A Fan Post --Can You Believe It?

I fully admit to being obsessed with Game of Thrones.  I watch the YouTube videos, particularly those by Talking Thrones and Gray Area.  I read everything I can.  I never once dreamed that I would write a fan post.

Everything about Game of Thrones is spectacular, starting with the imagination and masterful storytelling of George R.R. Martin and extending to the tenacity of David Benioff and D.B.Weiss to the associate producers, the writers, directors, special effects, costumes, ad infinitum. But it is the cast that brings the story into the living rooms across the world.  

Certainly, Game of Thrones is stacked with talented actors. I have great respect for the entire cast, even those on Arya's hit list.  The good and the bad evoke a visceral response in me.  I will continue to watch anything with Aidan Gillen, even though I hated Petyr Baelish.  I will look forward to more work by Lena Headey.  I was fascinated by the Waif, played to perfection by  Faye Marsay. Don't get me started on Gwendoline Christie.

Of all actors that stand out to me, the most notable are those who play the Stark kids.  These men and women were babies when the show started, and unlike so many other young stars, they have handled their fame gracefully. Kit Harington and Maisie Williams probably attracted the most attention, but in my mind, Sophie Turner has done the most phenomenal job with a very challenging plot line. 

In 2011, Turner was 15, and at the right stage in her own life and development to play a love-struck young girl who wants to be a queen.  What 15 year-old couldn't relate?  Sansa had to grow up quickly, but before the true abuse by Joffrey began, Turner played the temperamental  teenager to perfection, fighting with her sister and being smart-mouthed with Septa Mordane.  After Ned's imprisonment and subsequent execution, we saw no more of that teenager.  We saw a survivor.  In Turner we saw an actor who could hold her own with Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and the remarkable Diana Rigg.  

In Seasons Six, Seven, and Eight, we saw Sansa Stark as a woman who was in command of the situations around her.  The last time we saw vulnerability in Sansa was when she and Theon were escaping Winterfell.  Once Sansa embraced Jon at Castle Black, she was a woman in command. She did not rely on Jon, Brienne or Baelish; she utilized their talents.  As the Lady of Winterfell, she kept her priorities on Winterfell itself and the people in the North.  No one, save Danerys and Arya, challenged her authority.  Sansa Stark did not cave.  Sophie Turner executed this role regally, as would befit the future Queen in the North.

Now, in 2019, Turner is 23, a married woman.  She has the courage to speak up against concepts she finds contemptable.  Earlier this year Sansa's image was used in an meme to encourage white people to date and marry only whites.  She has been upfront about her feelings of depression and self-image during the time she worked on Game of Thrones.

I see Sophie Turner as a very positive role model for young women.  I wish her continued success and great happiness in the years to come.  I will be following her career as she continues her personal journey.

Things are Looking Up

The Texas Association of School Librarians has put us firmly on the right track.  Their idea is simply to plan on posting a message via social media as to our jobs on the 17th of each month.  Conveniently, monthly samples have been provided for us.  There is no excuse not to participate in this event.

This awareness campaign has distinct advantages over random efforts.  A significant factor is that we are all sending the same message on the same date.  The result should be a sensory overload difficult for our funders to ignore.

The second aspect of the campaign that I like is that it is focusing on the leadership role of school librarians.  We need help in this respect, as many of us do not think of ourselves as leaders, and even if we do, others may not, despite the fact that our leadership is in their faces on a constant basis:  the preconceived idea of a school librarian that permeates the brain tends to overrule the reality of the situation.

As librarians, oftentimes our leadership is not overt.  Much of what we do is considered "leading from the middle."  We might suggest certain purchases to administrators that leads to product implementation; we test and familiarize ourselves with a myriad of devices and decide their instructional value before we suggest teachers integrate them; we bring people with seemingly diverse goals together in collaborations that would otherwise not have been broached.  None of these activities scream, "Hey! Look at me! I'm a leader."  Unobtrusive leadership is so subtle that often we miss our contributions ourselves.

The monthly themes suggested by TxASL are generally enough to apply to all school librarians.  In keeping with the theme, we should drive home the message with pictures and library-specific evidence.  What we have done, what we do, is what will deliver the message.

I appreciate TxASL's sharing of this campaign.  I trust we will all take advantage of their leadership and make this campaign a permanent feature of our advocacy plans.

What I Did At the West Virginia State Technology Conference.

In all honesty, I work on "school stuff" all summer.  It is ridiculous in some ways, and I am sure my family is more than annoyed when I hibernate in my room and concentrate deeply on some programmatic scheme.  I know they don't understand, although they sometimes grudgingly accept, that I get my energy from learning, sharing and considering new possibilities.

Even so, it is hard for me to give up three days in my last two weeks of summer to any organized professional development activity. It's as if I suddenly realized on July 29 that summer, in every meaningful way, is almost over for me.  I had a hard time following through with my commitment to attend the West Virginia State Technology Conference, even though it was held just four miles from my home.

I am very glad I made the decision to attend.  For starters, I have had the privilege to network with some wonderful people that I have known since library school, my colleagues in the Monongalia County School system, and friends I made while participating in the library media TIS cohort in 2008.  I also connected with a couple of our state's new library media specialists.  From this standpoint alone, the conference was a success.

The presentations were equally satisfying.  

"For the night is dark and full of terrors."- George R.R. Martin

The title of this post could easily be "Why It Is Important to be a Librarian, Part II," but I will let you arrive at that conclusion on your own.

A friend of mine was just censored on Facebook.  I don't know what she posted that was found offensive (she is not the least bit vulgar), and that is scary, because the Facebook bar for acceptability is pretty low.  I am assuming her post was political in nature.

