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President's Message

2/12/2016

1 Comment

 
Anita Cellucci is the Teacher Librarian at Westborough High School 
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Advocacy means different things to different people. It can depend on the school community, the culture of the school itself, or the issues that are at the forefront. Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly, begins her book with a discussion of what it means to dare greatly. She quotes Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, “Citizenship in a Republic,” sometimes referred to as “The Man in the Arena.” She goes on to discuss how we can spend our days trying to perfect ourselves or we can walk into the arena now and do what we can with the gifts we have. I find this quote to be a perfect analogy to think about as we reflect on our libraries and the differences between them.

As the Library Commission continues the important work to discover the state of our school libraries in Massachusetts, we are continuing conversations about what is happening in our libraries and what we know about the difference in quality as well as the difference in equitable resources available to create these programs. When we are in good situations, it is easy to forget about the other situations that exist.  It is also easy to pass judgement on the quality of instruction, the level of collaboration and the number of  innovative programs that are produced in the other spaces. It is harder to put ourselves into the shoes of the educators who are working in schools - without the understanding and support of administrators, the finances to support student innovation and the staff to allow for collaboration.  

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Today I challenge us all to dare greatly together -  to remember that if we are in the arena,  and we are doing our best to stay in the arena, that this too matters and our understanding of each other is necessary in order to move our profession and libraries forward.
1 Comment

Introducing a New Column:  Ask a Library Legend

2/12/2016

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Since most of us are solo practitioners, we often do not have someone to go to for advice in our building or even our district.  Sure, the MSLA listserv is great to get a rapid response about a resource or to collect information about how others have handled a particular challenge. Librarians are a very responsive group and are always willing to share information. But have you ever had a question that you just didn't feel comfortable asking on the public listserv? Maybe you need advice on dealing with your paraprofessionals or volunteers. Possibly you want to approach your administrators about expanding your role at your school or in your district. Or even an issue that you are considering bringing up with your union. Well bring it on! Starting with the spring issue of the Forum, we will have a new column: Ask a Library Legend. Members will be able to submit questions anonymously via a Google Form and the questions will be answered by a veteran school librarian (in other words, a Library Legend). Valerie Diggs, former MSLA President, has graciously volunteered to take the first term as Library Legend. Submit your questions below and Valerie will answer a few in the next issue.
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Academic Column: Moving from Managers to Makers

2/12/2016

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Dr. Robin Cicchetti is the librarian at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School
Last December a chirpy, cheery video from Google made the rounds of social media. “One Googler’s Take on Managing Your Time” (1 minute 41 seconds) pretty much stopped me in my tracks. The same morning I saw this video I also saw a FB post from a school library colleague who commented that “I get more work for school done in two hours on a Saturday morning than I do all week” (Hanson, 2015). Given the follow up comments, she wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Read More
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Tech Column: Weeding Your Website

2/12/2016

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Margaret Schoen is a librarian at Newton South High School.
Our library is in the process of switching over to a new version of our web site software. As we began the process of porting our web site to the new design, it occurred to me that moving a web site is very similar to moving your house.

When you have to pack all your stuff up, you uncover all sorts of things you’ve been hanging onto for reasons you can’t recall: take-out menus to restaurants that have closed, keys that open unknown doors, ticket stubs to plays you can’t remember watching.

Redesigning a website can be a similar experience - tools for projects that are no longer done, guides to courses that aren’t part of the curriculum anymore, links that go to web sites that are no longer there.

Read More
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High School Column: Health and Wellness Through the Library

2/12/2016

2 Comments

 
​Cathy Collins is the Library Media Specialist at Sharon High School
The lights are dimmed as meditative nature sounds and gentle music drift through the air. I instruct all students to stand at the front of their mats, exhale and fold forward, symbolically shaking all stressful thoughts from their heads to the ground.  I then proceed to lead the small group through a “power” yoga series of poses. A powerful 45-minute session follows of flowing yoga poses designed to build strength and flexibility while releasing tension and anxiety. One might think I am describing a yoga class on the beach in Maui. If only that were true! The view from the frosty windows of my high school library’s computer lab is instead one of a snowy New England courtyard, and Yoga Club has just ended for the day.

