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Summer Borrowing in the US Library Begins on May 28th!

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 11:28pm
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 All returning Upper School students, and all faculty and staff are welcome to participate.  Each year, we send a great number of books out on fabulous vacations.  Won't you help give a great book (or two or ten) a wonderful summer?  See you soon!
--Sue


Poet Malena Mörling Visits Catlin Gabel

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 9:43am
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Giving a Helping Hand to First-Years

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Wed, 03/21/2012 - 10:51am
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From the Winter 2011-12 Caller

By Sue Phillips and David Zonana

Students new to Catlin Gabel, as well as those arriving from our Middle School, find a perfect opportunity to reinvent themselves in their freshman year. While the adults in the Upper School community welcome this reinvention, we know that teenagers find this change both exhilarating and frightening. Fortunately, the freshman team made up of teachers and staff are there to support the students through their first year, cheer them on, and help them when they struggle.

The Freshman Toolkit

This year we reinvigorated the five-year-old Freshman Toolkit. Our 9th graders typically have, for the first time in their school lives, several unstructured free periods each week. To help them establish habits that will support their success, a group of Upper School faculty developed the Toolkit curriculum, which includes structured skills sessions and supervised study time. During the weeks between the beginning of school and Thanksgiving break, freshmen attended two Toolkit sessions each week: a skills session, and a supervised study session managed by a rotating group of committed faculty and staff. The skills sessions taught students strategies for keeping a calendar to manage their assignments, meetings with teachers, sports practices, and after-school activities, and emphasized managing multi-step assignments that require work over the course of a few weeks.
 
Other skills sessions focused on students’ learning styles, working effectively with an academic adviser, and developing a plan for fulfilling community service hours in a meaningful way. Our freshmen met a second time each week in their groups, and followed a protocol of reporting on the homework they planned to complete during that time. The overall purpose of Toolkit was to help our 9th graders understand how to organize and prioritize their lives so they can get their work done in time to enjoy dinner with their families, have a chance to socialize with friends, and get enough sleep to be ready for the next day.
 
Our learning specialist Cindy Murray is a key supporter of Toolkit, and was central to its establishment this fall. She says that it’s effective because students have learned how to start to take responsibility for their learning in ways that allow them to become successful. While the program will evolve based on feedback, we anticipate continuing to offer it next year.

The freshman class trip 

The freshman class trip is an important first step in helping our 9th graders become part of the Upper School community. During this three-day experience, new freshmen get to know each other, connect with faculty, gain understanding of the culture of the Upper School, and begin to form an identity as a cohesive class. For the last three years, this trip has taken place at Scouter’s Mountain, a woodsy camp where students sleep in rustic boxcars and teepees. The setting of the retreat and the activities that fill each day are designed to provide a context for the development of strength of self and community that will be important for students’ happiness and achievement in the Upper School. The values, support from upperclassmen and faculty, friendships, and willingness to put oneself in some new and uncomfortable situations provide a starting point for the open-minded and resilient traits found in many of our Upper School students.
 
The freshman class trip is made up of a variety of activities, from the simple, practical tasks of preparing and cleaning up meals for over 100 peers to an evening of square dancing called by Dave Corkran, retired history teacher. Students on the trip participate in a day-long community service project in collaboration with the National Forest Service. This year, the class of 2015 spent a day in the sun planting hundreds of trees and completing important habitat restoration work along an old road in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The on-site ropes course provides another afternoon of group and individual challenge, and a setting for problem solving and bonding. Simple challenges, such as one that requires the group to pass a carabiner from one end of a rope to another, become moments of intense focus, communication, and collaboration.
 
