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https://wowlit.org/

Their Mission:

"WOW is committed to creating an international network of people who share the vision of bringing books and children together, thereby opening windows on the world. We encourage thoughtful dialogue around international literature so that children can reflect on their own cultural experience and connect to the experience of others across the globe."

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https://home.edweb.net/
EdWebnet is a professional social and learning network that allows anyone in the education community to connect with peers, share information and best practices, spread innovative ideas, and provide professional development.

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http://www.ibby.org/
"The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization which represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together."

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http://www.allthewonders.com/
"A collective of working writers, podcasters, filmmakers, and visual artists who feel that great books deserve a life beyond the shelf. We believe that children make a more lasting connection with a story when they can experience it in various forms. Therefore, our goal is to expand the universe of the books we love by offering up podcasts, videos, songs, crafts, and much more, all centered on those great works of literature and the people who make them. This content, we hope, will inspire not just a new generation of bookworms, but a new generation of book creators as well."  Ended Feb 2018 - materials will remain in perpetuity and links are provided to the new homes of podcasts. http://www.matthewcwinner.com/

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https://www.amightygirl.com/blog
"A collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls." The blog focuses mostly on curated book lists.

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https://www.facebook.com/pyplibrary/
"A page for PYP library professionals and friends to share links, resources, and ideas."

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http://www.booksbetween.com/
This was one of the most active book bloggers on All the Wonders page. She will continue to blog about connecting 8 - 12 year olds to books at this site.

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TEDx YouTube Libraries of the the Future Playlist 

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TEDx YouTube Libraries of the the Future Playlist 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa6ERdxyYdo&list=PLfvildvHB_kiL6dDbcu1xXTRCZBePLu8l
A set of inspiring or thought provoking videos

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By on

Despite the fact that I told them I dropped an f-bomb back in my first-ever preschool story hour, the powers that be have still decided that I'm going to host my first-ever live webcast, and it's coming your way this coming Wednesday. For "Exploring Race, Mistakes, and Friendship through Poetry," I'll be joined by Irene Latham, [...]

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By on Despite the fact that I told them I dropped an f-bomb back in my first-ever preschool story hour, the powers that be have still decided that I'm going to host my first-ever live webcast, and it's coming your way this coming Wednesday.

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Spend $130 Bucks and Literally Give Kids the Power!

We've discovered that the mix of the digital divide, possible turbulent home lives, and general teenage forgetfulness can result in a loss of power. So, for vaious reasons it seems that some of my students who DO have devices (yes, there are still a lot who do NOT) show up to school with a low or no charge. Yes, they sometimes admit that they fall asleep with their phone next to them and not plugged in. Shocker.

A device that they LOVE to use for social connections and fun in the hallways and during free time. Oh yeah, and sometimes in class for learning, too! Without that device they feel a serious gap in their daily lives.
We Fill That Gap!

We want the kids to feel like the Library Media Center - Learning Commons and Makerspace Station - is a safe place to land and the place to go when they need things. Like finishing and priting out homework, relaxing and making something at our Makerspace Station, practicing mindfulness with our Coloring Zen area, or borrowing a charger to power up their devices. This is our third try with this concept, the first two were failures - if you interested you can read about this journey going back four years on my professional blog. So far, this is going GREAT!

Backstory: A few years ago, I was inspired by the charging lockers I saw during a visit to the Hillwood High School Library in Nashville with the ISTE Board of Directors and I wanted to support our BYOD pilot program and our kiddos by giving them a place to recharge their devices in school.

And of course that place was going to be our school Library Media Center - shameless how we will do just about ANYthing to get kiddos to visit our Library!

Because I think we've now hit on a really easy, relatively low cost, & popular way to give my kids the power they crave and need.

Approximate cost for 8 chargers & 10 cords = $130 bucks

Piece of mind not worrying that kiddos will have their devices stolen or locked out on your watch?

Kids (and staff) can request a charging device, first come, first serve anytime before 2pm. I also bought * 2 flat chargers for staff to borrow. Kids come first. Always.

* We ask that kids agree not to let the device out of their sight - if they're asked to share it - we trust them to keep track of it.