Ironically, I decided not to post a Canva I made yesterday for fear of a) inciting a political rant, and b) possibly being surveiled by the Secret Service.  But because of my friend's experience, I will post my Canva here, where I have a better shot at explaining what it means to me.

I am sure there are those who see this as a political shot at both candidates, and I suppose in a way it is.  The primary thing this means to me is that we have way too many problems for one individual to be accountable. We as a country as ridiculously polarized, and no one political candidate can put this country back together.  Congress might have some power, if we could elect people who would vote their consciences and not their pocketbooks, but no matter who is elected president, they cannot reasonably be expected to fix things that have been broken and that have been escalating for years.  It does not help that these two candidates are polarizing themselves.

So my friend and her friends are righteously angry that her Facebook post has been censored.  I suspect we don't know the half of what is being censored and how much we are being watched. I suspect that these activities are going to increase over the next decade as we move closer and closer to a military state.  You think not?

I wish I knew why there is a disconnect in so many places between the black community and law enforcement, but I don't. I am a member of neither subset and have no right to assert my views as a gospel of the disconnect I believe  exists.  Dallas, Baltimore, Ferguson, Tavon Martin.  Black Lives Matter.  So do the lives of the police officers that serve and protect us.  I honestly don't know what to say, what to think, what to believe, but I believe the media, including Facebook, feeds my angst and confusion.  The government cannot allow this slaughter to continue, and the answer to that is military intervention.

Folks walk into movie theaters and schools and open fire with semiautomatic weapons.  People argue that if more people were armed, the gunman wouldn't have got off as many shots.  Others argue that with more stringent gun control this wouldn't have happened.  Perhaps with better mental health care this wouldn't have happened.  Who knows?  Better mental health care takes time.  Military intervention, not so much.

Back to censorship.  I think we should be prepared for more and that we should seriously question everything we read, see and hear.  I would recommend re-reading Animal Farm, because I think like old Boxer, our civil rights are being metaphorically led to the slaughter.  Re-read 1984 and Brave New World while you are at it.  Big Brother is watching all of us.  And we participate in his watching daily.

Back to libraries.   There are two theories as to why public libraries were formed.  The first is the noble idea of the "people's university," where knowledge can be obtained in any doctrine or discipline.  The second theory is that public libraries were established by the elite to give the common folks the appearance of access to knowledge and power, while in fact keeping the most valuable of these among the chosen few.  I believe both of these theories are correct, at different places.

I leave you with the admonishment that more restrictive times are ahead.  Please don't believe everything you hear, see or read, but treat each piece of news you receive as a possibility to be investigated.

Why It is Important to Be a Librarian

I don't mind telling you I am proud to be a librarian.  It is not so much because of the time and money I have invested in my career, and certainly not about the paychecks I bring home as it is the satisfaction of knowing that I could help someone.  Sure, there are lots of ways I could help someone.  At the risk of perpetuating stereotypes, we librarians mostly do our good deeds in quiet.  You don't even know what we do.  But you would definitely know if we were no longer around.

Librarians organize knowledge

With the plethora of choices available to us today, it is the librarians who make sense of it all.  We index, we study and we know what choices are best for you, based on your needs.  We know that you don't want to Google "George Washington" for your kid's fifth grade report, because you will get 10,000-plus hits about everything containing George and Washington, but not necessarily George Washington.  We know how to help you evaluate the information you do find to see if it fits your needs.

We create value-added guides to information and help you find the data you need quickly.  We know where information is stored, because we stored it.

We protect intellectual freedom

No matter how much of an ass we think you are, or how outrageously ridiculously we might think you are, we will defend your right to your opinion to our death.  This does not mean we will put 12 copies of your manifesto in our collection;  it simply means that you have a right to publish, research, read and create whatever you need.  Our job is not to judge but to make it happen.

We keep information free and accessible for all

If you believe information is power, than you must believe that in a democracy information must be available to all.  Could you imagine if only the select few had information about job prospects, health care, housing choices?  

We help those who cannot read 

Whether a young child or a struggling adult, we help interpret information for those with a need.  We provide programs to help those who are struggling become more proficient.

We provide access to arts and culture outside our particular area

We provide concerts, author signings, poetry readings and other events that take us beyond our cultural mindsets.  We reach out and branch out to bring the world and its experiences to our community.

We are the People's University

You can learn anything and everything at your public library.  Knowledge has no bounds.  What we don't have, we can find.  We are here to help you reach self-actualization. All you have to do is ask.  We will help.

And you probably are thinking, "I know all of that!"

I am glad you do.  Please know how proud I am to be part of a profession that makes this happen.  And when you hear any inkling of proposals to cut library funding anywhere, speak up.  We are your voice for information and access, but you are our voice for survival.

A Little Individuality is Nice

Recently I prepared a series on Job Exploration for Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library.  The workshop was to take place over the course of three consecutive Saturdays and was to focus on three topics:

1. Writing a Resume
2. Interview Skills
3. Dressing Appropriately

I found many wonderful resources and put together what I feel is a decent subject guide on the library website. Yet what I found, despite how wonderful it was, left a bad taste in my mouth on a number of levels.  Here are my reflections.

The books on resumes did a nice job of addressing all levels in the workforce, including kids looking for their first jobs, entry level white collar and college graduates, moms going back to work after raising a family.  What was really hard to find was job information for felons, but after switching search engines from the one that came with my browser back to the one I love, I found several good sites offering help for that service group.

