By Debi Tice
The 2018 School Library Leadership Academy in Juneau focused on the lens of STEAM. I am a champion of the A in STEAM and feel that there is art in all that we do. I was particularly excited to have a chance to listen to Laura Connor, Research Associate Professor at UAF. Her presentation on “STEAM- The Colors of Nature” served as the inspiration for a future collaboration between the library, the middle school art teacher, and the 7th grade science teachers. The first few days of school being back in session this August came with, tears, hugs, smiles, laughter, and conversations about scheduling. I discussed the idea of collaboration between art and the 7th grade science native Alaskan tree unit and a way the library could support them both. Resulting from the discussion and the inspiration from Laura Connor is the following MakerSpace lesson idea in a skeleton form that would can be adapted for grade levels and content areas. Summarizing the Project: What elements of native Alaskan plants make them valuable for creative expression?
What is Pi Academy?
By Audrey Drew I had read about Raspberry Pi some time ago, and as a former Ed Tech Collaborator, we had two Raspberry Pi laptops in our playground equipment. The Raspberry Pi laptops we used to show others had just a breadboard, power supply, and built in monitor. It was interesting and you could access the internet and that was about all we showed others. The biggest selling point was that you could build a computer for under $100. That sounded great! However, little did I know at the time, that there was so much more you could do with a few Raspberry Pi components, a keyboard and a used monitor/tablet. This past April I went back to school librarianship and started planning how to build my makerspace and library projects. Raspberry Pi seemed like it might be a good addition to what I already had available for my students. To read more about Audrey's experience, click here. The Lilead Project To Launch Online Professional Development Courses for School Library Leaders9/3/2018
The Lilead Project will launch four Lilead Leaders courses for school library professionals at any level who are looking to hone their leadership skills and work toward lasting transformational change for their students, schools, and districts during the 2018-2019 school year.
The Lilead Leaders courses will focus on four topics:
Registration is now open for the first Leaders course, “Preparing for Transformational Change." Groups of 10 or more students registering concurrently may receive a discount by contacting the Lilead Project at lileadproject@gmail.com. Register Now!Students will receive continuing education units (CEUs) from the University of Maryland’s Office of Extended Services (OES). individuals may choose to take all four courses or select one or more courses that are particularly applicable to their work. Whether starting with the first course in August 2018 or with a later course, the first course a student takes is $349; subsequent courses come at a reduced price of $279. The Lilead Project www.lileadproject.org lileadproject@gmail.com (240) 770-1692 by Deborah Rinio, AkASL Secretary
It’s August and the school year is just beginning. As you start new positions, begin new projects, or settle into the groove of your day to day, it’s time to consider renewing or joining the Alaska Association of School Librarians (AkASL). You may be wondering why you should bother or what you get from your membership, so I’m here to tell you! AkASL is a roundtable of the Alaska Library Association (AkLA) and is focused on school library issues. AkASL is also an affiliate of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and as such has a voice at the table when it comes to national school library issues through the affiliate assembly meetings that occur twice a year at ALA Conferences. Dona Helmer is our AASL Affiliate Representative this term. In her role, she brings the concerns of Alaskan libraries and library staff to AASL. AkASL is continually working to improve and grow its services to the library community. AkASL works closely with AkLA and the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) to ensure quality school library programming at each respective conference. We also work hard to keep you abreast of all the opportunities that abound and events you should be aware of through several channels:
