World Autism Awareness Day

We would like to highlight the World Autism Awareness Day, celebrated on the 2^nd of April every year. It is funded by the UN and serve to increase peoples’ awareness of autism and its many positive aspects. From 2015 Asperger’s syndrome is also included in the autism spectrum.

Since there are still a lot of prejudice and lack of knowledge of autism, a greater awareness supports equal opportunity and diversity perspective.

What is autism?

Autism is a neurological, lifelong condition that manifests itself in early childhood. It may be characterized by a unique way to interact with other people, special interests that can absorb a lot of time, and an increased sensitivity to sensations such as touch, light and sound.

How do we celebrate the world autism awareness day?

To mark this important day, the school has arranged crafts in the library. You can create your own diversity bracelet for 10 SEK. The donation will go to the Autism and Asperger Associatin .) You can also get tips on fiction, biographies and nonfiction books dealing with Autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

                 

Writing a chronicle. Tips from the journalist and author Patrik Lundberg

These tips come from a lecture by the South Korean journalist and author Patrik Lundberg on March 28th, Utbudskväll for librarians, at Gothenburg city museum, Gothenburg.

What is a journalistic chronicle? A personal written text with your own thoughts and opinions. It is usually a historical account of events. The event would be described in order of how they happened. This is also known as chronological order.

Lundberg explained that a journalistic chronicle could be compared to a movie. At the start there is presentation that sets the scene, then there is deepening, where the audience starts to see the subtext in the story being told. As in any drama there is a conflict and then there is the resolution.

Lungberg also went on to explain how ethos, pathos and Logos should be used when writing a chronicle.

What is ethos, pathos and logos?

Ethos is used to show the writers ethics. The writer would use ethos to convince his audience that he is a credible source and of good character. You achieve ethos by writing from a non-biased viewpoint, using appropriate language that suits your audience, producing a well written text and demonstrating your expertise or knowledge on the subject. Ethos in Greek means ‘character’ and the word ‘ethic’ comes from the Greek word ethos.

Pathos is used to evoke emotion in the reader/audience. A story is no good if the reader can not relate emotionally to the people or their experiences. These emotions could be pity, anger or even humour. Pathos in Greeks means both ‘suffering’ and ‘experience’. The words ‘empathy’ and ‘pathetic’ comes from the word Pathos.

Logos is used when appealing to an audience’s sensibilities through logic or reason. The aim is to convince the reader/audience through citing facts and citing from credible sources. Successful persuasion is achieved through creating a logical argument. Logos in Greek literally means ‘word’, but its use is much more abstract. The word ‘logic’ comes from the word logos.

Lungberg presented these questions and statements

• How do you prepare yourself? (Ethos)
• What you write must be true. You should not exaggerate or under estimate the events and you should include evidence. (Logos)
• How do you want the reader to feel? (Pathos)

Top tips from Patrik:

• Dare to give the content an angle (e.g. a personal point of view)
• Do not start from the beginning (e.g. start from the end and work back to the beginning or mix up the chronological order)
• The writing takes 20% of the time
• The editing takes 80% of the time
• Write what you meant, not what you thought

Most important of all: Please always be kind and show respect towards other people.

 

Exhibition on the theme of World Wars

The library is now hosting an exhibition on the theme of World Wars. It is grade 10 who has used various creative expressions to work with books on the First or Second World War, for example Uppdraget by Camilla Lagerqvist, I stålstormen by Ernst Jünger, Smärtan by Marguerite Duras och Ulrike och kriget by Vibeke Olsson.

The project has been executed in Swedish A, with Ida Fasten as a teacher. The students are interested to hear what you think of their exhibition, so please stop by the library, get inspired and share your thoughts! The world wars is a constantly current topic that never goes out of time. If you like, you can also borrow one of the books the students have worked with.

       

Workshop by the manga artist Natalia Batista

On March 14th grade 6, both MYP and LGRM, was visited by the author and manga artist Natalia Batista. She held two workshops on how to draw portrait in manga style, to create your own manga character.
At the start of the workshop told Natalia told us a bit about the manga tradition in Japan, where manga has a long tradition of humorous art. She said that no country in the world has such a large industry in comics as Japan. Manga style may have originated in the ukiyo-e prints of Hokusai in the early 1800s, but began to spread for real in Japan in the early 1900s, thanks to the mass media. The grade 6 students got to see different examples of manga books series: Astro Boy, .hack, Meow, etc., and these books were lying on the student desk as inspiration during the workshop.
There was a special focus on drawing eyes in manga style and the workshop also provided a perspective where characters could be people of different age and body shape, or be fantasy characters. The workshop was a success. A few students said “it was the most enjoyable lesson ever” and they did not want it to end. They also told us they wanted to meet Natalia again. We have now noticed a difference in the library, that there are many more manga books borrowed, although they were popular before. The library has also promised students to sit in the library and draw manga when they want, and that those who want can start a manga club
located in the library.

