A Message From Your President
by Cynthia Zervos
We are currently collaborating with Wayne State University’s School of Information Science on our next opportunity for professional development. Information about Summer Institute will be shared with you in the near future.

During the past month, I have spent time working with our Parliamentarian and Policy Chair, Carrie Betts. We will share suggested updates to our policies at our next General Board meeting on May 4th. Join us! MAME members are encouraged to attend our meetings! The meetings are held at MAME Headquarters (1407 Rensen St., Lansing, MI 48910) and begin at 9:30 AM. I have had the opportunity to work with other members of the MAME Leadership team. As a result, MAME is working with representatives from the Michigan Department of Education and Library of Michigan to have the State Board of Education endorse the National School Library Standards. 

Thank you to all who have responded to my call for gently used books. On April 13th, we will bring over 20 boxes of books to PBJ Outreach! My heart is full and I cannot wait to spread #BookJoy with members of the community.

President-elect and Conference Chair, Cat Kerns is busy planning for MAME 46 - School Librarians Because Superhero is not a Job Description! If you would like to work on the conference committee, please contact Cat at ckerns@mimame.org .

We are still looking for an Author Liaison and Marketing Chair to serve on our General Board. For more information, please contact me at cynthia.zervos@mimame.org . 

Continue to spread Book Joy!
Cynthia
April is School Library Month!
by Cynthia Zervos
April is School Library Month! Take some time to celebrate! The AASL School Library Month Committee has put together some wonderful resources. Check them out at http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/slm

In concert with this national event, Governor Whitmer has proclaimed April as School Library Month in Michigan. Kathy Lester and the Advocacy Committee have put out many tools for you to share with your district and state legislators! Share some photos and information with me at cynthia.zervos@mimame.org  I will make weekly posts highlighting Michigan School Libraries on MAME’s Facebook and Twitter pages throughout April.

On March 31st, we teamed up with TinkrLAB for our annual Spring Workshop. Attendees had fun learning how to supercharge learning in their school libraries. They also, received a swag bag full of maker ideas that could easily be implemented in their school libraries and a copy of Learning Supercharged: Digital Age Strategies and Insights from the Edtech Frontier . Look for a Twitter Book Club soon!
Where are book challenges happening?
You might be surprised...
by Martha Spear
MACUL 2019 Annual Conference - My Highlights
by Melissa Lambert
On March 21st and 22nd I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the MACUL conference in Downtown Detroit through a Library of Michigan Continuing Education Stipend. What I love most about MACUL is the variety of sessions. I was able to attend big idea sessions that involved thinking about how we educate our students on a grander scale as well as more detailed sessions that gave specific tech or web tools I can use to enhance learning in my school library. Below are just a few of the great ideas, organized by session, which I am bringing back to my district.

Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow’s Schools, Today from Tom Murray of Future Ready Schools

This session was packed with basic ideas to redesign the student learning experience in order to better prepare them for the future. Here is what really stood out to me as vitally important:

  1. Soft skills are more important to future employers than content knowledge. Soft skills include the ability to work well in a team, decision making skills, problem solving skills, planning and preparation skills, organization skills, the ability to prioritize, and effective communication skills.
  2. Teach questions instead of answers - and more importantly, how to ask questions.
  3. Technology use should be active use. Students should be doing more than the device by creating, designing and exploring. Don’t use technology for the sake of using technology. Make sure it enhances your student’s learning.
  4. Learning Space Elements - as learner spaces become learner centered consider how the brain works and use a common sense mindset. Example: don’t put balance ball chairs in a chemistry lab. Here are three elements to consider,
  • Naturalness: natural light, sound, temperature and air quality
  • Individualization: Students respond to environmental stimuli differently. Make ALL students feel welcome in the space with gender neutral colors, posters of roll models of different genders and races.
  • Appropriate level of stimulations: too many distractions in a classroom can cause over stimulation and make kids off task for longer periods of time. It’s time to declutter those classrooms! Be selective of student work, posters, and displays that go up in classrooms and learning spaces.

