Virtual ViewsMarch 2011Contents:
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| State | Number of Surveys Submitted 2/14/11 | Number of Surveys Submitted 3/1/11 |
| CT | 18 | 23 |
| MA | 32 | 63 |
| ME | 14 | 30 |
| NH | 49 | 57 |
| RI | 10 | 21 |
| VT | 4 | 12 |
AASL 15th National Conference and Exhibition
October 27-30, 2011, Minneapolis, MN
March 10, 2011; 4:00 p.m. EDT – Writing to be Read
Writing an article for a professional publication is different than writing a paper for a professor. Learn the conversational style of writing preferred by most professional magazines in this webinar led by Joan Richardson, Kappan editor-in-chief. Registration deadline: March 7, 2011.
Kappan editors are inviting educators to submit manuscripts to be considered for publication in the 2011-12 volume of the magazine. This is your chance to be published in one of the most respected education magazines in the country.
“Not Your Grandmother’s Library” is a not-to-be-missed article in this month’s International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) “Learning & Leading” magazine. Featuring tech-savvy librarians Joyce Valenza, Chad Lehman, Keisa Williams, and Wendy Stephens, it provides an excellent way to share with school administrators a vision of a well-supported library. It demonstrates the important role that librarians play in supporting technology integration in schools. These four librarians come from a range of school districts representing higher income/lower income, urban/suburban/rural, elementary/high school, and various school types. You may find this article useful as a discussion starter with your administration on how to improve technology resources in your building. Also, share it with your school’s technology coordinator to talk about the library’s role in technology implementation in your school. ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology.
Education Week is having a special Website Open House event for educators.“Monitoring Progress: Response to Intervention’s Promise and Pitfalls” will be released in print in the March 2, 2011 issue of Education Week. But you can read this special report and everything else on the site this week.Response to intervention began as a way to identify and teach struggling readers and special education students. This report examines the many forms the approach is now taking, its research base, its influence on the educational marketplace, and the federal regulations that both fuel and restrict its growth. For the project, E.W. reporters drew on interviews with researchers, curriculum developers, educators, parents, and students.
AECT Conference — Celebrate 3.0: Design.Learn.Community’
November 8-12, 2011
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
Jacksonville, Florida
Super EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION!
Members and Non-members, register before April 9th and you can save $150.00 from the onsite registration. The rapid evolution of Web 2.0 technologies has generated a level of communication and interaction never before possible. In response, AECT 2011 seeks to explore the transformational potential that these innovations hold for education, as well as share current research and best practices related to these developments.
Editors’ Note: If you have any contributions you would like to make to Virtual Views, please email Peggy Hallisey or leave your suggestions in the Comments Box below. Member input on NE Super-Achievers, resources and other items of interest to NESLA members is invited and welcomed. VV is a dynamic publication with news and updates as they happen, as well as regular features and focus articles. Your contributions will be important to the success of VV. So, put your thinking caps on and consider sending your “take” on school library media programs and services to VV editors Susan Ballard and Peggy Hallisey. Thank you.
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Virtual Views
March 2010
CONTENTS:
- New England Super-Achievers
- New England Web Browsings
- Resource Opportunities
- Views of the States
- National Views
New England Super-Achievers
The New England region is rich in professionals who epitomize school library standards in action. The commonality is that they all go above-and-beyond in their work to move student learning and achievement forward. This article highlights Laurie Dias-Mitchell, a Massachusetts school librarian. The editors feel that she is an ideal choice for the first in what we hope will be many Virtual Views interviews of our inspiring peers. You can help us spread the word of the unique and vital contributions New England school librarians are making to their learning communities by letting us know of such super-achieving librarians in your state.
VV: Laurie, what do you see as the most important qualities and personal characteristics for success as a 21st Century school librarian?