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2 Comments

Picture Book Column:  Let it Snow!

2/12/2016

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Char Sidell is a retired elementary library teacher from Needham.
​For this issue of the Forum, I’ve selected some of my favorite winter books, mostly snow related.  I hope a few of them will be new surprises for you to add to your repertoire of great interactive picture books to share with your students. Enjoy! --  Char

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MSLA Digital Learning Day @ WGBH

2/12/2016

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January 8, 2016, MSLA Digital Learning Day @ WGBH, was a fantastic day of learning. There was overwhelming response to the initial registration; so much so that our Professional Learning Committee had to adjust the schedule to offer repeat sessions to accommodate all those interested in attending.  To learn more about MSLA Digital Learning Day @ WGBH, follow the link below to Read More and check out the Twitter Storify from the day.  Most importantly, mark your calendars for the upcoming MSLA Spring Bookfest at UMASS Amherst on Saturday, April 30th.

Read More
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Exploring E-Books

2/12/2016

4 Comments

 
Amanda Lawrence is a graduate student at Simmons GSLIS
E-books are meant to have a place in every school library; however, getting them to that place may be a bit challenging at first.  And once e-books have found their place, it bears mentioning that their check-out statistics may pale in comparison to their print counterparts.  That’s not to say that students aren’t utilizing them, some are, but, in my experience, I’ve found that those students are often the exception and not the rule.

Read More
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Interdepartmental Seasonal Sculpture Display a Hit With High School Students

2/12/2016

0 Comments

 
Annette Tate, Erin Dalbec and Lauren Italiano are Library Teachers at Newton North High School
The team of library teachers at Newton North High School found a creative way to use weeded books, encourage reading, and challenge students to create this winter.
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(Clockwise from top left) Lory Dix, Annette Tate, Erin Dalbec and Lauren Italiano, Library Teachers at Newton North High School stay warm by sitting in front of the "fire" in their Library Learning Commons.

The fireplace was built to inspire and model creativity in the Library. The seasonal sculpture was made out of various materials including weeded books and pipe cleaners and features an audio element (the sound of a crackling fire). This was a collaborative project with the Fine Arts department who are providing student work for them to display over the mantle. The framed artwork will be rotated on a weekly basis from December through February. They received a lot of ooohs and aaaahs from their students so they set up a similar design challenge for them: build a snowman out of weeded books and a few crafty materials. The goal is to get students with free blocks to spend time together building something with their hands; it is a great activity for students to de-stress from homework and tests.

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MSLA on Twitter

2/12/2016

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This year MSLA is trying something new on Twitter.  Our live Tuesday evening chats are being replaced by a weeklong, asynchronous #MSLA chat. For the past two years we had a great group of dedicated participants on #MSLA Twitter chat nights, but there were many other members who expressed that they were unable to participate during that hour window when the live chat took place. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the content however, as was evidenced by the total number of views of the #MSLA chat archives. 

In order to allow more people to participate, we changed the format this year to a weeklong chat. Check out the Storify of the Tweets below.  The next MSLA Twitter Chat will be held during the week of March 7-10,  Watch the listserv for details and the questions.
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Visiting the Peabody Institute Creativity Lab

2/12/2016

1 Comment

 
Ellen Brandt is a librarian at the Blanchard Middle School in Westford, MA
On Saturday, November 7th, a group of school librarians visited the Creativity Lab at the Peabody Institute. (Thank you to Cathy Collins - MassCUE Makerspace SIG co-leader- for organizing this field trip!)
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Read More
1 Comment

    Forum Newsletter

    Co-Editors
    Reba Tierney and
    ​Luke Steere

    Reba is the School Librarian at Waltham High School; Luke is School Librarian at  Wilson Middle in Natick

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