What You Can Do To Support School Libraries In Crisis

Carl Harvey III, president of AASL,writes in last week's Huffington Post about the crisis for school libraries across the country. Many readers added comments in which they tell their stories. Have you shared yours? http://huff.to/sukrpZ

Mock Awards to be held January 18th in Sullivan County

Our Mock Awards shortlists came out for the three awards our group will be considering, the Caldecott, the Newbury, and the Printz. For the Newbery, the titles are: Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai; Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt; Hound Dog True by Linda Urban; and Pie by Sarah Weeks. For the Printz, we have: Flip by Martyn Bedford; Queen of Hearts by Martha Brooks; This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel; Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys; Misfit by Jon Skovron; and Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams. There are 35 titles on the Caldecott list; I can send you the list as an attachment if you are interested. The Mock Awards will take place on January 18, 2012 (with a snow date of Jan 19) at Sullivan County BOCES. As we are co-sponsoring this event with the Orange-Ulster BOCES SLS, we have quite a few librarians from outside of Sullivan County participating with us. If you are interested in registering, please see the Sullivan or O-U BOCES catalogs on MyLearningPlan. Participants are expected to read all of the books ahead of time, and let Lynn Miller know which book you would like to nominate for the award. We try to run the day as close to the way the actual awards committees function as possible.

Respectully submitted by Livia Sabourin, Sullivan County Representative, 11/26/2011.

livtiv@yahoo.com

OPALS user group in Rockland in January

An OPALS user’s group meeting is being planned for January. It will focus on the features of the new union catalog especially the reference upgrades and will be open to all librarians in the County not just the libraries with OPALS catalogs.

Teaching American History Grant

Sarah Chauncey from Rockland BOCES spoke to the School Library System council about the Teaching American History grant and opportunities for librarians to participate in the grant through professional development. Substitute coverage is also included in the grant eliminating any cost to the districts for subs. She will forward further information about the grant to the librarians.

Webinar: December 1, 21011

Tasha Bergson-Michelson brings Debbie Abilock (of NoodleTools) and Jole Seroff to our device screens tonight as they host a webinar on Search Literacy in Classroom 2.0. The webinar is 1 hour starting at 5pm Pacific (8:00 pm EST).

What sources should students be using?
How do we help them evaluate what they find?
What are the biggest misconceptions about search?
What is the school's role in teaching search literacy and skills?

Join them for what promises to be a great conversation.

AASL hosts Knowledge Quest webinar 12/13

Tuesday, December 13 at 7:00 PM CST
“The Solo Librarian” by Audrey Church
Audrey Church, Guest Co-Editor of the upcoming Nov/Dec 2011 Knowledge Quest issue on “The Solo Librarian,” will discuss the challenges and opportunities available to school librarians when operating a library, or multiple libraries, on their own.

For more information: http://bit.ly/uXjdHk

October

Orange County Report – October 2011

Port Jervis School District

Lisa Perkowski, LMS at Port Jervis Middle School, attended the School Library Journal's Leadership retreat in Washington DC. This was a gathering of just 200 select school librarians from all over the country who were able to spend 2 days learning about, and discussing the "New World of Reading.”  It covered how readers are experiencing and sharing reading in new ways thanks to the rise of the eBook, smart phones, personal computing pads and eReaders and how school libraries can respond to this trend that is here to stay. Lisa’s contact info:        

Lisa Perkowski, LMS

Port Jervis Middle School

lperkowski@pjschools.org

Middletown School District

New Library Media Specialists
Two newly hired library media specialists are at Maple Hill Elementary and Middletown High School.
Jeanette Gerlach is now at the Maple Hill school and Sharon Kowalsky is at the high school.

Jeanette Gerlach, LMS                        Sharon Kowalsky
Maple Hill Elementary                    Middletown High School                         
491 County Route 78                          24 Gardner Ave. 
Middletown, NY 10940                   Middletown, NY 10940       

Tel. No. : 845-326-1737                    Tel. No. :  845-326-1562

jgerlach@ecsdm.org                           skowalsky@ecsdm.org

Chorley Elementary

October is a busy month at our school library! The library was the site of Literacy Framework training for our staff. We welcomed the Middletown Fire Department during their annual visit for Fire Prevention Month. Children enjoyed learning about fire safety at home and at school. They especially enjoyed the chance to see fire trucks up close! We also celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by learning about biographies of famous Hispanic Americans. Students learned about our bi-lingual book collection and sang Spanish songs. Our school's PTO sponsored the Scholastic Book Fair during the week of October 17th to 21st. New books were purchased for our library. Students learned about the authors and illustrators of new books featured at this year's book fair. The PTO culminated the book fair during the Fall Festival on Friday night, October 21st. Chorley Library was open that night for stories, songs with librarian Karen Cierniak and fun for all. The last week of October was Career Week at Chorley, an event featuring special guest readers from throughout Middletown. Career Week is a project of our School Improvement Team. Library teaching assistant and SIT member Cherie Gluckman invited more than fifty community members to visit our school as guest readers on October 27th for a day of learning about jobs and careers. This event concluded with a Career Day Parade on October 31st. Participating students wore costumes depicting what career they hope to have when they grow up.

