Friday, December 11, 2015

Hour of Code at South Atlanta High




Thursday, December 19th was our #hourofcode event at the South Atlanta High School Media Center. Students gathered in the lab to learn a bit of Javascript as they programmed a StarWars droid to pick up scrap metal. You can learn a bit of code yourself at www.code.org. Getting started is easy and there are a number of tutorials on the site to give you a working knowledge of the most popular coding language today. 

We were especially excited to have Black Men Code founder, Michael Street on hand to give a few pointers on how the language works. Look out for more coding introductions in the media center in 2016.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Poetry Out Loud Sign Up

Are you an aspiring actor or poet? Take a look at one of the winners of Poetry Out Loud.

Sign up to compete in our Poetry Out Loud competition on December 19th. You've got just under a month to perfect two poems. Good luck!

Friday, October 30, 2015

NanoWriMo and Native American History Month

November is a big month for libraries, and if we work together it can be a more than a countdown to Thanksgiving. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and Native American Heritage Month.

The library will sponsor a Kick-off party for anyone interested in writing a novel during November on Thursday, November 5th after school. We’ll have games, a few prizes and comradery. Creative writing can be a powerful force for expression and maintaining mental health in the face of stress.
Visit www.nanowrimo.org for more information.


Native American History can often be overlooked in the broader understanding of our country’s history, but November offers an opportunity for us to shine a light on these cultures. Here are a few resources to help you as you plan this month.

Websites:
A Cheyenne Odyssey (Interactive Site) - http://www.mission-us.org/pages/landing-mission-3
Treaties with the Native American Indian Nations (Online Exhibition)- http://www.nmai.si.edu/static/nationtonation/
DocsTeach: Native Americans in the National Archives - http://docsteach.org/home/native-americans

Articles:

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Scholarships for Hispanic and Undocumented Students



Scholarships for Hispanic Students

Did you miss the scholarship workshop today at lunch? Have no fear! You can view the slides here and take a look at additional scholarships at the link. Here are the big takeaways:


  • Private Universities have much more leeway in acceptance of international students so start there
  • Essay scholarships usually don't have residency requirements. Seek them out and apply often.
  • Visit the College and Career Center. They have much more information about where to apply and how to get money.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Should Americans Be Required to Learn a Second Language

Here are a few resources to get you started in writing your argumentative essay that answers:

"Should Americans Be Required to Learn a Second Language?"

Articles:

Bilingual Education Does Not Help Students - Opposing Viewpoints in Context

Bilingual Education Is Detrimental to Everyone

US Students Trail Global Peers in Foreign Language Learning

The United States Benefits from Multilingual Americans



Websites:

National Association of Bilingual Education

Videos:

The Advantages of Learning a Second Language

Works Cited:

Beale, Lewis. "US Students Trail Global Peers in Foreign Language Learning." Do Schools Prepare Students for a Global Economy? Ed. Judeen Bardos. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "U.S. Students Hurting in Foreign Languages." Miller-McCune 17 May 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

Collins, Greg. "Bilingual Education Does Not Help Students." Should the United States Be Multilingual? Ed. Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from "Bilingual Consequences." Massachusetts Daily Collegian 5 Apr. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

"National Association for Bilingual Education." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

"The Advantages Of Learning a Second Language." NYTimes.com Video Collection 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Banned Books Week Read Out



Check out your very own Media Specialist reading a little James Baldwin to celebrate Banned Books Week. Remember, you always have the Freedom to Read in our media center and you can check out this title at any time.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Banned Books Week September 27- October 3

Events
Tuesday October 29
Mobile Library @ Lunch

Wednesday October 30
Book Club Banned Books Discussion and Pizza Party (Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson)
3:30PM – 4:30PM

Check out these Banned Books in the Library
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
1984, by George Orwell


Exercise Your Right to Read!


Monday, September 14, 2015

Hispanic Heritage Month

Check out these great resources for Hispanic Heritage Month. You can also take a look at our display of titles for and about Hispanic Americans in the library.

