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PSLA Member Earns Spot on AASL School Leader Collaborative

Congratulations to our very own PSLA member Kelly Gustafson for being selected to serve on the AASL School Leader Collaborative. The “AASL School Leader Collaborative: Administrators & School Librarians Transforming Teaching and Learning” is a two-year initiative that aims to strengthen AASL’s collaboration with school administrators. This initiative champions the school librarian’s integral role in teaching and learning. Support for the initiative is provided by OverDrive Education (from the ALA Website, see below for more information).

Kelly is the principal at Pine-Richland School District in Wexford, Pennsylvania. She was nominated by M. E. Shenefiel.

We are so proud of her and her dedication to supporting school libraries!

http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2019/08/aasl-selects-seven-school-administrators-serve-its-school-leader-collaborative

Joyce Valenza receives AASL Distinguished Service Award

Joyce Valenza receives AASL Distinguished Service Award

CHICAGO – Joyce Valenza, assistant teaching professor of library and information science at Rutgers University, is the recipient of the 2019 American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Distinguished Service Award. Sponsored by The Rosen Publishing Group, the $3,000 award recognizes an individual member of the library profession who has, over a significant period, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development.


After teaching for over two decades at Springfield Township (Pennsylvania) High School library, Valenza joined the faculty at Rutgers University’s Library and Information Science Department. In that capacity, she advises students on research projects that promote a better understanding of the impact of high-performing library programs on student learning. 

“Her scholarly contribution is enormous,” Ross Todd wrote in his letter of endorsement. “To date she has published 5 books, 10+ peer-reviewed papers, 9+ book chapters, 60+ articles in professional journals. This represents a distinguished level of leadership through scholarly work.”

“Joyce possesses encyclopedic knowledge of the research in our field,” wrote Michelle Luhtala in her nomination. “I stealthily take notes of names, studies, and publications she mentions in conversation knowing that if it is on her radar, it is worth reading. Among her many, many areas of expertise are literacies. Joyce examines, reexamines, rethinks, reframes these as our roles and affiliated technologies evolve.”

Valenza has served on AASL’s Best Apps for Teaching and Learning Committee and AASL’s Community of Scholars Task Force.  In 2017, Valenza was recognized as an inaugural AASL Social Media Superstar: Leadership Luminary.

“The common remark that our committee shared was that Joyce was future ready before' ‘future ready librarian,’” said Liz Deskins, award committee chair “She has been sharing, leading, encouraging, and challenging thousands of school librarians to keep striving to stay current and try new things. We thank you for all you’ve taught us, Joyce.”

The AASL award winners will be honored at the AASL Awards Ceremony during the 2019 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The ceremony will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 22. All are welcome to celebrate the accomplishments of their peers during this recognition event.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.

Behind the Scenes: PSLA Awarded AASL Affiliate of the Year

“Behind the Scenes” Allison Mackley, Cathi Fuhrman, Operations (Aimee Emerson, Vickie Saltzer, Bob McConnell) and Communications (Mary Schwander, Laura Ward, Corey Hall) wrote and submitted an application for the AASL Affiliate of the Year Award.  On Wednesday, March 27th, I was notified that PSLA is receiving this recognition.
 
The AASL Affiliate of the Year Award recognizes the AASL Affiliate most active and dynamic in achieving the goals of AASL at the state and local level. AASL established this award to acknowledge the important contributions made by AASL Affiliates and encourage affiliates to take pride in their accomplishments. Through this recognition, AASL encourages educational growth, increased involvement at the national level and community, and legislative involvement.

 It is exciting to see such an engaged, active and exemplary affiliate. - Kathryn Roots Lewis, AASL President

The award will be presented at the American Library Association’s 2019 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. during the AASL Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 22nd from 5:00 – 7:00 pm.  If you are attending the ALA, please be sure to attend the ceremony to help us celebrate!


Ever Curious,
Allison Mackley
President, PSLA (PA School Librarians Association)
National Board Certified Teacher Librarian
Hershey High School
550 Homestead Road
Hershey, PA  17033
[email protected]
@amackley
 

Behind the Scenes: PSLA Awarded the AASL Past-Presidents Planning Grant

“Behind the Scenes” Allison Mackley, Cathi Fuhrman, Deb Kachel, and the PSLA Teaching and Learning Committee Co-chairs, Dustin Brackbill and Leah Lindemann, wrote and submitted an application for one of three AASL Past-Presidents Planning Grant for National School Library Standards. Last week I was notified that we were awarded the grant in honor of E. Blanche Woolls (sponsored by Roger and Susan D. Ballard). E. Blanche Woolls, a Distinguished Service Award winning member of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, was the Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair (1977-1978) and the Communications Committee Chair (1986-1988). See her bio below.