 Karen Cierniak, LMS

Chorley Elementary School Library
kcierniak@ecsdm.org

Monhagen Middle School
Monhagen celebrated Teen Read Week by having ELA classes participate in a Booktasting at the library. Choosing a good book was compared to selecting a cookie: checking its appearance (cover), taking a first bite (reading the blurb inside the book jacket), taking a second bite (reading the first page). Students were then invited to "book taste" three books. Additional Teen Read Week activities included a Picture It @ Your Library Art Contest where students were challlenged to create an original work of art representing their favorite book title or character. The contest ends in November and three prizes will be awarded: a Hunger Games Playaway, a pair of movie tickets, and a hardcover copy of the Hunger Games. Students also completed a Reading Rocks Survey which made them eligible for a free raffle drawing.

Betty Bonitz, LMS

Monhagen Middle School
bbonitz@ecsdm.org

Truman Moon Elementary
Students learned about culture as the library highlighted books about Hispanic Heritage and Native Americans. Using the Smithsonian Folkways website, we enjoyed learning about music and dance from both these cultures. Students were encouraged to use this website to explore the cultural heritage of their own families.
[pic]

Terese Linton, LMS

Truman Moon Primary Center
tlinton@ecsdm.org

Greenwood Lake Union Free School District

A Banned Books display resulted in a lot of discussion in the Greenwood Lake Middle School. Teachers and students alike were shocked to learn that these books had been challenged or banned at one time. Classes were taken to the display to discuss what the banning and challenging of books meant. Many thanks to library aide Paulette Trusewicz for her great work in creating this stunning display. [pic]

Kathy Hooper
Library Media Specialist
Greenwood Lake Union Free School District
khooper@gwlufsd.org

 

Commissioner King's Message to School Administrators and NYSED Personnel

Hello. I hope your students are enjoying a safe, productive school year. When I became Commissioner last June, I set two goals: one, to help make sure every student graduates from high school college- and career-ready; and two, to make the State Education Department a model government agency focused on customer service. As part of that effort, I'll be reaching out as often as possible -- through e-mail, Twitter, and other communication tools -- directly with educators in the field. I hope we can build an ongoing dialogue about our schools and our students.

There's a great new SED website for educators, EngageNY.org, with great teaching and learning tools including professional development guides, lesson plans, and other teaching resources tied to the new Common Core standards. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. 100,000 educators already have. It's really worth a look.

There's been a lot of discussion about education in New York recently, but one thing that's not open for debate is the need to get better. We have many excellent schools and school districts around the state delivering outstanding results for students. Our high school graduation rates have increased consistently and we are a leading state in terms of students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams. However, too many of our students are not graduating from high school, and too many students who do graduate aren't ready for college or careers. We're seeing increasing numbers of students who graduate and matriculate at our colleges, only to find they need extensive remediation. They're being taught things in college they should have learned in high school.

The result? A high school diploma isn't worth as much as it should be, and college students are wracking up ever increasing debt to pay for courses they should have received in high school. College freshmen are paying college prices for high school courses.

This is not good for students and parents, and, if we want New York to be competitive in the global marketplace, it's not good for our state. We have to do better.

That's why the Board of Regents adopted the Common Core standards. The Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by 47 states and the District of Columbia, provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.

I know a lot of educators are frustrated; they feel like they've seen all this before.

In the past, there have been calls for high accountability, but with little support to reach that level. That's not a formula for success. If we want our students to meet the goals we set for them, we have to provide students and teachers with the level of support they need to reach those goals. High accountability and a high level of support are the formula for success.

That's why the State Education Department is implementing the Common Core through 12 shifts in instruction, and we're aligning assessments beginning in 2012-13 to make sure students are meeting the new standards.

We're also working to implement a Data Driven Instruction model to improve instruction in real time, and we'll be implementing Evidence Based Observation to drive targeted professional development. The goal is to create a continuous cycle of improvement and professional growth and help every student graduate high school college- and career-ready.

EngageNY.org is just one tool we're using to help move our students forward. We're developing more curriculum models. Using federal Race to the Top funding, we've created the Network Team Institute to bring educators from around the state together for training sessions led by national experts to help plant the Common Core seed around the state.

We're working with teacher preparation programs across the state to provide clinically rich experiences at the undergraduate and graduate levels, so the next generation of teachers is ready to step up to this new paradigm in P-12 instruction. And we're pursuing new pathways to graduation and career, including an expansion of Career and Technical Education and the use of the No Child Left Behind waiver. We'll be backing the demand for accountability with real support.

There's much more to come, but we've taken some major steps forward.

I know the arguments against being bold. Money is tight and getting tighter. The shifts in instruction should be phased in more gradually. Students aren't ready for all this.

But the longer we delay, the more students we deny the opportunity for success. Tough times demand hard work. The best way out of these tough times is to build a workforce ready to take on the economic challenges of the global economy. If we slow down reform, we'll shut down opportunity for millions of our students.

