Head to Toe

HEAD...

Now that I am home, I've had some time to refelct on yet another great MAME experience. Marcia Mardis gave a great closing keynote calling for committment to go back to our schools and ACT. She gave out postcards, reminding us she would be mailing them to us, so we could take our "next steps" being a force for change and shaping our own destinies. For my own follow-up, I sat down today with one of my fifth grade teachers to discuss the finer points of blogging or trying a wiki with one of his fifth graders' projects. While he started out giving me the "I-don't have-time-for-everything-I want-to-do!" whine, it ended with "Yeah, that would be cool!" line. That's all I need - a foot in the proverbial door...I'll make it happen.

I want to thank all the people who shared their great ideas, their unfailing support, their hearty laughs, their provacative conversation -- it's what brings me home rarin' to go once again in this job I love so much.

TO TOE...

With that, I challenge you to do something to get your foot in the proverbial door. BTW, it might help if you have shoes like these...

MAME 34: Day 2

A program similar to mine caught my attention for the 2:15 P.M. slot, "Literacy through comic art." The energy and passion of the three presenters for the subject was palpable, the collaboration between school librarian and classroom teachers, even in separate school districts, was admirable, and the bibliography was helpful; I will be referring to some of the professional literature they cite (specifically, Mike Schmoker's Results Now book) for my own graphic novel programs of the future. I find it intriguing that the teachers use Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics as the textbook for their class, as a framework for their instruction, as I also believe it's the best reference for accessing the literary elements of graphic novels.

Collecting the handouts from the MAME Presentations Wiki page helps augment my attendance at the conference, because, as stated earlier, it's frustrating to make the choice about which session to attend when there are compelling concurrent choices. And even when attending sessions themselves, having access to the presentations allows the attendee the ability to download the material, digest it, and perhaps even extend it for their own use. It's a copy and paste world, as long as we properly cite our sources.

My program was scheduled for the unfortunate 'after lunch' period at 1:00 P.M., and I somehow pulled it off, despite the two folks that fell asleep. Coming off the lunch hour, I was able to access the room early and set up the laptop, projector, plug in the power cords and speaker wires, arrange the handouts and biscotti, and still leave plenty of time to go over my notes. It was notable that MAME 34 equipment chair, and former GLPS Technology Director, Steve Wyckoff, helped by providing speakers and a longer monitor cable. I thought to bring biscotti because of a story an old friend and colleague of mine from Isle Royale National Park told me back in 1992: he brought grinders to his thesis defense to encourage a bit of warm interest.

My presentation style -- whether thanking parents and giving awards at a sports banquet or lecturing students on information literacy in the library or giving a chat like this -- is to pace around, involve the entire audience. In the library with our students, this pacing between tables amongst the listeners is a synergy between the activity and brain function, but primarily it's crowd control, pure and simple. One can only hope that when presenting in other venues, away from students, that behavior is one of the last worries for the presenter. Time and timing were issues, as when I glanced at my watch to note that there was scant 10 minutes remaining, yet I hadn't covered a significant portion of my program, including the booktalking/bibliography.

A critical self analysis told me that having my watch on my wrist, and referring to it thusly, was a bit brusque. Some other points that I will change for the future: curiously, and I am aware, that I address the audience on my left side more than my right, which should be more balanced; my slides will contain the covers of the books I'm discussing, and I will scan and provide the literary examples I want to discuss in the presentation as well; the statistical reports I ran from our library automation software will also be embedded in the presentation, rather than in the separate application (which I initially felt lended more authenticity).

Thursday evening I was treated to dinner at the Aerie, an eye-popping 16th floor restaurant within the Grand Traverse Resort. We were seated on the western side of the facility, affording a great view of the Bay, and the sunset. The food was mixed: the pumpkin soup was a surprise treat, the Oberon was its usual brilliance, the beef short rib entree was fatty and wanting, yet the prices were akin to the view: outrageous. Friday, I took a slightly alternate route on the way home, something more direct from the Grand Traverse Resort, and more rural, which was a delight considering the weather and the leaves. The drive, as my commuting colleagues say, clears the head.