Books (available for checkout)
AlegriÃŒa, MaliÃŒn. Sofi Mendoza's guide to getting lost in Mexico. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. Print.
Calcines, Eduardo F.. Leaving Glorytown: one boy's struggle under Castro. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2009. Print.
Carlson, Lori M., Manuel Ortiz, and Flavio Morais. Voices in first person: reflections on Latino identity. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008. Print.
Castañeda, Jorge G.. Ex Mex: from migrants to immigrants. New York: New Press :, 2007. Print.
Hill, Laban Carrick. America dreaming: how youth changed America in the sixties. New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown & Co., 2007. Print.
Kallen, Stuart A.. Che Guevara: you win or you die. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2013. Print.
MaÃŒrquez, Gabriel. One hundred years of solitude. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. Print.
Sanchez, Reymundo, and Sonia Rodriguez. Lady Q the rise and fall of a Latin queen. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, 2008. Print.
SaÃŒenz, Benjamin Alire. Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2004. Print.
Serros, Michele. Scandalosa!. NY: Simon Pulse Teen Fiction, 2007. Print.

Websites
Smithsonian - Celebrating Hispanic Heritage, People & Places
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Smithsonian.com discusses the changing demographics of the United States, talks with comedian George Lopez on humor and race, remembers a historic Little League Baseball team and highlights the food of Hispanic culture.

Young Writer's Club

The Young Writer’s Club will meet on Wednesday after school in the media center. We’ll elect an editor of the first ‘zine, choose the name of the literary magazine and more. The Poetry club will also meet on Wednesday after school in the media center. If you signed up for the poetry club during the club fair, this will be your first meeting.

Check out this cool tutorial on how to make 'zines

https://zines.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline/makezine.pdf

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Ancestry.com and other Databases available at APS



Ancestry has awarded Atlanta Public Schools free access to AncestryK12 (U.S. content), Fold3, and Newspapers.com. You can now access Ancestry from any device on the APS network @ http://www.ancestryclassroom.com.  You can also access Fold3 and Newspapers.com by going to http://www.fold3.com  and http://www.newspapers.com respectively. These resources are available at school only; home access is not provided with this grant.

•         Ancestry is the world’s largest online family history resource with a database of more than 15 billion historical records.
•         Fold3 is the web’s premier collection of original US military records, including many from the US National Archives.
•         Newspapers.com consists of millions of historical documents and photos from 116+ Million Historical Newspaper Pages from the 1700s–2000s.

These and all other APS  eResources can be found online @ http://www2.youseemore.com/AtlantaPS/linkinclude.asp or via the eBooks tile in https://mybackpack.apsk12.org → Catalog Home → Databases / Online Resources

How To Study

Did you miss the workshop? Here is the presentation, and don't forget to download the handout, as well.




Handout

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

School Desegregation in the New Millenium

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

We're back!! Let's just jump in. Let's start thinking. Let's remember what we're here to do and really what's at stake.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

eNewsletter


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Communication is key when a transition is in order. Please take the time to sign up for our new eNewsletter.

Thank you,
The NEW South Atlanta High School

Friday, May 1, 2015

Guide to Alternative Media

Have you ever read the newspaper or a cable news network and felt like you weren’t getting the whole story? Don’t fret! There are a whole host of alternatives to mainstream media.  Journalists are trained to be unbiased, but the corporations that employ those journalists have to worry about ratings and offending advertisers. Looking to the left or the right of the traditional media can help give perspective and clear up controversial issues. When searching for an alternative pay attention to PEP.


Professionalism - Make sure the site is free from spelling errors, offensive language, grammar mistakes and questionable sponsors.


Experience - How long has the site been in business? Do they proprietors have a background in journalism? Have they been seen guest posting/hosting on more mainstream sites?


Perspective - Not to be mistaken for bias, perspective refers to how the author/creator sees the world. This will color how they report. Are their diverse voices on the site? Have you heard from this demographic before?



