Media Matters!       MAME logo       February 2010
In this Issue
From the President
Meet Rachel Markel
Michael Sullivan in Hartland
Reading Month is Coming
Tools of the Trade
Thoughts from Tim
Behind the Scenes...
From the President
 Lynn Gordon                                                                   
Happy February!  No matter what happens, 2010 is going to keep rolling along, and we are going to keep rolling right along with it.  First, let me invite you all to our upcoming "Chicken Soup for the Media Specialist's Soul" Leadership Conference.  It is taking place on Saturday, March 20, at the University of Michigan School of Information in Ann Arbor.  Organizers Kathleen McBroom, Judy Hauser and Kristin Fontichiaro have put together a fantastic program that you won't want to miss.  Make sure to get your registration in (only $49!!!) by March 13.
 
Secondly, ever since I came back from ALA's Mid-Winter Meeting, I've been thinking about our title.  What is in a name?  Quite a bit...  As we all know, there are school districts in Michigan that staff their school library media centers with non-credentialed personnel and then classify them as media specialists or librarians rather than library aides or media technicians.  Those of us that are certified professionals have been struggling for years with determining which title best describes us and the many jobs that we do.  Some like the title of "library media specialist" because it seems to encompass the traditional ideas as well as our ever-evolving involvement in technology.   Others like "teacher-librarian" as it addresses our dual certification and dual roles within the school setting.  Then, there is "school librarian" which the Board of Directors of American Association of School Librarians recently voted to adopt as our official title at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Meeting.  There will continue to be debate and dissention among those in the profession as we are all individuals and we all see ourselves in different lights.  However, we know that the most important thing that we can do is continue to provide the best possible service to our students and our staff, no matter what hat we happen to be wearing while we are doing it.  When I am out about town and see a kindergartener whispering to their parent, "That's my book teacher!," I smile proudly and say, "Yes, I am."
 
Best to you,
Lynn Gordon
Meet Rachel Markel, President-Elect
Rachel Markel 
 
Rachel Markel is our new president-elect, and chair of this year's conference. Her face may already be familiar to you, but we thought MAME members might want to get to know her a little better, so we asked her a few questions...
 
 
 
How long have you been a MAME  member?  Is this your first "job"
for MAME, or have you been active in another role?
 
I've been a MAME member since 2003. I began my involvement with organization in 2006 as a region rep for Region 11. I was recruited at that time to fill the role of Printed Program Chair for the conference committee. I've continued in both of these roles since then.
 
 
Could you tell us a little bit about your current position?
 
I'm currently the K-5 Media Specialist for Bangor Public Schools. I started my career in Bangor teaching third grade and moved to the media centers three years later. Bangor is a small rural district in the Southwest corner of Michigan. We are about 10 miles inland from Lake Michigan and 30 miles west of Kalamazoo. I love the benefits of the west side of the state which include delicious fruit in the summer and bountiful snow in the winter. I split my time between our 2 elementary buildings, one is K-2 and the other is 3-5. My job is full of variety and never boring.
 
 
Where you are from?  Grew up?  Went to school?
 
My family moved to Bangor when I was in middle school, but prior to that we had lived in Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. I graduated from Bangor and then went on to undergrad at Spring Arbor College (now Spring Arbor University) with a degree in elementary ed. I completed my Master's at Grand Valley.
 
 
What you like to do when you're not in a library?
 
If it is truly free time, I love to read. I'm a fan of Jane Austen, Jan Karon and Miss Read and my childhood favorite was Anne of Green Gables; but I dabble in lots of other genres as well. I love to spend time with my family- especially my nieces and nephew. I also love to travel and have several destinations that I'm still waiting to visit. I enjoy cooking and baking, but never seem to find as much time for it as I'd like. I also really enjoy going the theatre, especially musicals. I'm very involved in my church, especially in music and missions ministries.
 
Something about you that might surprise people?
 
I don't own a television and I don't like peanut butter sandwiches.

Michael Sullivan visits Hartland

An open invitation...
 
On Tuesday, February 9 at 7:00 pm, in Hartland, we are presenting a program in conjunction with our local public library, http://www.cromaine.org
 
Entitled "Boys and Books: Authors, titles, websites, and activities to encourage boy readers", we are trying to answer some of the questions parents have about how to keep boys reading.
 
The program will be held at Round Elementary School Gym. Parents and sons are welcome. There is an activity for the boys while parents hear the presentation.  We've done some research following the MAME conference where Michael Sullivan was the closing keynote speaker. We've seen some success and want to share it. You are welcome to join us.
 
Barb Benford
Library Media Teacher
Round Elementary School
11550 Hibner School
Hartland, MI 48353
[email protected]
 
 
Coming Up: March is Reading Month
 
Start Your Own Awards Program! 
by Susan Miles
 
For March's National Reading Month last year (and back by popular demand this year) we have our very own version of the Kids' Choice Awards using books.  Named after our school (pre-K through 5), we call it the Eastern Choice Awards.  Each classroom is responsible for a category and three nominees.  We had such categories as 1) best performance by a dog in a picture book, 2) best performance by a mouse in a chapter book, 3) best performance by an alphabet book, etc. 
 
The nominees were read, displayed and talked about all during March, then at the end of the month the whole school voted and only I knew the winners.  We had an all-school assembly and the principal acted as the MC and the Library Club members (4th/5th graders) served as the presenters.  Each class brought their nominees to the assembly and when the winner was announced whichever child was holding the winning book brought it to the stage to 'accept' the honor.  The student exchanged the book for a large gold star with the name of the category and the winning title on it (they were later displayed in the library for a few weeks). The principal then affixed a gold seal stating the award on the front cover of the book.
 
