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President's Column
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Greetings ~
2013 was a very interesting year for me. It started with serving as your President and representing MAME at ALA Midwinter in Seattle and will end with MAME in great hands for the future, and me in a 3rd grade classroom.
The Spring Leadership in Marshall was an event that I was looking forward to. I was excited to learn how to write apps. Unfortunately, a death in the family and extremely icy roads prevented me from attending that. I heard that it was a great opportunity for the people who were able to attend. Kudos to Rachel Markel for planning it, and Marsha Lambert and Shannon Clark for hosting.
ALA was held in Chicago this year which prevented me from double-dipping and also attending ISTE down in San Antonio. Not only were the meetings interesting, but being able to meet Cory Doctorow and listen to a variety of my old and new favorite Sci-Fi / Fantasy authors talk in a venue with 70 chairs was awesome.
Then, I was able to go to Saginaw twice this summer. Once for Summer Institute which was successful both in program and attendance. And again in September, I returned to see Kay Wejrowski receive the Follett School Library Program of the Year award. That was a incredible experience and brought tears to my eyes when I saw the entire student body of her high school giving her a standing ovation. Congratulations to Kay for not only planning and hosting a fabulous Summer Institute but for also winning such a deserving award.
Finally, MAME 40 in Kalamazoo was a success. It had wonderful special guests, fantastic presenters, a large group of exhibitors, and, for me, no sudden flu the night of the President's Gala. Kathy Lester and her committee put on a fantastic conference in a great venue.
I know that Kathy and Gwenn Marchesano, our incoming President-Elect, will do fantastic in their time as MAME leadership team.
I am honored to have served you. Thank you for entrusting me with MAME, and enjoy your Christmas vacations.
Tom Tom Stream, MAME President |
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MAME Award Winners!
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Congratulations to this year's MAME Award Winners!! We asked award winners to give a little insight in how they were nominated and how winning the award has helped to promote their programs.
Promotion of School Library Media Program: Swan Valley High School Library Media Center, Kay Wejrowski, School Librarian
"Swan Valley High School Library Media Center received the award for promotion of school libraries because our entire staff and student body work to promote our library. We are fortunate that our school community embraces literacy and reading. It starts with the leadership at the administrative level and continues with our students who lead the student book club and regularly suggest books and titles for our collection." --Kay Wejrowski
Margaret Grazier Award for Contribution to the Profession - Lynn Gordon, Independence and Andersonville Elementary Schools
"I was shocked! to receive the letter that informed me that I was the 2013 recipient of the Margaret Grazier Award for Contribution to the Profession. Me? Really? There are others that have done so much more and have worked so much longer as school librarians and for MAME and AASL. I was absolutely honored and thrilled - it is my first award, other than when I guessed the weight of the giant pumpkin in second grade (that was a pretty big deal).
One of my colleagues in my district had nominated me, Denise Lovse, our high school librarian. We had attended ALA together last summer and she was able to meet some of the wonderful people that I have gotten to know through my work with MAME and AASL over the years. I am not sure what she saw that weekend, but whatever it was, it inspired her to write the nomination.
Having my superintendent attend the awards ceremony was wonderful, not just because it showed that I had Dr. Rock's support. He is a very warm and caring guy (not a typical comment that you may hear about a superintendent). However, the fact that he heard about all of the award winners and all of the great things that are happening in school libraries around the state painted a perfect picture of what libraries should be - a perfect advocacy message if there ever was one.
