Category Archives: Guest Blogger

Books, Guest Blogger

Guest Post for CMLE Reads Across MN: Gratia Countryman

1 Comment

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

This is a guest post from CMLE member Violet Fox. Want to write a book review for us? Let us know!

If you’re a library worker in Minnesota, you definitely need to know about Gratia Alta Countryman! Gratia Countryman: Her Life, Her Loves and Her Library by Jane Pejsa, is a biography based on Countryman’s correspondence, effectively conveying the dynamism of this impressive woman.

The biography is also a great way to learn more about Minnesota history, as Pejsa takes care to provide context about the significance of Countryman’s actions. Gratia’s father took a chance on settling the family in Nininger, a heavily-marketed “dream city” whose founders hoped would become a regional hub and maybe even state capital. The Panic of 1857 ended this dream and Gratia’s family struggled, though Gratia’s parents worked hard to provide opportunities for their children. Eventually Countryman attended the University of Minnesota, where she and friends founded “Company Q,” a military drill team for women, after objecting to the fact that the U didn’t offer any options for physical education or sports for women.

Based on her initiative at the U, Countryman was hired in 1889 as a library assistant for the brand-new Minneapolis Public Library. Her work creating and organizing the library’s catalog earned her a place as Assistant Librarian, and in 1904 she was voted in by the library board to the position of chief Librarian. She was the third Librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library and the first woman to head a major library. Her salary was one third less than her predecessor, reflecting the qualms of the board in promoting a woman to such a high position.

In her work she found a common mindset with T.B. Walker, founder of the Walker Art Center and president of the Minneapolis Public Library Board, as they both believed that the library should not be reserved only for “serious intellectuals” but should look to serve the common citizenry. Her efforts in expanding library services included supporting reading rooms in places where destitute people congregated as well as placing small circulating collections of books in businesses throughout the metropolitan area, to encourage workers to read. Countryman was well-respected locally and nationally as an effective leader in her long tenure as head of the library, from 1904-1936; she served as president of the American Library Association in 1934 and received the first honorary degree awarded to a woman by the University of Minnesota.

Read the Pejsa biography to learn more about the “library mafia” that Countryman established in library leadership (she relied heavily on her circle of friends to fill open roles), as well as her close relationships with women and her very sweet relationship with her adopted son. And follow along as “Gratia” tweets about Minnesota library history at her new Twitter account @MnLibHistory!

Conference, Guest Blogger

TIES Report: Brad Scherer

This is a guest post from Brad Scherer, Instructional Technology Specialist at Sartell Middle School. Need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in Professional Development? Apply today! 

The theme of TIES this year was “Tell Your Story” and it really resonated with me. I think as educators we let others tell our story too often. The stories they tell are at best incomplete storylines and at worst, untrue versions of a story we live everyday. My favorite takeaway from the conference was seeing Dave Burgess (author of Teach Like a Pirate) present and his message of how we need to bring passion and lots of various hooks to draw our students into learning, which will make school something special for our learners! This session completely motivated me to come to school with the intention of making the learning experience for my students something extraordinary.

As a result of attending TIES, I know two immediate takeaways that I will use in our Makerspace (The HUB), our library, and school. The first is getting started using MinecraftEDU. We plan to implement this in a language arts classroom very soon and then see how else we can leverage it to improve student learning. The second takeaway is helping our teachers, students, and district tell their stories better. I feel like this might be more important than we even know since our students are currently curating their lives using social media. I think if we as a staff and a district can lead by example for our students, it may help our students grow into better people, which is more important to me than mastering content and specific state standards!

 

 

Conference, Guest Blogger, Tech

TIES Conference Report: Tom Kuhn

This is a guest post from Tom Kuhn, Instructional Technology Specialist/Library Media Specialist at Sartell High School. Need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in Professional Development? Apply today! 

Attending conferences is an effective method of learning new information, validating current practices, and connecting with other educators. The TIES conference delivered on all fronts this year for me.

In the session “Brick and Mortar Libraries in the Digital Age” by Doug Johnson, he said that libraries used to be where a patron would go to “get stuff.” Now he agrees with Joyce Valenza who said that we need to stop thinking of libraries as grocery stores where one goes to gather supplies but rather as kitchens where one goes to create.

