Category: Column

Francesca Mellin is the Head Librarian at The Pike School in Andover

In these turbulent times, I find myself looking for silver linings and “small wins” wherever I can. I am encouraged by the increasing number of Native folks serving in Congress and the recent commitment by a professional football team to change an offensive team name. The number of books published by Native creators is on the rise, and recognition of problematic narratives is generating much-needed conversation. Just in time for Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 12, here is a selection of recent picture books that reflect a wide array of Native perspectives, identities, and activism.

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Academic Column: School Library Teachers "Pivot" : Becoming Leaders of Online Pedagogy

10/6/2020

Georgina Trebbe is the Information Specialist/Librarian at the Minnechaug Regional High School.

The buzz word surrounding Massachusetts educators is “Pivot.” Expressed originally by Commissioner Riley, the term “pivot” has been used to describe the changes Massachusetts educators have done as they shifted to remote learning in March, returned to either full-online or hybrid learning, and plan for the possibility of future changes (Riley, 2020). One thing is for certain, benefits from online teaching and learning will continue to be incorporated into the education practices long after Covid-19 has been mitigated and schools return to face-to-face teaching and learning. Online teaching and learning have allowed educators to take a serious look at their role in this new online ecosystem. Similarly, school library teachers will have to consider necessary changes to their profession that will meet the needs of a new emerging education outlook that engages online even when face-to-face learning is once again the method.

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Elementary Column: Top 10 Things COVID Has Taught Me…So Far!

10/6/2020

Samantha Silag is the Library Teacher at Manchester Memorial and Essex Elementary Schools
in the Manchester Essex Regional School District.

So we are all living through this new reality – regardless of whether you are teaching live, remote, hybrid, etc. It’s just a weird and kind of sad time in the world and certainly in the world of education. Typically, an elementary schoolhouse is the epicenter of JOY, LAUGHTER, LOVE – and yes, even HUGS! At the elementary level we have much, much less of the middle school students’ woes of puberty, understanding who they are, getting used to more independence and so on. And the elementary schoolhouse is definitely free of the stress of AP courses, college applications, competitive sports and “what do I want to do with my life” pressures of high school. So yes, this new reality has presented the elementary community – students, parents, and definitely teachers – a very different level of stress with very different challenges, concerns and pivots. (Umm…anyone taught K-2 how to use an iPad, submit an assignment on Seesaw, or press MUTE?!)

But I want to be an optimistic voice – don’t hate me if you’re sick of the “oh, it could be worse” or “I feel so blessed” contingent because well, it helps me get through the day to find silver linings each day. And, to be clear, many of my days have been hard, dark, frustrating, and un-fun and there have been some days when I have seriously contemplated quitting my job! Haven’t you?!

So here are the top 10 things this crazy COVID period has taught me as a K-5 Library Teacher and Team Leader:

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President's Column: The Virtual Library

5/12/2020

MSLA President Laura Luker is the Library Teacher at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, MA.

Dear MSLA Members,

I don’t believe I’m overstating things when I say that we are now working through one of the toughest challenges our profession has faced. All educators are being asked to innovate at breakneck pace, exhibit grace and flexibility on a daily basis, and to keep education moving along for our students. School librarians specifically are faced with the task of figuring out how we fit into the bigger distance learning picture, knowing we need to continue to educate the students and adults we consider our patrons despite all the challenges thrown our way.

I am proud that we are all doing our best to keep information flowing to those we serve. I’ve seen many of you agonize over how best to get reading material (physical or virtual) into the hands of your students. How to distribute devices to those who might not otherwise have access. How to make sure that students can connect and that teachers have the skills they need. And you’ve done all of this while balancing the needs of your own families, your own communities, and yourselves.

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Secondary Column: Connecting with Students Remotely

5/12/2020

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Felicia Quesada Montville is the Library Teacher at Charles E. Brown Middle School in Newton, MA,
and the winner of a 2020 MSLA Web Seal of Excellence.

