I thought I’d check to see what other schools are doing in conjunction with March Madness and came across some sites that are exceptional – each for different reasons.  Thought I’d share!

Lake Forest High School – I love the “Now Quoting” idea – what a great idea to generate interest in a book!  See their quotes for the book Unraveling.

Severn School – Book, Line, and Sinker – The Middle School Maker Fair seems to have been a successful venture.  Awesome idea to extend the library and our  image.

Pleasant Grove High School – I LOVE the monthly research challenge that this library sponsors! More info on just their monthly challenge can be found at https://pghs.schoolloop.com/promotions

What are your favorite school library websites?

It’s been three years since President Barack Obama proclaimed October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month.  This year I served on a committee to word a proclamation to present to Gov. Nikki Haley so that South Carolina could also shine the light on the importance of information literacy. Eighteen states have now followed Obama’s lead; is your state one of those?

Creative Commons Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vblibrary/5762454084/

The 2012-2013 school year is upon us!  One of my goals this year is to improve my methods of assessment.  School librarians are often so busy teaching that they forget to assess the learning taking place.  Can you imagine a classroom teacher NOT assessing student learning?

I hope that the three resources I have gathered for this post are as helpful/motivational to you as they have been to me.

• “Assessing Learning: the Missing Piece in Instruction?” by Violet H. Harada and Joan M. Yoshina is an article I reread often.  It motivates me to keep looking for ways to assess learning in my library.
• Ross Todd’s “The Evidence-Based Manifesto for School Librarians” summarizes much of the discussion at the 2007 Leadership Summit sponsored by School Library Journal.  He discusses evidence-based practice as it applies to school libraries, shares multiple types of evidence we can be collecting, and provides questions to guide us as we consider student outcomes and how we can share the good news.
• The University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science: SLMImpact  This awesome wiki includes tools, resources, strategies, and additional readings for proving your library’s impact.  Many of the links on the Tools page provide ways to assess student learning.

How do you assess student learning in your school library?

Who I Am at the Core

I am now in my 36th year of education.  Education has been, and continues to be, part of my core.  I am a nerd from the tip of my auburn head (not so much my natural color now)  to the hot pink polished nails at the end of my toes.  As a classroom teacher for 29 years, I loved interacting with teens and our discussions about literature. I loved reading their writing (well, maybe the research papers tested my soul) and discovering the individuals behind the faces in my room.

When the opportunity to leave the English classroom and head into the largest classroom in the building was offered to me, I was both excited and hesitant.

Excited because now I would have the chance to interact with more students, collaborate with more teachers, and guide both through problems they were having with technology.  I would be able to recommend books to more students and be surrounded by books and technology all day long.

Hesitant because I worried if I would still be able to form that teacher/student bond when I didn’t see the same students every day.  Relationships are the core of education.  I love teens and want to help them through the angst of the teenage years and celebrate with them when they achieve their goals. I had this discussion with my mentor, Sally Hursey, who promised me I would still have those bonds.

CC Image Attribution:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/47823583@N03/4382573949

Best Career Decision EVER!

The first three years as the lead librarian at my school were stressful as I was also taking courses at the University of South Carolina‘s School of Library and Information Science.  Fortunately, I had a wonderful mentor to guide me through the transition from the classroom to the library.  (And for those of you who haven’t made the transition, let me tell you, it is a different world!  That is a blog post for later.)

However, I loved every minute of librarianship (well – except grappling with the budget).  I have never been more fulfilled by my career than I am now.  School librarianship involves ALL of my passions:  students, teachers, education, reading, technology, collaboration, teaching, and forming relationships (I needn’t have been hesitant about taking this position!).

I was reminded of this today as I began going through the posts that have collected in my Google Reader through the first week of school with students.  One of my favorite blogs is TLT: Teen Librarian’s Toolbox.  In yesterday’s post, “Libraries Are the Beating Hearts,”  one of the blog’s authors shared how libraries/books/research have helped her through some of life’s difficult times.  She ended with this, which sums up my feelings about libraries and being a librarian as well:

I love being a librarian.  I love walking in the doors of a library.  I love opening the pages of a book.  I am honored every day to be a part of the beating heart of a community.  Support your libraries just as you would take care of your heart.  Healthy libraries are the same as healthy hearts, and without them our communities die.