What's new in 2019 from Google in Education by Ann Nash and Mike Patterson from Google
Teacher Center Launch - All Google resources are now in one spot! The Teacher Center Includes training on Google apps with short videos for teachers and students, Google Certified Educator training and certification, and lessons on teaching digital skills and digital citizenship.
Lock Forms : You can now create locked quizzes with Google Surveys. This feature is only available on Chromebooks. “When students take a quiz in locked mode:Students won’t be able to use other apps. Some extensions, and keyboard shortcuts will also be disabled. If a student exits the quiz, or opens any other tab, the teacher is notified via email.”
Closed captioning now available on Google Slide s - once you’re in present mode you will see the CC option. When turned on, it will display the text of what you’re saying.

Best of the Web 2019 by Richard Byrne
Webtools: No Registration Needed For Students by Nathan Hall - Tools include QR code generators, annotations, chart creators, map creators, screen capturing, video and audio recordings.
Sworkit Kids - https://www.sworkityouth.com/ Brain breaks for students that involve getting up and moving. There are videos geared towards students at every level K-12.
Immersive Reader - This free tool allows you to change the appearance of any text you paste into it and also have the text read aloud. You can turn on parts of speech to have the text diagrammed. The tool also reads math equations and reads in multiple languages.
https://www.kaizena.com/ - Google doc add on that allows you to add voice and text comments to student work. You can even save your generic comments so you don’t have to repeat yourself. It also allows you to customize skills to show student progress.
AudioPlayer for Slides - You can now add audio to any of your Google Slide presentations with this Chrome extension. Your audio files must be in your Google Drive.

Tools You Can Use Tomorrow by Leslie Fisher
https://rewordify.com/  - This tool simplifies any text or website so it is easier to read. It also diagrams sentences to identify parts of speech and includes classic literature rewordified.
https://smmry.com - A tool created to summarize articles for you. Paste the text into the website, upload a PDF or input a url and SMMRY will summarize the article for you.
http://flippity.net/ - Turn Google Spreadsheets into scavenger hunts, flashcards, Mad Libs, tournament brackets and much more. It’s easy to customize and share with students.
https://info.flipgrid.com/ - Create online video discussions with your entire class. You post a prompt and students take videos of themselves replying. Students can reply to each other. Different share/reply settings allow you to customize your grid.
https://insertlearning.com/ - A Chrome extension that allows you to turn any website into an interactive lesson. Add questions, videos, discussions directly into a webpage. It can connect directly to Google Classroom.
http://www.yellkey.com/generateKey - Share website links with one word. Paste in a URL to create your one word for website access. Students only need to type yellkey.com/thatword to be taken directly to it.

Gadgets by Leslie Fisher
Anytime I am able to attend MACUL I make it a point to attend this session. Leslie presents lots of great tech gadgets that make life easier. Here are my top five favorites of gadgets she presented.
Dell-DA300-USB-C-Mobile-Adapter - This is the most universal adaptor I have seen all in one. Ports include HDMI, DP, VGA, Ethernet, USB-C, and USB-A. It also charges up to one USB device at a time. I bought this device during the session because I was so impressed.
Logitech Spotlight Remote - This presentation remote is so cool! All the features of a traditional presentation remote but also includes the spotlight feature which allows you to highlight part of your presentation while dimming the rest of your screen. You have to see it in action.
iCloth Screen Cleaner - A screen cleaner that also disinfects! It was reported that you can use one large cloth on a classroom set of devices.
WiFi Sweet Spots - An app for iOS and Android to check the strength of your wireless connectivity. Free!
Microsoft Translator - An app for iOS and Android that translates 50+ languages. You can have a translated conversation without changing the language back and forth. You can also create a conversation with up to 100 different people, all on different devices, all speaking different languages! You can also take a picture of a document and have it translated. I downloaded this app immediately. It’s free!
MAME Members @MACUL
by Margaret Lincoln
Kathy Lester, Jeannine Crissman, and Margaret Lincoln were pleased to give a presentation at the 2019 MACUL Conference on "Real or Fake? Teaching Students to Critically Evaluate Information."