Thank you Denise, thank you Clarkston Community Schools, and thank you MAME!" -- Lynn Gordon
School Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award: Shelley Lazarus, Eastover Elementary School
"I was simply talking to a colleague about nominating our principal when he said, "Too bad there's not some award you could get for that awesome unit we teamed on this year." When I told him there actually was an award for collaboration between media specialists and teachers, he said, "Send it to me right now. You're so deserving. I'd be happy to do it." Sadly, at the end of last school year he resigned from his position at our school to follow his dream of moving to California. I had kind of forgotten about the nomination. Come October, when I received the letter from MAME indicating I had won, I knew he had followed through. It almost made it even more meaningful as our school was involved in a district consolidation about 5 years ago and he was one of the first staff to really welcome me and immediately indicated he wanted to work with me to make the media center an extension of his classroom. Getting to see the special video he made so he could still "present" the award to me, all the way from California, totally made my night!" -- Shelley Lazarus
Service Award for School Administrators: Letitia Tappin, Eastover Elementary School
"I nominated my principal, Letitia Tappin for the MAME Award for Service to Administrators. My principal is a tireless advocate for our school as a whole but she is definitely one of my biggest supporters and cheerleaders. She does so many things "behind the scenes" to make things happen, but rarely gets the recognition and kudos I believe she deserves, especially within our District. ( I don't know a politically correct way to say that!!) There were a couple of issues we faced last school year which involved trying to advocate for more technology/devices in our building and she was instrumental in working with me on an appropriate evaluation for me in my role as the building media specialist when the state handed down the new law about teacher evaluations. Beyond her typical support, both administratively and financially, of the media center, building technology, and my position, these other two issues were critical in strengthening relationships with my building colleagues and making our media center and school more positively and prominently visible in our district as a proactive, student-centered school. When I saw the deadline for the awards had been extended, I thought that was a sign that I was meant to nominate her, so I did." -- Shelley Lazarus
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LMS Get Loud!
Outreach to Parents
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School Library Media Specialists provide services to students every day. Students are the heart of the library and everything School Librarians do revolves around increased student achievement.
Students can be a powerful advocate group for the school library. Below are some ideas at getting student groups involved and active in the library. If you have other ideas, please share them with the MAME listserv or email Kathy Lester at kathyL@mimame.org.
* Have a group of students read a book that 'pairs' with a community project. After reading the book; raise money for the charity or do community work. High school examples include:
- Read a book like Arc of Justice and then have student groups work on Habitat for Humanity
- Read a book about abuse and bring in speakers and raise money for Child Abuse and Neglect Councils
* If students are involved in other service learning projects, find a way to involve the library. Examples include:
- During a school-wide food drive for the local food pantry, offer overdue fine amnesty in exchange for canned goods.
- Offer to be the drop-off point for donations during the clothing drive.
- Offer to be a teacher coordinator to work with students on a service project
* Have groups of students help design and create bulletin boards for the library or have them make decorations for the library for the holidays.
* Work with counselors and administrators to identify students that could use some one-on-one time in a no-stress zone (the library!). You can have these students assist you in the library.
* Involve the student council or other student groups in a fund raiser for the library. Examples include:
- Have students make recommendations for books for the library; then, raise money through a bake sale (or other simple fund raiser) to buy the books that students have recommended.
- Recruit students to serve on a student crew for your book fair. They can take on promotional tasks as well as provide student recommendations for books coming to the fair.
* Get students involved in providing book recommendations or book reviews. Examples include:
- Have a book review contest for students
- Work with teachers to have students write book reviews in your online catalog (if the catalog has this feature)
- Use a 'reading grafitti' wall for recommendations
* Hold 'Special Events' for students in the library. Examples include:
- 'Pop Open a Good Book' - watch Book Trailers with students while they munch on popcorn
- 'Books and Bytes' - have snacks for students and give them time to recommend and share information on books
- Have a story telling session - such as scary stories around Halloween time
* Involve students in a having a signing for the "Declaration for the Right to Libraries."
If you have some ideas about advocating with parents, please share them on the MAME Listserv or
email Kathy Lester at kathyL@mimame.org.
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Gigi Lincoln partners with Holocaust Survivor
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Holocaust survivor and artist Dr. Miriam Brysk teamed with Gigi Lincoln for a presentation on November 16 at the AASL 16th National Conference on "Teaching the Holocaust through the Art of Survivor Miriam Brysk."
Although Miriam was unable to actually travel to Hartford, Connecticut from Ann Arbor, she was able to with Gigi using Adobe Connect Meeting. The following week, Gigi and Miriam 'reprised' the session at MAME. Fortunately for both presenters and attendees, both Miriam and Gigi were present in Kalamazoo!
