SAYL Mail for April 12th

In this issue…

SAYL News in Brief

News in Brief includes the average reading time with the source information.

National Test Scores Bring More Bad News for Alaska Schools  [Juneau Empire. 2 min.]

“On a scale of 0-500 points, Alaska fourth-graders averaged 207 points for reading skills. The national average was 221. Eighth-graders in Alaska averaged 258 points, seven points below the national average.”

State of America’s Libraries Report 2018 [American Libraries. 2 min.]

“During this time of rapid social change, libraries of all types are providing welcoming spaces to an increasingly diverse population; working with the community to offer social service support and health resources, career, and small business development assistance; and combating fake news by providing tools to assess and evaluate news sources.”

Future Ready with a Library Voice [Future Ready Blog. 5 min.]

Gimme a C (for Collaboration!): The Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit Is Here! [AASL Knowledge Quest. 2 min.]

How Many LGBT Books Do You Have in Your School Library? [tes:GB. 3 min.]

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Scholarships, Grants and Awards Opportunities

DEED Releases 21st Century Community Learning Centers FY19 Request for Applications

DEED is seeking applicants for competitive 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) funding that would begin providing programming in the fall of the 2018-19 school year. The goal of the 21st CCLC program is to raise student academic achievement by providing students engaging out-of-school-time academic assistance and educational enrichment opportunities. Any Alaska school district, community-based organization, tribal organization, or other public or private entity located in Alaska and working in partnership with their school and community is eligible to apply. Applications are due April 27, 2018. For questions, please contact Jessica Paris at jessica.paris@alaska.gov or 907-465-8716.

[If your district identifies school libraries as community learning centers, it could fund extended hours, programs, and additional supplies.  Contact Jared Shucha with questions.]


Closing April 20th.  Snapdragon Book Foundation Grant.  $500 – $20,000 to improve school libraries for disadvantaged children (primarily project-based collection development).

Closes April 30th.  Alaska Teacher of the Year.  During the official year of recognition, the NTOY Program is released from classroom duties to travel nationally and internationally as a spokesperson and advocate for the teaching profession.

Closes May 1st.  Girls Who Code Club Fund.  $300 for existing Girls Who Code clubs for experiences encouraging girls to get excited about learning computer science.

Closes May 1st. Capstone Interactive eBook Matching Grants.  Double your Capstone ebook purchasing power. $750-$5,000.

Closes May 1st.   Penguin Random House Foundation Library Awards for Innovation.  $1,000 – $10,000 plus $1000 in PRH books to public libraries (or school libraries serving the capacity of public libraries) “creating innovative community-based programs, which encourage citizens to participate and support reading initiatives that connect libraries with their community.”

Closes May 4th.  Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming.  $5000 to a “school library that has conducted an exemplary program or program series in the humanities during the prior school year.”

Closes May 9th.   Friends of ALSC Institute Scholarship.  Registration and  $1,000 travel stipend for ALSC National Institute September 27 – 29, 2018 for ALSC members who work directly with children in a library setting.

Closes May 11th.  2018 Banned Books Week Grants Offered through Freedom to Read Foundation’s Krug Fund.  $1,000 and/or $2,500 in support of activities celebrating Banned Books Week.

Closes May 21st, 2018. SLJ School Librarian of the Year.  $2,500 cash award, plus $2,500 worth of print and digital materials from Scholastic Library Publishing.

Closes May 31st. Best Buy Community Grants.  $5,000-10,000 to schools within 25 miles of a Best Buy store for”out-of-school time programs that create hands-on access to technology education and tools that teens will need to be successful in their future schooling and careers.”

Closes June 1st. NEA Learning & Leadership Grants.  $2,000 (individual) or $5000 (group) for professional development for NEA members.

Closes June 1st. NEA Student Achievement Grants.  $2,000 (individual) or $5000 (group) for classroom resources for NEA members.

For the complete record of scholarships, grants, and other award opportunities posted in SAYL Mail, visit the SGA Archives.

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Training and Continuing Education Opportunities

The following webinars are no cost and run approximately one hour unless otherwise noted. Opportunities not fitting your schedule? Many of these webinars will later be available as archives.

Monday, April 16th, 10am – Be a Change Agent: Best Practices for School Library Advocacy [School Library Journal]

Tuesday, April 17th, 10am – Stellar Series Nonfiction: Spring 2018 [Booklist]

Tuesday, April 17th, noon – Amplifying Student Voice with Technology [AASL]

Wednesday, April 18th, 7am – Reaching Out Through Your Collection [Nebraska Library Commission]

Tuesday, April 24th, 10am –  Ready to Read! Board Books, Picture Books, & Middle Grade Novels [Booklist]

Tuesday, April 24th, 10am – The Role of Assessment in Personalized Learning [EdWeek]

Tuesday, April 24th, noon – Future Ready Librarians: Ensuring Equitable Digital Access [Alliance for Excellent Education]

Tuesday, April 24th, 1:30 pm – In Depth With the New AASL Standards, Part IV [Wyoming State Library]

Tuesday, April 24th, 3pm – Making Global Connections at Your School Library [AASL]

Wednesday, April 25th, 10am – Getting Practical About a Multi-Text Approach to Literacy Instruction [edWeek]

Wednesday, April 25th, 1pm – SAMR, TPACK & More: Transforming Learning with Digital Content [edWeb]

Thursday, April 26th, 10am – Building Digital Learning Environments: Tools for Implementation [edWeb]

Thursday, April 26th, 1pm – The Importance of Keyboarding [edWeb]

Thursday, April 26th, 4pm – Fighting Back When Cuts Are Threatened [ISTE School Librarians / EveryLibrary]

Friday, April 27th, 10am – Improve Comprehension; Avoid Summer Slide [Booklist]

Additional and up-to-date opportunities at the School Library Development Training and Continuing Education Calendar 

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Save the Date!
Upcoming face-to-face conferences and one-day workshops.

