What Fills Your Bucket? What Fills Your Bucket?

Vol. 10 Issue 5 December 1, 2010

Who am I? What is the

meaning of (my work)

life?

This issue of Media Connections on the theme of Resources and Tools reminds me of these

age-old questions. You know -- the ultimate questions we all grapple with, the ones that have

puzzled the great philosophers, the young, the old, the confused, all of us. Who am I? What

is the meaning of my life?

Right now I feel our profession grappling with these very questions. I’ve heard many advo-

cates say about school libraries that, “a school library without a school librarian, is just a room

full of books.” I agree. I see the truth in this statement -- not in devaluing the librarian-less

room, but in embracing the value and power of the school librarian.

In my opinion, YOU -- the educator who has the authority and opportunity to connect with

every child, every teacher, and every area of the curriculum -- YOU are the greatest resource

in your library. It matters little whether you’ve got amazing technology gadgets and tools, the

most up-to-date print collection, and a fleet of shiny new eReaders to lend to students, or

whether you’re challenged by working in a school library with a couple antiquated computers

and an ancient collection. YOU are the most valuable resource in the school library. There’s

no argument that some of us have easy resources, a nice budget, and oodles of parent volun-

teers at our fingertips while others labor alone under difficult schedules, impossible demands,

and limited resources. It’s not that these things don’t really matter. What mat-

ters more however, regardless of the day-to-day circumstances, is that the MOST

VALUABLE RESOURCE in the school library is YOU. If you haven’t realized this by

now, it’s time for you to embrace your value and use it for the benefit of your stu-

dents.

(Continued on page 2)

The Very Best Resource of AllThe Very Best Resource of AllThe Very Best Resource of AllThe Very Best Resource of All -Kelly Brannock, DPI

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Unfortunately, what keeps me feeling uneasy is that too many of us see “the room” and

“what’s always been in the room” as more important than what they embody and what

they’re capable of doing for students and teachers. I worry about those among us who are

not connecting with a professional learning network and who see their professional develop-

ment as someone else’s responsibility. I am very anxious about the gigantic budget shortfall

and what the NC school library landscape will look like next year. Let there be no doubt… the

budget shortfall is real and it is unprecedented in size. As much as I like to stare straight into

the future, I’m a bit afraid to focus on what lies ahead. Many of those nice resources we used

to take for granted may be gone, leaving all of us wondering what to do next.

If you were at the NCSLMA conference in November, you know that Doug Johnson rocked the

room with his assertion that he welcomed a catastrophic budget crisis as an opportunity to do

some much-needed professional “pruning”. Doug has continued to explore this theme in his

Blue Skunk blog. He recently posed the question, “do teachers see you providing a student’s

worth of value in their classrooms?” After doing a bit of math, he figured out that the loss of

all 8 elementary school library positions in his district would mean an overall class size reduc-

tion of about 1 student per classroom. Given the math, he wonders if teachers think this is a

fair trade. As Doug puts it, would classroom teachers willingly take on one more student in

exchange for our value in “creating independent readers (that raise test scores), teaching

technology and research skills (taking some important curriculum off their plates), providing

time for planning (fixed schedule), providing immediate in-building tech support and training,

and adding constructive teaching materials, methods and ideas to a teacher's toolkit?”

<http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/11/17/do-you-provide-a-

students-worth-of-value.html>

When I consider Doug’s rhetorical questions (and think about the questions he didn’t ask), I

don’t picture a practice of school librarianship that’s all about the book, the room, and warm,

fuzzy feelings about reading.

When I picture the true value of school librarians, I think about the words at the top of

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy like:

applying - students, teachers, & school librarians engaging and interacting with ideas and

information in a new way

analyzing – thinking more deeply about what is really important for student learning and

how we can be an ever-adapting resource for learning and teaching

evaluating – taking a critical look at what we do, why we do things that way, & how we can

do better (including new technologies and practices that challenge our existing ideas),

and

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 3)

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creating – the inventive and intentional crafting of a new model of teaching and learning,

with school librarians as life-long learners as well as teachers of both students and

other educators.

As much as I appreciate remember and understand, these aren’t the highest and best uses or

concepts for the 21st

century school librarian as resource. In today’s information environment,

remember just doesn’t work when things are changing so quickly and understand is necessary

but not sufficient to being a life-long learner. When we do our best work with students, we’re

always pushing them to the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy. As individuals and as a community of

professionals, are we setting the same high expectations for our practice?

So, like Doug Johnson, I’m wondering. I’m wondering what you think about your professional

value. Does the value of your school library lie in the room, the books, or you? Are YOU the

most valuable resource in the school library?