Some more reflections

In thinking about yesterday's events and reading Shelley's post, I would need to expand on some things. I am new to the media center this year in a new district. My predecessor retired and the school district could have done what so many districts have done and not replaced him. However, the admin. in my new district is very supportive of the program, which is odd and here is why. My predecessor did nothing for the last several years. When asked to teach, he balked. I found a complete mess in the high school and weeded like a mad woman before school started. I took this positionl because the admin. assured me that they needed someone who would make the changes to the position to bring it up to speed. I am working K-12 and loving it. I am able to work mostly with elementary and high school teachers and students. Now, based on that background and what I heard yesterday, many people are still in situations in which their admin. may eliminate their positions. At the multi-assignment group meeting, it was a vent fest, which seems to be the case for all group meetings. This can really be a good thing and a safe place for people to share just how things are with others who can relate. Fortunately for me, I could not relate to many of the issues. What I learned from that is that I really have a unique admin. who values me even though my predecessor was not good. I can pretty much do any good thing and get wows. The others in the group are underappreciated by their admin. I guess my point is, admin. is key in order for the profession to stay and advance. My old school district did not value this position even though she was phenomenal. In changing districts I have been able to see exactly how valuable I am to the district. In some admin. eyes, no matter how much the SLMS is out there doing and working, if they do not value the position, they will eliminate it anyway. My own opinion here, but the admin. only see $$$, they don't think of the kids, the staff, etc. In my old district, where there isn't a certified SLMS any more, the teachers are working with me through email to get some help they need. I can't do it all, but I'm certainly going to try because they deserve that.

I guess I'm off on a tangent, but this comes from meeting with so many people who are in situations that can just be hard. What I learned in classes at WSU is that we just need to make ourselves present and do whatever we can to prove our necessity. We need to do that as teachers just as much as we need to do that as the SLMS. Mr. Hartzell made a good point yesterday (and this is a paraphrase) that the other teachers think we are not teachers or that we don't remember what it was like to be teachers when we step into the new shoes. Just because our classrooms are not assigned to the students, doesn't mean that we don't know what is going on. It's essential that no matter what we do, we do our best and we show case that however we can to the powers that be.

I hope that makes sense.
Carma

Taking Stock

Reflecting on the posts today, it seems to me that many are reaching that "I'm-biting-off-more-than-I-can-chew-and-still-have-four-sessions-to-attend!" point that comes at most good professional development gatherings. The flush of excitement and can-do attitude prompted by the first flurry of sessions gives way to the realization that Rome, or your library, wasn't built in a day. I see the validity, and sincerity, in the variety of views posted. Yes, we as media specialists should be at the "front of the wagon." Yes, many of the people at the MAME shop talks used them as a forum to vent about their horrible situations. Yes, it's often hard to take everything in and hope you can return home and make some sense of it all... or even better, actually DO something with whatever you have learned. Yes, even though I have an LMS job, I do often worry where all the other bright folks in my classes will end up when they've completed their coursework. But I also try to keep in mind that I am one person, with 24 hours in a day (of which not enough of those hours lately have involved sleep or working on my research proposal due for class this week...but I digress.) It's time to let all of the ingredients of the past couple days begin to simmer and bubble. Let the best of what we've taken from these experiences rise to the top and perhaps give us a focus for two or three things we choose to go back and implement or act upon immediately. Then, stay committed to those practices as you go back and add or refine another idea you can implement from the conference. Then another. Then another. Just don't go back to business as usual. Gary Hartzell told us, "Don't mistake the edge of the rut you're in for the horizon." Joyce Valenza told us "There's no time to wait for the research." To me, they are saying we need to stay positive, stay focused and stay committed to trying to DO something within our grasp every day -- maybe even something that seems out of our grasp. I believe much of what I will take away from this conference will enable me to do that.

