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Preconference Workshops
Full Day
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action
Wednesday, November 4, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Room 217A
Fee: $189 (AASL member) / $294 (Non-member)
From single lessons to project-based units, library media specialists and teachers can collaborate to bring AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner to life. Join us in this interactive day of developing instructional activities that fit any library schedule (from fixed to flexible) and any level. Learn how to integrate interactive technology and assessment to transform your students into active and reflective learners who are empowered to think and create on their own.
Presenters: Pam Berger is a library consultant and publisher/editor of Information Searcher, a newsletter focusing on the Web in schools. Ms. Berger is also an adjunct instructor at Syracuse University School. Barbara Stripling is director of library services for the Department of Education in New York City. She has had a thirty-year career in education as a classroom teacher, K–12 library media specialist, Library Power director, and school district director of instructional services.
AASL School Library Advocacy Institute
Wednesday, November 4, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Room 211AB
Fee: $189 (AASL member) / $294 (Non-member)
The AASL School Library Advocacy Institute provides information, resources, and strategies that help define advocacy and facilitate the development of long-term advocacy action plans for school library media programs. This Institute incorporates various tools available to school librarians, including the AASL Advocacy toolkit of online resources, the marketing resources developed through the ALA @ your library campaign, and the resources that assist school librarians in developing an advocacy action plan that goes beyond PR and marketing.
Presenter: Deb Levitov was a library media specialist for fourteen years at the building level and served as the coordinator for library media programs at the district level for twelve years. She is currently serving as the managing editor for School Library Media Activities Monthly and Crinkles magazines with Libraries Unlimited.
Half Day
Beyond Simple Web Searching—Guerrilla Tactics to Get the Information You Want and Know What You're Getting
Wednesday, November 4, 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 217D
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
Do you and your students want to be savvy web-literate users of the Internet? Discover methods useful in evaluating the reliability and relevance of the information we find. Goals include uncovering the driving social, political, media, and business forces behind what you find. Explore a wide variety of Web browser add-ons, and their advantages and disadvantages in doing effective information gathering on the Web. You will learn a number of methods useful in gathering and/or saving information and information sources on the Web, including: gleaning, Web whacking, bookmarks, social bookmarking, citation, and image capture. Session includes a booklet and exercises to reinforce the information presented.
Presenter: Anthony A. Luscre is director of technology at Mogadore Local Schools with over twelve years of experience in the field. He has presented at numerous state technology conferences.
Rev Up Your Collections and Curriculum with Graphic Novels
Wednesday, November 4, 1:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
Room 217D
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
Ready to rev up your graphic novel collections? Want to learn about new graphic novel titles? Join Michele Gorman, a nationally-recognized graphic novel guru, as she booktalks resources for your collections. Criteria for selecting graphic novel resources will be presented, along with research on the advantages of using graphic novels with students. Michele and her co-presenters are K–12 and higher education librarians who will share best practices for using graphic novels across the curriculum. Attendees will learn about websites, professional titles, and review sources. Time will be allowed for break-out sessions and an opportunity to examine resources. Handouts will be available online.
Presenters: Karen Gavigan, a former media specialist, is the director of the Teaching Resources Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is currently conducting research on the effect of graphic novels on the reading motivation of male adolescents. Michele Gorman is the teen services coordinator for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, NC. She is also the author of many books, including Comics for Kids (Linworth 2007), as well as columnist for Library Media Connection and School Library Journal. Debbie Dupree is a middle school media specialist at Salem Middle School in Apex, NC. Gerry Solomon is the school library media consultant for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Instructional Technology Section. Mindy Tomasevich is middle school media coordinator and a National Board Certified teacher.
Rev Up Learning through Project-Based Learning
Wednesday, November 4, 1:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
Room 217BC
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
The recently published Standards for the 21st Century Learner (AASL 2007) challenge educators to design experiences for students that provide the foundation for learning throughout life. Find out how project-based learning (PBL) is a model that shifts away from isolated instruction and emphasizes rigorous, real-world tasks. Engage in discussion and activities that demonstrate how PBL in high schools can provide school library media specialists with unique opportunities to be integral members of project planning and teaching teams.
Presenters: Violet Harada is a professor in the University of Hawaii’s Library and Information Science Program and the author of numerous articles and books on the role of the library media specialist as teacher and instructional partner. Carolyn Kirio and Sandra Yamamoto are National Board Certified school library media specialists at Kapolei High School in Hawaii. Their library was recognized by AASL and Follett Library Resources as one of the National School Library Media Programs of the Year in 2006. Harada, Kirio, and Yamamoto have jointly authored Collaborating for Project-Based Learning in Grades 9–12 (Linworth 2008).
Law for School Librarians: Knowing Minors’ Rights
Thursday, November 5, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 218
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
Learn how the First Amendment, state and federal laws, and judicial decisions affect the intellectual freedom of students using school library media centers. Topics to be covered include minors’ rights in school libraries, challenges, labeling of resources, filtering Web resources, and privacy. Presenters will differentiate between public and private school libraries in terms of how laws apply, and will discuss the rights of younger versus older minors. Experienced library media specialists will facilitate group discussions and role playing related to challenges and students' privacy, and will provide strategies for teaching students about their rights and responsibilities.
