Welcome Spring!
As temperatures slowly start to warm up, many of our thoughts turn to sunny days, gardening, and spring cleaning.

Just a short time ago MAME members met for some spring cleaning of our
own. Members gathered at DeWitt High School on March 26 for our annual
Spring Leadership conference. This year we focused on highlighting some of our key partners and refocusing MAME's strategic plan. We heard from Ric Wiltse from MACUL and Sheryl Mase from the Library of Michigan. Both
organizations continue to be strong supporters of MAME and continue to seek input from MAME members. We also heard from our executive director Tim Staal regarding ISTE, especially the ISTE SIG-MS. This special interest group offers several professional development activities. Tim often posts updates from the SIG on the MAME list, but you can also gather more information at:
http://www.iste.org/connect/special-interest-groups/sig-directory/sigms.aspx


After hearing from our collaborators, we moved into refining MAME's vision statement and strategic plan. It has been quite some time since work was done on the Strategic Plan and it was in definite need of a "spruce up". As we all know, many things have changed the past few years and our plan needed to be updated to reflect that. After using colored dots to highlight areas that needed work, members spent time
discussing in small and large groups how to refocus our goals. We accomplished a great deal. Some things were thrown out, some things were updated and new goals were added as well.

It was a full and productive day. Thanks to all those who helped with their input. The revisions that were made will now be looked at by the MAME board and will then be presented at the General Meeting during our Fall Conference in Lansing.

Before closing, I want to remind AASL members to remember to vote in the annual ALA elections. Polls are open until April 22 and we have two candidates from MAME running: Lynn Gordon for Region III director-elect and Karen Lemmons for AASL treasurer.

Thanks for all you do! 

Rachel Markel, MAME President

Tim Staal, Executive Director

From MAME's Gov't Relations Chair

Region Corner 

App of the Month! 

Below are this month's featured "apps of the month."  If you would like to suggest an app, please email your idea to judy.hauser@oakland.k12.mi.us. Any app will be considered whether it is for productivity, utility or fun!  

Dropbox
Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry
Free
This app lets you share and sync files between your computer and your mobile device. Browse the files in your Dropbox folder wherever and whenever.

FactBook (Urbian)
Android (iPhone, Blackberry have similar apps)
Free
FactBook is a reference app that gives you access to the CIA World Fact Book and United Nations data and statistics. You may also compare stats between two countries.  

Cheers & Tears 

 

Sue Lay, MAME President-Elect and School Librarian at Derby Middle School in Birmingham, is happy to report that Dale Emery Taylor (her grandson) was born shortly after she returned from the ALA conference.  Everyone is doing well and Dale is adorable!  He is wearing his "Born to Read" hat which Sue purchased in San Diego.  Congrats to Sue!
 

Also, Sue purchased a book at the ALA booth on the same day - The Librarian's Book of Lists. She reports that it was a pleasant surprise to see "Martha Spear's Top 10 Reasons to be a Librarian" in the book. #4-Great conferences! Martha is the School Librarian at Berkley High School. Kudos to you, Martha!   

 

Pat Klein, Media Specialist at St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, and her husband are thrilled about the birth of their second grandchild, Ian Jacob Vanker, who was born Thursday, March 24.  

Margaret Lincoln of Lakeview High School in Battle Creek reports: "On March 21, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder accepted our invitation to give the keynote speech at the National Honor Society Induction ceremony. The Governor is a 1976 graduate of Lakeview. Politics and economics aside, he does represent one of our most illustrious alumni! Because the Induction took place during the course of the school day, we were able to broadcast/stream the ceremony to classes that were in session at the high school.

We invited all faculty who had been on board in 1976. I'm the only one still on staff from that era. These teachers were recognized during the Induction including Rick Snyder's 94-year old Government teacher who was in attendance! The Governor shook hands with all new inductees as they were called up on stage to receive their membership cards from Principal Chris Doyle ... a variation on the Kalamazoo Central High School Commencement with President Obama last June :-)

During the ceremony, we presented the Governor with a "Spartan Gift Bag" including a Lakeview sweatshirt and a 1976 vinyl recording of the Lakeview marching band in which Snyder played tenor saxophone.

Lakeview High School National Honor Society President Adam O'Neill summed up the importance of the afternoon: "It was an amazing experience for me; the Governor is a personal role model of mine. Regardless of your political stance, he represents all those characters on which the National Honor Society is based: leadership, service, character and scholarship." "

If you know of an event in a MAME member's life (marriage, birth, death, change in job, award, etc.) that you would like to have included in a future Cheers & Tears section, please forward the information to the Media Matters Editors at:

mediamatters.mame@gmail.com

We hope that you can join MAME in Lansing for the  

MAME 38 Fall Conference!  Mark your calendars for

 November 2-4! 

MAME 38 -

Libraries@Future.Now 

MAME Spring Leadership Conference:  

Framing MAME's Future

On Saturday, March 26th, a group of MAME members attended the Spring leadership conference at DeWitt High School Library.  The group learned about partnerships with other organizations and worked on the strategic plan.  A huge thank you to all MAME members who attended and contributed to Framing MAME's Future!!  Below are some pictures from the conference.

Rachel Markel leading discussion 

 Rick Wiltse from MACUL with Sue Lay

Sheryl Mase from the Library of Michigan, Tim Staal, and Lynn Gordon 

  Gwenn Marchesano and Karen Becknell 

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Michigan Reading Association Conference in March in Grand Rapids.  I went to several very informative sessions.

Two speakers who I really enjoyed, Donalyn Miller (author of The Book Whisper) and Kelly Gallagher (author of Reading Reasons and Readicide) shared a similar message that is near and dear to many of our hearts--  students need to read more!!

Both of these speakers highlighted relevant research about reading.

Donalyn Miller's presentation (along with quotes about reading) can be found at: 

http://www.slideshare.net/Donalynm/creating-a-classroom-where-readers-flourish