Fleeting Thought

So, back to the beginning of this post:  I was amazed that I even considered retirement.  After two weeks back at work, I am pleased to say that I still love every moment of my job. Meeting new students who love reading is so rewarding, as is meeting those who don’t and being able to put the right book in their hands.  Twenty-one classes came through the library this week to check out books and I loved working with each.

Summer?  Yes, I enjoyed the freedoms it offered.  But now I am back where I belong and couldn’t be happier!

Free quality educational resources?  Sign me up!

Iowa Library Services

Library Posters Iowa Library Services offers this collection of library posters in pdf format.  Print to your heart’s content!

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Thanks for culling links for us, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning Blog!

• 8 Great Free Technology Posters to Hang in Your Classroom
• Bloom’s Taxonomy Posters

Venspired Learning

Krissy Venosdale generously shares her creative classroom designs and posters through her blog and Flickr account.  Check them out!

• 12 Classroom Themes
• Posters Set on Flickr (133 and counting!) 

Image attribution:  Skipping Schoolgirls outside Victoria Station, London by UGArdner http://www.flickr.com/photos/22834654@N04/2445244162

I also adore new school supplies; each July I head out to the office supply stores in search of my planner.  Several years ago I stumbled across one that is as close to perfect for my needs as I can get without designing one myself:  Mead’s QuickNotes Academic Year Weekly/Monthly Planner. It’s well-organized and includes an extra planning space (QuickNotes) each week for jotting notes.  Each month begins with a full page of QuickNotes space which is perfect for noting special celebrations for the month.

Noting the Dates

Today, I sat down with my planner, my SCASL Executive Board Handbook, and my Mac.  (I want to thank our SCASL leadership this year for including a page of special library-related dates – very helpful!)

One other calendar that is essential to my planning is my school district’s calendar.  I crop it a bit and tape it inside the front cover of my planner.  I highly recommend doing something similar; I refer to this often during the year.

I am by no means finished with filling in the dates and celebrations, but thought I would share some of what I have so far.

The number one search query for bringing visitors to my site has been “library display ideas” and I hope that those of you who have landed here from such a search will find some ideas to use in your own library.

September

National Library Card Signup Month

• Partner with the public library to create a display and perhaps have a representative onsite one day.  Many students and their parents do not realize all of the resources that are available to them from the public library.
• Print the PSAs from ALA to display. Playing on this idea, get a group of your teachers and administrators to pose holding their public library cards.  Ask your superintendent if you can get a photo of him/her also.  How about your town’s mayor, police chief, sheriff, local politicians?  Make it into a contest to see which students can name the pictured local celebrities.

Banned Books Week Sept. 30 – Oct. 6

• Check out the Banned Books Week YouTube Channel.  Perhaps you could have some of these videos of celebrities reading from banned books playing in your library before and after school each day.
• Save and use ALA’s free downloadable clip art to display in your flyers, newsletters, bibliographies, or posters.
• Check out other display ideas from ALA.

Constitution Week Sept. 17-23

• Partner with a social studies/U.S. History teacher to display student work.  Because the CCSS recognizes the Constitution as one of the foundational US documents, perhaps you could create a board with not only the history of the Constitution, but also reading strategies.

October

National Book Month

• The National Book Foundation sponsors this event.  Why not use their list of National Book Award Winners (1950-2011) to choose books to display?  On October 10, this year’s book award finalists will be announced.

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

National Reading Group Month

• Promote your book club!

Teen Read Week Oct. 14-20

• The theme this year is “It Came from the Library!”
• Check out the YALSA Teen Read Week Pinterest board.
• Demco has several great posters (either plain or laminated) for TRW – love the Librarian Zombies!

