WIRC 2018

Our teams performed so well this year, and I am so proud of how each and every student represented Norwin. As always, we had a blast at what has become my favorite school day of the year. One of our WIRC team members wrote a wonderful article about the competition for the school paper, so everything that follows is her article:

Ribbons for reading

By Madison Stanley

     On March 5, Norwin’s Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition (WIRC) club attended their yearly competition at Seton Hill University.  

     WIRC students spend months reading books from a list of 30 that is released at the end of the previous year.  At this competition, teams are paired up with different teams for 4 rounds. These rounds consist of 30 questions total on any of the various books from the list. If a team misses a question the question goes to the opposing team and if that team answers correctly they are granted a quarter point. This makes the total amount of points available 18.75 per round.

     The Norwin WIRC club met during lunches with more frequent meetings as the competition grew closer. During these meetings the group would discuss books from the list with the intention of giving the entire club a better understanding of all the books on the list. Every student was required to read four books and write question sets on each, which is the only requirement of joining the club.

     Norwin had three teams attend the competition this year. The teams based their names off of books from the WIRC list. The freshman team was Extremely Quiet and Incredibly Nerdy, which is a pun on the book Extremely Quiet and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. The sophomore team was Code Name Norwin, based off of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein.  The senior team, including one junior, was Booking for Alaska, based off of John Green’s Looking for Alaska.

     Extremely Quiet and Incredibly Close placed third overall and awarded yellow ribbons, the highest finish for any Norwin team ever in WIRC competitions.  Booking for Alaska placed fifth overall, which was awarded with pink ribbons.

     “This year’s questions must have been a lot harder than last year’s,” said senior Sebastian Pratt, due to the fact Booking for Alaska had a lower score than the Norwin team which placed sixth in the previous year. 

     Overall, Norwin’s WIRC teams have been improving and expanding over the years and will hopefully continue to do so.

     “We did better than I thought we did,” said senior and Booking for Alaska team captain, Meghan Williamson.

    The Norwin WIRC team hopes to continue improvement next year and awaits the next list of books to dive into.

PA School Librarian at the Young Adult Library Association Symposium

In November 2016, I had the opportunity to attend the YALSA Symposium in Pittsburgh, PA. The most fantastic part of the conference was meeting so many fabulously entertaining storytellers. I was introduced to the funny, smart, and lovely Meredith Russo, and I cannot wait to read her book If I was Your Girl. I was also especially geeked out to meet E.K. Johnston (pictured right), author of one of my favorite Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition books from the 2017 list. The Book Blitz was fun but completely insane. Many of the participating authors from the symposium participated in the blitz, where each author had a table with a mesmerizing number of books primed and ready to be signed. If looking for a more low-key moment to hear from the authors, I actually preferred the author panels. No signed books during the panels, but we got to hear what events or moments may have inspired the stories we couldn't wait to share with our patrons. Perhaps my favorite session was the ending keynote starring a few Pittsburgh favorites: Jesse Andrews and Siobhan Vivian. Their hilarious anecdotes were the perfect way to end the conference.

One aspect of the symposium that I had not experienced at a conference before was the opportunity to  "Pitch a Program." This concept provided a thoughtful way to try to incorporate what we learned immediately and have the possibility of earning funds to put our ideas into place. I attended a number of sessions on programs about LGBTQIA+ issues and came up with the idea to do a book club reading of a contemporary YA book with characters or themes that would provide insight into the LGBTQIA+ community. My pitch inspired me to contact author Caleb Roehrig on Twitter to get his take on Own Voices authors that my students could read. I am humbled and thankful for his quick responses, with many wonderful suggestions of authors and books: some of which I am familiar with and others of which I am excited to get to know. Although I was not awarded with funds for my program idea, I am hoping to possibly put this program into place eventually.