When I sat down to write my first Forum article back in January, I brainstormed a list of topics, settling on two for my winter and spring articles. Little did I know that my first article’s topic, using social media to connect with students, would suddenly become even more relevant as we moved to connecting with students solely online. Nor did I realize that my second idea would need to go right out the window — what help is an article about genrefying a collection when no one can access their libraries? Back to the drawing board it was.

And while there’s no shortage of pieces out there highlighting the amazing things people are doing from home, life in quarantine is simply all I could wrap my head around. What does middle school librarianship look like from home? Much of our time connecting with students in school is during unstructured extension blocks — the library is the heart of the school, a gathering place in addition to a classroom. How do we recreate that safe space online? And while our libraries are about so much more than the books and the lessons, there are also the books and the lessons! How do we ensure that our students keep reading and learning important information literacy skills?

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Picture Book Column: Beyond the Headliners of ALA’s Youth Media Awards

5/12/2020

Francesca Mellin is the Head Librarian at The Pike School in Andover.

If you’re like me, you may find yourself glued to your laptop on a certain Monday morning in January, cheering gleefully (while others in the library wonder what in the world you’re watching)! The Youth Media Awards, announced at ALA’s annual Midwinter meeting, are undoubtedly a major event for book lovers. The Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Awards have traditionally been at the forefront of media coverage... and can sometimes outshine the other awards. ALA itself has been gradually giving increased recognition to awards given by its affiliates. In the past two years, announcements of literature awards given by the American Indian Library Association, Asian Pacific American Library Association, and the Association of Jewish Libraries have been made at the Youth Media Award breakfast, welcome news indeed for those of us promoting multicultural and inclusive literature in our libraries.

The picture book honorees for 2020 represent a wide array of experiences and themes, expressed through stunning art coupled with engaging text. Let’s take a closer look at some of my favorites.

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Technology Column: Quarantine Projects to Tackle Now

5/12/2020

Margaret Kane Schoen is a Library Teacher at Newton South High School
and a winner of a 2020 Super Librarian Award.

What can you do when you can’t get into your library? It might seem like this is a time when projects can’t get done, after all, we don’t have access to anything in our libraries - no books, no displays, no maker spaces. But any quiet time you have right now can be an excellent opportunity to tend to digital projects that require mostly your attention and a computer.

You won’t necessarily be able to finish all of these - some are starters for projects that you can work on once you’re back. But getting all the online drudgery out of the way now means you’ll be able to focus on the fun part - the students and the books! - once you're back.

(And of course - some of us have no quiet time. Everyone’s home work space is different right now, so don’t feel guilty if you can’t get to these.)

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Elementary Column: Creating Connections away from the Schoolhouse

5/12/2020

Ms. Samantha Silag is the Library Teacher at Manchester Memorial Elementary School.

Remember the good old days…back in February? At that time, I wrote an article for the Winter Forum about how important it is for parents to know us Library Teachers by name. At the time, I had no idea just how true, almost prophetic even, my message in that piece would prove to be just a few weeks later when MA schools closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now, as we are in the thick of remote teaching/distance learning (call it what you will), I find that the ability to reach out to K-5 parents and make it stick to their overloaded radar is critical to keep the “school library” present and participatory during these overwhelming times. And, to keep our school community connected and comforted by the familiar.

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Advice Column: Ask a Library Legend

2/11/2020

Valerie Diggs is a former President of MSLA and currently works as a Senior Visiting Instructor at Salem State University, where she also serves as the Graduate Program Coordinator of the MEd Library Media Studies program.

This column includes two questions from members. The first addresses a challenging situation with a paraeducator and the second, the struggle to get kids reading.

I have a new paraeducator in the library this year. This is her first year working in education and while she is GREAT at supporting the academic needs of our students, she is struggling with the classroom management aspects of the job, especially enforcing student behavior expectations. She's young and close in age to my high school students, and because she started mid year, there has been limited opportunities for hands on training. How do I support her developing those classroom management skills so that she can help keep the library running smoothly while I'm teaching?

I am assuming that this paraeducator has no formal training in education, and has perhaps never worked in a school before? I would start with a serious conversation around expectations and her ability, or lack of ability, to manage the library environment successfully. We really can’t fault her too much for not knowing the ropes when it comes to classroom management.

