ALA wants it to be EASY to make leglislative contact

Click on this site (a part of the ALA site) to be able to EASILY make contacting your legislators about library issues! If you haven’t contacted them about the SKILLs Act, and your excuse was you didn’t exactly know who to contact, well ALA is addressing that excuse.
What is the SKILLs Act?

On Tuesday June 26, 2007, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed.

Best, the site also let’s you know about issues that need ACTION now. Visit the site today to take action. All that is required is a few fill in the blanks and clicks. SO SIMPLE!

Add a New Word to Your Dictionary — Skypecast

Back on July 10, I posted about the Alan November sponsored Building Learning Communities conference that ended yesterday in Boston. I was lamenting how much I wanted to go, and how expensive this conference is, and that it would be impossible for me to go. Woe is me was the theme of that post. But I report today that I indeed did get to attend this conference, though it was a “virtual visit.” What do you mean, virtual, you might ask. Well it appears the big bloggers of the blogosphere were already planning to make this an even better conference than the NECC 2007 conference. I did attend that one, and the big idea I walked away with this year was the POWER of tagging blog posts, pictures, links, or anything. There were so many attendees live blogging, tweeting, and even skypecasting sessions, that I was blown away! I was amazed each evening back at my hotel room at how I could log into my Bloglines and relive the days’ events, and even glean information from sessions I missed. Skypecasting was sort of introduced at NECC, and there is argument that it really is not even a term with a definition. But let me try to describe it. Someone begins a Skype chat while sitting in a session. Anyone with skype can join in, and all you need to know is who to “dial” or “look up” in your Skype, and request to join. This can be done in either direction, either from the originator of the skype chat or you. Generally the participants chat back and forth over the main points that the presenter makes.

So at the BLC conference, this was the biggest thing going on at each session. David Jakes, author of “The Strength of Weak Ties,” posted on his blog just before going to BLC in Boston that he planned to Skypecast many of the sessions he attended, and anyone interested in joining in could chat in. He provided his skype name and a rough agenda of what sessions he was attending.

So I took him up on his offer, and skyped to join into the chats going on. At different times there were as many as a dozen folks, some right there in the same room and some (like me) from all over the world trying to be a part of this wonderful conference. I met and made friends with some absolutely amazing people, like David Jakes (an instructional technology director from Illinois), Barbara Barreda (a K-8 parochial school principal from Los Angeles), and Ewan McIntosh (a consultant from New Zealand who says he specializes in being a teacher and a social media specialist!). [Correction July 22, 2007: Ewan McIntosh let me know he is from Scotland.]

What did take from my virtual attendance at BLC?
• Today’s students have the power of creativity in them
• My favorite session—without a doubt the Marco Torres one
• The tools more now than ever are available to tap into learning that is authentic
• Conversations and networking can quadruple the effect of presentations & professional development
• There are also several posts in my TechnoTuesday Blog about what I have learned, and I encourage readers to see that blog too!

I was absolutely amazed at Ewan McIntosh. I was involved in a group skyechat going on for the Mitch Resnick/Angela McFarlane Keynote, and before McFarlane, the second speaker, left the stage, Ewan had already posted a summary of both in his blog, posted pictures in Flickr, had participated in the skypechat, AND opened up an image editor to make nifty pictures for his blog posting about the conference! Ewan, who also presented, even blogged while presenting! Later on, I was involved in another session, and the presenters, Chris Lehman and Christian Long, were not only presenting, but in the Skypechat that was going on during their presentation! They were contributing to that secondary conversation, and even incorporating the commentary by answering questions or addressing points from the Skypechat. This conference has truly changed the way those who participated enjoyed the presentations. It’s one experience I will never forget.

Here’s how Ewan summed up the conference for Alan November:

The obvious remarkable factor is that this was not a ‘Boston conference’ as it had been in previous years. Through people making messages on the web and through their mobile phones on Twitter, to the scores joining in on seminars through Skype with their questions, arguments and counterpoints, from the comments on blog posts written in almost real time to the rhythm of the conference, to the many comments that will continue to discuss its contents in the weeks and months to come, this conference has been one for the (relative) masses.