Mystery Series Week – 1st week in October

• This one is new to me.  Love mysteries and students often request them.  Gather some of your mysteries for a great display the 1st week in October.

Banned Websites Awareness Day Oct. 3rd

National Read Aloud Day Oct. 22nd

November

National Life Writing Month

• This celebration is perfect for a display of biographies and autobiographies as well as one on books showing your how to chronicle your life’s story.

National Novel Writing Month (Often referred to as “NaNoWriMo”)

• Why not use this month to spotlight several new YA or children’s book authors?

American Education Week Nov. 18 -24th

• Display ideas: books with schools as one of main settings, books about education, faculty members photographed with a favorite book

National Game and Puzzle Week Nov. 18 -24th

• We’ll only have two days of school this week since it falls during Thanksgiving week.  Have games spread out on tables for students to play.

January

Appreciate a Dragon Day Jan. 16th

• Delightfully new to me!  Cull all of your dragon books for a dragonlicious display.
• Create a board of literary dragons and ask students to vote for their favorite.
• Use movie tie-ins to The Hobbit that debuts in theaters in December.

ALA Youth Media Awards Jan. 28th

• Create displays of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 award winners.

February

Digital Learning Day Feb. 6th

• This page, created for school librarians, provides lessons, tools, strategies, and more to help you promote this celebration.  Visit the Showcases page and watch several of the videos.  Can you encourage your teachers to let you film them sharing how they use technology in their instruction? These could be shown on your school’s newscast or played for students before and after school on Feb. 6th.

March

Teen Tech Week Mar. 10 – 16

• Last year, my co-librarian created a Tech Museum in one of our art display cases.  He included artifacts with printed info sheets.  Why not show students how technology has changed over time?  We had a record player, Sony walkman, a typewriter, 3.5 inch floppy disks, and much more in our case.

Read Across America Day Mar. 2nd

• No one is ever too old for Dr. Seuss!  Create a display of his books, or if you are in a library that doesn’t carry many of his books (like my high school library), create a bulletin board with book covers, quotes, and Seuss characters. The NEA provides printables that would go great with a Seuss board.

Freedom of Information Day Mar. 16th

April

School Library Month

National Library Week Apr. 14 – 20

National D.E.A.R. Day Apr. 12th

• You’ll find a variety of ideas here for displays and activities.

Support Teen Literature Day Apr. 18th

Children’s Book Day Apr. 30th

May

National Library Legislative Day May 7th

Teacher Appreciation Week May 6 – 10th

Resources

Want to discover other appropriate, delightful, or whimsical celebrations to assist you in planning for your library this year?  Check out these sites:

School Library Monthly Almanacs:  Author & Illustrator and Events (as of this posting, the new school year’s calendars are not posted, but you can review last school year’s calendars for ideas)

ALA’s Celebration Weeks & Promotional Events

Lessons

• Use this search:  “Lynn Farrell Stover” “Library Sparks” This generous lady shares her Library Lessons – and they are awesome!  They are geared for elementary students but I have found ideas to “eduplay” with my grandsons.  (Hmm…don’t know if that term will catch on.)
• The Book Bug‘s Destiny (catalog) exercises – for elementary, but I know I can use the general idea for my high school students:https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Hp3hxOmva9ekZhUVdUWkZKd28/preview  If you have some time, surf through her site.  Treasure trove!
• Teacher Vision’s Library Resources for Teachers Most of the activities are geared toward elementary and middle school students, but some can be modified for use with high school students.  For example, librarians can add another level to the Dewey Relay game which divides students into teams tasked with being the quickest to locate books with a specific Dewey number.  Perhaps combine this with gathering citation information to have students not only locate, but also use, library resources.

Printables

• Technology Rocks Seriously School Signs  You aren’t going to believe the treasure trove of colorful free signs that this teacher generously shares!
• Lizz the Librarian’s “A Librarian Needs Printables” Signs, bookmarks, bookplates, and more.
• Jan Brett Library Signs Print and display – perfect for elementary school libraries.

