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News from President
Judy Hauser
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MAME 35
Welcome to the new school year! Now you're all back in your schools and only a couple months away from the MAME annual conference. MAME 35 runs from November 5-7 in Dearborn. Please check out all of the details on the MAME wiki. You'll see that we have added more opportunities for MAME members this year including:
Additional Vendor Scholarships that will pay for the registrations of 10 MAME
members!
The Conference Buddy Program that will assist newcomers and solo attendees!
District Team Conference Registrations that not only benefit MAME members but any teachers, parents or other stakeholders who would like to attend the conference at a discounted price!
Please feel free to leave comments on the MAME wiki. For example, if you have heard one of our great keynote speakers let us know. If you have book recommendations regarding any session topic or one of our conference authors please share with your colleagues. To add any content to the wiki go to one of the pages, click on EDIT PAGE, enter your name and email and the password/invite key: "assess". After you enter information on a page remember to click on SAVE. You are SO Web 2.0!!!
Media Center Marketing Video
The Michigan School Library Initiative Group was created three years ago by Nancy Robertson, our State Librarian. Nancy and Sheryl Mase, also of the LOM, formed a group to discuss how the LOM could support school library media prgrams in the state. A group of people from educational associations, ISDs, WSU and school districts assembled and met to brainstorm the creation of a product that would market media center programs. The culmination of that group thinking is a video.
"The 21st Century Media Center Program" is a short video that captures the spirit of good media center programs. The "actors" include a real superintendent, principal, teacher, media specialist, parent and students. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mike Flanagan, also participated in the video. We currently have several MAME members working on a toolkit to accompany the video and it will be completed for rollout at the annual conference. In the meantime, if you have the opportunity please show the video to any groups of stakeholders in your school: administrators, parents, community leaders and even other staff members. To download the video for any groups that impact what happens in your school district CLICK HERE.
Media Center Program Statistics
Lisa Brakel and Roger Ashley have been working for months on a survey of media center programs in the state. They are gathering stats fast and frenzied (not really "frenzied" - I just threw that in for dramatic effect). Lisa and Roger will have some results to share at the annual conference. This is exciting stuff!
MAME Website
The last item I want to mention is that MAME will soon have a new website.
It's always good to shake things up every 2-3 years and we are due for a shakeup! Our current website has served us very well and unlike most of us it hasn't aged over the last two and a half years. However, the Web just keeps making it easier and easier for us to create, share and publish information so MAME is going to try a new web host. We will test the waters before presenting it to our entire membership but we hope to have a very easy-to-use site with some nice graphics, larger fonts (so I squint less) and plenty of links to essential information for media specialists. We may even tap you on the shoulder and ask you to be part of a focus group to check out the new website when it's ready to share.
...and in conclusion!
Please attend MAME 35 and bring colleagues and parents using the team discount so we can get as many people as possible excited about school library media programs. Share your knowledge with other MAME members using our wiki. And, think about joining the MAME Board. We have some positions open at this time so if you have thought about participation in MAME this may be your open door! Thank you!
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| Volunteers Needed!! |
It's a Fact: We Need Volunteers
Make the most of the conference - for yourself and others. Meet new people and make connections within MAME by giving a couple hours of your time.
Volunteers are needed for a variety of roles, from manning registration tables and stamping SB-CEU forms, to gift sales. No experience necessary.
As an organization of volunteers, if we don't do it, who will? Give a little of your time to make this the best conference ever. If you're bringing a spouse we'd happily accept their time as well!
Ready to lend a hand? Let us know now-- gwenn2ns@yahoo.comThanks for helping make our conference a great experience for everyone.
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| Walled Lake Reinstates Secondary Media Specialists |
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Rita Sitron, media specialist at Walled Lake Northern High School, notified members via mamelist that district officials had reversed their decision to eliminate secondary media positions. MAME's executive director, Roger Ashley, commented, "The decision of the Walled Lake superintendent and school board to reinstate the middle and high school media specialists to full time positions is remarkable and certainly deserves praise from the students, parents and community of Walled Lake. Media specialists are key to the best in the world of technology and information instruction which students need to be equipped to compete in the 21st century world."
More good news: Bill Swartz reports from Wayne-Westland that they have three brand new elementary libraries opening this fall, "pretty remarkable given the current financial trends".
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| Media Matters! Editors
MAME Executive Director
Database Manager
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| MAME Fall Conference |
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Be sure to keep up on the latest fall conference news by visiting the wiki:
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| Affiliate News |
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Marsha Lambert, media specialist at Marshall Middle School, represented MAME this past summer at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio. This is the annual conference for ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education, an affiliate organization of MAME.
In addition to attending affiliate meetings designed for the sharing of information among state organizations, Marsha attended other events of particular interest to media specialists.
The SIGMS (Special Interest Group for Media Specialists) Forum: "NETS or AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners: a Standards Debate" was a lively discussion with a panel that included Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, Annette Lamb and Gail Dickinson. The debate focused on how to interpret and implement the newly-revised NETS and AASL Standards.
Libraries Unlimited sponsored a breakfast event for media specialists that featured a panel discussion on important issues facing the profession. The reduction and elimination of library media programs is a concern nationwide, and Joyce Valenza made an impassioned plea for media specialists to "make technology our brand", emphasizing that we ARE the technology people, and we need to make sure that our administrators have that understanding.
If you are looking for a book that would be the basis of a great conversation for your staff, consider The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki. As NECC's opening keynote speaker, he grabbed the audience's attention with an anecdote-filled discussion of the ways in which a diverse collection of individuals is likely to make the best decisions.
Alan November, another keynote speaker, is author of Web Literacy for Educators, a book that Marsha recommends highly if you are looking for a resource that is easy to pick up and filled with practical ideas. November also has a web site that is a treasure trove of ideas for a busy media specialist.
Next year's NECC conference will be held in Washington, D.C. June 28-July 1, 2009. |
| Upcoming MAME Events |
Sep 13
MAME Board Meeting, MAME Conference Committee Meeting
MAME Headquarters, Lansing
Nov 5-7: MAME 35 Annual Conference,
"Just the Facts" Dearborn
December 6
MAME Board Meeting, MAME Conference Committee Meeting
MAME Headquarters, Lansing
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| Other Upcoming Events |
Sept 27 - Oct 4
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October 17 - 19
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| AASL Fall Forum |
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The topic of this year's AASL Fall Forum is "Assessment, Part II: Constructing and Interpreting Viable Tools for Effective Student Learning in the Library Media Center."
It will take place the weekend of October 17-19 at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort, Oak Brook, Illinois (near Chicago). Early registration discounts end after September 12.
This is a great opportunity to learn how to make the data work for you!
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