Laurie: Tweets, smart phones, widgets, wikis, blogs, glogs, social networking sites like Facebook (which I LOVE) are changing the information and communication landscape and shaping the way our kids see the world and process content of every sort, so school librarians, more than ever, have to be the pioneers in our buildings when it comes to technology integration. We have to be flexible, curious, open-minded, daring, and creative. Library spaces have to be welcoming, relaxed, well-resourced with print, non-print, and tech tools. In the DHS library, we have loads of soft seating, a small café space with bar-height tables and comfy contemporary stools, a dozen mp3 players, 20+wireless laptops and netbooks solely for kids as well as 25 desktops, free and unlimited printing and photocopying, bookstore-style displays and signage. It all adds up to a 21st Century learning commons. I am not saying that it all comes easily, especially in this economy. I have to advocate for my budget and for new resources every year, but I am always loaded with data: library usage statistics, database usage stats, teacher-librarian collaboration data, circulation statistics, etc. School librarians need to make it very easy for administrators to say “YES!” Never take “NO!” for an answer! I may be called a “library zealot” in my district – but that is a GOOD thing!
VV: What is your background and how did you come to choose school librarianship?
Laurie: I actually entered University of Rhode Island’s MLIS program intending to become an academic librarian: I never set out to be a school librarian! After graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in English, I was accepted into Boston College’s graduate program in English and was awarded a Teaching Assistantship there. However, when I made a stop, at the suggestion of one of my undergrad professors, at Simmons College to check out their grad program in English, I was so impressed with it, that I matriculated there for two years, living in a graduate dorm. Nearly every woman on my floor was in Simmons’ MLS program, so I saw firsthand how much fun that degree program was and how the field of librarianship was maybe more my thing. I finished the M.A. degree and went on to teach English for ten years on the college level – always thinking about earning an MLS. In my early 30s, I was the happily married mother of two kids (still am!) and decided to go for it! With a few toddlers and a part-time college teaching gig, I commuted an hour-plus each way to URI Kingston for a few years and early on decided to switch to the school library track after visiting the library at Narragansett High School. The rest is history! I completed an elementary/intermediate school practicum at Tiverton Middle School in Rhode Island and a secondary school practicum at Dartmouth High School and ended up being hired by each district – one for my first decade and one for this, my second decade in the profession.
VV: How would you describe your current learning community?
Laurie: I work at a comprehensive public high school in Southeastern Massachusetts, oftentimes called “The South Coast.” Dartmouth is a suburb that can be described as “urban fringe,” as it is sandwiched between two cities – Fall River and New Bedford, and has a diverse population. Further, it is a university town (UMass, Dartmouth), so that gives it a richness and texture that may not be found in your typical South Coast ‘burb’. The high school is poised for change, as it moves from a traditional 20th Century curriculum to a 21st Century enterprise. Change is a process, and we are working collaboratively to move forward. For eight years, I have been a member of the Instructional Leadership Team that meets every week and is comprised of department heads, building administrators, and directors, like myself. WE make curriculum decisions, policy decisions, and, I must say, it works! Everyone’s perspective is respected and everyone’s voice is heard. It is a staff that values the library and the services that I can offer. I am also Chairperson of the Literacy Committee – one of the most active committees on campus. We all work hard to make the multiple literacies required of 21st Century learners easy to master!
VV: How do you keep your program central and indispensible to moving learning and student achievement forward?
Laurie: I consider myself a collaborator and facilitator when it comes to the library program. I work with the most amazing teachers who let me co-design, co-teach, and co-assess assignments all the time! For my part, I enjoy empowering my colleagues by encouraging them to bring the culture of their classrooms into the library and to make their own rules! I am so willing to allow them to be the experts in their areas and to utilize me and my skill set, the space and resources so the kids succeed! This means I have to be willing to check out new things (just discovered Glogster and will be using it with several World History classes this semester!) and that maybe chaos and messes reign over the culture of the library, but it also ensures that the space and our services converge to function as a “learning commons” — not some archaic, stuffy citadel of passive learning or dusty archives. I am proud to say that I have had a hand in project-based learning and rigorous research assignments becoming part of the school culture at Dartmouth High School.
VV: How would you describe your leadership style?
