The September issue will focus on the country of China.  There is a school in Hangzhou, China that has adopted the C.L.A.S.S. philosophy, and next summer C.L.A.S.S. is leading a tour to visit the school (and see the sites) of China.  You can click here to read about the trip.  I decided this was one of those opportunities I couldn’t pass up, so I signed up for the trip.  I think it is going to be an amazing trip.  Today for the E-Tools I was researching many of the places we are going to visit and see up close and in person.  It was interesting reading about the history and the culture and to think that in a few months we’ll get to experience that first hand.  For those that know me, it might even stretch my eating habits a bit (maybe).

I’m really looking forward to the adventure ahead!

I’m sure I’ve shared this story before with others (and maybe even on this blog), but it is one of my favorites. I can still remember the message I received one day on my voicemail at school. I was in my second year as a librarian and still figuring out what I was doing. Anyway, here is the voice message, “Carl, this is Marge Cox from Noblesville Schools. I have a wonderful opportunity for you. Call me back!” Now, I knew that Marge was the current President of our association and I had met her before, but that had been about it. So, I called her back…who knew that it would lead to my first AASL committee, getting more involved in my state organization, and a few more years down the road lead me to a position in her district.

I think for me, that is the reason I belong to professional organization. Those connections you make with people are just invaluable. I have a whole support network that I’ve built over the years that I can call on to celebrate the joys and wallow in the defeats. We need those folks who do the same job we do because they can relate.

It was a lot of fun sharing those thoughts (along with the long list of what AASL is working on currently) with the librarians at the meeting yesterday. It was also a joy being on the panel with my colleagues Leslie Preddy from Perry Meridian Middle School and Susan Akers, ILF Exec. Director.

So, next time you get one of those calls, emails, texts, Twitter postings, or a not on Facebook, take the time to get back in touch with whoever sent. You just never know what that opportunity might be!

• The AASL Fall Forum will be in Portland, Oregon on Nov. 5th-6th.
• AASL has created in partnership with Britannica an online planning guide and assessment tool to compliment Empowering Learners
• Nancy Everhart, current AASL President, is visiting school libraries all over the country during her presidential year.  She is documenting her visitings on her website – OutstandingSchoolLibraries.org.  She even has a theme song called Check It Out.  You can download the video, the music, the sheet music, and create your own video music.  Nancy would love for other schools to try it out and then submit those videos to her.
• AASL’s new list of the Best 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning is available on the AASL website.
• The 15^th AASL National Conference will be in Minneapolis on October 27^th-30^th, 2011.  The theme is “Turning the Page”  and the Concurrent Session program deadline is November 1st
• Lastly, and probably most important, to continue to be aware of and follow-up action with the re-authorization of the ESEA act.  We want school libraries in that legislation, so we need to make sure our representatives in Washington make it happen.  When you see postings on the AASL Forum, etc. asking you to make contact, don’t wait, don’t assume someone else will do it for you, just do it!!!

I got to spend the rest of the day enjoying the conference.  They had some great sessions about dealing with change and adversity!  I enjoyed the opportunity to go to Nevada and look forward to visiting other states over the next three years.

So, school started last week.  As always it was wonderful to see our students return.  To see how much they’ve grown over the summer and think about all the possibilities this year will hold for them.  Like many of our colleagues, this year brings with it many challenges for our library program.  But, one thing I think about as we deal with lost positions and budgets being cut across the country is the future.  How do these changes impact our students future?  How do we begin to position the library program to be at the top of the list of what is restore when the funding returns?  I think that is going to be a critical question for school librarians and their advocates to ponder.  There aren’t going to be easy answers, but in the end we have to be ready!

For those of you in education, I hope you have an amazing 2010-11 school year.   Hopefully I’ll be on here a little more often sharing some of those adventures with you.

The other candidate was the amazing Ann Dutton Ewbanks. She is a very articulate and passionate voice for school libraries, so I was honored to be on the ballot with her. In the months that followed, we had the candidates forum at ALA Midwinter, as well as the chance to pass out some bookmarks and stickers! Besides a few posting on my Facebook page and a few emails sent to friends and colleagues, that was about all there was to campaigning.

Voting began in mid-March and ended on April 23rd. The results were announced on Friday. It was quite a day at school. Luckily the bulk of my day I had classes in working on research projects, so it gave me little time to wonder as I waited for the phone call. I have such an amazingly supportive school family. Teachers and staff came through all day, “Have you heard yet?” “Have they called?” “Make sure to tell us as soon as you hear.” About 2:30pm, the phone rang with Julie Walker, AASL Executive Director, on the other end to share with me that I had been elected the 2011-2012 AASL President.

I am so honored and humbled by the opportunity the members of AASL have given me. There are amazing leaders on the AASL Board and I’m excited about the chance to work with them to continue to move our association and profession forward. I’m sure in my three years I’ll serve (President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President) there will be successes and challenges. I look forward to all of it because I know we have an amazing group of leaders, members, and staff who will help work through it all together.

