From mlgav@yahoo.com Mon Sep 1 22:26:53 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 14:26:53 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] How do you whip kids up into a reading frenzy? Message-ID: <20030901212653.99360.qmail@web40205.mail.yahoo.com> --0-882861112-1062451613=:99084 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Teachers find school library can be best classroom http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml By VICKI FERSTEL Suburban writer WATSON -- Blaire Armstrong, a senior at Live Oak High School, searched the Internet for information about American women's rights pioneer Susan B. Anthony. Allison Duke, a 10th-grader, was looking for details about William Shakespeare. Victoria Smart, also a 10th-grader, chose her namesake, Britain's Queen Victoria. The Livingston Parish students in Michelle Morris' world history class were spending class time recently in the school library's extensive computer lab to research and produce brochures about historical subjects. The lesson is a far cry from the days when a teacher at a blackboard would give a dry lecture illustrated with timelines. Morris' class is an example of how school libraries have become an integral part of daily class lesson plans. "Libraries aren't quiet anymore," Librarian Shirley McDonald said as a roomful of Morris' students shared ideas about their research. "You encourage interaction because the students learn so much more that way," she said. McDonald, who has served 15 years as a Live Oak High librarian, is a tireless proponent of school libraries. She points to research from Alaska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oregon, Iowa and New Mexico that indicates the size of a school's library, in terms of its staff and its book collection and electronic resources, is a direct predictor of reading scores on standardized tests. In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading. That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of minority and impoverished students. Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores. McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, is also a proponent of technology in education. She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between librarians and teachers. The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD projector. Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the school have only two computers. So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance. McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks. "When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said. Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement the students' Internet research. Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of Watson, complete with interviews of local residents. Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or jobs that require Spanish. One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various kindergarten students, Roy said. A financial math project required students to research mileage and price reports on used cars, she said. Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements. "I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't take up so much room in the library. Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo. They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in the book stacks than on the Internet. Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on his subject: Jesus. Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material. "It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned. Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for her research project. "I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad." Teachers find school library can be best classroom In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading. That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of minority and impoverished students. Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores. McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, is also a proponent of technology in education. She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between librarians and teachers. The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD projector. Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the school have only two computers. So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance. McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks. "When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said. Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement the students' Internet research. Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of Watson, complete with interviews of local residents. Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or jobs that require Spanish. One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various kindergarten students, Roy said. A financial math project required students to research mileage and price reports on used cars, she said. Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements. "I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't take up so much room in the library. Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo. They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in the book stacks than on the Internet. Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on his subject: Jesus. Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material. "It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned. Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for her research project. "I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad." Click here to return to story: http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml How do you whip kids up into a reading frenzy? By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-08-27-books-esme_x.htm Her book grew out of a potato, says Esmé Raji Codell, author of How to Get Your Child to Love Reading. Oddly enough, a mere potato was Codell's source for inspiration. Not literally, but there she was in her kitchen in Chicago, staring at an old potato and asking herself: "If I had a potato, nothing but a potato, how could I teach a classroom full of children?" (Related item: Read an except from How to Get Your Child to Love Reading) http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm Codell, 34, a former teacher and school librarian in Chicago, was full of ideas. She could cut it and teach fractions. She could plant the eyes and grow more potatoes, charting their growth. She could have her students write a story about a potato, or a book of potato recipes or potato poems. She could take them to the library to find The Potato With Big Ideas from Little Old Mrs. Pepperpot by Alf Proysen or Brave Potatoes by Toby Speed. She could talk about the Irish potato famine of 1845 and read from Feed the Children First by Mary E. Lyons or Black Potatoes by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. She could have her students write letters to executives at Frito-Lay about their potato chips or Playskool about their product, Mr. Potato Head. Perhaps "I am a bit potato-headed myself ... plotting the pedagogy of potatoes." But that raises the question: "How do we teach our children, using what is available to us?" And what's as plentiful and available as potatoes? Her answer: "Children's literature is our national potato." But there's a problem. "If you hand someone a potato or if you hand someone a children's book, and he doesn't know how to make it cook ... well, then." So she designed her 532-page paperback (Algonquin, $18.95) to be a "recipe book for children's literature: how to serve it up so it's delicious and varied." In it, she recommends more than 3,000 books — from "frog stories to make you hoppy" to "good books about good kids doing good deeds." Four years ago, Codell published Educating Esmé, the diary of her first year teaching fifth grade, cha-chaing her way through multiplication tables, roller-skating through hallways and battling with school administrators who didn't approve of her students calling her Madame Esmé. It's a name, she says, that comes from J.D. Salinger's short-story collection For Esmé, With Love and Squalor. Her parents, she says, were from the working class but were great readers. It took Codell two years to find a publisher for her diary of teaching. Educating Esmé went on to sell 100,000 copies, according to Algonquin, and made Codell a popular attraction at bookstores, libraries and schools. Her parents' guide, dedicated to her 8-year-old son, is for "ravenous and reluctant readers alike" and reflects her matchmaking approach to reading. The goal is to match author and reader. "If we are careless," she writes, "we will send children on some very boring reading 'dates.' " But she adds, "No child is a lost cause when it comes to reading any more than someone is a lost cause when it comes to falling in love." Codell also runs a children's reading Web site, PlanetEsme.com, and has written a children's novel about a special-education student, Sahara Special. She says she doesn't read many books aimed at adults. She finds children's books more concise. "Maybe I'm immature, but it's important not to be too far removed from the source of your inspiration." setTimeout('showLayer();',200); --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-882861112-1062451613=:99084 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
 

Teachers find school library can be best classroom

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml


By VICKI FERSTEL

Suburban writer

WATSON -- Blaire Armstrong, a senior at Live Oak High School, searched the Internet for information about American women's rights pioneer Susan B. Anthony.

Allison Duke, a 10th-grader, was looking for details about William Shakespeare.

Victoria Smart, also a 10th-grader, chose her namesake, Britain's Queen Victoria.

The Livingston Parish students in Michelle Morris' world history class were spending class time recently in the school library's extensive computer lab to research and produce brochures about historical subjects.

The lesson is a far cry from the days when a teacher at a blackboard would give a dry lecture illustrated with timelines.

Morris' class is an example of how school libraries have become an integral part of daily class lesson plans.

"Libraries aren't quiet anymore," Librarian Shirley McDonald said as a roomful of Morris' students shared ideas about their research.

"You encourage interaction because the students learn so much more that way," she said.

McDonald, who has served 15 years as a Live Oak High librarian, is a tireless proponent of school libraries.

She points to research from Alaska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oregon, Iowa and New Mexico that indicates the size of a school's library, in terms of its staff and its book collection and electronic resources, is a direct predictor of reading scores on standardized tests.

In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading.

That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of minority and impoverished students.

Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores.

McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, is also a proponent of technology in education.

She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between librarians and teachers.

The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD projector.

Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the school have only two computers.

So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance.

McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks.

"When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said.

Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement the students' Internet research.

Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of Watson, complete with interviews of local residents.

Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or jobs that require Spanish.

One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various kindergarten students, Roy said.

A financial math project required students to research mileage and price reports on used cars, she said.

Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements.

"I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't take up so much room in the library.

Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo.

They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in the book stacks than on the Internet.

Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on his subject: Jesus.

Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material.

"It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned.

Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for her research project.

"I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad."

Teachers find school library can be best classroom

In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading.

That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of minority and impoverished students.

Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores.

McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, is also a proponent of technology in education.

She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between librarians and teachers.

The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD projector.

Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the school have only two computers.

So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance.

McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks.

"When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said.

Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement the students' Internet research.

Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of Watson, complete with interviews of local residents.

Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or jobs that require Spanish.

One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various kindergarten students, Roy said.

A financial math project required students to research mileage and price reports on used cars, she said.

Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements.

"I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't take up so much room in the library.

Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo.

They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in the book stacks than on the Internet.

Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on his subject: Jesus.

Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material.

"It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned.

Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for her research project.

"I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad."

Click here to return to story:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml

 
 
 
 
How do you whip kids up into a reading frenzy?
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
 
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-08-27-books-esme_x.htm
Her book grew out of a potato, says Esmé Raji Codell, author of How to Get Your Child to Love Reading.
Oddly enough, a mere potato was Codell's source for inspiration.

Not literally, but there she was in her kitchen in Chicago, staring at an old potato and asking herself: "If I had a potato, nothing but a potato, how could I teach a classroom full of children?" (Related item: Read an except from How to Get Your Child to Love Reading)

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm

 

Codell, 34, a former teacher and school librarian in Chicago, was full of ideas.

She could cut it and teach fractions. She could plant the eyes and grow more potatoes, charting their growth.

She could have her students write a story about a potato, or a book of potato recipes or potato poems.

She could take them to the library to find The Potato With Big Ideas from Little Old Mrs. Pepperpot by Alf Proysen or Brave Potatoes by Toby Speed.

