Category Archives: AASL

#AASL17 Redux

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Dear Colleagues,
If you are an AASL member, you now have access to the concurrent sessions that were recorded at the AASL National Conference & Exhibition last month in Phoenix. In order to access this content, you will need to go to AASL’s eCOLLAB archive.

1. Go to AASL’s eCollab: http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab
2. Click on the link titled: Brand-new eCOLLAB platform.
3. Log in with your username and password.
4. Click on: Archive Sessions.
5. Click on: AASL National Conference & Exhibition 2017 “View Product.”

You will find the archives for seventy sessions. One of the great things is that the sessions are edited so that listeners can focus on the information presented and participate in the interactive pieces on their own time.

Conference participants from Arizona were asked to volunteer to assist at as many sessions as we could fit into our schedules.  I attended and volunteered at three sessions focused on the new National School Library Standards for Students, School Librarians, and School Libraries. “Inquire and Include,” “Collaborate and Curate,” and “Explore and Engage” sessions are all available on the site for your review.

These are a three of the sessions I missed in Phoenix and have now been able to view.

Mark Ray, Director of Innovation and Library Services, Vancouver Public Schools, and Future Ready Librarians Lead for the Alliance for Excellent Education, and Shannon McClintock Miller, Future Ready Libraries and Project Connect Spokesperson, co-presented “#futurereadylibs: Which Wedge Gives You the Edge?” on 11/10 at 11:20 a.m. (page 2 in the archives). This session is essential viewing for those who want to learn more how they can become Future Ready Librarians (FRLs) and access FRLs resources. As part of their presentation, they asked participants to compare AASL’s “Everyone Is a Learner” infographic with the Future Ready Librarians Framework . Mark and Shannon’s resources are at http://bit.ly/AASLFRL.

Maria Cahill, Associate Professor, University of Kentucky, and Amanda Hurley, Library Media Specialist, Henry Clay High School, Lexington, Kentucky, presented “Survey Says: School Librarians Identifying Stakeholders’ Needs” on 11/11 at 9:30 a.m. (page 5 in the archives). Maria introduced the session with information about and an invitation to participate in the monthly School Library Connection One-Question Survey. Amanda and Maria continued the session by giving examples and promoting the idea of one-question surveys as effective and efficient ways for school librarians to gather data on which they can act to improve their library services.

Judith Kaplan, from the University of Vermont and former coblogger on this site, and Deborah Ehler-Hansen, School Librarian, Fair Haven Union High School in Vermont, presented “Transform Teaching and Learning with Technology and Competency-based Standards?” on 11/11 at 3:10 p.m.(page 7 in the archives). In their interactive presentation, Judith and Deborah made connections between empowered technology tool use with personalized learning, blended learning, open access resources, Future Ready Librarians, ESSA, and more. Their resources are available at: https://goo.gl/zYoRa5 You can also search their hashtag #PDforlib.

If you missed my session, “Investing in Social Capital Counts,” you will find it on page seven in the archives and on a pbworks wiki.

Not all of the sessions were recorded. I regret that I was unable to hear the research papers panel I missed on November 10th. Assistant Professor Karen Reed from Middle Tennessee State University was part of a panel that presented research papers: “‘Computational Thinking,’ ‘Information Seeking in School Library Makerspaces,’ and ‘School Librarians as Co-Teacher of Literacy’: Research Papers from the Field of School Librarianship.” She contributed the third paper.

Access to these seventy sessions can be an enticement for our colleagues who are not yet AASL members. The opportunity to view these resources and develop an understanding of the importance of participation in our national association and conference can be an invitation to join AASL.

Please “Share the Wealth” of AASL membership with your colleagues and your name will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win registration, airfare, and hotel accommodations for the next AASL national conference taking place in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2019.

Thank you to AASL for making these resources available to all AASL members. I look forward to reviewing more of the sessions I missed in the coming weeks. I encourage you to take full advantage of this opportunity to learn with and from our colleagues.

Log in soon!

 

#AASL17 Conference Takeaways

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The release of the new AASL National School Library Standards created an extra buzz to the energy at the conference. As always, it was wonderful to see long-time friends and colleagues and make new school librarian colleagues from across the country.