Where to look?
Be thankful for the digital age. Social media, podcasts and alternative news sites are all over the place. For the love of all things newsy, join Twitter and pay attention to the hashtags (#). You’ll never be able to comb through the net by yourself, but the hashtags will lead you to great commentary, often before the larger news outlets are able to package it. Here are a few other options.
 
Mother Jones - http://www.motherjones.com/ Mother Jones is a nonprofit news outlet that delivers bold and original award-winning reporting on the urgent issues of our day, from politics and climate change to education…

Democracy Now - http://www.democracynow.org/Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

This Week in Blackness – Twib.FM – Bordering on newstainment, this suite of podcasts and blogs focuses on racial equality, social justice and the African American perspective. (Beware of the choice language)

Try these as well!

Indian Country Today
Racialicious
Feministing
AlterNet
The Root
The Grio

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Free Digital Books All Summer

myON Reader has partnered with the Get Georgia Reading Campaign to provide every child in Georgia with FREE access anytime, anywhere to a library of more than 8,000 enhanced digital books with multimedia supports — over the entire summer.

These digital books really bring stories to life and provide audio support that creates a truly magical experience for kids and teens, making the joy of reading fun for all!

Go to: http://thefutureinreading.myon.com/GetGAREADING

Login information:
School Name: Get Georgia Reading
Username and password: read

Understanding the Baltimore Riots

You may be wondering what is going on in Baltimore. Here are a few resources to get you started.



Articles
Listening in Ferguson: it's not all black and white (http://tinyurl.com/kyz7l83 )
America, March 9, 2015

Baltimore's 'Broken Relationship' With Police (http://tinyurl.com/pc8276z )
The New York Times, April 25, 2015


Audio/Video

A Broken City: Remembering The L.A. Riots (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=151647900 )
Weekend All Things Considered, April 29, 2012

Melissa Harris Perry April, 25, 2015

Websites





Friday, April 17, 2015

The Poetry Cafe 2015

All of our poets shined last night. Look at this short video and see how bright.


Monday, April 13, 2015

Study Group 101 for AP




Study Group Basics Handout

Practice Questions:

https://www.apstudynotes.org/

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/takingtheexam/preparing-for-exams

Online Tools:
Google Drive - https://drive.google.com/
Critique group member essays

Google Hangout- http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/
Meet together without having to actually "be" together

Quizlet- https://quizlet.com/
Create quizzes and study guides for members

AP Exam and Study Groups

AP Exam Schedule

Please see below for the AP Exam Schedule:


May 6, 2015
Literature and Composition

May 8, 2015
United States History

May 11, 2015
Biology

May 13, 2015
Language and Composition



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Not every kid gets a dedicated librarian

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/03/18/number-of-libraries-dwindle-in-nyc-schools.html

Not every kid gets a dedicated librarian. New York, California and Philadelphia have had legislative actions dedicated to cutting funding for libraries and school librarians, and the outlook looks bleak for some. Libraries give students a safe space to study, get help with research projects and essays, read and access materials and information that they not be able to at home. Librarians serves as research specialists, literacy advocates and curriculum support. Studies show that students do better and learn more with a certified school librarian on staff.  What do you think?  How would the school change without a dedicated librarian?

Thursday, March 12, 2015

More Coding!

If you attended our coding workshop and want to learn more you can visit this awesome sites to teach yourself how to create games, apps and more. Look out for more workshops and resources from our media center.


 
               XBOX GAMES
             WWW.UNITY3D.COM

              ANDROID APPS
       https://developers.google.com/

      wINDOWS PHONE AND WINDOWS 8 APPS
       https://appdev.microsoft.com/

          IPHONE AND IPADS
     https://developer.apple.com/

               PLAYSTATION
  HTTP://WWW.PLAYSTATION.COM/EN-US/DEVELOP

Monday, March 9, 2015

Teen Tech Week - Computer Basics for Parents and Grandparents

Do you have a Grandma or a cousin that needs an introduction to computers? It's hard to get started when you haven't been immersed in it all your life. Help them out with this free online course from Microsoft. Look out for workshops tailored exclusively to grandparents and parents in the Media Center.