She could talk about the Irish potato famine of 1845 and read from Feed the Children First by Mary E. Lyons or Black Potatoes by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

She could have her students write letters to executives at Frito-Lay about their potato chips or Playskool about their product, Mr. Potato Head.

Perhaps "I am a bit potato-headed myself ... plotting the pedagogy of potatoes." But that raises the question: "How do we teach our children, using what is available to us?"

And what's as plentiful and available as potatoes?

Her answer: "Children's literature is our national potato."

But there's a problem. "If you hand someone a potato or if you hand someone a children's book, and he doesn't know how to make it cook ... well, then."

So she designed her 532-page paperback (Algonquin, $18.95) to be a "recipe book for children's literature: how to serve it up so it's delicious and varied."

In it, she recommends more than 3,000 books — from "frog stories to make you hoppy" to "good books about good kids doing good deeds."

Four years ago, Codell published Educating Esmé, the diary of her first year teaching fifth grade, cha-chaing her way through multiplication tables, roller-skating through hallways and battling with school administrators who didn't approve of her students calling her Madame Esmé.

It's a name, she says, that comes from J.D. Salinger's short-story collection For Esmé, With Love and Squalor. Her parents, she says, were from the working class but were great readers.

It took Codell two years to find a publisher for her diary of teaching. Educating Esmé went on to sell 100,000 copies, according to Algonquin, and made Codell a popular attraction at bookstores, libraries and schools.

Her parents' guide, dedicated to her 8-year-old son, is for "ravenous and reluctant readers alike" and reflects her matchmaking approach to reading.

The goal is to match author and reader. "If we are careless," she writes, "we will send children on some very boring reading 'dates.' " But she adds, "No child is a lost cause when it comes to reading any more than someone is a lost cause when it comes to falling in love."

Codell also runs a children's reading Web site, PlanetEsme.com, and has written a children's novel about a special-education student, Sahara Special.

She says she doesn't read many books aimed at adults. She finds children's books more concise. "Maybe I'm immature, but it's important not to be too far removed from the source of your inspiration."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-882861112-1062451613=:99084-- From cathymt@charter.net Tue Sep 2 21:48:49 2003 From: cathymt@charter.net (Cathy M Taylor) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 15:48:49 -0500 Subject: [Tasl] Summer Reading Promotional Items Message-ID: <022901c37193$9caab430$2301a8c0@DELL1> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0226_01C37169.B36373D0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The Children's and Young Adults Roundtable is preparing the requests for = bids for summer reading promotional items. This year, we offered = tattoos, stickers, pencils, plastic book bags, canvas tote bags, coin = cases, backpacks, tee shirts and polo shirts. =20 If you would like additional items, different items or would like to = comment on any items, this is your chance to let us know. Please email = me OFF LIST at cathymt@charter.net with your suggestions. =20 As an aside, we are requiring all items ship to the libraries by the end = of April. This earlier deadline should help us avoid the problems some = experienced this year. Thanks in advance for your comments! Cathy Taylor C/YA Chair Cathy M Taylor, Director White County Public Library 144 South Main Street Sparta, TN 38583 cathymt@charter.net 931-836-3613 931-836-2570 Fax www.wtclibrary.org ------=_NextPart_000_0226_01C37169.B36373D0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
The Children's and Young Adults Roundtable is = preparing the=20 requests for bids for summer reading promotional items.  This year, = we=20 offered tattoos, stickers, pencils, plastic book bags, canvas tote bags, = coin=20 cases, backpacks, tee shirts and polo shirts. 
 
If you would like additional items, = different items=20 or would like to comment on any items, this is your chance to let us = know. =20 Please email me OFF LIST at cathymt@charter.net with your=20 suggestions. 
 
As an aside, we are requiring all items ship to the = libraries=20 by the end of April.  This earlier deadline should help us avoid = the=20 problems some experienced this year.  Thanks in advance for your=20 comments!
 
Cathy Taylor
C/YA Chair
 
Cathy M Taylor, Director
White County Public = Library
144=20 South Main Street
Sparta, TN 38583
cathymt@charter.net
931-836-36= 13
931-836-2570=20 Fax
www.wtclibrary.org
------=_NextPart_000_0226_01C37169.B36373D0-- From mlgav@yahoo.com Tue Sep 2 23:11:09 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 15:11:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] Librarians to the Rescue Message-ID: <20030902221109.43952.qmail@web40202.mail.yahoo.com> --0-1461463282-1062540669=:43584 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In case you missed the NPR piece. Must find one these figures for my library... http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1415714.html Sept. 1, 2003 -- On this Labor Day, we pay tribute to the librarian. Librarians feed our hunger for knowledge, they steer us down the proper research path, they find us sources and citations, and dig out obscure facts. And though their efforts often go unheralded, now librarians are represented by an action figure. From the company Archie McPhee -- offbeat outfitters of popular culture -- the librarian action figure joins the ranks of the Albino Bowler action figure, the Sigmund Freud action figure, the coffee shop Barista action figure, and the Jesus action figure. The model for the 5-inch-tall plastic librarian is Nancy Pearl, who works at the Seattle Public Library and is author of the book, Book Lust. She also started the program, "If Everyone in Seattle Read the Same Book," which has been imitated around the country. NPR's Melissa Block, host of All Things Considered talks with Nancy Pearl about the honor bestowed on her. The action figure should be available in October. --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1461463282-1062540669=:43584 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
In case you missed the NPR piece.  Must find one these figures for my library...
 
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1415714.html
 
Sept. 1, 2003 -- On this Labor Day, we pay tribute to the librarian. Librarians feed our hunger for knowledge, they steer us down the proper research path, they find us sources and citations, and dig out obscure facts.

And though their efforts often go unheralded, now librarians are represented by an action figure. From the company Archie McPhee -- offbeat outfitters of popular culture -- the librarian action figure joins the ranks of the Albino Bowler action figure, the Sigmund Freud action figure, the coffee shop Barista action figure, and the Jesus action figure.

The model for the 5-inch-tall plastic librarian is Nancy Pearl, who works at the Seattle Public Library and is author of the book, Book Lust. She also started the program, "If Everyone in Seattle Read the Same Book," which has been imitated around the country. NPR's Melissa Block, host of All Things Considered talks with Nancy Pearl about the honor bestowed on her. The action figure should be available in October.