* We also ask that kids bring back the device at the end of the day. Do they always remember? Nope! That's why we collect their last period class teacher (I, or my amazing Media assistant Kathi Bell, calls classrooms at the end of the day to get them back - or we track them down the first period of the next day.

Yeah, We're Popular!

Some days we're cleaned out of chargers within the first 5 minutes of school. I'm making a sign for our front door that says "Yes, We Have Awesome Chargers to Borrow!" or "Sorry, All Chargers Have Been Borrowed" with Bitmoji cartoons.

* This is a complimentary service. We also reserve the right to not lend out a charger on an early dismissal day, after 1:30pm, or to a kiddo who has proven to be unreliable with the charger in the past. But that hasn't happened yet. Frankly, I doubt it ever will. Don't tell my students, for all my fierceness [snaps Z formation] I'm kind of a soft touch. But I gotta keep that leverage because we want to keep these chargers nice for everyone. So far though, the kids have been super fantastic and very enthusiastic about this new FREE perk we're providing to them!

GOAL #1 MHMS provides a safe and nurturing school environment that respects our diversity and commonality.

Why do we do this?

You never know what kinds of things kids are struggling with at home. What if a kid doesn't have a computer at home and just a mobile device and needs to do homework? This is important! We can help fill the gaps that the world & circumstance gives to these kiddos.

My kids tell me you can get these chargers at Five Below. I haven't tried them yet. If we lose a lot over the year, I might give them a whirl. The multi device cords are CHEAP! Meaning, inexpensive to pick up (via Amazon) but they can sometimes stop working and can break. So far, so good, though and this has been a LOT less of a headache than those fancy expensive charging lockers.

This great idea was inspired by the amazing Teacher Librarian at Wilde Lake Middle School - Sarah Russo!

I should have started with that! [smacks forehead] but I wanted to give how we run this first.

Are you a Teacher Librarian, or educator and want to hear what problems we encountered with our previous attempts at charging stations and charging lockers?

So, if you're a school - here's my suggestion: Save 90% of your money and try the cheapo errr inexpensive portable chargers first.

Because, NO ONE wants to be responsible for a kids only device but it's AWESOME to be responsible to give POWER to a kid and their beloved device!

What am I missing here? Any other suggestions? Successes? Do you like that we help out the kiddos? What other things could we add to our School Library to make it a more appealing place (Other than a Keurig -that would be boss!) Please hit me up in the comments and share your thoughts! Thank you for reading!

Our ever evolving BYOD Policy.

Buying information. If you want to get one of these for yourself or for your kiddo, check Amazon! So far, they've been great & I did have 2 die on my (after being used by kids...a LOT) but the company is sending me 2 replacements! I couldn't ask for better customer service than that!

Again, if you're in education and would like more information:

BYOD, BYOD, charge, charger, daring school library, device, mhms, power Community, Digital Citizenship, Fun!, Geeky Cool, MHMS Daring Library Media, Tech Tips

Is something I ask quite a bit at the MHMS Daring School Library. The easiest way to share on Instagram is taking the humble shelfie. Like a selfie, but with a book? Asking teens and patrons to hold up the book they just checked out or are returning are called shelfies.

OK....it's kinda a stretch...but as I mentioned in an article I wrote last year for the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association - a branch of the ALA) blog last year, it's just one positive quick, fun, and easy way to promote reading, literacy, books, and community using social media. Kids like to see what other kids are reading.

I always ask if they want to take a shelfie, and I never give any guilt trips if they're too shy or would prefer not to. But most of my teens love to show off their latest book, and even tag themselves in the picture! Holding up a mustache bookmark is just a bonus. I mustache you to believe me in this!

#CaughtReading

Uncategorized

Happy 20th Anniversary Murray Hill! For real this time!

That means, the 8th grade kiddos I taught when we opened Murray Hill back in 1997 would now be in their 30's! Whaaaat? That's Crazy! But seriously, I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever!

But here I am, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant and rich diversity of our amazing neighborhood! I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 7 minutes to get here!

This year is going to be fantastic and challenging! Ms. Bell, our amazing Media Assistant is BACK full time! Thanks to our new interim Superintendent, for bringing back our much needed (and loved!) library paraeducators. WE really appreciate having our Library & Literacy program fully staffed - because we serve about 800 people! 730+ kiddos & 80+ teachers and staff!

