Tag Archives: CMLE Scholarship

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE Featured Service: Scholarships

More fall leaves...Are professional development funds tight in your work setting? Is the money to pay your registration to a conference in the budget, but there is no money for hotel or mileage, or to pay a sub so you can be away from your workplace?

CMLE offers scholarships of up to $200 per fiscal year per individual for staff affiliated with any type of  library in Aitkin, Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright counties in Central Minnesota. The scholarships can be used to attend workshops, conferences, library meetings or task forces, and other library-related activities to promote engagement and/or professional development. All expenses mentioned earlier are appropriate and we encourage you to use the scholarships even if it can’t cover all of the costs. And, if you use our scholarship to help with costs, feel free to mention to your administrator that you have used our program!

Need help paying for that sub? CMLE scholarships come in very handy in settings that require your employer to pay for a “sub” while you are off enhancing your library skill sets. When you fill out the form, just indicate the amount you need to cover that expense. The ITEM Conference is coming up the first week in October and is in St. Cloud, the MLA Conference follows during the second week of October in S. Paul. We would love to help you get there through the use of our scholarship program, but now is the time to apply!

We all owe it to ourselves to keep our skill sets sharp. Confidence and new energy often result when we  take time to invest in ourselves and spend time with our peers. CMLE would like to support you to that end. For all of the details and to apply for a scholarship, go to https://cmle.org/services/scholarships/. The application is quite simple and should take no more than 10 minutes if you know what you want to attend and have the event information in hand.

For more info on the ITEM and MLA conferences and links to registration, go to our Upcoming Library Events listing.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/kncgcov, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
 
General, School Media Specialist

ISTE 2015: CMLE Scholarship

21413The following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Angie Kalthoff, Technology Integrationist at St. Cloud Area School District.

Powerful Connections

Edurockstars. Attending ISTE 2015 was a great experience. I was able to connect with many people in my Personal Learning Network (PLN) in person, I refer to these people as Edurockstars. I greatly value the relationship I have formed with other teachers in similar positions. I often reach out via Twitter and Google+, when I need to bounce ideas off of others or have questions. Now, after attending ISTE, I have the personal connection that was made at the conference. An added bonus, was meeting the companies and sometimes person, yes singular, who create the wonderful tools I use on a daily basis. One day of the conference, while walking down the hall I saw the creators of Padlet, Kaizena and EDusight. I pointed out their shirts to my friend and they heard me say their names, they stopped and asked if we use the tools and told us they created them. So neat! This was one of many experiences I had talking with companies and creators. It a great experience because I was able to tell them about the features I love to use, and things I would like to see added or changed. I guess I will have to wait and see if anything comes of it.

I also had the privilege of presenting at ISTE. This was my first large national conference presentation. It was an interesting experience for me to present in front of people from all of the world. My birds-of-a-feather session turned into a lecture at the last minute and the ignite I participated in was held in the vendor hall on a stage. Both were in settings I have never presented in before and I feel went well. I look forward to more opportunities for presenting.

General, School Media Specialist

Schoology Next 2015: A CMLE Scholarship

moeThe following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Paul Moe, Instruction Technology Specialist at Sartell Schools.

Thank you very much for funding our trip to Chicago for the Schoology conference. Sam Jarnot and I drove out for the 3 day conference and had a wonderful trip. The conference provided us with an opportunity to connect with teachers, administrators and others from around the country who are using Schoology in many different ways. We are looking forward to passing along several things we learned through attending various sessions such using discussions to promote critical thinking, create better assessments and expanding professional development. During the upcoming school year we also hope to connect a few of our classrooms at Oak Ridge with classes from California to give students an understanding of what students are experiencing in other places and provide them with an opportunity to communicate with technology. Finally, we were allowed to provide input on future updates and enhancements the Schoology developers are currently working on. It is truly impressive how much Schoology listens to its users and makes changes based on that feedback. Minnesota may be the location for next year’s conference and I hope we can send a few additional staff the opportunity to see how others are making Schoology a vital part of their classroom.