Almost all colleges and universities have wonderful job search sites that were easily accessible by both search engines. Therein lies the problem.  These sites tend to clog the pipe of information for those looking for blue collar and unskilled employment advice.  Assuming that those unskilled workers would have more difficulty generating key words, this could be a real handicap.  (Of course, that statement may not be accurate; my basis is that those with less formal education might have fewer searching skills.  This may be horribly incorrect.)

At any rate, my big pet peeve came from the part about professional dress.  Seriously?  I watched one expert assemble five matching pieces for business travel.  They matched so well I couldn't tell them apart.  All professional dress advice talked about the three piece - black or navy, the long sleeve shirt and the conservative tie.

This led me to two conclusions:

First, I would never make it in the "business" world, and second, I would be bored to death if I did.  Don't get me wrong:  I think you should put an effort into your appearance. (Okay, some days I don't.) I just think we should show some personality as well. 

(FYI: the suggestion of personalizing your appearance with your fraternity pin elicited a major eye roll.)

Back to Roots in More Ways Than One

The last few years have presented me with innumerable challenges, many of my own making and many over which I have had no control.  While there have been some daily ups and downs in my professional life, most of my challenges have been personal, causing me to outwardly express more emotion than I felt I would ever divulge.

Time has a funny way of surprising you. Time has revealed to me that I am most likely coming into my final years as a school library media specialist.  It is not that I don't love the job and the people, because I truly do, but I have realized that I need to pursue other interests that have been tabled for years.

Interestingly and amazingly, things have come full circle for me in many ways.  I am working part-time as the Adult Services Librarian at Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library, where I began my library career in 1982.  In that capacity, I am working on a series of organic gardening classes, which has reawakened my original passion -horticulture.

I believe it was the summers of my seventh, eighth and ninth grade years that I spent a week at VFW Youth Camp.  I believe the  goal of the camp was to embed a deep sense of patriotism that I never truly bought.  What I did give me is memories of lifelong friends - Bob Boyles, Tim Ware and Brian Lantz - and exposure to a myriad of professional possibilities.  My favorite activities at camp were target practice and the educational experiences brought to us by the WVU Extension Service.  Horticulture was a class I will never forget, as I was told I had a knack for landscape design.  I was totally empowered until I returned home and realized I was allergic to everything that came along with my plan.  So I settled for suitable female professions - nurse, teacher or hairdresser.

My parents never had the financial or information resources to help me realize my dreams, but neither that nor my allergies deterred me from messing around in dirt.  I cherished our flowers, annuals and periennials, at our house on Hall Street, and ever since I was little I loved helping Daddy in the garden or sitting with Grandma as she stringed beans.  When I moved into my own homes, planting bulbs and designing our landscape was my favorite passion.  While I detested weeding, I loved mowing grass, trimming bushes, planting and transplanting, and I loved our vegetable garden.  Over the years as I have become busy with other endeavors, I have let this pastime behind. Now that I have been researching organic methods, I am even more inspired to expand my visions in home landscaping.

And, of course, also coming full circle in a family sense is that my husband and I now own my great-grandmother's farm, which was my dad's biggest comfort and treasure.  I am thinking that perhaps in November 2019 I will hang up my school library clothes and move there, where I will have virtually unlimited vistas to design.  I am looking forward to digging in and becoming more in touch with God and nature. Hopefully I will keep my part-time gig to fund all the work I hope to do.
 

Closure will be complete.

Three Days In - Summer Reading Program a Success

I have to admit I was psyched about this year's summer reading program.  We were fortunate to partner with our town's new minor league team, the West Virginia Black Bears, so naturally I felt that baseball - "We're All About That Base"- would be a perfect theme,  Since I love baseball, this seemed to be a wonderful fit for me.

My county hired "assistant teachers" for each library media specialist.  I hit the gold mine when Sherri Pisegna agreed to be my coteacher.  Sherri was the second grade teacher of both of my children.  I generally refer to her as the "best teacher ever." Even though she professes no knowledge of baseball, she immediatelycame up with wonderful ideas for activities and snacks.  I feel we have a great working relationship, and planning with her was a pleasure.

Still, when Monday morning rolled around, I was apprehensive.  Would anyone show up?  Would they enjoy the activities?

I was relieved to see our attendance figures during the first three days - 20, 21, and 21.  Maybe one or two kids came Monday, not Tuesday, but returned again on Wednesday.  Monday's survey indicated that parents and students are pleased with the activities.

The part I am enjoying most is student buy-in.  Regardless of the topic, our kids are willing to share and go deeper.  One boy brings his ball and bat everyday.  Today he brought the minor league program. and shared information with our group. A parent asked me if her son could share his baseball memorabilia and his experiences winning the Little League championship. Twins told me that the spent the preceding afternoon playing wiffleball.  And one girl told me that she read two biographies on Jackie Robinson and watched a movie of him last night.  Today, she checked out a biography of Roberto Clemente.  I told her I loved her.

The feedback from parents has been rewarding as well.  I am hoping our final five sessions are as successful. Overall, this experience has encouraged me to look at new possibilities for programming.  I am very thankful for the opportunity.

We Can't Wait Any Longer: Time for a New Plan

For the past two years I have been chair of my state's school library division.  From the outset my goal has been to increase communication among school library media specialists and to increase membership.  Here is a summary of my goals:

• Increased communication:  Fairly successful.  I have created Facebook groups and Yammer groups that do see some use.  In January I taught an Office 365 class just for media specialists.  Have these groups resulted in the full-fledged collaboration I had hoped for? No.  Was it worth the effort?  Yes.
• Increased membership: FAIL.  FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.  And it is demoralizing.  In an attempt to see why more people did not join WVLA, I conducted a survey of the 300-some SLMS in West Virginia, asking them their thoughts.  I received 46 replies.  Respondents cited the following reasons for not joining WVLA:
• Cost (15%)
• Relevance or Lack Thereof (13%)
• Other (44%)
• No response (28%)

Basically, my attempts at unifying our profession and creating dialog have been unsuccessful, and for the most part (72% of the respondents chose Other or did not answer the question) I don't know why.