That's a lot of people and we love it!

Please follow us on Instagram!

I will try and share all the amazing things that happen every day here at MHMS - the cool kiddos, the fun times, the Science, the ELA, the Social Studies, MHTV, ART, Drama, well - as much as I can !
Like the fun we have during recess in the Library Media Center! Here are some of my fun kiddos!

We also LOVE Instagram Shelfies!

And #Makerspace Fun!

Speaking of making and working I'm excited to set up again our ever evolving Makerspace Station at MHMS in our Daring School Library Media Center for the fourth year! We're going to be adding more stations, robotics, technology and opportunities to create, make, craft, design, code, and construct in our school!

But wait! There's More!

The following are student, parent, and community resources I want to bring to your attention.

This page will also feature our new HCPSS Parent Portal - HCPSS Connect

Don't forget our Research Databases Wikpage helps with homework & school projects!

BTSN

I want to share with you a favorite book selection activity that I did with the kiddos here at MHMS dig around Valentines Day, it's super silly and fun, creates a lot of excitement, and makes the books fly out of the library!

With my middle school kids this activity is guaranteed to make them grin, giggle, and cringe a little. Give yourself permission to really ham it up. Because prepare yourselves, book lovahs, this is super cheezy!

Sort of like musical chairs, but with books! Encourage kids to try a new genre or type of book. Make suggestions! Let the cooperating ELA to Reading teacher wander around making suggestions or pointing out a "good lookin possibility!"

After a couple turns I'll call out that the first 6 kiddos checking out books will get a scratch and sniff bookmark and then they can go, put up their feet, read their new book and hang out in our READING LOVE LOUNGE. ("VIP: Space is limited - hurry kids!")

If you're an English, Reading, or School Librarian who would like to do this activity, click on over to TheDaringLibrarian blog for all the resources!

MHMS Daring Library Media books, dating, love boat, promotion, reading, speed

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Spend $130 Bucks and Literally Give Kids the Power! We've discovered that the mix of the digital divide, possible turbulent home lives, and general teenage forgetfulness can result in a loss of power. So, for vaious reasons it seems that some of my students who DO have devices (yes, there are still a lot who do NOT) show up to school with a low or no charge.

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Librarian in Black Blog - Sarah Houghton

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Earlier this year I organized a training for library staff throughout our county from the local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and a stellar local senior non-profit named Senior Access dedicated to serving residents with memory loss issues. This training was inspired by two things: in my year in the San Rafael Leadership Institute our class project was raising funds for Senior Access -and- a demographic study from the Association of Bay Area Governments that highlighted Marin County's median age compared to regional, state, and national norms. In 2013, the median age was:

37.5 in the United States

35.7 in California

45.5 in Marin County

Basically, where I live and work to provide library services, our population is ten years ahead in terms of age. As a result, library services here are slightly different to meet the needs of this older population. A significant part of serving this older population is seeing an increase in various memory disorders (Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body disease, Frontotemporal dementia) among our neighbors and library users. Thus, the training.

Libraries are uniquely positioned to see changes in our regular users. We have people who come in all the time, and we can see changes in their behavior, mood, and appearance that others who see them less often would never recognize. Likewise, libraries and librarians are trusted entities-you may have people being more open and letting their guard down with you in a way that lets you observe what's happening to them more directly. Finally, people who work in libraries generally really care a lot about other people-and that in-built sensitivity and care can help when seeing a change in someone's mental health and abilities.