We must start now, in every school. Our tomorrow is being built today, in classrooms across the state. We cannot allow frustration to limit our vision. We cannot allow budget constraints to close the door on our students' future. I know resources are scarce; I understand the limits the economy is forcing us all to endure. But for the sake of our students, we must do better.

Please visit EngageNY.org. Let us know what's good, and let us know what should be better. This is the work that will build a better future for our students and our state. Let's do that work together.

John B. King, Jr.
Visit EngageNY.org
Follow me Twitter: @JohnKingNYSED

Important Resources Related to the New Teacher Evaluation System

Colleagues,

The New York State Education Department has just released two important resources for District leaders as they implement a critical component of the new teacher evaluation system: the Student Learning Objective Road Map and the Student Learning Objective Guidance Document. These documents explain how New York State will assess the student learning growth of students in classrooms where there is no State assessment that can be used for a State-provided growth or value-added measure (sometimes called "non-tested subjects").

These resources are posted on EngageNY.org for administrators and are available at the following link: http://engageny.org/resource/student-learning-objectives/. A Teacher Overview is also posted on the teacher tab. Future tools and resources will also be provided on EngageNY.org.

Over the coming months we will host webinars and trainings for District leaders to provide them with the resources and guidance necessary to provide educators with the details of their approaches.

For now, educators should familiarize themselves with the basics of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs): how SLOs fit into our new evaluation system; what an SLO is and what elements are included within an SLO; what the benefits of SLOs are for those using them. Details specific to you and your colleagues will soon follow.

Thank you,

John P. Brock

Associate in School Library Services

Office of Educational Design and Technology

New York State Education Department

89 Washington Avenue
Room EB 320-M

Albany, NY 12234

Phone: (518) 474-5461

FAX : (518) 473-2860

JBROCK@MAIL.NYSED.GOV

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/technology/library/

School Libraries Improve Student Achievement

Bridge the Gap

The final details are being put together for our School Libraries Bridge the Gap Conference November 29, 2011. 

We are very excited to be bringing speaker Adam Bellows to our conference where he will be giving our welcome presentation and a workshop on his site edutecher.com.  A preliminary conference schedule will be available soon; we are planning sessions and roundtables on literature, technology, programming, assessment and more!

To register you can go to http://pnwboces.org/catalog. 

Choose Professional Library under the Programs menu

Click View Now and select our conference

Register by clicking Enroll and completing the form.

Look forward to seeing you all!

Judy Ashby

School Library System Director

Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES

200 Boces Dr.

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

jashby@pnwboces.org

Phone - (914) 248-2392

Fax - (914) 248 -2419

Great PD at Rockland's Supt. Conference Day sessions

Follett representative: Regina Yeager. The access and use of eBooks in schools via the Follett eShelf in the library

Digital Research Tools with Polly FarringtonHands-on session to explore and use 2.0 technologies which help to work more efficiently and enhance student learning. …tools to help students find information, manage the information flow, organize everything, get feedback and connect with others and create and present.

Robert Lackie: Professor-Librarian Rider UniversityWorkshop on Web 2.0 initiatives. Free tools and technologies to enhance teaching, collaboration and communication

The Common Core
Lynn Miller, Director, Sullivan SLSWorkshop focused on informational texts and other key resources for SLMS in developing lessons that are aligned with the Common Core Learning Standards.

Storytelling events upcoming

3rd Annual Tellabration:  A Worldwide event of Storytelling will be held October 29, 2011 in Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library with storytellers:Linda H. Humes, Elise Krakower, Pamela Schembri, Student Storytellers, and Story Crafts with Debra Tietze

The 16th Annual Rockland County Storytelling Festival will be held
November 19, 2011 at the Haverstraw Center, Haverstraw NY.  The program includes Elise Krakower, The Storycrafters, and Storytelling Workshop.

Advocate for the SKILLS Act

With funding for school libraries in jeopardy, the American Library Association is ramping up its efforts to bring attention to this important issue. But we need the help of library supporters across thecountry to get the message across to the Senate.

Last week many of you made phone calls asking your senators to co-sponsor S.1328, the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLS) Act. Thank you to all who called in support of school libraries but there are still only 5 co-sponsors of the SKILLS Act in the Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee
will be writing federal education legislation on October 18, so the time to act is now!

This week, we aim to double the amount of calls to the Senate and get more co-sponsors!  Whether you have called already or not, please take the time to bring attention to the SKILLS Act. Here's how you can help.


1.      Go the ALA Legislative Action Center by clicking here:
http://capwiz.com/ala/callalert/index.tt?alertid=54125686&PROCESS=Call+Now

2.      Read over the talking points and type in your zip code to find
the phone number for your senator's office (you will see additional
talking points). You can also be connected to your senator's office by
calling the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121

3.      Call both senators and ask them to co-sponsor the SKILLS Act
using the provided talking points and your own stories about why school
libraries are so important.

4.      Fill out the feedback card or email twegner@alawash.org
<mailto:twegner@alawash.org>   to describe what you heard.