Information in this post was provided by Laurie Conzemius, MEMO.
The MEMO Fall Conference, It’s About the Learning, is being held on Oct 3-5 at St. Cloud’s River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Each year attendees comment that the sessions at this conference, more than any other they attend, support their work in schools and provide the tools and training they need to do their job.
As teacher librarians we share a love of books and authors. For those of you able to attend, Thursday evening will feature a new special event, Journey of a Young Adult Book: From Writer to Reader. Dr.Heidi Hammond from St. Catherine University will moderate a discussion with young adult authors Carrie Mesrobian and Mary Losure, along with Carolrhoda Lab’s educational director Andrew Karre and Red Sofa Literary agent Dawn Fredrickson. Mary Casanova, featured Minnesota author, will delight us with a Saturday luncheon keynote address.
Both Joyce Valenza and Stephen Abram, recognizable names for those working in school libraries, focus on integrating technology in all aspects of education.
Keynote speaker Steve Hargadon, host of the Future of Education interview series and creator of the Classroom 2.0 social network, also has a strong connection to school libraries. Their keynote sessions are certain to inspire you, and Joyce and Minnesota’s own Doug Johnson will be hosting a “unconference” format for our Saturday breakout sessions. This format allows attendees to tailor the conference sessions to their own needs, and will be certain to provide you with a wealth of knowledge and a list of connections for your professional learning network.
Several Minnesota authorswill be on hand throughout much of the conference to share their stories, offer autographed copies of the books, and provide information about their interest in school visits and other communication with students and libraries.
Breakout sessions of interest to K-6 library media specialists include iRead at the eLibrary; Minnesota Youth Reading Awards; Literary Rotations with a Technology Twist; Books for Teaching the MN Native American Standards; 2013 Mackin BookTalk Live!; Information Literacy: The Transition; Be Essential – and Convince Others that You Are; Younger American’s Reading and Library Habits Report; and much more!
Breakout sessions of interest to secondary media specialists include: YouTube (Your Channel/Your Resources); iRead at the eLibrary; Research Collaboration Librarian & Teacher; Research Projects and EasyBib; Supporting the New MN 6-8 Social Studies Standards; Online Information Literacy – Creating Effective Search Strategies; How Twitter Changed my Professional Life; Books for Teaching the MN Native American Standards; Teaching and Learning with Graphic Organizers; 2013 Mackin BookTalk Live!; Information Literacy: The Transition; Be Essential – and Convince Others that You Are; Tech Tools for Reading & Writing in content Areas; Younger American’s Reading and Library Habits Report; and many more!
This new platform has been developed for Britannica School resources. Therefore, if your school media center uses Britannica you will want to obtain a copy of the following updated links to access K-12 databases;
Image retrieved from Britannica School website. All rights reserved
Previous links will only be redirected until December 2013.
In the months to come, Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction plans on offering webinars.
Users of Britannica’s Public Library Edition and Academic Edition are not affected by this change.
There is a new lesson plan builder feature in Britannica School.
A recent article in Reference Notes (September 2013) written by Beth Staats, discusses the new Lesson Plan Builder tool. Staats states the following,
“One of the new features, specifically for teachers, is the Lesson Plan Builder. It is available in My Britannica, which is a tool that allows you to save and share content . You’ll need to create a free account to access it and use the Teacher Code KMVL when setting up your account . Once I logged in with the teacher code, I was shown a page that introduced me to the features available in My Britannica . This tool lets you save and organize favorites and create descriptive tags for those items; lets you search for interactive lessons, study guides, and lesson plans; and lets you create lesson plans.”
Click here to read the full Minitex article in Reference Notes on page 4.
Project ENABLE is a collaborative project between Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, Center for Digital Literacy, and Burton Blatt Institute. ENABLE strives to provide high quality, comprehensive, train-the-trainer continuing education programs for school librarians with a special focus on delivering effective library and information services to PreK-12 students with disabilities.
If this sounds like a program you would be interested in being a part of, they are currently recruiting 3-person teams consisting of a librarian, general educator and special educator as well as 15 school library faculties in higher education. Participants will be asked to attend a four and a half day workshop on the Syracuse University campus in either June or August 2013. For more information contact cdl@syr.edu.
As an ambassador of learning within the educational system, how can Librarians/Media Specialists assist in developing and integrating tools to enhance learning outcomes?
Edutopia is a free online resource for PK-12 educators interested in strategies to incorporate the following concepts into their classrooms; comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, project-based learning, social and emotional learning, teacher development, technology integration. Tip: For a quick look at what this site has to offer, focus on the A to Z Topics on the front page. Click here to try it out!
In today’s interconnected, interdependent world, global learning is critical to our state’s success. More than 210 languages are spoken in Minnesota’s schools. Global is now local. All students need to be globally competent as they enter the workforce, business, and post-secondary education and live in the communities of Minnesota. AStatewide Strategic Plan for Global Learning inclusive of all stakeholders impacting PK-12 education will be the first step in this process. This includes: PK-12 and post secondary educators, business partners, government and community organizations.
We invite you to participate in the trans-formative work undertaken by the Global Learning Advisory Board established to address the challenges and opportunities of an interconnected world. Through keynotes by Tony Jackson and national and state leaders, and breakout sessions for various stakeholders, participants will learn from and be involved in reflective dialogue. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 9th from 8-4:30 p.m. at St. Cloud State University in the Atwood Memorial Center (AMC) ballroom. The cost to participate will be $25. For registration and program details, please visit: http://globallearningsummit.eventbrite.com/#
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
