WLMA E-MEDIUM Spring 2013 Vol. 37 No. 3

medium Journal of the Washington Library Media Association

Spring 2013

Volume 37

Number 3

Reading Advocacy

Spring 2013

Volume 37

Number 3

The Value of a Reading Advocacy Focused Learning Community

by Paula Wittman.............................................................................................................................................................6

Teen Book Shopping Activity or Speed Dating with Books

by Kate Burton..................................................................................................................................................................8

The Heart of One Teacher-Librarian

by Alyse Fritz................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Research: The Wax Museum at Lewis and Clark Middle School

by Leigh Lohrasbi.......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Using the Public Library for Reading Advocacy

by Sandra Lancaster....................................................................................................................................................... 13

Cavalcade of Authors: Where Students and Authors Meet!

by Jeff Burlingame......................................................................................................................................................... 14

Our Secret Reading-Promo Weapon

by Joan Enders................................................................................................................................................................ 17

Are Picture Books on Their Way Out?

by Deb Lund.................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award................................................................................................... 19 Sasquatch Committee is NOT for Wimps!

by Sandra Earnest.......................................................................................................................................................... 20

Sasquatch Book Award....................................................................................................................................................... 21 Young Reader’s Choice Award........................................................................................................................................... 21 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award

by Kirsten Gunn............................................................................................................................................................ 22

Washington Library Media Association Embraces Common Core Standards With New Nonfiction Award

by Carter Kemp.............................................................................................................................................................. 23

Teaching, Learning, and Experience: MLIS Student Perspective

by Erin Quarterman...................................................................................................................................................... 24

Digital Literacy in Washington State ............................................................................................................................. 27

Departments From the Editor: Alice McNeer Beginnings and Endings: My Farwell is Your Hello...............................................................................................2 President: Leigh Lohrasbi Moving Ahead and Together.......................................................................................................................................3 President-elect Anne Bingham Ready for Anything!......................................................................................................................................................4 Vice President: Sharyn Merrigan Regions: Events, Highlights and More......................................................................................................................5 Planbook................................................................................................................................................................................ 28

Journal of the Washington Library Media Association

From the Editor: Alice McNeer

Beginnings and Endings: My Farwell is Your Hello The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. Ivy Baker Priest, Parade, 1958.

As this spring issue goes out, so does my farewell as the Editor of Washington Library Media Association’s professional journal, the MEDIUM. When I started in 2002, I never dreamed of the rewards this position held. Over the years, I made many professional connections, kept up-to-date on issues and developments in the school library field, and developed new skills in publishing that lead to my newest job position. I could not have achieved the professional skills and knowledge that I now hold without being involved in Washington Library Media Association.

Now as I bid farewell, you have the opportunity to say hello. You have the opportunity to accept the position of Editor. I can hear you now saying that it takes too much time and you are too busy. Yes, it does take time. I cannot sugarcoat that part. You have meetings to attend, e-mails to answer, reports to write, articles to edit and pages to layout. Yet, at the same time, you have benefits that you could never imagine.

The MEDIUM travels both electronically and by mail, which extends your professional world. During the past ten years, I worked with Northwest Council for Computers in Education (NCCE), American Association of School Librarians (AASL), International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and Washington Library Association.

I worked with school librarians from all over. Professors sent e-mails seeking articles for their classes. Other librarians and teachers submitted articles for publication

and one person sought permission to use an article in a book published by the American Library Association.

I know, right now you are saying that it sounds good, but there is a lot to the position. You are right, but the time and effort is worth it, and you are not working solo.

You have an amazing Associate Editor, Cathy Grant.

Cathy collaborates and works with you to collect and edit articles for each issue. In addition, Jean Staley as the Advertising Manager brings in ads and works with conference vendors. The MEDIUM now only comes out twice a year—Spring and Fall. With the Fall issue, in addition to Cathy and Jeanne, you have the conference committee. In fact, you are a member of the committee and therefore have the inside scoop about conference!

Does this entice you, but you are still hesitating? In addition to the above connections and help, I am making myself available as a resource in getting you started and assisting in any way needed to keep the MEDIUM in publication. The job is open to one person to do the editing and the graphics, design, and layout or two people as coeditors with one doing the editing and the other doing the graphics, design, and layout.

At last as I bid you all farewell as the Editor, I look forward to someone (or two), stepping forward and saying hello.

Alice McNeer is the Communications Director at the Eton School, an Independent School in Bellevue. E-mail: mediumeditor@earthlink.net.

MEDIUM Journal of the Washington Library Media Association (ISSN 0889-00773) Alice McNeer, Retiring Editor Cathy Grant, Associate Editor Jeanne Staley, Advertising

Editorial Policy

Washington Library Media Association reserves the right to make the final judgment on all submitted material. Inclusion of an article, photo, graphic, or advertisement does not necessarily express the opinion or constitute an endorsement by WLMA. All responsibility and liability for the content of advertising rests with the individual advertiser.

Copyright

The Washington Library Media Association retains electronic representation and distribution rights to

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the contents of its publication the MEDIUM. WLMA reserves the right to use text, photos, and artwork from the MEDIUM in subsequent editions, with notification to the submitter if possible. Otherwise all rights revert to the creator author of the work. The MEDIUM appear electronically in EBSCO’s LISTA database.

Advertising

For information about WLMA’s advertising policy for the MEDIUM or to place an ad, please contact the Advertising Manager Jean Staley (partners@wlma.org ) or visit the MEDIUM web page.

Additional Information

For themes, dates and additional guidelines please go to: http://wlma.org/mediumguidelines.

VOL 37 NO. 3

President: Leigh Lohrasbi

Moving Ahead and Together Welcome to the Spring Edition of the Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) MEDIUM! As spring arrives, Reading Advocacy is in full gear around the state. Teacher-librarians are establishing and modeling fashionable cultures of reading. They motivate and guide their students to read for enjoyment.

Teacher-librarians develop relevant collections of fiction and nonfiction, while managing resources in support of established curriculum. They maintain the heart of the school while fads come and go.

As we approach the end of the academic year for public and private schools, the Executive Committee has accomplished a lot for our WLMA members. In January, American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Chapter Director Dave Sonnen, Past President Craig Seasholes and I attended American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meetings. Craig and I went to the ALA Chapter Leaders Forum where Craig presented the WLMA video, Teacher Librarians at the Heart of Student Learning, to the group who received it warmly. During the meeting, State library associations from across the country reported. Pennsylvania Library Association achieved a strong connection with Pennsylvania school libraries. They discussed their study demonstrating the importance of school libraries in Pennsylvania and the effect of school libraries on student success. At this meeting, Dana Murphy-Love, President of the Washington Library Association (WLA), presented on the importance of mission and vision. Craig, Dana and I shared ideas over lunch about the necessity of state library associations sharing resources. One example of a shared resource is the Blackboard services that WLA provides and WLMA uses to hold meetings remotely across the state. We also talked with Dana about encouraging public and school library collaboration. Our Washington AASL Chapter held a small “meet and greet” at Gameworks in Seattle and invited the other AASL Chapters members. Many teacher-librarians featured in the WLMA video attended. Dave Sonnen and I attended the AASL Chapter Forum where we presented the WLMA video and again they received it warmly. It was a great opportunity to collaborate.

In January and March, Carter Kemp and a committee hammered out the proposal of having a third WLMA award for non-fiction. In March, at our Board of Directors meeting, the members decided to proceed with a WLMA non-fiction award and to name it in honor of long time member and supporter, Bill Towner who passed away in February. Bill received WLMA Teacher‑Librarian of the Year in 1993 and many Seattle teacher-librarians have shared how Bill had influenced their library practice. WLMA was represented in SPRING 2013

Olympia during Library Legislative Day, February 15, 2013. Officers Craig Seasholes, Sharyn Merrigan, Sara Glass, Carolyn Logue and I attended the Washington Library Association’s welcome meeting at United Churches in Olympia and then split up to meet with legislators. For those legislators unable to meet with us, we left a note or talked with their office staff. I met with Representative Curtis King from my district on the steps of the Capitol Bldg. He shared the experience he had at Nob Hill Elementary in Yakima where he attended a meeting put on by WLMA’s Central Region two years ago. That experience made a huge impact with him. I cannot emphasize enough that when local teacher-librarians invite their legislators to their libraries, the legislators get to see the real impact of what we do for students. Your actions bring results. If you have not invited your legislators, consider doing this in the next year. It truly makes a difference.

The WLMA Board voted to recommend the Danielson Framework for Teacher/Principal Evaluations, as part of the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot (TPEP). As stated on the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (OSPI) website, “The Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot is a component of E2SSB 6696, a broad education reform bill passed by the Washington State Legislature in the 2010 session. The bill calls for significant changes in principal and teacher evaluation systems…” In addition, WLMA continues to work with Barbara Soots of OSPI to provide Open Educational Resources (OER), which are teaching/learning materials or courseware that are freely available and licensed to anyone to develop, use, remix, reproduce and redistribute. Steve Coker serves as the WLMA OER liaison.

In legislative issues, WLMA continues to work with Carolyn Logue and Sara Glass, to provide a teacherlibrarian connection with bills and budgets passing through our state government. While we experienced some success when more money was designated for public schools, we need to remember the impact on school libraries of the public education budget bills passing depends on the school population and the allocations in each district. Moving teacher-librarians to the 1.0 per prototype school level is not happening this biennium [ continued on page 25 ] Leigh Lohrasbi is the Teacher-Librarian at Lewis and Clark Middle School, Yakima SD. E-mail: lohrasbi.leigh@yakimaschools.org.

MEDIUM | 3

President-elect Anne Bingham

Ready for Anything!

Do you recognize the title Ready for Anything! ? It is the title of a popular children’s book by Keiko Kasza exploring the unpredictability of the future and the joy of unexpected surprises. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I see the “Read” in “Ready.” I would like to get you ready for reading. This MEDIUM issue theme is Reading Advocacy and I am excited to share some author news.

We have a great slate of authors lined up for conference already. I asked our Level Chairs, who select the speakers for conference, to give useful context for how and why teacher-librarians benefit from interaction and discussion with children’s and young adult authors.

Elementary Level Chair Jan Copeland is thrilled that Keiko Kasza will be the featured author for Saturday lunch. Ms. Kasza is a prolific author who has received numerous starred and featured reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus, etc. In addition to highlighting her numerous books, her website has suggestions on using these books to foster discussions with Elementary school children. Jan thinks it is easy to spread the creative thrill of picture books to students and in the library. Visit Keiko Kasza’s website for books, biography, reviews, and more.

Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) will also host Farwalker’s Quest author Joni Sensel at the conference. Joni Sensel’s books get glowing reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus. Her popular fantasy books are probably in the hands of your young readers. Come find out what inspires these stories and how Joni Sensel weaves them together.

Wait there is more! Children’s author Margie Palatini will be joining WLMA for a session via Skype. Ms. Palatini has over a dozen children’s picture books and another half dozen books for middle readers. Her website is full of student and teacher activities, including arts, crafts, music, puzzles, and theater. Learning, language and laughter are the cornerstones (tripodstones?) of her story-based activities. Find something fun to do with one of her books by visiting her work online.

Carrie Willenbring finds middle school students connect with authors to which they can relate. She has observed that personal stories, anecdotes, background, and trivia from authors help spark book discussions at her school. As Middle School Level Chair, Carrie is still negotiating with some impressive authors for this year’s conference. We will announce that as soon as possible. Carrie got a lot out of WLMA 2012, as this quote from a personal e-mail (April 2013) shows her appreciation of author/librarian interaction.

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Last conference as the Middle Level Chair elect, I assisted Kelli McSheehy with the author breakfast featuring the author of The Compound, Stephanie Bodeen. I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Stephanie along with having our picture taken holding two of her books. Upon return to school the following week I printed my picture and created a book display around it including a QR code students scan that takes them to Stephanie’s website. Having had the personal interaction with Stephanie at WLMA 2012 assists me greatly when I do book talks on her books.

My students are checking out her books more now than ever before! Additionally, after conference I began following Stephanie on Twitter. Last winter, she posted a picture of her Hawaiian island jumping twin-engine airplane. I commented saying, ‘Your airplane reminds me of the plane in The Raft!’ She replied, ‘Me too! But, my pilot was a lot better than hers.’

High School Level Chair Eileen Ray was eye-popping thrilled when author Ruta Sepetys agreed to come to Yakima. With glowing reviews out for both of her best-selling novels, Ms. Sepetys is an author of celebrity status. Between Shades of Gray, concerning the Baltic genocide during World War II, and Out of the Easy, set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the 1950s, are both getting great press for young adults. These wellresearched and well-written books of historical fiction might be a good fit for your collection.

As librarians, you all have book reviews at your fingertips, but the WLMA 2013 Conference gives you a chance to question, probe and listen to the words that were not written. Our conference will give these authors a chance to expand on the backstory for their books and writing lives. I am looking forward to hearing how you are inspired by authors and how this helps you in your mission for Reading Advocacy. The 2013 conference provides a lot of opportunities for sharing, experimenting, and swapping.

Hopefully, there will be some unexpected surprises too.

References Keiko Kasza Author and Illustrator of Children’s Books.

Accessed April 14, 2013. http://www.keikokasza.com/index.php Margie Palatini Children’s Author and Illustrator. Accessed April 15, 2013. http://www.margiepalatini.com Award Winning Children’s Author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen.

Accessed April 15, 2013. http://www.rockforadoll.com/ Anne Bingham is the Library Director at University Prep, Seattle.

E-mail: abingham@universityprep.org.

VOL 37 NO. 3

Vice President: Sharyn Merrigan

Regions: Events, Highlights and More This year a variety of regional events have been offered around the state. Regional officers have put together many exciting events, and there are more on the horizon. On March 16, many of the regional chairs traveled to the Full Board meeting in Ellensburg, where they shared some of their recent accomplishments. Here is a run-down of the highlights:

Central Region, Co-Chairs Jennifer Novak and Lynne Perednia

Central Region held a social on Friday, March 8, 2013, at the Smith Elementary library in Grandview.

Central Region is also going to have a “Step into the 21st Century” program on Saturday, April 20, at the Educational Service District (ESD) in Yakima, which will include an update on e-books for school libraries, social media and this summer’s training.

Columbia Gorge Region, Chair Diana Janzen

Columbia Gorge holds lots of great events, and they all have wonderfully enticing names! The year began with Smokin’ Hot at Barnes and Noble, sharing the hottest new titles and creative ways to book talk. APP eHour took place later in the year with no lectures, just hands-on iPod activities followed by happ-E-hour.

In February, published authors shared their books at school presentation offerings at the Camas Public Library. Upcoming events include “Let the Good Times Roll!” (so intriguing!) and “No Buns Allowed” to pin up the school year. The fun never stops in the Columbia Gorge!

Diana Janzen is retiring at the end of this school year and is seeking new officers for the region. This is a great opportunity to become involved in Washington Library Media Association (WLMA), to develop professional contacts, and to have fun with your regional colleagues.

Crossroads Region, Chair Lisa Gallinatti

Crossroads Region has been a busy place to be and has increased its membership by fifty percent! Regional members donated a “Wine, Chocolate, and Books” basket of goodies to be auctioned off at the 2012 WLMA conference. A fall gathering in Burien found Lisa Gallinatti teaching about using primary sources from the Library of Congress in our teaching. There was also a discussion about teacher workshops in the area that can benefit librarians as they collaborate with content-area teachers. At a winter gathering at The Spaghetti Factory in Tukwila, members contributed to a list of five favorite reads from 2012 and shared those with the group. A book exchange also took place.

SPRING 2013

Lower Columbia Region, Chair Lisa Block

Lower Columbia continues to take advantage of the times when the Book Review Council meets to conduct regional business and encourage collegiality. Schedules and travel are increasingly a challenge for regional meetings, so capturing the critical mass of teacher-librarians for other events can be a great strategy for regions.

Mt. and Isle Region, Chair Tracy Shaw

In February, regional members attended the Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference, featuring authors Katherine Applegate, (new Newbery Winner 2013), her husband and fellow author Michael Grant, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and illustrator/author Brian Pinkney. It was a great conference celebrating its tenth year with lots of information, insight and inspiration.

March included a brainstorming session of Common Core lesson integration/implementation strategies for librarians. May 22 is the second meeting and Mount and Isle Teacher-Librarians’ are creating a Whatcom KIDS READ program in collaboration with the public libraries, the school libraries Western Washington University (WWU) Children’s Literature Conference as well as our local bookstore. A community partnership!

Bellingham School District high school librarians are partnering with WWU, Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College librarians to create a working partnership, which will provide a more seamless library experience as they transition to college and beyond. Regional members are focusing on the advocacy challenge of working to restore elementary librarian staffing. Mt. and Isle Region is seeking a new treasurer —a great way to be involved in your organization!

Mt. Pilchuck Region, Chair Cris Harkness

Like so many teacher-librarians, members of this region are grappling with supporting Common Core State Standards. The TLC3 training in Anacortes on August 7 will be a great opportunity for this region. [ continued on page 25 ]

Sharyn Merrigan is the Teacher-Librarian at Marshall Middle School in Olympia SD. E-mail: smerrigan28@gmail.com.

MEDIUM | 5

Reading Advocacy

The Value of a Reading Advocacy Focused Learning Community

by Paula Wittman I became a teacher-librarian because I wanted to connect students to ideas and stories through reading.

I enjoy most parts of my job, but connecting kids to reading materials that ignite their minds is my passion.

Sometimes I find that to be text on a website or in a database, but at least at my elementary school, it is most often in a book.

Ava, a 4th grader, came to the library last week gushing over an animal series she has discovered. She is using her spare time in and out of class to take notes and fill a notebook with animal facts and observations.

William, a 2nd grader, popped in to ask when I will have a new Humphrey book. Whenever I lead a book talk, I am surrounded by a gaggle of readers trying to guess the number between one and twenty that will allow them to be the first to check it out. These are the daily interactions that speak to me as an educator. Connecting these readers to the right texts energizes their personal drive for learning and my own love for my job.

Librarians have always been advocates for reading.

However, at least in my district, professional development opportunities are more likely to focus on standards, technology, or research than reading advocacy. To address this imbalance, a number of us maintain our own Professional Learning Community (PLC) focused solely on reading advocacy.

The Puget Sound Council For the Review of Children’s Media (PSC) is my reading advocacy PLC. The organization’s members review thousands of books yearly. In no particular order, here are ten reasons that I value belonging to a group like this:

library oriented publishers. When I go to a PSC meeting, I can look at hundreds of new and upcoming titles from national, local and Canadian publishers, and can browse without salespeople or book reps looking over my shoulder.

3. Reviews From Peers I Know And Trust The reviews written and shared through PSC are written by school and public librarians I am personally acquainted with, or by members of the local community I know care about children’s books. Often librarians will have “tried out” a book through a lesson. Soon I will be able to search reviews by title, author, rating, series and even reviewer, as we are building a database for members that should be up and running by next fall.

4. Capitalizing on Others’ Expertise Because reviewers choose the titles they want to review, I get the opinions of fans of particular genres or people immersed in researching a specific type of book. An informed review from an avid reader of fantasy is useful to me, as I tend to lean toward historical and realistic fiction. Likewise, someone on a mission to find easy chapter books that are appealing to boys is likely to have read widely and be better able to gauge the possible popularity of a new series.

1. Regular Meetings Strengthen Professional Bonds Every month I hear a wide variety of opinions about books from school librarians, public librarians, and others from around the Puget Sound area. I am able to meet and talk with colleagues who, like me, believe that good books are essential to reading advocacy.

5. Opportunities for Discussion Members routinely chime in with their own opinions, ideas, or experiences related to a book receiving an oral review at a meeting.

Sometimes they agree with the initial review, but not always. These discussions produce a richer understanding of the book and how readers might respond to it, or how teachers could make use of it.

2. Expanding My Collection Development Resources The materials reviewed by PSC come from over a hundred publishers. They include both fiction and nonfiction, from trade, and school/

6. Opportunities to Browse and Compare Titles and Series While I regularly browse bookstores to see what is new, I am amazed by how many titles I encounter at PSC that I have not seen

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VOL 37 NO. 3

elsewhere. Books at PSC come from both school/library publishing and trade publishers.

This is especially valuable when I want to compare nonfiction across publishers. For example, I might compare several biography sets at a single meeting.

7. Encouragement to Read Widely and Critically When I review a title, I read it cover to cover with a critical frame of mind. If I did not belong to a review group, I know I would read far fewer titles in that way—especially non-fiction. I would be unlikely to take the time to read an entire non-fiction title on the ecosystem of the Sahara, for instance, but I will when I am reviewing it for PSC. Focusing that kind of critical attention on a title often yields unexpected benefits after I have submitted my review. If I like it, I can book talk an unusual topic, or when a student is looking for materials, I can push a specific strength of a title (e.g. “This one has excellent photos.”).

8. Help Stretching My Budget PSC members review books in two ways: oral and written. Oral means you read the book, write a review and then share it orally at the meeting. The book is then donated to charity.

When you compose and submit a written review, you have the option of adding the book to your own collection. Active reviewers add dozens or even hundreds of titles to their libraries helping stretch their building budgets.

In addition, reading and listening to others’ reviews help me ensure that the materials I do purchase for my collection are of high quality and fill specific needs.

9. Sharpening My Reader’s Advisory Skills Advising readers has always been at the core of librarianship. In addition to knowing your readers and reading broadly yourself, keeping on top of available new titles is essential to effectively matching books to readers. Writing and listening to PSC reviews is invaluable in that regard, it hones your ability to succinctly describe why a reader might like a given title.

Reader’s advisory assistance is vitally important with the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum, as teachers seek recommendations of high quality, rich texts to use in lessons across all disciplines. Publishers tout their titles’ connections to the Common Core, but not all do so as effectively as advertised. PSC reviews help me ensure I can make quality SPRING 2013

recommendations of both fiction and nonfiction texts that will enhance lessons taught by teachers at my school.

10. Impact Student Learning All of the reasons above point to student learning. After all, this is the reason teacherlibrarians are here. Belonging to PSC helps me make sure that my students have access to high interest, high quality materials. PSC colleague Kathryn Cook said it eloquently at our last meeting, “I connect students to texts that match their task and their reading level.”

Being active in a group like PSC is a key piece of my professional development. It is also the PLC that I enjoy the most. If you live in the region, we would love to have you join Puget Sound Council. If you would like a membership form, please e-mail me (address below).

Otherwise, I encourage you to create your own PLC centered on reading advocacy. I think you will find it well worth the time and effort.

Paula Wittmann is the Teacher-Librarian at West Woodland Elementary,, Seattle School District. E-mail: pswittmann@seattleschools.org.

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MEDIUM | 7

Reading Advocacy

Teen Book Shopping Activity or Speed Dating with Books

by Kate Burton So how can I get my teens to read? As a high school librarian, I struggle to find ways to engage my students in pleasure reading. Students who read not only enjoy the experience, but also test better. My goal to get students to read is mainly based on my own passion to read. However, as I have interacted more and more with my students and find out about their reading interests, my approach to getting them to read has changed. I have been looking at more diverse avenues to engage and connect students with a piece of literature that really speaks to them.

This started when I noticed that my Teaching Assistants (TA) sometimes read a book that I have recently purchased just because they became aware that it exists. Several times, I have had TAs who have emphatically stated that they do not like to read and they want to make sure that reading is not part of their job description. Yes, they will shelve the books, but heaven forbid they actually pick one up to read. Then along comes that book. The one that says, “Pick me up, you know you want to.” This happens and they are caught. They are into the book and reading, and do not know what hit them.

I had a super football jock pick up a biography (this was after he told me he would never read a book) and ask when it would be processed so he could check it out.

I told him I would have it for him in a few minutes and got right to it. He loved the book and proceeded to read every biography by that company. He came up to me to talk about one of the biographies he had read and said, “You know Ms. Burton this isn’t really reading, I am just finding out about people.”

Another TA picked up a book called They Broke the Law, You Be the Judge and just started reading it. After she finished reading about one of the cases in the book she asked if she could spend her spare time during our class period reading more cases. She assured me she would get all her work done if she could please spend 15 minutes or so with this book. A few weeks before, she had told me she never liked to read and would not read if she could help it.

These incidents along with others led me to question my methods for getting students to read. They made me wonder what I could do to promote a more active means of getting the right book into each student’s hands. I could not make every student at school a TA and lure them into a book, but what could I do to simulate that experience.

Then it hit me. How do some single people find someone?

They go to a speed dating event. What if I could get my students to speed date books? Would teachers find this an appealing activity? How could I get it off the ground?

I started first by considering which books I would select for the activity and how I would ensure that students gave

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me feedback about the books I selected. I wanted the activity to be successful on many levels. I wanted students to find a book, I wanted to see what books were popular and I wanted my teachers to see that if given the right incentive or situation their students would want to read.

The first classes I started with were always laden with reluctant readers. Their teachers signed up because they wanted a period when they could relax and not have to deal with their students for that one period. Most were skeptical, but willing to try it. Some thought it was a total waste of time. My district told me only to do it if I asked, as it was not really an academic activity. I guess reading is not academic if you enjoy it. I had never really thought about it that way.

I will admit that I had some pretty demanding students who were sure that the whole thing was a waste of time and were sure that they would not be able to find anything they wanted to read. One day I had a student who was really challenging. He was uninterested and really quite difficult. I was frustrated, but kept encouraging him to take part in the activity. Two weeks later, I found out that this was a student who had failed English the year before when he showed up for a second experience with his credit recovery class. He seemed to be ready to try my patience yet again, as he sat, squirmed and started raising his hand, looking like he wanted to bait me. I like to give students their due and I called on him. Imagine my surprise when he pulled a book out of his backpack (Black and White by Paul Volponi) and said, “Ms. Burton chooses really good books.” I could not have paid him to provide a better marketing ploy. Here was one of my most challenging students announcing to the world that there were good books to be had if you just looked.

There have been other positive outcomes. Students who have participated in Book Shopping or “speed dating activities” with me, often will come up to me and say, “Ms. Burton, where are the books you used in Book Shopping yesterday…last week when my class came, etc.

I want to check one out.” Or, and this can be frustrating, “Ms. Burton do you remember the book that had the boy and the girl on it when we did Book Shopping last week. I want that one.” Then I have to rack my brain to figure it out. I do not usually have just one book with a boy and a girl on the cover!

Teachers who have participated have told other teachers about Book Shopping. One day one of my regulars, a teacher who has been a great supporter of Book Shopping, came up to me and said, “Mr. X asked me if that book thingy you do is any good. I told him it is one of the best ways to get your students to read.”

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My favorite reaction, however, was when one of my teachers came up and asked if we could see how Book Shopping would work with Advanced Placement (AP) classes. She said that her students often had difficulty finding a classic that they really related to and that maybe a Book Shopping activity would connect them with a really good read. She asked if I would be willing to try it. A few weeks after the activity she came up to me and said that in the past her students had trouble sticking with the book they chose. For the first time most of her students stuck with the book they selected during the Book Shopping activity. She wanted to do the activity at least twice each year, as it had been so successful. She recommended it to another AP teacher and we had the same success with that class.

Have I whetted your appetite? Do you want to know how to do it? This is one of the simplest activities.

Granted having a large current fiction and high interest nonfiction selection is a key element, however, this activity can work with most library collections. I have tried to structure the activity so that the students will get the most out of it. I seat four students at each table and give them four high interest books to look at. When I choose the books I want to use, I consider the covers, the content and the readability of the book. I ask the teacher to tell me about the class. What do the students say about reading? What are the teacher’s guidelines for choosing a Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) or book report book?

Then I look for books that meet both of these criteria.

Recently I have focused on gang related nonfiction such as Always Running and Once a King, Always a King, drug fiction such as Street Pharm and Crank; vampire, werewolf and zombie fiction that we all know and have on the shelves, a little romance, a few sports selections, and other current popular books. I usually try to include The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupak Shakur, as well as books from series like Bluford High and Kimani Tru. My students are also drawn to the covers of books

by Coe Booth and Paul Volponi.

As I want to find out what the students like and want the teachers to see this as a productive activity, I give the students a survey. This takes a little time as I select a different collection for each group that comes in and create a different survey for each of these. The survey lists the titles of the books along the left hand side of the page in alphabetical order, so it is easy for them to find the book they are looking at. It has 3 columns to the right asking if the students wants to read the book now, might want to read the book in the future or just are not interested in the book now.

For the activity, I always choose multiples of four (for example if the class has 29 students, I will choose 32 books). I make sure there are four books on each table (even if there is a table with only one student, that student will need four books for each rotation) and that each student spends each speed date with just one book.

Some students want to immediately get to the book that SPRING 2013

is most interesting to them. I tell them that they need to give each book a chance and that they will be able to see all the books on the table. The students spend one to two minutes with each book (I use a timer and students quickly realize that when the timer rings, they need to get to the survey), mark the survey and then pass the book on to the next student. When all four books at the table are finished, we exchange books with another table and start over.

During a period, students see 15 to 20 books. Usually most students are able to identify at least one, two or even more books that they want to read now. When the time is up, I have a place at the bottom of the survey for them to write the title of the book they thought looked most interesting and to write two pieces of evidence as to why this book looked good to them. This helps the teacher and me to better understand what it is about the book that grabbed their attention.

In addition, during the activity, I take a short time out each time we complete four books and the tables exchange their books for new ones. I use this time to book talk one book to the group. This means I book talk three to four books each period. I usually make sure I book talk different genres and try to choose the three to four most high interest books I selected.

For AP classes I focus on two main ideas. First are the contemporary AP selections that my students will be naturally drawn to, and second are the classics that will appeal to students even though they are more challenging to access. My most popular contemporary selections include; The Color Purple, Beloved, The Road, Catcher in the Rye, and The Things They Carried. I always include these in my selection unless they are all checked out, which is rare, as I have purchased multiple copies of them.

The one classic selection that I have found to be irresistible is Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. All I have to do is read the first line, “One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.” (Kafka 7) This one sentence grabs the students’ attention and I always have several of them check it out. There is one miserable consequence to having a student really like Metamorphosis; there is not another book like it on the AP list. I always have several students, usually boys, ask me to recommend another AP book that is like it and there just is not.

Other popular classics include Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but these are almost always for girls. If you have students who like Fast Food Nation, steer them to The Jungle. If you have students with a quirky sense of [ continued on page 26 ] Kate Burton is the National Board Certified Teacher-Librarian at Fort Vancouver High School in the Vancouver Public Schools, Vancouver, Washington. E-mail: kate.burton@vansd.org.

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Reading Advocacy

The Heart of One Teacher-Librarian

by Alyse Fritz Maintaining a focus on what is best for students and staff in a consistent effort to increase student achievement, while preparing them for college and the workforce grounds my philosophy of education. I strive to create a culture of effective and efficient users and producers of ideas and information by fostering critical thinking, inquiry, and personal growth with purpose and clarity. Entering the profession of education out of dissatisfaction with my own experiences growing up, I needed to provide more for my students: more understanding, more patience, more support, more challenge. I rarely felt my teachers held a true passion for what they were doing. I value doing what one loves and loving what one does. Helping students and staff discover how to manage the information they come across daily, and then to skillfully use that in their lives to propel them into areas they love, matters to me.

Recently I found a collection of characteristics called “Critical Thinking Habits of the Mind,” (College of Engineering, University of Michigan n.d.) which I believe apply to exemplary leadership. Recognizing that everyone has his/her own strengths and weaknesses, the leaders to whom I look for inspiration and direction each demonstrate a unique mix of these habits. I strive to employ and reflect on them daily as a reminder of areas on which to focus. The ten habits include: 1. Confidence — the assurance of one’s reasoning ability.

2. Contextual perspective — the consideration of the whole situation.

3. Creativity — an intellectual inventiveness used to generate, discover, or restructure ideas, imagining alternatives.

4. Flexibility — the capacity to adapt, accommodate, modify, or change thoughts, ideas, and behaviors.

5. Inquisitiveness — an eagerness to know by seeking knowledge and understanding through observation and thoughtful questioning in order to explore possibilities and alternatives.

6. Intellectual integrity — the process of seeking truth through sincere, honest means, even if the results are contrary to one’s assumptions and beliefs.

7. Intuition — an insightful sense of knowing without conscious use of reason.

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8. Open-mindedness — a viewpoint characterized by being receptive to divergent views and sensitive to one’s biases.

9. Perseverance — the pursuit of a course with determination to overcome obstacles.

10. Reflection — the contemplation of a subject, especially one’s assumptions and thinking, for the purposes of deeper understanding and self‑evaluation.

Throughout my career, I continue to engage in many opportunities exhibiting these habits in my professional experiences. Specifically after years of laying the groundwork through strategic and consistent communication, my building Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director collaborated with me to create a new course at our high school offering students an alternate avenue through which to achieve a semester of occupational credit required for graduation.

Combining frameworks laid out for CTE Business and Marketing’s Administrative Support Services (CIP code #520401) and the American Association of School Librarians’ Skills for 21st Century Learners standards, I created power standards that students must achieve in order to demonstrate their learning and earn credit. They produce a variety of assignments and provide evidence of their ability through a multitude of performance tasks throughout the semester. Students leave the Library Administrative Student Assistant course with essential work-related skills in office and library procedures in addition to demonstrating their proficiency in computer literacy. By providing evidence regarding the level of academic rigor and professional skills student gain as library aides, this course helps students meet their computer literacy requirement, as well as providing them the opportunity to earn five college credits through a dual-credit program if students earn a “B” or better.

Active participation on numerous committees like instructional materials selection, research continuum, district library, department chairpersons, balanced assessment, and standards-referenced grading speak to how I employ confidence, contextual perspective, creativity, flexibility, inquisitiveness, intuition, openmindedness, perseverance, and reflection within a school setting. Additionally, collaboratively engaging with curricular work, developing power standards and learning targets, supporting research, and modeling technology use in the classroom across a variety of disciplines and grade levels exemplify the practice of those habits in terms of curriculum and instruction. Continued classroom VOL 37 NO. 3

experience via additional teaching opportunities (like classroom coverage for teachers in building, summer school, and planning-time buy-out for extra classes) also signifies my pledge to practice these habits.

Supporting my learning community beyond their academic needs through services, accessibility, and willingness shows confidence, contextual perspective, creativity, flexibility, intuition, and open-mindedness outside of the traditional expectations. Participation in co/extra-curricular activities like coaching cheerleading, dance and athletic supervision, local association of student council representatives advisor, Daffodil Festival Princess selection coordinator, as well as, assistance to groups like drama, knowledge bowl, math team, and after-school tutoring, further detail ways in which I apply those habits beyond the classroom.

I further embody these habits throughout my professional practice. Achieving a Master’s degree in education (2004) and National Board Certification (2010) demonstrate my capacity to include the habits of confidence, contextual perspective, creativity, flexibility, inquisitiveness, intellectual integrity, openmindedness, perseverance, and reflection in terms of life-long learning.

Earning my National Board Certification demonstrates my ability to fulfill this ideal by being committed to students and learning, knowing the subject I teach, how to teach that subject, being responsible for managing and monitoring student learning, thinking systematically about my practice and learning from experience, and being an active member of various learning communities (National Board of Professional Teaching Standards 2013). Their “Five Core Propositions” scaffold my philosophy and provide an avenue through which to direct my teaching and learning. They afford me confidence, intellectual integrity, and reflection, bringing out a level of certainty in the practice of my profession that I can affect those around me with purpose and clarity.

Attending a variety of conferences, workshops, seminars, and courses (sponsored by Library of Congress, Microsoft Corporation, Northwest Council of Computer Educators, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Puget Sound Educational Service District, Washington Educational Research Association, Washington Library Media Association, and more) that support my role within the library as well as within our learning community further demonstrates this commitment. In recognition of these efforts, my school nominated me for (and I received) the 2012 Outstanding Teacher-Librarian of the Year award from WLMA, which speaks to the effectiveness of my practice. In addition, being voted in by the membership and privileged to be serving WLMA as secretary/board member demonstrates how I apply these habits of confidence, creativity, inquisitiveness, intellectual integrity, and reflection beyond my immediate learning community.

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Furthermore, I employ the very skills I foster in my students every day by adhering to AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learners. I inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge relative to my learning communities’ needs. I collaborate with others to draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge in an effort to improve practice. I take advantage of and create opportunities to share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as a member of democratic societies (within school, district, and state). Pursuing personal and aesthetic growth allows me to maintain my balance and invigorates my passion for education by practicing how to be a life-long learner (American Association of School Librarians 2013). Through all of this, I continue to address the purpose of my teaching, the level of student engagement present in my teaching, the employment of curriculum and pedagogy, the use of assessment for student learning, and the management of classroom environment and culture (Center for Educational Leadership 2013).

These dimensions of teaching and learning blend well with a reflective cycle of questioning I practice: What do we want students to learn? How will we know when/ what they have learned? What will we do when they do not learn? What will we do when they do learn? (DuFour, et al. 2006). To understand what works and what does not work, and to reflect on the five dimensions in terms of my professional practice, ensures that I stay true to my philosophy of maintaining a focus on what is best for students and staff. Recognizing room for growth also reinforces our role as life-long learners. If we keep doing what we have always done, we are going to keep getting what we have always gotten. Unfortunately, our learning communities (our students, our staff) require more.

With more accountability than ever, schools deserve professionals who passionately contribute to the success of their learning community by leveraging and balancing resources in order to provide equity and excellence for everyone. Getting back to my philosophy, I believe my unique experiences, my background in 21st Century skills and learning, and my desire to give more than I received lead me to continual growth in order to affect change in measurable ways. So many variables affect education.

I find it important to reference a favorite quote of mine in order to keep perspective. Marian (the librarian and “Keeper” in the novel Beautiful Darkness) says, “We do not get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it” (Garcia and Stohl 2010). I choose to model life-long learning and purposefully practice my profession as an educator with fidelity and integrity. [ continued on page 27 ] Alyse Day Fritz is the NBC Teacher-Librarian at Eatonville High School, Eatonville School District and WLMA Secretary (2012-2014).

E-mail: myfritzie@gmail.com.

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Reading Advocacy

Research: The Wax Museum at Lewis and Clark Middle School

by Leigh Lohrasbi As spring progresses, Reading Advocacy is in full gear around the state.

Teacher-librarians both develop relevant collections of fiction and nonfiction, while managing resources in support of established curriculum. At my own school, February and March (3rd Quarter) heralds the beginning of our eighth grade Wax Museum Project. This project began and improves every year due to library and grade level collaboration.

The eighth grade students researched and prepared for two months for the Wax Museum evening. It begins with assigning each student with a famous person from American History to research. Their first task after the assignment starts with the collection of information. Our students consider where to find the best resources. It is a great exercise in investigating nonfiction resources for the students. They use standardized citation forms provided by the library program.

Not one student has the same person, providing each student with a unique experience. Each student uses encyclopedias and reference books, to develop a foundation of information upon which to build their understanding of their person (a person they may have never heard of before). They use this foundation to find out what the person was famous for, so they also use books, e-book, databases, or websites. Using this information, they focus on the person’s career, position, and surrounding circumstances. They collect 100 facts about their person and provide a bibliography listing their resources The students create the various wax museum assignments. Each student, using publisher software, creates a newsletter. They create a handmade artifact.

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They create a backdrop with a timeline listing what was happening in the world at that time, and what that person was doing. Students prepare a presentation, each memorizing their speech. Each student is required to stand and speak in front of his or her class in costume.

The final piece of the project after the class presentation is the actual wax museum. During this, students become their person in costume and present a speech. Parents and family members can buy tickets to make the students characters “come to life.� We donate money raised to a local charity every year. There are many halls at this celebration: political figures, science & inventions, presidents, literary figures, famous athletes, arts & entertainment, westward expansion, and civil rights. The students set up their backdrop with a small box in front for family and community members to place tickets in.

Our project has all of the elements of a research process as it fulfills Grade Level Equivalents (GLEs) and Common Core requirements. Every year I work with the eighth grade language arts teachers to provide more resources to assist this program. Each year, we add new people as information comes available from my reviewed library resources. In the past two years, we have added Claudette Colvin and Duke Kahanamoku, among others.

This year was the 10th Annual Wax Museum, held March 27 at Lewis and Clark. The evening happens traditionally on the Thursday before Spring Break. The school filled with proud parents, previous LC students (wanting to see how their character was done this year) and community members. The atmosphere was like being behind stage before a theatre performance. Every VOL 37 NO. 3

year, the students count their tickets afterward, knowing they have contributed to charity, and as such, a sense of competition between the presenters develops.

As with any research project, time must be spent on reflection and self-evaluation. We wanted students to examine their research experience. At what practices did they excel? Where did they need improvement? It was also a time to reflect for the teaching team’s project collaboration. What resources worked? What did not work so well? What did the students learn? During library instruction after spring break, students complete a Google form survey on the Wax Museum, which is shared with eighth grade teachers. This year, 159 students completed the Google form. The student feedback was compelling. Students evaluated their sources. They

evaluated which part of the project they excelled in, and what advice they would give incoming seventh grade students. Most students stated they learned skills (presentation, research, time management) they would not have thought they were capable of learning.

As an assessment, the survey provides a valuable piece of information for both students and teachers. The eighth grade teachers and I met and used the assessment to collaborate about next year’s Wax Museum. We strive to create a better project every year, and to fulfill the lifelong learning requirements of our students.

Leigh Lohrasbi is the Teacher-Librarian at Lewis and Clark Middle School, Yakima SD. E-mail: lohrasbi.leigh@yakimaschools.org.

Using the Public Library for Reading Advocacy

by Sandra Lancaster When I think of reading advocacy, I think of hooking kids up with great books.

However, I was getting frustrated with not having enough copies to meet my students’ wants and needs. I would book talk three or four books and maybe have at the most five copies of each to share. Well, this does not go far with 650 students all wanting the books I am sharing.

What I have done is partner up with my public library, North Central Regional Library, and their book club coordinator. The book club department offers to buy multiple copies for any book group in our area. I contacted them and made my school, Pioneer Middle School, a book group. Upon receiving a library card, I went to work that first year ordering multiple copies for my students. When the books arrived, I would book talk those titles. Instead of one to five copies, I now had ten to thirty. What a huge difference it made.

How did I keep track of all those borrowed public library books? Let me tell you it is easy, and you can do it too. When I get a new batch in, I scan the public library’s barcodes into my system, made the call number read “public library”, and set up a special place for those books. Viola! Now the library has more books for my kids to check out. Did I mention this is all free?

I keep the books for two months, delete them out of the system, and return them to the public library. Each month I am borrowing 100 to 300 books from North Central Regional Library.

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That was five years ago, and I would put in my order monthly. Now in May, I decide what books I am going to need for the coming year. I order three to four titles a month. I include books from their list and new titles too.

This year I included most of my Battle of the Book titles; they bought 30 copies each for me. I let my students know these are public library books with signage at the beginning of my book talks. Kids are reading more, my school has more books to lend, and I am advertising for my public library. It is a win, win, win!

Sandra Lancaster is the Teacher-Librarian at Pioneer Middle School, Wenatchee School District. E-mail: Lancaster.s@mail.wsd.wednet.edu

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Reading Advocacy

Cavalcade of Authors: Where Students and Authors Meet!

by Jeff Burlingame

Take nearly 1,000 middle school and high school students from seven school districts in two states, bus them to a community college in southeastern Washington on a Friday morning in March and let them spend the day listening to, learning from and occasionally crying over meeting 16 prominent Young Adult authors from across the United States.

What you get, according to Pura Belpré winning Texas author Guadalupe Garcia McCall, “...is a buzzing, lively hive where both students and authors can meet to discuss the most important of interests; reading good books.”

The lively hive has a name, Cavalcade of Authors, and it is an Author Gudalupe Garcia annual event founded in 2008 by McCall visiting with second-generation school librarian students at the event.

Michelle Lane. A librarian at Enterprise Middle School in Richland, Lane came up with the idea for Cavalcade of Authors the previous fall while attending the annual Pacific Northwest Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon.

“I was listening to science fiction author Tim Zahn talk about how he would much rather discuss and teach writing at a visit than talk about himself,” Lane said. “He went on to mention the Teen Book Festival in Rochester, New York, where the librarians brought authors together to talk to kids about their books. I thought, I could do that at my school!”

Lane said she spent her entire 220-mile drive home from Portland refining her plan. Six months later, seven authors and 70 students gathered at Enterprise for the inaugural Cavalcade of Authors. As news spread, more schools and authors jumped on board and the event eventually had to be moved across the Tri-Cities to Columbia Basin Community College.

Signing up to attend Cavalcade of Authors does not entitle students to a Monopoly-like get-out-of-school-free card. In fact, attending actually creates more homework.

To qualify for Cavalcade, each student must have read at least one book from each of four of that year’s featured

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authors. Students who read at least eight books were given a T-shirt to wear to the event.

The sea of teens wearing shirts adorned with the motto “Read for Life” filling the school’s auditorium at the end of the 2013 event, held March 1, proved that students went above and beyond the qualification requirement.

As if a free T-shirt was not enough, students were given extra incentive to read more in 2013. Doing so entered their name in a drawing for one of two NOOK Simple Touch Readers, both donated by the local Barnes & Noble. The store also hosted a well-attended book signing featuring all 16 authors the night before the main event, and donated 10 percent of each Cavalcade-related book sold back to the cause.

The chain bookseller was hardly the only company to contribute to Cavalcade. Local businesses donated food, gave a discount on hotel rooms for the authors, and prizes for the top three finishers in two gradedefined writing contests for students. Grants also helped pay the bills, which included transportation costs and honorariums for the authors, many of which donated their time or dramatically reduced their appearance fees to contribute to the unique event. Lane’s total budget in VOL 37 NO. 3

The 2013 Cavalcade. authors posing for a photo during the evnet.

2013 was roughly $25,000. Volunteers, including Lane’s fellow librarians, teachers, community activists and even students, staffed the event.

Although she now has more than five years invested in Cavalcade of Authors, Lane’s primary goal remains the same as it was during her brainstorming car ride home from Portland in 2007.

“Our goal is to create an authentic writing-conference experience for our students in grades 6-12, where writers come together to discuss their craft,” she said. “Students who still are attending Cavalcade and have been with us since we started have been introduced to 50 different authors. The sixth-graders who started this year, if they stay with us through their senior year, will have been introduced to around 100 different authors.”

With strong local media coverage and growing coverage from across the region, it does not appear Cavalcade of Authors will be doing anything but expanding in the near future. That is fine with Lane, who envisions a three-day event attended by students from across Washington and northeastern Oregon. It could be held in various geographic regions. A majority of those who have seen and experienced the Tri-Citiesbased Cavalcade of Authors appear to support Lane in her quest. So do the authors who have seen firsthand the changes they can make in students’ lives.

“Cavalcade of Authors was the kind of event where readers and writers could share in their love of books,” said Jonathan Maberry, a New York Times best-selling author and a featured Cavalcade presenter in 2013, “Fast‑paced, lots of fun, and a great learning experience for everyone, including the pros there as guests. [It was] a high-water mark for all such events.”

Jonathan Madberry gets students involved in his presentation.

Gregg Olsen, another New York Times best-selling author and 2013 attendee agreed. “I can’t think of a better, more impactful experience than what occurs between authors and young readers at the Cavalcade of Authors,” Olsen said, “Small groups. Large groups.

Literary. Popular fiction. Nonfiction. Everything and

Students engage with the authors and ask questions both during the session and afterwards.

Greg Olson,New York Times Bestselling Pacific Northwest Crime Novelist working with students during he event.

Jeff Burlingame is the NAACP Image Award-winning author of more than 20 nonfiction books for both teens and adults. He also was one of Cavalcade’s featured authors in 2013. E-mail: burlingamejeff@gmail.com.

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everyone comes together in a crazy, cool mix. Simply put, this is one festival that does what so many others promise—it brings everyone face to face. I will never forget it.”

The students got as much out of the event as the authors. “They’re known all around the world for their books and I actually get to go home and say I met an author,” a Chiawana High School ninth-grader named

Elena said at the end of the 2013 Cavalcade of Authors.

“If someone’s reading a book, [I can say], ‘I’ve met that author.’ That’s so cool. This is the best day ever.”

References A Cavalcade of Authors. Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.cavalcadeofauthors.org/.

2013 Cavalcade of Authors

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VOL 37 NO. 3

Reading Advocacy

Our Secret Reading-Promo Weapon

by Joan Enders “Mrs. Enders, have you read all the books in this library?” I laugh and confess, “No.” Perhaps I should just leave it at a mysterious laugh and raised eyebrows, letting them wonder about the awesomeness that is their librarian.

Usually this question is on the heels of a book talk, or a breathless trek among the shelves recommending books after a student tells me what they have read and liked.

On occasion, I talk nonstop and hand them books, until I realize that the pile of books in their arms is up to their eyeballs. Is there a cure for this behavior? Let’s hope not.

In fact, I hope that it is contagious.

As teacher-librarians, we have oodles of strategies to engage students in reading including:

• Author visits • Student book review clubs • Book talking • Book grants and awards • Book recommendation blogs • READ campaigns • National Library month celebrations • One Book events • Bookmark or ugly book covers • Reading advisory • Read Across America contests • Book award promotion (such as the Evergreen Award) • National School Library Month events The ideas are only limited by our inventiveness.

In my twenty-five years of promoting reading, I must admit that this list misses the most powerful tool. If we do not employ this technique, all the fun promotions will fail. WE NEED TO READ…A LOT…ALL THE TIME. I asked some high school students why a librarian should read. One senior literally popped out of his seat (I thought he was studying and did not hear the query), hurried over to me and said, “Wouldn’t that be pretty ironic if librarians didn’t read? It’s like a car salesman

that doesn’t know anything about his product, and who doesn’t take the time to know the features the customer wants.” I thought, “I love you, young Jedi!” It is indeed pretty ironic.

We all know in our gut that what that student pointed out is spot on. When Longview teachers, John Foges or Jodi Kruse recommend a book to students, the students flock to the library to check out their own copy. Why? They know these teachers read, read, read.

They know these teachers read to discover books that will snag students’ attention. I am not talking about “quick picks.” I am talking about substantive, meaty, provocative, enticing, and descriptive literature.

As I breathlessly describe books and throw dozens at students, I want them to know that I have read those books and know students will love them. I tell the students not to snivel about their reading klutziness, that I am a not-so-proud graduate of seventh grade SRA reading, that I knew that I could only improve my reading by reading, and that they can also. I am still not a fast reader. To prove that I walk the walk, I read about one hundred twenty books a year, blog about them, and promote them. I know there are those who read four times that amount, but it is a respectable number. Reading an Early Reader or a vampire book a month does not cut it if we are to be models and advocates for reading. We are the secret weapon.

Recommended Inspirational Reading Eisenberg, Michael. “Reading Advocacy: Creating Contagious Enthusiasm for Books and Reading K-12.” Library Media Connection 21.5 (2003): 22-27. ERIC. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Marcoux, Elizabeth, and David V. Loertscher. “The Role of a School Library in a School’s Reading Program.” Teacher Librarian 37.1 (2009): 8. ERIC. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Joan Enders is the Teacher-Librarian at Robert A. Long High School in Longview, Washington and Lower Columbia Region, Review Chair.

E-mail: jenders@longview.k12.wa.us.

Honor School Library Leaders with WLMA Awards Washington Library Media Association gives awards to professionals or paraprofessionals who provide outstanding service and support to the School Library program, in order to achieve a school’s instructional goals. Nominate someone for an award by July 1, 2013. For more information and nominations forms go to: http://wlma.org/awards.

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Reading Advocacy

Are Picture Books on Their Way Out?

by Deb Lund Remember the original E-books? The E stood for Easy, until smart librarians renamed the picture book section Everybody books because of the breadth of topics and language. In the past few years, there has been an often emotional debate about whether these original E-books are dead. The New York Times started if off with the article, “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children,” which said that parents had turned to more heavily-texted chapter books because of increased standardized testing in schools. Maybe there is more to this story.

Wenatchee teacher-librarian Donna Wendt says, I don’t believe the picture book is now— or ever will be—‘dead!’ At least I hope not! Reading to kids is more important than ever, especially with the e-Readers that provide options to reading. I observe people in general using them to play games much more than I see them reading e-Books.

Teacher-librarians know a child’s success in school depends on their ability to read. Children who see their parents reading are more likely to become readers themselves. Children who come from schools with school librarians are more likely to become readers.

Reading picture books aloud to children increases their likelihood of becoming readers. We have seen the research. Depriving children of this experience, or pushing them into reading independently without also reading to them, may actually hinder the progress parents are trying to achieve.

Picture books are works of art. Each one is like its own gallery. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then picture books pack quite a bit into their almost-always 32 pages. Children’s librarian Emily Dagg at the Everett Public Library says, “We live in a very visual culture and developing visual literacy is just as important as learning to read text.”

Craig Seasholes, a school teacher-librarian in Seattle, says there is not a day that goes by when he does not, “coach students to ‘read the picture’ for clues in decoding, information not in the text, and supporting conversation that helps strengthen their comprehension.” Will our current push for information take a bigger bite into picture books? Seasholes says no, “Far from diminishing their importance, the current push to read for information underscores the importance of

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visual literacy and the importance of high quality picture books for readers of all ages.”

When our children were young, we had “book parties” with all five of us sprawled out on our king-size bed, buried in picture books. Picture books are meant to read aloud. If the blogger in The New York Times article who said her son, “…would still read picture books now if we let him because he doesn’t want to work to read” really looked at the reading levels in those picture books, she might be surprised.

The slump in traditional picture book sales does not mean parents have stopped reading books to their children. According to Dagg, some picture books are reformatted as board books and easy readers to appeal to younger and older members of the picture book set.

Library use is up, many used bookstores are thriving, thrift stores are turning over picture books at faster rates, cheaper school book-order options are winning out, and big-box stores are still going through stacks and stacks of books. Families may be struggling financially, but they are still acquiring and reading books to their kids.

What about those new e-books? Are we scared they are causing this so-called picture book demise? Teachers and teacher-librarians use technology to enhance reading skills, and busy parents employ apps to entertain children and support their reading. Our students do spend too much time in front of screens, and parents do need to be more intentional about the limits they set for both time and type of viewing, but maybe what we really need is to toss out the fear and find balance.

What do the numbers say? Are e-books hurting the sales of picture books? A later article in The New York Times, “For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper” says no, “…Sales of e-books for titles aimed at children under 8 have barely budged. They represent less than 5 percent of total annual sales of children’s books...”

Other sources say yes, there have been significant losses to technology. Many teacher-librarians are left wondering whether to fight for beloved picture books or jump on the reading techno-wagon. Maybe there does not have to be sides.

Wendt is buying her Wenatchee school’s first e-books this year—nonfiction to support their curriculum. [ continued on page 27 ] Deb Lund is a past music and classroom teacher and teacher-librarian.

As the author of Dinosoaring, Monsters on Machines, and several other picture books, she frequently presents at schools, libraries, Young Author events, and writing conferences. Deb is also a creativity coach and continuing education instructor. Visit Deb at www.deblund.com.

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Book Awards

Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award With more than 114,000 votes—we have a winner for 2013! The winning book is Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin. This book won with over 14,000 votes! It was a very exciting vote this year, with several titles in close competition until the last day.

In order to participate and vote for the nominees for 2014 here are the details: • Order or borrow as many books off the list as you can • Teacher-librarians read the list of books to the K-3rd grade students • After reading the nominees, feel free to extend the students’ reading experience by using the lessons and activities posted on the WCCPB wiki • Vote online for your favorite book by April 1, 2014 The list of nominees for next year is listed below. Visit the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book (WCCPBA) wiki and the WCCPBA webpage for information about the books for 2014.

Washington Children’s Choice Nominees for 2014 Titles Bear in Love

Being Frank Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, The Chloe and the Lion Creepy Carrots Each Kindness George Washington’s Birthday: a Mostly True Tale Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet Goldilocks & the Three Dinosaurs Just Ducks Kel Gilligan’s Daredevil Stunt Show Larf Lonely Book, The Monsters’ Monster, The Oh No! Out of This World: Poems and Facts about Space Place for Bats Pluto Visits Earth This is Not my Hat Zorro Gets an Outfit

Authors Pinkwater, Daniel

Earnhardt, Donna Kamkwamba, William Barnett Mac Reynolds, Aaron Woodson, Jaqueline McNamara, Margaret diPucchio, Kelly Willems, Mo Davies, Nicola Buckley, Michael Spires, Ashley Bernheimer, Kate McDonnell, Patrick Fleming, Candace Sklansky, Amy Stewart, Melissa Metzger, Steve Klassen, Jon Goodrich, Carter

References Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award. Accessed April 24, 2013. http://childrenschoiceaward.wikispaces.com/.

Washington Library Media Association. Accessed April 24, 2013. http://www.wlma.org/wccpba.

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Book Awards

Sasquatch Committee is NOT for Wimps!

by Sandra Earnest.

I woke up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning, excited for my three-hour trip to Ellensburg. A SATURDAY you say? In ELLENSBURG? Were you going to the college rodeo that was scheduled that day?

HECK NO! I, along with 11 other public and school librarians from across Washington State were gathered to hash out the final 2014 Sasquatch Award list. The hosting library this year for our meeting was the fabulous Central Washington University’s Brooks Library. We needed a large meeting room with several tables to not only fit our committee members, but to also fit a copy of each of the 96 novels vying for a place on the coveted Sasquatch Nominee list and we wanted a central location to be fair to all of those traveling from all corners of our state. Okay, I have to admit that we also needed TWO tables for all of the beverages and goodies that sustain us through this arduous process! Internet access is important to us as well during our deliberations, so that we can check on the reading levels of books, to verify whether books are still available, and to obtain other professional reviews besides the opinions of the 12 experts gathered in this reading extravaganza. If so, access was right at our fingertips. Gerard Hogan, library staff and parent of a Sasquatch reader, let us in early and provided us with the perfect meeting place for our reading rendezvous.

After a year of reading and listening to over 96 children’s books of various genres and e-mailing committee members of the worthiness or lack thereof of the books, it was time to get down to the business of selecting the 12 books that rose to the top—the cream of the crop! The “not for wimps” part is no joke.

For over five hours, not even stopping for lunch, this diverse group of committed children’s literature readers talked, argued, shouted, interrupted, and fought for the best books from that extensive list. No subject was left unturned. Our goal was to create a balanced list of books that would appeal to Washington readers in grades 4 through 6. As former Sasquatch committee member, Sean Fullerton, use to say, “If you could only purchase 12 books for your library, THESE would be the books you’d WANT to buy.” “THESE would be the books that the kids would want to read!” is our guiding mantra when all is said and done.

Our committee welcomed two new members to our group this year, Dan Gemeinhart, a school librarian from Wenatchee, and Kari Madrinich, a teacher-librarian from Yakima. We did not scare them off after this grueling process and Dan said, “I was really impressed; a group of really passionate people, intensely discussing books on a deep level, and taking great care to make the best possible, balanced list that we could. It’s awesome.”

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When choosing new members we really try to have a group that covers as many geographic areas of Washington state as possible, as many male librarians as female, and as many public librarians as school librarians. Actually, we choose the members of our committee as carefully as we choose the 12 books on our yearly list. After Dan and Kari sent us their “letters of intent,” our group talked about their expertise and how well they would fit into our group of crazy reading children’s specialists. We made them aware of the HUGE commitment of time that this committee’s work entails. Not only do we constantly solicit book nominees from other librarians and students, but we also are always reading children’s books, trying these books out on our students and patrons, and asking lots of opinions. Bottom line is that it is all about the young readers that we all serve.

Many have asked our committee WHY our list comes out so late in the year compared to the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award List or the Young Readers Choice List. The Sasquatch committee reads between 80 and 100 novels over the period of a year.

Frankly, we need all of the time we can get to read this daunting list of possibilities. In addition, we take our job seriously. Another question that comes up is why twelve books? Why not ten? We have talked about this, but so far, the list has stayed at an even dozen.

We welcome comments, complaints, suggestions, and accolades about the work that we do, which is why the committee’s co-chair, David Winkeljohn, has his contact information on our Sasquatch webpage. Every communication is brought to the committee and Mr. Winkeljohn responds if necessary. A list of the committee members is also on the page. They are all current members of Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) and they welcome questions about our work, and take nominees for the 2015 list, which in case you are wondering, are books published in the years 2011 or 2012.

Ah yes, the list is complete, it is posted to the WLMA webpage and our work is done! A sigh of relief. It is time for a reading vacation. Romance novels, magazines, here I come! Really? Then WHY do we have a document started for NEXT year’s list already? It contains twelve titles that have our committee members already buzzing. Why? Because we want our list to be the BEST children’s list possible. After all, we are the reading advocates whose job it is to enrich and spark the love of reading in our students and patrons. Ask anyone on the Sasquatch Committee and he or she will tell you—we have the BEST job in the world.

Sandra Earnest is the Teacher-Librarian at Cooper Elementary in Spokane Public Schools. E-mail: sandrae@spokaneschools.org.

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Book Awards

Sasquatch Book Award After counting all the Sasquatch ballots, Washington State third through sixth grade students chose Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper as the 2013 winner with 3,429 votes. For more information on the award read the article left and visit the Sasquatch webpage.

2014 Sasquatch Nominees

Title The Dead Boys Mockingbird The Midnight Tunnel Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to not Reading Zita the Spacegirl:Far from home Guinea Dog Inside Out & Back Again Liesl and Po The Great Wall of Lucy Wu Boys without Names Aliens on vacation The Boy at the End of the World

Author Buckingham, Royce Erskine, Kathryn Frazier, Angie Greenwald, Tommy Hatke, Ben Jennings, Patrick Lai, Thanhha Oliver, Lauren Shang, Wendy Wan-Long Sheth, Kashmira Smith, Clete Van Eekhout, Greg

References

Sasquatch Award. Accessed May 12, 2013. http://www.wlma.org/sasquatch

Young Reader’s Choice Award The votes are in for the Young Reader’s Choice Award (YRCA) 2013! There were 38,002 votes from Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Montana, Alaska and Idaho. Washington students represented 8,337 of the total votes. The 2013 winners are Lost Hero by Rick Riordan for Junior

Division, Smile by Raina Telgemeir for Intermediate Division and Crazy by Han Nolan for Senior Division.

The 2014 year is underway with a the inclusion of series book, a wider voting area, a new nomination process, improvements to promotion materials and a streamlined voting process. Check out the Young Reader’s Choice Awards web page for the exciting announcements!

2014 NomineesYoung Reader’s Choice Award Junior (Grades 4th-6th) Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick 13 Gifts by Wendy Mass The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi Big Nate Out Loud by Lincoln Peirce The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger The Worst Years Of My Life by James Patterson Intermediate (Grades 7th-9th) Legend by Marie Lu Michael This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt The Outcasts by John Flanagan The Son Of Neptune by Rick Riordan Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys Vey: The Prisoner Of Cell 25 by Richard Evans Senior (Grades 10th-12th) Divergent by Veronica Roth Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier Karma by Cathy Ostlere Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Angel: A Maximum Ride novel by James Patterson What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen Houck Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

References

Young Reader’s Choice Award. Accessed May 12, 2013. http://www.pnla.org/yrca-2014

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Book Awards

Evergreen Young Adult Book Award

by Kirsten Gunn The Washington Young Adult Review Group (WashYARG) is excited to announce the winner of the 2013 Evergreen Award and the 2014 nominees. The 2013 winner is The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. Thank you so much to everyone who promoted the contest, encouraged students to read the nominated titles and participated in voting.

After much reading and deliberating by our committee, the 2014 nominees are: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson Ready Player One by Ernest Cline The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Divergent by Veronica Roth Between Shades of Gray by RutaSepetys I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Please encourage your students in grades 7-12 to read as many of the nominees as possible in the coming months.

To vote for their favorite in March 2014, students need to have read at least two from the list. More information including book talks, promotional flyers, and ballots will be available soon at our new Evergreen Young Adult Book Award website. You can also find us on Facebook!

The Evergreen committee is also looking for titles to consider for the 2015 nominee list. We would love to hear from you, your students and teachers about any books (fiction, non-fiction, manga, graphic novels) you loved that were published in 2012. Please send the titles of suggested books to kirsten.gunn@highlineschools.org.

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References Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. Accessed May 12, 2013.http: www.evergreenbookaward.org Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. Facebook. Accessed May 12, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Evergreen-Young-Adult-Book-Award/396383087125560

Kirsten Gunn is the Teacher-Librarian at Highline High School in Burien. E-mail: kirsten.gunn@highlineschools.org.

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Book Awards

Washington Library Media Association Embraces Common Core Standards With New Nonfiction Award

by Carter Kemp Driving home from last year’s Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) conference in Yakima, I got to thinking about all the new information I had jammed between my ears in the previous two days. There were certainly common themes, and prominent among them were the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the growing importance of nonfiction and informational text. As the beautiful fall scenery whipped by at I-90 speeds, my mind wandered, but kept coming back to these themes.

Gradually I came to articulate this question: if we have state awards for chapter books (Sasquatch, Young Readers Choice Award) and an award for picture books (Washington Childrens Choice Picture Book Award), why doesn’t WLMA sponsor an award for Non Fiction?

By the time I got back home, I had decided there was not a good answer to that question, so I set about making an award for nonfiction a reality. After a chat with Craig Seasholes, I submitted a proposal to WLMA’s Executive Committee. Besides helping librarians to address the CCSS’s emphasis on Informational Text, the proposal pointed out that teacher-librarians could use a nonfiction award in the same kinds of creative ways that they use Sasquatch, Young Readers Choice Award (YRCA) and Washington Childrens Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA). In addition, a list of outstanding Informational Text selections would be helpful to many in doing collection development.

A couple weeks later, I heard that the executive board had enthusiastically endorsed the idea and asked me to form a committee to launch the new award. After some furious networking and e-mailing, I am happy to say that we have a committee of ten librarians from both school and public libraries, from west and east of the mountains, and representing both elementary and middle school age readers. As you might imagine, establishing a new award is slightly more complicated than just selecting a list of books—before we can even get to discussing individual titles, there is a host of procedural questions that need to be answered. The committee is still considering some of these questions, but fortunately, we have been able to put some behind us.

Most significantly, we decided that the award would be for books enjoyed by readers in grades two through six. While this is a very wide range, members felt that this was an appropriate span and that younger and SPRING 2013

older students might feasibly enjoy books at both ends of the complexity spectrum. In order to avoid creating unnecessary conflict with Sasquatch and WCCPBA voting, we decided to have votes for the new award due a month later, on May 1. This allows us to announce a winner before the end of the school year.

The first slate of ten nominated books will be announced at our October conference, and comprise of books published in the United States in 2012 by authors of any nationality.

Books from series may be included, but folk tales will not be eligible and neither will be books consisting primarily of poetry or song lyrics, unless they serve to support informational content. In order to accommodate those that need to order books earlier, we will try to do a ‘soft launch’ of the list through a message to the WLMA listserv whenever we finish it– hopefully by late summer.

One idea we are still discussing is whether or not to offer two lists, a la YRCA, with one aimed at younger and one for older students. In addition, we are still considering the selection criteria, how to deal with grey areas (such as books with invented dialogue), and whether students might vote for books in multiple categories (e.g. ‘most informative’, ‘most fun’) or simply for their favorite.

Working with this group of dedicated and passionate librarians is terrific fun. We have had some rollicking discussions and shared some stupendous books. I would like to thank each and every member for her or his hard work, great ideas and failing eyesight. Please come meet us at our session in Yakima this October, where we will not only announce the first slate of candidates but share insider stories of what it is like to set up a new award.

In addition, at that time we will announce the name of the award that celebrates great reading, teaching and librarianship in the state of Washington. Do not miss it!

Carter Kemp is the Teacher-Librarian at Kimball Elementary School in Seattle. E-mail: ckemp@seattleschools.org.

Connect with WLMA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WashingtonLibrary-Media-Association/156197797758239?fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/WLMALIT Listserv: http://wlma.org/listserv MEDIUM | 23

Reading Advocacy

Teaching, Learning, and Experience: MLIS Student Perspective

by Erin Quarterman When I volunteered for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Summit on Libraries and Teens this last January, the librarians and teen experts had one question specifically for me —What are they teaching you in library school?

It is an excellent question. Libraries, like other information organizations, have been drastically impacted by the technological changes over the past 30 years.

Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) students at the University of Washington Information School (iSchool) are no longer learning about the card catalog or how to shush patrons and cataloging, although offered, is no longer required for our program.

What we do learn is theory in our core classes and practical strategies in our electives, but how do we, library school students, put these theories and strategies into practice? For those students like me who are working on the School Library Media certification in addition to earning our MLIS degree, the answer is Directed Fieldwork.

Directed Fieldwork is essentially a for-credit internship that gives us hands-on experience in a library environment.

During Autumn 2012, I had the opportunity to take a Directed Fieldwork with University Prep in Seattle, an independent school for grades six through twelve.

At University Prep I was able to apply the information literacy skills I have learned in my classes at the iSchool. I was amazed at the difference in preparing an information literacy outline at the iSchool and one at University Prep. When asked to plan a class session for the iSchool in my information literacy class, I spent weeks on the project. At University Prep there was often less than a day to plan an information literacy session for the class. Working with the middle school teacherlibrarian, Leah Griffin, I saw firsthand how teacherlibrarians are incredibly busy.

I was also greatly encouraged that the practical aspects of my collection development class were applicable to my work in a school library environment. I was able to find the best resources on Ancient India for middle grades by looking in catalogs and Amazon. My supervisor, Anne Bingham, helped me format a document informing a history teacher about the resources added to the library’s collection. We also created a guide to show which research databases would be the best to use for that subject with some specific search examples.

However, I would say I was most excited about the chance to be creative. Not only did I have the

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opportunity to attend the 2012 Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) conference, I was also able to create a slideshow highlighting the teen author and a digital display for WLMA advocacy.

At University Prep I helped create signs for a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning (LGBTQ ) display and a display to promote The Hobbit, which had just come out in theatres. I was also able to promote some books that I had recently read. The library connects with their upper school readers through Facebook, and both middle and upper school readers with displays and by talking to the students about their reading. I loved seeing new books promoted online or on the library’s digital display board. It reminds me of what drew me to library work in the first place.

So what am I learning in library school? I am learning a little bit of everything. I am learning to be proactive, to take initiative and to collaborate. I am learning theory and strategy and, thanks to my opportunities with Directed Fieldwork, I am also learning how to apply these skills in a practical environment.

If you are interested in hosting a student for a Directed Fieldwork opportunity you can find more information at University of Washington’s Information School Directed Fieldwork and Internship website.

References University of Washington Information School MLIS Directed Fieldwork and Internships. Last modified 2012.

Accessed April 20, 2013. http://ischool.uw.edu/current/mlis/fieldwork-internships.

Erin Quarterman is a graduate student in the MLIS program at the University of Washington Information School in Seattle.

E-mail: erinquarterman@gmail.com.

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President… [ continued from page 3 ]

because the materials, supplies and operating costs (MSOC) advancement held higher importance.

However, we need to start working now to make sure that the 2015-2017 budget includes an increase in library resources. Overall, there will be significantly more money going to public education and hopefully this will take some of the financial pressure off our schools. In the end, the difference will be what strings are attached by the state to the money and what we do locally (building and district) will affect our access to that money.

WLMA continues to offer scholarships for Tech Peer Coaching training. OSPI Educational Technology Director, Dennis Small shared recently that teacherlibrarians are the only group of education professionals stepping up to provide a centrally focused schoolwide approach to library information and technology (LIT) services. If you have not entered the Tech Peer Coaching program in your area, consider it. As my principal, Victor Nourani has said, “We need a paradigm shift. We’re not talking about changing document cameras to multimedia projectors anymore. We’re talking about much more with Instructional Technology.”

Recently, WLMA focused on the use of instructional technology by recommending the use of Twitter with WLMA regions. At the last Board of Directors meeting in Ellensburg at Central Washington University, Carina Pierce, our social media chairperson provided Twitter training. Twitter can be used to access professional development and to stay in touch with what is happening

in the regions. Contact your region chair to find out more.

This time of year, many teacher-librarians are hard at work on the upcoming 2103 WLMA Conference taking place in Yakima on October 17, 18, and 19,.

Would you like to help with the “construction” of our annual conference? Please contact either President-elect Anne Bingham or me to find out what positions need to be filled. Volunteering provides you an opportunity to experience statewide collaboration with other dedicated teacher-librarians. There is a position there for you.

As Teacher-Librarians and WLMA members, we continue to value our Library Information and Technology (LIT) mission, in service to school library programs throughout the state. Give yourself time to collaborate with your WLMA colleagues; they and you will benefit from the conversation. We hope to hear great things Tweeted and posted on the listserv or Facebook page from you soon!

References “Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot.” State of Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Accessed May 1, 2013. http://www.k12.wa.us/EdLeg/TPEP/.

Resources “Teacher-Librarians at the Heart of Student Learning.”

Washington Library Media Association. Video file.

Accessed May 1, 2013. http://wlma.org/.

Regions… [ continued from page 5 ]

Mt. Rainier Region, Co-Chairs Martha Miller and Elizabeth Bruno

Mt. Rainier region held a book trailer workshop and fundraising event in December to support the WLMA video project. On May 14, the region will host an evening with author Kirby Larson who will introduce her latest book, Hattie Ever After. Mt. Rainier is also looking forward to participating in the August TLC3 training.

North Central Region, Chair Don Johnson Don shared a report with the Full Board in March.

Sandra Lancaster also added that rumor has it that East Wenatchee School District may reinstate library positions that were lost four years ago. If that happens it will be a huge boost for their students who have been without that important person in their buildings. On the other side of the river, Pioneer and Foothills Middle Schools just wrapped up their first Battle of the Books and are planning for next year. Negotiators are working on getting back SPRING 2013

elementary para support time that was lost last year. At the public library, first time author Lisa Ard visited March 11 promoting her book, Fright Flight. In addition, in the works, the public library is planning for Jack Gantos’ visit in November. He will speak at the public library and schools in the North Central Washington area during that time. There will be a spring library meeting at the ESD on April 19 and on April 25 at Tastebudes, there will be a retirement celebration for Dawn Smith who was a long time member of WLMA and library advocate. TLC3 training will take place in Wenatchee on August 7.

North Lakes Region, Co-Chairs Geneva Norton and Kate Pankiewicz

North Lakes Region held an event in conjunction with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) for a dynamic evening of Washington State’s very own authors and illustrators and their associates at the Mill Creek University Bookstore. Not only were MEDIUM | 25

brand new titles from 20 different Northwest authors and illustrators presented, but also there were door prizes and other activities throughout the evening. A fully paid WLMA membership was awarded to a member of North Lakes. Debbie Marsh from Shorewood High School was the lucky winner of that membership. The region plans to team with SCBWI next year also. This was a great beginning.

Northeast Seven Region, Co-Chairs Mary Kay Rowles and Ann Warner

Northeast Seven Region held a luncheon event at Auntie’s Bookstore in January. Discussion included the role of a 21st century librarian, Common Core updates, booktalks, and a brainstorming session. Members of the region are also looking forward to the TLC3 training in August. The Spokane training will take place on August 7.

Oz Region, Co-Chairs Carter Kemp and Jeffrey Treistman November found OZ region hosting “Hack Your Education-Your Education Revolution” at the Beacon Hill Public Library. Neighbors, students, teachers, librarians and concerned citizens were invited to join in a civic conversation on taking charge of our own education, by sharing what works for you (and what doesn’t) in and out of school, at all ages and walks of life. This event was free and open to the public.

Following similar discussions taking place nationwide, the conversation focused on meaningful educational experiences, identifying how access to resources and constructive relationships have influenced some of the most important experiences in our learning lives. OZ members were invited to come for early conversation and to linger afterwards for a social gathering at a local Beacon Hill watering hole.

Peninsula Region, Co-Chairs Mark Gudger and Michelle Peck Peninsula Region developed two successful professional development activities so far this year. The first activity was Wikipedia Training at the ESD in

Bremerton. The second was The Feast of Literature at the ESD in Bremerton. Mark and Michelle have more events in the works, including: Big Six Workshop, Feast of Picture Books for Elementary, Books and Beer, Destiny Software Training, and Open Educational Resources with Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The region is seeing more people attending meetings and professional development opportunities. The region has stated goals to build and strengthen our region membership while providing outstanding professional development to keep our membership current with evolving educational practices in the library profession, and to have fun together.

Sea to Summit Region, Chair Mary Pong

Sea to Summit Region held a reception at Conference in October. The region also hosted a Battle of the Books idea share in March. Like many regions, Sea to Summit is working to create events that lure members despite busy schedules and long drives. Sea to Summit also added secretary Deb Nickerson to its roster of officers.

Three Rivers Region, Chair Rebecca Francik

Three Rivers Region held a dinner at Casa Chapala in October with author Kate McMullen and another in February with authors Brandon Dorman and Brandon Mull. The region also elected a new chair and treasurer.

TLC3 training will come to Pasco on August 6.

What’s Next?

At the end of each school year, WLMA Regions hold elections for the next year’s officers. Each region may have a chair or co-chairs, a treasurer, and a secretary. Not all regions have a full slate of officers.

Working at the regional level is a great way to get develop relationships and to serve the association.

Regional officers do the important work of building membership, developing professional development, and creating opportunities for fun and collegiality. If you are interested in getting involved, you are welcome and encouraged! Please contact your regional chairs or me (smerrigan28@gmail.com) to find out more.

Teen… [ continued from page 9 ]

humor or a beat personality, look at Catch 22, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Breakfast of Champions.

Whatever your reading goals are for your students, make sure that one of them is to lead students into pleasure reading. One of the best things about Book Shopping is that it helps students find that one book they want. I have not always been successful, but I do reach a lot of students. Something that I always tell the students and their teacher, “I don’t expect you to like all

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or even many of the books you look at today. In fact, if you just find one book that you want to read, this activity has been worthwhile. Remember when people go speed dating, they are not looking for many partners, just one.

The same is true with this activity I hope you will find one, maybe two books that you really want to read.” Just think if we could get all our high school students to find that one book that they want to read. Now that would be a moment I would savor.

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Heart… [ continued from page 11 ]

Works Cited American Association of School Librarians. “AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.” AASL. 2013. (accessed April 6, 2013).

Center for Educational Leadership. “5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning.” Center for Educational Leadership/University of Washington College of Education. 2013. (accessed April 6, 2013).

College of Engineering, University of Michigan. “Critical Thinkning Habits of the Mind.” Thoughts on Problem Solving. n.d. (accessed April 6, 2013).

DuFour, Richard, Rebecca B DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many. Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work.

Bloomington: Solution Tree, 2006.

Garcia, Kami, and Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Darkness. New York: Little, Brown, 2010.

National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

NBPTS. 2013. (accessed April 6, 2013).

Are Picture Books… [ continued from page 18 ]

She sees many advantages in e-book technology, but believes books and technology each have their place in education. Wendt echoes what I have heard from many teacher‑librarians, authors, and parents.

There is nothing like getting cozy with kids and a book. Kids love to linger over the illustrations in picture books. Pictures are not nearly so beautiful and well defined in the electronic format and there’s the urge to move along.

In addition, there is always that relational piece, “You can’t converse with the electronic voice, after all.”

If you have struggled over the future of picture books, take a big breath and trust your instincts. Reading is reading. Information accessing is here to stay. Technology is here to stay. They are not evil. Story and art are also

here to stay. You know the value of technology, the value of picture books, and mostly, the value of being there to connect books and kids. The value of raising readers, in whatever form that reading takes. Picture books are not going away anytime soon. So, open one and gather those students of all ages around you, or if you have little ones in your life, go all out and throw a bedtime book party.

Works Cited Bosman, Julie. “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children.” The New York Times (New York, NY), October 7, 2010, U.S. Web. Accessed April 21, 2013.

Richtel, Matt, and Julie Bosman. “For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper.” The New York Times (New York, NY), November 20, 2011, Business Day. Web. Accessed April 21, 2013.

Digital Literacy in Washington State The Washington State Library provides a portal combining digital literacy tools developed in Washington State as well as national project information about Digital Literacy for libraries and the public. Resources include help with computing skills, job seeking, online security and safety, technology tips & terminology, accessibility, portals, and training for libraries.

Digital Literacy Resources for Libraries

Libraries play a vital role in Digital Literacy and the Washington State Library has compiled some of the best resources on the topic. You will find Washington-specific resources as well as information on national projects.

For more information please visit: https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/projects/digitalliteracy.aspx SPRING 2013

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Planbook

Conferences

Calendar

WLMA

WLMA

2013

Meetings

2013 Fall Conference

July

Executive Committee Meetings

October 17–19 Title Yakima, WA

June

27 – July 2: ALA Annual Conference Chicago, IL. www.alaannual.org 23 – 26: ISTE 2011 Conference San Antonio, TX www.iste.org/conference.aspx

October

27 – 30: AASL Conference Hartford, CT www.ala.org/aasl

01: WLMA Administrator/Special Recognition of the Year and Outstanding Teacher‑Librarian Award nominations due.

September

01: WLMA Emeritus Award nominations due.

30: Banned Books Week Begins

October

13: Teen Read Week Begins

2014 February

January

01: Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award and Young Reader’s Choice Award book nominations due.

28: Read Across America

March

March

2014 24 – 28: ALA Midwinter Meeting Seattle, WA www.ala.org 12 – 15: NCCE Conference Seattle, WA www.ncce.org

15: Evergreen Young Adult Book Award ballots due.

April

School Library Month 01: Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award and Sasquatch Reading Award ballots due.

13 – 19: National Library Week 15: Young Reader’s Choice Award ballots due.

September 8, Central Washington

University, Ellensburg

Board of Directors Meetings October 17, 2 Fall Conference

Yakima, WA

Executive Committee President Leigh Lohrasbi, Yakima President-Elect Anne Bingham, Seattle Immediate Past President Craig Seasholes, Seattle Vice President Sharyn Merrigan, Olympia Treasurer Merrilyn Tucker, Shoreline Secretary Alyse Fritz, Eatonville MEDIUM Editor Open Position Membership Chair Pat McKinley, Cheney Elementary Level Chair Jan Copeland, Bethel Middle / Jr. High Level Chair Carrie Willenbring, Bethel Senior Level Chair Eileen Ray, Toppenish Higher Education Co-chairs Lorraine Bruce, UW Leaona Lindvig, CWU Small Dist. / Private Schools Chair Anna Wiggs, Seattle Webmaster Trish Henry, Spokane OSPI Liaison* Gayle Pauley, Olympia Legislative Chair/Advocacy* Sara Glass, Tumwater Listserv Administrator* Lisa Gallinatti, Auburn *Advisory/non voting positions

28 | MEDIUM

VOL 37 NO. 3

Washington Library Media Association

2013 Fall Conference October 17, 18 & 19 Yakima Convention Center Yakima, Washington wlma2013.blogspot.com

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID SEATTLE, WA Permit - 1270 Attn: Merrilyn Tucker 10924 Mukilteo Speedway PMB 142 Mukilteo, WA 98275

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