Hacking the Organization

Joyce Valenza led a VERY late night session devoted to looking critically at AASL as an organization for school librarians--addressing big issues around equity and access, recruitment of diverse voices, and most importantly--how do we make ourselves cooler (think YALSA, think ISTE). In a room packed with AASL past-presidents and regional leaders and a good sprinkling of people who'd never been to a national conference, the group dug in and tackled a range of specific topics--concluding after midnight with a slew of suggestions for positive change, including:

•  Committee work--making it easier to understand what committees do, the time commitment required, and making it easier for new members to join committees
• Thinking about how to fund conference attendance for members who are not funded through schools or state organizations, and to look at holding some virtual conferences on "off-years" when the large national conference is not in session
• Recruiting more widely to increase the number of school librarians from under-represented groups, and perhaps to target teacher organizations as a means to explain what we do and how you get here
• Setting up informal places to meet and hold discussions within the conference; asking conference attendees about their learning goals before they come
• Providing guidance for newbies who want to present, such as providing exemplary proposals to examine
• Becoming more techie!

AASL education evolution..Heidi Hayes Jacobs

Heidi Hayes Jacobs challenges us to be the school R&D providers..looking at educating kids for the future. We need to think hard about learning spaces, connectivity, excellent pedagogy. We need to rethink how we group kids and teachers. We need to make learning more engaging and contemporary, while holding on to important classical teaching techniques (think Socrates) and strong, interesting content. Some great ideas....grade 1 community helper unit goes into the community and asks people in the neighborhood what sort of help they need and how children can help; grade 7 nutrition unit looks at and reacts to the documentary Food Inc. in a unit called "Food Fight." She compared looking at websites and apps as analogous to our approach to reviewing and selecting books. Just as we curate our book collections, we need to curate and tag good online resources and teach students to do this. Study quality film and media production to help students see how this impacts what they see and how it can lead to bias. She shared some incredibly compelling, but easily produced student videos created by elementary students to make the point that our laptops are free, powerful production studios that we need to be using to help our students share what they know both in school and beyond as they make their mark in our ever-more-connected world. Plan to set aside several hours to explore the resources on her website.

great day in San Francisco

It is pretty amazing to be at ALA in San Francisco today and feeling part of history with the Supreme court decision happening on the Eve of PRIDE weekend here, there is a huge feeling of celebration in this city. Roberta Kaplan, who was instrumental in getting to this place just spoke. Awards were given to the librarians in Ferguson and Baltimore, who brought safety and civilization to their communities astonished me by explaining that they just did what librarians d. Nancy Pelosi is speaking now, and she's great. Anita Cellucci and I went to a terrific leadership workshop sponsored by AASL today, and have now got a million good ideas. Tonight were heading to our Affiliate Assembly to talk about national school library concerns and commendations. it could not have been a more satisfying day.

Laura Gardner might talk faster than me!

SOME notes from the fastest talking funnest librarian out there...
(I missed some things...but all her notes are here)

She has 4 green screens -- I need one!  She uses her office because the door shuts; she also seems to have one screen that is a green curtain

The library belongs to EVERYONE in my school--YES!  40 student volunteers, drop-in volunteers

Always keep a list for anyone who drops in so when they ask, there is something for them to do

Uses screencasts and makes tons (she has subscription to screencast o'matic); she takes about 5-20 minutes to create screencasts to provide tutorials and this is how she clones herself--I need to do more of this!!

Volunteers keep the library open--use adults who are not just parents!  Lonely people who work at home, retired teachers (they know things), --has them work in circulation, shelving, read and reorder shelves, displays, decorate, help with technology, delete old books, edit records in catalog.  Cultivate long-term relationships.
Be super positive, make it fun, never say no and be super flexible
Let them know you love them, but don't spend any money on them

Student volunteers--7th and 8th graders; kids open the library!  turn on the lights, turn on the computers, etc.  After school kids come down and get things ready for next day;  perform MANY basic tasks--circulation, shelving (with training), plug in technology, download and test out apps; make deliveries
Kids need to fill out applications and get selected to participate--most kids get selected, but it is perceived to be competitive
She makes it fun!  (She has fun, she IS fun)

All these people doing all these tasks helps ensure that she's working on the most important things and that she's got a group of people (adults and students) in the room who can reinforce her library mission--recommending books, making students feel welcome, etc.

Online scheduling is done with a google spreadsheet that you can set up to meet the scheduling needs of your school; all teachers can get in and sign up for library, computer labs, ipads

She has up to 3 classes in there at a time

Has monthly report and annual report (I need an annual report!)

On social media--instagram, facebook, blogs once a week using weebly app
Instagram is to communicate with kids
FB is to communicate with parents and former students

Consistency matters!  post often and regularly; use hashtags
Use these tools to make the library go 24/7--e.g., on a snowday post where to find ebooks

Bring in chalkboard paint (or my chalkboard stickers that I got for Christmas) to make
an announcement board

annual student survey  with survey monkey to get kids' ideas about what to change--like more comfy chairs; decals for the wall about reading; change biography section so it is about --scientists, athletes, writers, artists, etc

Got rid of reference books and put them in nonfiction and moved graphic novels to front of room (I need to do this!!)