I know this is a long post, and I apologize. But if there’s one thing I want readers to take away from this, it’s how to track conferences that you cannot possibly attend. Go to David Warlick’s Hitchhikr site, and subscribe to the RSS feed from the conferences you are interested. Its been almost three weeks since NECC, and there are still many blog posting coming out related to that one. BLC has a Hitchhkr feed too, and there are well over 1000 posts about that conference too. It’s great professional development that you get to pick and choose from. I also want to take this opportunity to publicly thank David Jakes again, for he made it possible for me to find a way to experience a great conference. Now if I could only find a way to document the hours of time spent reading, skypechatting, and posting reflective comments on blogs for renewal credits!

Written by Cathy Nelson

Authors, anyone?

Hot off the School Library Journal blog, a chance to meet some BIG time authors! This opportunity takes place at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, on September 29–rain or shine! Best its free! Anyone want to head out to DC with me? I’d love to attend. Here is some specific info:

This year marks the seventh year of the National Book Festival sponsored by the Library of Congress, which celebrates the joy of reading and the creativity of America’s writers and illustrators. “The National Book Festival welcomes all Americans to the National Mall to celebrate reading and meet with some of the most-loved authors from across the country,” Bush said. “Readers of all ages can discover the joys of new books and fall in love again with old favorites.”

In addition to Wiesner, this year’s Caldecott Award-winner; Anderson, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature; and Yang, who received the Michael Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults, Coretta Scott King award winner Ashley Bryan, and Newbery Award-winners Patricia MacLachlan and E. L. Konigsburg will also be present.

Oh WOW! Check our ClusterMaps!

I added a ClusterMaps Widget to the blog (located towards the bottom right.) Just look where our readership is from. We are so global now! Really this is not going to my head, as some visitors stumble onto us form basic “searching,” and we all know how library people LOVE to search the Internet. But still, I find that map amazing.

Valerie, I am getting SO EXCITED about the upcoming conference. Great job posting in all the locations about our big attractions and what we can look forward too. I am so IMPRESSED!

Conference update!

Join us in Columbia for Power Up @ your library! The SCASL 2008 Annual Conference, March 12-14, 2008 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. There will be a new hotel and a parking garage, so there will be no reason for you not to attend.

Plus, look at who you’ll get to meet and learn from–

Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson (http://eduscapes.com/)

Annette Lamb is presenting at the Upstate Technology Conference right now…if you weren’t able to attend, make sure you mark your calendars for our conference in March!

Eloise Greenfield

Poet and author of many books including Honey, I Love and Other Poems.

More guests will be announced soon!

Enjoy the last weeks of summer,

Valerie

PS-Have you paid your dues? If not, make sure you do so by October 1! Only those who pay their dues by October 1 will qualify for member rates for conference

Alan November’s Building Learning Communities Conference Soon

Building Learning Communities Oh how I wish I could attend (or even afford to attend) this conference. It takes place July 18-20–just around the corner, and sinfully I’ve been coveting the sessions and assorted other activities planned for this conference. Alan November was at our last SCASL Conference just in case you are wondering who this man is. I’m a huge fan, and just read who is presenting! It is almost a laundry list from my aggregator!

Dr. Tim Tyson
Marco Torres
Alan November (of course!)
Ewan McIntosh
Marc Prensky
Will Richardson
Bob Sprankle
Dr. Mitchel Resnick
Dr. Joyce Valenza
Daniel Pink

Someday I’m going to skip NECC just so I can attempt to attend this conference. I guess I’d better start saving the $$ now, since it is expensive. I plan to follow closely using HitchHiker during this conference. I’m so glad there is a way to follow it virtually until I can attend as a real-live participant..someday.

UPDATE Monday, July 16, 2007: David Jakes is graciously offering to skype in friends so they can virtually attend the sessions he attends. I’m so on that!

SKILLs Act

FYI:

Support the SKILLs Act: Urge your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1699 and your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.  

On Tuesday June 26, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed.

The SKILLs Act:

Requires school districts, to the extent feasible, to ensure that every school within the district employs at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in each school library;
Defines highly qualified school library media specialists as those who have a bachelor’s degree and have obtained full state certification as a school library media specialist or passed the state teacher licensing examination, with state certification in library media in such state;
Establishes as a state goal that there be at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every public school no later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year;
Broadens the focus of training, professional development, and recruitment activities to include school library media specialists;
Ensures that funds will serve elementary, middle, and high school students; and
Requires books and materials to be appropriate for and engage the interest of students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners.

Urgent Action Needed:

This legislation is critical to the future of school library media specialists. Contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 1699.  Contact your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.  

