School Libraries: The Center of the Universe: Reflection on #AASL2009

Posted November 9, 2009 by CASL
Categories: Best Practices, Conversation, Reviews

Tags: , ,

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning – this title came to me – as I brainstormed ideas for this post. It must have been something I was dreaming, or perhaps just my subconscious helping me pull together several ideas that have been lurking in the back of my consciousness.

Some things have come together for me recently – and the sessions I attended  at AASL have really helped bring into focus the task I now have at hand.  You see, recently, I accepted a new position in my district. My new title is 21st Century Learning and Innovation Specialist. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Me, a school librarian! I am tasked with developing and sharing a vision, and designing and delivering a professional development program that will help all teachers to acquire not only the tech skills that they will need, but more importantly, an understanding of how to build a learning environment that will allow students room to develop and practice important 21st century skills, including creativity, team work, critical thinking & problem solving, and technology and information literacy.

At AASL, so many ideas I have had were reinforced for building a 21st century learning environment and integrating 21st century skills. Dr. David Loertscher shared with us more of his vision for the Learning Commons – both a physical and virtual space where learning can happen 24-7, and Valerie Diggs showed us what hers looks like. Christopher Harris, Brian Mayer, and Kelly Czarnecki  wowed us at their preconference with ideas for how to use gaming for increasing  not just motivation, but critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration skills. Several sessions I attended emphasized the importance of not just collaborating with the classroom teacher – but other specialists in the building, such as literacy, art, special education, and talented and gifted. Revisiting Colorado’s Learner’s Bill of Rights for my own presentation refocused me on the importance of recognizing the needs of the learner, and how careful instructional design can assure students will be engaged and successful in their pursuit of knowledge. And Leslie Maniotes demonstrated in such a crystal clear way how important it is that we connect with student experiences in the “third space” – where real learning takes place.  All of these things, I believe, are excellent strategies to help teachers move toward more constructivist learning environments.

I think my “aha!” was that none of these are new ideas.  Teacher-Librarians  have been doing this for years – with varying degrees of success, depending on many factors, but always dependant on the level of administrative support they receive.  So, of course, my number one strategy for transforming teaching and learning for the 21st century will be to facilitate true collaboration between the teacher librarian and classroom teachers.  I might even have some “pull” with those administrators now!

Could my new job be that simple? Has my job really changed all that much?  I don’t think so. You see, school libraries are really the center of the universe. They open up the doors of learning both knowledge and skills to all students .  Perhaps all school librarians should come to think of themselves as a 21st century learning and innovation specialist.

Nancy White
CASL CO-President Elect

CAL Board News

Posted October 29, 2009 by susang
Categories: Board News, Conversation, News

Posted by Susan Gilbert on behalf of Martin Garnar and the CAL Board.
 
The current global economic crisis has affected everyone, including non-profits like CAL. Some people are making tough choices about association memberships and conference attendance. Since therese are the two largest sources of CAL income, the association’s fiances are astrained as everyone else’s. As a result, the board is investigating options that will allow CAL to continue to serve our members and the Colorado library community. This includes issuing a Request for Quotes (RFQ) for a management company that may prove to be a less expensive alternative to our current situation. We want to stress that no decisions have been made, but as good librarians we simply want to have all the information as we plan for CAL’s next step.

 

What can you do to help? Renew your membership. Register for the conference. Encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same. Share your ideas with board members. Together, we’ll weather this storm and position the association for a sustainable future. 


Martin Garnar
Trustee Emeritus LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund–
www.merrittfund.org
Past President, Colorado Association of Libraries –www.cal-webs.org
Reference Librarian and Associate Professor of Library Science
Dayton Memorial Library, Regis University www.regis.edu/library
3333 Regis Blvd., Mail Stop D-20
Denver, CO 80221
303-964-5459 (voice)
303-964-9457 (fax)
mgarnar@regis.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s Going to Charlotte?

Posted October 18, 2009 by CASL
Categories: Staff Development Opportunities

The AASL Conference is right around the corner! Check out this great Animoto video created by Joyce Valenza – with a sneak peak at some of the great digital networking that will be prominent throughout the conference, including an un-conference Bloggers Cafe, One Book, One Conference, Flickr photo streams, instant polls, Twitter streams, and more! I’ll be doing some live blogging from the conference, and posting back to the CASL blog as well – so if you can’t attend, plan to follow me on Twitter and respond to blog posts for a virtual conference experience.

If you’re going to Charlotte – comment on this post! I hope to see you there!

-Nancy White
CASL Co-President Elect

The CASL PLN: Ask Not What CASL Can Do for You…

Posted October 10, 2009 by CASL
Categories: Best Practices, Conversation, Staff Development Opportunities

Tags: , , ,

School libraries provide a vital function in the education of students, helping them to hone and practice important 21st century skills. We do this through multiple strategies.  We collaborate with teachers to gain an opportunity to integrate these skills into the standards based curriculum, building learning opportunities that are exciting, relevant and engaging.  We help students one on one and in small groups who come to our library seeking resources to meet assignment requirements, and sometimes, to answer important personal questions, but are not quite sure how to proceed finding the answers.  We open windows to the world for these students, by sharing not only resources, but new technologies available through Web 2.0, and how to access primary sources and excellent, dependable resources through our online subscription databases. We teach them how to evaluate information to make sure it is accurate and reliable.  We love our jobs -  love the ever-changing nature of what we teach, and how we teach. 

Does this describe you? 

If it does, we hope you are sharing ideas and resources with your CASL Professional Learning Network (PLN), and engaging in conversations to help you grow as a professional. This is the essence of a personal learning network.  It isn’t – can’t be – just about what you get. It has to be just as much about what you give

Here are just a few places you might want to visit to start participating in a PLN:

CAL Conference – The culminating networking activity of the year – for unbeatable face-to-face networking and learning.  This is your professional organization.  Without every one of you contributing – as well as seeking information and learning from each other, the network becomes less vibrant.  Plan to attend! I’ll see you there!

CASL Blog – here you are!  How about leaving a comment or question?

Colorado Teacher-Librarian Ning – New!  We need everyone to contribute content to make this a viable resource and PLN

Power Libraries Ning  We invite you to check out the great stuff these Power Librarians are doing!

Joyce Valenza’s Teacher-Librarian Ning – visit the Colorado group!

Twitter – Follow some of these Colorado library Twitter-ers.

CASL List Serv  - Go ahead – ask that question you’ve been dying to ask several hundred Colorado school librarians! Or share the project you are most proud of from the last year. Lets get some interaction here!

-Nancy White
CASL Co-President Elect

How Are You Using Social Networking Tools?

Posted October 6, 2009 by CASL
Categories: Best Practices, Conversation

Posted on behalf of Gail Dickinson, Editor, Library Media Connection

Hello, LMC Friends!

The new one-question survey is now open and ready for business.  The URL is http://www.surveymonkey.com/Oct09LMC.

This survey topic is a question we are all wondering about, which is how librarians are using social networking tools and web pages.

The LMC One-Question Survey is designed to take less than one minute of a busy librarian’s time, yet it provides crucial evidenced-based information for school library programs and services.

Please take a minute to answer this survey, and then look for the answers in Library Media Connection!.