As the MSLA president for the past 2 years, I have learned a lot about other librarians, the challenges that we face as a profession and ways to impact those issues in a positive light.  I have enjoyed meeting many of you and working together on larger issue that affect education.  

For my final post, I'd like to share more about one way that we can focus on student voice to impact the growth of our students and bring to light the issues that they care about in a way that offers them support. 

As librarians we talk a lot about “safe space” - equity  for all students and their individual needs.  Providing opportunities for student voice has always been an important mission in my library.  This year it manifested in a group slam poem - I coach the slam team an English teacher. The team competes in the Louder than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival sponsored by MassLEAP.  MassLEAP has the following description on their website: 

The Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance Collective (MassLEAP) is dedicated to building and supporting spaces for youth to experience the transformative power of their own voices in community with one another. We exist as a platform for young people, artist-educators and organizers to foster positive youth development through spoken word poetry forums. We facilitate arts learning spaces and build relationships among communities throughout Massachusetts. We are a Boston Based collection of writer-educators who are united in our passion for social justice and youth voice.
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 I’d like to share the poem, Puppet Show,  with you.  
 
These students met weekly in the library conference room with us,  their poetry coaches.  We “held space for them”.  What does it mean to hold space? In the therapeutic sense - “It means that we are willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they’re on without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome. When we hold space for other people, we open our hearts, offer unconditional support, and let go of judgement and control.” To me this perfectly describes the social emotional aspects of our profession.

Our theme this year was “Beyond the Binding” and I believe that what we saw presented throughout the conference show many of the ways that so many of our colleagues are redefining what it means to be a school librarian.

In closing, I'd like to say that I know that I am leaving you in good hands with Carrie Tucker as your incoming MSLA President. Carrie has a lot of knowledge about MSLA and brings great ideas with her. Please welcome Carrie as your new president. 

Thank you for your support over the last 2 years, I will be on the board as past president for the upcoming school year. 

MSLA is working hard to keep librarians in the conversation about ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act).  The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is holding public forums for interested stakeholders.  There have been 2 of these forums held to date, one in Shrewsbury and one in Brockton.  There are two more upcoming forums. I encourage you to register to attend.  

The Brainswarming sessions, as called by DESE, are a combination of individual and group brainstorming about  how Massachusetts will implement the new federal mandate.  The questions were very targeted regarding the indicators to differentiate schools - such as chronic absenteeism, access to the arts, well rounded curriculum and many more.  As I and MSLA secretary, Robyn York, attended the very first forum in Shrewsbury, libraries were not yet on the radar.  This week the Brockton forum had six local school librarians in attendance.  It would be helpful for the last two sessions to have several more school librarians in attendance.  

There are talking points that are helpful to read through, highlight essential points and bring with you to a forum.  It's also essential that all school librarians are aware of how our positions can be impactful to implementing the legislation. Please read the talking points and if you are unable to attend a forum session, begin the conversation with your administrators, other librarians, and teachers.  Advocacy is our most important tool. 

Talking Points 

Thursday, December 1, Holyoke High School, 500 Beech St., Holyoke
Tuesday, December 6, Collins Middle School, 29 Highland Ave., Salem

REGISTER HERE 

Angela Maiers is one of my favorite educators to follow. If you haven't read her book, Classroom Habitudes: Teaching Habits and Attitudes for 21st Century Learning, I highly recommend that you do.  In the summer, I spend a lot of time in active reflection.  I journal about what went well, what needs improvement and where I want to place my focus for the next school year.  
The You Matter Manifesto was front and center in my email this morning and I knew I needed to share this with all of you.  It makes us think deeply about our intentions in the library, in our teaching and as a school community member with a different set of attributes to offer. Angela states, "knowing that we matter is essential to our existence..." 
This is important work that we do - on so many levels.  I encourage you to print out the manifesto as a gentle reminder that we all matter. 

   








Silence is something I seek daily. This topic has been on my mind a lot as my library gets busier and louder. Instead of a full maker space lab, I am researching ways to bring silence to my library and lab space without interfering with the positive impact of a collaborative learning commons. Silent reading and reflection still hold an important role in my teaching philosophy and in my Bibliotherapy work as a librarian.

In this article, Science Says Silence is Much More Important to our Brains than We Think, scientists who conducted a 2013 study realized that perhaps silence can "grow your brain".  Reading this made me reflect even more on the way that my library has changed over the last several years.  Sometimes it is so loud I wonder if students are able to concentrate.
I have long been a learner of Eastern philosophies and how mindfulness, reflection and contemplative education can help to center us and result in a more relaxed state of being.  Mindfulness is a way to become more aware of our surroundings and is known to be helpful to students with anxiety, ADHD or other emotional and focus issues. 

To me, it makes a lot of sense to think about our communities and their very unique needs in order to decide which of the newest educational philosophies, strategies and gadgets we will bring into our libraries.  Over this past school year I have focused on Mental Health issues with students and teachers and how the library program can support and lead within these issues. Reflection and silence are something that we can all infuse in some small way that will help support our students with social and emotional learning. 




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"Words matter - there's a new librarian in town" Heidi Hayes Jacobs — at Greater Columbus Convention Center.

A national conference not only presents opportunity for professional learning but it truly offers the best way to open your mind to new ideas, new people and new places.  Each time I attend a conference, I try to soak it all in and come back rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to look at my library with fresh perspective. AASL Columbus was no exception. 

 In a time when advocacy has become so important, Jacobs' presentation was inspirational as well as packed with quips of how to refer to our profession, our spaces, our students and our mission. Each of these visuals offer a discussion opportunity with teachers, administrators, and library colleagues. Librarians have always been strategically placed to begin these conversations. Why not use one of these conversation starters? Choose your audience, get your elevator speech ready and create some ripples. Heidi will be proud of you.