I strongly suspect WVLA isn't working for WV school librarians because WV school librarians are not trying to make it work.  I have sat at the table and watched the faces of academic and public librarians who are trying to reach out to include school libraries in the agenda.  I have heard them ask how they can help.  They have tried.  We have not. You can't sit back and expect programming to be delivered to you. You have to be part of the machine that provides that dynamic.  As a profession, we have failed.

(I feel like the Lorax as he led the animals out of their formerly beautiful home after the last Trucula tree was cut.)

Now in the interests of advancing (what do I mean, advancing? Maintaining!) school library media services in West Virginia, I am working with a friend to develop a new association not just for media specialists, but also for technology integration specialists, academic coaches, and technology systems specialists.  Here is a rough logo I have devised:

Is this what I wanted? Not originally.  Am I selling out? Possibly.  But there are not enough engaged library media specialists to effectively advocate our mission.  Need examples?  Forty-six librarians took the time to complete the survey.  That is 13%.  Those 46 responders were asked if they would assume leadership in a new organization just for school library media specialists.  Eighteen percent of the 46 responders said they would be interested in leadership.  That sounds solid. But 18 percent of 13 percent is not very many people to depend on when starting an organization.

Academic coaches are responsible for carrying out curricular mandates in our schools.  They coteach and often buy resources.  Library media specialists should be academic leaders in our school, helping implement the mandates.  We know what the materials are.  We can advise the coaches if we see them as colleagues and not the competition.  They need to see we are involved in the total curriculum, not merely recreational reading.  We need to agree on ways ethical use of information, citing and paraphrasing are taught.  We can help them, and they can help us.

Technology integration specialists are responsible for introducing technology support to the curriculum. We do that, too, but we are specialists in resources that are not readily apparent to TISs.  We can provide them with more resources to show teachers.  Better yet, we can coteach with the TIS and the classroom teacher for exceptionally effective lessons integrating technology and academics.  We are partners in technology integration.  We bring different pieces to the same puzzle.

We need technology systems specialists.  We need to articulate our needs and the needs of our teachers and students. We need to understand their concerns in order to propose solutions that better fit our needs,

I am hoping that by partnering with TISs, TSSs and academic coaches we can all define our roles without feeling we are in competition.  I am hoping we will have more immediate access to information and can be at the table when deciding upon resources and programs for our students. I am hoping that partnering with these groups will elevate our profession as those who choose to be involved will bring a high level of professionalism to our conversations.

I am not abandoning WVLA.  I will continue to be a paying member. I appreciate all the leadership WVLA has provided to help school libraries...without the help of school librarians themselves.  I am very disappointed in myself and my colleagues for not doing better.  Let me be clear in saying the reason WVLA has not worked for WV school librarians is because WV school librarians, as a whole, have not WORKED with WVLA.  Our fault.  Mine.  Yours.

But I am not sitting back and watching library media services for West Virginia children dwindle away due to complacency.  I hope everyone who reads this will be joining me as we establish this new group.

Sign the Declaration for the Right to Libraries - I Love Libraries

Sign the Declaration for the Right to Libraries - I Love Libraries

We Need Each Other

This past year I have served as chair of the West Virginia Library Association School Libraries Division.  I can honestly say I never envisioned myself being in a position that would be making decisions that could potentially impact the future of school librarianship in my state.  But here I am.  And here we are.

Currently, out of the 340-plus school library media specialists in West Virginia, only 13 are members of our association.  There are many reasons for that.  I think one of the reasons is that our lack of communication with each other tends to let us forget that the association exists. Another big reason is that school librarians are teachers first, and after paying dues to AFT or NEA, adding an additional membership often seems more of a financial burden than a necessity.

Finally, the biggest reason more school librarians don't join WVLA is that they don't see the relevance of the association to their professional lives. There is a feeling that WVLA is not concerned with school libraries.

I can say, after sitting in on Executive Board meetings, attending both the fall conference and Spring Fling, that WVLA is concerned with the needs of the state's school library media specialists.  The Executive Board want to know how they can help us.  That is a tricky and delicate issue.

You see, many librarians feel that any help offered by other librarians, particularly public librarians, may imperil our jobs.  In these tough economic times we always feel our jobs are on the cutting block.  Heck, we feel that way in good economic times. When I told this to a group of public librarians at Spring Fling and later to the Executive Board, I sensed a feeling of hurt, shock, and insult, as if I was implying that these people had done something wrong.

No, they haven't.  It's not them, it's us.  It is our culture.  We work in isolation with generally no empowerment.  We attend professional development planned by our districts that generally has no impact on our direct duties. ( I cannot include myself and my county in this last statement, but for many I suspect this is true.) The only person in our building that understands our professional responsibilities is....us.  Our priorities, even when aligned perfectly with the school wide plan, are often on the back-burner to activities that "affect student learning."

We have a right to that large chip on our shoulders, but here is the truth: mistrust of offers by other librarians is invalid.  We need to work together, building strong coalitions that can provide excellent services and materials to our children.  By working together, we can offer our children more than they could ever have if we continue to work in isolation.  Obviously we cannot buy ever item our children might want  or teachers might need to deliver that curriculum.  Neither can the public libraries or the academic libraries.  