 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1461463282-1062540669=:43584-- From mlgav@yahoo.com Wed Sep 3 02:20:47 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 18:20:47 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] good article about school public relations-- Message-ID: <20030903012047.36456.qmail@web40210.mail.yahoo.com> --0-1028417372-1062552047=:36420 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii think all the ideas could also apply to school libraries... Five reasons to invest in school PR--despite current budget deficits Nora Carr September 1, 2003 http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/Alertunreg.cfm?ArticleID=4614&ul=%2Fnews%2FshowStory%2Ecfm%3FArticleID%3D4614#below No Child Left Behind? To most school leaders, No Budget Left Unscathed would be a more accurate depiction of the impact unfunded federal mandates, revenue caps, and massive state budget shortfalls are having on school finances. Then, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. According to the San Jose Mercury News, parents in some California districts have started fundraising to pay music teacher and school librarian salaries. And these are public schools. I don't envy superintendents and school board members the impossible choices they now face. There's no doubt the classroom is public education's front line. If you want to keep your foot soldiers fed, however, you need to continue investing in school public relations--including such 21st-century strategies as web site development and eMail database cultivation. Here are five reasons why: 1. Public schools' survival depends on public trust and support, both of which evaporate quickly when relationships aren't attended to and information isn't forthcoming. Clearly, the war on terror is going to be won in the classroom, not on the battlefield. If you have no hope--and if the only formal schooling you have received has been an indoctrination in hatred--then murder and suicide can be twisted into viable options. Education--particularly public education that is free and open to all--is the cornerstone of any democratic society. And make no mistake about it, public education as we know it is under siege in this country. 2. If you don't tell your story, someone else will, and you probably won't like it much. In fact, you might not even recognize your own schools, students, and colleagues once the news media, politicians, voucher advocates, anti-tax zealots, business leaders, and other well-meaning folk are through mangling the issues with half truths, innuendos, hyperbole, and outright fabrications. We know our bad news--employee arrests, student protests, bomb threats, teacher walkouts, and test score fiascos--is going to get extensive coverage. In today's 24-hour, seven-days-a-week media microscope, that's a given. But who's going to let your community know about the teacher who adopted a homeless student, the custodian who greets each kindergartner with a smile, or the principal who tutors struggling teenagers on Saturdays? Who's going to help elected officials and the public understand that today's public schools are educating more students at higher levels than ever before in our nation's history? Why is "the nation's failing public schools" an accepted mantra in the press, when academic success is the norm--and not the exception--in "government-sponsored" classrooms across the country? 3. Do the math. The return on investment for strategically planned and well-executed marketing plans can be striking. For example, a school system would basically recoup the cost of a $50,000 public relations and advertising campaign--modest by most business standards--as soon as eight new students enrolled, based on an average per-pupil expenditure of only $6,000 per year. Assuming these new customers remain satisfied--and enrolled--for another five years, the district's new funding would increase by $240,000, yielding a return on investment of $190,000. 4. For the "what's in it for me crowd" in your community--a growing faction, I'm sad to say--a quick look at property values or the future of Social Security should suffice. Ask any realtor what drives property values, and they'll likely say, "location, location, location." The primary factor in the perceived quality of any given location, however (unless, of course, you live by a toxic waste dump or under the flight path of a major airport), is the quality of the public schools. Moreover, according to Ron Crouch, director of the Kentucky State Data Center, the sheer numbers of aging baby boomers might overwhelm the young taxpayers funding their retirement. Crouch recently presented his findings on newly released census data at a leadership conference sponsored by the Kentucky School Boards Association. "Across the United States, the older baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) have a higher educational level at comparable ages than younger boomers (born between 1955 and 1964)," says Crouch, noting that the percentages for persons ages 35 to 44 with undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees declined from 1990 to 2000. "We're already facing a brain drain in California, New York, and throughout the Southwest," says Crouch. "A challenge for the Southwest will be investing in the education of their rapidly growing Hispanic and other immigrant populations. Will they respond to the challenge or ignore it? Will their key cities be islands of prosperity in a sea of educational and economic decline?" And, since the majority of those boomers will be white--and the majority of young taxpayers will be poor people of color who might or might not have received the government services and education they needed growing up--just how willing are these taxpayers going to be to take care of all these senior citizens? 5. A town is known by the schools it keeps. This venerable slogan is still on target, whether you're talking about a neighborhood, rural community, small town, big city, or the far-flung suburbs. Public schools are the only game in town that takes all comers. Now, as the end of court-ordered desegregation concentrates more poor, minority, immigrant, and disabled students in inner-city schools, I wonder where the next generation is going to learn how to work and communicate with all kinds of people. I'm a firm believer in public school choice. Grouping kids by geography or housing prices doesn't make much sense to me, and I think parents--all parents--need high-quality options to choose from. As the parent of a child with significant disabilities, however, I am keenly aware that even with a state-sponsored voucher in hand, my daughter isn't going to be welcomed at any of the private, parochial, or charter schools that keep trying to recruit my so-called "gifted" child. I'm also not naive as to why my affluent zip code has been targeted by these schools for direct-mail brochures, post cards, open house invitations, and even a video. The Americans with Disabilities Act--the landmark civil rights legislation for people with disabilities--might have been passed 10 years ago, but people with mental retardation still need not apply. Nor should children whose parents can't afford tuition or who can't volunteer at school because they're working three jobs just to put food on the table. Public schools serve a public good. We forget that at our peril. And if we don't keep the vital link between public schools and our free and democratic society on the public's agenda, who will? Nora Carr is senior vice president and director of public relations for Luquire George Andrews Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based advertising and public relations firm. A former assistant superintendent for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, she is nationally recognized for her work in educational communications and marketing. --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1028417372-1062552047=:36420 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
think all the ideas could also apply to school libraries...
 
 

Five reasons to invest in school PR--despite current budget deficits
Nora Carr
September 1, 2003

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/Alertunreg.cfm?ArticleID=4614&ul=%2Fnews%2FshowStory%2Ecfm%3FArticleID%3D4614#below

No Child Left Behind? To most school leaders, No Budget Left Unscathed would be a more accurate depiction of the impact unfunded federal mandates, revenue caps, and massive state budget shortfalls are having on school finances.

Then, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. According to the San Jose Mercury News, parents in some California districts have started fundraising to pay music teacher and school librarian salaries. And these are public schools.

I don't envy superintendents and school board members the impossible choices they now face. There's no doubt the classroom is public education's front line.

If you want to keep your foot soldiers fed, however, you need to continue investing in school public relations--including such 21st-century strategies as web site development and eMail database cultivation. Here are five reasons why:

1. Public schools' survival depends on public trust and support, both of which evaporate quickly when relationships aren't attended to and information isn't forthcoming.

Clearly, the war on terror is going to be won in the classroom, not on the battlefield. If you have no hope--and if the only formal schooling you have received has been an indoctrination in hatred--then murder and suicide can be twisted into viable options.

Education--particularly public education that is free and open to all--is the cornerstone of any democratic society. And make no mistake about it, public education as we know it is under siege in this country.

2. If you don't tell your story, someone else will, and you probably won't like it much.

In fact, you might not even recognize your own schools, students, and colleagues once the news media, politicians, voucher advocates, anti-tax zealots, business leaders, and other well-meaning folk are through mangling the issues with half truths, innuendos, hyperbole, and outright fabrications.

We know our bad news--employee arrests, student protests, bomb threats, teacher walkouts, and test score fiascos--is going to get extensive coverage. In today's 24-hour, seven-days-a-week media microscope, that's a given.

But who's going to let your community know about the teacher who adopted a homeless student, the custodian who greets each kindergartner with a smile, or the principal who tutors struggling teenagers on Saturdays?

Who's going to help elected officials and the public understand that today's public schools are educating more students at higher levels than ever before in our nation's history?

Why is "the nation's failing public schools" an accepted mantra in the press, when academic success is the norm--and not the exception--in "government-sponsored" classrooms across the country?

3. Do the math. The return on investment for strategically planned and well-executed marketing plans can be striking.

For example, a school system would basically recoup the cost of a $50,000 public relations and advertising campaign--modest by most business standards--as soon as eight new students enrolled, based on an average per-pupil expenditure of only $6,000 per year.

Assuming these new customers remain satisfied--and enrolled--for another five years, the district's new funding would increase by $240,000, yielding a return on investment of $190,000.

4. For the "what's in it for me crowd" in your community--a growing faction, I'm sad to say--a quick look at property values or the future of Social Security should suffice.

Ask any realtor what drives property values, and they'll likely say, "location, location, location." The primary factor in the perceived quality of any given location, however (unless, of course, you live by a toxic waste dump or under the flight path of a major airport), is the quality of the public schools.

Moreover, according to Ron Crouch, director of the Kentucky State Data Center, the sheer numbers of aging baby boomers might overwhelm the young taxpayers funding their retirement. Crouch recently presented his findings on newly released census data at a leadership conference sponsored by the Kentucky School Boards Association.

"Across the United States, the older baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) have a higher educational level at comparable ages than younger boomers (born between 1955 and 1964)," says Crouch, noting that the percentages for persons ages 35 to 44 with undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees declined from 1990 to 2000.

"We're already facing a brain drain in California, New York, and throughout the Southwest," says Crouch. "A challenge for the Southwest will be investing in the education of their rapidly growing Hispanic and other immigrant populations. Will they respond to the challenge or ignore it? Will their key cities be islands of prosperity in a sea of educational and economic decline?"

And, since the majority of those boomers will be white--and the majority of young taxpayers will be poor people of color who might or might not have received the government services and education they needed growing up--just how willing are these taxpayers going to be to take care of all these senior citizens?

5. A town is known by the schools it keeps.

This venerable slogan is still on target, whether you're talking about a neighborhood, rural community, small town, big city, or the far-flung suburbs.

Public schools are the only game in town that takes all comers. Now, as the end of court-ordered desegregation concentrates more poor, minority, immigrant, and disabled students in inner-city schools, I wonder where the next generation is going to learn how to work and communicate with all kinds of people.

I'm a firm believer in public school choice. Grouping kids by geography or housing prices doesn't make much sense to me, and I think parents--all parents--need high-quality options to choose from.

As the parent of a child with significant disabilities, however, I am keenly aware that even with a state-sponsored voucher in hand, my daughter isn't going to be welcomed at any of the private, parochial, or charter schools that keep trying to recruit my so-called "gifted" child.

I'm also not naive as to why my affluent zip code has been targeted by these schools for direct-mail brochures, post cards, open house invitations, and even a video.

The Americans with Disabilities Act--the landmark civil rights legislation for people with disabilities--might have been passed 10 years ago, but people with mental retardation still need not apply. Nor should children whose parents can't afford tuition or who can't volunteer at school because they're working three jobs just to put food on the table.

Public schools serve a public good. We forget that at our peril. And if we don't keep the vital link between public schools and our free and democratic society on the public's agenda, who will?

Nora Carr is senior vice president and director of public relations for Luquire George Andrews Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based advertising and public relations firm. A former assistant superintendent for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, she is nationally recognized for her work in educational communications and marketing.




