Chani Craig is a librarian at Turners Falls High School Even though Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been around in education since the early 1990’s the term seems to be popping up all over schools in the past few years. Headlines touting “Mindfulness instead of Detention” or “Yoga in Schools” have become frequent occurrences in news articles and media feeds. Just last November a high-profile, national policy-recommending commission was formed through the Aspen Institute to investigate SEL as the potential “additional indicator” for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which goes into effect in the 17-18 school year. Even in Massachusetts, as far back as August of 2011, the Department of Education published its “Guidelines on Implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula” and more recently this past summer’s Massachusetts Superintendents’ Conference theme was “Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Today’s Diverse Learners.” In light of all this recent attention it’s a safe bet Social Emotional Learning is here to stay.
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Rachel Bouhanda is a library teacher at Billerica Memorial High School I can assure you it is the time to be involved with School Library Legislative issues now more than ever. So please bear with me- there may be a chocolate chip cookie at the end of this article waiting for you.
Jennifer Dimmick is a library teacher at Newton South High School and Reba Tierney is a library teacher at Waltham High School
Over the course of the weekend of January 20, Reba Tierney and Jennifer Dimmick were fortunate enough to attend the annual ALA mid-winter conference in Atlanta as MSLA’s delegates to the AASL Affiliate Assembly for Region 1 (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont). While we were able to take in some interesting sessions and speakers as well as the ever popular vendor hall, our primary role was attending the Affiliate Assembly meetings which took place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
In a time of great division in our country, we are reminded of how important multicultural empathy will be on both sides in healing the hurts and bringing us together as one nation. Studies show that reading books helps to build empathy, and as librarians we have an opportunity to encourage students' empathy development through reading. As such, we would like to crowd source a reading list with a multicultural lens to share broadly with librarians and teachers of all stripes. Please take a moment to add your title recommendations here. We will share the list via the MSLA Listserv and social media once it is compiled. Thank you again for your contributions!
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2017 brought the return of MSLA Twitter chats. The first was held on Tuesday, January 10th, on the topic of advocacy. Twitter chats are a great way for members to share ideas without having to go to an actual meeting. It is a virtual meet-up, or collaboration from the couch! The Twitter platform also makes it easy to share online resources and links. If you weren't able to join the chat last month, or want to revisit the resources shared, follow the link below to the archive of the January chat: The month's Twitter chat was held on Wednesday, February 8th, on the topic of information literacy and fake news. To view the chat and the resources shared, follow the link below: Mark your calendars -- the next Twitter chats will be held on Tuesday, March 14th and Wednesday, April 12th, both at 7:30 PM
MSLA President Anita Cellucci is the Library Teacher at Westborough High School Massachusetts School Library Association has developed a committee to work together to ensure that all students benefit from the recent changes to the federal education law (ESSA) that provides for effective school library programs as essential to the education of Massachusetts students. The committee includes the MSLA President, MSLA Executive Director and several other board members, representation from Massachusetts Library System, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as EveryLibrary and Rosen (http://everylibrary.org/rosen-everylibrary-pro-bono-essa/).
Summary of legislation from Congress.gov: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177 What have we done?
Dr. Robin Cicchetti is the librarian at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School This is a time of great potential for school libraries in Massachusetts, which may sound implausible given that there continue to be school districts that are squeezing the life out of their libraries and librarians. There are two reasons for this optimism: the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Massachusetts School Library Study. Phase I of the study is currently under analysis at CISSL, Rutgers University. When concluded, the Massachusetts Study will take a unique place among the previous school library impact studies.
If the September issue of School Library Journal has not made it to the top of your reading pile, you may not be aware that Anita Cellucci, MSLA President, and Laura Gardner, Southeast Area Co-Director, were two finalists for the School Library Journal Librarian of the Year 2016. Check out the articles profiling them at the School Library Journal website:
“Isn't that the library that did away with books?”Mark Melchior, MLIS, served as Library Director at Cushing Academy from August 2014 to July 2016. In 2009, the head of school at Cushing Academy announced that the school’s library would remove all its printed materials and become an all-digital library ‘for the 21st century.’ In 2014, I was hired (under new leadership) and asked to rebalance the library’s offerings and restore print resources. The challenge was both intriguing and daunting. The opportunity to build a collection from the ground up was certainly appealing. At the same time, I knew it would not be a fresh start. What might appear at first blush as a straightforward exercise in purchasing and cataloging held a much broader challenge: to rebuild damaged relationships and forge reconciliation among members of the Cushing community surprised, angered and frustrated by the changes that began in 2009. This is an account of my work to restore a print collection and the standing of the library in the school community.