So how do we deal with the perception (both real and imagined) that we can be replaced by other librarians and their services?  

1. Refer to the second paragraph.  We are teachers first.  As such we are the ones who understand the needs of our students and what materials our teachers need to address the Common Core State Standards. Believe in yourself and your value as a professional educator.
2. Reach out and talk to other librarians about how you can form coalitions to provide excellent services to your kids.  Work together!!
3. Join WVLA or, for other readers, your state library association and network.  These people are allies, not enemies. 

I would like to hear from librarians from other states on this issue.  How do you work with your colleagues from all types of libraries? 

Lessons from Smokey and the Bandit

I will be the first to admit that my taste in movies is of the fast food variety.  

Smokey and the Bandit is one of my all-time favorites.  While it may not have won critical acclaim, I find  the wisdom in this film helpful in troubling times.  This is especially true in regard to our plight of disappearing school libraries.

Towards the end of the film, the Bandit tells Cledus, "l don't like  this any more than you do, but we ain't gonna make it, son. We're gonna hang it up."

Cledus is morally outraged.  "Negatory. Negatory.  We say we're doing a job, we're doing a job!"

There have been many times, especially in the last few school years, when many of us have felt like the Bandit.  We have done a remarkable job against incredible odds (without benefit of the black Trans Am), and we feel we just can't do anymore to help our profession.    When someone like the Bandit says it's time to hang it up, that no one knows we exist - or that our importance to the general education picture is ignored, how fortunate we are for the Cleduses of our profession who boldly proclaim that it's time to "introduce 'em to the boy!"  With that, the Bandit and the Snowman made it to the Fairgrounds in time and saved their hides.

We need more Cleduses, and I am urging all school librarians or friends of school libraries to be one.  I realize that because of our isolation within our schools we are often too intimidated to draw attention to ourselves.  But when all we library media specialists band together and tell our collective stories, our value and prestige will be difficult to ignore.

Be a Cledus.  Here's how:

1. Never miss a chance to blow your own horn.  No one else will do it, because no one else has a clue what our jobs entail.  Talk information literacy standards and how you are helping your students be ethical and savvy users of information.
2. Blog about your daily experiences.  And keep blogging.  Your blogs may be sporadic, but when you have something to say about a day in our profession, say it.  You may think no one cares: it could be that no one cares until you tell them what they need to care about. Blog.  And blog some more.
3. Connect with other school librarians via Nings, Twitter, conferences and any other medium available.  Don't stop connecting.  We all have different challenges, even within the same counties, even within the same states.  We need to know what is happening with each other, so that hopefully we can all devise meaningful ways to help.
4. Never miss a chance to impress your supervisor and his supervisors.  I recently was troubleshooting a laptop/tv setup for an administrators' meeting in the library.  Once I had everything connected, I said, "Oh, while you're here, let me tell you about the ebook bundles the PreK-5 librarians selected to support the Common Core."  
5. Be recognizable by your school community.  I have a library Facebook page.  I use it to post about curriculum, as well as to advertise upcoming events.  
6. Give back.  Seth Godin calls this generosity.  Doug Johnson calls it being indispensable   Whatever it is, give back to the community you serve in a professional capacity.  I have open library nights every Wednesday, where the parents are welcome to come in, read with their children and supervise their taking of Reading Counts quizzes.  Do I get paid for this?  Well, my parents generously support our two book fairs each year.  The least I can do is let them experience the library in action.  If I am ever involved in another staff cut situation, you can bet your last dollar I will have plenty of parents that come to my defense.
7. Collaborate with teachers at least on a monthly basis.  Seek them out.  Go to them rather than expecting them to come to you.  Ask what you can do to help them meet their goals and standards.  Be willing to teach from their classrooms rather that relying on their classes to come to you.  Reach out!
8. If you are faced with staff cuts, don't stand in front of the Board and cite the research.  The only people who care about the research are those who have money to spend.  If a school board wants to cut your job, they don't have that kind of money.  So, what should you do?  Tell them about how you use evidence-based practice in your school to contribute to student achievement.  Show them the data.  Get testimonials from parents. Show how your library actually saves the district money.  Stay positive and focused.

I challenge us all to be Cledus Snows.  Start by responding to this blog and contributing to (or challenging) the conversation.  There is no need to be shy.  We all have professional experiences to share.

Finally I will leave you with my personal pledge to advancing the prestige of the library media specialists in our state.

Suzie

UnPublished Posts of the Past:Over My Head? Self-Doubt About My Latest Endeavor

Oh, Christine McVie, how you taunt me.

Ever since the 4th of July I have been periodically hearing her singing "Over My Head" in the  back of my mind.  While I have been a Fleetwood Mac fan since I discovered the 'white album' in 1975, I am finding this repetition somewhat annoying. Over the past few days, it has played with increasing frequency and intensity.

Call it nerves.  Here we are two weeks from the starting date for teachers, and I am nowhere near ready.  My summer reading goals were a complete failure; the lesson plans I had hoped to have completed by now are only partially done. I have been to the farm once --ONCE--this summer.

But I have been very busy, replacing my original goals with more spontaneous responses to professional development.  I have, somewhat accidentally, created and am moderating a Google+ Community to support candidates seeking National Board Teaching Certification in Library Media. This community will replace the Yahoo Group that so many library media specialists, including me, used to help achieve certification. Nationally. Oh, my word, what was I thinking!