Labeled what book in the series comes next...put the book numbers on the spine

Collaboration--three types:  1. gung ho; 2. will do it if you do everything; 3. scared and dont' want to leave their comfort zone

Teachers 1 rock--you do your best work with them
Teachers 2--let you develop awesome projects if you do the work; tell them you'll do all the technology, help write the rubric, and show them what to do if they grade the content
teachers 3--come more slowly, you have to be willing to wait

Eat Lunch!! You need to chat with your colleagues

GET NAMETAGS for kid volunteers

Note to me:  Get the suggestion book back in the room and get an online clickable option--maybe padlet would work for this well for little kids?

You can categorize your Goodreads list

AASL L4L Updates From MW15

The AASL Learning4Life (L4L) State Coordinators’ meeting was held during ALA MidWinter 2015. The big news coming out of the L4L Coordinators’ meeting was the formation of the new AASL Standards and Guidelines Editorial Board (SGEB) that will evaluate and update the current AASL Learning Standards and Program Guidelines. AASL is in the final stages of forming this seven member board. Their work will begin in March and run through November 2017. During this time, the SGEB will be responsible for evaluating and writing updates for the current AASL Learning Standards and Program Guidelines. The current version of AASL’s Learning Standards and Program Guidelines provides a foundation for teaching and learning in a collaborative school library program. According to AASL, the updated version “should be transformative and reimagine the roles of school library programs and school librarians in the educational environment.” Once their work gets underway, the SGEB will be requesting input from many voices representing the school library community, including L4L State Coordinators. Please feel free to share with me any input you may have regarding the strengths and areas of concern in relation to the current AASL L4L Standards and Program Guidelines and I will forward your comments along.

Other L4L news: 

The Standards and Guidelines portion of the AASL Website has been reorganized with new sub-headings that provide access to resources in a more logical manner. Also, the archived Lesson Plan Database is available again and is easier to navigate because it is organized by grade level and all parts of the lessons are available in one click. Check out the AASL Learning Standards and Program Guidelines page for links to resources related to the current standards, L4L implementation and the archived Lesson Plan Database.
Amy Short

#alamw15 Chicago

There is something really awesome about a city that has such accessible art.  From the original and interesting architecture to the funky public art, visitors will not be disappointed.  I really enjoyed the (very) short time that we had to walk around and experience the sights and sounds of this city in the proximity of our hotel and conference. 

Here are some of my personal highlights from #alamw15  ALA Midwinter 2015: 

1.  The networking, informal meetings and conversations that take place between our own members and other librarians is just plain awesome.  It is validating to know that others are wrestling with some of the same issues that we are faced with in Massachusetts.
We are stronger together and working with each other will surely help us to grow and understand where our focus must be. 

2.   The Vendor Hall was bustling with activity. I especially enjoyed seeing some of the Advanced Reader copies and walking by authors (whether I knew them or not), it has a sort of "rock concert" feel!  I spent some time in a maker space booth using copper tape to create a light up firefly pin! I'm looking forward to checking out this organization more closely. 

3. Affiliate Assembly offers opportunities to meet, listen and connect.  This year was no exception.   You can read a detailed blog post by Jennifer Reed here.  
The Ask Me How School Librarians Transform Learning campaign was introduced: 

Use these as an "elevator speech" or talking points whenever the opportunity arises. 

4.  The knowledge that Kathy Lowe, Judi Paradis, Jennifer Reed and Amy Short possess collectively is amazing.  I count myself lucky to be able to learn from them.  I continue to strive to understand how to continue to move the Association to meet our memberships needs. Attending ALA Midwinter is just part of that puzzle! 


Thanks for reading! 

Chicago Take Aways

Now that I've had a few days to shovel and think, here are some thoughts on our trip to ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago that I hope you'll find enlightening:

• The AASL Conference in Columbus next October should be terrific.  Kathy Lowe and Deb Logan are the co-chairs and have assembled an outstanding group to plan a cutting-edge conference for school librarians and their administrators,  The conference committee is offering free registration to any administrator accompanying a librarian.  The author line up is nothing-short of astonishing, and the keynote speakers, preconference offerings and local events sound great.  We were all especially taken with the social media platform being used for the conference.  Check out the "rebel mouse" feed here.
• Anita Cellucci and I spent hours and hours in conversation about the future of MSLA.  The more I learn about Anita, the more impressed I become.  She's smart, thoughtful, and earnest about her own practice.  She's forward-looking about the school library field, and asks lots of good questions.  We talked a lot about how we can make our organization more useful to members, provide more targeted professional development, and more networking opportunities.  
• Kathy Lowe, Amy Short and Jennifer Reed know everyone.  When you travel with these women, you are constantly meeting librarians who are at the top of their game.  The informal conversations in hotel lobbies, at dinner, and before and after sessions are often enlightening and provide us with connections that can guide us in our work with the Massachusetts School Library Association.
• The technology at Midwinter was frustrating.  Lots of meeting rooms did not have good (or any) wifi connection, and lots of sessions were relying on pads and easels rather than google docs to capture ideas.  There were sessions where we sat and got talked to, rather than sharing our ideas.  All these moments confirmed for us that if school librarians are going to be taken seriously, we need to show that we use technology on the same level as our peers at ISTE, and that we need to make our PD interactive and participatory.
• AASL does have some good resources that are under-utilized.  The organization has recently re-organized its leadership structure and embarked on a new strategic plan.  We looked at a lot of online resources for PD, advocacy, and communication that we need to share more widely and use better.  I am hoping that when AASL President Teri Grief comes to our conference next month she can help us kick off a look at making AASL more relevant for MSLA members.