Laurie: I am not a control freak at all and am VERY social, so I would say my leadership style is collaborative! I am always willing to share the responsibility of delivering our instructional program to the kids. I am always asking questions of teachers and kids: “Did you like that book?” “Can you tell me the next big thing in manga?” “Are our databases meeting your research needs?” “What should I buy more of and less of?” “What do you want your students to achieve in this assignment?” “What will you be assessing?” “Can we build the rubric together?” etc., etc. I also have had the most amazing assistants throughout my career. They have all had a hand in maintaining the “back end of the business” in such a way that allowed me to focus on the “front end” service-oriented pieces of the job. If I am a “super-achiever,” then it is because of these super assistants! I have always had one assistant at each library where I have worked, but they have all been awesome! Pamela King has been with me at DHS for that past six years now, and she deserves this accolade as much as I! Her competence with the circ/cat systems, and our MassCat ILL consortium membership allows me to be hyperkinetic and super-involved in the greater school community.
VV: In addition to Family Book Club, which was written up in South Coast Today , of which program innovations are you most proud?
Laurie: For several years, I have offered a Friday Readers’ Forum for students. Each week, students may bring a bagged or a bought lunch to the library, and we discuss the books that we are reading individually as well as share a “read” each semester. DHS has three lunches, so I always have three very distinct groups of kids! Our Fall 2009 shared read was Patricia McCormick’s Sold! We loved the book so much that I was compelled to write to the publisher and ask if my kids and I could Skype with the author. Well, a few weeks later, the author’s assistant contacted me, and we video-Skyped with Ms. McCormick. It was a blast! She was so down-to-earth, so friendly and generous with the kids. I have taken the kids on book-related field trips, for example: Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge) and Carabiners Indoor Climbing (Within Reach, My True Everest Story). I introduced One Book, One School a few years ago – with mixed results, so my committee will be looking at ways to make it work or maybe revert to the summer reading lists of years past (hope not!).
I also ran a Faculty and Staff Are Readers club for six years. When I first started at DHS, the principal and I felt that we needed to include the staff if we wanted to create a culture of reading. We had 25 regular members and met every month during the school year! I would choose the books and tag them in the SAILS network, pick them up and distribute them and make arrangements with local restaurants for their special functions rooms. I am happy to say the club prevails without me, with a smaller membership and everyone responsible for nabbing a copy of the month’s title for himself or herself.
We also celebrate National Library Week each year with a week-long SUPER RAFFLE where kids get a raffle ticket (on which they must write a mini-review of the book) for each book they read during the school year, and teachers, departments, and local businesses donate gift cards to our two local bookstores (one independent and one chain). It is so much fun! We usually have a dozen prizes every day! Kids love hearing, not only their own names being called, but the teachers’ or other donors’ names responsible for the days’ prizes, and they often run to that staff member to thank him or her. It is a reading love fest!
I also write lots of grants for our school, each time I see one that seems to dovetail with literacy or community service. I have recently received two from Bridgewater State College’s Center for Curriculum Leadership to redecorate the 10 rooms at the AIDS hospice and another grant to make 40 adoption packets (student-made leashes and collars as well as pet care books and treats) for the animals in the New Orleans shelter where we worked. I also write grants for our alternative high school students that connect them with the Audubon Sanctuary near my home in Westport. I call the program “Natural Connections”; it was just an idea I had while jogging at the Sanctuary, and it has turned into a very successful partnership between our staff, the kids, and the naturalists that I simply facilitate.I am proud of all of these and many more programs that I have had a hand in creating and sustaining. Schools provide such fertile ground for new ideas! I encourage all educators to take leaps in new directions. You may fall, but you can’t fail!
VV: WHICH PART OF YOUR JOB GIVES YOU THE MOST SATISFACTION?
Laurie: … the kids! It is a privilege to share in their journey and help them evolve into the best versions of themselves – as scholars and as people! I am energized by it all! I have former students all over the world who stay in touch, who still use the library’s web site as a resource, who continue to participate in our community service projects when they are in town, who continue to use me as a reference, who continue to “talk books” with me years and years later! I get to work with great kids and staff members. I get to buy books, tinker with tech toys, and create all sorts of things – from web pages, to podcasts, to displays, to slide shows, to blogs – the list goes on! Oh, my! This is the best profession – at least for this gal! I think it is vital that school librarians get involved in all aspects of the educational enterprise. For example, I am the advisor to our school’s Think Community: Act Now community service club, which I brought to DHS from Rhode Island, so I have been at this for nearly two decades. We work at a local soup kitchen every Saturday – year round, an AIDS hospice monthly, a teen homeless shelter, a local center for children with special needs, and Buzzards Bay Habitat for Humanity. In 2008 and 2009, a colleague and I spearheaded two spring break bus trips to New Orleans to work for Habitat for Humanity, Animal Rescue New Orleans, and Beacon of Hope. We were named 2008 Dartmouth Co-Women of the Year for that by the New Bedford Standard Times. I value my service work as much as my library work!