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| App of the Month | |
Below is this month's featured
"app of the month". If you would like to suggest an app, please email your idea to: Judy Hauser
judy.hauser@oakland.k12.mi.us
Any app will be considered whether it is for productivity, utility, or fun.
Around Me
Free
Android, iPad, iPhone, and Windows phones
AroundMe is a very helpful app that will locate the nearest bank, pharmacy, restaurant, movie, movie theatre, hospital, gas station, coffee shop, pub, hotel, parking, grocery store and taxi. Choose one of these categories and the list of results gives you the address and mileage to thelocation (or in settings choose kilometer/meter for units of measurement). Tap on the location and you get a map, phone number and web site URL. From there you have options to share the information through messaging, email, Facebook or AirDrop (for iOS7), add to Favorites, add to Contacts and select the routing application. The first routing application is Maps and you choose either "walking" or "driving." The second is Scout by Telenav and the third is Waze. If you are looking for gas stations the results list also lists the price of Unleaded gas and when it was listed (1hour ago, 3 hours ago). This app is extremely helpful especially if you are in an area that is not familiar to you.
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Study Abroad in New Zealand
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Attending a professional conference gives us a much needed shot in the arm to go back to our jobs re-energized and ready to try something new. As you reflect on the MAME conference and digest all that you learned and shared, I'd like to share with you another experience and opportunity that bolsters the feeling of belonging to a professional community. A few years ago a notice came through the MAME listserv about a graduate class for librarians in Scotland offered by the University of Wisconsin/Whitewater. Since the renewal of my professional teaching certificate was due in a year, I registered to take the six credit class. It was the one the best experiences of my professional and personal life. A group of fifteen librarians traveled to Edinburgh where we were placed in a school library for week with a professional librarian. Being in a school with access to teachers and students was an exciting, exhausting time. I had the opportunity to visit a rural one room school, join a high school field trip to a community college and visit a middle school. The second week of class was in session format with speakers from the national library, universities and we visited their equivalent to a REMC or ISD. Not only did we have our Scottish counterparts to engage with, we had the cohort of American educators to discuss and exchange experiences with. Visiting Harry Potter sites, the botanical garden, the state fair and of course the Edinburgh castle were just a few of the tourist attractions we had time to visit. The last requirement for the class was to travel for a week - whew - that was really tough! My husband and I took ten days to explore Scotland, and could have used another week. It is such a small dot on the map, but there is a lot to see. When the Whitewater class to Australia was announced two years ago, I didn't hesitate to register even though I really didn't need the credits to validate my teaching certificate until I'm 67! That course was not specifically for librarians, it was a comparative education class. It was also different in that we were hosted by a teacher for two weeks for our housing. I think that just added to the experience, the opportunity living with someone in another country. Even though I was with an English teacher, I spent lots of time with the librarian. We also had a week of professional sessions where we met with an Aboriginal educator and the director of the state library association. Again the requirement to travel for a week was icing on the cake. New Zealand is even smaller that Scotland, but takes a lot more time to see. It was a fantastic trip. So if combining education and travel sounds interesting to you, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater is offering a course in New Zealand in 2014. Too bad I cannot justify another class, because New Zealand was fantastic and I would love to go back. The course is set up the same was as Australia, you are housed with a host from a school. If you are adventurous and want to experience another culture, and need (or not) graduate credit, and want to be validated at a professional, this is a great opportunity. Visit the University of Wisconsin's College of Education & Professional Studies website for more information on the New Zealand study abroad course.Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Lisa Evey, Bloomfield Hills Middle School @ levey@bloomfield.org |
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Cheers & Tears
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a teacher librarian at Novi High School has recently learned she met the requirements and passed the tests to become a National Board Certified teacher in the Early Childhood through Young Adulthood/Library Media area. Bethany says although earning the certification was a great deal of work she is very excited!
Congratulations Bethany!!
