Forum Newsletter - Massachusetts School Library Association

President's Message: Libraries For Everyone!

2/17/2017

MSLA President Anita Cellucci is the Library Teacher at Westborough High School

The past few months have offered much to keep up with in the world and libraries are responding in amazing solidarity. One of the reasons that I’ve spent a good chunk of my working life in libraries is the overwhelming energy of inclusiveness. Libraries are for everyone as this artwork from Hafuboti indicates.

MSLA has spent the past several years working toward providing the research and advocacy to support this belief. In the last couple of years that work has been taken on by the Legislative Commission. Over the past year, it has included work on the new Federal Legislation for ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). You can read about what our committee has been up to here and here. There is more work to be done and it is imperative to answer the call when the call comes for school librarian involvement. Successful Legislative Breakfasts were held this year as in past years at school libraries - getting legislators and community members into your building and libraries is an effective way to demonstrate the difference a library makes in our students lives. There are so many resources at our fingertips and when we join forces we are indeed a force.

Tech Column: Information Literacy in the Library Classroom

2/16/2017

Margaret Schoen is a librarian at Newton South High School.

You can hardly open a newspaper or look online these days without being confronted with the phenomenon of fake news. Politicians, media critics, librarians, educators - we’re all discussing the topic and wondering, how do we educate our children to deal with a world where much of the information they’re being bombarded with is designed to trick them?

In this month’s column I’m addressing how the library team at Newton South is working on this topic, but we’re also interested in hearing from you. What has your school been doing? Are there programs or practices you’ve found effective? Respond in the comments and share your stories.

Cuts To Statewide Databases Imminent

2/16/2017

Laura Luker is a library teacher at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School

In these times of fake news and uncertain facts, it is more important than ever for young people to have access to quality, trustworthy sources of information. As school librarians, we are charged with teaching students the vitally important skills of critical reading, questioning, and seeking the information necessary to participate as informed members of society. However, for school librarians striving to teach information literacy, next school year’s lesson plans may contain far fewer resources.

Academic Column: Visioning the Future

2/16/2017

Dr. Robin Cicchetti is the librarian at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School

In December 2016 the Massachusetts Library System held a conference to share their plans for the implementation of their new strategic plan. The heart of the plan lies in the value of “co-creating a future together.” The keynote was given by Miguel Figueroa, head of the American Library Association Center for the Future of Libraries.

No Food Allowed

2/15/2017

By Anonymous

A typical day’s trash in our “No Food Allowed” library

Every September the school nurse at our high school announces that we have a new student with serious, life threatening allergies and that no food will be allowed in any classroom. We wonder who this student is so we can be mindful. This student could go into anaphylactic shock in the library. I’ve practiced plunging an epi pen into an orange just like everyone else, but I do not want to do this in real life.

When the announcement is made, we acknowledge that we have not officially allowed food in the classrooms for years, yet every year we have food in the classrooms, the hallways, in the library, in staff offices. Administrators stock large urns with candy to lure students into their gingerbread houses. We’ve seen our principal walk down the hallway with the urn in his arms, a smile on his face. But, no more. This year it will be different. This year we mean it.

Four Years of One School, One Story: Why Does it Work?

2/15/2017

The article was co-written by the following people:

Allyson McHugh: Director of ELA for Waltham Public Schools and co-chair of the One School, One Story program

Emilie Perna: English teacher at Waltham High School and co-chair of the One School, One Story program

Kendall Boninti: currently Library Teacher at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and formerly Library Teacher at Waltham High School and co-chair of the One School, One Story program

Four years ago, Waltham High School embarked on its first ever One School, One Story summer reading program. We believe that One School, One Story is a living, breathing entity that needs constant renewal and fresh ideas, in order to engage students, staff, and the greater community. Over the past four years, we have hosted authors, “read” a podcast, initiated a 24 Hour Read-a-thon, and experimented with a conference-style workshop day for students. There is nothing easy about this approach to summer reading. We essentially start from zero again every year, as opposed to reusing the same list of books for each grade level, or even the same format. Since the change in approach, readership has increased by 20%, and the program has become deeply embedded in the fabric of the school community.

Elementary Column: Avery Elementary School’s Reading Without Walls Challenge

2/15/2017

Wendy Garland is the School Librarian at Avery School in Dedham, MA.

I am always looking for new ways to engage readers. When National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang, proposed the Reading Without Walls challenge I knew it was the perfect opportunity to have rich conversations with students and take deeper looks at our reading to challenge ourselves as readers.

To start the new year we began by discussing what our favorite kind of books are - we all have those. The challenge was to read outside of our comfort zone. We talked about what might happen. I proposed a three part challenge: topic, character and format.

For our first exploration of topics, students chose a non-fiction book and returned to the perimeter of the rug where we then had a "30 second book preview" activity. Students had 30 seconds to look through the book then pass it on to the next student. I wrapped up the activity by asking for a show of hands in response to a variety of questions including “Who saw something that they already knew a lot about?” “Who saw something interesting?” and “Who saw something they might like to read?”

Picture Book Column: A New Perspective on an Old Favorite: Looking Inside the Making of THE SNOWY DAY

2/15/2017

Char Sidell is the librarian at Codman Academy in Boston.