Laurie: There are many school, public, and academic librarians that I have met throughout the years who have affected my “take” on the profession and who have influenced the way I approach my own practice when it comes to school librarianship. I am a huge fan of Debbie Abilock, the editor of Knowledge Quest, whom I met once, at AASL Birmingham years ago. That led me to submit a few articles to the journal – one that was published last year in a book. She left a lasting impression on me, and she continues to have the most influence on me, in terms of the broad view of school librarianship: from her NoodleBib phenomenon to her take on ethics in a 2.0 world. She is the most brilliant school librarian out there. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Joyce Valenza should be very flattered. I met her at a national conference years ago and have copied her dynamic service-oriented, high-tech approach to school librarianship. I even copied her web site (before my district migrated to Schoolfusion to manage our district’s web presence). I had one of our AP Art students create a very specific cartoon of the library. I then had an AP Computer programming student create the code behind it and link it to the content I had created over the years. It was a hit!
New England Web Browsings
The New England area abounds in school library leaders and valuable virtual learning resources for students and teachers. Here are a few of the best! If you would like such special leaders and sites in your state highlighted in this column, please contact the Virtual Views editors Peggy Hallisey or Susan Ballard.
Maine School Librarian Handbook On January 23rd, The Maine School Library Association Board unveiled this handbook, which is a complete rewrite of the 1984 version. This publication will be distributed at no cost to all schools (public and private) in the State of Maine. A letter will be sent to school principals informing them of this delivery. School administrators are encouraged to meet with the library staff to discuss the importance of the library program in their school(s). The handbook will also be available on the MASL webpage so updates and additions can be readily accessible. Congratulations to the MASL Board!
Robin Cicchetti, school librarian for Concord-Carlisle High School in Massachusetts, has a top-notch blog well worth reading. Her posting for December 28, 2009 provides a great deal of food for thought and inspiration to help you ensure that your library program stays both central to learning and relevant to your customers. Her February 11, 2010 post, titled Formal bigotry or what exactly is a book, is a well-articulated response to the New York Times article, Do Schools libraries need Books?
Debbie Owen, a school librarian at Hudson MA High School, has started a wikiwhere school librarians can share tools for evidence-based practice. Check it out! It is a place to visit if you are interested in sharing how what we do makes a vital contribution to student achievement. If you would like to contribute to this wiki, forward a request to Debbie and she will put you in as a writer.
The annual conference of the New England Association of Independent School Librarians will be held on April 23, 2010 at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT. The keynote address will be given by Steven Bell, Assoc. U. Librarian for Research & Instructional Services, Paley Library, Temple University. His address is titled: Designing the Future-Proof Library: Technology Will Take You Only So Far.
Liz Gray, Library Director of the Helen Temple Cooke Library at the Dana Hall School library in Wellesley MA was asked by a NY Times editor to respond to the questions: Do schools need traditional libraries, which take up space and are costly to keep up-to-date, when so much is available online? Are there educational consequences to having students read less on the printed page and more online? Does it make any difference to how students learn and absorb material? Her comments, along with those by four others (including James Tracy of Cushing Academy) appear in the post on the NYTimes’ Room for Debate blogof 2/10/1010.
Boston University held a conference last October on The Future of the Book: Libraries and Education in the 2Ist Century: The Case of Cushing Academy.Hosted by College of Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum last October, James Tracy spoke on the reasoning behind Cushing Academy’s decision to do away with its library. Christopher Ricks then gave his reaction to Dr. Tracy’s remarks.
Linda Friel, ALA Councilor-at-Large, lives in Groveland MA. She is a member of the AASL Best Website task force for teaching and learning. A list of the 25 best educational websites compiled from national input is available on the AASL website.
Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. It offers a unique opportunity to experience the lives and stories of New Englanders through their homes and possessions. Many issues of Historic New England Magazine are currently available online. The photography and informative articles on the landscapes, homes, objects, and collections expertly tell the stories of New England’s past.
American Centuries.…view from New England is the Deerfield, MA Memorial Hall Museum’s online presence. Here students and teachers can explore American history with hands-on exhibits, lessons, historic documents, artifacts and first person oral histories. The opening page has a “This week in history” snippet and a “What’s New” section. Visitors may send an e-postcard from preselected themes or from any item in its online collection.
Historic USGS Maps of New England & NY The United States Geological Society began a topographic atlas of the United States in the 1890’s. The University of New Hampshire, Government Information Department has made available a collection of these maps with complete geographic coverage of New England from the 1890s to the 1950s. Hosted by MyTopo, this ongoing project is headed by historian Christopher Marshall. For a discussion on the evolution of USGS maps, check out the section on “Historic Topographic Maps”. For information on how you can help expand this library, select “About the Collection”. Maps are scanned and processed by volunteers who share an interest in historic maps.
Invasive Plant Atlas of New England Look no further than the University of Connecticut for information on invasive plants in New England.
The Center for Environmental Education (CEE) at Unity College in Unity Maineprovides a strong link between educators and a wealth of environmental resources. Offering interesting, and timely teaching materials and resources for teachers and students, it works with K-12 schools to address climate change issues and to cultivate healthy lifestyles. The CEE, a feature of their Blueprint for a Green School, hosts a searchable collection of reviewed curriculum. All of the entries have been evaluated by educators and mapped onto the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guideline for Excellence.
New Hampshire Public Radio gives teachers and students the opportunity to listen to live or archived editions of Socrates Exchange broadcasts. More than just a one-hour live show on The Exchange, it is a discussion on issues, ethics and ideas. Archived discussions include: Are individual rights more important than the common good? Should Race matter? What does love of country mean? Should gender matter? Has technology helped or hurt us? Should animals have rights?
The National Endowment for the Humanities, Education Division National Education Projects supports the development of educational materials of national significance. North Shore Community College in Massachusetts, in collaboration with high school and college faculty and regional museum educators, will develop and beta-test an interactive website for teaching about the life and work of nineteenth-century American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The website includes documents, art work, photographs, and artifacts to support the study of Hawthorne in literature, history, and American studies courses in high schools and colleges.
Resource Opportunities 
Improving Literacy through School Library Grants Is your school district eligible to apply this year? Check out if you are in one of the New England school districts listed. It can give your school library a big financial boost and this may be the last year it exist in this form. Deadline is April 20, 2010.
America The Story of US — premiering on HISTORY™ April 25 at 9pm/8c — is a six week event that provides a tells stories of the people, events, and innovations that forged our nation. It will provide an excellent opportunity to bring our nation’s history to life for your students. This 12-hour series will be supported by educational materials tied to curriculum standards and is copyright cleared for Fair Use in the classroom by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities. HISTORY is offering America The Story of US on DVD to every school in the United States. School must be an accredited public, private or home school, for grades K-12 and college. In order to receive your school’s DVD, your school principal (grades K-12) or Dean of Students (college) should fill out the request form below. HISTORY strictly limits one request per school. DVD requests must be made prior to July 1, 2010. DVD’s will be mailed around August 2010 and free shipping is included in this offer.
Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online is the Federal Trade commission’s new guide for children and parents. It is an aid to use in navigating the online world; from dealing with cyberbullying and sexting to talking about file-sharing and social networking. Available in English and Spanish, it is free and in the public domain. Order as many copies as you can use fromhttp://bulkorder.ftc.gov. Hand them out, use them to create a workshop, link to it or use the information in your blog, website, or newsletter.
Views of the States
CASL Rep. to NESLA: Chris Barlow
Tasha Squires will be the presenter sponsored by CASL at this year’s CLA conference, April 19 & 20 at Mohegan Sun. Tasha authored the book Library Partnerships: making Connections Between School and Public Libraries.
The CASL Spring Fling will be held Wednesday, April 28, when its annual awards will be presented. In future years, two awards will be combined — the Creative Program and Collaboration Grant — to one award which will recognize one outstanding CT school librarian. The award winner will receive $1,000 ($500 from Follett and $500 from CASL) The new award will be named theIrene Kwidzinski Learning for Life Award.