Karren Reish, Library of Michigan Grants Coordinator, did an excellent job as moderator of this panel session.

Presentation slides can be accessed at  https://bit.ly/MACUL19fake  and an electronic copy of the handout of resources & articles can be found at  http://tinyurl.com/FakeNews2019Update
CAN YOU SPARE A MINUTE TO SUPPORT SCHOOL LIBRARIES?
If you have not already done so, please send an email to your state legislators to support the current bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives, HB4392, 4393, 4394.
EveryLibrary makes it very easy to do so; it only takes a minute . Go to:
Please encourage family, friends, colleagues, etc. to also send emails. We can easily get to over 1000 emails sent if everyone does this.

The MAME Advocacy Committee continues to meet with Michigan Legislators to gain support for these bills; but, we cannot do it alone. Everyone’s voices are needed! We encourage all MAME members to reach out to their legislators for a meeting. Three suggested talking points to include when speaking with others include:

Certified school librarians:
  • Improve student reading achievement
  • Improve college and career readiness through teaching
  • Research skills
  • Digital Citizenship skills
  • Lead and support technology integration

MAME has received support from the Michigan Library Association (MLA), the Michigan Academic Library Association (Mi-ALA), the Michigan Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the Michigan Reading Association (MRA), the Michigan Council for Teachers of English (MCTE), and others!

Thank you to MAME4Ever members for working at the MRA and Spring MLA conferences to share MAME’s information with those groups. Also, thank you to Melissa Middleton and Shannon Torres for working at the Michigan PTA event in Lansing to talk to parents about the need for certified school librarians. If you know of an upcoming event or meeting, where it would be useful to include MAME advocacy information, please reach out to Advocacy Chairperson, Kathy Lester at kathyL@mimame.org .
School Libraries and the Whole Child

The Michigan Department of Education is trying to move toward an approach to support the whole child, the whole learner. MDE has created a definition of Whole Child. You can find it here:
The MAME Advocacy Committee has created an information sheet about how School Libraries/Librarians support the six ASCD tenets of the Whole Child along with general information about effective school libraries in Michigan. You can find that 2-page sheet here .

If you have any questions, ideas, or would like to join the advocacy committee, please let us know.

MAME Advocacy Committee
Kathy Lester, Carrie Betts, Lisa Brakel, Tam Cummings, Klaudia Janek, Cat Kerns, Stephanie Luyt, Gwenn Marchesano, Shannon Torres, Cynthia Zervos
March is Reading Month
Picture Book Project by Kelly Hincks

This year for March is Reading Month we focused on a collaborative project using picture books. At our school, the elementary level is split into two buildings. The Lower School consists of preschool to second grade. The Junior School includes third through fifth grade.

The Books:

For the project the librarians worked together to determine a list of thirteen picture books published in the last two years. The classes in junior kindergarten to second grade were partnered with a third, fourth, or fifth grade class. They both read the same picture book. 

Here is the list of books we used:
  • The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Alfie: The Turtle that Disappeared by Thyra Heder
  • Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Pena
  • A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
  • The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs by Kate Messner
  • Giraffe Problems by Jory John
  • Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
  • Drawn Together by Minh Le
  • The Very Last Castle by Travis Jonker
  • What If...Then We… by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
  • Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera
  • Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
  • Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora

What Happened:

After reading and discussing the book, the younger students created a question to ask the older students. They posted their question using Flipgrid . Then the older students responded to the younger students questions and asked their own question in return. It was like a mini-book club of sorts. This platform worked well because both groups did not have to be online at the same time to participate. They could post when it worked best for their class. The whole project took three weeks to complete.

Skills Taught:

During the project we taught a variety of skills. Of course we focused on reading comprehension skills, specifically asking questions. We identified what a thinking question sounds like versus those with just a yes or no answer.  

Additionally, we were able to teach digital citizenship skills . For these skills we focused and rewarded with digital badges on:
  • Being safe
  • Staying positive
  • Creating a quality video
  • Being respectful of others while they recorded  
We used symbols and motions to represent each skill to help students remember these four concepts. 