Students also take part in quiet activities, such as nature sketching, writing workshops, and community values discussions. This year, international mountaineer Willy Oppenheim came to give an inspiring talk about his most recent trip to Pakistan, where he combined research on girls’ education with an attempt to scale an unclimbed Himalayan peak. On the final morning of the trip, students draft letters to their future selves that we give back to them when they enter their senior year. We end the last night of the trip with a talent show around the fire. This year, as spirits were high on this final evening, and many members of the class of 2015 had already shared songs or silly acts, freshman Matthew Bernstein came to the front of the group with just his guitar, voice, and a thoughtful original song and captivated the entire audience. We will remember that for a long time.

Support from older students

This year we’ve had some of the strongest leadership ever by older students on behalf of the new 9th graders. Each spring, the faculty nominates seniors for leadership roles on the freshman class trip. These students consistently impress us with their commitment as role models, camp counselors, dynamic leaders, and gentle confidantes to their younger peers, both on the trip and afterward. For many freshmen, this is their first experience of having an older, established student as an ally and potential friend, and the experience is powerful. Seniors have a vested interest in transmitting all that they find best about the culture of the school they have grown to love, and they’re cognizant of their responsibility as mentors and role models.
 
Last spring, junior Ella Bohn called a meeting among members of her class to gauge interest in establishing a junior mentors program. Nearly half the class turned out and signed up to help, and late this past summer Ella met with us to match each freshman with one of the juniors. The mentors met, planned, and reached out to the 9th graders one on one to ask how they were doing. Ella said she had realized that “it might have been helpful to have someone to talk to about all the things people think you are supposed to know” by the time you arrive in the Upper School. Juniors have been here for three years, and they are a friendly, approachable group who “know how things work.”
 
The freshman class may not realize the framework that has quietly been constructed to support them through their first year in the Upper School. We are proud that their team of advocates includes not only teachers and staffers, but also trusted older students who are more influential than they recognize. Their peer-to-peer mentoring creates caring, supportive, and respectful collaboration with the 9th graders, and importantly, encourages the transmission of Catlin Gabel’s values and ethos to this next generation of younger teens.
 
Sue Phillips has been the Upper School librarian since 2004. She is a research geek who loves to laugh, work in the garden, and play early music. David Zonana is an outdoor education teacher who has long held an interest in the potential of adventure for growth and learning. Since 2006 he has led students on mountaineering, rafting, backpacking, llama packing, rock climbing, and sea kayaking trips.   

 

Outdoorsy Books for Winterim / Spring Break in the US Library

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Wed, 03/14/2012 - 11:55am
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Plan a hike or read a book over the break

Catlin Gabel Poetry Festival

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 11:20am
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Literary Censorship in the News

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 1:03pm
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New Upper School Library Blog: CatlinReads!

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 2:58pm
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The Karl Jonske '99 Collection in the US Library

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 10:33am
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In honor of this year's Karl Jonske '99 Lecture Series, the US Library is featuring a display of selected recent additions to the Karl Jonske Collection.  Stop by to see several of the 808 books that comprise this marvelous and growing collection of books selected specifically to promote reading for pleasure among Catlin Gabel's students.  It is a great legacy for generations of readers, and honors Karl, who was a smart, delightful, athletic bibliophile.

In celebration of the pleasures of good books,

--Sue Phillips, US Librarian

 


Summer Borrowing is Underway in the Upper School Library!

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 2:42pm
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Think outside the classroom this summer!  Take home an armload of good books to read.  Whether you’ll be lounging in a hammock, working as a camp counselor and reading after lights out, or flying on a plane to distant parts of the world, reading for pleasure would surely enhance your summer.

Summer Borrowing is Underway!

Now through June 10th @ 4pm

All returning Upper School students, and all returning faculty and staff may participate!