We had red carpet, paparzzi, glitter and everyone involved was invited to wear fancy clothes (we had boas, etc.).  It was incredibly fun and to hear kids cheer for the books was pretty heartwarming.
 
We are now coming up with new categories for this year.
 
The other thing I'm doing for National Reading Month is to do a display of our school staff with photos of them as young children and as adults with a picture of their favorite childhood book.  So far, I've gotten a good response from the staff.
  
Susan Miles
Eastern Elementary School
Traverse City, MI  49686
 
Tools of the Trade  
Discover Diigo!  http://www.diigo.com
 
Diigo is my new favorite web 2.0 tool.  I learned about it at the Wayne County REMC meeting when Jeff Trudell did a professional development session for our group.
 
Diigo is a social bookmarking tool but so much more.  Not only can you save your favorite bookmarks to Diigo but you can follow individuals and groups just like in Twitter.   I am currently following and contributing to a number of groups, Web 2.0 classroom, Ipods and Itouch in the classroom, Interactive smartboards and the METS groups.  Teachers from all venues that are interested in these same topics save their favorite websites or best new finds and I am notified via email of new updates.  I can also follow specific individuals who I find have the same interests I have.  This new tool has given me a wealth of new information in just the few months I've been using it.  Give it a try~I think you'll be a convert!
 
Mary Morrison
Media Specialist
Garden City Middle School
Garden City Public Schools
 
 
Balabolka: text to speech
Balabolka is a text to speech free download that I discovered while taking a grad class in technology at MSU. My project was in Assistive Technology. I was looking for something to help my third grade students who were struggling with the new My Michigan social studies textbook and assessments. The program is simple to use and the students had improved test results because each one heard the test at his own pace. The quality of the computer voice is better than others that I tested.
 
Barb Benford
Library Media Teacher
Round Elementary School
11550 Hibner School
Hartland, MI 48353
[email protected]
Thoughts from Tim... 
Tim Staal
  • It's the shortest month of the year and one of the coldest and the darkest. But the days are getting longer and will soon be getting warmer, and the sun is rising higher in the sky each day: we know that spring will be coming soon.
     
  • At the ALA midwinter meeting in Boston a couple of weeks ago, the AASL Board of Directors, after much debate,  officially adopted the term "school librarian" for our profession.  Here's an article with the details: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6715763.html
From my point of view, the main advantage of calling ourselves "school librarians" is that most non-school folks understand that term much more than "media specialist".  The main disadvantage is that "school librarian"  does not indicate all the complexity of roles and skills we need to do our jobs well.  Many people also do not understand the professional nature of our jobs, requiring the need to be both a certified teacher and a certified librarian. One of our continuing challenges will be to help people learn more about who we school librarians are.
  • There has been some great discussion on our MAME listserve about how we as an organization can do more to help our colleagues who are in danger of losing their jobs or positions as school librarians.  The MAME leadership has been working hard behind the scenes to advocate for school librarians with a number of other groups around the state, but we need you.  I would encourage any school librarian who is interested in becoming more active in advocacy, to join us at the Spring Leadership event, "Chicken Soup for the Media Specialist's Soul" on March 20 in Ann Arbor.  We are planning to add a time of advocacy planning to our agenda for that day. Look for more details to come and join us if you can.
 
Tim Staal, Executive Director 
 
Media Matters! Editors
 Dr. Kafi Kumasi   and   Joanne Steckling
              [email protected]
 
MAME Executive Director
Tim Staal      [email protected] 
 
Database Manager
Liz Lewis     [email protected]
Have you registered yet?
   
Need a shot in the arm?  A little energy boost?  
 
Register now to attend the MAME Spring Leadership Conference, "Chicken Soup for the Media Specialist's Soul". 
 We look forward to seeing you in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan School of Information on
Saturday, March 20th
 
 For complete details, visit the MAME website 
 
 
Registration Deadline is March 13!
Behind the scenes...MAME 37 Fall Conference
 
What's the conference committee up to during the long, cold months of winter?  You might be surprised!

One important job is tying up loose ends from last fall's conference, which is not as simple as you might think. In the recent past, our conference chair, president, and executive director have been involved in "delicate" negotiations to make sure that every item on the hotel bill is in line with our pre-arranged contract.
 
The conference committee is also busy poring over the evaluations from last fall, taking each and every comment and suggestion seriously.  People do indeed read and act on this valuable feedback!
 
At the same time, decisions are now being made about the site arrangements for the 2010 conference-- every hotel and every conference is different, and there are always surprises--like unexpected and costly room charges for internet access, or unexpected rises in basic fees and services that most of us take for granted.  Here's one example:  a 100-serving sheet cake costs a dollar per piece - $100.  However, the mandatory hotel slicing and serving fee is also $1 per piece - doubling the price! 

Stay tuned...by next month, there should be an announcement about author and keynote speaker for the upcoming conference!
What's on your Mind?
What great things are going on in your media center?
 
Has a journal article or book recently inspired you?
 
Found a shortcut, great website, new and improved techie tool?
 
...Or just have a funny story to share?
 
We love to hear from our readers!
 Send your newsletter contributions to
Dr. Kafi Kumasi
Upcoming Events
Feb. 9, 2010
 7 PM
Michael Sullivan:
"Boys and Books"
Round Elem School
Hartland, MI
(see article at left)
 
March 10-12, 2010
"Collaborate, Communicate, Create
Grand Rapids
 
 
March 20-22, 2010
Michigan Reading Association
Cobo Center & Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center
 
 
June 24-29, 2010
Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC
 
 
June 27-30, 2010
Colorado Convention Center, Denver
 
 
Our Sponsors