 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1028417372-1062552047=:36420-- From fsufan23@charter.net Wed Sep 3 23:22:12 2003 From: fsufan23@charter.net (Nancy Dickinson) Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 17:22:12 -0500 Subject: [Tasl] Fw: [AASLAFFILS:842] Urgent! Immediate action needed re: Labor HHS Appropriationsbill Message-ID: <002501c37269$d2bc8a90$be02a8c0@laptop> Urgent message. Received Wednesday, Sept 3, 2003. Maybe it's not too late for you to act! Nancy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven Hofmann" To: Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 2:59 PM Subject: [AASLAFFILS:842] Urgent! Immediate action needed re: Labor HHS Appropriationsbill > CALL YOUR SENATORS RIGHT NOW > > Sen Jack Reed has introduced a library amendment to the Labor HHS > Appropriations bill. It could be voted on as early as tomorrow. > > It needs 60 yes votes to pass....we need both your Senators. > > The amendment would raise the money for school libraries to the > President's request of $27.5 million. > > If we can't get 60 votes, the school library program will remain at > $12.5 million. > > It will also put enough money into LSTA to fully fund the new formula. > > From pfrere@hotmail.com Fri Sep 5 14:56:31 2003 From: pfrere@hotmail.com (Penny Frere) Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 08:56:31 -0500 Subject: [Tasl] Sept 12 TENN-SHARE Summer Workshops Message-ID:

A sure sign that Summer is winding down: The last TENN-SHARE Summer Workshops are next Friday, September 12. Registration numbers are excellent, but there are still places left. Email Sharon Parente, sparente@ulibnet.mtsu.edu, to let her know you’re coming, then put your check in the mail! You’ll find complete details on the TENN-SHARE website at www.tenn-share.org.  

In Johnson City at East TN State University, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT: Plagiarism 

In this workshop, Jerry Shuttle will discuss several aspects of plagiarism and present research on its prevalence.  Jerry will also demonstrate techniques for using technology to detect plagiarism and offer assignment guidelines that minimize the opportunity to plagiarize. 

In Murfreesboro at Middle TN State University 9:00 – noon CDT: Assessing the Use and Cost Effectiveness of Electronic Resources 

In this Workshop, Mayo Taylor will cover gathering and analyzing usage statistics, assessing the content of full text databases, and evaluating cost effectiveness. 

In Jackson at Lambuth University 9:00 – noon Collaborating with Faculty, and 1:00 – 4:00 CDT Web Design 

Collaborating: In this Workshop, Mitzi Brown will explore the ways a library can adapt to today’s information marketplace and make faculty aware of what the library, school, academic, public, and special, can do for them. 

Web Design: In this Workshop, Sammy Chapman will introduce the basics, discussing organizational effort and important issues to explore before building a web site. 

Thanks and have a wonderful fall!

Penny

Penny Frere, Executive Director, TENN-SHARE
P. O. Box 357, Bell Buckle, TN 37020
Phone: 931-389-9207, Fax: 931-389-9101
pfrere@hotmail.com
http://www.tenn-share.org

