All posts by admincmle

The Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange (CMLE) is one of seven regional multitype library systems established to meet the needs of and share the resources of all types of libraries. We love libraries, and are here to support them!
General, School Media Specialist

Green Schools Workshop

Presented by the Minnesota Department of Education, please join us for regional Green School Workshops for K-12 administrators, staff, teachers and anyone else interested in making schools more healthy, efficient, and effective.

Workshops will be held at Minnesota’s 2012 Green Ribbon Schools National Award Winners, and in our Central MN region, that is:

  • Kennedy Community School, Monday, October 29th in St. Joseph

See first-hand the benefits of green schools and learn about resources available in the areas of green buildings and energy, health and safety and environmental education.

Cost: Free. Clock hour certificates available.

Designed for school teachers, administrators, school business officials, buildings and grounds staff, school board members, informal educators, environmental groups, parent and community volunteers, legislators and local officials and anyone else that has an interest in making their school more green.

Delivered by green school experts, participants in the workshops will:

  1. –          identify ideas, resources, mentors and support in their efforts to implement green school initiatives
  2. –          learn about the Green Ribbon Schools (GRS) program, including the benefits of green schools and the three pillars of the program: Pillar One – reduce environmental impacts and costs, Pillar Two – improve the health and wellness of students and staff, and Pillar Three – provide effective environmental and sustainability education
  3. –          see Minnesota’s 2012 Green Ribbon Schools National Winners and hear from staff and students

The following agenda is planned for each workshop:

–          3 p.m. – Registration and exhibits open

–          3:30 p.m. – Welcome and Overview of Green Schools – GRS process and pillars, hear from 2012 GRS national winners

–          4 p.m. – Break-out sessions and school tours

–          5 p.m. – Exhibits and networking

–          6 p.m. – The End

Please register by sending an e-mail to Terry Alvarado at terry.alvarado@state.mn.us with the following information: Date and location of workshop attending, name of participant, school, position, e-mail and phone number.

For more information, please contact Jeff Ledermann at jeff.ledermann@state.mn.us or 651-582-8602.

General, School Media Specialist

Follow the MEMO Conference on Twitter

We know that not everyone in our region will have the opportunity to attend the MEMO Conference this year, which can be disappointing. A strategy I have found helpful when I am unable to attend events, is to find out the Twitter hash tag for the event, then do a Twitter search on the hash tag. now, you can read the tweets from attendees and feel a bit more connected to people and events. In this case the hash tag will be #memo12 and you can follow MEMO on Twitter anytime, using their @memo_updates too.

This is my first blog post using the new mobile WordPress app on my iPad.

Academic, Public, School Media Specialist

Taking Information Literacy on the Road

Bridging Information Literacy (IL) Across Libraries has become our CMLE tag line for work we have been doing with high school media specialists and college librarians. CMLE is in a unique position to convene important conversations across library types, and IL is the first bridging topic we have chosen. The group first met in April to get acquainted and get their draft assignments. By using a wiki and email, both groups finished  draft documents by the end of May. Then, a face-t0-face meeting in July really bonded this group in ways the wiki may not have been able to do.  Initially, we were uncertain how much the groups had in common. As we talked in July however, the group acknowledged the many commonalities, and that they want to do more around this subject. They did not want to end their work!

We wanted others to hear of our “bridging experiment” and laid plans for sharing what we had learned through MLA and MEMO Conference presentations. We believe it is useful to share the process we used, some outcomes, and some exciting plans for the future. We concluded that it is not helpful to “preach to the choir”  about IL….our colleagues already get it!  Somehow, the group felt it was worth a try to reach students. To that end, we recently developed a survey for college students asking them to offer advice to younger students. Specifically, we asked “Based on your experience, if you could tell a high school student three things to help them prepare for college-level research, what would it be?” We are hopeful that younger students will heed the advice of their older peers and engage more deeply in IL . We hope to produce a short video of college students sharing their message, with quiet  supported by a librarian message, and share it broadly through You Tube.

CMLE will continue this IL work, and hope to grow the circle of involvement and engagement. In the meantime, we are on the road sharing the message, and have opened the group wiki up so others can see the draft documents.  We hope to share a polished executive summary within the next couple of months. Visit the wiki to get the draft version of the  following:

  • Media/information literacy power standards (according to three high school media specialists)
  • Typical student profiles and research frameworks for high school freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior
  • Suggested skill sets for incoming college freshmen
  • The MLA conference handout which shares key points of the work of this group, and steps going forward.

Tip: Check out the New Insights documentation on the site, which captures shifts in thinking and understanding of IL and the work of  other librarians.

Would you be interested in participating in an event where we convene a larger group of high school media specialists, college librarians, and public librarians around the topic of information literacy? Let us know in the comments….or send email to papost@stcloudstate.edu

Academic, Public, School Media Specialist

Five Tech Skills Every Student Should Possess

Recently, eSchool News asked its readers for their thoughts on the top five technology skills that all students should learn. A big part of what came through loud and clear is the ability to easily  adapt to change. Tip: the comments at the end of the article are probably as interesting as the article itself. The full text of the article is available at  http://tinyurl.com/ckb63x5

What do you think the top five technology skills are for students?

School Media Specialist

MEMO Conference Mad Dash

The to-do lists are shrinking as the mound of miscellaneous boxed items grow as we put the finished touches on our work with this years MEMO Conference. Our presentations, the Hospitality and Local Arrangments Committee work, details around the Conference Connections Cafe, and our work with the Friday night Conference Cantina  have kept us busy. Julie Notsch, Cathedral High School has been working with us on this committee work. Cantina Night will offer some time for light hearted fun and a focus on the individual. Begin by creating  your own margarita and taco dinner by building it just the way you like it. Team trivia and drawings for  fabulous prizes will top off the evening.

We are hopeful that the turnout is good, and people are able to push work into the background, to fully enjoy the conference experience. It is fun to see people get their “batteries charged” and feel excited about their work with an infusion of new ideas!

When the conference is close to home, it is tempting to bolt for home when the breakout sessions end, but the true magic and networking happen in the hallways or in the evenings. So resist the call of your jammies, and stick around. Kate and I hope to see you all there!