With my ever-present dilemma of which books to write about for the Forum, I’m following my heart this time and writing about one of my very favorite books that has recently been in the spotlight.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (New York: Viking, 1962) won the 1963 Caldecott medal. It received a lot of attention because of its multicultural protagonist, Peter. While Peter is often thought of being the first child of color illustrated in an American picture book, he is not. According to Kathleen T. Horning, the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, “there were really early negative portrayals, such a the Epaminondas series (c.1907) by Sara Cone Bryant and Little Black Sambo (1900), by Helen Bannerman which wasn’t really African American but used a lot of stereotypes familiar in the U.S. The first positive portrayal of a child of color in a picture book was Tobe (1939) by Stella Gentry Sharpe. It was followed by Two is a Team (1945) by Lorraine and Jerrold Beim, and My dog Rinty (1946) by Ellen Tarry and Marie Hall Ets. Tobe and My Dog Rinty were both illustrated with photographs. Two is a Team was illustrated by Ernest Crichlow, making it the first picture book illustrated by an African-American artist.” This story has an African American protagonist who, after a disagreement about building a coaster with his white friend, ends up learning the value of working together.

Advice Column: Ask a Library Legend

2/15/2017

Valerie Diggs is the Librarian at Lowell Catholic High School
Questions may be submitted for this column using the confidential link at the bottom of this post

Question Number One:
"Graphic novel cataloging wisdom needed - I've inherited a rather mixed collection including GN fiction, non-fiction, and Manga all inconsistently labeled making some items almost impossible for a student to locate.'

A Guide to Building Community through an All-School Reading Program

2/15/2017

Meghan O'Neill is the Library and Learning Commons Director at Pingree School

In 2010, I started as the Library Director at Pingree School under the leadership of Dr. Tim Johnson, who had become Head of School in 2009. To my great surprise (and delight!), one of the first mailings that I received from Pingree included not only a printout of the daily schedule and the important dates of the school year, but also a copy of No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan.

I soon found out that No Impact Man was a Community Read, to be read by all students, faculty, and staff, followed by small group discussions in the first weeks of school. While there was already existing assigned summer reading books by department and grade level, this Community Read was the first of its kind at Pingree. Since there was no full-time librarian at that time, the program was spearheaded by a now-retired science teacher and environmentalist who wanted to use the book as a springboard for launching a composting program at the school. In addition to discussions and a new sustainability initiative, this science teacher had also coordinated a Skype session with the author that was held during one of our all-school assemblies.

Later that year, when Dr. Johnson asked me to build upon the momentum from this initial program and to make it an annual event, I was both excited and nervous. Luckily, I already had administrative buy-in (my Head of School was literally asking me to run the program, as opposed to me proposing the idea of a Common Read and needing to lobby for it) and I made note of structural elements that contributed to a successful program: a clear purpose, time for small group discussions, an accompanying event, and practical, follow-up steps. But I was brand new to Pingree, so I definitely had my work cut out for me.

Social Emotional Learning in the School Library

2/15/2017

Chani Craig is a librarian at Turners Falls High School

Even though Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been around in education since the early 1990’s the term seems to be popping up all over schools in the past few years. Headlines touting “Mindfulness instead of Detention” or “Yoga in Schools” have become frequent occurrences in news articles and media feeds. Just last November a high-profile, national policy-recommending commission was formed through the Aspen Institute to investigate SEL as the potential “additional indicator” for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which goes into effect in the 17-18 school year. Even in Massachusetts, as far back as August of 2011, the Department of Education published its “Guidelines on Implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula” and more recently this past summer’s Massachusetts Superintendents’ Conference theme was “Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Today’s Diverse Learners.” In light of all this recent attention it’s a safe bet Social Emotional Learning is here to stay.

School Library Legislation -- Get Involved Now!

2/15/2017

Rachel Bouhanda is a library teacher at Billerica Memorial High School

I can assure you it is the time to be involved with School Library Legislative issues now more than ever. So please bear with me- there may be a chocolate chip cookie at the end of this article waiting for you.

AASL Affiliate Assembly Meetings Summary January 2017

2/15/2017

Jennifer Dimmick is a library teacher at Newton South High School and Reba Tierney is a library teacher at Waltham High School

Over the course of the weekend of January 20, Reba Tierney and Jennifer Dimmick were fortunate enough to attend the annual ALA mid-winter conference in Atlanta as MSLA’s delegates to the AASL Affiliate Assembly for Region 1 (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont). While we were able to take in some interesting sessions and speakers as well as the ever popular vendor hall, our primary role was attending the Affiliate Assembly meetings which took place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Empathy Reading List

2/15/2017

In a time of great division in our country, we are reminded of how important multicultural empathy will be on both sides in healing the hurts and bringing us together as one nation. Studies show that reading books helps to build empathy, and as librarians we have an opportunity to encourage students' empathy development through reading. As such, we would like to crowd source a reading list with a multicultural lens to share broadly with librarians and teachers of all stripes. Please take a moment to add your title recommendations here. We will share the list via the MSLA Listserv and social media once it is compiled. Thank you again for your contributions!

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MSLA Twitter Chats

2/15/2017

2017 brought the return of MSLA Twitter chats. The first was held on Tuesday, January 10th, on the topic of advocacy. Twitter chats are a great way for members to share ideas without having to go to an actual meeting. It is a virtual meet-up, or collaboration from the couch! The Twitter platform also makes it easy to share online resources and links. If you weren't able to join the chat last month, or want to revisit the resources shared, follow the link below to the archive of the January chat:

January Twitter Chat

The month's Twitter chat was held on Wednesday, February 8th, on the topic of information literacy and fake news. To view the chat and the resources shared, follow the link below:

February Twitter Chat

Mark your calendars -- the next Twitter chats will be held on Tuesday, March 14th and Wednesday, April 12th, both at 7:30 PM

The Massachusetts School Library Association works to ensure every school has a school library program that is fully integrated at all grade levels across the curriculum and has a significant and measurable impact on student achievement….Read more…..and Learn more about MSLA

Contact MSLA:
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager/Event Planner
P.O. Box 336. Wayland, MA 01778
ekristofek@maschoolibraries.org
508-276-1697

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