CASL’s 2010 Fall conference is scheduled for November 7th and 8th with the theme: Transliteracy in a Mobile World. The keynoter is Buffy Hamilton.
The organization met informally with the Connecticut Association of Publishers and Authors to work on the possibility of lessening costs of author school library visits. In further outreach, they have been in contact with the CT Reading Teachers’ Association. They are interested in collaborating with CASL on one or two presentations on the latest reading strategies for the next conference.
The Advocacy Committee will work on creating and publishing different versions of a brochure for parents and administrators. CASL has established an ongoing relationship with Fairfield University having set up a joint workshop in 2009. With the one again this year, we hope to make this an ongoing collaboration.
Maine Assn. of School Libraries
MASL Rep. to NESLA: Teri Caouette
On Saturday Jan 23th MASL held its meeting at Lake Region High School. Deb Gahm is the LMS at Lake Region School and has undertaken the huge project of getting new School Librarian Handbooks for all school libraries in Maine. To help with the mailing costs, school librarians are delivering a great many to libraries in their districts and areas. Eventually, the information will be online through our website.
MASL held “Road Shows” around the state. Maine is a large state and MASL felt that it needed to reach out to school libraries in many areas in the state to let them know what the organization is doing on their behalf, to increase awareness, membership and find out how it offers information on its web page about intellectual freedom issues and explain the AASL standards and L4L implementation.
MASL Spring Fling Conference will be held March 27th in Winslow, Maine. Susan Ballard will be helping us focus on L4L and implementation of the AASL standards. Please feel free to join us.
MASL discussed endorsing the Maine Learning Technology Initiative to be held Thursday May 27, 2010 and encourage slms to take a group!!!
Massachusetts School Library Assn.
MSLA Rep. to NESLA: Gerri Fegan
Julia Phelps and the Data Collection team at the DESE have authorized the distribution of statistics requested by Commissioner Chester. Printouts about the current and previous year’s certified school librarian status is on its way to be analyzed. This information will provide us with a “State of the School Library” that can be used for membership, certification, and other advocacy efforts. There will also be discussion with DESE regarding the presence of MSLA on the state’s P21 task forces and committees.
The Massachusetts PTA will sponsor a 100th birthday celebration on Saturday, April 10th at the Jungleplex /South Shore Expo Center in Plymouth. MPTA has accepted our offer for a reciprocal table and MSLA will be attending Friday night and Saturday. A great boost for our coalition efforts!
The MSLA President attended Governor Duvall Patrick’s candidacy event in Andover on Feb. 6th. He has agreed to write an article in the MSLA Media Forumto champion the cause of school libraries. In light of the national cuts to our budgets, it is hoped that his message will provide some boost to MA school librarian morale, if not our funding.
New Hampshire School Library Media Assn.
NHEMA Rep. to NESLA: Kathy Lane
The NHSLMA Spring Conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel Nashua May 20-21, 2010. The theme is “NHSLMA Stimulates Literacy,” a theme designed to celebrate our new Association name as well as the variety of ways in which school library media specialists and school library media programs foster and support all types of literacy.
Rhode Island (RIEMA) The Rhode Island Educational Media Association (RIEMA) is a professional organization representing RI school library media professionals and support staff working for school library media, computer, and instructional technology programs. Its annual conference will be held Saturday, May 8, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI.
VSLA Rep. to NESLA: Merlyn Miller
The VSLA-VITA-Learn Spring Conference will be held at Champlain College on May 13 & 14, 2010. The theme is Dynamic Landscapes 2.0: Synergy at Work. This conference is sponsored by the Vermont Information Technology Association for the Advancement of Learning & Vermont School Librarians’ Association.
National Views
AASL President to Visit New England States – Ann B. Perham, AASL Region I Director, has announced that Nancy Everhart, AASL President-Elect, will be visiting the New England states as a part of her 50 state tour. Nancy’s goal is to visit a quality school library in each state, and it’s up to each AASL affiliate to decide which school in the state she will visit. Nancy’s timeline is not firm – the visit will be during the 2010-11 year. The schools on the tour will be decided in May and announced at ALA Washington DC in June. This is an excellent opportunity for ADVOCACY! Each school library association should select a winner and an alternate in its respective state from submitted nominations. These names should be submitted to Ann no later than 4/1/ 2010.