Compare Cable, DSL or Satellite plans: As low as $29.95. From rweinberg@futurenet.org Fri Sep 5 22:49:03 2003 From: rweinberg@futurenet.org (Robin Weinberg) Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 14:49:03 -0700 Subject: [Tasl] How do you whip kids up into a reading frenzy? In-Reply-To: <20030901212653.99360.qmail@web40205.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20030901212653.99360.qmail@web40205.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: please remove this email address from this listserve. This person's intership has ended and they no longer use this email address. mlgav writes: [ http://www.2theadvocate.com/ ] >http://www.2theadvocate.com/ > > >Teachers find school library can be best classroom > >[ http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml >]http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml > > > > > >By VICKI FERSTEL > >Suburban writer > >WATSON -- Blaire Armstrong, a senior at Live Oak High School, searched >the Internet for information about American women's rights piooneer Susan >B. Anthony. > >Allison Duke, a 10th-grader, was looking for details about William >Shakespeare. > >Victoria Smart, also a 10th-grader, chose her namesake, Britain's Queen >Victoria. > >The Livingston Parish students in Michelle Morris' world history class >were spending class time recently in the school library's extensive >computer lab to research and produce brochures about historical subjects. > >The lesson is a far cry from the days when a teacher at a blackboard >would give a dry lecture illustrated with timelines. > >Morris' class is an example of how school libraries have become an >integral part of daily class lesson plans. > >"Libraries aren't quiet anymore," Librarian Shirley McDonald said as a >roomful of Morris' students shared ideas about their research. > >"You encourage interaction because the students learn so much more that >way," she said. > >McDonald, who has served 15 years as a Live Oak High librarian, is a >tireless proponent of school libraries. > >She points to research from Alaska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oregon, Iowa >and New Mexico that indicates the size of a school's library, in terms of >its staff and its book collection and electronic resources, is a direct >predictor of reading scores on standardized tests. > >In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources >into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading. > >That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of >minority and impoverished students. > >Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in >the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores. > >McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, >is also a proponent of technology in education. > >She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral >thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between >librarians and teachers. > >The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new >Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation >station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of >old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD >projector. > >Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the >school have only two computers. > >So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so >popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance. > >McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks. > >"When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can >accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said. > >Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement >the students' Internet research. > >Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare >PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of >Watson, complete with interviews of local residents. > >Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and >prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or >jobs that require Spanish. > >One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various >kindergarten students, Roy said. > >A financial math project required students to research mileage and price >reports on used cars, she said. > >Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements. > >"I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more >than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't >take up so much room in the library. > >Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about >Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo. > >They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in >the book stacks than on the Internet. > >Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on >his subject: Jesus. > >Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it >would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material. > >"It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned. > >Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for >her research project. > >"I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad." > >Teachers find school library can be best classroom > >In other words, school systems that pour a sizable amount of resources >into their school libraries also have students scoring higher on reading. > >That's true, researchers say, even in schools with high percentages of >minority and impoverished students. > >Newer research also indicates that the more librarians are involved in >the teaching process, the higher the school's reading scores. > >McDonald, who oversaw the installation of Live Oak High's first computer, >is also a proponent of technology in education. > >She's working on a doctorate at LSU and has proposed as her doctoral >thesis a study on the impact of technology on the interaction between >librarians and teachers. > >The Live Oak High library last year upgraded its computer lab with 30 new >Dell computers equipped with Pentium 4 processors, one presentation >station connected to a 32-inch NetTV that teachers can use instead of >old-fashioned overhead projectors, one laptop computer and an LCD >projector. > >Morris said her classroom has only four computers. Most classrooms at the >school have only two computers. > >So, the library is a popular destination for teachers and students -- so >popular that teachers have to book the library weeks in advance. > >McDonald said she's had to limit teachers to three days every two weeks. > >"When you can have an entire class come in at the same time, you can >accomplish something in one to two days rather than a week," Morris said. > >Also, the teachers and students can use the library books to complement >the students' Internet research. > >Librarian Linda Roy said some teachers have their classes prepare >PowerPoint presentations on various topics. One class did a history of >Watson, complete with interviews of local residents. > >Other teachers have used the library to have their students research and >prepare brochures and presentations on foods of different countries or >jobs that require Spanish. > >One teacher devised an algebra project comparing measurements of various >kindergarten students, Roy said. > >A financial math project required students to research mileage and price >reports on used cars, she said. > >Morris, the teacher, said she like to see even more improvements. > >"I want more than 30 computers," she said. "Denham Springs High has more >than one lab and I would like a separate room" so the computers wouldn't >take up so much room in the library. > >Morris, assisted by McDonald and Roy, recently taught the students about >Internet search engines such as Google, AskJeeves, Excite, MSN and Yahoo. > >They also advised the students that some information is easier to find in >the book stacks than on the Internet. > >Tenth-grader Maney Hammond was having some trouble finding information on >his subject: Jesus. > >Hammond said he chose Jesus as his research topic because he thought it >would be easy to find a sufficient amount of material. > >"It's more difficult to find than I thought," he groaned. > >Catie Spears, also a 10th-grader, chose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for >her research project. > >"I don't really know much about him, except I think he's bad." > >Click here to return to story: >[ http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml >]http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090103/new_teachers001.shtml > > > > > > > > >[ http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif ]» > > > > > > >How do you whip kids up into a reading frenzy? >By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY > >[ http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-08-27-books-esme_x.htm >]http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-08-27-books-esme_x.htm >Her book grew out of a potato, says Esmé Raji Codell, author of How to >Get Your Child to Love Reading. >[ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ] >» >[ >http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2003/2003-08/08-27-codell2-inside.jpg >]» [ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» Oddly >enough, a mere potato was Codell's source for inspiration. [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» > > > >Not literally, but there she was in her kitchen in Chicago, staring at an >old potato and asking herself: "If I had a potato, nothing but a potato, >how could I teach a classroom full of children?" (Related item: [ >http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm >]http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm) > >[ >http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm >]http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2003-08-11-educating-esme_x.htm > > > >[ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» >[ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» [ >http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» > > > > > >[ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» >[ http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif ]» > > > >Codell, 34, a former teacher and school librarian in Chicago, was full of >ideas. > >She could cut it and teach fractions. She could plant the eyes and grow >more potatoes, charting their growth. > >She could have her students write a story about a potato, or a book of >potato recipes or potato poems. > >She could take them to the library to find The Potato With Big Ideas from >Little Old Mrs. Pepperpot by Alf Proysen or Brave Potatoes by Toby Speed. > >She could talk about the Irish potato famine of 1845 and read from Feed >the Children First by Mary E. Lyons or Black Potatoes by Susan Campbell >Bartoletti. > >She could have her students write letters to executives at Frito-Lay >about their potato chips or Playskool about their product, Mr. Potato >Head. > >Perhaps "I am a bit potato-headed myself ... plotting the pedagogy of >potatoes." But that raises the question: "How do we teach our children, >using what is available to us?" > >And what's as plentiful and available as potatoes? > >Her answer: "Children's literature is our national potato." > >But there's a problem. "If you hand someone a potato or if you hand >someone a children's book, and he doesn't know how to make it cook ... >well, then." > >So she designed her 532-page paperback (Algonquin, $18.95) to be a >"recipe book for children's literature: how to serve it up so it's >delicious and varied." > >In it, she recommends more than 3,000 books — from "frog stories to make >you hoppy" to "good books about good kids doing good deeds." > >Four years ago, Codell published Educating Esmé, the diary of her first >year teaching fifth grade, cha-chaing her way through multiplication >tables, roller-skating through hallways and battling with school >administrators who didn't approve of her students calling her Madame Esmé. > >It's a name, she says, that comes from J.D. Salinger's short-story >collection For Esmé, With Love and Squalor. Her parents, she says, were >from the working class but were great readers. > >It took Codell two years to find a publisher for her diary of teaching. >Educating Esmé went on to sell 100,000 copies, according to Algonquin, >and made Codell a popular attraction at bookstores, libraries and schools. > >Her parents' guide, dedicated to her 8-year-old son, is for "ravenous and >reluctant readers alike" and reflects her matchmaking approach to reading. > >The goal is to match author and reader. "If we are careless," she writes, >"we will send children on some very boring reading 'dates.' " But she >adds, "No child is a lost cause when it comes to reading any more than >someone is a lost cause when it comes to falling in love." > >Codell also runs a children's reading Web site, PlanetEsme.com, and has >written a children's novel about a special-education student, Sahara >Special. > >She says she doesn't read many books aimed at adults. She finds >children's books more concise. "Maybe I'm immature, but it's important >not to be too far removed from the source of your inspiration." > > > > > > > > >[ http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif ]» > > > > > > > > > > > >[ javascript:void(printArticle()); ]javascript:void(printArticle()); >[ http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif ]» > > > > > > > > > > > >[ >http://ad.usatoday.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.clickability.com/sendthis/ads@Top468x60?x >]http://ad.usatoday.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.clickability.com/sendthis/ads@Top468x60?x > > > > > > > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you >had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” >~ Viktor Frankl > > > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Do you Yahoo!? >[ http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=10469/*http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com >]http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=10469/*http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com - Free, >easy-to-use web site design software From DMassey@korrnet.org Sat Sep 6 22:11:34 2003 From: DMassey@korrnet.org (David Massey) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:11:34 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Tasl] KORRnet Job Opening Message-ID: <200309062111.h86LBYc16366@korrnet.org> To KORRnet Account Holders: Greetings from your community network. Hope everyone had a great summer! Please note that KORRnet is seeking a half-time "customer service specialist" to meet the needs of our Web, listserv, and email account holders and to maintain account records. Please spread the word if you know of someone who might enjoy working with lots of great individuals and very worthy non-profit organizations. For details, go to http://www.korrnet.org and click on "Job Opening" under KORRnet links, right hand column. Thanks!! David Massey KORRnet From mlgav@yahoo.com Sun Sep 7 01:16:32 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:16:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] 'Librarian' is old school; now it's 'cyberian' Message-ID: <20030907001632.27786.qmail@web40205.mail.yahoo.com> --0-164562228-1062893792=:27407 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Thursday, September 4, 2003 'Librarian' is old school; now it's 'cyberian' By TESS NACELEWICZ, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/030904nelson.shtml Related Story: Name of related story or sidebar --> Related links --> --------------------------------- Staff photo by Gregory Rec Suzan Nelson, Falmouth High School's librarian, says she functions as an educator, helping students to discover knowledge. --> You can take your stereotypic image of a school librarian and shelve it. Suzan Nelson, the librarian at Falmouth High School, says the job of a school librarian in 2003 is quite different from what it was in the past. "We're not the little bun and glasses, the shushing type any more," said Nelson, who has long, red flowing hair and an outgoing personality. "That image is, like, gone." In fact, in many schools, they're not even called librarians anymore. Terms such as library media specialist or even "cyberian" are used because they better reflect the job description of modern librarians - which includes helping students navigate the vast ocean of information on the Internet and working closely with classroom teachers to enhance learning for students. "In the state of Maine you have to be an educator (to be a librarian)," Nelson said. "I think the new librarian is a person who's comfortable with teaching and uses it as a tool to get to information." Nelson, 52, grew up in Bangor and attended the University of Maine. She started her education career in the late 1970s as a junior high English teacher in Old Town. When asked if schools today are better or worse than in the past, she said: "We're heading toward the better." She said that when she first began teaching, the idea was that "I was the smart one and I was going to give you information. Now, I'm the guide and I help you uncover your knowledge." School libraries are different too, she said. "We used to use them as a study hall, where you come and do homework." Now students are more apt to use them as a place to do in-depth research on topics for their classes, she said. Nelson works with classroom teachers to find out what the students' assignments are, then posts information on the school library page, providing links where they can research such topics as William Faulkner, 19th-century art and the American space program. Nelson traces her interest in being a librarian to "Mrs. Wheeler at the Bangor Public Library . . . She was the best." Nelson remembers climbing the stairs to the second floor where the librarian would read stories to children. "There's just something comforting about being read to," she said. She said she also felt "a need for information," having grown up during the Cold War, where secrecy was the norm. "That's the antithesis of what a librarian is," she said. "It's giving information." She switched to being a librarian after teaching alternative education students at Portland High School in the 1980s. She returned to school to take classes to get her state certification as a librarian, and also earned a master's degree in instructional systems. She spoke to the Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram on Wednesday about the job of school librarians today: Q: Do kids still like to read books? A: "They don't have a lot of time. I'm saddened by that. Their lives are so overcrowded with sports and other activities and they work. We have pockets of kids who read a lot but I would say the majority of kids don't." (To encourage student reading, she recommends "thin great books" - books of about 100 pages or so - such as a novel called "Tunes for Bears to Dance To" by Robert Cormier.) Q: How has technology changed school libraries? A: "I think it's changed the whole definition of a librarian . . . The learning curve was tremendous when the computers came in and the kids knowing more than you did . . . I'm not half as good as most of the kids, but I can search better. " She said librarians must help students determine which information is useful and also to determine the source. For instance, she said, if a Web site on Martin Luther King Jr. is authored by a white supremacist group, students need to be aware of that. "It seems so much easier for them to find and locate information. But it's hard to make use of." Q: What hasn't changed about school libraries? A: "What hasn't changed is that it's hard for people to understand how much education and background a librarian has . . . People think anyone can run a library. Yeah, they can, but to what degree?" Q: What's the future of school libraries? A: "Will libraries always look like this? I don't know . . . but I think students will still need guidance in understanding what they find, understanding what they don't know.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Librarians throw the book at new shushing action toy http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/0/071825-1540-031.html http://www.wgrz.com/storyfull.asp?id=16135 --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-164562228-1062893792=:27407 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Thursday, September 4, 2003

'Librarian' is old school; now it's 'cyberian'

By TESS NACELEWICZ, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

 

http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/030904nelson.shtml


 


 

Staff photo by Gregory Rec
Staff photo by Gregory Rec

Suzan Nelson, Falmouth High School's librarian, says she functions as an educator, helping students to discover knowledge.

You can take your stereotypic image of a school librarian and shelve it. Suzan Nelson, the librarian at Falmouth High School, says the job of a school librarian in 2003 is quite different from what it was in the past.

"We're not the little bun and glasses, the shushing type any more," said Nelson, who has long, red flowing hair and an outgoing personality. "That image is, like, gone."

In fact, in many schools, they're not even called librarians anymore. Terms such as library media specialist or even "cyberian" are used because they better reflect the job description of modern librarians - which includes helping students navigate the vast ocean of information on the Internet and working closely with classroom teachers to enhance learning for students.

"In the state of Maine you have to be an educator (to be a librarian)," Nelson said. "I think the new librarian is a person who's comfortable with teaching and uses it as a tool to get to information."

Nelson, 52, grew up in Bangor and attended the University of Maine. She started her education career in the late 1970s as a junior high English teacher in Old Town. When asked if schools today are better or worse than in the past, she said: "We're heading toward the better."