Here are some titles to tempt you.  If you prefer, just browse the catalog at http://catalog.catlin.edu

Southern Fiction
Mama Day, by G. Naylor
Kate Vaiden, by R. Price
The Help, by K. Stockett
Delta Wedding, by E. Welty
Sound and the Fury, by W. Faulkner
Thirteen Moons, by C. Frazier

Glorious Geekdom
Foundations of Python Network Programming, by J. Goerzen
Beginning game development with Python and Pygame, by W. McGugan
Letters to a Young Mathematician, by I. Stewart
Feynman’s Lost Lecture:  The Motion of Planets around the Sun, by D. Goodstein
Beyond Measure:  Modern physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory, by JE Baggott

Tasty Fiction
Clear Light of Day, by A. Desai
Notes from Underground, by F. Dostoevsky
Moscow Sting, by A. Dryden
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by M. Haddon
Maltese Falcon, by D. Hammett
A Most Wanted Man, by J. Le Carré
Small Island, by A. Levy
Kalahari Typing School for Men, by RA McCall Smith
Blood Meridian, by C. McCarthy
Master and Commander, by P. O’Brian

Graphic Novels
Saga of the Swamp Thing, by A. Moore
A Drifting Life, by Y. Tatsumi
Complete Persepolis, by M. Satrapi
Black Hole, by C. Burns
Palestine, by J. Sacco

Fantasy Fiction
Brisingr, by C. Paolini
The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien
Powers, by U. LeGuin
The Wood Wife, by T. Windling
Memory & Dream, by C. DeLint

Far From Here
Iberian Worlds, by G. McDonogh
Almost French:  Love and a New Life in Paris, by S. Turnbull
Oracle Bones:  A Journey Between China’s Past and Present, by P. Hessler
Under the Tuscan Sun, by F. Mayes

Artsy Stuff
The Art and Craft of Handmade Books, by S. LaPlantz
Letters to a Young Artist, by A. Deavere Smith
Conversations with Frank Gehry, by B. Isenberg
Chuck Close:  A Life, by C. Finch
Origami Paper Animals, by D. Boursin

Bite-Sized Fiction
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, by T. Wolff
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, by A. Bender
The Runner’s Literary Companion, Ed. G. Battista
Nine Stories, by JD Salinger
Nick Adams Stories, by E. Hemingway

Stop by soon.  

With good wishes,

Sue, Upper School Librarian

 

Summer Borrowing in the US Library Begins on May 31st

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Wed, 05/18/2011 - 2:43pm
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Every summer, the US Library likes to send its books on interesting vacations with students, faculty and staff.  Everyone from the bus drivers to students to teachers and administrators likes to stop by to carry off something interesting to read. 

Over the course of the coming weeks, I'll be adding all sorts of recommendations to this list. After Memorial Day weekend, Summer Borrowing begins!  Returning students, staff and faculty may check out an armload of good books that won't be due until mid-September. 

So, let's begin...

A Taste of the Arts

We've added some new titles on filmmaking, animé, origami, modern architecture, and music.  Here's a sampling.

Didier Boursin:  Origami Paper Animals
Barbara Isenberg:  Conversations with Frank Gehry
Maria Lafont:  Soviet Posters
Shereen LaPlantz:  The Art & Craft of Handmade Books
Steven Mithen:  The Singing Neanderthals:  The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body
Chris Patmore:  Movie Making Course
Simon Richmond:  The Rough Guide to Animé
Bee Shay:  Collage Lab
Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez:  Fab Four FAQ:  Everything Left to Know about the Beatles...and More!
Anna Deavere Smith:  Letters to a Young Artist:  Straight0up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts
 

Graphic Novels

Some are political, some are futuristic, and many of them are becoming classics of the genre.  

Charles Burns:  Black Hole
Alan Moore:  Saga of the Swamp Thing; Watchmen
Joe Sacco:  Palestine
Marjane Satrapi:  The Complete Persepolis

Southern Fiction

Hot, still afternoons, complex prose, solitude, thunderstorms, lemonade on the porch, and smoldering post-Civil War tensions are just a few of the characteristics of some of these books by southern authors.  

