Does your school have small-group or whole-staff readings? Did you know that Educational Leadership has a monthly, free study guide that accompanies each issue?

I didn’t, but I think it could be a terrific way to get current articles in colleagues’ hands without overburdening the discussion leaders with a lot of prep time.

Check it out!

Educational Leadership:What Students Need to Learn:EL Study Guide via kwout

I’m back from ALA Midwinter and taking a quick break before hustling off to lead some teacher professioanl development.  More on Midwinter soon, but in honor of MLK Day, here are some announcements to help you think about future collection development purchases.

WHO WON THE CALDECOTT? NEWBERY? CORETTA SCOTT KING? AND MORE?
All of LibraryLand is abuzz today with the announcement of ALSC’s leading literary awards for children’s and young adult literature, including the Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Awards.  But you didn’t have to travel to slushy, sleety Boston to hear the news.  See the list of winners here.

DEVELOPING RESPONSIVE, THOUGHTFUL MULTICULTURAL COLLECTIONS
Author Mitali Perkins gives some great tips for evaluating multicultural literature here in her outstanding April 2010 article for School Library Journal, “Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids’ Books.” Her ideas have helped me think with more respect and depth about the role of non-white, non-middle characters in books for kids and what it truly means to have a responsive, multicultural collection.  Consider forwarding the link to your teachers, too — so many classroom collections are built on garage sale or public library Friends sales, which makes those collections particularly vulnerable to outdated views of gender, race, and culture.

We started school this week.  I don’t know about you, but I always forget how exhausting it is and always sleep extra-long on the first weekend back!

This year is different for several reasons for me:

• I’m only technically a school librarian in the mornings.  In the afternoon, I become “staff development facilitator,” meeting with teachers to integrate 21st-century learning strategies into their teaching and planning/leading after-school profesional development.  In other words, aren’t I still a librarian in the afternoons, too? :)  It’s a one-year-only job, but offers lots of opportunities to really put my thinking to the test in a larger arena.
• Luckily, my district still supports full-time elementary librarians, so I’m now job-sharing, which is another new adventure.
• I’m also starting the year with a fantastic new student teacher, which continuously has me reflecting on why I do what I do.  But as can happen with a fantastic student teacher, I’m also learning like mad!

So I’m multitasking in new ways, with more time spent planning with adults than working with kids, which is an unusual new dance.

I’m wondering what instructional trends you’re seeing in your building or district.  Our district seems to be exploding with a new sense of energy/urgency:

• Lots of lower elementary teachers interested in The Daily Five approach to reading and writing.
• Lots of K-5 teachers doing district-sponsored work with Lucy Calkins’ writing program.
• Lots of interest in tech tools like Moodle and wikis as our district’s Ignite program expands.
• Renewed district interest in developing Professional Learning Communities.
• Deepened energy invested by district media specialists in going deeper with K-5 learning, primarily with inquiry.
• Big administrative interest in Classroom Instruction That Works and the “Marzano 9″ strategies.
• Continued work in deepening classroom culture with our building book club with The Morning Meeting Book.

This is the first time in my five years with the district that there are so many initiatives that correlate to books.  Warms my li-berrian heart.

What’s the buzz in your district?