Overall, the symposium was fantastically fun and I am so happy that YALSA came to Pittsburgh. As a school librarian, I knew the content would be geared toward the public librarian; however, I still found myself missing the ed tech sessions that I lean toward attending at school library conferences. Some of the very frank conversations on health and sex may not be possible in a school library, but I did walk away with some new concepts to try.

ESSA and School Libraries in Pennsylvania

On a beautiful Fall day, librarians from around the state of Pennsylvania convened at Toftrees Conference Center in State College Pennsylvania to discuss the provisions for librarians in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Lead by Laura Hicks, the Region 2 Director of the American Association of School Librarians board, we reviewed the definition of an effective school library program before exploring the specific federal guidelines and state interpretations of these guidelines. We ended the workshop by discussing ways in which we can apply what we have learned to our own school libraries.

The AASL definition of an effective school library program pulls from two important phrases present in the Every Student Succeeds Act language, including that libraries provide "personalized learning environments" to ensure a"well-rounded" education. Additionally, AASL outlines how the school library program is essential to "college, career and community readiness," including that the library is staffed with a certified school librarian, it has current digital and print resources, and it provides staff development and collaboration opportunities. Furthermore, AASL offers the qualifications that a school librarian should possess, including being "instructional leaders," supporters of multiple literacies (digital and information, among others), and elevators of reading initiatives. More information and precise verbiage can be found on the AASL Position Statements page: http://essa.aasl.org/aasl-position-statements.

Following the definition of an effective program, with the help of video messages from the American Library Association Executive Director of Washington Office Emily Sheketoff, we explored each part of ESSA that pertains to developing and maintaining effective school library programs.

Title I of ESSA ensures that state and local agencies improve basic programs. Ms. Hicks urged us to consider what we are already doing, as school librarians, to improve digital literacy for our students. What can we do to impact student learning? Schools need librarians and access to effective school library programs in order to impact student achievement.

In Title II, ESSA advocates for supporting effective instruction. School librarians often lead their own professional development workshops or in-service day sessions after attending conferences and workshops. Because entire districts benefit from school librarian attendance at conferences and workshops, Title II Part A funds can be used for the librarian to attend professional development opportunities. Additionally, Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (or LEARN), specifies that school librarians can participate in required grant activities. According to Sheketoff, these grants can be used for teachers and school librarians to meet and collaborate on literacy initiatives. Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) specifically states that funds should be used for supporting effective school library programs. Ultimately, school librarians can aide in applying for grants, and they need to research and make sure that the district grant writer is aware of important school grants that can help in enhancing library programs.

Title IV, Part A discusses Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, otherwise known as Block Grants. ESSA essentially authorizes school librarians to learn about technology, as librarians offer "access to personalized, rigorous learning experiences supported by technology." Therefore, librarians should be afforded the opportunities to update technology skills and provide technology for their students.

The session ended with discussion on how to apply all of these elements to our own libraries. We were encouraged to develop short speeches that could quickly and spontaneously help others see the importance of school libraries and librarians.

Allison Burrel, President of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, also directed us to take a look at the new ESSA recommendations developed for the state of Pennsylvania specifically: http://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/About%20PDE/ESSA/October%2018,%202016/AIR%20Report%20PA%20ESSA%2010%2014%2016.pdf. Further information about the Every Student Succeeds Act can be found on the PA Department of Education website: http://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/Every-Student-Succeeds-Act.aspx#tab-1.  A compilation of resources and advocacy tools can be found on the ESSA and School Libraries website: http://essa.aasl.org.

Ultimately, librarians must stay abreast of new legislation that provides effective school library provisions. We can remain hopeful that the federal government, state, and local agencies recognize the importance of school libraries to student achievement. But we must still continue to advocate for all that school libraries can do to support digital and print literacy, technology skills, teacher professional development, and overall school culture. Our students depend on it.

Work Cited
American Association of School Librarians. Connecting ESSA to School Librarians. 25 Oct. 2016.

