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Conference

ITEM 2017 Recap

On Friday, Oct. 6th I was so excited to attend my first ITEM conference in Brooklyn Park! I was looking forward to a day of learning, networking with school media and tech educators and hearing from some local authors. I was able to do that and more!

The conference began with a delicious breakfast and a presentation from the author and Macalester professor Duchess Harris. She talked about her personal connection to her book Hidden Human Computers which is about how “dozens of African American women worked for NASA as expert mathematicians from the 1940s to the 1960s and almost no one knows about it.” Her grandmother was Miriam Daniel Mann and “was one of the first black female computers employed by NASA’s predecessor,the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).” Harris discusses this in more detail on this episode of the Historically Black podcast.

Then it was time for some chatting before heading off to our first sessions! I was able to hear from Tea Rozman-Clark, Executive Director of the organization Green Card Voices, and the amazing work they do with young immigrants. We learned about their behind-the-scenes recording processes and got to watch how they conducted a day of interviewing students from a remote location that just happened to be St. Cloud State University!
It was great to see the books that have been created that feature the stories of the students interviewed. You can purchase Green Card Youth Voices St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Fargo editions here.

Then we had to rush quickly off to the next session, one that I was excited about: learning about Creating Future Ready Media Centers!

This presentation from media specialist Amy Carney was definitely inspiring (she’s renovated two media centers in the last three years!) and full of great information that we’re happy to pass along to our members, especially since we know some of you may be working on redesigning or updating your media center! You can download a PDF of her presentation here.

We had some free time before the next round of sessions to check out the vendors, browse the bookstore (so many good choices!), and chat with each other. Then it was time for more learning! I got to hear from Outfront MN as they presented LGBTQ 101. We learned definitions and terms regarding individuals in that community and also ways to make interactions with students or our patrons more inclusive and respectful.

Next, it was time for lunch, entering drawings for books, and watching CMLE Board Member Maria Burnham present awards!

And the fun didn’t stop there! After awards were presented, we got to hear from a bunch of awesome local authors and illlustrators! They all answered some unconventional questions and we got to hear about the books they’ve created.

One of the authors on the panel was Lisa Bullard, author of the book Turn Left at the Cow, which Mary recently reviewed in our series CMLE Reads Across Minnesota! I was pretty excited to see her in person!

The afternoon sessions were very interesting as well. I attended a presentation from Dawn Nelson called “When ALL Means ALL: Partnership and Programming for Students with Special Needs.” This can definitely be a challenge for our members and I hoped to get some good resources to share. Dawn talked about her experiences working with students with physical special needs, like making her media center more wheelchair friendly, and also shared her experiences working with students on the autism spectrum. Check out her presentation here for suggestions and useful links!

The final session I attended was a presentation from Maria Burnham, who told us about how she encourages and works to create a culture of reading with both staff and students at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. She had some great suggestions, like keeping your list of books that you are currently reading visible as an easy conversation starter, or to take part in a school-wide book challenge. Make sure to check out her presentation here!

I had a great time attending ITEM and can’t wait for next year! Hope to see you there! 🙂

Conference, School Media Specialist

ITEM Fall Conference Call for Proposals – 2017

“Future Ready > 21st Century – Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota
October 12-14, 2017
Minneapolis Marriott Northwest
Brooklyn Park, MN

The Program Committee for the 2017 ITEM Fall Conference is looking for information technology professionals to present 45 minute break out sessions around the theme of Future Ready > 21st Century. We are seeking presentations in the following strands, which promote student and/or staff learning in these areas:

-Communication
-Collaboration
-Critical Thinking
-Creativity
-Citizenship

The lead presenter of each session may choose either a $50 reduction in conference registration cost or a free one year ITEM membership.

This year, all breakout sessions will last 45 minutes. All vendor sessions must be identified.

Proposals will be accepted until this form is scheduled to close on June 2, 2017.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITEM Program Committee at: itemconprogram@gmail.com“

Check this out:, CMLE, General, School Media Specialist

CMLE Winners at the ITEM Conference!

It is always good to get professional awards. And when they come from your peers, they are even more special! At this year’s Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) conference in Minneapolis, CMLE was proud to have not one but TWO winners!!

item-award-winners
From the left: Willie L. Jett II, Angie Kalthoff, Maria Burnham, and Erich Martens

Angie Kalthoff, @mrskalthoff,is a Technology Integrationist in St Cloud School District 742. She won the award for Technology Support  She was joined by her very proud Superintendent Willie L. Jett II. Right after the ITEM conference ended, she continued her advocacy for libraries and technology work by leading sessions at the Code.org workshop at the North Dakota Association of Technology Leaders conference in Minot!

Our own CMLE Board President Maria Burnham, @MariaBurnham4 ,Technology Integrationist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School, won the award for Library Media Specialist of the Year. She was joined by her equally proud Principal Erich Martens.

Both Angie and Maria have been very active in the library community of central Minnesota; as well as both reaching out to work with their peers. I can tell you that the applause for both women was thundering, as the conference attendees recognized the work they have done to improve service and technology for their communities. It was great to see, and to be a part of, the celebration of the achievements of so many interesting library people.

Take a moment to applaud their achievements! It is great to work in a community with high-achieving people; we all benefit from their example, and we can all work out new strategies to keep our skills sharp and our library services aimed helping our patrons!!

Check this out:, General, Resources, School Media Specialist, Tech

ITEM Conference recap

The Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) Fall Conference was held in Minneapolis, October 13 – 15, 2016. “The theme this year is Innovate-Integrate-Motivate, and we’d like to help our attendees connect and collaborate with our exhibitors to create a partnership that will benefit students and enhance learning in our schools.”

This was a fun conference, because there were many interesting learning opportunities available, and also many opportunities for participants to network and spend time together. The full schedule is available here; look through it to see the complete range of possibilities and programs, and to identify some of the people who are doing things similar to the things you like in the profession! Continue reading ITEM Conference recap →