I'm going to do my best to sum up what I learned at the training as well as what we've seen here in our Library serving older adults with memory issues. I hope some of this can help you at your library too.
How do memory disorders usually make themselves visible?
As each of us ages, our memories get less and less reliable. Typical changes can include forgetting an occasional appointment or bill due date, forgetting words, and losing things. Changes that indicate something more progressed is happening in someone's mind include disruptions to daily life, changes in personality, withdrawal from work or friends, poor judgment, misplacing things frequently, difficulty solving problems, confusion about when and where you are, and trouble with spatial relationships or speaking and writing.
How might these memory disorders present in a library environment?
People will think they are in another library, another city, or another time period. They may confuse library staff for a relative of theirs. They may become upset, not remembering how they got to the library. They may repeatedly come to the library on the wrong day for an event. They may tell staff that their library card must have been stolen because they don't remember checking out the items on their account. They may become angry and frustrated when you present them with the "correct" information. They may need to be shown the same basic procedures repeatedly, always as if for the first time. They may become uncharacteristically verbally abusive to staff or other library users when frustrated. They may pace or wander seemingly at random. They may repeatedly ask the same questions during the same short window of time. They may look and behave completely normal. One never knows for sure.
What are people with memory disorders experiencing?
Overall, in any stage of memory decline, people experience confusion, and then a resulting discomfort or uneasiness, which usually leads to an uncharacteristic behavior. Some people withdraw while others lash out. Most people experience severe fear during the latter stages of their memory loss, which makes sense if you think about it. How scary would it be to wake up with a functionally blank slate and try to "appear normal" to everyone as you go through your day? Showing up at a job that you haven't had for 10 years, looking for a car that you don't have any more, expecting to see a 22 year old friend who's somehow now looking like she's 62. How people with memory disorders behave has a lot to do with their personalities, as well as how the disease has progressed.
What is the most important thing to do when working with someone with a memory disorder?
Focus on communication. Be a good listener by expressing interest, being patient, and not interrupting. Use body language effectively by making eye contact, using a calm voice, and using gestures. Be mindful of the environment by moving to a quiet place, reducing distractions, and moving away from potential onlookers. Aim for simplicity by giving simple instructions one at a time, asking simple questions one at a time, and being mindful of the pace of your speech.
Communicating with someone with an impacted memory can be very frustrating. What should I do and not do?
Do: allow plenty of time for comprehension, repeat instructions using exactly the same words, agree with them even if what they're saying is false, accept the blame when they feel something is wrong, be patient and cheerful, and forgive.

Don't: reason, argue, remind them that they keep forgetting things, question their memory, or take it personally.
What should I do if I repeatedly see an adult alone in the library who seems to have some kind of memory disorder and who cannot take care of himself or herself?
If you can contact a family member or caregiver, do that first. Oftentimes our integrated library system databases have the capacity to add a second name to someone's account or a note in the record to call a caregiver if there's a problem. If you cannot find a family member or caregiver, call Adult Protective Services ( here's California's APS website) or whatever the local agency equivalent is for you. It may feel like tattling or ratting someone out, but just as we would contact Child Protective Services if we feared for a child's safety and well-being, so we should do for adults who have a diminished capacity to take care of themselves. It's never fun, but these folks handle cases like this all day and approach their work with sensitivity, care, and kindness. Let them do their jobs.
What can I do in my library to support a community of people with memory issues?
Offer free and conveniently timed classes on memory retention, communication strategies, living with dementia, signs of memory loss. Local non-profits can definitely provide the expert trainers for these classes. Offer to be a site for a support group. Keep a handy resource list of local non-profits and governmental resources for people with memory disorders: adult day cares, advocacy groups, residentiail facilities, caregiver support, diagnosis programs, in-home care, legal and financial information, meal programs, and transportation options. Train your staff on the warning signs to look for and how to effectively communicate with people with memory issues. Collaborate with local non-profits on art programs, day field trips, and other activities to keep people with memory disorders active and engaged in their communities.
Resources
For more information, check out the Alzheimer's Association website: look for a local chapter, resources for family care, caregiver support groups, classes, day programs, and training. And in a pinch you can definitely call the Alzheimer's Association National Hotline: 1-800-272-3900.

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Librarian in Black Blog - Sarah Houghton

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Earlier this year I organized a training for library staff throughout our county from the local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and a stellar local senior non-profit named Senior Access dedicated to serving residents with memory loss issues.

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https://www.ireadprogram.org/

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One of the Berkman Klein Center's top priorities is education. Faculty, fellows, and staff affiliated with the Center engage in teaching activities that address complex legal, technological, social, and business issues; examine questions of both public and private law; and integrate relevant international and domestic legal considerations from a global perspective.

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Library of Congress Webcasts feature visiting speakers and performers covering: history, performing arts, education, government, literature, religion, libraries and sciences.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.