Valerie Diggs is the Librarian at Lowell Catholic High School
Questions may be submitted for this column using the confidential link at the bottom of this post
Question:
"My school has a new principal for the 2016-2017 year, what and how should I go about convincing him to increase my very small budget?"
How to make inroads with a new principal? How can I get her/him to understand what I do and how important a decent budget is to achieving my goals?
Margaret Schoen is a Librarian at Newton South High School A common request for library staff is to help classroom teachers find supplemental materials for their classes. Often this means turning to subscription resources paid for by a district or with state funds, that can be used only in certain ways, and under certain conditions. But librarians can also turn to another growing category of resources that can be accessed for free. Open Educational Resources, generally defined as teaching and learning materials that are either in the public domain or are released under a license that allows free use and repurposing, are available in a multitude of formats, and include content ranging from short videos to full textbooks, complete with lesson plans, assessments and more.
Amy Fiske is the Librarian at Wellesley High School and winner of a 2016 MSLA web seal of excellence award As I sit down to write this article, I am partway through a multi-year process to change the culture in our high school library. I am changing it in a direction that will surprise some, who may remember me presenting at MSLA on the subject of Innovation Centers in school libraries. However, not every new trend is appropriate in every setting. What I and my colleagues have learned in the last three years is that it may be far more effective to find the niche that is empty at your school...and then fill it.
Reba Tierney is the librarian at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, MA
Attending ALA is always intense, but attending ALA as an AASL Affiliate Assembly representative for the New England region brought that intensity to another level! Yet, it was a good intensity, as it gave me the invaluable opportunity to work with school librarians from around the country. During one of the AASL Affiliate Assembly sessions, the Future Ready movement was brought up and discussed. At the time, I had not even heard of Future Ready, but it quickly became evident that this was something for school librarians to be excited about. According to the Twitter account for Future Ready, it is defined as developing the capacity to transform teaching & personalize learning using digital tools. The Future Ready Schools website states that the plan helps district leaders plan and implement personalized, research-based digital learning strategies so all students can achieve their full potential. But what does all this mean? And even more importantly, what does it mean for school librarians?
Jennifer Scheffer, formerly ITS at Burlington High school, currently at Fox Hill Elementary As Burlington High School embarks on its sixth year as an Apple Distinguished, 1:1 iPad school, all students, beginning with the class of 2019, will be required to take a Digital Citizenship course as part of their graduation requirements. This pass/fail, one credit course is entirely online and is self-paced. Students have until the end of May of the current school year to complete the course; providing them with flexibility in terms of completing assignments. Because Burlington is a Google Apps for Education school, all assignments are distributed and collected through Google Classroom. Google Classroom was chosen for its intuitiveness and the fact that it integrates seamlessly with Google Forms. Google Forms was selected for each assessment in the course because of its quiz feature with automatic grading.
Paige Rowse is the librarian at Needham High School. As librarians, we are constantly on the lookout for the next best books to add to our collections. We attend events, register for webinars, take requests from our students and colleagues, and perhaps most importantly, peruse the latest issues of collection development publications. If you’ve ever browsed through the reviews of these magazines, you know they are written by librarians across the country just like you.
Cathy Collins is the Library Media Specialist at Sharon High School ![]() Library makerspaces are creating quite a buzz these days. But how does one go about transforming spaces from blah to hurrah? On Sept. 13th, MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) guests from neighboring districts participated in a Learning Tour of the Sharon Public Schools library makerspaces. Assistant Superintendent of Administration and Information Services, Dr. John Marcus and I, served as co-hosts for the day, sharing our district journey from imagining and visioning to creating action plans, gathering resources and materials, scheduling formal and informal learning activities, aligning activities to standards and showcasing student creations. We stressed that ours was a journey very much in process, and encouraged participants to share their own vision along with their nuts and bolts implementation efforts. The rich sharing that took place provided fun and value for participants as well as for us as co-hosts! Char Sidell has come out of retirement to work at The Codman Academy Charter School in Dorchester ![]() I’ve had a hard time deciding on a topic to write about for this Forum. I really want the books I choose to both be ones that are new to you as well as useful in your work with children. After some thought, I decided to look at books about the Election, a topic on everyone’s mind. The task of selecting books was difficult for me since in my repertoire I don’t have many books with first hand experience on this topic. The favorite books that do come to mind are ones you are probably familiar with already. But if you aren’t, let me introduce you to two old favorites that I enjoy sharing with the younger set and three books published in the last year. Erin K. Beckett is enrolled in the school library program at Salem State University Students act out for a reason. We know this. The work is too hard. He didn’t get enough sleep or enough to eat. His home-life is violent. Parents aren’t around. Negative attention is better than no attention. Most often, if a student could behave, he would. Undesirable and harmful behaviors in the classroom often stem from trauma, and www.anxiousandangrykids.webs.com will answer your questions about why children and adolescents who have experienced trauma act the way they do. Anxious and Angry Kids gives practical suggestions and strategies to help support your neediest students, and it explores what goes on in the minds of students who have dealt with trauma. Information from books, articles, and videos about Reactive Attachment Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and trauma-informed schools will demystify much about why some kids act out, and the site proposes how you can help.
