In this issue…
SAYL News in Brief
[Please note: School Library Journal (SLJ) now requires creating a free user account to read some articles.]
Alaska Digital School Library Exceeds 1000 OverDrive Titles
With recent purchases from the Alaska State Library, the Alaska Digital School Library currently has 1,058 K-12 titles of eBooks, audiobooks, and read-alongs, and the collection continues to grow monthly. There has also been a recent change in how titles are categorized for their intended audience, resulting in even more titles being available at the elementary and middle levels. If your school or district wants to learn more about accessing these titles for around $1/student/year, visit the
ADSL page.
Learn more about Sora – OverDrive’s new reading app designed for school use.
Starting at a New School? Here Are Five Essential Tips [SLJ. 4 min.]
Alaska State Library New School Librarian Toolkit
Are there new school library staff in your district? Help spread the word about SAYL Mail, AkASL, and the State Library!
School Library Leadership Academy 2018
World Class: Michelle Carton, SLJ’s 2018 Champion of Civic Engagement [SLJ. 3 min.]
“Anchorage, AK, has grown to become one of the most diverse places in the United States… At the city’s Tudor Elementary School —among the 20 most diverse elementary schools in America—SLJ’s 2018 Champion of Civic Engagement, librarian Michelle Carton, is bringing a global education to the youngest students.”
Yes, Teens Are Texting and Using Social Media Instead of Reading Books, Researchers Say [The Washington Post. 4 min.]
“1 in 3 U.S. high school seniors did not read a book for pleasure in 2016. In the same time period, 82 percent of 12th-graders visited sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day.”
Digital Text Is Changing How Kids Read—Just Not in the Way That You Think [KQED Mindshift. 6 min.]
Reinvented School Libraries Unleash Student Creativity [NEA Today. 3 min.]
Collaborating with Your School Librarian [Edutopia. 3 min.]
How Genrefication Makes School Libraries More like Bookstores [KQED Mindshift. 5 min.]
A Back To School Challenge [The Adventures of Library Girl. 6 min.]
Do School Libraries Need Magazines? [KQ. 2 min.]
10 Things Teachers Can Do to Protect Student Data [Blue Skunk Blog. 2 min.]
Page to Screen: Upcoming Ya Movie Adaptations [YALSA The Hub. 2 min.]
REMINDERS:
Tumblebooks Available Statewide through June 2020
Alaska State Library Launches books.alaska.gov and Advertising Campaign
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Scholarships, Grants and Awards Opportunities
For the complete record of scholarships, grants, and other award opportunities posted in SAYL Mail, visit the SGA Archives.
Closes September 1st, 2018 – ALAN Cart/Cambell Grant for Teen Librarians. $500 and registration fees for two-day ALAN Workshop which is held at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English.
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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.
Saturday, August 25th, 6 – 8:30 am –
Google Training for Teachers [Simple K12]
Monday, August 27th, 1pm –
Creating Student Voice and Choice for Coding and Robotics [edWeb]
Tuesday, August 28th, noon –
Digital Citizenship: New Lessons for a Changing World [edWeb]
Wednesday, August 29th, 11am –
Motivation Matters: 10 Research-Based Strategies to Motivate Struggling Readers [edWeb]
Tuesday, September 4th, 3pm –
Exploring AASL Best Websites for Teaching & Learning 2018 [AASL]
Additional and up-to-date opportunities at the School Library Development Training and Continuing Education Calendar
Save the Date! Upcoming face-to-face conferences, one-day workshops, and online for-credit courses. AkASL Professional Development Grants may be available!