Which brings me to a Zen saying that I saw earlier this week:

"Leap -- and the net will appear."

Use these conferences as your springboard. Prepare to take your leap...

MAME 34: Day 1

The collaboration theme for MAME 34, and this morning's keynote speaker, Gary Hartzell, were a marriage of timeliness that is required by Michigan's school librarians. We all recognize, or have been directly affected by the economic and funding issues that are plaguing Michigan public schools. We all are going to require enhanced public relevance -- even though research has demonstrated that effective school library programs positively affect student achievement -- in attempts at avoiding the chopping block. And, the acknowledged benefits of collaboration with classroom teachers is our means for enhancing the educational bottom line, and, in turn, our own status as well.

Inevitably, attendance decisions need to be made with conflicting MAME sessions, and I was interested in hearing about Follett's TitleMap product, the Teamwork session hosted by Okemos High School Librarian Sandy Fields, and the session on a high school library curriculum, but I chose MeLCat and Basic Search Techniques. MeLCat has huge potential for Michigan's residents, and the Grand Ledge High School Library already thoroughly utilizes MeL, but the cost is out of our hands at this point. William Weare's session was informative, and I liked how he classified the 4 types of searches performed on search engines: tips and tricks, basic search, advanced search, and pre-searches done to make actual searches more effective.

Some other quick reflections on the conference:

• I think MAME's recent (last year?) decision to begin awarding SB-CEUs is solid, considering the requirements for the Professional Certification.
• It was encouraging for the organization to hear that conference attendance is up this year.
  
• The weather has been splendid, perfect for taking in the fall colors while driving or walking.
• Speaking of the drive, Traverse City is a pleasure to visit, but pretty distant for the majority of the downstate population's commute. I suppose it's only fair that the northern members have closer access to the geographically-rotating conference, yet I would speculate that the bulk of the members live south of Mt. Pleasant.
  

Recall your time in education classes back in undergrad, and the emphasis on beginning each class with an objective. I still teach in the same way. My objectives for tomorrow: I am looking forward to the "Creating a boy zone" session from my mid-Michigan neighbor, Maryanne Boylan at Bath High School; and, I am anticipating having an informative, interactive session on graphic novels. See you there.

First Day at First MAME -- Ups and Downs

This is my first MAME conference. Like Cheryl, I'm a student in school media and suppose I'm close enough now to graduation and have learned enough that it's time to learn some more from the professionals as well as the academics (no offense intended here.) I admit to having mixed feelings after my first day. I think there is great promise in this field, but I am concerned that opportunity will pass the profession by and we will be left with few or no positions and little or no influence over what we hold to be important.

So, the ups --
1. They keynote address by Gary Hartzell was certainly entertaining and a great way to start the morning. His talk, "The Connected Librarian: Why Would Someone Want to Collaborate with You?" emphasized the important values/characteristics that one who wants to be collaborated with needs to have. This reminded me of Marcia's talk in my University of Michigan School of Information class, where we discussed what we needed to do to attract the other "species" meaning the classroom teacher (my words, not hers). Gary included some don'ts in his talk, like don't collaborate with the so-so teacher just to make him/her look better.
2. My first breakoutgroup session, on booktalks. Joanne Steckling, from my kids' school district, led this discussion and had some great ideas and shortcuts on how to run booktalks. The emphasis here seemed to be more on our job to encourage literacy -- we seem to focus a lot, especially as the kids get older, on information literacy. She didn't say information literacy wasn't important, just wanted to value encouraging kids and reading, especially at the middle school age, which she viewed as one of the last chances to get them into reading.
3. I met a lot of interesting people, and ran into some old friends, who have encouraged me along this path with volunteer opportunities and guidance.
4. The Your-LearnPort/net Trekker session was good -- on how to use their page's application to help with differentiated instruction. Unfortunately, to use their stuff anywhere but on your own/teacher/media specialist's computer (combined with a projector to demonstrate to kids) you have to pay for a subscription. It had lots of cool applications, which I can hopefully explore a bit more.