She said that when she first began teaching, the idea was that "I was the smart one and I was going to give you information. Now, I'm the guide and I help you uncover your knowledge."

School libraries are different too, she said. "We used to use them as a study hall, where you come and do homework." Now students are more apt to use them as a place to do in-depth research on topics for their classes, she said. Nelson works with classroom teachers to find out what the students' assignments are, then posts information on the school library page, providing links where they can research such topics as William Faulkner, 19th-century art and the American space program.

Nelson traces her interest in being a librarian to "Mrs. Wheeler at the Bangor Public Library . . . She was the best." Nelson remembers climbing the stairs to the second floor where the librarian would read stories to children. "There's just something comforting about being read to," she said.

She said she also felt "a need for information," having grown up during the Cold War, where secrecy was the norm. "That's the antithesis of what a librarian is," she said. "It's giving information."

She switched to being a librarian after teaching alternative education students at Portland High School in the 1980s. She returned to school to take classes to get her state certification as a librarian, and also earned a master's degree in instructional systems.

She spoke to the Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram on Wednesday about the job of school librarians today:

Q: Do kids still like to read books?

A: "They don't have a lot of time. I'm saddened by that. Their lives are so overcrowded with sports and other activities and they work. We have pockets of kids who read a lot but I would say the majority of kids don't."

(To encourage student reading, she recommends "thin great books" - books of about 100 pages or so - such as a novel called "Tunes for Bears to Dance To" by Robert Cormier.)

Q: How has technology changed school libraries?

A: "I think it's changed the whole definition of a librarian . . . The learning curve was tremendous when the computers came in and the kids knowing more than you did . . . I'm not half as good as most of the kids, but I can search better. "

She said librarians must help students determine which information is useful and also to determine the source. For instance, she said, if a Web site on Martin Luther King Jr. is authored by a white supremacist group, students need to be aware of that. "It seems so much easier for them to find and locate information. But it's hard to make use of."

Q: What hasn't changed about school libraries?

A: "What hasn't changed is that it's hard for people to understand how much education and background a librarian has . . . People think anyone can run a library. Yeah, they can, but to what degree?"

Q: What's the future of school libraries?

A: "Will libraries always look like this? I don't know . . . but I think students will still need guidance in understanding what they find, understanding what they don't know....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Librarians throw the book at new shushing action toy

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/0/071825-1540-031.html

http://www.wgrz.com/storyfull.asp?id=16135

 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-164562228-1062893792=:27407-- From ssmith40@utk.edu Mon Sep 8 01:57:46 2003 From: ssmith40@utk.edu (S. Scot Smith) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 20:57:46 -0400 Subject: [Tasl] 2004-2005 Volunteer State Book Awards Message-ID: <3F7D4346@webmail.utk.edu> I have--finally--gotten around to annotating the books nominated for the 2004-2005 Volunteer State Book Awards. I apologize for the delay; I usually have this page completed well before the start of the school year. I have hyperlinked all the Young Adult titles to editorial reviews on Amazon.com, the purpose being to assist middle school librarians like myself in making collection development decisions. As a member of the YA nomination committee, I was present when we discussed how best to handle the fact some of the titles on the Young Adult may not be appropriate for all middle schools. We decided that if I hyperlinked the titles to reviews, then individual librarians can be better prepared to select the books best suited for his/her readers. You can access the complete list at: http://www.korrnet.org/tasl/vsba0405.htm Check the TASL page often as we plan to post the entire schedule for November's conference on the web site soon. Happy Reading Scot ______________________________________________________________________ Scot Smith Librarian Media Specialist Robertsville Middle School Oak Ridge, TN Adjunct Instructor College of Communication and Information Sciences University of Tennessee--Knoxville Webmaster--Tennessee Association of School Librarians Webmaster--Oak Ridge Schools From mashburnp@k12tn.net Mon Sep 8 14:40:00 2003 From: mashburnp@k12tn.net (Pat Mashburn) Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 09:40:00 -0400 Subject: [Tasl] Re: Message-ID: <3F5C86B0.D5C78A6F@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us> Confirm 220102 From pfrere@hotmail.com Mon Sep 8 22:03:07 2003 From: pfrere@hotmail.com (Penny Frere) Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 16:03:07 -0500 Subject: [Tasl] AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive Message-ID:

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive and TENN-SHARE  

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive, the world’s most extensive online collection of Associated Press news photos, captions, graphics, audio clips, and news articles, is available for free trial on the TENN-SHARE website at www.tenn-share.org/databases.html until October 15, 2003. 

Many TENN-SHARE member libraries have taken advantage for years of the reasonable pricing on this extremely useful database. New subscribers are offered an additional 5% off if they subscribe by October 15. The regular discounted pricing is good until December 31. You’ll find all the information you need to sign up on the TENN-SHARE website. 

While you’re there, take a look at the Ingram Library Services offer for TENN-SHARE libraries. We’ve just updated the flyer with new phone numbers, so you may want to print out the latest version. A representative from Ingram will be at the TENN-SHARE Fall Conference on Friday, Sept. 19, at Nashville Public Library, giving a demonstration of i-page, Ingram’s online catalog and ordering tool. If you haven’t used it, you won’t believe how easy it is. Come to the Conference to see for yourself! 

Thanks, 

Penny

Penny Frere, Executive Director, TENN-SHARE
P. O. Box 357, Bell Buckle, TN 37020
Phone: 931-389-9207, Fax: 931-389-9101
pfrere@hotmail.com
http://www.tenn-share.org