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Secondary Column: Social Media: Evil or Effective?

2/11/2020

Felicia Quesada Montville is the Library Teacher at Charles E. Brown Middle School in Newton, MA.

The social media landscape is wide and varied: Millennials posting too many pictures of avocado toast and claiming a color as their own. Gen Z unknowingly giving their data to Chinese tech companies. Boomers and snowflakes at war over who is most at fault for what is wrong in the world. Celebrities oversharing and doling out unsolicited advice. The tweeting Commander in Chief. Oh, and the cats. So many cats. There’s no doubt that social media has impacted our society and how we interact with each other on a daily basis, and debates over whether those changes are positive or negative persist.

The debate around the impact of social media is fiercest in regards to its use by tweens and teens. The Wait Until 8th pledge, a parent commitment to no smartphones before 8th grade, is gaining traction as the negative impacts of smartphones on interpersonal relationships, academics, and more have come to light. At the heart of many of these arguments is access to social media. Cyberbullying, sleep disruptions, and increased anxiety and depression are real risks of social media use, especially when use is excessive. But regardless of the risks, social media is here to stay — the power of connection and the spread of information is too strong. Therefore, we should take advantage of this powerful tool to forge connections with both students and stakeholders.

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Elementary Column: Do your parents know you by name?

2/11/2020

Ms. Samantha Silag is the Library Teacher at Manchester Memorial Elementary School.

Over the years, I have formed the habit of referring to my K-5 students as my kids and referring to their parents and guardians as my parents. My relationship with my parents has in turn become a critical piece of the puzzle that, in my mind, completes the surprisingly complex jigsaw that is the Library Teacher role within the school community.

There are many pieces to the jigsaw that make a successful library program and many of them are behind the scenes (collection development, policy development, standards review and curriculum writing, for example.) These responsibilities are critical to a strong library program but to the general public they sound like a snoozefest and make it easy for the Library Teacher role to blend into the background, often misunderstood or overlooked. Gone are the days when being a school librarian consisted of sitting behind the circ desk, reading glasses permanently affixed just below the eyes, with a finger at the lips shushing patrons. Today’s Library Teacher (Teacher Librarian, Media Specialist, Learning Commons Manager, call it what you want!) has curriculum development responsibilities, direct instruction responsibilities, often plays a tech support role, is an ambassador of books, multiculturalism, community interaction...the list is long. But how is anyone to know this if we don’t COMMUNICATE?! In order for the school library program to be valued and supported within the school community, the Library Teacher must be a known entity. He or she is the face of the library program. Without a dynamic, progressive, motivated Library Teacher, there is no dynamic, progressive, motivating Library program. So do we need to toot our own horn? Sure, at times we do, but there is more to building relationships than just basic advocacy.

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Tech Column: Check Your Website for Accessibility Issues

2/11/2020

Margaret Kane Schoen is a Library Teacher at Newton South High School.

As librarians, it’s important to make sure our resources are accessible to all of our patrons. When designing the layout of your library, you’ve probably thought about physical accessibility. Are exits and entrances wheelchair accessible, will people with disabilities be able to work comfortably at tables or reach printers? Did you know you also need to evaluate your website for accessibility?

Proper design and coding allows people with disabilities to navigate and interact with websites, and access the information and materials you’ve curated there. The World Wide Web Consortium has laid out guidelines for accessibility in its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and the American Library Association recommends that libraries comply with them.

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President's Column: Welcome Laura!

10/8/2019

MSLA President Laura Luker is the library teacher at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, MA

Hello MSLA members, and welcome. As our respective school years get up and running, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the incoming MSLA President. My name is Laura Luker and I’m a K-12 library teacher at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley. This is my tenth year as a library teacher and my fifteenth year as an educator. Prior to working in the library, I was a secondary English and reading teacher, a background which I feel gives me an excellent footing for collaborating with classroom teachers. In my spare time, I foster rescue dogs and dabble in aerial circus arts. I am equally as enthusiastic about running as I am about cake.

