One Book, One School      October 2006

  

A compilation of a program held at South Central Jr. Sr. H.S. in Elizabeth, IN 47117

 

In late September through the end of October 2006, a 3-4 week One Book,

One School program (our first) was held which we funded with a grant

from the Harrison County Community Foundation.  Our book was Uglies

by Scott Westerfeld and we were most fortunate to cap off the program

with a visit from Scott.

 

 

We are a 7-12 building of about 425 students.  We gave copies of the

book to all staff including custodians, cooks, bus drivers, also school

board members and central office administrators.

 

 

I read 6-7 possible books before suggesting Uglies to my committee

of English teachers that helped with the decision. Staff received books

about a month before students so that lessons could be planned.  That was very

lucky because of our 500 copies we soon discovered over 100  were misprinted and that

extra month allowed us to get the incorrect copies replaced in plenty of time.  Fortunately,

we were working through a local bookseller and he facilitated the replacement.

 

 

Themes from the book were used across the curriculum in alignment with Indiana

State Academic Standards and I collaborated with social        

 

 

studies, science, and health classes for research projects.  Projects were                                                                         

displayed throughout the building and as luck would have it, the last week of the

program corresponded to our 2 Open House evenings with parents.  Administrators

selected the top 2 projects for each grade level and those students were awarded

autographed copies of Pretties, the second book in the trilogy.  

 

 

We tried to immerse students in the book.  Quotes from the book were posted

throughout the building.  We printed them out on brightly colored paper.   Several

classrooms and the IMC had word walls.

 

 

I took digital pictures of many events and projects along the way and had a

PowerPoint looping in the IMC during Open House.  Uglies and the 2nd part of the

trilogy, Pretties, were featured in our Scholastic Book Fair which we held that

week also.  The author was even on the book fair video so that was used by English

classes to introduce the book at the beginning of the program.

 

 

We invited school board members and administrators to our author presentations and the

staff prepared a pitch-in luncheon for everyone including guests.  Scott

autographed staff members' books then.

 

 

We had press coverage on the day of the visit also.  We had local reporters

from the Corydon Democrat, and the Louisville, Ky. Courier-Journal featured our

program on the front page of the Indiana section the day after the author visit.

Scott Westerfeld also wrote about our event on his blog (see Oct.25, 2006 entry). 

 

 

We followed up with a visiting reader day on Nov.1st and invited school board

members and central office staff to join us and lead a discussion of the book with

a class.  Both the superintendent and assistant superintendent participated.

Several teachers had lessons planned in Nov. and later in the year to draw upon

topics from the shared reading.  I had all 7th and 8th graders write a haiku based on

the book and posted the poems in the IMC.  For the remainder of the school year, we

still had students checking out parts 2 and 3 of the Uglies trilogy as well as other books

by the author.  In fall 2007, we had many incoming 7th graders want to read the series

and with the publication of Extras in Oct. 2007, we had many students anxious to put

that title on hold (even though we had multiple copies).  This latest publication has also

spurred students to ask when we will do this One Book "thing" again and many remark

about how much they enjoyed it.  The statistical results may be difficult to document

but there is no doubt that this event touched our school community in a very possitive

way.

 

 

This was such a huge success and I would highly encourage others to give it a try

if you have not done it.  We had students informally discussing the book at lunch

with the asst. principal; we had parents reading the book at home with their

students; conversations going on in the hallways with students discussing the

characters like they would a television program or a movie! Too many positives to

mention them all.  I know others that have done this must have seen how powerful it

can be to totally immerse a school in the same book.   Scott Westerfeld has said that

he mentions our One Book event in his appearances and visits because he saw the

affect it had on our students.

 

I was lucky enough to be interviewed for an article in the March 2007 issue of

NEA Today and we had a couple of paragraphs appear as part of a wonderful

article on school libraries.

 

We are currently planning to write another grant and hope to get funding for

another One Book event during the 2008/2009 school year.  We want to expand

this time to include all 7-12 students in 3 buildings and have a multiple day author

event!

 

See links in the SideBar to all the documents I created.

You are welcome to revise these items to suit your needs.  Teachers seem to

be good at sharing!  (Please mention your source or better yet email me and

let me be able to tell my principal you used our ideas!)

 

 

I will be glad to send further information if anyone needs it.  I got good

suggestions from LM_NET listserv all along the way on this journey. 

If you are not a listserv subscriber you can search their archives for ideas.  :-)

 

 

 

Ann Jantzen, Media Specialist

South Central Jr. Sr. H.S.

6675 E. Highway 11 SE

Elizabeth, IN 47117