William Faulkner:  The Sound and the Fury; Light in August
Charles Frazier:  Cold Mountain; Thirteen Moons
Sue Monk Kidd:  The Mermaid Chair
Carson McCullers:  The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Toni Morrison: A Mercy
Gloria Naylor:  Mama Day
Reynolds Price:  Kate Vaiden
Kathryn Stockett:  The Help
Eudora Welty:  Delta Wedding; Selected Stories

Fantasy Fiction

These books are filled with other worlds, elves, teenagers with magical powers, hobbits, daemons, and fine storytelling.

Charles de Lint:  Memory & Dream
Ursula LeGuin:  Powers
Christopher Paolini:  Brisingr (part of a series)
Philip Pullman:  The Golden Compass (part of a series)
J.R.R. Tolkien:  The Hobbit (the prelude to a great series)

Keep checking back for more recommendations!

--Sue

 

 

 

 

 

Great Reads for Winterim & Spring Break!

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 3:37pm
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 Looking for a little diversion for that long flight to Florida?  Ready to choose your own stories rather than sticking to your course syllabus?  Help is on the way!

We added over 150 new titles in January and February alone.  Here are several recommendations for all kinds of readers with all sorts of interests:

Palestine, by Joe Sacco
Do you enjoy political themes and graphic novels?  Check out this classic about an American journalist who travels to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to learn the Palestinian side of the Intifada. Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, writes that Sacco "obviously got the calling. His stuff is obviously well wrought, with dizzying pages and good rhythm" (from Amazon editorial reviews).

Winter of our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale, by Susan Maushart
The Booklist reviewer writes that the teenagers "quickly learn how to do homework without access to Wikipedia and discover such joys as playing the saxophone and having sing-alongs. Interspersed with the family’s experience is a great deal of timely information about the impact of electronic technology on Generation M (8- to 18-year-olds), and not all of it is pretty."  (Amazon.com reviews)

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Travel to St. Petersburg, Russia with a heart-rending, beefy classic about the decisions of a young society woman who chooses to defy the social norms of her time.  If you never have time to immerse yourself in another world, Spring Break and Winterim are great times to do so.

Hardcourt Confidential:  Tales from Twenty Years in the Pro Tennis Trenches, by Patrick McEnroe
ESPN commentator and tennis champion Patrick McEnroe reveals detailed stories of players, coaches, and other personalities associated with the sport.  If you have visions of going pro, this will be an eye-opener.

The Invisible Gorilla:  and Other Ways our Intuitions Deceive Us, by Christopher Chabris
The author of the book says it best:  "Reading this book will make you less sure of yourself-and that's a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, we use a wide assortment of stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to reveal an important truth: Our minds don't work the way we think they do. We think we see ourselves and the world as they really are, but we're actually missing a whole lot."  (Invisible Gorilla website).  Be sure to click the link above to see some short video clips of the actual attention tests administered to observers.  You won't believe your eyes!

Becoming Animal:  An Earthly Cosmology, by David Abram
"As Abram identifies underappreciated aspects of our minds and bodies that evolved to enable us to respond with exquisite sensitivity to our surroundings, he tells extraordinary tales of his encounters with wildlife from whales to ravens, illuminates the planet’s myriad forms of sentient life" (from Booklist review).  

 

Jimmy Santiago Baca: Some Resources

Submitted by Sue Phillips on Mon, 03/07/2011 - 10:32am
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"I don't know if I would have lived had I not found poetry."--Jimmy Santiago Baca

The writer Jimmy Santiago Baca will visit Catlin Gabel this Thursday.  If you would like to learn a little bit more about him, here are a few options:

Visit the Poets.org website for a brief biography of Santiago Baca's life.  Three of his poems are listed on the Poets.org website in the upper right hand corner.  If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the writer, his personal struggles, and his approach to language and poetry, there is a good interview with Gabriel Meléndez on the Univ. of Illinois site.  

When you visit the Upper School Library, you can browse our display of books by Jimmy Santiago Baca just inside the door. 

--Sue, US Librarian