Personal details aside, I’d like to convey to each of you how honored I am to have been asked to be President of this organization. I’m passionate about the work we all do each and every day - not only connecting kids with books, but also helping them to be discerning, involved world citizens. I appreciate the opportunity to advocate for our work being recognized by the broader world.

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Technology Column: Getting Students Oriented

10/8/2019

Margaret Kane Schoen is a Library Teacher at Newton South High School.

Welcome back! It’s the start of a new school year, and you know what that means - library orientation. When the library team at my school sat down to plan, we decided we needed a new activity, but weren’t sure what to do. So we did a little backwards design, focusing on what we really wanted the students to walk away from the library having done or seen. Reviewing our list, we realized that many of the items simply involved getting them out into our space so they could see all the different areas and options available.

While we were talking about activity ideas, I remembered a project I had done with elementary students when they were learning about maps in social studies. Students were given an unlabeled map of the library and had to fill it in - forcing them to walk around the space and really study what was there. We could definitely make this work for high school students, but I knew right away we’d need to make it a digital assessment - reviewing maps from a few fourth grade teams is one thing, but 500 high school students needs to be something you can handle online!

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Advice Column: Ask a Library Legend

10/8/2019

Valerie Diggs is the Graduate Program Coordinator MEd Library Media Studies at Salem State University, and a former MSLA president

Can you tell me about doing a full-scale inventory. Do I really need to do it?How often? Do I have to scan everything in my library?!

The dreaded word “Inventory” rears its ugly head and nags us as we look for that elusive book or that missing artifact. This is a great question, and one which deserves a straightforward answer. When a student, teacher, parent or community member searches for a book or other resources in your library, the search should be accurate and point them directly to the resource. By conducting a thorough inventory at least every other year, you are ensuring this accuracy.

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Elementary Column: Making Our Learning Visible

5/7/2019

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

I want to grow curious and creative thinkers who feel valued and empowered to share their ideas and opinions. I envision our library as a launch pad for ideas, surrounded by books and ideas on the shelves, walls, tables, and even windows. I want students to see their own thinking and I want other students to be able to see it. Seeing our own thinking displayed says, “I am valued,” “I am important,” “I am welcome here.” Making our library a welcoming and safe place is on my heart. It has been the overarching goal of my year. Making our learning visible has been a key ingredient to the recipe for “welcome.”

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Technology Column: Screencastify: A Tool for Both Students and Teachers

5/7/2019

Margaret Kane Schoen is a Library Teacher at Newton South High School.

Our school district has recently begun the move toward one to one technology devices. While having devices readily available for every student is great for tech projects, one issue that we’ve run into is the transition from an Apple school, where students traditionally worked on Mac desktops, laptops and iPads, to Chromebooks as the primary student devices. In some cases we need to find new tools for our favorite projects, and make sure they’re either web-based or work as Chrome apps.

We had done a few videos projects in the past, so when we began looking for tools for the Chromebooks, we knew we would want something to allow for screencasting. There are many options for this; the tool we’ve been using the most is Screencastify.

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Academic Column: Ukuleles: 787.7

5/7/2019

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

It was just before December vacation and the students in my AP Capstone Seminar class were pasted. Just wiped out and listless. Instead of high school juniors, they appeared more like exhausted, stressed, and disillusioned characters from an Arthur Miller play. The grind of junior year was wearing them down. Most of them were sick with the same miserable cold that was making its way through the building. They had no interest in reviewing feedback on the latest drafts of their research essays.

One of the students opened one of his bags and pulled out a ukulele. He explained that it belonged to his sister and they had stayed up late the night before while she taught him some basic chords. He strummed something that was unrecognizable but that didn’t matter because the music was like a magic spell. They all lit up and asked for turns on the ukulele. By the end of the class, this battered band of stressed out teens were singing songs, laughing, and joyous. At that moment I knew I would be writing a grant.

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Picture Book Column: How do you solve a problem like Picture Books?

5/7/2019

Kelly Depin is the Head Librarian at Derby Academy in Hingham.