THE NOMINATED SCHOOL LIBRARY MUST MEET THESE CRITERIA:
1. The school librarian is fully certified and a member of AASL.
2. The facility and activities going on in the facility are engaging and visually stimulating.
3. The school library makes the most of the resources available.
4. Schools should be diverse and at various levels – elementary, middle, high, K-12, etc.
5. The school administration agrees to a site visit with media coverage which may include television, radio, and/or web coverage.
6. Appropriate permissions are obtained which include photos, video and potential research.
7. The school visit will occur on a day that fits Nancy’s schedule.
8. Evidence of learning will be provided.
ALA Library Advocacy Day The ALA Conference will be held in Washington D.C., June 25-June 29th. To take advantage of this location, ALA will be hosting a national Library Advocacy Day (LAD) rally on Tuesday, June 29th. When registering for the ALA 2010 Annual Conference, be sure to choose ‘Rally for Libraries – Library Advocacy Day’ in the Special Events section of the registration form.
AASL REGION I DIRECTOR ANN B. PERHAM REPORTS:
- A RESOLUTION to standardize the use of the job title, “School Librarian”was approved January 15, 2010 by the AASL Board of Directors.
- AASL will create a crosswalk between the Common Core Standards and the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner.
- AASL President Cassandra Barnett has created a “crosswalk” document showing the common threads of AASL, P21 and NETS standards. Thedocument may be downloaded from the MSLA website.
- National Educational Technology Plan does not include school librarians in the language. A task force will comment on behalf of AASL.
- Reauthorization of ESEA is a proposed legislation. The AASL Legislation Committee will address and formulate talking points.
AASL and the Common Core Standards
The Board of Directors first spoke about this initiative at the Annual Conference in Chicago, July 2009. It discussed the development which aimed to bring about “real and meaningful transformation of our education system to benefit all students.” At the heart of the Common Core Standards is the need for students from every state to be prepared for success in a global society. U.S. students must have the ability to be competitive with students from other high-achieving countries. At the Midwinter meetings (January 2010), the Board discussed the Common Core Standards and their relationship to AASL and the Standards for the 21st Century Learner. It was decided that AASL would prepare a statement in response to the College-and Career-Readiness Standards which had been released, and the K12 Standards which were [then] in development.
Furthermore, the board created a task force which will create a crosswalk between the Common Core Standards and the AASL Standards for the 21stCentury Learner. I encourage all school librarians to examine these standards and comment.
Some points to consider:
* We are promoting inquiry based learning, using a variety of resources – not necessarily saying at the outset that we need libraries.
* Common Core Standards are based on teaching and learning; the use of the library is the natural course of action. Content-based learning must be replaced by process teaching & learning.
* We are NOT demanding that libraries be funded. Rather, we predict that the administrators will realize the critical role that school libraries play in 21stcentury learning and fund the programs. This was the approach used by the Spokane Moms in their lobbying for school libraries.
* We are not ADDing to the curriculum, but showing that school libraries are promoting career and college readiness.
(Ann Perham’s full report may be read at the ALA Connect AASL Region I page)
ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY REPRESENTATIVE TO NESLA: CHARLIE WHITE
- AECT elections are now in progress.
- AECT International Convention will be held October 26-30, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency, Anaheim California. The theme is Cyber Change: Learning in our Connected World.
- Division of School Media and Technology — Provides leadership in educational communications and technology by linking professionals holding a common interest in the use of educational technology and its application to the learning process in the K-12 school environment.
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Virtual Views
October 20, 2009
For a printer-friendly copy of this first issue of Virtual Views, click here.