Upcoming Courses:
Online. September 4 – November 11th. UAF, 2-credit course:
Invigorate Your School Library with the AASL National Youth Services Librarian Standards ($300 tuition)
Asynchronous start date listed. Paid courses offered on ISTE U will be eligible for graduate-level credit through Dominican University of California. ISTE Member prices listed. Complete listing of courses
9/10 –
Introduction to Computational Thinking – Free, no credit
9/17 –
Exploring Future Ready Librarianship – $186
10/1 –
Best Practices in Open Education Resources – $261
10/15 –
Introduction to Computational Thinking for Every Educator – Free, no credit
Upcoming conferences:
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Employment Opportunities
Library Aide, Mt. View Elementary, Kenai Area, .44 FTE Classified
Library Aide, Skyview Elementary, Soldotna, .44 FTE Classified
K-6 Librarian, Lake Otis Elementary, Anchorage, 1.0 FTE Certified
7-8 Librarian, Homer Middle School, .5 FTE Certified
K-6 Librarian, Mountain View Elementary, 1.0 FTE Certified
K-6 Librarian, Ptarmigan Elementary, Anchorage , 1.0 FTE Certified
Additional and up-to-date information at Alaska Teacher Placement
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As Seen on Alaska School Librarians Facebook
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.
8/15 – If you use Google Classroom, you might want to check out this
Back to School guide from Google.
8/15 – Interesting stuff. How could you use
this in your classroom?
8/20 – “In fact, if each display you do doesn’t feature LGBTQ titles, you’re doing your displays wrong.” This statement applies to people of color, gender, religion, etc. Certainly during pride and history months it’s alright to have focused displays, but if you’re doing a historical fiction display and you don’t include books that feature diverse characters and authors, you are doing a disservice to your community and missing the point of inclusion.
If it helps, remember that Include is one of the 6 shared foundations in the national standards. This concept of inclusive displays addresses School Library competency II.C.2.
Don’t forget to INCLUDE in your displays.
8/20 –
Something to think about as we start the school year: “I’m tired of already underpaid teachers and librarians being asked to take one for the team because no one wants to truly support and invest in our children. Public education is an investment. It’s an investment in our children, it’s an investment in our here and now and it’s an investment in our future.”
I’m just as guilty as many others for spending my personal money on books for my library; but we do a disservice to our community when year after year we spend our own money. When we do this again and again, we fail to show the pressing need. I know it’s hard, but consider making the case for more funding rather than spending your own hard-earned wages.
8/21 – Thank you colleagues for your hard work! Honored to win for Alaska, and pushing the envelope for our students, the
2018 School Library Journal Champion of Civic Engagement.
8/21 – Just two short weeks until “Invigorating Your School Library with the AASL Standards” starts!
Are you interested in digging more deeply into the new national standards and integrating them into your library? Please consider registering for my 2-credit online course.
The course is open to anyone working in a school library (certified or otherwise) with any level of experience. Read more about the course
here.
The course is $300; and you can apply for an
AkASL Professional Development Grant to cover the tuition.
8/21 – “MakerSpace – Plants as Creative Expression”
The 2018 School Library Leadership Academy in Juneau focused on the lens of STEAM. I am a champion of the A in STEAM and feel that there is art in all that we do. I was particularly excited to have a chance to listen to Laura Connor, Research Associate Professor at UAF. Her presentation on “STEAM- The Colors of Nature” served as the inspiration for a future collaboration between the library, the middle school art teacher, and th
e 7th grade science teachers. The first few days of school being back in session this August came with, tears, hugs, smiles, laughter, and conversations about scheduling. I discussed the idea of collaboration between art and the 7th grade science native Alaskan tree unit and a way the library could support them both. Resulting from the discussion and the inspiration from Laura Connor is the attached MakerSpace lesson idea in a skeleton form that would can be adapted for grade levels and content areas.
8/21 – I know I’ve encountered confusion from students and teachers who don’t understand what banned books week is all about, who think our displays are a list of books that we have banned. It’s a great conversation started, but what about the students who don’t stop to talk about it.
Here are some good things to consider as you plan those displays, events, and lessons for Banned Books Week.
8/22 – I tried this a few years ago and no one took me up on the offer, but I’m curious if anyone else has tried it and had better results?
[Personal Book Shopping]
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Almanac
Check It Out Next Time!
The next issue will be available on September 6th. 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]