Last Post

I have been delaying writing this post to the very last moment.  I just hate to acknowledge that the practicum experience is over.  It was a tremendously valuable and enjoyable experience.  I had so much fun and learned a great deal from my practicum supervisor, Shawn Mauser.  Shawn was such a great model of how to be a deeply imbeded, beloved and essential staff member.  I got to practice so many wonderful new skills including weeding, re-arranging, shelving, collection development, reference work with students, library instruction and so much more.

My only comment for future improvement would be about the overall practicum project.  While I enjoyed working on the websites, they turned out to be much less integral to the overarching program.  I would have liked to have developed some technology or resource that could have been used by the students right away -- something that really filled a need.  I think future classes should either have the benefit of hearing about past successful practicum projects, or should be matched with a supervisor who has thought out a particular goal or project that they need assistance in completing.

Also, on a related note, I am not sure that the poster project is really the best product of all that I experienced and learned in my practicum.

Overall, however, I loved every minute of my time with Shawn and the Ann Richards students.  I learned so much and have a much better understanding of the essential duties of the school librarian and I am far more comfortable with the students after having spent so much time in their space and enjoying their library.

Sarah Dessen in 'da house!

When Shawn told me that Sarah Dessen was scheduled for an author visit--I was just as excited as the students!  I am a total Sarah Dessen fan!  And I could not wait to meet her and listen to her speak about her writing process.  Shawn knew this was a huge coup for her students and as she went around letting her readers know that there was a special surprise in store for them, she got a wonderful array of over the top reactions!  Some students even cried they were so happy!  Overjoyed!  It was such fun to let them in on the secret!  Shawn was smart to have her iPhone rolling to capture the excitement.  It made for great social media!!   Students were not only thrilled to attend the speaking event, they were responding to Shawn's Twitter challenge to send her the reasons why they should be invited to the special select group meeting with Ms. Dessen.  One of the best responses Shawn got on Twitter was from a student who wrote, "Seeing Sarah Dessen would be so amazing...just like seeing a real live Unicorn!"

So, not only did Sarah Dessen agree to speak to the students at large (in the cafeteria--the only space big enough to hold them!) but she also came early to speak to a smaller group of young women who were the most devoted fans.  I was lucky enough to be included in the first group and I had the great good fortune to listen as Ms. Dessen spoke about her writing life.  She let us in on her process for formulating characters, book ideas, good plot lines and the rest.  She was very candid not only about her great successes, but she also addressed her failures.  She said that sometimes things get in the way.  One time it was her own gut instinct that prevented her from publishing a completed manuscript.  She said, "It just didn't feel right."  I so appreciated that she had that message for the young women--that we have to follow our own best instincts.  It wasn't right--so I didn't.  I hope that message sunk in for them, as it did for me.  We were in awe of her complete casual-ness.  Her complete normal woman-ness.  She could have been a friend, or a mom from my daughter's school.  And yet, lurking beneath that regular gal facade, was the mind of a romantic writing genius!

It was one of the best author visits I've ever attended.  And again, the Ann Richards young women did not disappoint.  They were all engaged; asked great questions; and responded with good humor and good cheer to every part.

Library Displays

On one of my first days in the library, Shawn took me to the district printing portable--just behind the  Ann Richards buildings on campus and taught me how to operate the cricut cutters.  After a quick tutorial, she left me with very broad instructions to create a "New and Recommended Titles" poster and left me to be creative.  It was a lot of fun trying out all of the different designs on various crafting paper supplies.  I could have spent hours there making new display signs for everything in the library.  Its a tremendous resource to have available so close!  But it is time consuming and somehow even the short distance becomes un-workable when you feel tied to the library.  

Shawn mentioned wanting to re-vamp her signage in the library and it was a project I wanted to help with--but as I got immersed in the day to day library activity, the signage seemed to lose priority.  Also, when I reflected on the signage--I considered that it might be best to make a uniform message with the signs.  It could be theme based or at least coordinated effort with color and size.  

The Ann Richards Library already has general signs for Non-Fiction and Fiction sections prominently displayed--and the smaller signs noting specific dewey sections are all uniform in blue and white.  Overall I think they are easy to read and clear.  The Library space is noticably welcoming.  The design is open with flexible seating (which we learned from Elizabeth Pope--is the new trend in library design) and attractive neutral color schemes that follow the Ann Richards Maroon and Blue school colors.  The actual starburst mural design was painted by Shawn's husband Griffin Mauser.  Many people comment on the welcoming enivronment in the library and I can personally attest to its high level of student use and activity.  

When I was researching library design for class and for my practicum in general--I found that pinterest was a great resource for researching and collecting images of library display and design ideas.  Many educators and librarians have shared their successful display concepts on pinterest and they appear to be easy to understand and implement.  Shawn seems to shy away from overt book display areas--integrating themes or holidays--but she always has a nice collection of interesting and highly acclaimed books on the top of the shelves.  Its invting and a great opportunity to grab students interest and spark curiosity in a good book.  

Another change or improvement in the library design and fuctionality is the addition of the iPad 1's to the library shelves.  Ms. Mellen, Shawn's clerk, was inspired to use the somewhat outdated and mostly useless iPads to serve as an onsite catalog resource on the shelves.  Now students searching for a book can turn to the iPad to look up authors or title names if they are having a hard time finding a resource on the shelves.  Its a great idea--easily implemented and very useful for students!  I've even used it myself many times!

Research

March 18, 2013

When I mentioned to Shawn that I really wanted to incorporate some more student interaction into my practicum experience she was immediately responsive and invited me to join her in meeting with the senior students as they did research on their inquiry projects.  This ongoing Senior Language Arts project is set to culminate with a term paper in just a few weeks.  While most of the seniors have much of their research and reading under their belts already, we were invited up to the classroom to do a check in with them on their resources for any part that they had yet to complete. 

When we arrived in Ms. Sokolo's classroom the students were getting some papers back and making a transition to working on their inquiry projects.  Ms. Sokolo did a great job of offering students a visual organizer for their progress on this journey.  Each student could clearly see what the expectations were and what was missing as they moved forward in their inquiry process.  Several students seemed to be missing one or two of the essays required.  Once I understood the parameters that the teacher wanted us to take into consideration (ie: an academic, popular or newspaper article on their topic), we went to assist students with finding these sources.

We used the EBSCO databases through the library website to access the articles.  Many of the topics seemed to fit well into the Psychology and Social Sciences databases.  So, we looked up topics.  As I did the searching, I talked through my process and asked the students questions.  What are you looking for?  What kind of information do you think you need to support your thesis?  What kind of perspective would be useful?  Together we came up with some search terms.  As we narrowed down the articles, I would point out the useful selection tools.  Our conversations went like this: "wow, 2,000 results, that seems high.  How can we narrow this down?  What if we look for just peer reviewed articles in journals.  Okay, great now its just 200.  Now what if we narrowed it to just the most recent results, like since 2010.  OKay, great!  10 results, that will make it much easier to sort."

The students were incredibly patient with me and they were very open to my suggestions.  I think we found some good things and I really enjoyed hearing about their inquiry projects.  Doing this kind of work will be so important for helping them to feel prepared for this kind of requirement when they reach college.  I hope they will remember how to do their own research--and most of all I hope they remember to go to the library and ask a librarian if they ever need help!

On My Own at the Library

Feb. 1st, 2013

Today both Shawn and Mellen were out of the library and I was on my own in the library!  Subbing at the library was great!  I had been thinking that I would like to develop more student interaction--but they already know to go straight to Ms. Mauser or Ms. Mellen when they have questions--so its been sometimes difficult to catch them to offer reader advisory or assist with any problems.  Today was my opportunity to see and be seen!  I tried to stay out in the circulation desk area during the busy morning before school and lunch times.  Students pretty much seemed to adhere to their regular in and out schedule, but I did notice it did seem quieter today. 

In the down times between student rushes--I was able to focus on a few administrative tasks.  Shawn had asked me to start a consideration list for her end of the school year book purchase.  She tends to purchase books throughout the year--but she is coming to the end of her allotted stipend from the Ann Richards foundation--so she is going to need to have a plan for the rest of that money this spring/summer.  Shawn told me her strategy for keeping track of consideration lists.  She tends to use two sources: 1. Permabound and 2. Follett.  Follett is particularly useful because they keep a list of the entire catalog on file and when you search for a title, it will tell you if you already own it.  Follett also offers an inventory analysis program which alerts you to the older titles in your collection and where you may want to spend time and funds rebuilding. 

My efforts today were to go through the School Library Journal and a few other library publications reading book reviews and establishing my list for consideration.  My default strategy was to include all of the recent award winners.  Also, knowing I had just weeded out the hard sciences, I searched for any recent publication that seemed like they might be topical or useful.  However, especially in this section, one may not want to invest too much money since they do tend to become obsolete much faster than other choices. 

 I had to note that most of the titles I searched on (especially award winners and other notable titles) were already in the Ann Richards inventory.  I have to say that Shawn has been an incredibly good steward of this library and she has curated a beautiful and very relevant collection for her student community.

Girl Start and Re-shelving

Feb. 26, 2013

Today the library was host to a team from Girl Start who came to instruct the students from sixth and seventh grade math classes on how to create video games.  There was a great deal of enthusiasm for this project among the students.  Though I was surprised by how few of the students actually admitted to playing video games in their spare time for fun.  As I was re-shelving books in the fiction section, I listened as the instructors walked the students through a plan for creating a video game--they had to think through all stages.  What would the game be able to do?  What would the moves be?  What would the consequences be for each of these moves and how would a player win/lose the game?  It was a great early introduction to both analytical concepts, planning and the fundamentals of basic computer programing.  At least from my perspective, it seemed to be a great success.  And once again, I was completely impressed with the maturity and respect that the students displayed for a new teacher and a special opportunity.  They are truly a special group of young women who are so fortunate to be in an environment that is nurturing them and teaching them so many important skills and character building traits.  I continue to be in awe of this community and the teachers, administrators and volunteers who support them!

Also, today the celebration horn blew to announce another student's college choice--one of the seniors had gotten into UT's Engineering program! 

www.girlstart.org

Reality Rules

Ann Richards School

Feb. 19^th 2013

8:30-5pm

Came in at 8:30 and experienced the chaos of early morning library time.  The girls club has open hours in the library before school starting at 7:30, but the rest of the school is also free to use the library during the time before the first bell rings at 9am and classes begin.  So, in that last 30 minutes, the library is a buzz of energy and activity.  

Mellen starts to round everyone up with a fifteen minute warning before the bell rings—and it takes just about that long for everyone to finish what they are doing, put their books in their backpacks and head for the door.  

Following that burst of energy we usually have a lull at the library until the first classes begin—but today was the all school assembly, so I trotted along behind Shawn to attend and see what the ASA was like.

On this day, several students were recognized for Art Awards and for running in the Austin marathon over the weekend!  I was totally amazed that the running club had sponsored the students in both the half marathon and the marathon and that nearly 20 of the students participated and finished!

They also announced that the 52 graduating Senior students had just cleared the $1 Million dollar mark in receiving scholarships for College in the fall!  What a huge accomplishment!  So exciting!! 

Most of my work in the library today was on the blogs—just tweaking them and showing them to Shawn for her feedback.  Things were going well.  I would take breaks every now and again to ask Shawn some questions.  

I asked her about School Librarian evaluations—since we had just had a class on this topic the day before and I was curious about how AISD operated.  Shawn told me that she and a group of librarians headed by Elizabeth Polk had just finished doing a complete overhaul on the evaluation process this fall.  They had worked to align the evaluation process more with the Power of Information book that we are reading.  There had been some difficulty with the previous evaluation process because it was not specifically suited to librarians—it was more of a support staff or counselor evaluation—and did not take into account many aspects of teacher/librarian work that was essential in the position.  Shawn said the new evaluation is still under review—but that she hoped it would be put into play soon because it would be very helpful for professional development.  

Toward the end of the day, I read a new professional text that came in: Reality Rules II: Guide to Teen Non-Fiction Reading Interests by Elizabeth Fraser.  I was really excited by this book which seemed to be well organized and offered a number of good and current titles in Non-Fiction.  Since I had just weeded out the 500’s and 600’s I was curious to see if there were any spots that we might need to fill at ARS.  So I checked the RR suggestions against the ARS catalogue to see what we might want to order in the future.  I was not surprised to find that Shawn had already done a pretty terrific job of including some of the most well known and well regarded titles.  The ARS library is already stocked with an excellent library of award winning books in all genres and subjects.  But I did find a number of suggestions that might be worth considering in the future and I established a list on the Follett site so that Shawn could go back and pull them as needed.  I am enjoying working in Follett—I can see how librarians come to rely on this source since it does a great job of keeping track not only of your existing catalogue, but of items you’ve already purchased as well as items you would like to purchase.  It’s a very helpful resource.

Breathless—the Author talk

Ann Richards School

Feb. 15^th 2013

Today was the “Breathless” author talk panel at ARS.  Shawn invited four Young Adult novelists to come and speak to the young women about their books and their experience as writers.  The women on the panel were:  Marie Lu, who wrote the Legend Series; Brenna Yovanoff who wrote The Replacement and a new book called Paper Valentine; Jessica Khoury author of Origin; and Andrea Cremer the author of the Nightshade Series. At first it was difficult to tell the authors from the students, since they were all so young and dressed in jeans and t-shirts.  But I think their casual approach to the discussion panel made the students at ease and made them seem exceptionally relatable.  And again, I was really impressed with the ARS students who just jumped right into the questioning, asking really great questions that the writers loved to answer.  The writers spoke on every topic from creating believable characters to their writing process to how they develop the background knowledge for each novel.  They offered personal tidbits from their own work and from their novels—they spoke to which characters were a little bit based on their friends or family members and which personal events in their own lives helped to inform the storyline and some of the quirky aspects of various characters.  I was so impressed with how well spoken everyone was in the room—both ARS students and the young writers.  They are all clearly deeply thoughtful and critically analytical thinkers and it was so refreshing to hear such a high level discussion with a room full of young women.  The students were totally engaged and so excited to have this opportunity to speak with writers who took them seriously.  It was a super fun and exciting event! 

THE LOCK IN

Ann Richards School

Friday, Feb. 8  6:00-8:00

Shawn invited me (and Emerson) to attend their minnon lock in.  A time honored ARS library tradition, the student helpers, love to spend the night in the library!  They each brought lots of snacks and goodies to share, while Shawn ordered pizza and drinks.  Then the students used the time to bond, chat, do karaoke, laugh, sing, tell secrets, play games, watch movies, and a few read books in the corner—but seemed to be happy to be surrounded by all the chaos.  Emmy was in heaven.  Surrounded by so many big girls!  Middle school girls!  They even asked her what she was reading.  She was proud to say that she liked “Sophie” books and she was reading “June B. Jones” at the moment.  The girls all recognized these titles and said how much they had liked them when they were her age.  I think Emmy felt like a rock star and was very happy to know that her reading choices were validated.  Meanwhile I was impressed that the students were so kind to her and acknowledged her presence and invited her into their bubble.  They really are such sweet girls.  The night was less about library “work” and more about spending time with the students – which I really appreciated.  I feel like I haven’t been getting out into the library and meeting as many students as I would like.  And I definitely feel like I’d like to do more library instruction and reader advisory.  But I am keeping my eyes and ears open.  Whenever I hear students talking about books that they love or asking Shawn or Mellen for more reading suggestions—I take note of what the students like and what the librarians suggest.  It also makes me think that I need to really focus on my Young Adult Reading list! So I will be able to speak their language and really understand the titles that they love to read.

Crashing with Stephen Krashen!

Ann Richards School

Tuesday, Feb. 5^th  9am –9pm!

Today was a LONG day!  I spent the entire library day between weeding and genre tagging.  During lunch, Shawn and I had a quick conversation about her thoughts on genre shelving.  She is in favor of it—but wants to see how students will react.  She’s been asking small groups for their feedback for months now.  She has also been asking her colleagues and tells me that Bonnie Hauser at Aikins has had great success with this model, finding that her circulation has definitely increased since switching to genre shelving.  Shawn pointed out some hesitations—like the difficulty in accurately interpreting the genre of every book.  She is also nervous about the impression that she is limiting students to a particular genre.  But overall, I think she’s ready and willing to embrace this change.  What was so interesting was that this topic was actually addressed later in the night when we attended a talk given by Stephen Krashen!!  Somehow, AISD got Stephen Krashen (yes, the famous, Stephen Krashen!) to speak to a group of educators on the topic of literacy and bilingual education.  He spoke that night at Sanchez Elementary school on the east side from 6-9pm.  And he was brilliant!  The first hour of his presentation was a discussion of his research and findings on how free voluntary reading leads to overall improvement of literacy.  He touched on a number of scholars and other researchers who support this view too including a Texas educator and the author of The Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller.  I concur it was a terrific read and the research certainly supports how important it is for students to have access and time to read.  He spoke against skill building and in favor of whole language.  And he addressed how most students read narrowly in their favorite genre and how reading narrowly and completely is a real strength and building block of overall literacy.  The second hour and then some was dedicated to the debate on bilingual education and again how students perform better if they comprehend what they are reading and thus he supports bilingual education that scaffolds students in their native language.  It was truly an inspiring night.  Krashen was very engaging and thoughtful and I truly enjoyed every minute of this very long day.

Weeding

Ann Richards School

Monday, Feb. 4^th  9am—2pm

Today when I arrived at ARS I could tell Shawn had a lot to do and little time to do it, so I decided to stay out of her hair.  Luckily she had a great project for me.  She needed help weeding out the 100’s, 500’s and 600’s.  They were all somewhat small sections and didn’t take too long to review.  She gave me the passcode to the Follett site and their catalog, and she showed me where the assessment pages were that indicated age.  In each section all the titles that were in excess of 10 years old were identified and marked for review.  Then it was up to the librarian to compare the recommendation with the actual book and make a decision on whether or not the book was still useful.  Since the 500’s and 600’s are science books, it was highly likely that many would be obsolete – no longer containing pertinent or correct information.  As I took to the shelves to touch each book and make a call on its removal, I felt a conflicting sense of responsibility and power.  I didn’t want to remove anything that might otherwise be useful for students, but I didn’t want to leave anything that would reflect poorly on the overall collection.  To guide me Shawn pointed to the State Library and Archives weeding manual: CREW https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html  Shawn also mentioned that she would prefer to remove a book from the library than to have an outdated and under utilized book on the shelf.  She says that she likes for her shelves to appear “empty” that way if students, parents, or administrators think that they need more books in the library, they will be more motivated to find the funding. 

So, I weeded out the sections.  And as I proceeded, I found myself reluctant to take out any large series.  I was also reluctant to take out anything that had relatively stable information—like books on alligators or lions—this information isn’t generally updated all that often.  But I readily removed books on space, planets, micro-science and nano-technology that seemed out of date and incorrect.  It was an awesome power to remove books from the library and when there was a question, I took a look at the shelf to see if there were any other books on this subject that were better, more up to date and in better condition and there usually were better books.  When all was said and done, I ended up with a roller cart full of books for removal.  I think I was a middle of the road weeder.  Not too aggressive—leaving some items on the shelf that were still relevant and useful, but not too passive either and removing items that were past their application. 

Blogs

Ann Richards School Practicum

Tuesday, Jan. 29^th 10am – 6pm

Today my main focus was to work on the blogs that we discussed as being part of my major contribution for my practicum.  I researched other library blogs mainly and I took notes on what they were doing—what seemed effective and what I wanted to avoid in our blog.  I found a blog written by Terri Lesesen (the author of READING LADDERS).  Her blog is called: “The Goddess of YA Literature” http://professornana.livejournal.com/

The content on this site is great!  She really knows what she is talking about and guides young readers to a host of wonderful new books.  She is also very fun and enjoyable to read.  But Shawn and I both agreed that the “look” of the blog was somewhat lacking and that the tagging system was limited.  We agreed that we would like to improve on these items in our blog.  I also thought that if this was going to be a student generated blog, we should probably include some guidelines for them—so that they know what our expectations are for a good blog entry and some guidance for how to write a good book review.  I found two great sources for leading questions to ask as you write a book review for both fiction and nonfiction works.  I then incorporated these questionnaires into a word document which we will include either on the top navigation bar or on the side navigation bar (again, I need to do more research on where to place blog support items for best viewing).  I also noticed that a few blogs that conducted book reviews had a thumbs up and thumbs down icon that gave readers an immediate impression of the book.  I liked this and I plan to do further research on how to develop this icon and include it on our blog.

During the course of the day, I was also able to continue in my observations of the Ann Richards School community and the general day to day activity in the library.  During this day, the library was in use by the sixth grade language arts class.  They were not receiving library instruction, but were using the library resources as a class for a class project.  In the course of the class, one student became ill.  Its flu season and she was trying to make it to the bathroom, but didn’t quite get there in time.  I was impressed by the quick action of the staff, including the librarian to comfort the student, get her sent to the nurse and to clean up the mess.  I was equally impressed that the girls did not exacerbate the mortification that the young woman must have felt in this instance.  Her colleagues and classmates (once assured that she was ok) just went back to their work and everyone carried on just the same.  It was a very mature response to what might have been a very distracting occurrence.

A second and equally impressive event took place later in the day as I was signing out for the day.  Again, a sixth grade girl came into the office and said, “did anyone turn in $20?” To which I thought—yeah, right!  Good luck with that! But to my surprise, Barbara, the school administrator, said, “what did it look like?  Was it two tens?”   The young woman answered, “No, it was a twenty dollar bill.”  And Barbara said, “Yes, just a minute,” returning a second late with the twenty dollar bill!  I am so impressed with this honorable school environment.  They truly take their commitment to be honest and responsible young women!  It strengthens my belief in human kind!

First Day!!

I began my practicum at the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders working with the brilliant and incomparable Shawn Mauser on Wednesday, January 23rd.  I arrived a little before 9am.  Students were streaming into the school just before their 9am start time.  In those first few moments, I was overwhelmed with joy at seeing such a diverse and eager student population--happy and energetic--ready for a new day.  Buoyed by their excitement and feeling my own anticipation, I signed in at the office and headed toward the library to find Shawn.  Shawn had mentioned that the library was right across the hall from the main office, but when I turned to find it--I was initially confused.  That area was overrun with students.  There were tables outside of the classroom and it was quite the hot spot.  What I might have otherwise thought to be the cafeteria -- was actually the library!  I was thrilled that the students were clearly drawn to this location.  It was without a doubt, the place to be on campus!  (Yay! Just as it should be!)

I came in to the library to find Shawn.  She was in her office speaking with a student about the student's personal laptop which had been infected with a virus.  The student was asking for help to fix the problem.  And Shawn--along with another teacher--were the only tech support in the school.   Shawn agreed to take the computer and wipe the virus and add some virus protection with the parents help.  All of this took just a few minutes, but the look of relief on the student's face made it clear that this good deed would be remembered and appreciated!

Seconds later I was enveloped in a hug.  Shawn was so welcoming and excited to begin our work.  Immediately, we began a tour of the library and introductions to staff members.  As we walked around Shawn periodically stopped to talk with students, give more hugs, smiles and words of encouragement.  It was evident that she is extremely integral to this community and she takes her responsibility to each student and teacher to heart.  She is a fantastic example of how to make yourself indespensible to the broader school community and truly embed youself into the fabric of the instituion.

It was time for morning assembly and we rushed in just in time to watch the middle school students do their contest.  The sixth graders won the spirit category hands down.  And  Shawn made the announcement that there would be not ONE, but TWO author events this spring.  On Feburary 15th they will be welcoming an author panel that will include Marie Lu of the Legend series and Andrea Cramer of the Nightshade series.  And on Febuary 22nd there will be a second author visit from Rosemary Clement Moore.

When we came back to Shawn's office, we started to brainstorm possible practicum projects and discuss which library chores I could be of service participating in.  Among the many ideas that were offered were genre labling, display work, website design and updating, Read-a-like blogs, book talks, IT lab maintence, and of course general student support.  I loved all of these ideas, and I hope to work on each of them during my hour fulfillment.  But we decided on the Read-a-like, web blog as the primary goal of my practicum experience.

The web-blog will be called "Star Shelves" and it will actually encompass five different blogs all focused on a different genre or reading area.  Shawn decided on the following names: "Read a likes," Nonfiction, Rediscoveries (classics), and Fiction.  We also agreed that we would promote these blogs (once they were up and running) to the students in their language arts classrooms and offer incentives in the form of itunes gift cards (subsidized by the activities fund) and extra credit in their classes.

Having separate blogs for each genre was important because Shawn wanted to be able to Email each blogger separately.  Student posts will be directed to the drafts folder--where a supervising teacher or staff member can review the entry and offer any suggestions for improvement before automatically uploading it to the blog.  I am thinking we may need to discuss what if any limitations or parameters we may need to set as a guideline for postings.  This will likely need to be articulated up front on the blog page so that students will be aware of how their entries will be reviewed as well as a general writing guide so that they know what to write about in the scope of each entry.