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2008 Conference
| Dr. Ross J. Todd | 9:30 – 11:30 AM: Living the Dream: The Library Connects It All and Makes It  Happen John F Kennedy once said: “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were”. This address presents the story of 12 public schools in New Jersey who are living the dream of school libraries being transformative places in their schools, communities and the lives of the students. The stories were documented as part of CISSL’s ongoing research in New Jersey. The story is told through the eyes of school principals and curriculum leaders, and classroom teachers who have actively engaged in extensive instructional collaborations with their school librarians. From this research, key challenge and key actions are presented to enable you to not just dream, but to live the dream.
Dr Ross Todd is associate professor in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He is Director of the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL), at Rutgers University. CISSL fosters the transformative role of school libraries in 21st century schools, their integral role in the learning fabric of schools, and their role in ongoing school improvement and reform.. His primary teaching and research interests focus on adolescent information seeking and use. Research includes: understanding how children learn and build new knowledge from information; how school librarians and classroom teachers can more effectively empower student learning; and how guided inquiry and constructivist learning approaches lead to deep knowledge and deep understanding. He has published more than 130 papers and book chapters and has been an invited speaker at many international conferences, most recently in Switzerland, Scotland, Jamaica and Hong Kong.
| Tim Green
Lunch Speaker 11:30 AM. – 1:00 PM. Just Read…A Motivational Message! | Tim’s presentation to librarians is similar to his presentation to students, using many of the same stories and anecdotes, but tailoring it to an adult audience. Tim will deliver a motivational message about the importance of having good character, education and reading. He always includes wonderful stories about his life experiences. Attorney; NY Times Best Selling Author; former NFL Defensive End for the Atlanta Falcons; All American at Syracuse University; Inducted into the College Hall of Fame; Sports Illustrated calls him the "Reissuance Man." As a boy, Tim had two dreams: playing in the NFL and becoming a best-selling author. Both of those dreams have come true. After studying writing in college where he was an All American football player, Tim was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons where he was a top defensive player for eight years.
While Tim played in the NFL, he also studied law and began his writing career. When he retired from football, Tim had already published his first book and become a lawyer. As well as those two jobs, he began to work as a TV broadcaster for FOX NFL Sunday and other shows like Battlebots, Good Morning America, Court TV, and A Current Affair.
After writing more than a dozen books for grown-ups, many of them best-sellers, Tim began a series of best-selling novels for kids set in a world of sports taken from his own experiences as an athlete and a coach. In that time, Tim has spoken to tens of thousands of kids at hundreds of schools across the country about the importance of school and books and the joys and benefits of reading.
Tim lives with his wife Illyssa, their five kids, and two dogs in upstate New York where he continues to write as well as coach kids in football, baseball, soccer, and wrestling.
| | Alan November | 1:00 – 4:00 PM: Librarians as Key Leaders Internet access has brought a critical new value to the leadership of librarians. Connecting kids to an authentic global audience, creating audio content for podcasts, critical thinking skills, publishing student work, building professional communities with colleagues make the librarian more important than ever. It can be an exciting time for librarians, key leaders for our children’s future. Alan November is an international leader in education technology. He began his career as an oceanography teacher and dorm counselor at an island reform school for boys in Boston Harbor. While Alan was a computer science teacher in Lexington, MA, he was probably the first teacher in the world to have a student project on line in 1984, a database for the handicapped. He has been director of an alternative high school, computer coordinator, technology consultant and university lecturer. He has helped schools, governments and industry leaders improve the quality of education through technology. Alan was named one of the nation’s fifteen most influential thinkers of the decade by Technology and Learning Magazine. In 2001, he was listed one of eight educators to provide leadership into the future by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. In 2007 he was selected to speak at the Cisco Public Services Summit during the Nobel Prize Festivities in Stockholm, Sweden.
| | Susan Ballard: President-Elect, AASL | 6:00 – 8:00 PM Dinner Speaker: Two Roads  A reflection on where school librarians have come, as a profession, and where we need to go in order to continue to remain relevant. Susan Ballard is the President-elect of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). She is a supervisor of student library teachers for Simmons College/GSLIS and a part-time lecturer at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey/SC&I, and the University of Vermont/School of Ed. She retired as Director of Library, Media and Technology Services for the Londonderry (NH) School District. The Londonderry program is a past recipient of the National School Library Media Program of the Year. Susan is a past-president of the New Hampshire Educational Media Association (NHEMA) and of the New England School Library Association (NESLA). Susan is cited in ALA’s Whole School Library Handbook as one of the country’s “103 Outstanding School Librarians” and in 2008 was a charter inductee to the NESLA Hall of Fame. She has written numerous articles for professional publications. She is the immediate Past-Chair of the AASL Standards and Guidelines Implementation Task Force (L4L), a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Teacher-Librarian, and Knowledge Quest, the journal of AASL.
