originally posted 1/11/10
Dear Colleagues,
The official call for presenters for the joint VSLA-VITA-Learn Spring Conference, “Dynamic Landscapes 2.0: Synergy at Work”, is out. All library related workshops should be emailed to me, and I will pass them on to Ed Barry, the conference coordinator. Please email them to me as soon as possible at suzanne.irish@cesu.k12.vt.us .
November 25, 2009
I am a long-time Vermont librarian now working at Cairo American College in Cairo, Egypt. As part of my job, I sometimes travel with students on school trips. Below is a description of one such trip. (My husband John and I had spent an October weekend relaxing at a glamorous resort hotel in Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai.)
I was back in Sinai a few weeks later under different conditions. My companions were a dozen teachers and 150 middle school kids studying reef ecology. Continue reading ‘Letter from a Vermont Librarian in Cairo’
…the AASL Board of Directors voted to adopt school librarian as the title which reflects the roles of the 21st-century school library professional as a leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator. See the press release here.
The VSLA Fall, 2009, conference was held at Brattleboro High School in October. Our morning speaker was J’aime Foust, author of Dewey Need to Get Organized (my answer to that question would be “yes!”). J’aime encouraged us to make a pie graph showing the most important things in our life, then make another pie graph showing what we are really doing. She suggested that we repeat the exercise in 6 months to 1 year to see if anything has changed. I admit that I tucked my conference notes away, and did not come across this idea until just now as I sat down to write. I did manage to borrow J’aime’s book from a friend, though, so now I am encouraged to try this exercise and look for more ideas in the book. My favorite piece of advice from J’aime? “The trash can is your friend.”
A chance to gather and chat before the first session of the day
Amy Howlett of the DOL talking about Readers Advisory Basics
Workshops continued throughout the day. I attended Amy Howlett’s session on Readers’ Advisory Basics. Amy works for the DOL and does Rapid Reviews for the VLA. She reminded us that turning kids into readers is the key thing that we do. She presented many tools, from books to websites to her own handouts. My favorite was her approach to “reading” a book in 10 minutes. There are many features that give us clues about a book, and if we are willing to skim through and skip ahead (yikes!) to the ending and epilogue, we really can learn a lot about that book in just 10 minutes.
J’aime Foust inspires us to get organized
New member Chris Putnam-Poulliot talks with VSLA President Marsha Middleton
The semi-annual VSLA membership meeting was held after lunch. Minutes of the meeting are available on the VSLA website.
The day concluded with a presentation by artist John Steven Gurney, who has illustrated all of the A-Z Mystery books. There is also a new series of Calendar Mysteries, which is an off-shoot of the A to Z series. Mr. Gurney also wrote and illustrated a book called Dinosaur Train, which has been made into a TV series.
As usual, I came away from the conference thinking that it is one of my most valuable professional development activities of the year. So much is packed into one day, but at a comfortable pace. And it all relates directly to many aspects of our jobs as School Librarians.
by Marcia Peterson, Librarian at the Ottauquechee School (Hartford School District)
This year, for the first time, our Art Teacher Kate Townsend and I sat down with the Red Clover books to select one for a collaborative approach. Our goal was to reach 4th and 5th graders in a more meaningful way. At Dothan Brook I do the Red Clover program with the 4th graders. This year I decided to include the 5th graders with some of them. One reason for this was our school district’s approach to bolstering reading with Fountas and Pinnell. At recent discussions, the picture book has been emphasized for use with older students.
Student begins to work with wire.
The Red Clover book we selected was Sandy’s Circus by Tanya Stone. I did research on the internet to find two You Tube sites to show students after reading the book to them. The first was an old black and white video of Alexander Calder actually performing his circus and the other was a kids’ Art Display made by K-5 students in Calder style with wire circus figures and mobiles after Tanya Stone had come to their school. My students found it totally fascinating.
Continue reading ‘A Collaborative Approach to a Red Clover Book’
Young writers and readers at St. Francis Xavier School in Winooski were recently treated to a visit from children’s book writer Jamie Gilson, author of twenty funny and nationally acclaimed books for elementary school age students. The visit was organized by School Librarian Kathleen Finn.
Students in grades 2 to 5 at St. Francis Xavier have been reading Mrs. Gilson’s books since school began. On the day of her visit, Mrs. Gilson spoke to these students about how her ideas develop and how the book process works, from manuscript to finished product. The importance of the back-and-forth process between editor and writer – and many, many rewrites – was emphasized. She showed the students samples of her original, edited manuscripts; some illustration drafts; and what her books look like when translated into German, Dutch and Braille. After the presentation, there was time for questions that students had formulated prior to the author’s visit. Continue reading ‘Award-Winning Children’s Book Author Jamie Gilson Visits St. Francis Xavier School’
Greetings from the Essex High School Library Media Center!