I believe that life often presents us with a variety of opportunities. Some of them turn out better than others, but you never know what will happen until you say “yes!” I am so excited about this next adventure and glad I said “yes” when this opportunity came along. We all have a variety of circumstances in our professional and personal lives, but I hope when the next opportunity comes your way…you’ll consider saying “yes”, too. You never know where it might lead.

As I think about heading back tomorrow, I am refreshed and ready to think of the adventures ahead.  We only have a few weeks until school will be out, but there are so many exciting things coming up.  We’ll be working on researching famous Hoosiers with our 4^th graders, moon and space projects with 3^rd grade, ocean projects with 2^nd grade, insects with 1^st grade, and zoo projects with Kindergarten.  Our staff has spent the whole year working on learning new tools and this last stretch we’ll be focusing on blogging.  So, I imagine my calendar is going to be pretty full – which I love.  The possibilities and ideas are spinning as well as my to do list bulging, but It is going to be great fun!

But, we only get a few times over the school where we get a week or so to unwind.  Most of the year we spend going week-to-week and plowing full steam ahead.  It is easy to get caught up in the problems and issues that arise.  We don’t get time to take a deep breath and regroup.   But, I think that’s why I value so much the connections to our school librarians.  Whether it be a blog post, a comment made on Facebook, an email in my inbox, reading an article in a journal, or attending a session at a conference, sitting in on a webinar, etc., they all give me that minute to step back.  I get ideas of the possibilities.  I think about what things we need to changes and what things we’re doing that don’t need changed.  The best part is I have these connections all year long and any one of them might just be the thing I need to be rejuvenated and ready for the next adventure.

This year we had the very prolific Suzy Kline.  Author of the Horrible Harry series, Herbie Jones series, and many, many other chapter books, Kline’s book were popular before her visit.  But, now I think tomorrow we’ll see them flying off the shelves.  Over the years we’ve brought in all types of authors and illustrators.  Each has brought a different lesson or perspective for our students.  I think the thing we got from Suzy Kline this year was what she called the “seeds” for her stories.  She brought many props and many examples of how those little items or words became the “seeds” that she used to create her stories.  For example, a pencil sharped to the last usable piece of wood, was a sparked that turned into Horrible Harry in Room 2B.

Kline instilled in students that they should always carry a little notebook with them to write down ideas — just simple words — that interest them throughout the day because you never know when that will turn into a “seed” for their story.  She even showed the students things she had written down during the day that she was visiting our school.

Kline was a 2nd grade teacher for over 27 years in Connecticut, and there was no doubt she had her educator hat on today as she was teaching the students (and staff) about how to be a writer.  We all came away with a few seeds and I can’t wait to see how our students use what they learned from Suzy Kline today!

The day was filled with sharing and talking about the who, what, where, why, and how about our job.  We took a little time to talk about the gloom and doom of school funding in both our states, but for the most part we really tried to stay focused on discussing the craft of our field.

Over the years we’ve all developed some tricks and techniques that work in all our various roles.  From instruction to administration, we find ways to make our job easier.  We find ways to make our jobs more effective.  I know I get up everyday and think how can we move our program to the next level.

I’m a huge fan of networking and sharing.  As a matter of fact I met one of the colleagues from Michigan years ago when we were both leaders in our respective state associations.  We always talked about having a day just to share and learn from each other, and a few weeks back she emailed and asked to visit.   I replied back with a resounding yes.

I believe that conversations like the ones I had with my friends from Michigan are what helps us become better school librarians.  The chance to share our success (and failures), absorb new ideas from others, and just reflect a little bit on where we are and how far we come is so important.

There are lots of ways to do that – whether it be face to face like my visitors from Michigan or whether it be an online Skype™ conversation with another colleague.  These interactions are what help us to grow and develop as school library leaders.   We often get isolated in our jobs, and this is a way to make connections so we don’t feel so alone.

But, we need a place to start making those connections.  For me, it was my involvement with our state organization, AIME, and then our national organization, AASL, which led me to begin making those bridges and connections to colleagues all over the country.  The colleagues and network I’ve built will serve me well for many years to come.  They can support me in the time of need and help me celebrate in the time of successes. Its one of the reason I value those memberships in my professional organizations so much!!

The video clips from all the candidates’ speeches are posted online on ALA Connect. If you are a member of AASL, please do take the time to vote beginning March 16, 2010.

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The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) announces its public review period for the Library Media Standards.  Practicing library media specialists fill a majority of seats on standards committees with other members representing districts, states and higher education.

The Library Media Standards will be available for public review January 25 – February 17, 2010. The standards can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/librarymedia

Please visit the NBPTS website <www.nbpts.org> for information on standards development. For assistance or additional information about the public review process, please contact NBPTS at nominations@nbpts.org.

Please take time to review these important standards for the profession.