Get 10MB of e-mail storage! Sign up for Hotmail Extra Storage. From fsufan23@charter.net Tue Sep 9 01:46:21 2003 From: fsufan23@charter.net (Nancy Dickinson) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 19:46:21 -0500 Subject: [Tasl] Fw: [AASLAFFILS:844] AASL Countdown to Kansas City Message-ID: <009201c3766b$cbeb9ca0$be02a8c0@laptop> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven Hofmann" To: Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 12:28 PM Subject: [AASLAFFILS:844] AASL Countdown to Kansas City > ************************************************************ > > COUNTDOWN TO KANSAS CITY > Important information about the AASL 11th National > Conference & Exhibition, October 22-26, 2003 in Kansas > City, Mo. > > ************************************************************ > > The following is abridged from the September 2003 > issue of AASL Hotlinks, the official monthly e-mail > newsletter of the American Association of School > Librarians (AASL). AASL Hotlinks is sent free to AASL > members as a perquisite of membership. > > Interspersed throughout this issue you'll find > testimonials from your colleagues about why the AASL > National Conference is vital to their professional > success. > > The official conference Web site > is a primary source of information about all of the > learning and networking opportunities being offered at > the AASL 11th National Conference & Exhibition. > > Read on! > > COUNTDOWN TO KANSAS CITY: > > 1. Register by September 19 and save! > 2. Session Finder now available > 3. Extend your learning with exciting preconferences > 4. Space still available in school and continuing > education tours > 5. Knowledge Quest and KQWeb preview AASL National > Conference > 6. @ your library® campaign for school libraries to launch > at AASL National Conference > 7. Dinner with a Local Librarian restaurants honored by > Kansas City magazine > 8. Don't forget the ISS "no-host" dinner > > ************************************************************ > > AASL National Conferences arm us with the knowledge and > evidence we need to protect our borders and save our > programs. Be the best you can be! Join us in Kansas City. > > -- Carol Gordon, Head, Pickering Library, Boston University > > ************************************************************ > > 1. REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 19 AND SAVE! > > Be sure to register for the AASL 11th National Conference > by September 19, 2003 to take advantage of the advance > registration discount. > > Visit the official AASL National Conference Web site at... > > http://www.ala.org/aasl/kc > > ...and click the "Registration" navigation button to > register for the conference online or to download a > printable registration form. > > ************************************************************ > > My active membership in the Independent Schools Section and > attendance at ISS/AASL meetings and conferences has kept me > sane for 25 years -- and kept me up to date on trends, > books, online products. These National Conferences, like > the one in Kansas City, offer so many programs, exhibits > and chances to meet colleagues from across the country who > are struggling with the same questions I am -- and some of > them have solutions I can emulate. I am looking forward to > the conference as another opportunity to grow on behalf of > my students. > > -- Dorcas Hand, Director of Libraries, Annunciation > Orthodox School, Houston, Texas > > ************************************************************ > > 2. SESSION FINDER NOW AVAILABLE > > Search for concurrent sessions by keyword, topic or > presenter and view full descriptions with our Session > Finder, now available on the AASL National Conference Web > site at... > > http://www.ala.org/aasl/kc > > ...and click the "Program" navigation button, then select > the "Session Finder" link. > > New in 2003! The Session Finder also includes a conference > planner, which you can use to create your own personal > itinerary of the concurrent sessions, programs and special > events you plan to attend in Kansas City. To use the > conference planner function, you just need to create a > login using your e-mail address and the password of your > choice and then login each time you use the Session Finder. > > ************************************************************ > > The AASL National Conference gives me the upper edge in my > professional development. Every session is relevant to my > career. I have also used the National Conferences to guide > my district administrators by bringing them and impressing > them with our knowledge of materials, equipment, processes > and the trends. > > -- Erlene Bishop Killeen, District Media Coordinator, > Stoughton (Wis.) Area Schools > > ************************************************************ > > 3. EXTEND YOUR LEARNING WITH EXCITING PRECONFERENCES > > Preconferences provide an invaluable opportunity for you to > interact with nationally-known presenters and with your > peers, mentors and partners in the same room. Space is > limited, so don't wait too long to register for one of the > exciting preconference workshops being offered as part of > the AASL 11th National Conference. Go the AASL National > Conference Web site at... > > http://www.ala.org/aasl/kc > > ...and click the "Program" navigation button, then select > the "Preconferences" link to view a list of available > workshops with descriptions. > > As a bonus, some preconference workshops will also include > a virtual component -- an e-mail discussion group where the > presenters and pre-registered participants can share > expectations and exchange ideas, both before and after the > conference. > > Use the online or printable forms in the "Registration" > area of the AASL National Conference Web site to register > for a preconference today. > > Even if you've already registered for the conference, you > can still add a preconference workshop to your registration > either online, by fax or by e-mail to registration@ala.org. > > ************************************************************ > > My professional success is directly related to my being > perceived as a building and educational leader. The AASL > National Conference is all about the latest and best as it > relates to school library media programs. What I take back > to my district is an unparallelled professional development > experience that gives me ideas and the motivation to make > an even greater difference in the lives of my students and > staff. > > -- Hilda Weisburg, Library Media Specialist, Morristown > (N.J.) High School > > ************************************************************ > > 4. SPACE STILL AVAILABLE IN SCHOOL AND CONTINUING > EDUCATION TOURS > > School tours are always an attendee favorite! Register soon > because space is limited. > > Continuing education tours, which were formerly promoted as > cultural tours, have now been improved to include > instructional packets with lesson plans and optional > graduate credit. Enjoy the best of Kansas City's cultural > heritage, then share it easily with your students! > > Use the online or printable forms in the "Registration" > area of the AASL National Conference Web site to register > for a tour today. > > Even if you've already registered for the conference, you > can still add a tour to your registration either online, by > fax or by e-mail to registration@ala.org. > > ************************************************************ > > The AASL National Conference revitalizes me! I learn from > the attendees, presenters and great exhibits. I'm energized > to network with fellow professionals from around the world. > > -- Carrie Gardner, AASL Treasurer, Bowie, Md. > > ************************************************************ > > 5. KNOWLEDGE QUEST AND KQWEB PREVIEW AASL NATIONAL > CONFERENCE > > Have you seen KQWeb, the online companion to AASL's print > journal Knowledge Quest, recently? The editors have been > working hard to ensure that the site is chock-full of > valuable information and some of our most requested > reprints. > > As the September/October issue of Knowledge Quest was being > compiled and edited, the editors urged authors to add Web > content to their articles. These expanded articles from the > print issue, along with exciting exclusives for KQWeb, have > resulted in an informative preview of the AASL 11th > National Conference. Don't miss it! > > Visit KQWeb online at... > > http://www.ala.org/aasl/kqweb > > ...and click the "KC Conference Special" link. > > ************************************************************ > > The AASL National Conference in Kansas City is important to > my professional development because it broadens my > perspective of the practices of other library media > specialists and programs. Rich ideas from my peers in other > states encourages me to incorporate into my program the > best practices from around the nation. No less important to > my professional growth is informal networking with media > specialists who share my desire to improve. > > -- Dee Gwaltney, Library Media Specialist, Thurston High > School, Redford, Mich., and AASL Director Region III > > ************************************************************ > > 6. @ your library® CAMPAIGN FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES TO LAUNCH > AT AASL NATIONAL CONFERENCE > > For the past year, the AASL @ your library® Special > Committee and ALA and AASL staff have been working to > prepare a spectacular launch of AASL's major public > awareness campaign. This campaign, a component of the ALA > Campaign for America's Libraries, will assist you in > promoting yourselves and your school library media programs > to the various constituencies you serve. > > A large and diverse group of AASL members as well as staff > has worked diligently in the preparation of the goals, > strategies and key messages that will help to shape public > opinion about who we are and what we do in terms of > preparing our students to be successful and discerning > learners. Through 3M Library Systems' support, five major > documents have been produced and will be used in crafting > "train the trainers" workshops at ALA Midwinter in San > Diego and in Orlando at ALA Annual. These documents will > aid you in marketing/promoting and presenting a positive > image of your school library media programs, your school > library media centers and ourselves as school library media > specialists. > > Attendees at the AASL 11th National Conference will be > among the first to receive the @ your library Toolkit. > The campaign will officially launch at the "Taste of Kansas > City" event on Saturday, October 25, 6:30 p.m - 9:30 p.m. > > If you're attending the AASL National Conference, please > make every effort to attend this exceptional event. > > Conference attendees can also get a "sneak preview" of the > @ your library campaign for school libraries during the > Exploratorium, Thursday, October 23, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. > > Collegially, > Harriet Selverstone, Chair > AASL @ your library Special Committee > > ************************************************************ > > Attending the AASL National Conference has always been so > important to my professional growth. It is the same way I > personally can keep up with what's new in books, technology, > best practices and research. I never get through the piles > of "to read" journals on my desk; there is always something > else to do. But I can keep current by attending the > conference and setting aside that time just to learn. > > -- Sharon Coatney, AASL Past President (1998-1999), > Lindwood, Kan. > > ************************************************************ > > 7. DINNER WITH A LOCAL LIBRARIAN RESTAURANTS HONORED BY > KANSAS CITY MAGAZINE > > we're pleased to announce that several of the restaurants > participating in this year's Dinner with a Local Librarian > just won Ingram's Best of Kansas City Silver Ladle Awards > in the "Wining and Dining" division. The awards are listed > at the Ingram's Web site at > http://www.ingramsonline.com/august_2003/bestof/winingdining.html > > AASL National Conference attendees can enjoy a "Dutch treat" > dinner with a local librarian at a favorite Kansas City > restaurant on Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. > Make your reservation on site in Kansas City by 4:30 p.m. > that day at the Dinner with a Local Librarian booth. Visit > the AASL National Conference Web site at... > > http://www.ala.org/aasl/kc > > ...and click the "Program" navigation button, then select > the "Dinner with a Local Librarian" link to view a complete > list of participating restaurants. > > ************************************************************ > > When you attend the AASL National Conference, you have an > opportunity to meet colleagues to discuss issues pertaining > to curriculum, consult on readers' advisory, investigate > new product development, share reading incentives, and > confer on common problems. Networking with colleagues and > having a plethora of workshops and programs devoted solely > to school library media issues is a major reason for > attending an AASL National Conference. Please take > advantage of this every other year occasion to avail > yourself of new knowledge and new friends. > > -- Harriet Selverstone, AASL Past President (2000-2001), > Westport, Conn. > > ************************************************************ > > 8. DON'T FORGET THE ISS "NO-HOST" DINNER > > Don't forget that the AASL Independent Schools Section has > organized a no-host dinner during the AASL National > Conference in Kansas City. > > WHO? Independent school librarians and their friends! > > WHERE? La Bodega, a tapas restaurant, 703 Southwest Blvd., > in Kansas City, very close to the convention center. > > WHEN? 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 23, 2003 > > COST? $30 per person includes everything -- a variety of > tapas, dessert and gratuity. Prepayment required. > Beverages to be purchased individually. > > Contact Dorcas Hand, ISS Chair, at dhand@aoshouston.org to > find out how to reserve your place. Limit of 50 dinner > guests. > > ************************************************************ > > American Association of School Librarians > http://www.ala.org/aasl > aasl@ala.org > > 50 E. Huron St. > Chicago, IL 60611 > > 800-545-2433, ext. 4386 > 312-280-4386 > fax 312-664-7459 > > The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is a > division of the American Library Association (ALA). The > mission of AASL is to advocate excellence, facilitate > change, and develop leaders in the school library media > field. > > --- > > Copyright (c) 2003 American Library Association > > ****************************END***************************** > > From DianeRChen@aol.com Tue Sep 9 18:21:41 2003 From: DianeRChen@aol.com (DianeRChen@aol.com) Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 13:21:41 EDT Subject: [Tasl] TASL legislative committee Message-ID: Dear TASL members, The legislative committee (which you are still welcome to join) will meet very briefly on Saturday, September 20th from 9-10 a.m. at Hickman Elementary School. Priscilla Craig of TEA will teach us how to legislate and advocate with our representatives. She has a booklet filled with useful information. If you will be attending, please email me and I'll send you directions. Thanks. Diane From DianeRChen@aol.com Tue Sep 16 20:54:05 2003 From: DianeRChen@aol.com (DianeRChen@aol.com) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 15:54:05 EDT Subject: [Tasl] Urgent Call Senators Today Message-ID: <159.24a577d2.2c98c45d@aol.com> ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 12, Number 83 September 16, 2003 In This Issue: Please Call Senators TODAY! Please call your Senator's offices today and ask them to sign on to the letter below. The letter asks for support of the House funding levels for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and the Museum Services Act during the Conference on the fiscal year 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. This is our last chance to secure the higher House appropriations level. Ask your Senators to sign-on to the letter by having your their staff person call Elyse Wasch in Senator Jack Reed's office at (202) 224-4642 (please do not call Elyse directly-your Senator's staff person should call). Remind your elected officials of the vital importance of libraries to our communities and our children. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Thank you in advance for your help. [text of letter follows] Senator Arlen Specter Senator Tom Harkin Chairman Ranking Member Subcommittee on Labor, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Health and Human Services, and Education Education Committee on Appropriations Committee on Appropriations Dear Chairman Specter and Senator Harkin: We write to urge you to support the House funding levels for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and the Museum Services Act during the Conference on the fiscal year 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program In passing the No Child Left Behind Act, Congress recognized the need to improve our nation's school libraries as part of the comprehensive and renewed strategy to ensure that students learn to read and to read well. In its first year, the Department of Education received over 1,000 qualified applications for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. With $12.5 million available for the program, only 94 grants could be awarded. A similar application to grant ratio is expected with the soon to be released FY03 grants. The need for school library funds nationwide continues to be great. The President requested $27.5 million for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program, the same level provided in the House Appropriations bill. We urge you to recede to the House funding level. Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Libraries are the information hubs of our communities, providing essential services - from career information workshops to family literacy classes - that are in great demand during this time of economic downturn. We urge you to adopt a funding increase that meets the President's request of $169.6 million for library state grants and library services to Native Americans, plus the additional $1.8 million needed to double the minimum state allotment as included in both the Senate and House versions of the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003. Museum Services Act Museums are rich centers of culture, discovery, and lifelong learning, providing a deeper understanding of the world. The House has included $29,780,000 for the Museum Services Act, nearly $5 million more than the funding level included in the Senate bill, and just shy of the President's request. We urge you to recede to the House funding level. Thank you for your consideration of these requests and your continued support and commitment to the role of our nation's libraries and museums in developing a literate, educated, and democratic society. We look forward to working with you. Sincerely, ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy. From mlgav@yahoo.com Wed Sep 17 05:55:04 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 21:55:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] Saturn And Saturn UAW Salute To Teachers. Message-ID: <20030917045504.6316.qmail@web40206.mail.yahoo.com> --0-1730831868-1063774504=:4290 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Saturn Salute to Teachers http://titansradio.com/cgi-bin/blurb_view.cgi?blurb=teacher Each week during the Rafferty's Titans Countdown, the Titans Radio broadcast team will salute an outstanding educator from around the region. He/she will receive a $100 savings bond and a plaque from Saturn and Saturn UAW. The teacher and his/her guest will also be our special guest at an upcoming Titans game. At the end of the season, we will select the Teacher Of The Year and he/she will win a $1,000 savings bond from Saturn/Saturn UAW. To nominate a deserving teacher, simply download the Saturn And Saturn UAW Salute To Teachers nomination form, fill it out, and drop it by a participating Saturn dealer across the mid south. You can also stop by your local Saturn dealer and pick up a form there. Thanks for your support of education in the mid south from Saturn and Saturn UAW. --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1730831868-1063774504=:4290 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Saturn Salute to Teachers
   

