Sponsored by:

Moving Every Child Ahead: Literacy and the Big6
(Organized and sponsored by Big6)
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Ferdi Serim, Director, Online Internet Institute
Art Wolinsky, Technology Director, Online Internet Institute

In this separately priced full-day conference workshop for school librarians, attendees will learn specific, practical strategies to make their library or media center the hub of school-wide efforts to increase student achievement. Literacy is the key to all other areas of student performance,  taking on an expanded definition in the digital age. Ferdi Serim and Art Wolinsky, Certified Big6 Trainers, will provide research-based approaches to improving critical thinking, information-based problemsolving, and the writing quality of students through the effective use of technology. By developing district capacity for information-based problem-solving, the Big6 process can generate educational evidence for decision-making at the school and classroom level, allowing schools to move beyond the practice of education as an “evidence-free zone.”

Your school requires reliable, research-based information to decide:

• How to achieve and document Adequate Yearly Progress.
• How to apply the lessons of research to classroom practice in key curriculum areas.
• Which efforts will result in the largest gains for at-risk and special populations.
• How to manage student data so that it can drive student improvement.
• What criteria to use in selecting both technology and traditional interventions.

Cybercrimes & Safety Strategies for Internet Librarians
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Jayne Hitchcock, Author, Net Crimes & Misdemeanors

Outmaneuvering online spammers, scammers, and stalkers is not on the top of the list for most Internet librarians, but it should be as we work with our clients in many different environments. This thought-provoking keynote alerts us to the dangers and suggests some key strategies for safe workplaces, encryption, computer protection, and protecting children. This entertaining keynote speaker has learned these strategies firsthand and shares her experiences and knowledge.
 

Coffee Break — A Chance to Visit the Exhibits
9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
 

Session S101 — Designing a Digital Library for Children
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Allison Druin, Assistant Professor, and
Ann Weeks, Professor of the Practice, University of Maryland

Few technology interfaces for digital libraries support young children’s needs as information users. In 2001, our speakers began to develop a digital library to assist young people in digitally browsing, searching, and reading children’s books online. The prototype of this new digital library launched with book content from 12 countries in late 2002. This session discusses the unique design methods used to develop this international digital library as well as the development of digital book readers appropriate for young children.
 

Session S102 — Grant Writing Made Easy
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Pamela Nutt, Media Specialist, Griffin-Spalding County School System

In this session, an experienced grant recipient introduces proven ways of writing grants for educational purposes and provides a step-by-step guide. Last year, Pam Nutt obtained over $35,000 in grants for her media center. To illustrate how to answer the questions and the type of information to include in the applications, her presentation will use a grant that was approved.
 

Lunch Break — A Chance to Visit the Exhibits
12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
 

Session S103 — Controversies and Issues: The Media Center’s Role in Teaching the Art of Debate
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Lisa Spicko, Vice President of K-12 Marketing, Gale Group

The exploration of both sides of contemporary and often controversial issues is making a comeback in American schools. The resurgence is fueled in part by recent findings that examining issues, with a goal of debating them, encourages critical thinking in young minds. This session focuses on what libraries can do to support classrooms and initiate this type of learning in their schools.
 

Session S104 — Why Are Media Positions Cut? How Not to Survive
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Mary Alice Anderson, Lead Media Specialist, Winona Area Public Schools

Media specialists work in exciting times and our resources and skills are in demand. But have you noticed there are fewer media specialists than in the past? Why? Positions may be cut for financial reasons, but there also may be causes within our own profession. What practices make our positions vulnerable rather than valuable? What can media specialists do to survive in perilous times? Hear from an experienced and successful specialist and learn more about practices, behaviors, and attitudes that may work against us, the impact of technology on programs and jobs, and the expectations and perceptions that principals have of media specialists. Learn some strategies for coping with change and what you can do to build programs and help ensure job and program security.
 

Sessions S105 & S106 — Using the Internet to Improve Information Literacy
3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Sheila Offman Gersh, Director, Center for School Development, City College of New York, School of Education

This session describes an “information-literate individual” and shows how integrating the Internet into classroom instruction can improve students’ use of information. It illustrates how to “Internetize” traditional classroom lessons, create online collaborative projects, and create WebQuests that meet state-wide learning standards and assessment criteria. It discusses the wide range of resources on the Internet to help in “Internetizing” classroom instruction. A Web site that has links to hundreds of resources and templates will be available for attendees.
 

Session S201 — Assessing Staff Technology Skills
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Mary Alice Anderson, Lead Media Specialist, Winona Area Public Schools

The technology is well used. Staff development is ongoing. Most teachers have attended staff development classes. But are the teachers skilled? Are they really using technology effectively and efficiently? Is technology used in meaningful ways? Why would we want to know? How can we assess how well staff are using technology? The session addresses tools for assessing staff skills and examining the assessment process using Profiler from the U.S. Department of Education.
 

Session S202 — Libraries in the Computer
10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Kathryn Summers, Assistant Professor, and
Holly Weeks, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Baltimore

This session shares results of research using children as design partners to design an international digital library for children. It is based on Alison Druin’s work examining searching, querying, browsing, and information visualization strategies for children aged 6-10. The University of Baltimore team has a 3-year NSF grant to explore how the digital library can also support searching, browsing, and organizing information for children aged 10-13. The first year of the study focuses on comparative data, mapping significant differences in searching and browsing strategies for older children. The presentation identifies key areas of inquiry and methods for working with pre-teens as design partners in designing online information interfaces. 
 

Coffee Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
 

Session S203 — Find It. Read It. Write It. Stretching the Power of Web Log Technology
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Patrick Delaney, Library Media Specialist, Dr. Martin Luther King Academic Middle School

This session describes a 2-year collaborative project between an urban middle school library and UC Berkeley’s Bay Area Writing Project, applying Web log technology for teaching and learning. It explains the use of Web logs to publish a digital daily agenda of library-based learning projects; to link to school and public library OPACs; to direct teacher and student online research in free and fee-based databases; to collect online comments about the library and its collections; and to direct and support student resource gathering, reading, note-taking, drafting, and publication of research.
 

Lunch Break
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
 

Session S204 — Using Streaming Media in Education
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Richard Mavrogeanes, President and Founder, VBrick Systems

When the City of New York wanted to enhance education at the K-12 schools with television-quality one-way streaming and multipoint interactive video, it turned to VBrick Systems. VBrick technology is creating a continuous presence in the NYC schools by allowing students to participate in  four-way classroom discussions and lectures and take virtual tours of the museums and cultural centers in the New York City vicinity—all without leaving the classroom. Not only has New York saved millions by using the existing INET network instead of creating a new video infrastructure, the city is using video communications to enhance the education process. Learn about the strategies and the lessons learned.
 

Coffee Break
1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
 

Sessions S205 & S206 — The Grand Library Already Inhabits the Global Net
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Judy Breck, Contentmaster, EdClicks.com, Founder of homeworkcentral.com, and Author of How We Will Learn in the 21st Century

Change and chaos surrounding the Internet have been unsettling, making the Net’s big picture good news for learning a lost message in the realm of general opinion, the media, librarians, and educators. This experienced and innovative speaker provides an exhibition of stunning Grand Library assets and describes how singularity of scale generates cognitive context, causing the most efficient knowledge-handling method outside of the human brain. Comparing the Net to our DNA, where most genes are junk, she describes the Grand Library that is now refining itself within cyberspace and soon will be handheld. Librarians have a grand future in our new world, where the full scope of human ideas is no longer available only to the elite, and the privilege of knowledge has ended. Her news is all good! Join us for a stimulating and fun session. (Visit EdClicks.com for more information.