My role in this group is accidental, in that I was did not start out with the intention of creating and moderating a group.  In response to the news that the Yahoo group would close due to the retirement of the Cynthia Wilson, the group owner/moderator, many people expressed interest in maintaining the group in some form.  On July 7 I suggested that this might be the time to move the group to another, more evolved forum.  Janet Clark suggested Google Hangouts, and while investigating that possibility, I discovered Google+ Communities.  I created a community called "Library NBCT Support" and referred it to the Yahoo group for comment.  By July 8 we had 17 members and Cynthia's blessing to move the files to our new community.  We are now up and running with 48 members and ready to help support new library NBCT candidates this coming school year.

I am thankful, very thankful, to the three people who have jumped in and contributed knowledge to this community: Kim Gunter from Florence, MS; Michael Brocato of Jefferson Parish, LA; and Missy Hinerman of Bridgeport, WV. These three epitomize the sharing that is trademark of the library profession. Without their input, this community would be nowhere near ready.  Of course, the creators and contributors to the Yahoo group- Cynthia Wilson, AnnMarie Pipkin and many more- deserve countless thanks for developing this vision of mentorship since it's inception in 2001.

I guess as I am writing this, the self-doubt is melting, knowing that this endeavor is supported by many NBCT library media specialists.  As Janet Clark said to me in one of our initial emails, "people will help, and we will learn together."  This is a true example of collaboration and mentorship.  I am looking forward to our first year.

A Parent's Wishes for His Child's Teachers: Chris Kennedy at TEDxWestVan...

This is a wonderful TEDxTalk by a man in the unique position as a parent and a superintendent of schools. I hope you enjoy his insights.

I Am NOT Achieving My Goals

I ran into a former student and her mother at the store yesterday.  It was very nice to see them and catch up.  When I asked Kristen how her first year of college went, she sheepishly hung her head and confessed that she had not done as well as she had wanted.

I assured that transitioning to college was an adjustment and that it was not unusual to have a less than stellar start.  

Then her mother said, "Ask her what she means by not doing as well as she had hoped!"  I looked at Kristen.

"I only had a 3.4," she admitted.  

"A 3.4!  That's nothing to be ashamed of!"  I told her.  I continued saying that there was more to life than studying and that she should, in essence, stop and smell the roses.

Later that evening I realized that the same advice applied to me.  

I began my summer vacation with a wild list of plans.  For starters, here is the list of resources I wanted to read and annotate:

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness [Kindle Edition]

Breaking Free [Kindle Edition]

Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life [Kindle Edition]

Cyber literacy : evaluating the reliability of data
Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs [Paperback] [2009] American Library Association.

The End Games [Kindle Edition]

Facebook House: Insider Tales of Mark Zuckerberg and His Empire's Tumultuous First Days

Goal Sticking: How to Go Beyond Goal Setting and Get on the Road to Success (Goal Sticking Series) [Kindle Edition]

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)[Kindle Edition]

The Myth of the Garage[Kindle Edition]

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty [Kindle Edition]

The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action

The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home (P.S.) [Kindle Edition]

Using Common Core Standards to Enhance Classroom Instruction & Assessment [Kindle Edition]

So far, I am on Empowering Learners.  

Next, consider my lesson planning goals:  By now I should have completed 10 lesson plans for kindergarten and first grades, and five for second grade.  So far: 10 for kindergarten and six for first.

According to my Google Tasks list, by the time the weekend is over I should have:

Nolan is quite a charmer.

• displayed my Big6 posters
• laminated construction paper for my Reading Counts markers
• ordered digital duplicator supplies for the beginning of the school year

So why am I so far behind?  One word: Nolan.  Nolan is my adorable almost 10 week old grandson.  He is taking a lot of my time.  And I am taking my one advice and enjoying this.  On the rest, I will do what I can!

  

Why the New Header?

I recently changed the header photo on my blog from the stock photo of a beautiful beach to a photo I had taken at my farm circa 1980.  I think the change reflects how I have grown (and aged) over the last few years since this blog began.

When the picture was taken, I did not technically own the farm.  It was part of the estate my great-grandmother (Ida Knost Burgy) left to my grandmother (Cora Burgy Westbrook) and her siblings.  My grandmother died in 1957, passing her interest to my grandfather (Thomas Harry Westbrook), who in turn bequeathed his interest in the property to my father (Harry Clifton Westbrook) and uncle (Darrell Lynn Westbrook).  My grandmother's brother (Noah Burgy) passed in 1970, leaving his 1/3 interest with my grandmother's remaining sibling (Marie Burgy Matheny).  When Aunt Marie passed in 2002, my husband and I bought the interest from both Aunt Marie's and Uncle Darrell's heirs.

None of the names listed above are important to the reader.  To me, however, they are important in preserving a piece of the past as a wheelhouse to which I can return and center myself.  While the beach captured my imagination as a child and young adult, it left little for me to hold onto, aside from memories of vacations past.  The beach is wild and every changing.  My writing, planning and thinking when I was there was fanciful and based on dreams with no real foundation. The farm is solid and slow to change.  It is a place of peace and solitude.  I do my best writing, planning and reflecting there, seeded on the solid experiences of the past and nurtured by the thoughtful contemplation of the writings of others.

One of the most important admissions of learning is realizing that in the total scheme of things, one knows nothing.  In my beach days, I knew everything.  Today, in my farm days, I realize how little I know.  Today, I am much more receptive to the thoughts and experiences of others.

Ironically, none of the man-made items in this photo remain.  The house was consumed by fire in 1997.  The barn fell down years ago, and the garage and the smokehouse were demolished soon after we bought the property.  My first car, a 1971 Plymouth Valiant (aka Prince) expired in 1982, and my dogs, Tiny and Mabeline, died in the mid-80s.  