Talking Points:

Multiple studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between school library media programs that are staffed by a school library media specialist and student academic achievement.  Across the United States, research has shown that students in schools with good school libraries learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardized test scores than their peers in schools without libraries.
Long regarded as the cornerstone of the school community, school libraries are no longer just for books. Instead, they have become sophisticated 21st century learning environments offering a full range of print and electronic resources that provide equal learning opportunities to all students, regardless of the socio-economic or education levels of the community – but only when they are staffed by school library media specialists trained to collaborate with teachers and engage students meaningfully with information that matters to them both in the classroom and in the real world.
Only about 60 percent of our school libraries have a full-time, state-certified school library media specialist on staff.
With limited funding and an increased focus on school performance, administrators are trying to stretch dollars and cut funds across various programs to ensure that maximum resources are dedicated to improving student academic achievement.
Because NCLB does not highlight the direct correlation between school library media specialists and increased student academic achievement, library resource budgets are increasingly being used to mitigate the effects of budgetary shortfalls.

NECC 2007 — You can still tune in!

Even though Necc 2007 is now a distant memory, I am pleased to share many ways you can still enjoy this educational conference, an annual favorite of mine! Those who know me know that I am huge fan of library gurus Doug Johnson (of the Blue Skunk Blog) and Joyce Valenza (of the Neverending Search Blog), who I got to speak with personally at the conference. Yes, I was star struck by some of my favorites, but both of these are really easy going folks who love to talk about the state of libraries in education today. NECC made podcasts of many of the sessions, as well as webcasts. The podcasts are now available for you to listen to, and the webcasts will be coming soon. [UPDATE: Webcasts are available NOW here and HERE.]

Here is a link directly to Doug Johnson’s session titled Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Generation, and here is a link directly to Joyce Valenza’s session (co presented with Ken Rodoff) titled Inforamtion Fluency Meets Web 2.0. Both are excellent sessions I attended, and there was standing room only in these sessions. Many opted to sit on the floor. I even know of a small group who sat in the hallway and listend via someone “skypecasting” the session live!

There are a lot of other sessions available in this format at the Apple Learning Interchange Site, the official podcast channel of NECC.

No time to sit and listen?? Visit Hitchhikr or Technorati to read up on the sessions that were blogged. I wish I could share the energy in the blogger lounges as well, but most of that was unrecorded conversations. But you can read all about it in the blog postings from above.

As you enjoy your summer break, perhaps you’ll be able to enjoy this conference as well, even from afar.

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

Notice anything different about the blog??? Our LOGO has changed! I love it.

Have you been to the SCASL website recently? Take a look…more changes there.

Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Gen

I went to a session at NECC by Doug Johnson called “Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Gen” that I really enjoyed. I read Doug’s blog, and so a lot of this content he had shared previously in his Blue Skunk Blog or other writings. But he is a captivating speaker too, and since he promotes literacy and libraries, I support him and attend whatever he is involved in when I can!

Here is the blogged content from another attendee (Karen Fasimpaur of Mobile Musings):

The session focused on various characteristics of the Net Gen and the consequences of those for schools. Here are some observations I took away from the session:

– Doug reeled off a long list of statistics of how the Net Gen is different from boomers or even Gen X. This made me feel old, but also to be happy to be living in a time of so much excitement, energy, and positive change.

– Students in the Net Gen WANT TO LEARN. They just may want to learn different content and with different methods than schools traditionally offer.

– It was suggested that the Dewey Decimal system is losing relevance. (This inspired defensive indignation in the crowd of mostly library media specialists in the audience.) Doug talked about user/student-generated tags as a more relevant system of organization. This is definitely a trend at NECC this year. Are organizations beginning to tag analog content like library books?

– Like others here, Doug encouraged us to be more flexible in allowing students to bring electronic devices, like iPods, handhelds, and even cell phones, to school. Again this is a theme here this year. Doug suggested including students on school and district planning committees to help administration understand the new paradigms of learning of this generation.

– On the subject of filtering, Doug says, “Safety comes from education, not blocking.” Doug’s site and handouts give some thoughtful ideas for how his district is handling these issues.

– Physical place is important. Schools need to be more comfortable and even fun environments. It strikes me that this could be done for little or no cost. I was at a university earlier this week that has done a lot of things like adding nicer student spaces, etc. while simultaneously generating revenue for the school. An associate dean there pointed out to me a Starbucks in the library and said that, while students love it, the librarians were not so happy with it.

– Librarians have a central role to play in information literacy and learning in the future.

See his web page for more thought-provoking details.

posted by Karen Fasimpaur at 8:14 AM