Forks High School Brick Building built in 1925

Here is a good project for all twilighters to participate in. Let us all contribute to save the Forks High school. It needs major repair. They are planning on destroying it. It is an old building. You can make the difference. Here is how you can contribute to the efforts.


How Twilighters for Forks was formed, leading to fans becoming involved in saving the brick school building

While visiting Forks for the first time this summer, a group of women fell in love with the city and the people who live there. Being from relatively big cities, they enjoyed how peaceful and quiet the area was, and they were concerned with the economy of the area. As they took pictures of the landscape and various “Twilight” locations, they wondered if there was any way for them to help boost the city of Forks. “We felt a real desire to ‘give back’ to this wonderful community,” said Shelli Ashton (President of Infinite Jewelry Co., manufacturers of Bella’s Bracelet and Bella’s Engagement Ring). So Shelli, her mother, Nancy Fuller, and her sister, Lori Manning, started brainstorming as to what they could do. In talking to members of the Forks Chamber of Commerce, they learned that a portion of Forks High School had been condemned and that the façade of the now-famous high school was in danger of being knocked down. Nancy said, “This news gave our family a jolt and a sense of urgency to help.” As it turned out, their traveling companions, Lori Joffs and Laura Byrne-Cristiano (owners/administrators of www.twilightlexicon.com), had expressed the same desire to do something to help the city and were eager to place a link on their Web site with the intent of reaching as many Twilight fans as possible. “We all knew that if the ‘Twilight’ fans understood what was happening in Forks, they would want to help out, too,” said Lori Joffs. Through the efforts of members of the Chamber of Commerce, and the West Olympic Peninsula Betterment Association, a means for people to make tax deductible monetary donations over the Internet was accomplished, and “Twilighters For Forks” was formed.

Welcome to DazzledbyTwilightFan! Where you can find All Things Twilight Related News, Merchandise and Celebrity News and Spinoffs

Laptops, day two (+ 7 things to try)

Day two: not as frenetic as day 1, thanks be to all the gods and little fishes.

In the library, we were busy, but not overwhelmed with laptoppers during breaks.  As there are 60 wireless access points in the library, and some of these may be accessible/within range from outside the library, it's not always possible to tell if an internet connection fails because the 60 spots are gone, or if it's a computer problem.

I showed a number of students how to auto-hide their taskbar; on the small acreage of a netbook screen, even half an inch is valuable.

Several students I know to have A Record of Evil tried to hide in the senior study.  I am of course loath to think ill of anyone who would try to hide in the most hideable corner of the library (and Year 9 students who don't have senior study access until they are in Year 11).  They and a number of other students were doing a bunch of Bluetoothing of files between themselves.  One of those laptop things which can be used for Good or Evil.  Unhelpfully for them I was doing the library rounds very actively, and seemed to be popping by to look over their shoulders at their screens in a way that must have seemed quite inconveniently frequent (if it was Evil they had in mind).  Now why would you think their shifty body language might have prompted my interest?

The majority of the laptoppers were engaged in innocent amusement, in changing the colour of their displays in the control panel (yay!  I'm an emo!  I can make lots of stuff black!), playing quiet games, accessing the internet.  Lots of footy images as desktop backgrounds on boys' computers.  One boy looking up pictures of cute kittens (which is a tad unusual, 'cute kittens' and 'cute puppies' more often being popular image searches among Year 7 girls - but hey, to each their own). 

The gender balance on our desktop computers in the library is reasonably even; our laptoppers at lunch today were nearly all boys.  Despite the accounts I've heard from some other schools, lunchtime in the library was nothing like an invasion of the Visigoths, thanks be.  The structure we have in place, the guidelines outlined to them on Friday, must help in clarifying the many things that are OK and the few things that are not.

One thing I had done last week for the staff meeting was prepare a list of seven things any Year 9 teacher could try with their Year 9 class, madly hungry to do stuff on their new red babies.  This is designed to be general, and simple.  There is certainly specific subject-related software that could be used as well by particular faculties, but I wanted to focus on existing technology, general computer knowledge and suggest activities that could be done whether or not the teacher themselves had a DER laptop (we got 27 teacher laptops in the T1 rollout, for 70 staff.)

If you'd like to read 7 THINGS TO TRY WITH THE LAPTOPS, WEEK ONE, then you'll be charmed to know I've put a copy in Google Docs.  Click on the link above to read it.  I've had a number of requests for it - if you use it in your school, please leave my name on it. (It is a copyright document:  I am happy for it to be used for non-profit educational purposes by schools/education systems.  Any other use, please contact me first.)