I had the added pleasure of reconnecting face to face with one of my former high school principals (@AZHSPRIN), who is a rock star school librarian advocate. I also reconnected with Cecilia Barber, one of my former graduate students from the University of Arizona, who is serving as a school librarian in her tribal community in Shiprock, New Mexico; it’s gratifying to know the positive impact she is making. I also met Dr. Karen Reed who used my coteaching reading comprehension work in her dissertation and presented a session on Friday that included that work.

These are just a few of my conference takeaways.

Jaime Casap’s keynote on Thursday was one of the highlights of my professional learning. Jaime (@jcasap) is the Chief Education Evangelist at Google, Inc. If you were unable to attend Jaime’s keynote or did not attend the conference, check out his YouTube and TEDx Talk videos.

Jaime shared his passion for the potential of digital technologies and Google tools to improve pedagogy and enable powerful learning. Andy Plemmons (@plemmonsa) wrote a Knowledge Quest blog post about Jaime’s talk: “Shifting Our Culture: An Opening Keynote with Jaime Casap.”

In addition to Andy’s report, there were two comments that Jaime made that really struck a chord with me. He noted that it is essential that we change the paradigm of teaching from a “solo sport” to a collaborative one. We know it takes teams of educators working together to keep schooling relevant and dynamic for today’s students. I totally agree and understand that in many ways, it is easier to work with students than with our adult colleagues.

This presents a leadership opportunity for school librarians. I believe that we have a key role to play in creating a high-impact collaborative culture in our schools through coplanning, coteaching, and coassessing learning.

At the end of his talk, Jaime said this (and this is a direct quote to the best of my memory): “At the end of the day, the most important person in the classroom (or maybe he said ‘school’) is…” He then he paused.

While I “heard” 90% (or more) of the school librarians in the room thinking “the student,” I immediately thought of Ken Haycock’s words related to this perspective.

Then Jaime broke the silence and said, “the teacher.” And I “heard” almost everyone in the room think, “Yes! I am the teacher.”

But that is not what I heard. I heard the classroom teacher. I heard yet another call to action for school librarians to be leaders who build capacity by collaborating with our colleagues to improve classroom teachers’ and our own craft of teaching.

Here’s what Ken Haycock said, “Whom do you serve? Most (school librarians) would answer students, yet the primary clientele in terms of power, impact, and effect would be teachers” (2017, 3).

School librarians who were fortunate to attend #AASL17 in Phoenix and learn with and from colleagues have an obligation to take their learning home. Share what you learned with your administrators, classroom teachers, and school librarian colleagues. Discuss the ideas and strategies that were part of your conference learning.

Which leads me to thank the participants in the “Leadership: Many Roles for School Librarians” and “Investing in Social Capital Counts” concurrent sessions. In both, I made a plea for school librarians to step up their leadership by collaborating with colleagues in every aspect of their work from reading promotion, reading comprehension and writing strategy instruction, inquiry learning, and technology-enabled learning. Any one or all of these could be the “problems” we are helping our colleagues solve. Or as Kristin Fontichiaro (@active learning) vividly described them in the “Leadership” session: our colleagues’ “pain points.”

School librarians demonstrate leadership and added value when we work collaboratively with other educators to help them solve their instructional challenges and when we work together to help students meet their learning needs.  For school librarians, “collaboration is the single professional behavior that most affects student achievement” (2007, 32).

What did you take away from the conference? I invite you to share here on the School Librarian Leadership blog.

Note: I have uploaded the slides and handout from “Investing in Social Capital Counts” on the session wiki.

References

Haycock, Ken. 2007. Collaboration: Critical Success Factors for Student Learning. School Libraries Worldwide 13 (1): 25-35.

_____. 2017. Leadership from the Middle: Building Influence for Change. In The Many Faces of School Library Leadership, 2nd ed., ed. Sharon Coatney and Violet H. Harada, 1-12. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Image Credit: Created at Wordle.net

AASL National Conference

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is coming to Phoenix! The AASL National Conference & Exhibition is held every other year in locations around the U.S. This year the conference will be held from November 9th – 11th. It will bring about 4,000 members of our profession, authors, vendors, and school library advocates to the Grand Canyon State.

AASL conferences are exemplary professional learning opportunities for school librarians, school librarian supervisors, school administrators, and others who are committed to preparing preK-12 students for their future.

School librarianship has always been a dynamic profession. But with more pressure on educators to prepare future-ready students, the increasing spread of information and misinformation, and the proliferation of technology resources and devices, school librarians and effective school library programs are needed now more than ever.