Anita Cellucci is the Teacher Librarian at Westborough High School ![]() Silence is something I seek daily. This topic has been on my mind a lot as my library gets busier and louder. Instead of a full maker space lab, I am researching ways to bring silence to my library and lab space without interfering with the positive impact of a collaborative learning commons. Silent reading and reflection still hold an important role in my teaching philosophy and in my Bibliotherapy work as a librarian.
Valerie Diggs is a former President of MSLA
and retired as the Library Director of the Chelmsford Public Schools Questions may be submitted for this column using the confidential link at the bottom of this post
Question # 1
"Hi Library Legend, I have been at my current high school for nearly ten years. In that time my classes have shifted from introduction lessons on technology and web 2.0 creation sites towards research, advanced search, and citation. My problem is that my faculty has become much more tech savvy, they are very comfortable with NoodleTools, and as a whole they have become far more information savvy as well. Honestly, I feel like I have put myself out of a job! Any suggestions for reinvigorating my curriculum? Many thanks, " Dr. Robin Cicchetti is the librarian at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School and a winner of a 2016 MSLA Service Award Schools are all over the place when it comes to summer reading. One thing that seems to be consistent is the moans of students who don’t want to have required reading, and the requests from parents who wonder where the expectation went. The traditional reading list has transformed over time to be less didactic and more about encouraging a love for reading. This shift certainly resonates with school librarians who promote lifelong- reading as part of our core mission. But without the mandatory check-in to ensure accountability for summer reading, how effective are our efforts?
![]() Amy Bloom is a Librarian at the Wilson Middle School in Natick, MA and a winner of a 2016 MSLA Super-Librarian award The Hypothesis
Last March, an 8th grade science teacher came to me with an article she had read. The article, titled "Popular Science Nonfiction and the Connection Between Literacy and the NGSS" by Elizabeth Lamond Price, presented the idea of exposing students to the writings of authors who bring science to life in a way a novice can appreciate and understand. Could we get students to engage with science topics and the implication for society? What excited us both about this assignment was that we could encourage students to explore an interest in a specific area of science, expose them to influential writers in the science fields, as well as meet the literacy standards in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core. Elizabeth Halley is a Library Media Specialist at the Bill Shea Memorial Library at the Thompson Elementary School in Arlington, MA and the winner of the 2016 Audrey Friend Scholarship For three years, I’ve worked with elementary students making iMovie Book Trailers at the Bill Shea Memorial Library. Many of my colleagues express interest in doing this project with their students but feel it is too big an undertaking. Students come away from the project meeting standards relating but not limited to respecting copyright, inquiry and writing process, sharing knowledge, responding to literature, exchanging ideas, and analyzing visual elements. While the project does involve many steps, the students learn valuable skills and LOVE the process. I highly encourage library teachers to take the plunge.
Emily Houston & Mairead Kelly are Librarians at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) and winners of the MSLA President's Award ![]() We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work together as full-time librarians at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS), especially after graduating from Simmons school library graduate program a year apart from one another. This unique opportunity allowed us to become a really strong team with a joint vision. We decided a main goal as librarians and new educators would be to help establish a culture of literacy at CRLS and develop strong relationships with students as readers. There is no one prescription to do this, so we decided to just hit the ground running. Here are some of the things that have worked for us, our students and our school community Dr. Carol A. Gordon is a 2016 winner of the MSLA Service Award What does equity mean?
Mary Gaver’s early school library impact studies inspired an avalanche of research that established the belief, “Every child needs a school library.” (1958). An awareness of the “equity issue’ has steadily grown as literacy research demonstrates proximity to reading materials results in children reading more, and children who read more, read better (Krashen, 2004; 1995). Information science research shows information is the raw material for knowledge building, and that intervention at the point of need is critical for young information users to become information literate. School librarians have also embraced digital literacy to provide digital access in an environment of instruction, application, practice, help, and revision. While access to digital content depends on bandwidth capacity and speed or the number of devices students can access, acquiring digital technology does not automatically result in digital equity. School librarians know that students do not have full access to digital content without developing multiple literacies. There is no equity without an education that provides access and opportunity. |
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