When I worked in the children’s room of a public library, picture books were some of our biggest movers. Adults and children would come in and take out armfuls, anticipating times spent reading together or looking through the pictures, telling stories of their own making. I hoped for some of the same circulation numbers when I became a school librarian. In my fantasy, students in the lower elementary grades would come in and beg to take home more picture books - or come in during free time and swap out the books they just got a few days before. Well, I’m not sure what it’s like in your elementary libraries - but that scenario has not happened in mine. Yet.

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Tech Column: Tidying Up Your Digital Reading Piles

2/12/2019

Margaret Kane Schoen is a Library Teacher at Newton South High School.

If you’re like me, you have an ongoing “to be read” problem. The magazines that just keep coming to the house, stacked on an end table because I’m totally going to look at that article my mom mentioned; the books piled up on my nightstand waiting for me at bed-time; today’s newspaper guilting me from its spot in the front hall (where it replaced the one from yesterday that just went into the recycling.)

And for most of us, the problem isn’t just physical. We’ve all got digital TBR piles as well: that blog that always has useful tips and tricks, the digital version of today’s paper, the article your colleague sent over that’s waiting in one of a hundred browser tabs. And that’s not to mention all the places you marked down once as an awesome resource and promptly forgot about.

For the online pile at least, I may have a solution: RSS readers, an old-school application in the online world, but for me, a life-saver. These apps gather updates from all over and store them in one place - news articles, blog posts, etc. Then they’re ready and waiting for you whenever you have a minute, just like that pile of magazines sitting on the coffee table.

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Picture Book Column: Social-Emotional Learning

2/12/2019

Kelly Depin is the Head Librarian at Derby Academy in Hingham.

When you’ve been around education for any length of time, you become aware that even the education field is not immune from trends. Instead of hemlines or lapel sizes, ours tend to focus on subject matter or techniques. Project Based Learning anyone? STEM? STEAM? Who remembers when we used to teach civics? Guess what - we’re teaching it again. Phonics or whole reading is now phonics AND whole reading despite the factions that fight on. Let’s just hope that open classrooms don’t come back, or did they already in the concept of the learning commons? Lately, social-emotional learning (SEL) seems to be making the rounds. Social-emotional learning is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning as the “process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions" (CASEL). Whether we look at it as ‘one more thing to do’ or a tool for classroom management, the fact is that school librarians have been teaching SEL since we’ve had librarians in school!

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Picture Book Column: The Sneaky Power of Wordless Books

10/2/2018

Kelly Depin is the Head Librarian at Derby Academy in Hingham.

Wordless books can be a librarian’s secret weapon for having a raucous story time! Students vie to give their interpretations to what happened, what IS happening and what is about to happen in the book. Amidst the controlled chaos, wondrous learning is occuring. Students are comprehending the story by inferring from the picture clues. Predictions of what comes next spout as each one defends their choice by citing evidence from the pages. The why’s and where’s spotlight their oral language skills. All from a book with pictures - and no words. Sounds like they have mastered some of the Common Core Standards for ELA, all while having fun with a story.

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Secondary Column: The Summer Reading Struggle!

10/2/2018

Zoe Keenan is the Library Media Specialist at Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield.

My school has struggled with summer reading for many years now. It’s been a pull and push from both the English Department, the Library and the Administration on expectations of what students should read, how they should be assessed on it, and what culminating event should we do to wrap up the program?!?!

When I started at my school three years ago, all three departments had separate ideas about what makes a successful summer reading program. The Administration wanted results and proof of assessment, the English department wanted students to read a wide variety of eclectic books and, as the new Librarian, I wanted students to enjoy reading again. I remember getting to know the students during my first year and asking them how they liked the summer reading book. Many hadn’t read it, since they knew from past years that there was no assessment to be passed in or graded. Of the handful who read it, mistakenly thinking they would be tested on it, only a few enjoyed it. I remember thinking that it was going to take some time and lots of effort to change this program around.

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Tech Column: Back-to-School Hacks

10/2/2018