If you’re interested in exploring and expanding your value even further, please consider fol-

lowing these thoughtful colleagues:

Dr. David Lankes, Associate Professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies,

will inspire and challenge you in his presentation on the The Librarian Militant, The Librarian

Triumphant, available online at:

< http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/?p=1050>

Dr. Joyce Valenza, a Wonder Woman of school librarianship and blogger for SLJ in her spare

time. She has written variously on this topic including:

What Librarians Make: A Response to Dr. Bernstein and an Homage to Taylor Mali, avail-

able online at: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2010/11/27/

what-librarians-make-a-response-to-dr-bernstein-and-an-homage-to-taylor-mali/

A Revised Manifesto, available online at: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/

neverendingsearch/2010/12/03/a-revised-manifesto/

Things I Think Teacher Librarians Should Unlearn (20 & counting), available online at:

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2010/08/24/things-i-think-

teacher-librarians-should-unlearn-18-and-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-

13402

Buffy Hamilton, The Unquiet Librarian, a high school librarian from Georgia who isn’t the least

bit quiet or afraid about her professional practice, delivered an inspired keynote at the NJASL

conference in December 2010. The slidedeck of her presentation is available online at: http://

theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/njasl-2010-keynote-participatory-

librarianship-creating-possibilities-through-transliteracy-learning-and-linchpins/

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If you're a Media Specialist in North Carolina, the chances are good you've used or recom-

mended a LEARN NC resource. Maybe you've bookmarked our collection of media literacy re-

sources, or directed a new teacher to the right lesson plan just when she needed it.

But chances are also good that you haven't seen the full extent of what we have to offer.

We’ve been hard at work developing resources that may surprise you if you haven’t been to

the LEARN NC website in a while. Whether you're hearing about us for the first time right now

or have been relying on us for years, here's a chance to see how we can make your life – or at

least your job – easier.

1. Standards-aligned lesson plans

The core of LEARN NC's collection has always been lesson plans aligned to the North Carolina

Standard Course of Study. We continue to publish standards-aligned lesson plans, of a higher

quality than ever. Recent highlights include:

• a collection of in-depth math and

science units <http://www.learnnc.org/

search?area=&phrase=kenan+fellows>

provided by the Kenan Fellows program

at NC State, which connects outstanding

teachers with researchers and scientists

at the region’s top universities and cor-

porations;

• over one hundred career-centered

lesson plans for middle school <http://

www.learnnc.org/search?

area=&phrase=careerstart>, developed

as part of a research-based program to

heighten student engagement and pre-

vent dropouts;

• a video-enhanced unit study of stream health <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/

mudcreek>, by a Duke professor and teachers from the NC School of Science and

Math, in which students engage in field work and lab work to compare urban and

natural streams.

As always, lessons are easy to find by using the standards as navigation. And as the standards

change, we’ll be sure to keep our alignment relevant and current.

Six ways LEARN NC can make your life easierSix ways LEARN NC can make your life easierSix ways LEARN NC can make your life easierSix ways LEARN NC can make your life easier ----Emily Jack, LEARN NC Managing EditorEmily Jack, LEARN NC Managing EditorEmily Jack, LEARN NC Managing EditorEmily Jack, LEARN NC Managing Editor

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2. Student content

LEARN NC has completed

the first edition of our

“digital textbook” for North

Carolina history <http://

www.learnnc.org/

nchistory/> – a collection of

primary sources, readings,

and multimedia, organized

chronologically and aligned

to goals and objectives of

the Standard Course of

Study. A focus on using

enhanced primary sources

means that students de-

velop critical-thinking skills as they are asked to grapple directly with letters, diaries, speeches,

oral histories, newspaper and magazine articles, government documents, maps, photographs,

films, music, and more. Each source is framed and introduced by a historian, with specific

comments that invite the student to ask the kinds of questions that historians ask of primary

sources.

The textbook covers the entire 8th

-grade social studies curriculum, but it’s not just for grade 8.

All of the content can be used to teach U.S. history through a North Carolina lens, and parts

can be adapted to teach upper elementary students as well.

Other digital textbooks we’ve published include three levels of Mandarin Chinese, <http://

www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6427> with Arabic language textbooks on the way. We’re also

exploring the possibilities for a multi-grade digital textbook on environmental science.

3. Jumping-off point for the NC Professional Teaching Standards

The new professional teaching standards and evaluation represent a significant

change for how teachers are evaluated in North Carolina. We’ve published the

text of the standards on a page <http://www.learnnc.org/ncpts/2009-PTS/PTS1/

> that serves as a professional development launching pad.

Our online PD courses are aligned to the new standards, and we’re in the midst

of aligning our best practice articles. Using the standards as navigation, teach-

ers can easily find resources to help them fulfill each element of each standard –

whether it’s a best-practice mentoring guide to support the leadership standard,

or an online course about cross-cultural understanding aligned to the diversity

standard.

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4. Technology integration resources

In conjunction with our sister blog, Instructify, we’re publishing an ongoing series of articles

<http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6673> that share best practices and instructional ideas in

technology integration. The focus is always on how to use technology to support effective

pedagogy – rather than just using technology for technology’s sake.