AkASL also works behind the scenes to be a voice for school library issues at the state and local level. Out advocacy committee presents at principals and superintendents’ conferences, prepares advocacy materials for others to share, attends ESSA meetings, and participates in AASL advocacy events. We help pass along relevant legislation and are working on utilizing the ALA Action Center to keep you informed of statewide issues. Right now, we are starting a campaign to ask the State Board of Education to adopt the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Connect with us on Facebook or the Listserv to stay tuned for more information on how you can help! AkASL also runs the Battle of the Books program, provides grants to attend professional development in person and online, and offers awards and scholarships to honor the school librarians and school library staff that make our work possible. Most importantly, AkASL is a group of your peers that volunteer their time to - as it says in our mission statement - help in “advancing high standards for the school library profession in Alaska”. They can’t do it without your membership or your help. To join or renew, please visit: http://www.akasl.org/join.html If you’d like to volunteer or have comments, questions, or concerns, please contact: akasl.president@gmail.com We look forward to you joining us soon! by Dona J. Helmer
A lifetime ago, someone asked me if I had any audiobooks they could borrow for a summer road trip. I had to admit that I didn’t own any but could get her some. I simply sent a letter to the now-defunct Kliatt magazine and asked if I could review audiobooks for them. When you review, you generally don’t get paid but you do get to keep the material so I soon had some audiobooks to share. You know the story, life happened and I no longer had time to review but I still loved books on tape. While I was living my life, the industry experienced huge growth. Actually, I found out recently audiobooks are the fastest growing segment in the digital publishing industry. https://goodereader.com/blog/audiobooks/global-audiobook-trends-and-statistics-for-2018 Michelle Cobb of the Audiobook Publishers Association stated, “26% of the US population has listened to an audiobook in the last 12 months... 8% of all listeners are under the age 35. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about audiobooks and their place in our lives and our libraries. First, let me disclose that I love having someone tell me a story. I also like to use my time to multitask while I am sewing or (sigh) doing what the little dusting and vacuuming I do that passes for housework. I also have friends I meet who recommend specific readers and specific audiobooks that I “must read”. I decided that I need to update and improve my skills as a selector and listener. An article at Bookriot (https://bookriot.com/2018/07/10/audiobooks-vs-reading/) says that,”Reading aphysical book and listening to the audiobook are two different paths that lead to the same destination. Each creates differing experiences and memories, but neither is better or worse than the other”. Of course, I knew that but the post helped to clarify my thoughts and you might want to take a look at their list of ways to view audiobooks vs reading. At conference this summer, I heard Mary Burkey, author of Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature (ALA, 2013), talk about the history of audiobooks and give tips about listening critically. Mary is past chair of the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Recordings, was part of the Odyssey Award Task Force, and served as the chair of ALA s first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Committee. She reviews for Booklist magazine and The Horn Book magazine, and writes Booklist’s audiobook column Voices in My Head. She is an amazing resource and I just had to buy her book so I could continue to learn more. In fact, I got so enthused about audiobooks that in addition to Mary B ‘s book I also purchasedListening to Learn: Audiobooks Supporting Literacy by Sharon Grover and Lizette D. Hannegan (ALA, 2011). This is an older work but has a research bibliography and information about thematic lists of quality titles and suggested group listening activities that you can share with teachers Current Information: If you are looking for current (low cost or free) information check out:https://www.booklistreader.com/category/audiobooks/ for up-to-date information on the Audie Award winners, new audiobooks and reviews. Also take a look at http://soundcommentary.com/ for lengthy reviews of audiobooks by library practitioners. You can subscribe for under $7 per year. Grant Ideas: Need Money? Remember you can always do a grant to DonorsChoose or if you exploring grants to help integrate audiobooks and need some statistics or maybe just ideas, gohttps://www.booklistreader.com/2017/04/04/audiobooks/a-trove-of-resources-to-help-you-get-an-audiobook-grant/ Fake News (presented at the AkLA conference)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mjBmPh8ow9x0m7OpPkn5O7ZFN1gg7rKlCuWSBaf0fz8/edit#slide=id.p AASL Best Websites (presented during ASTE conference) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AXE25alwAWr89SPCJ_-8twEMEH5AEhyxFMHvu15wGMM/edit#slide=id.p AASL Standards (presented at the AkLA conference) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15gQrWkWbzHej8fESB604yKRNAjiKxfYAbZcm8G3EmfQ/edit#slide=id.p |
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