Edmonds District Librarian's Meeting @ CPM

On Tuesday, the librarians of Edmonds met at College Place Middle School. The main focus of the meeting was to learn about the upcoming state social studies CBA (classroom-based assessments) and how librarians in the district can support this effort. We broke into small groups for discussion. We talked about the many ways we can help: teaching pieces of the process, finding resources (web, text, people), finding fiction read-alouds to compliment a CBA, and stocking the library with books at a wide range of reading levels that support a CBA. It was interesting to realize that the district is only requiring a 5th grade CBA at the elementary level. During my work with the WLMA CBA Sub-Committee, I thought that all-levels from 3-12 had to complete at least one. According to the district, that's a recommendation and only the civics ones are specifically required (middle & high school are different, but I wasn't a part of that small group).

I think that the librarians in our district will be up for the challenge and I think the Teaching & Learning Dept. is excited to include the librarians on the CBAs. More information from the district about CBAs will be coming soon. They still have some fundamental questions to answer (like...will all 5th graders do the same topic to allow for scoring conferences at the dist. level). The district also wants to make sure that the teachers aren't overwhelmed, since at elementary, teachers are working on the collaborative literacy project, new math adoption, and new science kits.

WCCPBA Co-Chair Meeting

On Saturday I met w/ Karen Huebshuman my co-chair on the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA) Committee at the Mill Plain Starbucks in Vancouver, WA (I had my usual hot chocolate & chocolate chip cookie). We have served together as co-chairs for a couple of years now. Today we reviewed letters of interest for 2 open positions on our committee and made selections. It was great to see interest for the committee. It was also nice to fill the positions with folks from places in the state we haven't had on the committee. It truly makes this a state-wide committee.

We also talked about preparing committee response to concern about "My Father, the Dog." We received an e-mail stating that they thought the book was degrading to dads. It's been a couple years since we've received a complaint on a book title. The committee member who initially suggested the book is going to work with Karen on a reply.

The nomination deadline for WCCPBA 2009 suggestions is coming up soon (January 18, 2008). Criteria for nominating can be found 0n the WCCPBA web-page. Last year we had over 100 titles to read and discuss.

We discussed housekeeping items, like: planning our spring meeting and ordering new award plates. At the end, like all meetings between school librarians we discussed books we were reading, compared schedules/calendars, and shared tips & tricks.

On our way out, I gave Karen her "Teacher-Librarian of the Year" poster that was on display at the fall conference, what a deserving honor for her!

WLMA Executive Board Meeting

The Saturday, November 17 WLMA Executive Board meeting took place at Curtis JHS in University Place (next to Tacoma). It was the first executive board meeting for many new officers, including myself. Although the meeting ran long, there were a lot of great discussions.

Topics discussed included: Yakima Conference evaluations, future conference sites, building the WLMA 2007-08 budget, reports from members, reorganization of public relations into advocacy, and scholarship committee requests.

Marianne conducted a focus group on the common cores for the Library Media Endorsement. Board members offered suggestions to improve the document and gave Marianne questions to take back to the state committee working on this document. Although the endorsement document will help colleges develop their programs, I think it will become a document used in hiring and evaluating teacher-librarians.

WSSDA Booth Buddy

It's Thursday and I'm at the Seattle Westin serving as a "booth buddy" for WLMA. WLMA has a booth at the Washington State School Directors Association Conference exhibit hall to get the good word out to school board members and district leaders about the teacher-librarians in the state. I've talked with folks from Naselle, Battle Ground, Elma, Mukilteo, Easton, Blaine, Moses Lake, and other exotic Washington locales. It was interesting to ask board members about their libraries.

My general impression was that board members really cared about their students and schools. They were willing to learn. Some board members were proud of the fact that they had certificated teacher-librarians at each of their schools (some didn't know how their libraries were staffed!). Many expressed that having teacher-librarians was a function of having money. This told me 3 things: 1) Library programs are not seen as "vital," 2) We need to educate board members about the value of libraries and why they are essential, and 3) we also need to work with other groups that are focusing on school funding.

This was a wonderful opportunity and I'd encourage other WLMA members to serve as "booth buddies" at other conferences. Thanks to Jennifer Maydole for organizing the booth, and to Joanna who spent the day with me.

District Math Inservice

On Friday, November 9 the Edmonds School District held a district-wide inservice presentation at Edmonds-Woodway HS. The focus of the presentation was math education. Dr. Brossoit, district superintendent spoke about the concerns the district has regarding math instruction and the strategies the district will use for the upcoming elementary math adoption (photo above). After his presentation, the Teaching and Learning Dept. outlined the adoption process and shared some sample lessons for grades K-5. I saw many of the district's elementary librarians in attendance. I know many of us are thinking "how do libraries support math education?" I thought of the following ideas that might enhance my library media program (in no particular order):

+ Share books with math concepts or topics in the background (i.e. "The King's Chessboard," MathStarts series)

+ Host Family Math Nights in the Library.

+ Find quality web sites for math practice, teacher assistance, reference (and link them to the Library web page or share links w/ teachers).

+ Make sure to emphasize the decimal aspect of Dewey.

+ Help students in the creation of charts and graphs. Use charts & graphs in library lessons.

+ Post a long number line in the library. Have students tag important numbers (i.e. number of students in the school, number of staff, year since WA statehood)

+ Be an instructional leader in math. Explore the Math EaLRs.

+ Have an estimation jar in the library (filled with fun things), have students estimate (possibly talk about an estimation strategy each week/month).

+ Have math related things on exhibit in the library. Invite teachers to display colorful math work in the library (charts, graphs, projects)