FMQ: Florida Media Quarterly
Winter 2015, Volume 41 No. 2
Florida Media Quarterly is the official publication of the Florida Association for Media in Education, Inc., and is published at least four times annually: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Interested persons are invited to submit material for publication. For special information on articles and advertising, visit our website at www.floridamedia.org.
Text submitted becomes the property of FMQ and is not returned. FMQ is not responsible for the accuracy of text submitted; contributors are responsible for the accuracy of material, including references, tables, etc., and for obtaining necessary releases. The opinions expressed in Florida Media Quarterly are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FAME. Articles are the property of the authors and not necessarily those of FAME. Articles are the property of the authors indicated, and any use rights must be sought from the author. All other materials may be quoted or reproduced for non-commercial purposes provided full acknowledgements are given and FAME is notified.
All members of FAME have access to the FMQ via the webpage of the FAME website at www.floridamedia.org.
Nancy Mijangos, FMQ Editor
Kathy Lancaster, FMQ Contributing Editor
A Letter from our President:
If you attended #FAME15 this October, you may have noticed a new energy at our 43rd annual conference, a revitalization of spirit and moral, a renaissance of purpose. It was evident in the packed rooms of the concurrent sessions, evident in the laughs from members sneaking photos in the Krispy Kreme bus, evident in the smiles of students clutching their Jim Harbin trophies as they posed on the red carpet, evident in the giggles of grown adults cavorting in the Maker playground, evident in the belly laughs of librarians watching National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman and SSYRA winning author Chris Grabenstein duel in Late Night Library Games. #FAME15 was testimony that by being self-managed, we are now stronger than ever.
Now that we have a firm foundation, it is a prime opportunity to build on that foundation and plan for the continued success of FAME. The theme for #FAME16 is Staying Relevant by Moving Forward, which applies to both our profession and to our organization. Just as school librarians are proving their relevance through innovative leadership and instruction in information literacy and problem-based learning, FAME is moving forward to ensure it meets the needs of both the members and the millions of students in the state of Florida. It is time to reevaluate our mission and vision and to plan for the future.
This year, we will be drafting a strategic plan outlining the mission, vision, belief statements, goals, and objectives of FAME. This will help provide guidance and direction for future decisions, projects, and programs, and provide a unified vision of our future. This can only be done with input from the whole membership. Please take a few minutes to thoughtfully fill out the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FAMEstrategicplan.
We want our strategic plan to reflect the needs of our membership and our students, so it is imperative that we gather the opinions from as many of our diverse and varied members as is possible.
As rejuvenating as our conference is, FAME is much more than our annual conference. It’s even more than the Sunshine State Young Readers Award. As our state professional organization for school librarians, FAME offers scholarships to librarians earning their Masters in Library Science, monetary awards to secondary school librarians who develop programs that enhance and support the self-esteem and well being of young adults, a scholarship to high school seniors espousing the importance of Intellectual Freedom, and awards to administrators and principals who recognize and support the importance of strong school library programs. FAME provides programs for our students to learn and shine; students earn state recognition for their media projects and change the lives of authors by selecting the state’s winning children’s books. FAME advocates for you through legislative efforts and various communications. And of course, FAME offers professional development specific to our profession through monthly webinars and the annual conference. This is all something to be very proud of, but we can be even better.
At the AASL national conference in November, a panel of administrators, district librarians, and school librarians from Project Connect spoke on empowering school library programs. One statement stuck with me. A panelist asserted that we have always viewed ourselves as support systems within our schools. We help teachers teach and students learn by curating resources and supporting the curriculum. Yet he challenged us that we have it backwards. We should lead first, then teach, then support. I view FAME the same way. I believe that we can and should be leaders in the nation as a model library professional organization. We then should teach our members through excellent and innovative professional development. And finally, we should support our members. By being the leader, we secure our relevancy and prove our worth. Please help guide FAME to its future as a prominent national organization by contributing to the strategic plan survey today. Our future is compelling!