One-hour concurrent sessions are the backbone of AASL conferences. Check out the schedule of opportunities to learn from colleagues from across the country and link to “concurrent sessions” at various times throughout the conference.

On Friday, November 10th, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., I will be part of a panel presentation: “Leadership: Many Roles for School Librarians.” The presenters are the editors and five of the chapter authors from The Many Faces of School Library Leadership (ABC-CLIO 2017): Sharon Coatney, Vi Harada, Debbie Abilock, Helen Adams, Kristin Fontichiaro, Deb Levitov, and yours truly. We will share further ideas from the book in room North 125A.

On Saturday, November 11th, from 3:10 to 4:10 p.m., I will share “Investing in Social Capital Counts.” My session focuses on strategies to make connections and build the relationships (the social capital) school librarians need to diffuse innovations throughout their learning communities. Building instructional partnerships is an essential way school librarians enact leadership and maximize their impact on learning and teaching. The session will be held in 132AB

If you are attending the conference, please consider joining me at either one or both of these sessions. If you are unable to attend Saturday’s session, you can find out more information on the Web at: Investing In Social Capital Counts.

And if you are not able to make the trip to Phoenix, follow the conference on Twitter: #AASL17.

The fact that this year’s conference is being held in Arizona hones a spotlight on the state of the profession in Arizona. Tragically, the vast majority of Arizona students and classroom teachers lack the support of state-certified school librarians. Please read my op ed that appeared in the November 3rd issue of the AZ Daily Star: “Missing school librarians means lost literacy learning.”

If you are a national colleague, join me in my commitment to continually improve my practice of librarianship. In addition, if you live in Arizona, please work with me to restore school library programs in our state. Both commitments are for the benefit of our students, educators, families, communities, and nation.

Image Credit: Provided by AASL

The Phoenix and AASL

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Perhaps like me, you have imagined, practiced, and reimagined your professional work over a number of years. This past year has been a transition period for me. Actually, I am still in a period of ambiguity and although I have been here before, it’s not the most comfortable place for me to be.

Fortunately, I prepared for my “premature” retirement by beginning to write my forthcoming book before leaving my associate professor position. Once again, writing “saved” me! (And when writing doesn’t reading does!) Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy will be published in early spring 2018.

In the meantime, I am living the myth of the Phoenix and thinking about the connections between my professional life and the upcoming AASL Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Like the mythical Phoenix from Greek mythology, I consider myself a “long-lived” bird – member of the school librarian profession. I have been cyclically born and reborn through my service as a school librarian at all three instructional levels in six school libraries in three different school districts. Each administrator, faculty member, student population, and community presented learning opportunities and challenges. Transitioning between levels and schools always felt like a mini-death and rebirth.

My service to AASL has also be an essential and cyclical aspect of my professional life. From serving on AASL’s @your library® Committee, chairing the School Librarian’s Role in Reading Task Force, serving on the 2009 Standards and Guidelines Implementation Task Force, serving on and then chairing the Knowledge Quest Editorial Review Board, to present time serving on the Interdivisional School-Public Library Collaboration Task Force and chairing the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Task Force.

Like the Phoenix, I have always felt stronger in my knowledge and practice and more empowered in each successive position and committee appointment.

The same can be said for my work over a 21-year-period as an adjunct instructor, clinical assistant professor, and most recently a tenure-track faculty member. Each new group of students, each new course, each new semester presented a fresh opportunity to be regenerated.

Like the Phoenix, this blog, too, is experiencing a re-beginning. For four years along with fellow faculty members from across the country and last year as a solo blogger, we/I blogged on the Building a Culture of Collaboration @Edublogs.org site. Now with my own domain, I will continue to share the news, research, and musings that have always been the focus of this Web presence.

And to further the Phoenix connection, AASL will be rolling out the new standards and guidelines—another opportunity to re-energize our profession. The conference will be held in Phoenix from Wednesday, November 8th through Saturday, November 11th.

As I prepare for my rebirth as a full-time consultant, I am excited to have the opportunity to present an AASL conference session “Investing in Social Capital Counts” (Saturday, 11/11 at 3:10 p.m.) and serve on a panel “Leadership: Many Roles for School Librarians” (Friday, 11/10 at 10:10 a.m.). For me, the fact that “Beyond the Horizon” will be held in Phoenix creates a full-circle synchronicity with my professional life since I began my career as a school librarian and as a school librarian educator in Arizona and now live once again full time in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope you have also registered and are making your travel plans to attend the conference. In addition to this year’s official rollout of the new standards, AASL conferences are always a golden opportunity to learn and network with colleagues from across the country.

