Good News To Share....I Am Heading Back To The Van Meter School Library This Fall!

I have some good news that I just can't wait to share any longer!  

This fall, I am heading back to Van Meter Community School as the K12 teacher librarian. 

As many of you know, I served as the K12 teacher librarian at Van Meter for 8 years. It was filled with so many amazing memories, events, opportunities and as the place where I learned how to be a teacher librarian with the special students, teachers and families in our community and with others around the world.  

For the last three years, I had the opportunity to grow even more as a librarian, educator and as a professional in the library and education world.  

I serve as the Future Ready Librarian Spokesperson with my friend and colleague Mark Ray.  I can't wait to take the Future Ready Librarian work back to the Van Meter Library and expand it even more.

It will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and grow Future Ready Librarians within our library, along with the work I will continue with Follett and the Alliance of Excellent Education too.  I am excited to share this knowledge! 

I have also grown as an author and will continue to share my first series, The Library Skills, from Cantata Learning and....

...my new series, Adventures in Makerspace, from Capstone, with the students at Van Meter and others. 

Bill Bass and I are currently working on Leading from the Library with ISTE that we will finish up this summer.  

And of course, I will continue to share my work and thoughts on my blog, The Library Voice, in Capstone Community and within other forums. 

I have learned so much as a speaker and consultant working with library, school district, educational technology and leadership groups within the United States and internationally.

I can't wait to bring this knowledge, experience and tons of ideas back to our library and school. 

To make this news even more exciting, I am going to be partnering up in the library with my friend, and fellow redhead, Jessica Rabe, who most recently taught high school reading at Van Meter. We will both be K12 teacher librarians serving all of our students, teachers and families together, along with our amazing associate Diana Hockenberry. 

In the weeks to come, we will have lots to share.  To get started, please follow us on....

 Twitter at @vmlibraryvoice,

Instagram at @vmlibraryvoice and Snapchat at @vmlibraryvoice.  

We also have the new Van Meter Library Facebook Page you can follow here.

I couldn't be more excited and happy to be back in the library at Van Meter with Jessica, Diana and everyone in our community.  We are ready to make a big difference! 

Notes Can Now Be Added To Collections By Destiny....Think Of The Possibilities!

Collections by Destiny can be used in so many different ways.  

When using them for curating, collaboration and planning, sharing resources, and building community, we can now add Notes as a Resource Type within a Collection. 

Notes can be used for adding notes, comments, instructions, schedules, grading scales, journal entries and so much more.  Just think of the possibilities and how Notes will bring Collections to life making them even more interactive and collaborative. 

Let me show you where to find Notes and how to add them to your Collections too.  

Click on the orange circle with the + inside found in the right hand corner...The one the green arrow is pointing at.  

This brings up another window that lets you add items to your Collection.  You can choose from URL's, Uploads, Notes and Collections.  You can also mark if it is appropriate for all users or not.

When you click on Note, it will let you add a title and as many notes as you want.

When you have finished the Note, click Add and it will...

automatically be added to your Collection as I showed above in this picture.

I made sure to choose the arrangement which showed the Most Recent so the note was the very first thing seen by the user.

How will use Notes in Collections?  I can't wait to think of even more possibilities for notes with my students and teachers within Collections too.  

ISTE U Launches and Announces A Course For Future Ready Librarians!

One of the most exciting announcements at the ISTE Annual Conference in Chicago this week was that of the launch of ISTE U!

As the ISTE U site states,

Welcome to our classroom. As an educator your time is limited. That’s why we have curated a set of engaging professional learning experiences just for you! We know your days don’t stop and that when it comes to professional learning, only the best will do. 

ISTE U is a virtual hub of best-in-class courses to help you build and explore digital age competencies. By working with leading educators and education organizations, we’re bringing you impactful, engaging courses that put pedagogy first and provide incredible learning from the moment you get started!

And guess what?  There is a course for Future Ready Librarians, friends! 

Take a look! 

On the ISTE U site, you will find our course, Exploring Future Ready Librarianship: Practices for the Emerging Leader, which will begin September 17, 2018.

This is the course description:

Beginning with a self-reflection of current professional practice, you'll map out a plan for professional inquiry and growth based on the Future Ready Librarians™ Framework. Afterward, you'll examine the "wedges" of the framework through the lens of collaborative leadership, including curriculum, instruction and assessment; space and time; robust infrastructure; budget and resources; data and privacy; personalized professional learning; and community partnerships. Using videos, case studies and other resources, you'll develop an understanding of how these systemic topics are essential to Future Ready Schools®. 

Additional connections will be made to the ISTE Standards for Educators and the ISTE Standards for Students. With this understanding, you'll make connections to librarian practice and identify specific areas for professional and program growth. Activities will include reading/viewing and reflection, examination of current thinking and practices, development of growth goals and creation of an implementation plan connected to a program or professional objective.

On the ISTE U site you will find more information including the course syllabus, the new ISTE/Future Ready Librarian Crosswalk and more.

The course was developed in collaboration with Future Ready, with the support from Follett and...

....by Mark Ray and myself, who are also serving as the virtual coaches. 

You will find the Future Ready Librarian ISTE U course here. 

Also, check out all of the ISTE U Courses here. 

We are very excited to share the first Future Ready Librarian ISTE U course and hope that many of you will join this amazing opportunity in September too. 

I Can't Wait For Michael Dahl Presents....NEW From Capstone This Fall!

Michael Dahl is one of our favorite authors for so many reasons and Capstone is excited to announce one more reason! 

As the Capstone site states, 

Michael Dahl Presents is a new series of scary, funny and adventurous stories curated by Michael. Michael has found some of his favorite authors to write the best books for elementary school readers to keep them engaged and wanting more.  