Thank you for your support. It was an excellent experience.

General, School Media Specialist

LSLS 2015: A CMLE Scholarship

Maria Burnham, SRRH Library Media Specialist
Maria Burnham, SRRH Library Media Specialist

The following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Maria Burnham, Library Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids – Rice High School.

I attended the Lake Superior Library Symposium (LSLS) on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth on June 5, 2015 thanks to a scholarship from CMLE.  A friend of mine from high school is a librarian at UMD and is one of the planners for the conference.  He asked me to attend the conference as well as present on what I’ve been doing with my school library MakerSpace. I had not heard of the conference before, but I am certainly glad I made the journey north to attend.

I very much enjoyed the LSLS (as well as all of the social gatherings before and after the conference).  The conference numbers are quite small, making it easy to spend time connecting with other professional librarians, particularly those who are academic or public librarians.  And although I may have been the only K-12 professional at the conference this year, I learned a great deal because many topics that pertain to public or academic libraries also pertain to my media center.

The keynote speaker for the morning was Char Booth, a fierce library advocate.  She challenged us to think about reframing our narratives of our library, to make sure that people don’t just see us as a container of content, but rather a place of experience for patrons.  Char focused on advocacy and outreach, and it got me thinking about how I show people what the SRRHS library is and does for my school community.

Following the keynote, I attended several breakout sessions including one about privacy literacy,  one about using data to paint a better picture of our libraries, and one about planning around community needs. From these sessions, I gathered many ideas on how I can better keep data on my library activity, how I can set library goals to ensure library efficiency, and how to go about strategically planning for the goals I set forth as a result of the needs of my community.

I am hoping to attend the LSLS again next year, and if any K-12 librarians want to attend with me, I’m game for carpooling!  From this conference, I feel inspired to continue to grow professionally and in ways that will benefit my patrons.

As a bonus, I heard about a few professional book titles that I will be looking into.  I wanted to share these with you as well:

  • Angwin, Julia. Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015. Print.
  • Heath, Chip, and Dan Heath. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.
  • Jarvis, Jeff. Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.
  • Nissenbaum, Helen. Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford, CA: Stanford Law, 2010. Print.
Academic, General

MILE 2015: A CMLE Scholarship

Roxanne Backowski smaller sizeThe following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Roxanne Backowski, Library Technician at St. Cloud State University.

What were your favorite takeaways or new things learned?  As a result of attending this event, can you identify and explain a few things you can use/apply to your work or practice?

To say the least, Minnesota Library Association’s Institute for Leadership Excellence (MILE) was energizing and an enlightening experience. Before the conference, I took the Clifton Strength Finder Assessment and received a personalized report with my top five strengths (Harmony, Deliberative, Intellection, Input, and Learner).  Nikki Daniels, a conference presenter, took us through a more in-depth session on our strengths. I was able to apply the explanations of different types of strengths to my coworkers which has already helped my understanding of their work style. In addition, I have shared my top five strengths will my supervisor and even my family, so they can have a better understanding of me and how to capitalize on my strengths.  Learning about my strengths has made me more self-aware.  It has been difficult to accept that we are not supposed to focus on improving weaknesses or to waste energy attempting to be well-rounded people.  Rather, we are to improve and capitalize on our natural talents and strengths to be an effective leader.

Another takeaway from MILE was the importance of play. Barry Kudrowitz’s presentation on Facilitating Creativity through Humor and Play made me realize how much of a serious minded individual I can be.  We are more creative when we view an activity as play. I can apply this by changing my attitude toward work tasks–whether it be making a game out of scheduling students workers or attempting to generate creative ideas or solutions at a team meeting.

Some other tidbit takeaways I learned were about library advocacy and the power of telling stories about the value of a library, the plethora of leadership opportunities in MLA, the benefits of interviewing through panels, how to have difficult conversations with employees. I plan to try to gather stories as part of my everyday work, look into MLA increased involvement, and continue to work on articulating points to student workers.