Category Archives: School Media Specialist

School Media Specialist

ISTE 2011 Conference Attendance: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

 Submitted By: Laurie Conzemius, Media Specialist, Pine Meadow Elementary – Sartell

With the support of CMLE I was able to attend the ISTE conference held in Philadelphia from June 25 – 29, 2011. Over 13,000 ISTE members attended this annual international conference. All of those in attendance have a strong interest in educational technology, but I spent most of my time with the media specialist special interest group (SIGMS) where the focus was on technology related to the teacher librarian role.

 The full conference kicked off on Sunday, June 26, with a morning brunch sponsored by the Big Deal Media. MEMO is one of BDM’s member organizations, and we receive branded newsletters from them bimonthly. The people of Big Book of Technology treated about 30 of us (4 from Minnesota, including 2 from TIES and Sally Mays and I from MEMO) to a fantastic meal at Supper, a “farm to table” restaurant in Philly. A highlight was listening to the owner/cook, Mitch Prensky, talk about the meal and menu. Of course the other highlight was eating the incredible food! From there my day was spent preparing for and presenting at the SIG Fair, where ISTE special interest groups provide information about their group. Then it was on to the opening keynote: an exciting way to begin the actual conference.

 Dr John Medina was our opening keynote speaker. Dr. Medina wrote the book Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. We were all encouraged to tweet our questions and responses, and in a group of many thousands the comments were engaging, fun, and provided hours of continued conversation. There is nothing like an opening keynote event to provide excitement for the coming days! Although I found the keynote to be extremely thought provoking, one of my take-aways was in how the technology was used to encourage discussion. This continued through many other sessions, as the “back-channel” was well used in Philadelphia.

 On Monday our small group sessions began, and ISTE offers many hundreds to choose from! I spent the early morning volunteering at our SIGMS Library Media Playground. This is an open area with 8 stations where practicing media specialists demonstrated animation, video, wikis, and a huge array of web tools. I snuck away to attend a fast-paced session titled Learning Tools Family Feud, which provided a lively break mid-day with plenty of laughs, but lots of learning as well. On the serious side I attended a session on top 20 favorite free web tools (by one of my favorite presenters, Tammy Worchester), a hands-on training on Glogster EDU, and a session on developing your personal learning network by David Warlick.

 Tuesday came fast and furiously; with many more sessions than I could possible attend. This is where the power of an ISTE conference is, however, because I simply made a note of all the sessions I had hoped to attend and then didn’t go to those that were being recorded. ISTE records and posts many sessions so I can view these (and share them) following the conference! Yay! It truly is a way to be two places at once! I attended a breakfast sponsored by ProQuest in the morning and was pleased to be able to eat a good meal and give personal input on the CultureGrams program. It is extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to give suggestions on a software program that I use regularly with my students and staff!

 Along with many great sessions, the SIGMS Forum was a Tuesday highlight. Doug Johnson moderated a “Ted Talk” event with Anita Beaman, Cathy Jo Nelson, Gwyneth Jones, Buffy Hamilton and Shannan Miller. You can view the entire event here: http://bit.ly/mGFQB4. I recommend you watch it with a few of your teacher librarian friends however!

 Wednesday, which was the last day of the conference and our travel day, started with a quick hotel checkout and the SIGMS Breakfast, Board Meeting and Keynote Will Richardson. It was also the last time that the members of the SIGMS board (with whom I meet via Skype monthly) were together in person. Outgoing chair Lisa Perez gave her final words to the group, and then incoming chair Maureen Sanders Brunner spoke about the direction SIGMS would be taking in the coming year. I will be serving one final year as communications chair for SIGMS. I truly have to say that this committee has been the most organized, most focused committee with whom I’ve ever had the opportunity to serve.

 I could go on and on about the sessions, events and experiences of ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia: attending this international conference has been so instrumental in my professional career. Next year’s ISTE conference will be held in San Diego (a wonderful city to visit!) and ISTE 2013 will take place in Chicago. I encourage you to attend! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want to know more about how you can get involved with ISTE, and especially with SIGMS! (Conzemius@q.com)

 Thank you once again to CMLE for assisting me in attending this fantastic professional experience! I appreciate CMLE!!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Mulan, Manuscripts, and More!: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

 Submitted By: Jenny Hill, Media Specialist, St. Michael Elementary

 The 32rd annual Children’s Literature Workshop was held June 20-21 at the Kelly Inn, St. Cloud MN.  I had the opportunity to attend thanks to a generous scholarship that was awarded to me from CMLE. The workshop was jam-packed with information and activities; here are some of the highlights.