Take a look and get ready for another way Michael and Capstone champions reading and inspires our readers!  

We Played The Future Ready Librarian Feud At ISTE....Watch It Here!

Let's play the Feud!  

That's what we heard yesterday from the Follett booth when ten awesome Future Ready Librarians joined two teams and answered questions in the fast paced game LIVE from ISTE.

Our host Randy was awesome as he asked questions focused around the FRL Framework, what we do as librarians and other fun questions we collected from a survey librarians answered weeks before. 

To make it even more fun, we broadcasted LIVE from Facebook and you can watch it all here!  

Thank you to all of our contestants, people who came to watch and Follett for hosting such an amazing Future Ready event!  

The New ISTE Librarian Site Is Announced! Check It Out Today!

On Saturday at our very first Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit, Joseph South, chief learning officer of ISTE, helped us kick off our day in Chicago by sharing some very exciting news. 

ISTE has created a very special place for librarians.  It contains amazing tools, strategies and resources to support and inspire all of us as Future Ready Librarians and leaders within our community and profession.  

You will find new ISTE U online courses for librarians, a link to the amazing ISTE Librarians Network PLN, the ISTE Standards for Educators, the ISTE Blog, 

several new books in the library series, including Leading from the Library, by Bill Bass and myself, and I am really excited about....

 the Future Ready Librarians Crosswalk!

ISTE teamed up with Future Ready Librarians to create a crosswalk showing the relationship between the FRL framework and the ISTE Standards for Educators.

You will find the crosswalk and be able to download it from the ISTE Librarian site. 

I hope you visit and bookmark www.iste.org/Learn/librarians today.  

Thank you to everyone at ISTE who has worked so hard to bring us such a meaningful and important place for librarians.  

2018 AASL Best Apps and Websites Are Announced....Find Them All Here, Friends!

I have served on the AASL Best Websites and Apps Committees for several years.

One of the best parts of being on such a special committee is being able to reveal the 25 best apps and websites at the ALA Annual Conference every year.  We work on this list so much over the course of several months so to see it actually be revealed and shared is amazing.

This year, I was not able to attend the reveal of the AASL Best Apps and Websites, but I was able to celebrate before and follow along on social media and texts.

And today, I can't wait to share them with all of you!

As you can see on the sites above, the AASL Best Apps and Websites are now up on the AASL website.  You can access the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning here and....

...Best Websites for Teaching and Learning here.

I have also pulled all of the websites and apps together in one spot....Collections by Destiny.

This is the 2018 AASL Best Apps Collection by Destiny and...

....the 2018 AASL Best Websites Collection. 

Please feel free to use, share, make a copy and even take that copy and make it your own.  

I can't wait to dive into over 50 new websites and apps....and I really can't wait to hear what all of you think, how you will use them with your students and what tools and platforms are similar to the winners.  

NEW Updates To The Future Ready Librarian Framework!

Today is the day for our very first Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit in Chicago. 

We have been preparing for this day and can't wait to spend it with 100 library leaders from around the country.  We also can't wait to share what we learn, create and share with all of you! 

One of the most exciting things we shared today is something I know so many of you have been waiting for.... 

.....the updated and second version of the Future Ready Librarian Framework! 

Not only are there wonderful graphic updates, there are two very important additions and changes.

The center has changed to Learner Center meaning all learners. 

Literacy now surrounds the center, which I couldn't be more excited for! 

As you look at the framework, Future Ready Librarians support student-centered learning through literacy by inspiring and supporting the reading lives of both students and teachers.  They create inclusive collections that acknowledge and celebrate diverse experiences and provide instructional opportunities to empower learners as effective users and creators of information and ideas.  

You can see how it is included at the top of the new Future Ready Librarian framework poster, which you can find on the Future Ready Librarian page here.

We will have the new Future Ready Librarian posters available throughout ISTE....

...at lots of very special and fun events!  You will find where you can join Future Ready Librarians at ISTE here. 

We hope to see you and can't wait to share these exciting and meaningful updates and work with all of you too. 

Using Research Projects To Teach Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship...A New Guide From Capstone

As librarians, teachers and parents, it is more important than ever to equip our children with the media literacy and digital citizenship skills they need.  As librarians and teachers, we look for ways to weave these skills within the curriculum and throughout each day.  

To help us with this process, Capstone has created a new microguide which will help us understand how to use research projects to teach media literacy and digital citizenship.  

The topics covered within the microguide include:

• Defining project purpose
• Source credibility
• Copyright and plagiarism
• Participation in media

You will find the guide here on the Capstone site, which you can download and print to use and share with your teachers and others.  

As a teacher librarian, I love using research project to not only introduce and reinforce these skills in the library, but to make them stick in the classroom and throughout other parts of their lives too.  

Flipgrid Is Now FREE FOR ALL As They Partner With Microsoft & Start A New Chapter!

Our friends at Flipgrid and Microsoft have announced something that will change education and amplify student voice in amazing new ways!

As Flipgrid announced yesterday on social media and their blog,

We are proud to announce that Flipgrid is now a part of Microsoft, sharing a mission to empower every student to achieve more. And just like Office 365, Flipgrid is now free for all educators and students.

This is going to give every library, classroom, and school community the chance to empower and amplify the voice of every learner through Flipgrid and the amazing tools Microsoft has created.

And again, one of the best parts....Flipgrid is now free for all librarians, teachers and students! 

Thank you Flipgrid and Microsoft for bringing such exciting news to all of us and making safe, engaging and wonderful learning spaces for our students and schools.  YOU all make such a special difference in the world.