In this issue…
SAYL News in Brief
News in Brief includes the average reading time with the source information.
* Late addition * Fight for School Libraries [American Libraries]
“We must all fight the closing of school libraries, the reductions in professional staffing, the erosion of budgets for resources and technology, and the consequent weakening of the librarian–teacher partnership in the classroom. We must advocate for the federal funding that supports network access in schools. We must continue to document and demonstrate the powerful link between student success, educational enrichment, and well-supported school libraries.”
K-12 Media Literacy No Panacea for Fake News, Report Argues [Education Week Digital Education. 2 min. ]
“‘Media literacy has long focused on personal responsibility, which can not only imbue individuals with a false sense of confidence in their skills, but also put the onus of monitoring media effects on the audience, rather than media creators, social media platforms, or regulators,’ the report reads.”
Calming Fears and Frustrations in the Wake of Tragedy [Scholastic. 7 min.]
What We Learned from Ourselves [AASL KQ. 3 min.]
Dolly Parton Gives The Gift Of Literacy: A Library Of 100 Million Books [NPR. 3 min]
The 5th ‘C’ of 21st Century Skills? Try Computational Thinking (Not Coding) [EdSurge. 5 min.]
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Scholarships, Grants and Awards Opportunities
Closing March 2nd. AASL Social Media Superstars Awards in eight categories which celebrate social media superstars within the school library profession.
Closing March 21st. The Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes. Attend a week-long professional development program in the practice of teaching with primary sources, K-12.
Closing March 31st. Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant. Up to $500 “to provide creative, innovative programs that support or extend the Common Core Standards in education”
Closing April 12. NEA Challenge America Grant (part 1). $10,000 (minimum $10,000 match required) for programs that “extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations.”
Closing April 15. 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.”
Closing April 20th. Snapdragon Book Foundation Grant. $500 – $20,000 to improve school libraries for disadvantaged children (primarily project-based collection development).
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.”
For the complete record of scholarships, grants, and other award opportunities posted in SAYL Mail, visit the SGA Archives.
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Employment Opportunities
SHS/GILA Resource Room Coordinator, Galena City Schools
Additional and up-to-date information at Alaska Teacher Placement
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Training and Continuing Education Opportunities
Anchorage. March 8 – 11th. AkLA Conference 2018 – Bridging the Gaps.
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.
Tuesday, March 6th, 10 am – Spring YA Announcements, 2018 [Booklist]
Tuesday, March 6th, noon – A Fresh Look at Test-Prep Tools [edWeb]
Tuesday, March 6th, 1pm – Going for Gold: Insider’s Scoop on the Newbery Medal [Britannica Digital Library]
Wednesday, March 7th, 3pm – AASL Standards and Advocacy Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly
Thursday, March 8th, 11am – YALSA March 2018 Webinar: Teen Growth and Development
Thursday, March 8th 11am-2pm – Library 2.018: Design Thinking: How Librarians Are Incorporating It Into Their Practice [Library 2.0/SJSU]
Tuesday, March 13th, 10am – Current in Comics: Upcoming Graphic Novels for Your Library [Booklist]
Wednesday, March 14th, 6-6:30am – CCBC Shorts [Cooperative Children’s Book Center]
Wednesday, March 14th 10-11:30am – Extending the Book Experience: Strategies That Promote Language and Literacy Development in Dual Language Learners [Early Childhood Investigations]
Thursday, March 15th, 10am – How to Create Safe and Active Learning Environments [Demco]
Save the Date!
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 Facebook is filtered. Only timely questions, announcements, and links to non-Facebook resources are listed here.
2/18 – I don’t think I have yet posted this link on the page. If so, please forgive me! I have been reading up on teacher-led schools and believe librarians could have an important role in making teacher-led schools a reality. Teacher-led schools can be anything from a school where teachers have a significant say in decision-making to schools where all leaders are teachers in the school, perhaps having leadership by a committee of teachers with rotating membership.
Something to think about!
2/23 – Okay. This is pretty cool…
2/24 – Share these tools with your teachers and your students and use them yourself. They are very nice time savers and help encourage students to use creative commons images smoothly and easily.
2/25 – A lot of similarities to Alaska here…
2/25 – Check out this great opportunity…
2/26 – Need some money? Check it out…
2/27 – [28 More Black Picture Books That Aren’t About Boycotts, Buses or Basketball (2018)]
2/27 – It’s vital that each of us reach out to our members of Congress and ask them to #fundlibraries and support IMLS funding. For AkASL members, IMLS & LSTA funds pay for professional development grants and statewide funding for the Battle of the Books. [The New Federal Budget Proposal Could Mean A Drastic Cut For Libraries, But You Can Help In An Easy Way]
2/28 – This would make a great book display using QR codes or augmented reality to link to student-curated resources to modern day connection. Great collaborative potential
3/1 – New tools to try! Share what you think if you’ve used one.
3/1 – Thank you to all who helped make this battle of the books season a success. It amazes me how everyone from around the state pitches into truly make this a statewide program. Everything you do at the local, district and state level leads these students to be the best readers they can be! You guys rock!
Special thanks to these districts and staff, who gave their time to moderate at the state Battle tournament. Hopefully I didn’t miss anyone 
?
Public/State Libraries-Susan Jones, Jared Shucha, Amelia Jenkins, Sara Saxton
Anchorage-Ann Morgester, Heidi Tsukada, Linda Julliard
Galena/Idea-Genny Brown, Deb Mackie
Juneau-Sheryl Hall Wittig, Raandi Miller
Kenai-Karla Barkman, Jill Gann, Julie Doepken, Tamara Wear
Ketchikan-Caitlin Dixon Jacobson
Mat-Su-Robin Turk, Carrie Day, Prudence McKenney, Bonnie Cavanaugh, , Chris Stegall, Katie Conover, Jeanne Troshynski, Wendy Thomas Stout
Northwest Arctic-Sue West
3/1 – Congratulations to the top 5 placers at each level for the State Battle of the Books! Amazing to see how it is spread all over the state!
High School Competition
1st -Sitka High School (in a triple sudden death)
2nd-Galena/Idea
3rd-Dimond High (Anchorage)
4th-Career Tech (Mat-Su)
5th-Lake and Peninsula
Middle School Competition
1st-Goldenview Middle (another sudden death)
2nd-Wasilla Middle
3rd-Homer Middle
4th-Montessori Borealis-Juneau
5th-IDEA
5th/6th Grade Competition
1st -IDEA
2nd-Bowman (Anchorage)
3rd-Kuspuk
4th-Birchwood (Anchorage)
5th-West Homer (Kenai)
3rd/4th Grade Competition
1st-Rogers Park (Anchorage)
2nd-tie-Harborview (Juneau)
2nd-tie-Rilke Elementary (Anchorage)
4th-tie-Upstream Learning (Copper River)
4th-tie-Point Higgins (Ketchikan)
6th-Delta/Greely
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Check It Out Next Time!
The next issue will be March 15th. 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]