 | Westford Academy Library Suzanne Harde, Library Media Specialist Christin Monaghan, Library Media Specialist Sarah Sullivan, After-School Library Assistant Over the last few years the Westford Academy Library has undergone a physical transformation. Print resources were shifted to the periphery to open new spaces to allow students to collaborate more easily. |
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 Hardy Elementary School Library Teacher Lisa Rogers John D. Hardy Elementary School Library
Lisa Rogers, Library Teacher What? Harry Potter banned? Scary Stories II? The Lorax--challenged? My students are outraged that someone would limit their freedom to read these favorites. Yet as we delve into the specifics, they become cautious. What about that masked man with a gun threatening a sleeping child in Steven Kellogg’s Pinkerton, Behave! What about the concealed nudity in Amy Timberlake’s The Dirty Cowboy—a book that first-graders find hilarious and but that fifth-graders find embarrassing?  Dr. Georgina Trebbe, Information Specialist, Minnechaug Regional High School Minnechaug Regional High School Information and Research Commons
Dr. Georgina Trebbe, Information Specialist Each year, I especially strive for opportunities to reach every freshman. This year the opportunity came in the development of a new course. Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, Minnechaug Regional High School introduced the Freshmen Foundations course. Similar to other Massachusetts schools, Minnechaug’s Leadership Team determined students needed to build strong and consistent skills to meet the necessary rigor and metacognition aptitude surrounding independent reading, writing, and researching.  Linda Redding, Silver Lake Regional High School Librarian Silver Lake Regional High School Library
Linda Redding, Librarian From newscasts to sharing creative writing to weather reports, the Laker TV Studio provides an opportunity for students to go beyond being consumers of information to being creators of information. Students gain experience using television production technology, as well as develop and practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening .skills. The Laker TV studio is a fully operational studio with equipment donated by PACTV.  Laura Beals D'Elia, Armstrong Elementary School Librarian Armstrong Elementary School Library
Laura Beals D'Elia, School Librarian It just so happened that 3 years ago when I started my position at the Armstrong Elementary School, the district also relocated the K-12 ELL Director, Maeve Hitzenbuhler, to the tiny office in my library. And it just so happened that I had been to enough of Judi Paradis’s ELL conference sessions about her relationship with her ELL staff that I knew that this was a good thing. And because we were so close to each other every day, it just so happened that Maeve and I began to talk about diversity, picture books, ELL students, and plenty of other interesting topics.
 Sarah Bickel, Greenlodge Elementary Librarian
Sarah Bickel, Librarian Greenlodge Elementary School Library
After many iterations of school announcements, we have found success (for now)! We have a great crew of fifth grade news reporters who create a weekly video called Greenlodge News. This has allowed the school to cut down on the length of morning announcements, and more importantly, gives fifth graders the chance to become news reporters! In addition to collaborating with peers to interview and write up news reports, produce a video product, and use a green screen, students are much more confident because of the experience!  Stoneham High School Librarian Alison Connelly Allison Connelly, Librarian Stoneham High School Library
I thought I’d share my experience from this past fall on the expansion of our yearly banned book week display to include an activity. We've been doing banned book displays for several years, and have invited teachers to bring their classes down to the library to take a look, but we’d never had a request to teach a class on banned books. I assumed no one had time with their jammed packed High School English curriculum to do it.
 Karen Sekiguchi, Winthrop School Librarian Winthrop School Library
Librarian: Karen Sekiguchi In the 2016-2017 school year, Winthrop School, a PreK-5 elementary school in Ipswich, purchased new computers and podcasting equipment to create a media production center in the library. Winthrop has encouraged content creation vs. consumption over the years by providing cameras of all types to students and teachers, but the school did not have a dedicated space for working on multimedia projects.  Lunenburg Middle-High School Librarian Pam Vallee Librarian: Pamela Vallee The new Lunenburg Middle-High School library opened in August 2016 and includes a sunny room of comfy chairs, outdoor seating, a Media Cafe, library classroom, and lots of group work spaces. The new library is gorgeous and spacious, and my goal has been to transform the empty space into a welcoming library shared by all students in grades 6 through 12. I have been the Lunenburg High School library media specialist since October 2000, and this is my second year as both the middle and high school library media specialist. Although it has been a challenge trying to assist so many students and teachers, I realize I am uniquely situated to know and reach every student in the building.
 Librarian Janice Alpert Librarian: Janice Alpert
For the high school makerspace, I have been working on monthly challenges or seminars to spark interest and foster creativity. In September, we hosted Jose Gomez-Marques from MIT. Jose worked with three different LHS science classes where he taught students about paper fluidity using ampli kits, and explained how medical devices such as nebulizers and epipens work using hands-on demonstrations.
 Sarah Woo (right) and public librarian Michelle Deschene-Warren (left). Librarian: Sarah Woo Holten-Richmond Middle School Library
At Holten-Richmond Middle School in Danvers, we are lucky to have a very strong, ongoing, collaborative relationship with the public library. Michelle Deschene-Warren, Head of Youth Services at Peabody Institute Library (PIL) in Danvers, and I work on many projects together. We are grateful that our flexible schedules - along with a flexible principal and director - allow us to fit in collaborative time to help us meet the challenging and changing needs of our students.
 Saugus High School Librarian Kate Payne Librarian: Kate Payne Saugus High School Library Website
The decision to genreify the fiction collection was a big one for me. I knew that the project would involve a significant change to the organization of the library. I am alone in the library and am the only librarian in my district, so I knew the project would be wholly up to me. After getting approval from my principal, I decided to do the project over the summer. I brainstormed with several English teachers was able to brainstorm with several teachers in the English department, who were excited about the project and happy to give their input. I also talked to some students, who thought the project was a good idea.  Librarian Ariel Dagan Librarian: Ariel Dagan Tri County Regional Vocational High School Library Media Center
Students at Tri County spend their time split among seventeen vocational programs and regular academic classes. This learning environment creates multiple opportunities to engage with students and staff around assignments and projects.
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