The Library is a Good Place: Small Successes Keep Us Going

"The library is a good place," one of my students said this morning as she sat at the circulation desk and took in her surroundings. I tried to see the space as she saw it in that moment: a group of girls furiously finishing geometry homework tucked away in the fiction section...friends sitting in cushy blue chairs sharing a pair of headphones...a freshman boy flashing an appreciative smile as he takes a Hershey Kiss from the candy dish next to the sign-in sheet. "I cannot believe I didn't know about this place before last year, Ms. Kauffman. It's a good place," she concluded.

She put into words exactly how I want students to view this space: as a positive haven in their busy lives. In the same breath, she also expressed the biggest problem: many students are unaware that the library exists. All students attend a Freshman library orientation, but somewhere in-between their regimented Freshman year and their less-structured years after that, they seem to forget (or worse yet, not realize) what the library can offer them.

This year, we seem to be starting to hit our stride. I would still like to work on promoting the library to those that aren't aware of what it can offer, but we have at least experienced an increase in readership, which is encouraging. I always feel most fulfilled in my career when I get to support our students, especially those unlikely readers. I had a tall, slender senior walk in the other day with a sideways black cap (totally against dress code), saggy jeans, and a plaid flannel shirt. I recognized him as one of the students taking a remedial writing course because he spent a lot of time during class typing (or not typing) his paper in the library. He asked for some read-alike suggestions. I hadn't read the book he mentioned and, based on the cover, had the misconception that it was about overcoming addiction. After doing some research, I discovered that it was really more about coping with mental illness and depression. So, I suggested Ned Vizinni's It's Kind of a Funny Story and Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower - both favorites for addressing difficult topics with a touch of humor. He came back the next day specifically to tell me how much he loves Vizinni's story. After having a stressful day when nothing seemed to be going right, his comment made my whole week. This just goes to show that a kind gesture can be the fuel to keep someone doing what they are doing right.

This student taught me a lesson, and I will continue to more often let others know when they have made a difference in my day, my week, my life. Perhaps this is one small way that I can continue to make the library a "good place" for all who use it.

Highlights from AASL 2015

 Beautiful Columbus, OH! There could not have been a better city to host the conference. I had a lovely dinner in German Village after spending the first day learning at the Idea Lab.

 I met up with another Westmoreland County librarian! I was excited to see so many LMS's from Western PA.

"Beyond Issue" books panel really gave me the opportunity to think about the difference between books about mental illness and books with dynamic characters who happen to experience mental illness. Great book list!

 I attended another fantastic panel that featured "perspectives from the Middle East." The moderator was none other than Sabaa Tahir! So star-struck.

Brian Sleznick's keynote was so fantastic that it prompted me to unexpectedly purchase The Marvels and get it autographed! He is a born storyteller. I put his keynote right up there with the Neil Gaiman lecture I attended in Pittsburgh.

The Introverted Public Speaker: Why You Should Still Be a Presenter

I have often pondered the answer to this question: why am I, an introvert, also a public speaker? It doesn't seem to make sense. At the beginning of November, I had the honor of leading a concurrent session at the 2015 AASL national conference. After the thrill of my proposal acceptance wore off, a mild panic set in. I knew I would be prepared, but the racing pulse just wouldn't slow down. Why did I agree to do this?

And then I had to reflect on why I had put so much time into creating a proposal - why I wanted to present so badly. One reason I am a presenter is because I am passionate about what I do. I enjoy being a school librarian, and I am excited to share the projects that have been successful in my library. If my ideas can help a colleague, all the better.

Perhaps the bigger reason I present is because of the librarians who have made me the passionate

professional I am today. Whether I am learning at a conference, in a class, over lunch, from the PSLA listserv, on Twitter, through blogs - I am excited about my job because so many wonderful colleagues have shown me the way. The community of school librarians out there have offered me lesson and promotion ideas, they have modeled how to be a tech leader in their schools, and they have demonstrated how to convey a love of learning. It only seems fair that I pass this excitement on to others. My predecessors should not bear the entire burden of inspiring a whole new class of librarians. We are a community of seekers and most importantly sharers. I present because I feel incredibly lucky to be a member of this community and I want to give back in any way that I can.

Finally, I present because then I get to start the conversation in which I want to participate. I have been very fortunate to attend several different library conferences, and the topic that has most shaped the teacher librarian I am today is library promotion. The only way students get the full impact of their information literacy education is if they have the opportunity to come to the library. I am very lucky to have learned many of my promotion skills at conferences.

If you are on the fence about becoming a conference presenter, put your fears aside and reflect on how much you have gained from other conference presenters. Good luck on your next presentation!

NEA Foundation Learning and Leadership Grant and the 2015 PaLA Conference

I am very fortunate to be one of the 2015-2016 recipients of the NEA Foundation Learning and Leadership Grant. This grant provides teachers the opportunity to participate in professional development activities that they otherwise would not have had the means to fund themselves. Considering the state of Pennsylvania is now five months without a budget, schools are cutting "non-essentials," like PD. As a school librarian, my job entails collaborating with teachers, librarians, administrators and other professionals. Thus, I consider learning about new educational technology, new books, and new teaching methods or project ideas to be an essential part of my job. Collaboration is ultimately the reason I decided to seek out alternative means of funding conferences this year, and it is the theme for the PD I have selected to fund with this grant.

My first order of business was to attend the Pennsylvania Library Association conference in State College, PA. I have never attended this conference before. While at PaLA, I was able to meet librarians in all fields of librarianship, including public, outreach, academic, research, special, and more, all from towns throughout the commonwealth. I leaned from my colleagues that despite our different library fields, we face so many of the same issues: waning budgets, the need for diverse materials, changing patron interests, new technology and more. I also discovered that our differences can be mutually beneficial. Public libraries offer students a place to research, read, and use the internet when the school library is closed. They can offer special teen programs after the school day is over. Academic libraries provide research materials that students can borrow and special archived collections that a school library would not have room to carry. And of course school libraries offer teens instruction on how to properly use library materials in school and afterwards.

In terms of sessions, by far I was most excited about the "We Need Diverse Books" YA authors

panel. I was introduced to a number of PA authors who feature diversity in their stories, even if diversity is not the focal point. The authors stressed that diverse books have so much to offer teens beyond being a reflection of a reader's own diversity. Librarians should seek out diverse books because they are good stories, and they can perhaps encourage teens to see a world beyond their own. I will be able to incorporate these stories into a fiction project I collaborate on with one of our language arts teachers.

Additionally, I attended the PA Forward Cream of the Crop session. PA Forward is an initiative that brings librarians together to promote the five literacies. Librarians had just a few minutes to share an exemplary program or resource that they use to address basic, information, civic, financial or health literacy. Some of the ideas that I found most interesting and relevant included a volunteer fair, grant tips to acquire maker materials, and a photo station in the library. I could see setting up a selfie station in the library before winter break with a green screen app. From ideas I gathered at this session and others at the conference, I am also tossing around the idea of holding a college application-writing session one evening. If I were to create a volunteer fair of college-application session, I would need to collaborate with administrators, counselors, teachers, community members, and college personnel.

Finally, one of the evening activities was entitled "Paint Space." During this session, participants watched YouTube videos on how to paint tree branches. Then, we had the chance to recreate the tree branches on our own canvases. This was a fun and also an easy-to-recreate maker activity. As my library is in desperate need of a makeover, I have already purchased art supplies for students to paint pictures for our walls. Although I am not an artist, YouTube instructors take some of the pressure off of the librarian! I cannot wait to update our artwork! Although this would not be so much of a collaborative lesson for me, maker activities are often inherently collaborative for students. I may also request the help of the Art Club sponsor to spread the word that her members could leave their mark on the library - quite literally!

Overall, this was a fantastic conference, and I was happy to see other sides of my profession.

PA School Librarian in Germany: Cultural Experiences

On Saturday of the Fulbright program in Germany, we had the day off. By "day off" I mean that we had an opportunity to create our own cultural experience. I chose to visit Heidelberg, which is only 50 minutes away from Mainz by IC train. I think pictures will do the trip better justice than any words could ever do!

 

In the evening, one of our group members organized a beautiful trip to Bingen, which is about a 30 minute train ride from Mainz. Bingen and the surrounding towns were having a summer celebration. Each town provided a fireworks display, and boats would follow the fireworks on the river. It was quite a sight!

But Wait...There's More!

I try to do a book series display for students every year. I find that a lot of teenagers enjoy getting lost in a series. Often, they will read a book from a series in a night or two and be excited to come and get the next one ASAP. I found a concept on Pinterest for this type of display, using the infomercial quote "But wait, there's more!" So, I found a picture of a well-known infomercial actor and pasted book covers in his hands to make it look as though he's selling books. The display has been effective so far: I've gotten some chuckles from students, and a number of books have been checked out from the display. Score for Pinterest and Ms. Kauffman!

National Library Week - Free Fine Deletion and Teacher Recommendations

Photo Credit: Wilson Hutton from Penn State News

It's National Library Week! And this week I find it to be important to recognize everyone that makes the library possible. In the past, I've gotten cookie cakes for my library aides in honor of National Library Worker's Day, and this year we did Dunkin Donuts.

For patrons, I offer free fine deletion every year during National Library Week. I know that fines are sort of a hot button issue in school libraries - some librarians find them to be exclusionary and unfriendly. Personally, I like to think of library fines as preparation for late fees that students might encounter in their adult lives. Whether fines are for late library books, the electric bill, credit card bills, or something else, I think that knowing that there is some sort of consequence is realistic. This is not to say that everyone doesn't deserve a break now and again! We tend to get a lot of books back during National Library Week, which helps students out, but also is beneficial for the library and the main office. We called parents about missing materials the week before NLW, and we were happy to be able to tell them that fines would be waved if materials were returned the following week. I find that having a week of free fine deletion is good PR, but I do not find that charging fines in the first place is particularly bad PR for the library.

I also asked teachers to write book recommendations to be included on the summer reading Doc posted to the library page. Last year, I displayed recommendations in the library, but I thought it would be more beneficial for students to be able to access the recommendations online instead. So, thus our summer read list was born. I am always excited to see what teachers are reading and what they loved enough to recommend to students. I enter all teacher participants into a drawing for a small gift card, just as a token of my appreciation. I hope everyone with a connection to a library had a fantastic National Library Week!

Girl's Mentoring Event

We have some pretty fantastic kids at school - kids who not only work hard, but also students who look out for one another. A group of incredible senior girls decided to start a girl's mentoring program called the Knights in Shining Armor. This organization brings together friendly, motivated, successful senior and freshman girls who want to get involved in their school. Together, they do a variety of activities: yoga, crafts, book clubs, etc., lead by different teachers throughout the school. During these activities, the freshmen can ask for advice from their older, wiser peers, or just network with one another and make new friends.
"Knitted Heart." by mararie is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Just before Valentine's Day, I offered to facilitate a craft afternoon where students could make cards or little candy boxes. I provided hot chocolate with heart marshmallows, and the girls brought brownies and popcorn to snack on during the craft hour. Listening to these smart, funny, strong, and friendly girls work together and offer their expertise on all things school made my heart happy. I didn't know many of the girls before the event, but I left with a smile on my face that there are such wonderful things going on at our school - events that are entirely student organized and student driven. These girls recognized a need for a mentoring group that could lead their younger peers on the right path to success, so they made one. And I know I am not alone in my pride for these lovely young women, as a number of teachers wanted to know what they could do to contribute to such a fantastic organization. I think I certainly learned an important lesson from them: do not wait for good things to happen, make them happen!

Maker Week Completed!

Although Maker Week got off to a slow start, the concept was successful overall. The most popular maker items were book page ornaments and paper boxes filled with Hershey Kisses. Initially, the promise of chocolate seemed to bring a number of students to the library; however, once the students started to make the boxes, they seemed to genuinely enjoy creating something. Several students even came down the next day requesting to make more boxes (which was fabulous, of course!). Eventually, students started to get creative and made up their own projects - mostly small gifts for friends. This was certainly encouraging and seemed to be in the same spirit as maker spaces.

I think that if we do a something similar in the future we will have Maker Days, as opposed to Maker Week. I was glad to do the whole week my first go around, just because I wasn't sure which projects or materials would be most popular. Now that I have a better idea of what students want to make and what will bring them into the library, I am confident that I could condense the concept into just a couple of days.

I also had to experiment with promotion methods. I had display of maker items outside of the library, there were announcements broadcast over our student news program, I had a blurb added to our daily bulletin, and I sent emails to our study hall teachers. Emailing study hall teachers so that they could remind students of Maker Week and send them to the library seemed to be the most successful promotion. Ultimately, my goal was met: I got students into the library. Many of my maker kids were not our usual customers, so it was great to see some new faces. I also was excited to see some of our new patrons stop in again after their first visit - some students came down for multiple maker days, or they came to the library for study hall or to find books in-between classes. Library promotion might take some work, but it is totally worth it!

Completed paper boxes

Google Teacher Academy Application Tips

As I start to apply for Summer 2015 professional development, I can't help but reflect on some of the PD opportunities that I've had in the past. One of the most influential workshops I have attended was a Google Teacher Academy last December. I read a number of blog posts from Google Certified Teachers before applying to GTAUK, and I found the advice from previous GCTs to be immensely helpful. So, here are just a few tips that helped me to (successfully!) complete my application. Please note: this is just a reflection on my own application process - I hope it can help other GTA hopefuls!

First off, Google Teacher Academy (GTA) is a two day workshop facilitated by Computer Using Educators (CUE). Workshops take place at Google offices around the world, and sessions are presented by master teachers and Google employees. Attendees have the opportunity to present brief demos on the second day, which follows more of a relaxed, "unconference" format. At the end of the conference, attendees are considered Google Certified Teachers.

In my application, I was totally honest. I knew I was not the most tech savvy teacher in the world - heck, I don't even think I am the most tech savvy teacher in my school! But as a library media specialist, I knew that I would have many opportunities to implement the things I would learn at GTA. My district had become a GAfE school a year before I started my application, and I knew our students could be getting so much more out of their Google accounts. I also love learning new things that will make my teaching better, and I hope that came across in my brief essays. So, I tried to elaborate on the ways that I could implement technology and enact change in my school.

With that said, I knew that my video (posted below) would not be the best submission CUE would receive from a GCT hopeful. As a college English major turned tech nut, I had to bank on the fact that my writing skills were better than the average applicant. To see some really impressive video examples, search YouTube - all application videos have to be set to public and posted in YouTube. Although I am sure that the video is an important aspect of the application, and I certainly did put time and thought into mine, I would bet that I spent just as much time on the written portion of the application. There are restrictions on the number of characters an applicant can use per answer, and I made sure not to exceed the maximum. I worked full page responses down to short paragraphs, and I can only think that my concise answers helped my application.

I also focused on my leadership skills and opportunities. I had taught PD in the past, and I knew I would have additional opportunities to teach teachers if I were to attend a GTA. I am also involved in a number of professional organizations, which would provide opportunities to be a conference session presenter.

No matter what happens, keep trying! I am not accepted into every professional development opportunity I apply for, but applying at least gives me a shot! Fascinating professional development opportunities always invigorate me as a teacher. Most importantly, I think that continual professional development keeps our lessons current, meaningful, and engaging for our kids. Good luck!