Thursday, March 5, 2015

Culture Grams and Opposing Viewpoints

Google isn't the be all and end all of internet research. Databases give a much deeper and more specific context for your research. Take a look at the most recent additions to our online resource catalog.

Culture Grams



Opposing Viewpoints

Monday, March 2, 2015

March Events


Code to Game



Coding isn't just about games, though that is a BIG part of it. You can also use coding to start a revolution. If there are things about your world that you want to see changed then you need to be the person to change it. Even if all that you want to see different is your favorite basketball character in NBA Live to have a better jumpshot (programming can do that!).

Sign up for our computer programming workshop on Wednesday March 11th in the Media Center.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Georgia Peach Book Award Nominations 2015-2016

Check out next year's list of awesome titles. A few of them are already in the Media Center and ready for check-out. Ask Ms. Miles for help in choosing the best one for you.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

From the Desk of Mr. Thomas: A letter to Black Boys...

http://www.afropunk.com/m/blogpost?id=2059274%3ABlogPost%3A1229635


You might be too young to have come to the realisation of how the world is. Let me tell you, there isn't an even playing field! Sadly, like myself, you maybe older enough to know that. And even worse, you may have had this inequality burden your soul and dampen your spirit. Never forget that a man with a bright future, will always find a way to shine. Stay strong! The future is brighter than you realize. Read More


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

eBooks available 24/7

Did you know that you can check out thousands of eBooks online at the school library. That means you can cram for the SAT, ACT and ASVAB from your phone without ever having to leave your house or remember to turn the book in. Just go online to our catalog. You can access it via mybackpack (mybackpack.apsk12.org) or directly.

Access the catalog here: http://aps.tlcdelivers.com:8080/?config=2722#section=home 

username: southatlanta
password: readmore

Then you're all set!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Selma Speech Contest



You can win up to $5000 if you apply your will and mind to the Selma Speech and Essay Contest. Check out this cool commercial and don't be afraid to ask for help from the college and career center and the library.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Cell Phones for Survivors

The Book Club is collecting cell phones to support Safe Horizons, an organization that assists women in crisis because of domestic violence. come to the Media Center if you have questions.

Oculus is ready to change the game with virtual reality

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/27/oculus-story-studio-is-the-pixar-of-virtual-reality/

Moments before Oculus Story Studio's new virtual reality short Lost reached its satisfying climax, I found myself in a compromised position. Sequestered in a private demo booth, I was involuntarily crouched down, covering my head in a defensive position and, I should add, squealing with delight. Lost, the first computer-animated work to come from Oculus VR's new film-innovation lab, is unlike any form of interactive entertainment I've ever experienced. And it succeeds in one very crucial respect: It's endearing.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Homework Hotline



At South Atlanta there really isn't a reason to fall behind with resources like the Homework Hotline, After School Tutorial and Tutor.com offered through your public library. If you have questions about how to utilize any of these resources ask Mrs. Miles in the library.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Do Something this January

https://www.dosomething.org/

Do Something this year. Every student has to complete volunteer hours and and every year there is a mad dash to get those hours in wherever there is a last minute opportunity. How about do something you really care about? Check out www.dosomething.org. Pick a service project and make it happen. You'll make the world a better place and do something you actually care about.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Poetry Out Loud


It's that time again!

Poetry Out Loud is the national poetry recitation contest held every year at South Atlanta. Students must select a poem from the list of authors at poetryoutloud.org. We'll hold a school competition on January 23rd during lunch. One winner will go on to the regional competition in February and be on their way to winning $50,000 in scholarship money, not to mention being able to state they were their school's winner on college applications.

Students must select 1 poem of 25 lines or fewer and 1 poem written before the 20th century. If you need a recitation coach ask Mrs. Miles for recommendations.

More information can be found in the library.

Check out last year's winner: