Learning Resources Centre

We have moved...

2010-02-24T21:45:00.001Z

LRC news, views and information can now be found at its new home in West Exe Technology college's LRC departmental news. I will leave the contents of this blog for you to enjoy, but future posts will go on the main site.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Referencing

2010-02-02T09:06:00.000Z

Whenever you quote or use ideas from someone else's work, whether it's a book or a webpage, you must give them credit by referencing their work. UWE library has produced an excellent flow chart that will help in your referencing endeavours!

Reading in the Borderland

2010-01-29T09:51:00.002Z

Five lucky students and one lucky librarian got the chance to go to see award wining author Philip Pullman give a lecture at Exeter University last Friday. We arrived at the packed lecture theatre to hear the author talk about the "borderland" of reading or the space that opens up between the imagination of the reader and the book itself. Parts of the borderland belong to the book, yet parts are imagined by the reader. In other words, no reader will read in exactly the same way.

Lloyd, Carren, Freddie, Arlya & Jasmine after the lecture.

Pullman then went on to link this borderland to visual images. First, he showed us a series of paintings which looked at or could be linked with the act of reading. Some were solitary readers engrossed in books and others entered the borderland of the imagination. One particularly striking example was Casper David Friedrich's Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. In this painting, Pullman suggested that the wanderer is surveing the text he is about to explore. As the borderland is a different place for everyone, a good reader will enter the borderland and find treasure that others may have missed.

Pullman also discussed illustrations in children's books and their impact on the imagination. He talked of the importance of landscape in Swallows and Amazons and the focus on character and situation in Just William. We were also treated to a series of illustrations from The Moomins, Tin Tin, Rupert the Bear and Emil and the Detectives, to name a few.

Pullman finished to lecture by talking about his own writing and illustrations (or chapter motifs) in his own work. At the Q&A session at the end, Jasmine bravely took to the mic and asked the award winning author about how he creates his characters and plots. He informed Jasmine (and the rest of the audience) that his characters discover him, rather than the other way around. He also offered some handy tips to aspiring writers, indicating that one should sit in the same place and write every day. Otherwise, inspiration won't know where to find you! If you're feeling lost or uninspired with your creative endeavours, he suggested following Raymond Chandler's advice and "have a man enter the room with a gun". For Pullman, the equivalent of Chandler's gun was the daemons he created in "His Dark Materials".

If you'd like to visit (or revisit) Lyra and her daemon or any of Philip Pullman's other books, come and check one out from the LRC!

Cloud Spotting with Wordle!

2010-01-26T21:47:00.001Z

If you haven't already tried out this fantastic resource, why not express yourself on Wordle? It's a toy which generates "word clouds" based on the text you type in. The more the use the word, the larger it will be in the word cloud generated. You can then play around with the fonts, layout and colours. Hours of fun!

You might want to use Wordle to test out how frequently you use the same words in your work. Maybe you're overusing certain words? You could also paste the text of an online news article to find out the most important themes.

Can anyone think of any other uses for Wordle? Here is a Wordle cloud for this very blog...

LRC Student Survey- last chance to have your say! (click on link below)

2010-01-11T09:08:00.000Z

LRC Student Survey

Fiction on Fridays

2010-01-07T09:28:00.000Z

Do you have a passion for reading? Want to broaden your literary horizons and meet new friends who share your enthusiasm for books? Look no further than the LRC Book Club!

The Book Club welcomes students of all ages. We meet in the LRC every Friday lunchtime to discuss books, authors and genres. Members of the club suggest themes for each week and we all read a book that fits in with that theme. Previous club meetings have included Horror Week, Michael Morpurgo Week and Read a Classic Week.

As a special treat, Book Club members can eat their lunch in the LRC. We also provide free hot chocolate and marshmallows, a perfect winter warmer.

The theme of the next meeting is going to be discussed at the next Book Club (tomorrow, snow permitting); I will post the theme and the books we've all chosen as soon as we have come to a decision.

There are only a few spaces left so if you're interested in joining our Book Club, come and speak to Miss Shaw or Mrs Connett in the LRC as soon as possible (or post a comment on this blog).

Student Survey 2009

2009-11-09T16:35:00.002Z

We want to hear what YOU think of YOUR LRC. Please complete the student survey to help us improve it. CLICK HERE

See what's new!

2009-11-04T09:13:00.000Z

Mrs Connett and I are busy adding all the new books to the LRC catalogue. For a sneak preview of these books you can check out what's new on this very blogspot! Look at the 'New Books Hitting Your Shelves' widget on the right of this page and come and find anything that catches your eye.

Has anyone already checked out a new book?

New in November!