Resource Opportunities
L4L to help AASL learning standards gain national recognition – Learning4Life (L4L) is a 3-5–year AASL plan to nationally implement the “Standards for the 21st-Century Learner” and other guidelines being developed for school library media programs. While the goal is implementation of the learning standards at the national level, L4L will allow learning standards to be customized for local and/or state conditions, as well as to the increasingly multicultural makeup of U.S. schools. Susan Ballard, chair of the task force responsible for creating L4L, said, “AASL is enthusiastically engaged with the development of suggestions and strategies to ensure that school library media programs and school library media specialists will have a wide variety of resources with which to implement the new learning standards and programguidelines. Face-to-face and virtual training opportunities are being planned; examples of best practice are being collected for access; and national, regional and local professional learning communities are being developed to provide opportunities for dialogue and discussion about what works. We are actively seeking the participation of some of the country’s finest practitioners, both in school libraries and the greater education community, to help facilitate and guide efforts.”
SARA JAFFARIAN AWARD – AWARDED ANNUALLY, THE SARA JAFFARIAN AWARD RECOGNIZES A SCHOOL LIBRARY OR MEDIA CENTER SERVING CHILDREN IN GRADES K-8 THAT CONDUCTED AN EXCELLENT HUMANITIES PROGRAM DURING THE PRIOR SCHOOL YEAR. THE SELECTED PROGRAM WILL RECEIVE: A $4000.00 CASH AWARD, RECOGNITION AT THE 2010 ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AND PROMOTION OF THE PROGRAM AS A MODEL FOR OTHER SCHOOL LIBRARIES. APPLICATIONS ARE BEING ACCEPTED UNTIL DECEMBER 15, 2009.
Connecting Boys with Books 2: Closing the Reading Gap – ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association, announced the release of the new title: “Connecting Boys with Books 2: Closing the Reading Gap” by Michael Sullivan. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, Sullivan shows how to reinvigorate the sense of excitement that boys felt when they first heard a picture book being read aloud. The author, a 1999 Simmons MLS graduate, has been a children’s librarian and library director in public libraries for 12 years. He is currently director of the Weeks Public Library in Greenland, NH. He is a traveling storyteller and a chess instructor. He is a former president of the New Hampshire Library Association and was the 1998 New Hampshire Librarian of the Year.
S.O.S. for Information Literacy – Visit S.O.S. to explore more than 1000 handouts, presentations, videos and other resources for enhancing the teaching of information literacy skills to K-16 students. Consider sharing a favorite lesson plan or teaching idea here with your colleagues. S.O.S. is the only national database of information literacy lesson plans endorsed by both AASL and ACRL. It is a project of Syracuse University’s Center for Digital Literacy.
Tools for Real-time Assessment of Info Literacy Skills (TRAILS) – TRAILS was developed in response to a perceived need to provide an easy way to get a snapshot of high school students’ understanding of basic information literacy concepts. The assessment items are based on the Ohio Academic Content Standards and Information Power. This Web-based system provides an easily accessible and flexible tool for library media specialists and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students. Registration is free and privacy assurances for students, library media specialists, and schools are in place. In addition, Shannon Hosier has createdhttp://ilfortrails9.wikispaces.com/ as a place for TRAILS users to share lesson plans and resources that support information literacy instruction.
Educators’ Spotlight Digest – Educators’ Spotlight Digest is a free, online publication of “S.O.S. for Information Literacy,” the Web-based multimedia resource for librarians and teachers. S.O.S. is funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services. In the fall/winter issue, Mari-Rae Dopke-Wilson shines the spotlight on two library media specialists who discovered a way to motivate high school students to read.
Plagiarism video – Assumption College Library has produced a series of three “instructo-mericals,” written, directed and filmed entirely by students. The videos will be used as part of Assumption’s library orientation and information literacy effort. To view, click on the You Tube links on this page.
Knowledge Quest available online to AASL members – Articles in Knowledge Quest, the journal of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), are available to AASL members online. The site offers searchable full-text articles and access to current and archived copies of the journal. Published five times a year, Knowledge Quest is devoted to offering substantive information to assist building-level library media specialists, supervisors, library educators and other decision-makers concerned with the development of school library media programs and services.
NASA Facebook page for students – NASA has a Facebook page designed for students in grades 9-12 and higher education. Facebook members can join. The page is updated daily, excluding weekends and holidays. It features information regarding competitions, feature articles, podcasts, videos and more. Information is also posted on opportunities that have an upcoming deadline, when the space shuttle is preparing for a launch or a landing, and other significant NASA events. Just search for NASA Students @ www.nasa.gov.
