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FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2013
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Little Free Library offers all the perks of a library — without the due dates arin Donaldson and her husband, John, hope to encourage literacy, especially among children. And in their Mount Soledad neighborhood, they’re succeeding — one free book at a time. Back in February, Karin read an article in Parade magazine about a growing phenomenon called the Little Free Library. Started in 2009 in Wisconsin, the movement gives individuals the chance to become amateur librarians by installing small boxes — usually on their own property — filled with books. Visitors to the tiny libraries are encouraged to bring a book to exchange. Karin was fascinated with the idea. “I turned to my husband and said, ‘If you can build this thing, I’ll paint it,’” she said. What started out as a simple, quick project turned into several months of work (“The
LJTODAY.COM | VOLUME 18, NUMBER 30
Gillispie teacher wins chance for school to explore the future of computer technology By KENDRA HARTMANN
By KENDRA HARTMANN
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challenge,” John said, “was to figure out if we could seal it properly for when it rains. We’re still waiting to see if it worked.”). Now, however, the miniature library is up and functional, standing proudly in a flowerbed in front of the Donaldson’s home on Calle Candela. The Donaldsons initially stocked the library with their own books that they were finished reading. Karin then made up fliers advertising the spot and delivered them to each of her neighbors’ mailboxes. Interest — and books — started to roll in. “We’ve received more books than have been taken at this point,” John said. SEE LIBRARY >> PG. 6
HOMEMADE AMAZON The Donaldson’s Little Free Library received a certificate of distinction from the Little Free Library organization for its creative design. KENDRA HARTMANN
As school started for Gillispie School students and faculty on Aug. 27, everyone was likely looking forward to all the changes a new school year brings: new clothes, new classroom, new teacher, new classmates. Technology and medialiteracy teacher Laura Jean Moore, however, has something extra special to look forward to in 2013-14: a new and never-before-seen (by most of the world, at least) gadget. Moore was chosen to be among the 8,000 people nationwide who will beta test Google’s newest foray into the hyper-technological age, Google Glass. Moore found out about the Google Glass Explorer Program — which called for contest entries in the form of a 140-character composition through Twitter or Google+ — last year, and along with a few other Gillispie educators and administrators, decided to enter the contest. “[The Explorer Program] was not specifically for educators,” Moore said. “But we started brainstorming ideas of how it could enhance education, and we all sent in separate applications in the hope
CUTTING EDGE Technology and media-literacy teacher Laura Jean Moore won a chance to test Google Glass. Courtesy photo
of broadening our chances.” With the idea that, should one of their entries win, the Glass would be shared schoolwide, Moore and her colleagues devised their entries. Moore was told her Tweet — “I would dissolve school walls, making the worlds living within us and beyond us a two-way street between students & teachers” — was a winner in March, and that she would soon be eligible to pick up her Glass. She was so surprised, she said, she thought maybe Google had simply accepted everyone who entered. “I had started with three whole pages, just a huge list of all the ways I could use it,” she said. “I had to take all those
SEE GLASS >> PG. 8
Changes in store for La Jolla students heading back to school With Labor Day looming, it’s back-to-school time for La Jolla students in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) as they turn the page on another summer and begin a new academic calendar year starting Tuesday, Sept. 3. Administrators at La Jolla High and Muirlands Middle School next door say they’re ready for students to return, noting that first day back is always a “big deal” for all concerned. “I love opening day when everyone returns to school and they come in with this excitement — that feeling like it’s a new year and there are all these wonderful experiences for them during the year where they grow,” said Pat Crowder, interim principal of 91-yearold La Jolla High.
The sentiment is the same for administrators elsewhere. “The first day of school is pretty exciting. It’s just a lot of positive energy with the endless possibilities and the potential you have for a great new year,” said Chris Hargrave, principal at Muirlands Middle, a La Jolla High feeder school at 1056 Nautilus St. Hargrave said it’s also the first day of school for parents, adding Muirlands goes out of its way to welcome them, too. “We provide coffee and there’s tons of parent volunteers who hang around and chit chat,” she said. When longtime La Jolla High principal Dana Shelburne was transferred this summer, Crowder was brought in to usher in the
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new year at the school while his replacement is being selected. “We’ve reopened the position to get a broader range of applicants, so we’re probably looking now to mid-September for an appointment,” Crowder said. What’s new at La Jolla high this
year? “There are going to be three new social studies teachers,” said Crowder. “We’ve also been working on the master schedule, looking at what courses students need and then developing a schedule that works to meet those needs.”
By DAVE SCHWAB
Crowder said curricular planning for more than 1,650 students is “a mathematical challenge to keep class sizes within the limit of 36 students per class.” Also new this year at La Jolla High is a robotics course at the ninth-grade level, as well as a course for deaf instruction taught by a sign-language teacher. Hargrave said something new at the middle school this year is the “Parent Connect Program they can sign up for that allows them to access their children’s grades and attendance records.” The middle school is also heavily involved in implementing the national common core standards
SEE SCHOOL >> PG. 8