2009-11-02T09:31:00.004Z

I hope everyone had a fantastic half term break and got hooked on a few good books. I checked out Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce. I know that many of you have read it so I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about. I can see now why it's so popular- a highly entertaining read that I couldn't put down.

You'll all be pleased to hear that our new books have arrived from the School Library Service. We have chosen some fantastic contemporary fiction and some great books to support your subject work. I will be busy cataloguing all the books this week and they will be hitting the shelves very soon.

Watch this space for further announcements or pop into the LRC to see what's new...

The future has arrived!

2009-10-12T09:55:00.002+01:00

New copies of the Guinness World Records 2010 in the LRC today...

Read all about it!

2009-09-22T18:46:00.005+01:00

Why not come to the LRC to browse through our new and diverse selection of newspapers and magazines? These are the titles that we subscribe to:

NEWSPAPERS

Express & Echo

"At the heart of all things local."

The Times

"UK news, world news, business news and comment."

MAGAZINES

The Week

"...A unique digest which distils the best of the British and foreign press into just 35 succinct pages – ideal for today’s busy lifestyle. What’s more, The Week is a joy to read, keeping you entertained as well as informed."

Match of the Day Magazine

"The weekly magazine full of footy news, results, pictures and tips to improve your game."

Flipside

"...the magazine that proves fact is stranger than fiction."

NME

"The Ultimate Guide To The Week In Music."

COMING SOON: Simpsons Comics and Sugar

Humanities Homework Help

2009-09-22T11:53:00.005+01:00

Come along to the LRC after school and we'll help you get the information you need to complete your project

Booked Up Competition

2009-09-22T09:05:00.003+01:00

Come up with a name for the Booked Up characters and you could win a set of the Booked Up books for West Exe!

Each of the books on the Booked Up list has its own character - perhaps you spotted them in the magazine or on the website.

But none of the characters have a name... so Booked Up want YOU to name them!

If you can think of a name for them you could win a full set of the Booked Up books for West Exe, AND get your name, and your character's name, on the Booked Up website.

To enter, simply log onto the website (details in post below) click on the picture of the character you want to name, and then in fill in the boxes with your name, your school, and your idea for a name.

This competition is open to Year 7 students only. Watch this space for competitions that every year group can get involved in!

Submit your entries by Wednesday 30th September!

Booked Up

2009-09-22T08:54:00.002+01:00

Calling all Year 7 students! Have you chosen your FREE BOOK yet? If you hand your form to Miss Shaw (or your English teacher) by Friday, we will order you a free book from 'Booked Up'. For details of all the fantastic books that you can choose from, check out the website. http://www.bookedup.org.uk/

Which book is your favourite?

Enter the competition on the website and you could win a free set of books for our school!

Welcome back!

2009-09-07T09:38:00.002+01:00

We hope that you had a fantastic summer holiday and that you got stuck into some good books. Miss Shaw and Mrs Connett look forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting the new year 7 students very soon.

Surfing @ the LRC

2009-07-07T11:33:00.003+01:00

Did you know that you can now book a computer at break and lunchtimes in the LRC?

You can book up to 3 sessions per week.

Please remember that computers in the LRC are to be used for homework or educational research only!

Book at the issue desk NOW!

Top of the Pops

2009-06-30T11:56:00.005+01:00

Rachel, Jordan and Alex get stuck into their favourite books. The top ten most checked out novels at West Exe are:

1. The Worry Website ~ Jacqueline Wilson

2. Pop Princess ~ Cathy Hopkins

3. Mates, Dates and Portobello Princesses ~ Cathy Hopkins

4. The Reptile Room ~ Lemony Snickett (aka Daniel Handler)

5. Dustbin Baby ~ Jacqueline Wilson

6. Mates, Dates and Sole Survivors ~ Cathy Hopkins

7. Sabriel ~ Garth Nix

8. The Diamond Girls ~ Jacqueline Wilson

9. All American Girl ~ Meg Cabot

10. The Breakfast Museum ~ Andrew Matthews

What's your favourite book?

Info Seeking Quiz

2009-06-22T11:23:00.000+01:00

Use the resources in the LRC to complete the information seeking quiz, available from the issue desk and open to all students. Return your completed quiz to Miss Shaw or Mrs Connett by Friday 10th July. All correct entries will be entered into a prize draw to win a £10 book voucher.

Check out Maths Week

2009-06-22T09:48:00.000+01:00

To celebrate Maths Week, we have put up a display in the LRC filled with challenging puzzles and games. Come in at break or lunchtime and see if you can figure out the answers...

Welcome to our new site

2009-06-21T21:49:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the new Learning Resources Centre website @ West Exe Technology College. We hope that this site will help you to find out what the LRC can offer you...