The AASL Past-President Planning Grant for National School Library Standards will provide the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) with the funding necessary to develop, market and carry out professional learning initiatives that support school librarians as they implement best practices that impact academic achievement for learners. PSLA is dedicated to transforming teaching and learning not only through quality school library programs but also by leveraging the AASL National School Library Standards for local advocacy efforts.

“This prestigious award showcases the impact of strong school library programs in schools and highlights the importance of the school library program in the educational community.”  - Kathryn Roots Lewis, AASL President, and Susan Yutzey, 2018-2019 AASL Awards Chair

The award will be presented at the American Library Association’s 2019 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. during the AASL Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 22nd from 5:00 – 7:00 pm.  If you are attending the ALA, please be sure to attend the ceremony to help us celebrate!

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ALA/AASL Elections 2019

The ALA election is now open!  #castyourvote

Check your email for your ballot. You may cast your vote through April 3, 2019, 11:59 PM Central time. Be sure to check off your fellow AASL candidates for ALA Council!   

Two PSLA members are also on the ballot.  

  • Allison Mackley, PSLA President, AASL Region 2 Director
  • Joyce Valenza, ALA Council

AASL Best Websites & Highlights: Classcraft

Each week the Teaching and Learning Committee plans to highlight one app or website from either the 2018 AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning or the 2018 AASL Best Websites for Teaching and LearningShare with any stakeholders who may benefit! 
Ready for some gamification activities this spring? Want a new, fun way to reinforce positive behavior? Feeling heroic?! Have we got the website for you!
Description from AASL:
Classcraft transforms classrooms through avatars, gamification, and creating immersive play that promotes self-actualization, engagement, and collaboration for students. Teachers can reshape lessons into quests in which students choose their own adventure or work as collaborative teams that build positive classroom culture. Classcraft offers a wide range of features to continually keep the game(s) fresh, including a random selector for elements of surprise, a timer/countdown, random events added to the story, a live volume meter, boss battles for formative assessments, and a grade converter to make points earned meaningful. Full integration with both Google & Microsoft Classroom and compatibility across platforms as well as extensive teacher resources make this site an educator’s and student’s technology dream. Basic account is free with fee subscriptions for advanced settings. Grades 4 and up.

AASL Best Websites & Apps: EdWeb

Each week the Teaching and Learning Committee plans to highlight one app or website from either the 2018 AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning or the 2018 AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. Share with any stakeholders who may benefit! 

Looking for useful professional development and ways to connect learning communities? Try edWeb, and you'll never be without ideas!

Description from AASL:

EdWeb is a free anytime-anywhere professional learning network for teachers, librarians, and administrators, offering over seventy-five different learning communities, covering a wide range of innovative topics and practices. The heart of Edweb is its community sponsored webinars, which are timely, engaging, and always archived. Edweb is a go-to source for personalized professional development, offering continuing education certificates, follow up online discussions, free resources, and a support network of like-minded professionals.

Submitted by:
Erin Bechdel
PSLA Teaching & Learning Committee

Behind the Scenes - PSLA Delegates @ the AASL Affiliate Assembly

"Behind the Scenes" the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association has two voting  Delegates on the Affiliate Assembly of American Association of School Librarians (AASL). We are part of Region 2, which includes PA, NY, NJ, MD, DE and DC. In addition to providing PSLA with a voice at the national level, sending representatives to these meetings provides PSLA added opportunities to apply for grants and awards.

The purpose the the Affiliate Assembly is described below:

According to the AASL Bylaws, “the purposes of the Affiliate Assembly are to provide a channel of communication for reporting concerns of the affiliated organizations and their membership to the AASL Board of Directors; to facilitate discussion of activities and concerns of the AASL as reported by the AASL president, Executive Director and Board of Directors; and to report the actions of the AASL to the Affiliates.”  

Made up of 48 school library organizations from 45 states, the Affiliate Assembly serves as the representation of AASL’s (number) members. Each year, the Affiliate Assembly gathers for two meetings at both ALA Midwinter Meeting and ALA Annual Conference to handle official tasks such as voting on Concerns and Commendations, share best practices and knowledge, and learn about AASL activities and initiatives. 

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New School Year..New Standards

As you gear-up for a successful 2018-2019 year in your school library, be sure to take advantage of the tools available to align your teaching to the new AASL National School Library Standards.  Through funding from the Library Services and Technology Act, PSLA and the University of Pittsburgh have already begun training sessions around Pennsylvania to help you implement these standards into your school library program. Full details can be found on our AASL Standards Training website.

 

If you were lucky enough to attend our 2018 Pre-Conference, you experienced a valuable working-session on AASL Standards with our current President, Allison Mackley and Past President, Jennifer Bates.  Click here to see the innovative and inspirational project posters which were created by participants as they collaborated on implementing the standards into their library program.

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