Jenny Hill and Robert D. San Souci

 The workshop featured author Robert D. San Souci (www.rsansouci.com) who has the distinguished honor of having written the screenplay for Disney’s 1998 animated classic, Mulan.  San Souci stressed the importance of completing thorough research when authoring a folk tale.  Accurately portraying cultures featured in folk tales is both a challenging and crucial research task.  Inaccuracies can be offensive to readers and are not easily forgotten. 

 Local presenters Sara Martini, Laurie Conzemius, and Dr. Marcia Thompson gave information to  attendees about the 2011-2012 Maud Hart Lovelace (MHL) nominees, how to integrate technology into  classroom activities in order to motivate readers, and what award winning books of the year are worth the read! 

 After attending there sessions, I have come away with three goals:

  •  To use the promotional resources available on the MHL Website (http://www.maudhartlovelace.org/) in order to generate reader interest.
  •  To have students create their own book trailers using Animoto (http://animoto.com/).
  •  To read and promote award winning literature, inspiring students to read.

 The workshop concluded with a presentation by 2011 Newberry Honor winner and fellow Minnesotan Joyce Sidman.  Sidman gave the audience some insight in the inner workings of her own creative writing process and shared some poetry techniques that can be used in the classroom.  More information about these techniques can be found on her website (http://www.joycesidman.com/). 

 Other workshop activities included a presentation by Susan Carr Brown of the Hennepin Public Library (http://www.hclib.org/) who reviewed new literature of 2011, a make and take puppet workshop facilitated by Dianne Gausch (http://www.gaschstories-puppets.com/), and an instructional and participatory storytelling lesson by the WonderWeavers (http://www.wonderweavers.com/).

 This particular workshop was historically significant.  Sandra Williams and Dr. Chris Inkster “passed the keys” to Drs. Merton and Marcia Thompson who will be in charge of the workshop next year.  The dates of the 2012 workshop are June  18th and 19th at the Kelly Inn.  Attendees are encouraged to bring a friend or colleague to next year’s extravaganza.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Library Futures Initiative Update: 6/15/11

The Minnesota Library Futurists met on June 1st and June 2nd at the Maple Grove Public Library. The group scheduled a two day meeting for the purpose of gathering and building upon our ideas from day to day, and to share and finalize ideas for the outcomes process. The primary focus for the two-day meeting was Marketing and Advocacy, though Collaboration was discussed again as well.

The June 1st meeting kicked off with small group discussions regarding recommendations and possible outcomes for each focus area. The outcomes and recommendations were written, gathered, and submitted to team members from each focus area. Members from each of the focus areas met later to discuss these recommendations. This process ensured that all Futurists had a say in the final outcomes and recommendations for each focus area, not just their own. Later, the Futurists benefited from a panel of speakers on the topic of Marketing. Guest speakers included Meg Gerritsen-Knodl (Senior Librarian – Information and Online Services, Hennepin County Library System), Gail Hedstrom (Director, Elbow Lake Library), and David Lee King (Digital Branch and Services Manager, Topeka Public Library).  Key ideas or pieces of advice during the panel discussion included: marketing libraries well before it’s too late, using multimedia as well as traditional forms of communication to reach potential library users, marketing key items of interest that will attract users – don’t just market the traditional library building, market where your community is, and use your personality and be authentic in your writing style to draw people in. 

The June 2nd meeting focused on Advocacy and began with presentations and a Q&A session with Michael Scott (Assistant Director, SELCO and MLA Legislative Chair) and Mark Ranum (Director, Plum Creek Library System). Michael and Mark shared with the group their experiences in advocating for Minnesota libraries. Michael shared the roles and responsibilities that come with the position of MLA Legislative Chair. Both Michael and Mark expressed that you don’t have to be an expert, rather just care, show up, and make an effort; people currently involved in library advocacy want future library advocates to succeed and they will seek out ways to inform and assist you in becoming more involved.

During the remainder of the meeting, the Futurists focused on small group work and outcomes. Throughout the summer, many of the small focus groups will continue to meet (whether face-to-face or virtually) to develop and construct outcomes. The large group plans to reconvene near the end of summer. The Futurists will share results and outcomes with the library community in the fall.

Do you have ideas about the future Minnesota libraries? Please use this survey to connect with us or join the conversation at our blog.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

PBS Website Hacked – A Teachable Moment?

By now you’ve likely heard that the PBS website was recently hacked. While this incident is incredibly unfortunate for PBS and Tupac fans, skilled librarians and media specialists can use it as a prime example during information literacy workshops and discussions with students. Many people would likely assume that PBS is always an accurate new source; however, this situation proves how very important it is to fact check and to consult a variety of sources before using and citing information from all sources, even those thought to be “reliable”. You never can be too careful!