One of the Geography teachers used this as a template/prompt, and her class was very happy to be using their laptops in class straightaway.  For some other teachers, the list was a springboard to thinking of what they could/might do in connection with our laptopped-up Year 9 students.

So we got through day two, and it's onwards to day three.  Some stuff came up in class time today to which I had immediate answers, others were things referred on to the TSO (Technical Support Officer).

Cheers

Ruth

Oh brave new world: laptops, day one

It was announced on assembly on Thursday last week that the Year 9 laptops would be distributed on Friday.  These are the netbooks being issued as part of the Digital Education Revolution, a federally funded program.  I thought I"d document here what day one was like; this is such a change we're ushering in,

Friday morning you would have thought Santa Claus was coming multiplied to the power of ten.  The buzz around the school was palpable - not just year nine students.  Before school in the library, the noise level/fizz was significantly higher than usual, fuelled anticipation boiling over.

Up to the period after lunch, the library was a zoo (ie. madly busy).  Booked classes were coming in as per bookings, plus every period brought a new wave of Year 9 students to receive their laptops.  Each handout procedure involved a bit of logging in/checking.  Our computer co-ordinator had raided many Coles supermarkets for 99c recyclable bags (some Simpsons, some Harry Potter, some High School Musical) and so each student got a bag containing the laptop, charger, handbook etc. (good idea).  The laptops and so forth had been stored in our library security lockup, and so there was mad buzzing in and out of there all day, bags and boxes and students coming to ask questions.  One of my assistants stayed at the borrowing desk by the security room door all day to control traffic there.

By lunchtime they all had their laptops, and the library (where there are 60 wireless access points) was full of kids.  I was grateful that the computer co-ordinator stayed around all lunchtime, so was available for questions/assistance.

It's a learning curve for us all.  Lunchtime was crazy-busy, loud, fizzing with excitement.  I figure you go with it, day one, and just delineate the lines as is necessary without stomping on the joy (a rude little twerp is a rude little twerp regardless, as I had cause to point out to one impertinent boy).  One thing I did decide pretty quickly was that our reading retreat area - which only seats about 18 - is going to remain for (book) reading - laptoppers have plenty of desks/tables to use and I am keen to keep this area for comfy silent individual reading, to serve those students who love it for this.

Some students couldn't log on to the internet.  Judging by the number of students in the library, it was almost certainly because we had well over 60 laptoppers in.  So memo for self and students: log in early if you want to be in the 60.  The range of the wireless units is such that they are likely to find that outside the library they'll find 'hot spots', so it won't need 60 inside the library to mean those 60 access options are used up.  Not all the school is wireless yet, but it won't take them long to work out where in the playground they can find other hot spots.

As I have had a major role in drafting the school's laptop policy, I was detailed, in the period after lunch, to talk about this to all of Year 9 together.   I went through the guidelines we had established (these had been discussed at executive and staff meetings) and aimed to do this in a positive way.

To start, I asked them all, "Who here knows how to drive a car?" (Bear in mind none of these students are old enough for a learner's permit, but many would have access, on their own property/acreage or others', in our semi-rural location, to try driving on private land).  As I expected, lots of hands. 

"Leave your hand up if you have driven a car."  Still plenty.

"Leave your hand up if you have driven a car on a public road."  All hands vanish.  "OK, so that's what we're looking at here.  There's what is possible, and what is acceptable and appropriate."

And on I went; but this analogy did seem to be a useful one to make.  The guidelines/responsibilities are based on the NSW Department of Education and Training documents and school policies.  We will be revisiting our draft document about a month into next term, to see if it's serving our purposes or if there is anything else we need to clarifyadd/revise. 

Tough audience, I must admit, over 200 students crammed into the library so they could see our screen (I had prepared a PowerPoint, so there was something for their eyes to see, rather than just having them listen to me) - they were BUSTING to be on their laptops.  On the other hand, it's useful to have clarified the guidelines/boundaries right at the start, so we all know where we are.  And I appreciated the round of applause the students gave me at the end (however much of it was fuelled by relief that I had finished!!).