Recent topics have included best practices in using interactive whiteboards, developing inter-

national collaboration projects, keeping students digitally safe, and using Web 2.0 tools to

make the school improvement plan process easier.

5. Differentiated instruction

This academic year, LEARN NC is addressing teachers’ need for differentiation resources with a

series <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner> that merges research-based arti-

cles, interactive web conferences, and an online professional learning community.

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The articles, written by experts in the field, focus on topics such as devel-

oping assignments that address the needs of all learners, using technology

to differentiate instruction, and instructional strategies specific to the

needs of deaf learners, gifted learners, and autistic learners. Embedded

videos illustrate the practices of some of the state’s best teachers and fea-

ture interviews with education faculty.

Each article is paired with an interactive web conference, which provides

opportunities for teachers to pose their most pressing questions to subject

experts. An online professional learning community enhances the experi-

ence for a group of educators who will earn continuing-education credits

by engaging in focused discussions about the content.

Another series of articles <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/people/1390> takes

on some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding special education,

and addresses topics like minority representation in special ed classrooms,

the relationship between special education and social skills, and the true

definition of the term “learning disability.”

6. Easy navigation

With such a diverse and deep collection, we understand it’s important to be able to easily find

what you’re looking for. Our most recent home page redesign saw the addition of easy brows-

ing options, under the heading “projects and special collections.” And stay tuned for new

search features that will help you narrow down search results to make finding just the right

resource even easier.

And that’s just scratching the surface. We’ve also got new resources that cover blended learn-

ing, global education, hot topics in education research, and more – and the collection grows

steadily. Stop by www.learnnc.org and see why if you haven’t seen LEARN NC lately, you

haven’t seen LEARN NC.

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We all want to provide our patrons with the best teaching

and learning tools. Selecting and acquiring resources for a

school library collection is only half of the equation. We must find

effective way to promote the use of these materials and tools.

First, try a combination of real and virtual displays. The traditional use of engaging

physical displays that incorporate clever props, signage and take-aways (such as rele-

vant bookmarks) still helps us attract attention with patrons in our physical space. Consider

adding some virtual displays using web tools like Shelfari or Animoto to display images of re-

sources on your website. You can embed these creations on your site. School announce-

ments, emails to your staff, and a quick demonstration at a staff meeting can encourage pa-

trons to take a look at your website. If you have a sizable amount of new materials, consider

planning an event to showcase your new resources. A scavenger hunt and snacks can attract

lots of attention to your new materials.

EduGlogs allow you to make interactive posters with text, images, and hyperlinks to relevant

web resources. EduGlogs can serve many purposes, but they make especially nice pathfinders

and virtual displays. Consider requesting permission from various publishers to use book

cover images to launch pathfinder hyperlinks. Also, try Creative Commons or free clip art to

make your Glogs visually engaging. I used EduGlogster to design a Backyard Book Playground

along with traditional paper bookmarks featuring authors grouped by genre as a helpful tool

to direct students quickly to the types of books they want.

Finally, I suggest using a free wiki development site and Google docs to share resources with

teachers as you plan collaborative lessons and units. Wikis and Google docs make allow you to

create fluid workspaces that aren’t limited by physical space and time. These tools can be

easily and conveniently edited by anyone involved. Destiny’s capacity to design and share

“Resources Lists” also gives you an excellent sharing tool.

Developing the web-based resources requires time on the planning and creation side, but over

time these tools are pretty easy to maintain. It’s nice to benefit time and again from the web-

based materials. It’s truly exciting to watch patrons enjoying and using displays, pathfinders,

and library resources in your virtual library spaces.

Leading Patrons to the Water:

Strategies to Share Resources

-Gina Williams Webster

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Our writing prize for article submissions goes to Karen

Perry! Karen wins an ama-zon gift certificate worth $25. Many thanks to all of our contributors from 2010!

The next issue of Media

Connections will be

published online in

February. The theme is

Advocacy (and building a program worth

advocating for!).

Please consider writing about the ways you

have built your program to be more worthwhile

to patrons. How do you share your message

with your community? The writing deadline is

January 10th. Please send articles to Carolyn

Vibbert at cvibbert@gmail.com.

All stock photos were used with permission from

stock.xchng.com Book: Sanja Gjenero Mouse: jaylopez Post-it: BSK

Camera: Patrick Hajzler Backgrounds: Nimalan Tharma-lingam and Roger Kirby Clean Bucket: sanja gjenero

Thank you to our contributors!

Kelly Brannock Emily Jack

Gina Webster

Don’t forget…… Facebook:

NC School Library Media Association

Twitter:

www.twitter.com/NCSLMA

GoogleGroup:

groups.google.com/group/ncslma

Blog:

www.ncslma.blogspot.com

Wiki:

http://21clibrary.pbworks.com

���� “Karen”