In the End:

It was interesting to see the types of questions that students were curious about. They enjoyed being connected in a new way to other members of our school community. Additionally, they heard a story they may not have read otherwise.  It was a fun way to celebrate March is Reading Month!
What's in a Name?
by Amy Hermon
Spend time on Librarian Twitter, FaceBook and other social media platforms, and you’ll quickly discover, across the US and world even, we don’t always call ourselves the same thing. Despite the fact that on January 16, 2010, AASL Board of Directors “voted to adopt School Librarian as the title which reflects the roles of the 21st-century school library professional as a leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator.” Perhaps you’ve heard other competing titles such as Teacher Librarians, Media Center Director, Library Media Specialist, Library Tech Teacher, or Library Media Technology Specialist. I find myself explaining to my students that I am a teacher just like their classroom teacher. I am a teacher who went to library school. And then, I have to convince them that library school is real. This is usually when I’m reminding them that the library isn’t recess with books. But rather, the library is a classroom with the same expectations of behavior.

What title do you use? Does it change to suit the circumstances? When I graduated in 2007, I assumed the title of Library Media Specialist because that was on all my documentation from my program. It still follows my name on my formal communication, and my email signature and on the last iteration of my resume. But more often, I take the lead of my students. When I am at Sam’s Club or at Eastern Market or at the gate waiting to catch a flight and my students recognize me, they will point and whisper to their parents, “THAT’s my library teacher!” 

Does it matter which label my students use? Not at all. It makes sense to them. Students call it like they see it.  They tend to be the most honest and unfiltered people you will meet. When I introduce myself, socially or at work-related events, I’m a School Librarian. I was finding that the word “media” confused some. And the word “specialist” conveyed both a sense of self-aggrandizement and insecurity - as if we needed to remind everyone lest it was forgotten. As nice as it would be to consider myself a “specialist” I am reminded daily that I still have a lot to learn.

To tackle many of these questions and more, tune in each Monday to School Librarians United , a podcast hosted by Amy Hermon. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts. 
Spring Forecast Book Display
by Toni Isaac, Troy High School
ISTE News You Can Use                          
By Gwenn Marchesano & Lisa Kelley

Lately we’ve seen several articles suggesting how we can teach media literacy as it relates to social media. The ISTE Blog recently published this thoughtful article by Nate Green “Teaching #MediaLit and #DigCit? Start with Social Media.”  

We are excited to share that MAME’s own Amy Dirlam will be presenting at ISTE conference this year. Congratulations, Amy! The list of MAME members attending in June is growing. If you’re planning to attend, let us know ! We’d love to get MAME attendees together while in Philadelphia.

If you’re still on the fence about attending ISTE 2019, it’s worth the trip. Here’s a quick peek at the types of sessions and experiences waiting for you June 23-26. Learn more and register. Early bird rates are available until May 1st.


Still considering a trip to Philadelphia for the biggest EdTech conference ever? ISTE offers tips to get administrator support and other ideas to fund your summer trip.  Learn more and register.
#Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil
Book review by Bethany Bratney

Dee Guerrera wakes up in the worst possible situation. She has been convicted of murdering her step-sister and will serve her time on Alcatraz 2.0. This subdivision of the Department of Justice is run by the Postman, who has set up a system in which stylized, branded killers target island inmates and issue the ultimate sentence. The Postman records the events on Alcatraz 2.0 & showcases them in an app, establishing a full fandom around each killer & some of the inmates. After Dee accidentally takes out her killer on her first day, she becomes a fan favorite and a key target. But some inconsistencies from her trial and a number of scary coincidences on the island lead her to wonder if Alcatraz 2.0 is even more contrived and terrifying than she originally thought. Spoiler alert - it is!