In other sessions the message was more cerebral. The presenters challenged me to think differently about how to present lessons or create projects that were authentic for students so they were working on creating something for an authentic audience rather than just for a grade. One presenter’s question really stuck with me and that was, “Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?” They suggested activities where students had to collaborate using one device to encourage human interaction.

Other sessions presented more practical options, such as Ken Shelton’s information/media literacy and Google search techniques. I learned about refining searches using site and file type searches among other things. I also learned about a million chrome sites, add-ons, apps, and extensions in one session and digital citizenship/cyber safety options in another. Yet another excellent session provided strategies and tools for teaching how to fight fake news. One of my favorite sessions explored Google’s Art and Culture project. Impressive.

Thank you for supporting all of us that want to attend conferences continuing our lifelong learning passions.

Conference, Guest Blogger, Tech

Report from TIES Conference: Jason Menth

This is a guest post from Jason Menth, STEM Integrationist and Culturally Responsive Teaching Coach at Talahi Community School. Need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in Professional Development? Apply today! 

I can’t thank CMLE enough for the opportunity to attend and present at the TIES conference in Minneapolis. TIES is an educational technology conference where educators all around our nation come together to connect, develop, and share ideas to advance our students. The theme this year was “What’s Your Story?” With two powerful and impactful keynote speeches from Ken Shelton and Jennie Magiera, I got a new fire to share the story of our students. Over half of the students at Talahi are English language learners and have emigrated from other countries. With our amazing students we have such rich stories at our fingertips to share with our school and community. Educators also understand how a child’s upbringing impacts their experience at school both academically and socially. Being in the role as STEM Integrationist I have the resources to bring these stories to life while also teaching lessons on public speaking, video production, and the purpose of building community.

I also had the chance to present how we incorporate STEM activities in the classroom. My presentation took place in the “playground” area of the conference. This is a place where presenters bring their gadgets and resources they use at school for others to experience and hear how they are implemented. I was very busy with interested professionals and had a chance to create new connections, share our resources, and pick up a few new activities to try. I could go on and on but to say the least this is my favorite conference to attend because of the personality of the conference. The environment was conducive to learning, networking, and sharing knowledge. Most presenters are from our home state and understand the demographic of our schools. I know my students will feel the immediate impact of my new knowledge.

Books, Guest Blogger

Guest Post for CMLE Reads Across Minnesota: Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

This is a guest post from CMLE member Violet Fox. Want to write a book review for us? Let us know! 

As a relative newcomer to Minnesota I’ve been making a concerted effort to learn more about this state, especially the unique cultures that have shaped the state’s history. Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year, is an enjoyable read focusing on the experiences of author Linda LeGarde Grover, member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. In this book of essays Grover shares stories from her life, finding beauty in everyday life and illustrating her strong spirituality and love for the people in her community.

Onigamiising (pronounced, approximately, AH-nih-gum-AY-sing) is the Ojibwe word for Duluth, meaning “the place of the small portage.” In Grover’s reflections there is a sense of loss of the traditional ways of living that the Ojibwe practiced for hundreds of years in the area before colonization. Grover’s background as an educator gives even further weight to the grief that she shares when discussing the disastrous effects of the boarding schools, where American Indian children were sent by the federal government to attend subpar schools and intentionally be separated from their families and their cultural heritage. But this heartbreak is deftly balanced by an expansive gratitude for the natural world and especially the long-held spiritual and cultural values that are shared by the Ojibwe people.

From the publisher’s description: “In fifty short essays, Grover reflects on the spiritual beliefs and everyday practices that carry the Ojibwe through the year and connect them to this northern land of rugged splendor. As the four seasons unfold—from Ziigwan (Spring) through Niibin and Dagwaagin to the silent, snowy promise of Biboon—the award-winning author writes eloquently of the landscape and the weather, work and play, ceremony and tradition and family ways, from the homey moments shared over meals to the celebrations that mark life’s great events. Now a grandmother, a Nokomis, beginning the fourth season of her life, Grover draws on a wealth of stories and knowledge accumulated over the years to evoke the Ojibwe experience of Onigamiising, past and present, for all time.”

Many of these essays have been previously published in various places. I found the book best enjoyed by reading just one or two essays at a time, with time to reflect on the lessons in each story. Check out one of Grover’s essays online, “Passing on the Ojibwe language,” and then pick up Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year to savor the wisdom and lyricism of her stories.