Seattle.  Saturday, May 5th, 9am – 5pm PDT – School Library Journal’s Leadership Camp – Upskilling for the Next Generation ($159 – 199)

New Orleans.  June 21st – 26th.  American Library Association Annual Conference ($320 early advance member rate)

Chicago. Saturday, June 23rd, 8:30am – 4:30pm CDT – Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit ($99)

Chicago.  Sunday, June 24th – 27th – International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference ($440 Early bird member loyalty rate)

Juneau.  July 23rd –  27th.  8am – 4:30pm –  School Library Leadership Academy: Picking Up STEAM. UPDATED

Cincinnati. September 27th – 29th.  Association for Library Service to Children National Institute. ($400 early bird member rate)

Additional upcoming state, regional, and national conferences.

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As Seen on Alaska School Librarians Facebook

Alaska School Librarians Facebook group logo

A roundup of resources shared and questions asked on the Alaska School Librarians Facebook group.  This is intended to give readers the chance to access resources at work if social media is filtered.  Only timely questions, announcements, and links to non-social media resources are listed here.

3/29 – Recently, I posted about certifications for librarians. Through the grapevine I got the impression that some people felt this was divisive. I might be wrong but nevertheless, I want to clarify something.

I believe, and communication theory supports, that the best ideas and collaborations are a result of disagreements and arguments. When we all start from the same position we have no reason to challenge each other; we just pat each other on the back.

When we disagree, then can we discuss, understand each other’s positions and experiences, and come to mutual goals and shared understandings. We may never agree but we will understand each other better.

When I (or anyone) posts something to spark discussion that might seem divisive to others I hope that we use that opportunity to become a better and stronger community of librarians (capital L and lower case l).

I hope no one ever feels silenced or attacked in this group and that we can always discuss everything and anything related to libraries. And if you do feel that way, please say something.

3/30 – eSchool News has a new feature called “The New Librarian” – I won’t be posting links to it in SAYL because it does require a signup – which is free but a small barrier to access, nevertheless. At any rate, there’s some good stuff.

4/2 – I’m always looking for new student curation ideas. This would be a fun one with younger students; well, any age really.

4/3 – Just found this YouTube channel started by Green brothers, Hank and John. Aweome resource. Take a look!

4/3 – [Enter our School Library Sweepstakes and You Could Win 500 FREE Dover Thrifts!]

4/3 – I saw this on the AASL listserv and wanted to share – “Open Information Science Journal invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to scholarship on the broad theme of Fake News. Scholars, Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals around the world are invited to submit papers.”

4/4 – [Coming Soon to Explora: New Content to Support Information Literacy]

4/5 – Neither Senator Murkowski or Senator Sullivan have signed the Dear Appropriator letters circulating in the senate that request funding for LSTA and IAL.

LSTA funds many programs in Alaska including AkASL travel grants, Battle of the Books, Summer Leadership Academy, and much much more. IAL is the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program that provides grants to low-income districts to bolster their reading programs.

Please call or email our senators and ask them to sign the LSTA and IAL Dear Appropriator letters today!

4/7 – “And today you hear people talk about the lump of labor fallacy to think about the future of all types of work. There’s no fixed lump of work out there to be divided up between people and machines. Yes, machines substitute for human beings, making the original lump of work smaller, but they also complement human beings, and the lump of work gets bigger and changes.”

Daniel Susskind isn’t talking specifically about libraries here but these ideas apply to us too. As we all know, libraries continue to evolve and so to does the role of the librarian. How do you envision our role in the next 10 or 20 years? Not from a funding or political perspective, but assuming that funds were unlimited and all supported libraries, what do you think school librarians will be doing? How will it differ?

4/9 – Free audio books for teens. You need to check this out!

4/9 – Check out these great ways to engage your community during School Library Month (or anytime!).

4/9 – If your school or district has switched from statewide IP authentication to using “My BrainPOP”, could you tell me how it’s going? Thanks!

4/10 – Very disappointed in Edutopia. Rather than suggesting parents build up classroom libraries, perhaps they should advocate for more visits to the already well-stocked and professionally managed Library. Utilize this amazing resource.

4/10 – If you care about education funding, please write to the senate finance committee today about HB213 ask them to please fund this legislation. HB213 creates a public school trust fund to help fund public education in Alaska. The committee will have their hearing on Friday, April 13th so contact them before that by emailing members or writing to your local legislative information office and asking them to forward your message to the Senate Finance Committee.

4/11 – Have you used Google Treks with your students? Have you made your own version using Google Sites? Neat stuff!

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An old due date slip from a school library, showing "Alaska State Lib" as the author of SAYL Mail. Threre are due dates from the 1940s next to borrowers signatures.Check It Out Next Time!

The next issue will be April 26th.   To share news, success stories, resources, and opportunities, please contact Jared Shucha.  To get SAYL Mail updates sent to your inbox, request a subscription to the AkASL listserv and ask a colleague to do the same!

[su_frame]Jared Shucha
School Library Coordinator
jared.shucha@alaska.gov
(907) 465-8187[/su_frame]