Next Monday, September 18th, AASL will hold the first Twitter chat focused on AASL’s “National School Library Standards.” To participate, follow #AASLStandards beginning at 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

Wishing you an exciting professional rebirth this academic year and looking forward to the chat next Monday…

Image Credit:
Leunert, Elisabeth. “Phoenix Bird.” Pixabay, 7 June 2016, pixabay.com/en/phoenix-bird-fire-bright-red-swing-1440452/.

#AASL 65th Anniversary

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Last year, the American Association of School Librarians launched their 65th Anniversary Giving Campaign: “It’s in Our Hands: Celebrate the Past, Transform the Future.”

There are soooo many reasons to belong to the only national association dedicated to school librarians. There are also many reasons to participate as an active member who volunteers for committee service. Additionally, at this time in the history of our organization, there are reasons to accept the invitation to support the 65th anniversary giving campaign.

In their chapter entitled “Leadership and Your Professional School Library Association,” Connie Williams and Blanche Woolls offer nine reasons for joining professional organizations:

  1. Networking locally that begins with fellow librarians;
  2. Networking state-wide opens the door to leadership opportunities;
  3. Networking nationally allows opportunities to meet others from far afield;
  4. Improving your communication skills on an online listserv or other online communications group;
  5. Develops a greater number of professional friendships and a collegiality that builds year after year.
  6. Become a more active member by serving on a committee;
  7. Attend conferences to hear outstanding speakers and attend exciting and uplifting sessions and workshops;
  8. Provide a dais for members to tell smaller groups the good things that are going on in their schools and school libraries;
  9. Lobbying for school libraries to local, state, and national government officials (157-158).

All of these reasons may be important for individual school librarians at various points in their careers. At this time of year when school librarians and their advocates are often called into action, the importance of improving one’s communication skills cannot be undervalued. As Hilda Weisburg notes: “One of the unexpected benefits of serving at the state, and even more so on the national level, is what occurs to your vocabulary. You develop a fluency in talking about the value of school librarians and what a strong school library program brings to students, teachers, and the educational community as a whole” (143).

Our advocacy not only requires an articulate voice but collaboration with other library stakeholders as well. Elaborating on Forbes blogger Joe Folkman’s The Six Secrets of Successfully Assertive Leaders, Susan D. Ballard and Blanche Woolls wrote this in their recent Knowledge Quest Blog post Leadership–Assert Yourself! “Look for opportunities to collaborate as that is yet another area in which all school librarians need to step up their game in order to extend their participation in and influence on teaching and learning.”

As a donor to AASL’s 65th Anniversary Campaign, I was invited to give a testimonial.

“AASL has given me a ‘home’ for my passions: learning, literacy, literature, and libraries. I have never hesitated to re-up my membership—even when times were lean. AASL’s professional development opportunities have been worth every dime and every minute I have invested. Through participation, I experienced the benefits of membership. I have made lifelong friends. I have found guidance and support for leading through the library programs in the school communities I served. Along with fellow AASL members who understood my library life, I was able to develop as an educator. Together, we gave back to the Association. Happy 65th Anniversary, AASL! Thank you for being there for me, the librarians who came before me, and those who will follow.”

School Library Month is an optimum time to consider the importance of membership and participation in our national association. Link to the AASL 65th Anniversary page and make a donation to support AASL.

And proudly wear your AASL 65th Anniversary pin and Twibbon.

Works Cited

Ballard, Susan D., and Blanche Woolls. “Leadership — Assert Yourself!” Knowledge Quest Blog. 18 Apr. 2017, http://knowledgequest.aasl.org/leadership-assert-yourself/.

Weisburg, Hilda K. Leading for School Librarians: There Is No Other Option. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2017.

Williams, Connie, and Blanche Woolls. “Leadership and Your Professional School Library Association.” The Many Faces of School Library Leadership, 2nd ed., edited by Sharon Coatney and Violet H. Harada, Libraries Unlimited, 2017, pp. 157-169.

Image Credit: Twibbon provided by AASL