I still dream of all of these, the house and my dogs, the smokehouse and barn. I still maintain that Prince was a more rugged and maneuverable vehicle than most four-wheel drive trucks.  These are parts of my past that cannot (I hope and pray) be erased by time.

What keeps me focused is what remains: my husband (barely visible on the porch) and the land itself. Like  my reading, writing and reflecting on my practice as a teacher and a school library media specialist, they require commitment and nurturing, time and care.

That is fine by me.

A Backwards Review of the 100 Most Influential Education Blogs

On June 18 Onalytica released its six-month ranking of the 100 most influential education blogs. According to the post the 'influence factor' measures the impact of a blog, popularity measures how well the blog is know by other education bloggers. and over-influence is a measurement of how influential a blog is beyond its popularity. All of this is based on the number and quality of citations a blog receives.

Needless to say, I am unfamiliar with most of these blogs. During the next several weeks I will look at all the blogs in reverse order.  I want to see what I am missing!

100.  Concrete Classroom

If Michael Kaechele's blog is number 100, I can't wait to get to the top of the list.  In reviewing three month's worth of blogs I have uncovered many gems. For starters, following a link of the blog I found Sanderling, a mobile professional development site still currently in beta.  I am excited about the promise of this site, which will allow teachers to track their self-designed professional development.  It wpuld be more than wonderful if districts buy in to this concept and at least recognize the self-directed efforts of their employees.  Equally interesting was an overview of his school's professional development conference that brought in nationally prominent speakers.  I would love to see my district sponsor a conference like this!

It seems the blog is updated about once a week.  Consider me a subscriber!

99. Learning in Burlington

Patrick Larkin is the Assistant Superintendent for Learning in the Burlington (MA) Public Schools.  Among other distinctions he serves as Senior Associate for EdTech Teacher.  

Judging from the content I viewed from early May, Larkin reposts and analyzes posts from other bloggers regularly.  This is great, because it initiates a conversation, analyzing the viewpoints of the writers from his own perspectives.  So far I can tell that he is quite aware and involved with teachers and students in his district.  I am impressed that he, an administrator, takes the time to write this blog.  Staying tuned. 

98. The Fischbowl

Karl Fisch, a math instructor/technology specialist from Colorado has been blogging for many years.  His writings often involve mathematics, understandably, but also address education as a whole.  In one post I read he  commented that he did not know whether to encourage or discourage a student who aspired to be a teacher. In another he described the curriculum map he had written to address Algebra I in the Common Core.  

In 2006 Fisch created the Did You Know/Shift Happens slideshow that most of us have seen at faculty meetings and professional development sessions.  The presentation that was originally used at one of his staff meetings went viral and has now been translated and adapted numerous times.

I think Fisch should be followed because of his reputation as a leader and because of his awesome, extensive Diigo bookmarks that he calls Karl Fisch's Public Library.  As I was reviewing the list I was caught up in links and spent at least an hour digressing from this post.  It was heaven.

97.  edcetera

According to the site's description "We blog about education trends and technology for everyone on the college campus, including administrators, educators and campus bookstore managers. Come for the most recent findings in higher ed, stay for the insight and expert analysis."

My immediate reaction was that this was not likely to be relevant to me, and I maintain that opinion.  With so many quality options to follow, reading this blog is not the best use of my time.  I can see some benefit of following this blog if one is a high school educator.  I saw some great links that my CTE friends might find interesting. There are many tools and ideas here that can be adapted and used at the secondary level.  

96.  Bud the Teacher

The subtitle of this blog is Inquiring and Reflection for Better Learning.  The first post I viewed was titled "What Socrates Would Call Wisdom."  Without going into further depth, I was hooked.

Bud Hunt has an impressive resume as an educator.  He left the language arts classroom six years ago to become the technology director in his Colorado school district.  He writes about classroom and personal life experiences and how they relate to education as a whole.  His beautifully written blog is reflective, inspiring and rooted in improving students' learning experiences.  

I am a new subscriber.

     



Moldovan, Andreea. "What Has Changed in the Top 100 Influential Education Blogs Ranking?" Blog. Onalytica, Ltd., 18 June 2013. Web. 27 June 2013. .

ADHD and Gadgets? An Interesting Look at Attention and Devices

A couple days ago I wrote that my daughter was often upset with me and her husband because of our attachment to our devices.  Today, I stumbled across a link that looks at device addiction and its relationship to ADHD.  I found the article worthy of discussion, and it has raised several questions for me.

According the article, when children are engaged with devices, it looks like they are paying attention - and they are -but the attention is different than that tradionally considered necessary for achievement in school.  Christopher Lucas, associate professor of child psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, notes that while attention associated with successful academic endeavors requires sustained focus in absence of rewards, games present on devices provide intermittent rewards in the form of wins.  

The brain's reaction to the wins is a release of the feel-good substance dopamine.  In other words,  a win produces the same effect as Ritalin.  Children with ADHD who are engaged with devices are in fact self-medicating without the need for pharmaceuticals.

There are many, like my daughter, who see this as a problem.  I agree devices can be addicting and over-engagement can lead to antisocial behavior.  The author notes that children become agitated when detached from their devices.  

Others find this effect to be a positive, if educators can use the apps to engage children in learning and virtual socialization behaviors.

There are two very good videos presented in this article.  It is recommended for reading and viewing.  This article is well-balanced and as I mentioned, thought-provoking.

Here are my questions:

What are the differences between engagement with devices and other media?  My husband has made fun of me for years for shutting everything else out when I was engaged in reading.  Is attachment to devices physiologically so different?  If a reader is engaged in the content and making connections, does this not produce a "win" response?  Or is it the release from the electronic stimulation what causes the dopamine release?

