Massachusetts School Library Association
Member Portal:
​Join/Renew/Directory
​
  • Home
    • Spotlight Archive
    • MSLA Constitution
    • About Us
  • Membership
  • Conference
  • Resources
  • Advocacy
  • Awards
    • Judi Paradis Memorial Grant
    • MSLA Awards Archive: History of Awards >
      • 2023 Awards Pictures
      • 2019 Awards Pictures
      • 2018 Awards Pictures
      • 2017 Awards Pictures
      • 2016 Awards Pictures
      • 2015 Awards Pictures
  • Bookmark Contest

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

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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?
  1. 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.
  2. We received notice that we will be considered stakeholders in the Implementation planning process.
  3. We are currently preparing recommendations to bring to the table for the Implementation Planning committee.

Read More
0 Comments

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

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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.

Read More
0 Comments

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

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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:
  • Anita Cellucci, Westborough High School
  • Laura Gardner, Dartmouth Middle School
0 Comments

Reintroducing Printed Books to the Cushing Academy Library

10/15/2016

15 Comments

 

“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.

Read More
15 Comments

Advice Column:  Ask a Library Legend

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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?

Read More
0 Comments

Tech Column: Open Educational Resources

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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.

Read More
0 Comments

Rebranding the library...as a library

10/15/2016

6 Comments

 
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.

Read More
6 Comments

Future Ready Librarians

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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?

Read More
0 Comments

Digital Citizenship at Burlington High School

10/15/2016

2 Comments

 
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.  ​

Read More
2 Comments

To Be or Not to Be… a Reviewer!

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
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.

Read More
0 Comments

MassCUE Learning Tour: Sharon Public Schools Makerspaces

10/15/2016

0 Comments

 
Cathy Collins is the Library Media Specialist at Sharon High School
Picture
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!


Read More
0 Comments

Picture Book Column: Election Books

10/15/2016

0 Comments

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


Read More
0 Comments

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

10/15/2016

1 Comment

 
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.

Read More
1 Comment

    Forum Newsletter

    Co-Editors
    ​Luke Steere and Michelle Fontaine

    Michelle is School Librarian at Epstein Hillel School in Marblehead; Luke is School Librarian at  Wilson Middle in Natick

    Click to set custom HTML

    Categories

    All
    AASL
    Academic
    Advocacy
    ALA
    Authors
    Book Bans
    Book Challenges
    Book Trailers
    Cataloging
    Censorship
    Column
    Conference
    Copyright
    Culture
    Databases
    Dewey
    Digital Citizenship
    E Books
    E-books
    Elementary
    ESSA
    Ethics
    Evaluation
    Graphic Books
    Graphic Novels
    Inquiry
    Leadership
    Learning Commons
    Legislation
    Literacy
    Maker Space
    Nonfiction
    Orientation
    Picture Books
    Planning
    PLN
    President's Remarks
    Professional Development
    Reading
    Research
    Science
    Secondary
    Social Justice
    Standards
    Technology
    Union
    Volunteers
    Weeding

    Archives

    February 2025
    May 2024
    February 2024
    October 2023
    May 2023
    February 2023
    October 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    April 2015

    MSLA Forum Past Issues:
    January 2015
    April 2015
    ​
    2002-2015 MSLA Forum
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

Picture
Contact MSLA:
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager/Event Planner
P.O. Box 336. Wayland, MA 01778
[email protected]
​
508-276-1697 

Massachusetts School Library Association. All Rights Reserved.  Copyright 2025.