Screenshots:

“Remembering the Titanic” from the PDF available from Highsmith at www.highsmith.com/pdf/librarysparks/2012/lsp_mar12_ll_titanic.pdf

“Always, always, always consider the source” from Technology Rocks Seriously’s Scribd. document.  http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/2012/01/blog-post.html

Is this awesome, or what?  For those of us who are often too busy to read review journals or blogs to discover great books to add to our collections (that wouldn’t describe you, would it?), Follett has added a scrolling list of Read-Alikes above the reviews.  And taking it one step further, this feature tells me I may already own some of the recommended titles (in the screenshot above, my collection already includes 4 of the 5 titles).

Now when students run breathlessly up to the Circulation Desk and frantically say, “Please say you have more books like this!” not only can we check the title’s Destiny catalog record for recommendations, I can check the title record in Titlewave.  It offers more Read-Alike titles than Destiny and lets me discover titles I might want to add to our collection.

I am going to earn my Collection Development Black Belt much sooner than I expected!

Wow.  Joyce Valenza noticed my little post last week (Calling School Librarians to Action) and reposted it on her NeverEnding Search blog.  It then grabbed the attention of thousands of librarians as well as the American Library Association.  I was pleased to notice that ALA  responded quickly to the same newspaper article that had grabbed my attention (see “ALA Wastes No Time – Our Work on Digital Literacy“).

I was informed today that Matt Richtel, author of the article and a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,  provided us with misinformation.  The digital literacy corps referred to in his article has NO money associated with it.  I have sent him an email through the NY Times requesting more information. (You may request the same information from him here.)

Although the article was misleading, it hit a nerve among librarians who feel that the public still does not have a clear up-to-date understanding of our profession.

Evidently many of you are contacting the FCC as I requested. Deb Logan, one of the co-founders of Act4SL, contacted me yesterday and has given me permission to share part of her email here:

“The great news is that people are inspired to action… In all advocacy efforts, speaking up is important, but it is critical to not put people on the defensive…Communications need to be persistent, professional, positive and polite…This situation, in particular, is a great opportunity to position ourselves as part of the solution.”

Let’s keep in mind that all of us are working towards a common goal:  to teach our citizens digital literacy skills. 

Please continue to exercise your right to communicate with our governmental agencies and let the FCC know that librarians are trained information professionals who already address their concern that our citizens need to be taught digital literacy skills. Our efforts here may well help lay the foundation for future partnerships to better prepare Americans to navigate the digital landscape.

May the Digital Literacy Corps be with you! (With apologies from a former English teacher who cannot pass up plays on words.)

Image used through a Creative Commons license:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/793008715/

But the learning really is easy when awesome opportunities abound – most for free and in my own backyard (physically or virtually) – and I am all about learning!

• June 4th 8:00 “Be the Change You Want to See” TL Virtual Cafe (http://tlvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com/)  Join Shannon Miller, Doug Johnson, Dhaivyd Hilgendorf, Mary Kunesh-Podein, and Gina Light as they lead a discussion on what makes a media center the perfect learning environment.  Previous webinars are archived on the site, so be sure to watch any you may have missed.

• June 12-13th Upstate Technology Conference, Greenville, SC  If you didn’t preregister for the premiere upstate tech conference, make your way to Greenville EARLY on June 12th to snag one of the 100 on site registrations available.  You will be sorry you missed this one!  Earn RCs while attending interesting, informative presentations at the upstate’s FREE premiere conference. (2011 Session Handouts still online!)
• June 14 SCASL (South Carolina Association of School Librarians) Summer Institute  How can you use data to inform your instruction?
• Sept. 8  EdCamp Atlanta EdCamps have been springing up around the country as educators take charge of their learning. 
• Ongoing:  TwitterOnce you have logged in (or signed up for an account), type in one of the following hashtags to search for some of the best sources you’ll find to improve your practice: #tlchat, #edchat, and #edtech Set aside an hour or two a week and you’ll be amazed at what you can learn!

What professional development opportunities are available to you this summer?