Okay, now the downs:
1. I met a nice high school librarian while waiting in line to pick up a free book giveaway. She had lots of nice things to say about her job and the field in general, but said the most discouraging thing: "Gee, I hope there are jobs for you when you finish your program." I hope so too.
2. I went to the middle school shop talk session, initally focused on collaboration. When the moderator first asked if people had examples of collaboration, there were a few contributors, but most seemed to say they did it on the fly and didn't have examples to share. The session moved from a productive discussion to one where people were expressing dissatisfaction with their jobs, schools, administrators, etc. I wish it could have been more productive, with the moderator noting some specific areas of concern and then asking for suggestions from the audience. Some members had some great ideas -- others definitely sounded very frustrated. Hearsay says the elementary school session was pretty similar.

I find I'm on a learning curve again -- new expressions, words, ideas to learn. Sometimes in sessions I'm a bit confused, but try to keep up with notes, hoping it will all gel together in the end (or someday).

Until tomorrow,

The day's events

What a day it has been. Up and early to find some good eats only to find a muffin. We will need to do better tomorrow. The coffee was good though.

The keynote speaker this morning, Mr. Hartzell, was fabulous. I greatly enjoyed his ideas about collaboration. I am in a new district as their media specialist and collaborating is the one thing they are not used to. I have been doing my best and this rejuvinated my thought process.

On to the first open session of the morning. I went to learn about TitleMAP which is a tool through Titlewave, etc. It was very informative and can be a very usefule tool. However, for me, we use the Dynix/Horizon system which is not compatible with Titlewise. The first thing that needs to be done is to have your collection analysis completed so they can then create a map of what needs to be done to meet the standards. I am unable to do that kind of collection analysis at this time, but I hope to try to use their features in the future. It was overall very impressive and the use of it would impress the admin. in a district to possibly understand why it is essential to build your collection.

Session two was spent learning about Library Curriculum for students. It was so ironic that I was in this session because the counselor and I were just discussing this issue yesterday. Three wonderful SLMS discussed how they have developed their curriculum if three various ways. It was great to see what they have and I can't wait to take those ideas back to the admin.

After lunch, I visited the vendors and got some free stuff including a new Walter Dean Myers book yet to be available. Then I went to learn about what is new in literature for grades K-8. I am very happy to have the list and now I can put together a wish list to get the best and newest for the kids.

Today has been a great day and I have learned so much. Off to find my group, go to the WSU reception, and get some dinner.

LOL,
Carma

The Treasure from the Mountain

I'm not sure why this event is called Treasure Mountain. People often mistake it for Treasure Island, Space Mountain, or the new roller coaster at Cedar Point. In many ways, it's all of those things and more. Although, when I actually came blinking out into the natural sunlight after two days in an ill-lit ballroom, the event did have a majestic match with its surroundings.

"Do not leave you baggage unattended or it will be confiscated or destroyed." This nearly-continuous PSA on the airport loudspeaker made me wonder about the themes coming out of TM. As media specialists, we have left much of our good baggage, that of being resource providers, connectors, and safe-haven providers to the side in favor of coercing collaboration at all costs, instruction, qualitaty, and personal. We have handed over 50% of the accounting for our success to people who, frankly, have other state-mandated fish to fry. And don't think the kids haven't noticed. Kristin F. pointed me to this post in Doug Johnson's Blue Mammal (I can never remember if it is a skunk or a squirrel) blog by a high school student in my former state of Texas. In her op-ed piece entitled Give Me A Reason, Andrea Drusch discussed openly the gulf between the rhetoric and the realities of school libraries from a consumer perspectives. She calls for some pretty low key, much needed changes. The comments? Well, slash-and-burners like myself cheered for her and lauded the wake-up call; sadly, most of the other comments were from media specialists claiming that they're in touch with young people because they sometimes let listen to their iPods in the library.

