Library Ties

This was a wonderful book is the adventures of Eben as he searches his small town in Missouri trying to find seven wonders.  If he reaches his goal, he will earn a trip on the train to Colorado to see the mountains.  He is just certain this will be an impossible task; there can’t possibly be seven wonders in Sassafras Springs, but during his week talking to everyone in town you learn that there are lots of wonders right in front of our own eyes, that the people around us are full of unique and interesting stories, and if we just take the time to talk to one another we can learn amazing things.

Tags:   Betty Birney · Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs · YHBANo Comments.

While my final day in Anaheim was on Tuesday, it has taken me a few days of adjustment back home to get time to write.  On the last day at ALA, we began early with a connection with NECC in San Diego.  It was a great opportunity to connect with our library media colleagues at NECC.  It is such a shame that the two conference overlap so often forcing a choice.  There are so many learning opportunities at both, it is often hard to choose.  However, my duties with AASL this time made the decision for me.

Following the connection, we ran to the exhibit hall and participated in Virtual Library Legislative Day.  I contacted all of my representatives stressing to them the importance of the SKILLS Act as part of the NCLB reauthorization.  Final pass through of the exhibit hall gave me time to connect with some publishers.

The afternoon followed with my first AASL Board meeting serving as Member at Large.  The meeting focused on introducing us to the process and procedures as AASL President Ann Martin presided over her first meeting.

The last several days provided a wonderful opportunity to continue to be involved in the national organization for school librarians, connect with colleagues and friends, and interact with vendors.

Tags:   AASL · ala08 · American Association of School LibrariansNo Comments.

Today, I spent more time in the exhibit hall and attended the AASL Awards Luncheon. I had the pleasure of serving on the National School Library Media Program of the Year Award (SLMPY) committee this year, so it was so exciting to see the winning schools receive their award. Simsbury High School in Simsbury, CT and Luella Elementary School in Henry County, Georgia were this year’s winner. Simsbury wowed us with their assured experiences and Luella had an amazing library where every child would feel welcomed and clamor to spend time!

Tags:   AASL · ala08 · American Association of School LibrariansNo Comments.

DAY 2

Yesterday I kicked off the day with a run through the exhibit hall. We ran through about 1/3rd of the hall hitting various vendors and catching up with friends and colleagues.

From there I headed to the AASL President’s Program. The program was kicked off by awarding the Spokane Mom’s the Crystal Apple Award. Meeting these amazing women was a highlight. It was so exciting to see the passion they had to preserver and improve their school libraries in Washington. Wouldn’t it be great to see this grassroots effort happening in every state! Read more about their efforts at: http://www.fundourfuturewashington.org/

In the afternoon I presented along with the assistance of Jay Bansbach the AASL 101 session. This program gave newbies information about AASL and how to get involved. While the crowd was small, we were able to share information about AASL and spending time in individual conversations.

I had a little more time for exhibits after the session and was able to catch-up with several vendors.

I ended the day at the ALA Scholarship Bash at Disneyland. There were a lot of people, but we had a great time!

DAY 3

This morning was AASL Affiliate Assembly. This is my last meeting on the Executive Committee as I now cycle off following my term as Past-Chair. Affiliate Assembly is a wonderful forum for sharing concerns with the AASL Board and for AASL to share with the states all that is happening. AASL President, Sara Kelly Johns, AASL President-Elect, Ann Martin, and a whole host of AASL Committee Chairs provided insights and updates on to what is happening in our organization. We also discussed and voted on several concerns and commendations that will now be sent to the AASL Board to consider. It was a very productive meeting.

In the afternoon I shared a brief AASL 101 in the exhibit hall. It mostly became a one on one conversation with a library school student, but it was a great chance to share about the wonderful things AASL does as an organization.

I caught a little of the Demco Book Cart Drill Team competition before calling it a day!

Tags:   AASL · AASL Affiliate Assembly · ALA · ala08No Comments.

Bright and early I left Indianapolis (7:00am) and arrived in California around 10:00am. After getting settled in the hotel, I took a nice long nap. Working for C.L.A.S.S. this week on top of the early wake-up call this morning (4am) had just worn me out.

ALA started for me with American Association of School Librarians’ Affiliate Assembly meetings. The Executive Committee met first followed by Affiliate Assembly 1 from 8-10pm tonight. Affiliate Assembly is the heart of AASL. Each state affiliate sends two representatives. This body shares with the national organization the issues and concerns from all the states in the country. It allows our national organization to know what areas it needs to focus on across the country. Tonight we talked about lots of issues and Affiliate Assembly will vote on the most critical areas to send to the AASL Board on Sunday.

Even with my nap, it has been a long day. But, glad to be in Anaheim and ready to enjoy a great conference!

Tags:   AASL · AASL Affiliate Assembly · ALA · ala08No Comments.

This week is always one of my favorites every summer because I get the opportunity to work/attend an amazing professional development event - C.L.A.S.S.Works! C.L.A.S.S. (Connected Learning Assures Successful Students was founded by Barbara Pedersen almost 20 years ago.

From their website, C.L.A.S.S. exists to:

? Translate brain research into practical classroom application
? Provide research-based techniques that drive successful learning
? Prepare current and future educators to become exemplary practitioners
? Create a philosophical foundation in the school community that empowers the growth of students in becoming productive contributors in society

C.L.A.S.S., Connecting Learning Assures Successful Students, is a comprehensive curriculum model and philosophy. The C.L.A.S.S. Model provides a philosophy of teaching and learning, standard-based curriculum development, and research-based teaching strategies based upon the constructs of brain-based learning.

Even though I am part of the presentation staff, I always come away learning tons for the participants and other C.L.A.S.S. staff.   This year I helped in the curriculum strand helping teachers develop year-long plans based on mapping their academic standards.  I also shared some sessions on Literacy, and how the C.L.A.S.S. model works with the library media program.  Summer Institute is always just a positive week to rejuvenate and think about how we can set-up our schools, classrooms, and library media centers to be a successful learning experience for students.  Our entire district has adopted the C.L.A.S.S. model, so I am always working to make connections and including the C.L.A.S.S. strategies in our library media program.

Tags:   C.L.A.S.S. · C.L.A.S.S.Works 2008 · Library Media ProgramsNo Comments.

At the end of this week, I’ll be heading to ALA and hope to be sharing some of the interesting stuff I find in sessions and meetings on the blog!   Check out the AASL blog which is just one of the places where other school librarians will be sharing about the conference!

Tags:   ala08 · ala2008No Comments.

In The Sloppy Copy Slipup, Brian is sure he is in trouble for one again not getting his rough draft done over the weekend.  Over the course of the day, he shares the entire story with the teacher and finds out that while he thinks he has nothing to write about, he quickly figures out that the eventful story of his weekend was more than enough for an interesting and compelling story.  This book screams to be read to students who think they have nothing to write about.  I can see a lot of my teachers clamoring over a chance to get to it first this next year.  Brian’s amazing well to tell a story can easily be a pattern for teachers to use with students — storytelling is a great way to help students become great writers, too!

Tags:   Sloppy Copy Slipup · YHBANo Comments.

Jacobson’s book was a wonderful short novel that helps kids figure out what they are best at doing. Sometimes it isn’t the most obvious thing or something that we work hard at, but everyone has something the do that makes them the best — for Winnie she hopes it is drawing. But, as the story progresses we figure out that while she is a great artist, she is a better friend! A great story for talking about friendship and doing your best, Winnie at Her Best is a great book to share with students of all ages.

Tags:   Winnie at Her Best · YHBANo Comments.

Every summer I read the 20 books nominated for the Young Hoosier Book Award in both ther Intermediate and Picture Book level. It gives me a chance to be ready to discuss these books with our students, plan our Read N Feed incentives, and this next year we’re planning to set-up a Moodle between my building and another in the district where the students can talk to each other about the various books! So far it looks like the 08-09 list looks to be very promising for some great reads! As I read them, I’ll try to post a little blurb up here on the blog. Below is the first book I finished on the list.

Rules by Cynthia Lord was a Newbery Honor Medal winner as well as a Scheider Family Book Award winner. This amazing story tells of a young girl, Catherine, trying to deal with her brother’s autism. Throughout the book she learns that sometimes you can’t protect people, it is ok to be willing to be different, and that the best things in life are making friends and taking a leap to do something new. I started this book late one night and couldn’t put it down. As we help our students adjust and be aware of the autistic students in our building, I’m sure my teachers will be able to use this novel as a way to talk with kids about autism.

Tags:   autism · Rules · YHBANo Comments.