Interested in some new ideas to help promote the Green Mountain Book Award? It’s difficult to get students to read beyond what’s required of them for class. We have been trying to get increased participation for years and came up with a new plan. We created a new promotion to encourage our students to read more GMBA books.
It all began with offering the sweet incentive of ice cream!
Our Plan:
During the next two years, UVM will be unrolling professional development opportunities for School Library Media Specialists in practice. The courses will concentrate on topics that are loosely defined as “Contemporary Issues,” and are geared to practical application of emerging technologies and new guidelines for Library Media Programs. The courses will be offered online and will vary from one credit to three credits, depending on the scope of the topic.
As Vermont Library Media Specialists, you will have the chance to shape the direction of the topics to meet your needs. Online surveys will help us identify areas of professional development, and there will be a social networking site developed for the “Issues” strand of coursework. Look for that in early 2010.
Continue reading ‘University of Vermont School Library Media Studies Sequence’
Internationally recognized as an authority on medieval Cistercian architecture, Dr. Terryl Kinder recently spoke to students at Rice Memorial High School in a special visit sponsored by the Friends of Rice Library and supported by a grant from the Paul Post Foundation.
Ann Kenney (left), librarian at Rice Memorial High School, displays Architecture of Silence: Cistercian Abbeys of France by Dr. Terryl Kinder (right) of St. Michael’s College.
Kinder’s presentation discussed how the Cistercian monks evolved from their Benedictine roots and how they lived, worked and prayed in silence. She also described how the architecture of their monastic buildings-simple, beautifully proportioned and well-built-reflects the spiritual transformation to which they aspired.
Kinder’s time is currently divided between teaching at St. Michael’s College and living near the site of Pontigny Abbey in the Burgundy region of France. She has written several books, including Architecture of Silence: Cistercian Abbeys of France, which she co-authored with David Heald, the chief photographer at the Guggenheim Museum.
by Ann Kenney
If it’s January… it’s time to plan the Summer Reading for Kids list again! VSLA is looking for volunteer contributors to compose this year’s tips for terrific tantalizing summer reads. Traditionally, we divide the list into Picture Books and Easy Readers for K-4, Grades 5-8, and Grades 9-12, with a contributor or team providing 10-15 suggested titles with short annotations for each age grouping. As the list also includes each year’s award winners and links to our state award lists (Red Clover, DCF, GMBA), we try to promote other titles that readers might not find on their own. Continue reading ‘Summer Reading for Kids 2010′
Poetry Outloud Contest
Poetry Outloud Contest
One of our favorite and best-attended events in the library this past semester was the poetry declamation contest initiated and planned by the English Department in honor of a former faculty member, Graham Newell. It was held on Parent’s Night, which brought more parents than usual to the library. Over ten English classes participated in this National event (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/) coordinated as a first annual event at the Academy by English teacher Angela Drew. Two Academy student winners will proceed to the State level contest and hope to win an expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete at the national level. Continue reading ‘Fall Library Events at St. Johnsbury Academy’
On December 30, Sue Furry-Irish and Sue Monmaney met with Ed Barry of VITA-Learn to finalize plans for a joint VSLA/VITA-Learn Spring 2010 conference, to be called “Dynamic Landscapes 2.0: Synergy at Work.” This exciting 2-day conference will be held at Champlain College May 13th and 14th, building upon the successful Dynamic Landscapes Conferences of the past by blending in workshops of special interest to library media specialists and their extended communities. In addition, a special dinner with guest speaker will be offered for Thursday evening, May 13th. The entire 2-day program will create an unprecedented gathering of educators with different job titles who share the same media literacy goals. Continue reading ‘Save the Date for “Dynamic Landscapes 2.0: Synergy at Work”’
What time is it? It’s Twilight time, of course!
Last month I ran a contest where I raffled off a New Moon poster from the New York Times that I had laminated. Each student filled out slips with his/her name and the title of the book they were currently reading, and dropped it in the box. I ran it for about two weeks and I ended up getting a lot of entries. It was a pretty popular idea, and a good way to find out what else they are reading.
Jessica Langlois, Librarian, Proctor Jr/Sr High School
Here’s the complete pdf version of the fall newsletter for those who prefer that format:
Here’s the link for the new VSLA Summer Newsletter in .pdf format: VSLA News July 2009