It's time to change and we don't have time to wait for permission or research validation.

I think Joyce Valenza did such an excellent job of summing up the final hours of activity on her blog that I won't bother to repeat it. I will just give you all homework and demand that you read it.

The Treasure of the Mountain? The combined brains and energy of professionals that remind us once a year: Do not leave your baggage unattended because it will be confiscated or destroyed.

MAME Conference Day One

I started my day with a fun and informative presentation from Gary Hartzell about collaborative. What a joy it was to hear him speak and what valuable tools he shared. I also attended sessions about using puppets in the library, integrating library lessons with classroom curriculum and using web 2.0 tools. It has been wonderful hearing advice from practicing media specialists. I also attended the University of Michigan alumni luncheon where I enjoyed a delicious lunch, the company of fellow wolverines, and a beautiful view of Traverse City. I'm looking forward to attending the Gala this evening and then its home for me! It's been a great experience and I hope to attend many more MAME conferences.

Secret Agent or Super Hero?

Greetings from an exhausting day at Treasure Mountain. The EST-er is hitting the wall with the time change and endless running around.

It was a big day today--the kind that makes the brain hurt. We began the day with a presentation by Keith Lance about the AASL national study of school libraries. Considering that most of the respondents to his survey were AASL members and probably certified SLMS, his presentation presented a pretty grim picture of the amount of access kids have to the library at all levels as well as what they have access to. Collections are overall not too old, but old in some key places like 500s and 600s. Interesting information, but I have to say, that is so Marcia 3 years ago. The collections issue is kind of deceiving. While it is certainly a cause for concern that book collections in science, math, and health/medicine are old, that doesn't mean that SLMS aren't doing a good job of providing up-to-date and appealing digital resources in these areas.

Then, we broke into roundtable discussions with each table led by a key researcher. The topics ranged from collaboration to reading intervention to school reform to helping kids manage personal information spaces. More about that later.

Lather...rinse...repeat...We did the roundtable thing 3 more times interspersed with other major speakers.

Illinois superintendent Steve Baule probably had the biggest risk of having tomatoes thrown at him by talking about how NCLB was here to stay at least for a while and how SLMS needed to do a better job of engaging with the growing ELL and special ed population. I like to think of his role as that of Celia on Weeds--the ultimate foil. Very provocative.

David Wray from England has the unenviable role of being the post-dinner speaker. Jet-lagged and stuffed full of catered food, we lumbered back into the horribly lit ballroom to be faced with an unassuming man who used no slides, no props, but enchanted us all with his discussion of reading not as a skill but as a tool. He illustrated various situations in which the interpretation of the text was key to cutting through rhetorical games. He used two great examples in particular: the tone of those little signs in hotel bathrooms about not having all the towels washed each day (some are really nice and appealing to the hippie in you, while others are scary and commanding) and the way that scientific writers for many years claimed that women were inferior because their brains were smaller until some genius (probably a woman) pointed out that if you measure brain in proportion to height, the brains were the same size. It's all in interpretation, you see...we each come to reality with out own baggage.

With that said, let me leave you tender technicians with this thought from that lecherous old goat Melvil Dewey:

To my thinking, a great librarian must have a clear head, a strong hand, and above all, a great heart ... and I am inclined to think that most of the men who will achieve this greatness will be women.

[Sorry Chris, don't take it personally--you are a wonderful exception to every rule :) ]

Blogs and Wikis and Copyright...Oh, my!

Toto, we're not in Web 1.0 anymore!

My morning started out with the first of two pre-conference sessions here at MAME 34. Judy Hauser, a consultant from the Oakland Schools ISD presented a great session entitled, "Blogs and Wikis Go to School!" After a brief intro to Web 2.0, Judy jumped right into blogs showing us a few of her favorites. Then, like any good teacher, she made it hands-on by putting us to work on Word Press to begin creating our own blog! Here are the fruits of my labor. (Be sure to leave me a comment or I'll feel it was all for naught...) ;-) One of my favorite things was choosing the "skin" or look for my blog. Word Press not only has lots of great skins, but plenty of other cool features to make you look like a professional from the very first blog. Definitely check it out!