Straight talk for Librarians - This book isn’t brand new (August 2018), but it’s one of the quickest Quick Picks I’ve read in awhile, and it’s flying off my shelves. This book is such an easy sell. Even the most reluctant readers are on board when they start to hear about the setting & the Postman app. Each killer has a ridiculous name and persona (Molly Mauler, who uses wild animals to tear apart her victims; Gucci Hangman, who stages an elaborate theatrical scene for his murders & always uses an expensive scarf as his weapon) & a dedicated fan base. Dee and her fellow inmates, aptly dubbed the Death Row Breakfast Club by app fans, are endearing and easy to root for. As an adult reader, I needed to suspend reality a bit, but the more unbelievable the story becomes, the more the kids love it. They are completely on board for the clever details and ingrained violence. Many kids have compared it to The Purge movies when I describe it. Score another point for #Murdertrending. The themes and tone of this book are tremendously dark, but for a book filled with killers and murder, it was surprisingly fun. I'm concerned about myself after saying that, but the story is so outside of the realm of reality that I never took it seriously and just enjoyed it for what it is - a suspenseful, fast-paced mystery in a creepy voyeuristic world. Give it to the kids who say that they need their books to be exciting from page one.   

A Thank You From Lisa Brakel
MAME and AASL friends, thank you so much for your support over the past few months. Please join me in congratulating Kathy Carroll (pictured below on my left) on becoming the next AASL President Elect. It has been my pleasure to make her acquaintance as we moved through the election process. She will do a spectacular job of leading us into the future and is well deserving of this honor!  Congratulations   Kathy! The election results are  posted here .
Nominations for MAME awards are open!

Do you know of someone who is deserving of some recognition for the wonderful work that they have been doing? Please nominate them for a MAME award. Take this link to begin the process.

Do you know of a fellow MAME member who is retiring? 

Please nominate them to be recognized at our fall conference. 
School Librarians Represented at SXSW EDU--Featuring Kafi Kumasi
A Message from your Immediate Past President
by Klaudia Janek
As our school year winds down, your MAME conference committee does a lot of work over the summer to be ready for our fall annual conference. We are really excited to start sharing details with you as we get more confirmations. I wanted to reach out to our membership and remind everyone how important vendors are to our conference. I know some of us tend to avoid the exhibit hall so you don't have to talk to "salespeople"...I was guilty of this when I first joined MAME!!!

I have since realized that our exhibitors/vendors are critical to the financing of our annual conference. Each booth that is purchased (for $500) cuts the cost of your individual attendance price. They also provide a lot of the snacks because some of them purchase an additional "sponsorship" for $50-$100 that allows us to buy drinks, snacks or add an expensive (but awesome!) speaker to the conference. When a vendor/exhibitor stays the night with the MAME conference, their room goes towards the minimum number of rooms we are contracted to sell to get the ballrooms and conference rooms that we use for our conference. So, if we have 15 exhibitors staying in Bay City, we only have to sell 50 more rooms to our conference goers. If we don't meet these hotel minimums, then MAME has to pay a lot more for the location. After living through this stress, I realized how important they were to our school library community. Those just tend to be the financial conference details. As I've gotten to know some our most popular exhibitors on a more personal level, I find that a lot of them come from educational backgrounds. They are also huge advocates of getting books into the hands of our students so they become better readers. Schools and school libraries need to buy materials for students and I think it's much easier to work with someone that I know.

In fact, I have stopped doing business with vendors who do not support our conference...that is how strongly I feel about buying from MAME exhibitors. I am also happy to meet with any vendor/exhibitor that was at the MAME conference. I am upfront if I cannot buy anything at the moment, but I will keep in mind that they went out of their way to stop by and chat with me. I fill them in on what is going on in my school and in MAME. They have the potential to become powerful advocates for us because their children attend our schools throughout the state. As parents, they want the best for their kids...just like we do! If we feature a vendor in our newsletter or give information in the Listserv, you can be sure that they support the MAME conference.
Your Media Matters Newsletter Committee
Beverly Banks, Co-Editor
Jonathan Richards, Co-Editor
Klaudia Janek, Interim Co-Editor
Karen Becknell, Proofreader & Constant Contact Advisor
Want to write an article for MAME's Media Matters? Send your article or photo to
kjanek@mimame.org
OR upload to
seasonal_flowers.jpg