Based on info from other schools where the laptops have already been rolled out, there are challenges ahead for the library, during break times for example.  The way things are this week is likely to still reflect the initial excitement.  I'm sure some students will test the boundaries.  We could see, amid Friday's zoo, that the seminar-style layout of tables in nonfiction was working well.  Likewise some students just settled into a corner with their laptop.  My current thinking is that general library rules still apply, so a bunch of noisy gamesters can hie themselves out the door, but if a kid is being quiet and not disturbing others, then they can carry on.  As I spoke with them all on Friday, I made the distinction between the playground (out there) and the library as a learning space (in here, where I was going through the rules/responsibilities).  The Principal has reiterated that the library is my domain where I am delegated to set the rules/standards of behaviour. 

We have clarified with our students that they are to respect copyright, so pirated games/video are unacceptable anywhere.  I am sure in this first week (it's our last week of term) there will be further clarification/reminding happening.  I'll wait to see how big the crowd gets at lunchtime- I don't want to restrict numbers, but at the same time I do want to preserve an acceptable.manageable environment (for reasons of safety/doable supervision, for starters).  This week, I might have both my school assistants (I have 1.5 each day) on duty at lunchtime, so we are all three on deck (normally it's one plus me).  I'm not sure what extra teacher support I may get at lunchtime, if any.

It's a learning curve.  We'll see how we go, and look for a path forward that serves us all.  Right now, that student excitement is a great opportunity in our classrooms, the challenge being to build on it and harness it to enhance their learning and thus their opportunities in life.

It's an adventure! 

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: unavailable for spooks and spirits

A troop of five or so boys, from Year 7 or maybe, but less likely, Year 8, accosted me at lunchtime.

Miss...

Yup?

Can we borrow a paper cup?

And why would you be wanting that?

(He brandishes a piece of paper, somewhat folded/squished, with some sort of boxes/writing sketched rather roughly on it)

We've made a ouija board.

Really.

Yes.  (The spokesboy looks a tad embarrassed by this, but the rest look hopeful)

I'm so sorry boys, but the library's been [my brain scrabbles for the correct term, which is eluding me.  I settle for a substitute, meanwhile pasting an appropriately regretful expression on my face] sanitised, I'm afraid, so ouija boards won't work in here.

Oh.  Oh well.  (He scrunches up the piece of paper, tosses it in a bin, and accepting my words at face value they head out of the library cheerfully enough in search of alternative entertainment to fill in the rest of the lunch break).

The happy life of teacher librarians - minus the spirit world!

Cheers

Ruth

Twilight - chuckle and think

The chuckle: inspired by this new (and let's face it, pretty much shameless! cover for a US edition of Wuthering Heights:

...the same blog which featured the above cover snark then ran a contest for Twilight-ized covers of whatever you fancied... and the winner was this:

Excellently amusing.  You can view all the entries here, (but might find a couple unworksafe).  Hmmm.  Does this contest have school library potential?  Maybe so... (and elsewhere on this blog, in what is, sometimes to my chagrin, the most popular single entry EVAH, you'll find info on Twilight fonts).

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While you may intially blench at a blog called SmartBitchesTrashyBooks (the one which ran the above contest), don't sniff too fast.  Among the romance reviews, there's some well-thought-out commentary on teenage fiction, among other things, and reviews of e-book readers (more than I've found in any one other place).  They're also quite often very quick to raise/alert one to book/publishing related issues.  OK, and I'm usually very amused when they snark romance novel covers (which as you might expect are oh-so-snarkable, billowing shirts and mullets and so forth). 

The think: Laura Miller's article on Salon.com, Touched by a vampire, written around the time when Breaking Dawn was published, is a really well-thought out analysis of the appeal of Twilight - Bella's blandness (leaving room for the reader to insert herself), Edward's perfection:  Even to a reader not especially susceptible to its particular scenario, Twilight succeeds at communicating the obsessive, narcotic interiority of all intense fantasy lives.

Worth reading.

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: in which I think I am put in my place

Helpful email from teacher librarian:

Dear Year 7 Students,
As you know, you have a Music assignment coming up, on Musical Instruments. As part of this assignment you need to prepare a bibliography.
To help you with this, you will find in the attached file the library information sheet on how to prepare a bibliography. It tells you how do this for all sorts of resources, including websites as well as books.
You can use the format in this information sheet to make a bibliography for any school subject, not just Music.
If you have any questions, check with your Music teacher or Ms Buchanan in the library.
We also have some musical instrument books set aside in the library to help you - these are being kept behind the desk for library use only, so they are available for everyone.
All the best with your assignment!
Cheers
Ms Buchanan

Prompt reply from a Year 7 student:

thanks miss and guess what i know how to already

She's a sweet girl, and I like her confidence.  And am chuckling at being put in my place!!!