Presenters: Deborah Caldwell-Stone is deputy director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, where she works on projects dealing with censorship and privacy in libraries. An attorney by training, she practiced appellate law before the state and federal courts in Chicago before joining ALA in 2000. Theresa Chmara is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Jenner & Block. She has served as counsel to the Freedom to Read Foundation for over fifteen years. She is on the steering committee of the Lawyers for Libraries program and has instructed at each of the twelve Lawyers for Libraries institutes. Pat Scales, a retired school librarian, is on the ALA faculty for Lawyers for Libraries, and is the author of Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers (ALA 2001) and Intellectual Freedom in School Libraries (ALA 2001). Barbara Stripling is director of library services for the Department of Education in New York City. She has had a thirty-year career in education as a classroom teacher, K–12 library media specialist, Library Power director, and school district director of instructional services, Dorcas Hand has been an independent school librarian in Houston, TX since 1978, working at a variety of schools at all levels K–12 and surviving more than one challenge in those thirty years. Helen Adams is a former school library media specialist and technology coordinator in Wisconsin and is currently an online instructor for Mansfield University, teaching a course focusing on legal and access issues in school library media programs. She is co-author of Privacy in the 21st Century: Issues for Public, School, and Academic Libraries (Libraries Unlimited 2005).
The Games Libraries Play (And How They Align Them)
Thursday, November 5, 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 213A
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
Looking for a way to rev up the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and your state’s curriculum standards? Curriculum-aligned gaming lets school libraries provide learning resources that students just cannot wait to enjoy. From modern board games bringing problem solving and content-area learning to K–12 classes, to the never-ending development of virtual worlds and video games, explore models for success with participants in the ALA Gaming for Literacy grant.
Presenters: Christopher Harris, author of the “Infomancy” blog, is the coordinator of the school library system for Genesee Valley BOCES and a regular technology columnist for School Library Journal talking about "The Next Big Thing." Brian Mayer is a library technology specialist for the school library system of Genesee Valley BOCES System. Brian has worked along with his colleagues to build a fully aligned board game library for loan to their member libraries. Kelly Czarnecki is a technology education librarian at ImaginOn, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. She was included in Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers 2007 supplement for her work with gaming and virtual worlds.
Toward a Kinder Planet: Values and Language Play Through Storytelling
Thursday, November 5, 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 219
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
Come prepared to learn to tell six audience-participation folktales. Our tales will deal with themes of caring for the planet and for each other. Use these tales in language play and lead your students into reading through told stories. Plan a spot to use these stories in the week following the conference. You will leave ready to tell.
Presenter: Folklorist and storyteller Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald travels the world telling stories and teaching others to tell. Using simple audience-participation folktales MacDonald claims she can teach anyone to tell a story in about an hour! MacDonald, who holds a PhD in folklore from Indiana University, has offered her "Playing with Story" workshops and performances in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as throughout North America. She is author of over fifty-five books, including the award-winning Peace Tales (Linnet Books 1992) and The Storyteller's Start-up Book (August House 1993).
Eating Elephant 2.0 One Bite at a Time: Using the Read-Write Web in Classrooms and Libraries
Thursday, November 5, 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 213CD
Fee: $109 (AASL member) / $214 (Non-member)
New web-based tools are opening exciting collaborative learning opportunities for educators. Find out how teachers and librarians are using wikis, blogs, feed readers, social bookmarking sites, MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments), and other Web 2.0 tools to increase student engagement. Tips, no-cost sites for beginners, and an in-service model for teachers will be given.
Presenter: Doug Johnson has been the director of media and technology for the Mankato (MN) Public Schools since 1991 and has served as an adjunct faculty member of Minnesota State University since 1990. His teaching experience has included work in grades K–12 both here and in Saudi Arabia. He is the author of four books. His regular columns appear in Library Media Connection and on the Education World website.
Using Guided Inquiry to Accomplish 21st Century Learner Standards
Thursday, November 5, 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Room 211/212
THIS SESSION IS FULL
This workshop prepares library media specialists to meet the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner through guided inquiry. The new standards are strongly inquiry–based, calling for innovative ways to prepare students for 21st century life and work. But the standards can seem overwhelming and difficult to meet. Guided inquiry provides a framework for library media specialists and teachers to work together to develop interventions and strategies that guide students in curriculum-based inquiry for the deep learning that the standards require. This collaborative approach to teaching based on Carol Collier Kuhlthau’s extensive research describes critical points in the inquiry process essential for guiding students in learning through inquiry.
Presenters: Carol Collier Kuhlthau is a professor emerita of library and information science at Rutgers University, where she directed the graduate program in school librarianship that is rated number one in the country by U.S. News & World Report. She was founding director of the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL), where she continues to serve as senior advisor. Ann Kuhlthau Caspari is a museum education specialist with over twenty years of experience working with school audiences in museums. Currently she works as an early childhood education specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, developing learning experiences for children ages three through eight. Leslie K. Maniotes began her work in education as a public elementary school teacher in Randolph County (NC). Leslie works as an educational consultant for Denver Public Schools with educators, schools, and district-level department heads. She is a designer of professional development training based on an inquiry approach.
