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Teaching & Learning Committee Survey

by: Dr. Corey Hall
Category: Teach
Tags
Apr
29
Hello everyone!
PSLA and the Teaching & Learning committee need to hear from you! 
We opened a survey during the annual conference to hear about your professional development needs and skills. If you haven't replied yet, please spend a few minutes to respond. This survey can guide our offerings over the next year and help meet the needs of our membership.
Thank you for your time!!

AASL Best Websites & Highlights: Typito

by: Dustin Brackbill
Category: Teach
Tags
Apr
12
The Teaching and Learning Committee plans to frequently highlight one app or website from the AASL Standards Site. Share with any stakeholders who may benefit!
Looking for a quick marketing tool to make videos? Try Typito for student projects, teacher promos, book trailers and more! I made a practice one in just a few minutes!

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

by: Allison Mackley
Category: Behind the Scenes
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Mar
25

“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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AASL Best Websites & Highlights: Classcraft

by: Dustin Brackbill
Category: News
Tags
Mar
10
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! 
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.

"Best of" Lists and Reading Lists from 2018

by: Dustin Brackbill
Category: Teach
Tags
Jan
01

Happy New Year!! 

It was an amazing year for literature in 2018. As usual, the end of the year brings the annual "best of" lists. Below are a few that may help kick start your 2019 reading list and get you ready for awards season coming in January!

SLJ's The Yarn - Colby Sharp and Travis Yonker share their top reads
Mr. Shu Reads Top List for 2018 - **Coming to PSLA Conference in 2019!!
NPR's Book Concierge - great interactive list for all ages
AND... Don't forget to stay up to date with our own PSLA Lit Review Blog!

 

Happy reading and see you in 2019!

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AASL Best Websites & Apps: EdWeb

by: Erin Bechdel
Category: Teach
Tags
Nov
07

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

AASL Best Websites & Apps: Libby

by: Teaching & Learning Committee
Category: Learn
Tags
Oct
03

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! 

Want to send one final Library Card Sign-Up Month reminder out to folks? Remind them to use Libby for their ebook app needs! 

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Who Should Teach Our Kids the Difference Between Real and Fake News? Our Librarians

by: Debra E. Kachel, PSLA Legislative Liaison
Category: Teach
Tags
Feb
13

In a world where information is accessible with a click of a few buttons or the touch of a screen, Deb Kachel says emotional appeals and unsubstantiated claims sway popular opinions in our current post-truth era. Published by PennLive, Deb argues that, in order to be successful, students must be able to distinguish false claims, fraudulent sales pitches and dubious websites from trustworthy information and sources.

Read more on how librarians can lead students to trustworthy information.

Librarians Are Critical to Communities: John Kurelja, Ed. D.

by: PSLA
Category: News
Tags
Jan
30

When hired as the middle school principal in the Central Columbia School District, John Kurelja was introduced to one of the most influential educators he has ever met, a middle school librarian. In an op-ed published by The Standard-Journal, John recalls how Janice Dysart found a way not only to engage students with literature, but to embed their reading into their overall curriculum.

Read John’s story here.