 

Each week during the Rafferty's Titans Countdown, the Titans Radio broadcast team will salute an outstanding educator from around the region. He/she will receive a $100 savings bond and a plaque from Saturn and Saturn UAW. The teacher and his/her guest will also be our special guest at an upcoming Titans game.

At the end of the season, we will select the Teacher Of The Year and he/she will win a $1,000 savings bond from Saturn/Saturn UAW.

To nominate a deserving teacher, simply download the Saturn And Saturn UAW Salute To Teachers nomination form, fill it out, and drop it by a participating Saturn dealer across the mid south. You can also stop by your local Saturn dealer and pick up a form there.

Thanks for your support of education in the mid south from Saturn and Saturn UAW.



 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-1730831868-1063774504=:4290-- From mlgav@yahoo.com Wed Sep 17 20:39:50 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:39:50 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] what do you think about Ashecroft's remarks? Message-ID: <20030917193950.76676.qmail@web40209.mail.yahoo.com> Ashcroft Mocks Librarians and Others Who Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/politics/16LIBR.html?8bl **************************************************** Message as quoted, follows: Hello, all. This morning the ALA Public Information Office received a call from Robert Sullivan at the New Yorker. He's looking for anyone who might have a sentence or two comment on Ashcrofts recent remarks about librarians. In particular, he wants to know how librarians feel about being mocked by the Attorney General (I'm pretty much quoting here!). You can email to Mr. Sullivan — a longtime library "addict" — at rsull7258@aol.com. Please copy whatever you send to lclark@ala.org, since we'd love to keep our own copies of responses so that we might use whatever Mr. Sullivan doesn't need. Ultimately, he will only be able to use about four or five comments in the "Talk of the Town" column — which, as you may know, is a snappy and slightly lighthearted treatment of issues in the news. The clock is ticking! Please send your thoughts today! Cheers, Larra Larra Clark Press Officer Public Information Office American Library Association 50 E. Huron Chicago, IL 60611-2795 Toll-free: 800-545-2433 x5043 Direct: 312-280-5043 Fax: 312-944-8520 Email: lclark@ala.org ===== --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com From mlgav@yahoo.com Sat Sep 20 04:29:09 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:29:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] Celebrate Your Freedom to Read Message-ID: <20030920032909.28943.qmail@web40204.mail.yahoo.com> --0-2025627742-1064028549=:28749 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Banned Books Week Celebrate Your Freedom to Read September 20–27, 2003 --------------------------------- A Quick and Easy Guide to Banned Books Week for Librarians The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2002 http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/Intellectual_Freedom3/Banned_Books_Week/Challenged_and_Banned_Books/Challenged_and_Banned_Books.htm#mfcb The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2002: Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier (the "Most Challenged" book of 1998), for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group. "Taming the Star Runner" by S.E. Hinton, for offensive language. "Captain Underpants" by Dav Pilkey, for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, for racism, insensitivity and offensive language. "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism. "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor, for insensitivity, racism and offensive language. "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George, for sexual content, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group. As compiled by the Office for Intellectual --------------------------------- --------------------------------- “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” ~ Viktor Frankl --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-2025627742-1064028549=:28749 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

Banned Books Week

Celebrate Your Freedom to Read September 20–27, 2003

A Quick and Easy Guide to Banned Books Week for Librarians

The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2002

http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/Intellectual_Freedom3/Banned_Books_Week/Challenged_and_Banned_Books/Challenged_and_Banned_Books.htm#mfcb

 

The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2002:

  1. Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic.
  2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
  3. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier (the "Most Challenged" book of 1998), for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
  4. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group.
  5. "Taming the Star Runner" by S.E. Hinton, for offensive language.
  6. "Captain Underpants" by Dav Pilkey, for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority.
  7. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, for racism, insensitivity and offensive language.
  8. "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
  9. "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor, for insensitivity, racism and offensive language.
  10. "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George, for sexual content, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group.

As compiled by the Office for Intellectual



 “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
~ Viktor Frankl

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software --0-2025627742-1064028549=:28749-- From mlgav@yahoo.com Mon Sep 22 19:21:28 2003 From: mlgav@yahoo.com (mlgav) Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:21:28 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Tasl] Ghost Stories in Bristol on September 27!!! Message-ID: <20030922182128.45332.qmail@web40207.mail.yahoo.com> --0-1071508747-1064254888=:44852 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Ghost Stories in Bristol on September 27!!! All spirits, both living and otherwise, are being called forth for Beaver Creek Storytellers' Sixth Annual "Graveyard Tales" on Saturday, September 27, at 8:00 p.m. With a backdrop of one of the oldest historic cemeteries in Sullivan County, this event takes place in the parking lot behind the Weaver Elementary School at Weaver Pike and People's Road. Admission is $5.00 Adults and $3.00 Students Over 12. Children will be admitted free, but the program is not recommended for young children and parents of elementary aged students should use their own discretion. More information can be had from Mimi Rockwell at 276-669-8358 or e-mail her at Appalachianstory@aol.com. Featured storytellers this year will be G. Lee Hearl, Peggy Kenny, Joyce Moore, Pat Musselman, Leon Overbay, Mimi Rockwell, and Becky Vickers. Wayne Rush will be the M.C. In case of rain, the program will be moved inside to the Weaver-Union church basement. Light refreshments will be served during Intermission.