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Region & SIGS Corner
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Thank you to the MAME Region Reps who held engaging and insightful shoptalks at MAME 40 this year.
Margo Staunton - MAMSA
Michael French -ELEM
Karen Becknell -MS
Sara Brown -HS
Lois Smits -PPIC
Klaudia Janek -IB
We have many openings for region reps. If you are interested please contact Gwenn Marchesano, VP Regions & SIGs, at gmarchesano@mimame.org.
Thank you!
Gwenn Marchesano
VP Regions & SIGs
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 The MACUL Annual Conference is just a few months away and the MACUL SIGMS will be offering three exciting preconference sessions. The conference will be held at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids on March 12-14th.
Please join us for the following sessions:
- "No Instruction is Complete without E-Resources from the Michigan eLibrary" - by Deb Biggs-Thomas - 8:30 am-12:00pm
- "Triple E Framework of Technology Integration" - by Liz Kolb - 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm
- "Getting Started with Digital Badges" - by Angela Elkordy - 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm
For more details and information about the full MACUL 2014 conference visit the 2014 MACUL Conference site.
Click here to register for the conference now.
We will also be holding our annual membership meeting at the Bull's Head Tavern from 5:00 - 6:00 pm on Thursday, March 13th. Appetizers will be provided.We'll be holding our election for Director and Communications Officer. Be sure to join us!!
SIGMS now has over 300 members and we'd love to have more. Please continue to help us recruit members. Membership in MACUL and SIGMS is FREE!! MACUL members can joing SIGMS anytime by visiting macul.org/membership.
Erik Drake, MACUL SIGMS Director
Amy Lambries, MACUL SIGMS Assistant Director
Erica Trowbridge, MACUL SIGMS Communications Officer.
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Send Your News!
Tell us about your successes, your struggles, your amazing discoveries.
Email your newsletter editor, Shannon Clark with stories that should be shared.
We'd love to hear from you!
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| MAME 40 Thank Yous! | |
MAME 40 was a huge success and could not have been done without the hard work and help of so many dedicated individuals. Together, you all helped bring a wonderful conference to life!
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A special thank you to MAME 40:
- Keynote Speaker, Barbara Stripling
- Annual Meeting Speaker, Nancy Robertson
 - Author Breakfast Speakers, David Small and Sarah Stewart
- Closing Keynote Speaker, Tim Shanahan
- Featured Speakers, Cindy Dobrez, Lynn Rutan, and Travis Jonker
- Pre-conference Presenters, Marcia Mardis, Melissa White, Melinda Waffle
- Sue Warner and Jill Lansky of Kalamazoo Public Library for organizing and hosting the Collaboration Pre-conference.
- The Collaboration Panelists - Brandy Archer, MDE; Melissa Middleton, Lake Orion High School; Kristen Remenar, Orion Township Public Library; Laura Warren-Gross, Kalamazoo Public Library; Stewart Fritz, Kalamazoo Public Library; Patsy Richardson, Kalamazoo Public Schools; Sue Warner, Kalamazoo Public Library
- Author Cavalcade Speakers, Karin and Darrin Brege, Jim C. Hines, Lyn Miller-Lachman, Michael Spradlin, Mary Morgan, Lori Taylor, Anita Pinson
Thank you to the entire MAME 40 Conference Committee!
- Author Liaison- Cyndi Phillips
- Awards-Lisa Brakel
- Database Manager-Karen Becknell
- Edmodo-Erica Trowbridge & Klaudia Janek
- Evaluations-Carol Pittard
- Exhibits/Treasurer-Bruce Popejoy
- Headquarters-Dee Gwaltney
- Local Arrangements-Rachel Markel & Jeanna Walker
- Local Authors-Sally Sewell & Jo Kirkbride
- MAME4Ever-Teri Belcher & Annette Haley
- Past President-Sue Lay
- Pre-Conferences- Carma Roesch
- President-Tom Stream
- Printed Program-Erica Trowbridge
- Program Sessions-Julie Harris & Karen Becknell
- Publicity-Lori Veurink
- Roundtables-Cynthia Kleinheksel
- SCECH-Julie Harris
- Secretary-Marsha Lambert
- Special Events-Lynn Gordon
- Volunteer Coordinator -Gwenn Marchesano
- Webmaster-Julie Harris
A huge thank you to Wayne State University's Library and Information Science Program for sponsoring a reception at the MAME 40 Conference. The food and conversations were great Thank you to Dr. Kafi Kumasi and Dr. Dian Walster for hosting the reception at the conference.
