Blog Archives

President's Message: MSLA and the Every Student Succeeds Act

10/15/2016

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

Massachusetts School Library Association has developed a committee to work together to ensure that all students benefit from the recent changes to the federal education law (ESSA) that provides for effective school library programs as essential to the education of Massachusetts students. The committee includes the MSLA President, MSLA Executive Director and several other board members, representation from Massachusetts Library System, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as EveryLibrary and Rosen (http://everylibrary.org/rosen-everylibrary-pro-bono-essa/).

Summary of legislation from Congress.gov: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177
What have we done?

A formal letter and appeal to be included as stakeholders on our state's ESSA Implementation Planning committee was sent in August to the Commissioner of Education at DESE. As the only statewide association for school librarians, we believe that our understanding of how effective school libraries positively influence student achievement is a vital - but currently missing - voice in the stakeholder engagement process.
We received notice that we will be considered stakeholders in the Implementation planning process.
We are currently preparing recommendations to bring to the table for the Implementation Planning committee.

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Academic Column: Our Opportunity: Context for the Massachusetts School Library Study

10/15/2016

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

This is a time of great potential for school libraries in Massachusetts, which may sound implausible given that there continue to be school districts that are squeezing the life out of their libraries and librarians. There are two reasons for this optimism: the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Massachusetts School Library Study. Phase I of the study is currently under analysis at CISSL, Rutgers University. When concluded, the Massachusetts Study will take a unique place among the previous school library impact studies.

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Two MSLA Board Members Named 2016 SLJ Librarian of the Year Award Winners

10/15/2016

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If the September issue of School Library Journal has not made it to the top of your reading pile, you may not be aware that Anita Cellucci, MSLA President, and Laura Gardner, Southeast Area Co-Director, were two finalists for the School Library Journal Librarian of the Year 2016. Check out the articles profiling them at the School Library Journal website:

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Reintroducing Printed Books to the Cushing Academy Library

10/15/2016

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“Isn't that the library that did away with books?”

Mark Melchior, MLIS, served as Library Director at Cushing Academy from August 2014 to July 2016.

In 2009, the head of school at Cushing Academy announced that the school’s library would remove all its printed materials and become an all-digital library ‘for the 21st century.’ In 2014, I was hired (under new leadership) and asked to rebalance the library’s offerings and restore print resources. The challenge was both intriguing and daunting. The opportunity to build a collection from the ground up was certainly appealing. At the same time, I knew it would not be a fresh start. What might appear at first blush as a straightforward exercise in purchasing and cataloging held a much broader challenge: to rebuild damaged relationships and forge reconciliation among members of the Cushing community surprised, angered and frustrated by the changes that began in 2009. This is an account of my work to restore a print collection and the standing of the library in the school community.

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Advice Column: Ask a Library Legend

10/15/2016

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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:
"My school has a new principal for the 2016-2017 year, what and how should I go about convincing him to increase my very small budget?"

How to make inroads with a new principal? How can I get her/him to understand what I do and how important a decent budget is to achieving my goals?

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Tech Column: Open Educational Resources

10/15/2016

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Margaret Schoen is a Librarian at Newton South High School

A common request for library staff is to help classroom teachers find supplemental materials for their classes. Often this means turning to subscription resources paid for by a district or with state funds, that can be used only in certain ways, and under certain conditions. But librarians can also turn to another growing category of resources that can be accessed for free. Open Educational Resources, generally defined as teaching and learning materials that are either in the public domain or are released under a license that allows free use and repurposing, are available in a multitude of formats, and include content ranging from short videos to full textbooks, complete with lesson plans, assessments and more.

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Rebranding the library...as a library

10/15/2016

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Amy Fiske is the Librarian at Wellesley High School and winner of a 2016 MSLA web seal of excellence award

As I sit down to write this article, I am partway through a multi-year process to change the culture in our high school library. I am changing it in a direction that will surprise some, who may remember me presenting at MSLA on the subject of Innovation Centers in school libraries. However, not every new trend is appropriate in every setting. What I and my colleagues have learned in the last three years is that it may be far more effective to find the niche that is empty at your school...and then fill it.

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Future Ready Librarians

10/15/2016

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Reba Tierney is the librarian at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, MA

Attending ALA is always intense, but attending ALA as an AASL Affiliate Assembly representative for the New England region brought that intensity to another level! Yet, it was a good intensity, as it gave me the invaluable opportunity to work with school librarians from around the country. During one of the AASL Affiliate Assembly sessions, the Future Ready movement was brought up and discussed. At the time, I had not even heard of Future Ready, but it quickly became evident that this was something for school librarians to be excited about. According to the Twitter account for Future Ready, it is defined as developing the capacity to transform teaching & personalize learning using digital tools. The Future Ready Schools website states that the plan helps district leaders plan and implement personalized, research-based digital learning strategies so all students can achieve their full potential. But what does all this mean? And even more importantly, what does it mean for school librarians?