The happy life of teacher librarians: remember that if you email them, they may email back!

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: a dusty day

Like many of us today, home and the journey to school and school itself were brown experiences, dust in the air, the sky brown too, the wind whirling dust and visibility reduced; the colour of the day oddly orange as the sun struggled through.  Dust from the inland brought by gale force winds has changed the look of the day and the world around us in an unusual way.  Even in my office you can (barely) smell/taste it. 


Before school conversation:

Miss?

Yup?

The dust is scary...

Nope, it's dust. Brown stuff.  Flying dirt.

I guess...We'll be allowed to go home if it gets too dusty, won't we?

And that would be why?

Because it's dusty.

Right. Because it's dusty, we'll send you out INTO the dust to walk home instead of keeping you at school where we have buildings that you can be in, protected from the dust.

Oh. It wouldn't be sensible to send us home then, would it?

No.

I guess not. There isn't a rule about sending us home if it gets too dusty, like the one about when it's too hot?

Not to my knowledge.

Oh well.

You can always hose your lawn after school and see if you get a rates notice from Dubbo, as a man said on the radio this morning...

(they take a moment to digest this, then chuckle).



Cheers

Ruth

PS If you'd like to see a gallery of pictures like the one below, the Sydney Morning Herald has one, including this unusual view of the Sydney Opera House - click here.

Anticipated reading/book covers

There are a couple of books I have on order for myself (not the library) and am eagerly looking forward to reading when they're published.  Or rather, when they're published and I have a copy in my hands.  Likely to be the upcoming holidays, VERY nice timing.

The covers form an interesting insight into how one book can look quite different in different markets.

UK covers (the usual ones in Australia, unless you order other editions specially, either at a bookshop or online):

US covers for the same two books:

Would you think them the same books?

And why is it that I find myself preferring one over another, when the INSIDES are the same (bar American English spelling vs English English spelling)???  I'm also amused that one set is blue and black, sorta kinda, while the other set is black and blue, sorta kinda.

I've read the rest of the Gabaldon Outlander series, and have been looking forward to book seven (the first book is Cross Stitch if you want the UK edition, or Outlander for the US one) so this one I'm not likely to dislike - it's a pretty safe bet for me.

The Time Traveler's Wife is one of my favourite books, but Niffenegger has such an original imagination that while I wouldn't not read Her Fearful Symmetry, I'm not sure what to expect.  And I do hope I enjoy it too.

Both are due out in Australia in early October, just in time for the NSW school holidays, hurrah hurray!

i LOVE reading! too. (as per yesterday's blog entry).  And the other books by these authors have taken me great places, intriguing story-journeys.

Cheers

Ruth

Images from bookdepository.com and amazon.com

i LOVE reading

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i LOVE reading!! I love where the book takes u...so beautiful :)
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She's in Year 9, and she's not alone.  Who says teenagers don't read books?

Cheers

Ruth

PS.  Maybe this has bookmark potential...I've been mulling on a series based on student comments...

GIFSL* 44: : Duchamp seating for the masses...

Did you know that the artist Marcel Duchamp spent some of his working life as a librarian?  And that his 'readymade' work of art, Fountain, has (as more than one art teacher commented) a counterpart (homage? echo?) in my office?

No, not an exact replica.  Sheesh.  But this:

...is part of my office furniture that gets regular use.  I own these - bought them over time from op shops, junk shops, garage sales, wherever.  While I have a chair in my office for visitors, I quickly learned that you only need three or five kids telling you things and wanting to talk about cabbages and kings, or schoolwork, or the outrage of Disney buying Marvel, or whatever, to know that standard size chairs aren't the answer.  With these, my small office can seat five extra kids - and when they're not in use, the stools are Duchamped from the overhead beam.  Practical Art! (I'm happy to acknowledge that it was one of my school assistants who had the inspiration of hanging these up).

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I know not every teacher librarian has an office - but I do know that my glass box at the library entrance has become part of how I teach and work.  Can't count the number of times every day, every week, throughout the year, that I have conversations here, hunt things on the computer here, think through projects, advise, listen, offer tissues, dispense advice, dispense discipline, solve problems, encourage, mentor.... door open, door closed (sometimes it's so valuable to be able to close the door).  