Thank you to:
- Silver Sponsor -Follett
- Bronze Sponsor - Northern Kentucky University: Library Career Development
Thank you to the organizations and companies who provided prizes, samples, and support- - American Library Association (ALA)
- Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL)
- Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME)
- Libraries Unlimited
- Booklist
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Techsmith
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MAME4Ever
Thank you to the Exhibitors-
- ABDO Family of Educational Publishers
- Baker & Taylor
- Books Galore, Inc
- Bound to Stay Bound
- Britannica Digital Learning
- Capstone Publishing
- Cengage Learning
- Crabtree Publishing
- Cherry Lake/Sleeping Bear Press
- EasyBib
- Ebsco
- Follett
- Junior Library Guild
- Library of Michigan
- Lowry's Books
- Mango Languages
- MI Learning on iTunes U
- Michigan Virtual University
- Norwood House Press
- Nystrom/Strata Logic
- Overdrive
- Perma-Bound Books
- ProQuest
- Scholastic Library Publishing
- Scott Electric
- Western Michigan University
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MAME Membership
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IT'S TIME TO JOIN MAME OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!
Please don't allow your MAME membership to expire...stay connected to other school librarians across the state.
MAME needs your support now more than ever and YOU need the support provided by MAME through its advocacy on the state and national levels.
So please take a few minutes to
complete the online membership form at:
http://www.mimame.org/join-mame.html
You can pay for your membership by check or by using the PayPal option. You do not need a PayPal account to use your credit card. If you wish to add SIG membership(s), please read the instructions carefully and check your shopping cart before completing the form.
Karen Becknell
MAME Database Manager
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MAME4Ever Membership
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Joining the retirees is very simple and quite obviously fun!
When you retire, just pay your lifetime membership to MAME and you become a member of the elite group MAME4Ever.
Why would you want to do that?
- Attend the annual conference for FREE!
- Get rid of your "library/school" stuff at our auction at the conference
- Help support MAME
- Start each school year with a fantastic get-a-way
Many of you may have lost your library or become overwhelmed in your position, but knowing you have this wonderful group of friends is such a blessing. We also go into libraries to volunteer with special projects, if a request is made.
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| Upcoming Events |
February 5, 2014
March 9-15, 2014
March 12-14, 2014
DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, MI
June 28 - July 1, 2014
Atlanta, GA
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ISTE 2014
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ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education, offers an outstanding conference each year for library media specialists, teachers, administrators, and technology coordinators. The conference demonstrates the latest technology in education, while providing an opportunity for educators to collaborate. ISTE has been a leading association in the world educational technology for more than 30 years and has continued to offer engaging experiences at each conference.
This year, educators of all grade levels will gather in Atlanta, Georgia for ISTE 2014. Why should you consider attending?
- "Four full days brimming with robust, inspirational professional learning opportunities that will help you build the skills to support digital age learning
- Unlimited networking opportunities with nearly 18,000 educators, education leaders and corporate representatives from around the globe
- Three powerful keynote addresses from ed tech leaders and experts
- The opportunity to choose from hundreds of sessions in a variety of formats, including lectures, BYODs and hands-on learning environments
- Access to a massive expo hall featuring the latest ed tech products and services from more than 500 companies and 1,400 industry reps
- One-year standard membership to ISTE"
Don't wait, register today! Early bird housing opens Nov. 7, 2013.
For full conference details and registration click the link below.
ISTE 2014
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What's on
Your Mind? |
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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
Shannon Clark @
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