Then it was on to wikis where, once again, Judy put us in the driver's seat to take some idea we had and start our own wiki. The school district in which I work is currently having all the schools come up with a new initiative that will help market our individual schools to increase student enrollment. Often my staff gripes about not having enough time to talk to each other about their feelings or ideas regarding the project...so guess what I created?! You bet -- their own little wiki where they can post their thoughts, articles they find, or links to sites that might be helpful.

The best thing about these tools was the simplicity in being able to set up an account and BEGIN. I'm excited about showing these tools to my staff and getting them to work with me and their students to create some incredible learning experiences.

My second pre-conference got me all caught up on the seemingly-never-black-and-white world of copyright. Evelyn Freeman, an Information Media Consultant also from Oakland Schools, gave us the ins and outs of of trying to stay legal in the increasingly complex world of digitized media. She gave us great guidelines to use when determining "fair use" and spoke to the changes in copyright laws since the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act went into effect in 2002. This legislation has many implications for us as we continue to delve into the world of distance-learning. To see how much you know about copyright, take this little quiz. Maybe you'll be taking Evelyn's next workshop!

Well, that keynote is going to be coming awfully early tomorrow. Time to get some zzzzzzzzzz...I'll fill you in on another big day tomorrow.

1st MAME Conference

Hello fellow MAMEsters. We made it here to Traverse City and managed not to hit one single deer along the way.

I am so excited to be here finally. I have wanted to attend this conference for the last several years and this is my first opportunity to actually be here. I can't wait to learn and network with so many people. I'm not sure where my adventure will begin tomorrow morning. There are so many choices. I can't wait to share my experiences with everyone.

LOL,
Carma

My 13th MAME Conference

Greetings Marcia Project Volunteers and Readers:
I've gotten my presentation firmed up, and the handouts printed and stapled, I've collected the graphic novels that will be part of the examples, and the laptop and projector are also ready for the trip up north. I've even uploaded my presentation to Google Docs, just in case there's some sort of technical malfunction and I cannot access my presentation.

The genesis for my MAME 34 paper came about last spring when I hosted a similar, yet scaled-down and informal chat on the same topic for the MAME Region 13 group, and I was joined in the discussion by Okemos High School Librarian Sandy Fields, who covered the elementary titles. The few attendees at that meeting were polite enough to comment positively, for some reason, and urge me to present this fall.

See you in Traverse,
Chris

What is Treasure Mountain?

This year marks the twentieth year of the Treasure Mountain Research Retreat. This venerable institution of school library media research has been moving around the country giving researchers and research lovers a forum in which to exchange ideas and share findings.

In 2003, I was a Treasure Mountain Doctoral Fellow. That year, we had the event in rural Missouri at an old resort that looked like something out the The Road to Wellville combined with The Shining. The walls of the huge place were dark paneled wood and displayed pictures people hooked up to various health-inducing medical apparatus.

It was a wild, mind-blowing experience. I worked along side Ross Todd, Delia Neuman, Kathy Latrobe, David Loerstcher, Danny Callison, Denise Agosto, Jennifer Branch...the list goes on. I was in the first year of my doctoral work at that point and left the event inspired to become a professor. I'm now in my third year and loving every minute of it.

This year, I am co-leading Treasure Mountain with David Loertscher. The attendees include an equally esteemed list of researchers and about 70 other participants! David and I have planned two jam-packed days of research discussions and visioning for the future. I will be reporting on our progress in this blog and welcome your comments.

Also, I have invited three up-and-coming media specialists from Wayne and University of Michigan to share their journeys through the Michigan Association of Media in Education (MAME) conference that is concurrent to Treasure Mountain. I'm so excited to have them reflect on their time at Michigan's premier professional event for school library media specialists.