I have a few oddities hung on the wall, too, personalising the space and providing conversation starters with kids and staff.  Sadly, I'm given to lying about them (yup, that old photo is Great Aunt Grace...).  Maybe one day I'll tell you about the photo that's part of the biggest lie - I've had a LOT of fun with that (and so have the kids who've worked it out and then participated in its perpetuation...!!)

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It's part of our work, though, isn't it?  The daily meeting and greeting and listening and engaging in lots of small ways, sometimes educational, sometimes welfare, often both.  Those mismatched stools earn their keep.

Cheers

Ruth

*GIFSL = Good Ideas for School Libraries

GIFSL* 43: : The Twilight cabinet

One of the faculties around school took a cabinet off a wall they wanted for something else - and did I want the cabinet, because they didn't?  oooo yes please.
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Hmmm, and where will I put it in a library that doesn't have a lot of spare walls? (oh, and also has brick walls, with bricks which don't like being drilled into At All).  After some cheerful negotiation with Eeyore the general assistant (a lovely man with a sadly lugubrious nature) and his partner in crime, Tigger, I manage to persuade them that the wall by the stairs would be dandy.  And no, we won't have to move the existing (adjacent) noticeboard. And yes, I know some of it will be behind the wire of the staircase side, but this also means it will be easy to look at things in it.  Pretty please?
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They fixed it up over the last holidays.  It's a bog-standard DET pinboard-backed wall cabinet from school furniture.  Two tiny problems: the key to um, open it appears to be missing....
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...Eeyore, bless him, finds one and one only that we dare not lose...
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...and it won't open.  Tigger fixes that one with a bit of brute strength and soap on the runners. (He's less afraid of breaking glass than I am).
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Yay!  We have a cabinet.
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Now what to put in it?
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Well, I could use it for all sorts of worthy educational displays.  Yup.  May well do that, on occasion.
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But for now, it is devoted to material considered Extremely Worthy by the kids: Twilightery.
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And do the kids love it, and pore over it?  Oh my giddy aunt, yes!  It is selected material - I aim to avoid gossip mag stuff about private lives, and put in things about the film and its making.  Thus, sometimes, I'll just use a picture I come across, and skip the article altogether.  The Twilight fans love it and the Twilight haters are able to vent in a very healthy way, while I chuckle at both.

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It feels, amusingly, like I'm papering a teenage bedroom wall, or something like.  But it makes the library kid-friendlier, addresses something that really interests them, and turns a dead spot (the brick wall sans wall cupboard) into a feature.  And the locked cabinet lets the pieces survive...

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I know I'm not the only TL with a Twilight display (but I won't name names!).  Even if you don't have a cabinet.  A window? Somewhere?

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btw, the current issue of Dolly magazine has an extra mag with it - a Twilight special 'fanpire magazine' devoted entirely to Twilightery (and drooling over the film's stars).  The kids are enjoying that too (our Dolly magazines get literally read to pieces anyway).

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Cheers

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Ruth

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PS I was of course astonished to find that my picnic accoutrements are so like those of Edward and Bella, as per one of the pictures there - I just will not stir from the house without a zebra skin rug, Persian carpet and assorted lavish cushions.  I mean, would you??????  !!!!! 

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Libraries, information and the future (starting now?)

Helene Blowers links to a recent CNN article on the future of libraries.

While thanks to the King's High School's excellent library blog
I watched this YouTube video, Information R/evolution.



maybe an option for a quick think-moment at a staff meeting?

YouTube URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM

Cheers

Ruth

Last book in Garth Nix series/ latest Cherub/Ranger's Apprentice 9

The other day a student asked when the last book would be out in the Garth Nix series that begins with Mister Monday.  According to my brilliant local bookshop, February 2010.  So the kidlets will have to hold their breath for a wee while longer.
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Interesting to see that the latest book in the Cherub series (by Robert Muchamore) has been issued in hardback first.  OK for libraries, in terms of durability (if they've made it that far in the series, the readers aren't going to be put off by a hardback) but disappointing in terms of limiting its availability/affordability to kids.  
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Another book on my reservations/prepublication list is the ninth book in the Ranger's Apprentice series - bunch of keen readers waiting for that one, called Halt's Peril.  Out in early November, much to their delight.
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Cheers
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Ruth