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Digital Citizenship at Burlington High School

10/15/2016

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Jennifer Scheffer, formerly ITS at Burlington High school, currently at Fox Hill Elementary

As Burlington High School embarks on its sixth year as an Apple Distinguished, 1:1 iPad school, all students, beginning with the class of 2019, will be required to take a Digital Citizenship course as part of their graduation requirements. This pass/fail, one credit course is entirely online and is self-paced. Students have until the end of May of the current school year to complete the course; providing them with flexibility in terms of completing assignments. Because Burlington is a Google Apps for Education school, all assignments are distributed and collected through Google Classroom. Google Classroom was chosen for its intuitiveness and the fact that it integrates seamlessly with Google Forms. Google Forms was selected for each assessment in the course because of its quiz feature with automatic grading.

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To Be or Not to Be… a Reviewer!

10/15/2016

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Paige Rowse is the librarian at Needham High School.

As librarians, we are constantly on the lookout for the next best books to add to our collections. We attend events, register for webinars, take requests from our students and colleagues, and perhaps most importantly, peruse the latest issues of collection development publications. If you’ve ever browsed through the reviews of these magazines, you know they are written by librarians across the country just like you.

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MassCUE Learning Tour: Sharon Public Schools Makerspaces

10/15/2016

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Cathy Collins is the Library Media Specialist at Sharon High School

Library makerspaces are creating quite a buzz these days. But how does one go about transforming spaces from blah to hurrah? On Sept. 13th, MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) guests from neighboring districts participated in a Learning Tour of the Sharon Public Schools library makerspaces. Assistant Superintendent of Administration and Information Services, Dr. John Marcus and I, served as co-hosts for the day, sharing our district journey from imagining and visioning to creating action plans, gathering resources and materials, scheduling formal and informal learning activities, aligning activities to standards and showcasing student creations. We stressed that ours was a journey very much in process, and encouraged participants to share their own vision along with their nuts and bolts implementation efforts. The rich sharing that took place provided fun and value for participants as well as for us as co-hosts!

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Picture Book Column: Election Books

10/15/2016

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Char Sidell has come out of retirement to work at The Codman Academy Charter School in Dorchester

I’ve had a hard time deciding on a topic to write about for this Forum. I really want the books I choose to both be ones that are new to you as well as useful in your work with children. After some thought, I decided to look at books about the Election, a topic on everyone’s mind. The task of selecting books was difficult for me since in my repertoire I don’t have many books with first hand experience on this topic. The favorite books that do come to mind are ones you are probably familiar with already. But if you aren’t, let me introduce you to two old favorites that I enjoy sharing with the younger set and three books published in the last year.

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Anxious and Angry Kids: A Site Dedicated to Helping You Support Your Toughest Students

10/15/2016

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Erin K. Beckett is enrolled in the school library program at Salem State University

Students act out for a reason. We know this. The work is too hard. He didn’t get enough sleep or enough to eat. His home-life is violent. Parents aren’t around. Negative attention is better than no attention. Most often, if a student could behave, he would. Undesirable and harmful behaviors in the classroom often stem from trauma, and www.anxiousandangrykids.webs.com will answer your questions about why children and adolescents who have experienced trauma act the way they do. Anxious and Angry Kids gives practical suggestions and strategies to help support your neediest students, and it explores what goes on in the minds of students who have dealt with trauma. Information from books, articles, and videos about Reactive Attachment Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and trauma-informed schools will demystify much about why some kids act out, and the site proposes how you can help.

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President's Message: MSLA and the Every Student Succeeds Act

Academic Column: Our Opportunity: Context for the Massachusetts School Library Study

Two MSLA Board Members Named 2016 SLJ Librarian of the Year Award Winners

Reintroducing Printed Books to the Cushing Academy Library

“Isn't that the library that did away with books?”

Advice Column: Ask a Library Legend

Tech Column: Open Educational Resources

Rebranding the library...as a library

Future Ready Librarians

Digital Citizenship at Burlington High School

To Be or Not to Be… a Reviewer!

MassCUE Learning Tour: Sharon Public Schools Makerspaces

Picture Book Column: Election Books

Anxious and Angry Kids: A Site Dedicated to Helping You Support Your Toughest Students

Forum Newsletter

Co-Editors
Reba Tierney and
Luke Steere

Categories

Archives

Forum Newsletter

Co-EditorsReba Tierney and ​Luke Steere

Categories

Archives

Co-Editors
Reba Tierney and
Luke Steere