| | Jeff Kinney www.wimpykid.com gregheffley.blogspot.com |  Sunday Evening with an Author
Jeff Kinney is the #1 New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of the wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. In 2009, Jeff was named one of the 20 Artists & Entertainers in TIME magazine's list of "The World's Most Influential People." He began work as an online game designer, developing the kid’s website, " Poptropica." Currently he is the design director at a Boston based Internet publishing company. Kinney is married with two sons, Will and Grant and lives in southern Massachusetts.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 February 2012 )
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Opening Keynote 8:30 – 9:45 AM
Joyce Kasman Valenza, Ph.D.
Teacher Librarian. Springfield Township HS Library Ten BIG Things TLs Must Teach
What are the ten big things modern Teacher Librarians must teach to ensure learners at all levels grow as literate/transliterate citizens? From a better understanding of intellectual property to best tools for telling stories and communicating new knowledge, Joyce counts them down and reveals strategies for delivering instruction. Joyce Kasman Valenza loves her work as the librarian at Springfield Township High School (PA). For ten years, she was the techlife@school columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joyce is the author of Power Tools, Power Research Tools and Power Tools Recharged for ALA Editions. (PowerTools Remixed is currently in progress.) She blogs for School Library Journal. Her NeverendingSearch Blog (now on the SLJ website) won an Edublogs Award for 2005 and 2009, was nominated in 2008, 2010, and 2011. She was awarded the AASL/Highsmith research grant in 2005. Joyce is a Milken Educator, an American Memory Fellow, and a Teacher with Primary Sources Fellow. She was selected as a Technology and Learning 100@30. Her video series, Internet Searching Skills was a YALSA Selected Video for Young Adults in 1999. The video series, Library Skills for Children was released in 2003, and her six-volume video series Research Skills for Students was released in Fall 2004. Her Virtual Library won the IASL School Library Web Page of the Year Award for 2001. She has won her state's PSLA Outstanding Program (2005) and Outstanding Contributor (2009) Awards. Joyce is active in ALA, AASL, YALSA, and ISTE and contributes to VOYA, Technology and Learning, LMC and School Library Journal. Joyce speaks internationally about issues relating to libraries and thoughtful use of educational technology. Joyce earned her doctoral degree from the University of North Texas in August, 2007. She considers herself a mother and a founder of the School Library Geek Tribe, TLNing, TL Virtual Café, TL Ning, Pathfinder Swap, School Library Websites, and TLGuide.
CONCURRENT SESSION I 10:15 – 11:15 AM Joyce Kasman Valenza, Teacher Librarian,Springfield Township HS Library
Library 3.0? Creating & Curating Hybrid Information Landscapes for Learners Our libraries should be more kitchen than grocery store. They are not merely places to GET stuff. They are places to make stuff, share stuff, do stuff. And they should have two front doors, and one of them should be virtual. The effective library is a libratory and its virtual component presents the librarian as curator of essential online content and resources, offering guidance while fostering inquiry and independent learning, promoting transliteracy, redefining community, and valuing and incorporating the work of the whole learning community. Joyce will explore the transition and the many new ways we can really getting cooking, virtually and face-to-face. Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Author/Illustrator & Jordan Brown,
Senior editor, Walden Pond Press & Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins Children’s Books Guys Read Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author/illustrator and creator of the Lunch Lady graphic novel series, and Jordan Brown, senior editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, both of whom have worked on Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read Library of Great Reading and are certified boy readers themselves, will discuss their experiences working on books specifically aimed at young boys. What do these readers respond to? Why do so many of them seem so hard to reach? How are authors, illustrators, and publishers responding to the need for a new paradigm where these readers are concerned? And what are the best books for middle grade guys? Come prepared with questions for a lively discussion. Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the author and illustrator of several picture books and middle grade graphic novels. His work has been short-listed by Newsweek, USA Today, The Boston Globe and The New York Times, among many others. Jarrett's Punk Farm and Lunch Lady series are both currently in development as feature films. Jordan Brown is a senior editor with Walden Pond Press and Balzer + Bray at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Over the course of his career, he has been fortunate enough to work with such esteemed authors and illustrators as Jon Scieszka, E.L. Konigsburg, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Donna Jo Napoli, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Gris Grimly, Hope Larson, Anne Ursu, M. Sindy Felin, and Greg Ruth. Among their books are ALA Best Books for Young Adults, New York Times bestsellers, an Edgar Award nominee, and a National Book Award finalist. Kathy Dubrovsky. Sharon Schools Library Coordinator K – 12, East Elementary Thinkfinity Overview The overview will include an explanation of Verizon Thinkfinity. There will be an introduction to the new National Geographic web site and a review of one or more of the other ten Content Partners Web sites. All of the Thinkfinity homepage features will be explained in detail. The most exciting new Thinkfinity social network features will be introduced including “The Community” and the “State Partners” area. I have been working in public, academic, private and school libraries for over twenty-five years. I have been a MSLA member for years and did serve as MSLA Curriculum Coordinator. Presently, I am the Library Coordinator K – 12 for the Sharon School Department. Several years ago, I went through the Thinkfinity Field training and became a Thinkfinity Field Trainer. Then, I went on to become a Certified Thinkfinity Trainer. I have trained scores of library teachers all over the state. In March, I was offered the job as Thinkfinity Coordinator. I accepted this position and am proud and privileged to say that I share this position with April Graziano. Christopher Harris Director, Genesee Valley School Library System Reading Beyond Print: From EInk to iPads Ebooks have arrived, but what is the best way to make use of them in our libraries? Christopher Harris, member of the ALA Presidential Task Force on Equitable Access to Electronic Resources and the ALA Office of Information Technology Policy Ebook Task Force shares updates from the field. This session will review popular ebook readers and introduce a variety of ebook models.
Christopher Harris, director of the Genesee Valley School Library System in Western NY, is a technology columnist for School Library Journal and a national conference speaker. Recently he has been involved in ALA task forces on ebooks and electronic content. He is co-author of Libraries Got Game (ALA Editions, 2010) and creator of the Administrator’s Guide to School Libraries.
Char Sidell, Teacher Librarian, Broadmeadow School Needham
Char's Shares: New Books for K-5 A look at some new books to spark your library collection and support elementary curriculum across the grade levels. We'll look at current works by favorite authors as well as new authors and illustrators, with a focus on the best of the best in 2011-2012!
My career began as a Title I Librarian in Chelsea, MA before becoming a fourth grade teacher at the Williams School. I went on to be part of the McCarthy-Towne School in Acton as a second grade teacher, and later a part time kindergarten teacher. While my children were young, I taught 2-5 year olds at the Red Barn Nursery School in Weston, where children’s literature became the pivotal part of my curriculum. This led me to pursue my MLS at Simmons College. Upon graduation, I worked in the Children’s Room of the Wellesley Free Library and the Needham Public Library, and the Broadmeadow Elementary School in Needham, where I have been for the past 20 years. I have also taught a course “Children’s Literature Across the Curriculum” through Framingham State College and TEC.
CONCURRENT SESSION II 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Buffy Hamilton, School Librarian, Creekview High School, Georgia Libraries as Communally Constructed Site of Participatory Culture: Cultivating Participatory Literacy As sites of participatory culture, libraries are situated to support the intersection of multiple forms of literacy, including metaliteracy, new media literacies, digital literacy, and search literacy. At the heart of these literacies is participatory learning and literacy---so how do libraries cultivate participatory literacy to disrupt what Paulo Freire calls the “banking” system of education and to privilege conversations for learning through inquiry, engagement, and personalized learning environments? We’ll explore how a lens of the library as a site of participatory culture informs instructional design and programming to honor participatory literacy.
Buffy Hamilton, The Unquiet Librarian at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, is a nineteen year veteran educator and passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences for her students. She is the GAIT/GLMLA School Library Media Specialist of the Year 2010 for the state of Georgia, and her library media program was named one of the two exemplary high school media programs in Georgia 2010. Buffy’s Media 21 program is an ALA OITP 2011 Cutting Edge Service Award winner and she is a 2011 Library Journal Mover and Shaker. Her blog, The Unquiet Librarian, was voted Best School Library Blog in the 2011 Salem Press Blog Awards. Sharon Colvin, Young Adult Librarian, Chelmsford Public Library Spectacular YA Books Do you need help deciding what books to buy for your middle or high school library? Sharon will present hot titles, new classics and hidden gems that will be sure to add sparkle to your collection. You’ll leave with lists of books to buy, recommend and read!
Sharon Colvin is the Young Adult Librarian at Chelmsford Public Library. She holds masters degrees in both Education and Library Science and has been working with teens for more than 10 years. She is passionate about Teen Literature and is always reading something new.