The information search process

The library is about to teach grade 8 the information search process according to Carol Kuhlthau (2004). We were asked by the students if we could outsource our presentation on the blog. It makes us happy!
Working with the information search process helps you developing vital skills, for example become more aware of and responsible for your own learning process, create better work plans, manage feeling of uncertainty and stress, know when it might be a good idea to ask for help etcetera. You also learn that you are not alone in the process, since most people are experiencing it. Here you can read the library’s presentation:

The information search process

Source Criticism Day

Viralgranskaren, a department on the newspaper Metro, which examines and analyzes news and internet phenomenon, has nominated March 13th to be the Source Criticism Day. They have also created a facebook event on Monday. If you are a teacher, you and your class can sign up to follow the day and take part in activities.  The celebrations will be held in Swedish.

Information can exist of a multiple of reasons. To entertain, market something, spread propaganda, incite an emotion, express an opinion, mislead or something else. Therefore, you shall always be reading with a questioning mind, especially when you are on the Internet. Source criticism can feel challenging, but the only way to get better is to try to refresh your skills. A question easy to remember is: Who has written what for who and why? But do not forget to look for evidences, check the relevancy and other things too. And do not stop asking questions just because you do not find all answers. You are also always welcome to the library to talk about and get help and support with source criticism.

If you are a student, do not hesitate to contact parents, librarian, teacher or any other adult if there are any questions you have about something you have read on the Internet or else where.
If you are a teacher, Skolverket yesterday sent out a press release, the government decided to increase focus on digital media and source criticism. Here you can read it.

Elza Dunkel, who is associate professor of educational work and works as a teacher educator and researcher at Umeå University, has given us the permission to publish the yet unpublished pictures below. They are from a lecture called Confident and critical use of the internet – secondary school, held in Malmö, March 9th. There you can see the children’s journal character Bamse giving us advices regarding the Internet. You can find a translation to what Bamse, his frends and family say below the images.

“Many adults have difficulty understanding why certain things on the internet is fun – try to explain to them!”

“If you come across something on the internet that you’re thinking about or is worrying, talk to an adult about it.”

“Remember that you always have the right to change your mind. Even if you have promised something, send a picture or be friends with someone, you can always take back the promise and say no. So use your gut feeling: Do this feels good in your body? Is this what you want? If not, say no.”

The International Women’s day 2017

On Wednesday, March 8, The International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world. This is to pay attention to women’s rights in different ways: socially, politically, economically, and more. The day is also a good opportunity to learn about and reflect on the situation for girls and women in different parts of the world and how to work for equality. Here you can read news on different things going on. The theme for this year according to UNESCO Women and Art.
The library want to tell you about how you can celebrate this important day.
We would like to tip you off about an important resource where you can learn about equality in different countries, the UN’s free database: Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database.
Within the EU, there is also the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), set up to contribute to and strengthen gender equality, including all EU policies and national policies. It is also meant to fight against discrimination based on sex, and to raise EU citizens’ awareness of gender equality.
You can also celebrate International Women’s Day by visiting the Gothenburg Art Museum, where the author and artist Tove Jansson is exhibiting right now.
Gothenburg University is organising lectures about LGBT rights, the immigrant women’s situation in the Swedish labour market, suburb feminism and more (in Swedish) at Torgny Segerstedssalen, Vasaparken, Universitsplatsen 1, kl 16-18.
Gothenburg City is organising lectures at the Gothenburg City Library at. 17 to about 19 on different topics including equal parenting (in Swedish).
World Culture Museum is organising a lecture at. 18-19.30 on Abortion Rights then and now – are they threatened today? However, this lecture requires an entrance ticket you can buy at the museum. You can also celebrate International Women’s Day with the national organisation Kvinna till kvinna volunteers at Bengans skivbutik at 19-23. The organisation Kvinna till kvinna are working to support and empower women in war and conflict.