I remember watching television on September 11, 2001.  I was overwhelmed by the replaying of images, the interviews, and although I didn't notice at the time, the volume and the rapidity at which the images changed.  When I got home that evening I  flipped channels and came upon a panel discussion on PBS.  I immediately was overwhelmed by a calm and peace.  It was then that I noticed the discophany of the CNN broadcast.  I couldn't turn away from it, but I didn't notice the stimulation until way after the fact.  While this may seem like a digression from the main topic, I am wondering if it is engagement/disengagement that would cause the dopamine release, rather than the medium itself. I wonder if the amount of dopamine released is dependent on the stimulation provided by the medium.

Back to kids and their devices.  My philosophy is that if a kid who is predisposed to ADHD can self-medicate with his devices, perhaps we all (teachers,parents, medical professionals) should look into a therapeutic method of using these devices to educate and treat those with these tendencies.  If nothing else, it is worth a look.

Rock, Margaret. "A Nation of Kids With Gadgets and ADHD." Mobiledia. Mobiledia, 17 June 2013. Web. 27 June 2013. .

End of the Year Checklist and Reflections, Part I

The end of the year brings lots of stress before we actually get to experience the ultimate relief of summer.  For me the stress is not so much with keeping children engaged in lessons as it is to catch up on the "last minute" duties that will get the library in perfect shape for next year.  I need to run overdues, do inventory (usually a three week job) complete all forms as required by the administration, plan and attend staff development sessions to name a few.  Then I have the end of school social obligations: concerts, awards assemblies, fifth grade promotions, and our volunteer breakfast.  It is enough to make a librarian's head spin.

Added to this are a plethora of reflections that, with the exception of my annual report, are not required but are important to the growth and health of our library program. 

The first of these reflections was written by Steven Anderson in Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom. In this blog he poses what he considers the most essential questions from the Principals Technology Leadership Assessment.  They follow:

To what extent do you compare and align your school technology plan with other plans such as your school improvement plan?

 I think this is a very simple question to answer. As required by the state, our technology plan is a component of our school  improvement plan.  Each item in the tech plan must align with and support a curriculum goal.  I am very proud that before our our plans were combined, our tech plans have always reflected our curricular goals.  

To what extent do you promote participation of your school’s stakeholders in the technology planning process of your school or district?  

While I no longer write the technology plan I am consulted frequently by our technology integration specialist.  I know she also works closely with our academic coach and with the county technology visionaries.  I would imagine that, like me, the other teachers are consulted, if only in regard to the number of work orders they submit.  

To what extent did you disseminate or model best practices in learning and teaching with technology to faculty and staff?  My approach has been to model acceptable use (and best use) of technology every chance I get.  For awhile I set up early morning sessions, but after a certain point attendance dropped off.  An effective technique to get the teachers to effectively use the resources our library provides is to  teach federated database searching to the students.  They, in turn, will model it for the teachers, When I asked a third grade teacher to bring her class to the library to finish their research projects, she was amazed at the children's use of OneSearch and the quality sources it was searching. She remarked that all teachers need training on this,, but agreed that all of our staff development time was monopolized by agendas set outside of our school.  Hopefully, with her backing, some changes will be made in our staff development schedule.

Two examples of marketing directly to teachers were very successful.  Classes used the library to take the Statewide Writing Assessment.  As the students were working I was able to describe the new Nexus 7 tablets that were bought out of library funds and to describe the audio and ebook apps I had installed.  At that time I set forth my vision for helping poorer readers enjoy texts on their level.  I proposed units of study to my fourth grade teachers, who agreed to act on the collaboration.

        

Another important "point of sale" was my end of year planning collaboration with the fourth grade team.  We planned at least PBL units that will incorporate higher level thinking skills and targeted uses of all types of technologies.  I showed the teachers how to set up their Destiny Quest accounts, how to create lists, do federated searches and create citation and bibliography lists.  After that, I briefly showed them Google Apps, referencing my class lesson site and collaborative editing of documents.  This was the most successful collaboration I have had since I worked on my National Board certification.

To what extent do you include the effective use of technology as a criterion for assessing the performance of faculty? 

Technology integration is required by the Office of Educational Performance Audits and is a component of our lesson plans.  However, this requirement lacks teeth except for the time our school is actually being audited.  The teachers' unions, one of which I am a member, have worked to minimize the actual requirements for lesson plans.  Therefore it remains at the discretion of the professional how much data is inserted into our plans.  I suspect teachers with fewer than five years experience are held more firmly to this requirement than tenured teachers no longer required to undergo annual performance reviews.  Since I believe in full professionalism (except when it comes to attire) my lesson plans include links to applicable technology.

To what extent do you participate in professional development activities meant to improve and expand your use of technology? 

In short?  All the time.  I mainly make use of webinars and Twitter feeds to gather information on technology and learning trends, but lately I have been incorporating RSS feeds from EbscoHost in my news feed.  Because others may not have the time to sift through the feeds, I post regularly to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as emailing appropriate people.  Recently I began a paper.li for WV Library Media Specialists.  In less than a week I have 13 subscribers.  Not too shabby

So what does all this mean for library services to my young patrons?   

So far, this is telling me what I am doing right.  It does not tell me how to improve.  That is where reflection comes in.  In the next few posts I will look at other checklists and develop a short-term and long-term plan to improve services.

Anderson, Steven. "Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom." : 5 Leadership Questions To Finish (And Start) The School Year With. Web. 24 June 2013.