Lori Cooney Project Coordinator and Universal Design Specialist, Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston Web 2.0 Tools that Enrich Information Literacy Skills In today’s digital world, it is essential for educators to integrate and appropriate emerging technologies into instruction for student engagement and success. Students are constantly texting, twittering and using Facebook throughout the day, but do they really know how to search the Internet or create digital content? In this workshop attendees will learn to close the gap on the digital divide by learning about a variety of Web 2.0 tools that enhance the teaching and learning process and enrich information literacy skills. Attendees will leave this workshop with project ideas and a new level of excitement for teaching.
Some topic examples: Create an online cartoon for vocabulary studies using Toondoo; Develop a concept map using Creately or Bubbl.us; Collaborate on a scrapbook project using Mixbook; Create a timeline of images, videos and audio using Capzles; Bookmark, share and highlight digital content with Diigo
Lori Cooney is a Project Coordinator & Universal Design Specialist at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to joining ICI, Lori served as an Instructional Designer at a postsecondary institution. She has also served as a Coordinator of Technology Integration and is an active MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educator) special interest group (SIG) member. She has experience collaborating with educators across the curriculum on instructional resources, universal design techniques, lesson plans and assessment strategies that meet the learning styles of all students. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering professional development for faculty and staff including developing and implementing integrated instructional technology lesson plans that incorporate engaging activities for a successful student experience. Some of the integration tools that she currently uses are online lesson plan builders, rubric generators, Web 2.0 tools, tablet devices, and open-source applications. Lori holds a Master of Education in Instructional Technology from Lesley University and a Bachelor of Science in Speech from Emerson College. Amy Short, Director of Library and Media Services, Boston Public Schools Serving Urban Teens Roundtable Discussion Whether you work with teens in a school or a public library, you know there are issues that are unique to the urban situation. This moderated, interactive discussion will explore topics related to serving urban teens in school and public libraries including unique challenges (and solutions), best practices, helpful resources, current trends/interests of urban teens, and school/public library collaboration.
Amy Short has worked with teens as a school or public librarian in New York and Massachusetts for more than 20 years. She spent many years working as a Library Media Specialist in upstate New York before relocating to the Boston area. After moving to Massachusetts, she worked at Boston Public Library for five years before returning to teaching and school libraries, first in Cambridge Public Schools and then Westford Public Schools. Amy has a M.L.S. Degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a M.Ed. Degree in Organizational Management from Endicott College. Amy has been the Director of Library and Media Services at Boston Public Schools since August 2010 and is currently serving on the MSLA Board as Boston Area Co-Director.
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director MSLA Share the Wealth: AASL's Lesson Plan Database The AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Lesson Plan Database is an online resource providing school librarians with a user-friendly way to create and share lesson plans with their peers. Learn the ins-and-outs of getting your lessons published in the database. In this hands-on, bring-your-own laptop session, participants will examine some of the exemplary lessons in the database and be guided through the process of submitting a lesson following the four-step lesson design from Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action.
Kathy Lowe is a past-president of the Massachusetts School Library Association and current Executive Director. She retired in 2006 from the Boston Arts Academy/Fenway High School Library, the 2004 AASL School Library Media Program of the Year. She chaired the AASL Learning Standards Indicators and Assessments Task Force that produced Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action. She currently serves as Lead Moderator for the Standards for the 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database.
CONCURRENT SESSION III 1:30 – 2:30 PM Buffy Hamilton – REPEAT SESSION FROM 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Jarrett J. Krosoczka & Jordan Brown REPEAT SESSION FROM 10:15-11:15 AM Lori Cooney, Project Coordinator and Universal Design Specialist, Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning is a professional development concept that strives to make classroom learning accessible to all students, no matter their individual backgrounds. This workshop will introduce participants to the concept of UDL with a focus on the four key principles: curriculum, instruction, assessment and environment. This workshop will give an overview of the Equity and Excellence project at UMass Boston, and explore the impact of applying UDL strategies across the K-16 curriculum. Participants will leave with multiple UDL resources, including online tools and strategies for improving teaching and learning.
Lori Cooney is a Project Coordinator & Universal Design Specialist at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to joining ICI, Lori served as an Instructional Designer at a postsecondary institution. She has also served as a Coordinator of Technology Integration and is an active MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educator) special interest group (SIG) member. She has experience collaborating with educators across the curriculum on instructional resources, universal design techniques, lesson plans and assessment strategies that meet the learning styles of all students. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering professional development for faculty and staff including developing and implementing integrated instructional technology lesson plans that incorporate engaging activities for a successful student experience. Some of the integration tools that she currently uses are online lesson plan builders, rubric generators, Web 2.0 tools, tablet devices, and open-source applications. Lori holds a Master of Education in Instructional Technology from Lesley University and a Bachelor of Science in Speech from Emerson College.
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