Lucretia Miller,
FAME President, 2015-16
Conference Overview
Whew! What a conference! The 2015 Annual FAME Conference certainly proved that FAME members are #MakingItHappen throughout the state of Florida! Over 600 FAME members were invigorated by a new venue, many new events and activities, and once again the greatest professional development you can find for school librarians in Florida. Conference Chair Kris Smith and the Conference Committee did an amazing job preparing for the 2015 conference. I am eternally grateful for all the hard work they put in throughout 2015 to make our conference as amazing as it was. If you weren’t able to attend, here’s what you missed:
Wednesday afternoon began with the first ever FAME Readers Theatre featuring National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman, James Ponti, Donna Gephart, and Christiana Gonzalez. Students from the Osceola County School of the Arts created original scripts using the authors’ latest titles and the results were amazing! Attendees couldn’t stop talking about how much fun they had at this opening event. Laughter filled the room during the performances and we hope to continue this fun tradition.
On Thursday, Keynote Speaker Paul Reynolds inspired us all to encourage our students to #CreateBravely. Paul’s thoughtful message about creating in libraries set the tone as we officially began the 43rd annual conference. Other highlights from the opening session included our Florida Power Library Winners, the official awarding of the Sunshine State Awards, and tears…lots of tears! The passion for libraries, for literacy, and for Florida’s children was evident throughout the opening session.
Thursday continued with a variety of general sessions featuring our 19 authors, vendors, and presenters from across the state of Florida. One particular highlight was the announcement of the first ever SSYRA Jr titles. Lori Arnez and her committee did an outstanding job! I especially loved the look on Scott McCormack’s face when his book was announced—truly a classic! The feedback from the sessions has been very helpful in planning programming for next year. Start thinking now about what kind of sessions you can offer next year and consider applying to present. I promise you, you will find the experience rewarding and exciting!
If you missed the President’s Dessert reception at #FAME15, believe me, you missed out! The award winning pastry chef at the Rosen Shingle Creek surpassed all my expectations. The desserts were truly beautiful, tasty, and plentiful. I hope you enjoyed the addition of the java bar and took some time to dance to the sounds of Henry Haake’s band.
For the night owls at the conference, Thursday evening ended with our first annual Late Night Library Games. Peals of laughter were heard down the hallway as authors Neal Shusterman, Scott McCormack, Lyn Matson, Chris Grabenstein, and Tommy Greenwald competed with librarians from across the state for the coveted Late Night Games Trophy. A million thanks to Jenn Underhill and Kris Smith for all their hard work and to James Ponti, Lucretia Miller, and Ashlee Cornett who had the enormous task of judging this year’s event.
Brad Meltzer’s closing keynote for #FAME15 was a true highlight for me. His words were poignant, thoughtful, inspiring, and tear jerking…simply beautiful! Congratulations to all the new board members and officers that were installed at the closing luncheon. I’m confident their leadership will continue to move FAME to new heights in 2016.
It has been an enormous honor and privilege to serve as your president! Thank you to the FAME team of volunteers who surrounded me with advice, assistance, love, and laughter and inspired me to be the best president I could be. Thank you to the FAME board members and committee chairs who helped me make decisions and helped me lead FAME throughout the year. And finally thank you to my family for supporting me, loving me, and allowing me to follow this dream. I am so proud of the direction FAME is taking and I can’t wait to continue on this journey with you!
A million thanks, a few tears, and a ton of love,
Michelle Jarrett
Awards Information
The winner of the Administrator's Advocacy Award was William Purtell, Manager of Instructional Materials and Library Media Services for the School District of Palm Beach County. William Purtell was nominated by Elizabeth Zdrodowski , Deb Svec, Julie Greene, and Dawn Williams.
The winner of the Secondary Principal Award for Excellence was Jose Martinez, former principal of Lake Nona Middle School and present principal of Colonial High School in Orlando. Jose was nominated by Andrea Parisi.
2015 Jim Harbin Student Media Festival Awards
Over 700 Florida students received awards at the 2015 Jim Harbin Student Media Festival. These talented students produced the top three videos in the statewide competition. The festival provides K-12 students the opportunity to show their work, have their work critiqued by a panel of expert judges on several levels of the competition, and to be inspired by the work of other students. They were honored for their outstanding media productions at The 2015 Jim Harbin Student Media Festival Awards Ceremony. The event was hosted by students Ryan Novak, Kelsey Waldron, and Sidnee O’Halloran. Students Emma Garrett, Connor and Courtney Capar, Elizabeth Mallard, and Annabelle Whitley acted as camera operators. The show was broadcasted live by JDL Horizons Eduvision at the 43rd annual FAME Conference in the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando on Friday, October 23rd.
Highlights included photo ops on the red carpet, video montages of the 129 winning entries, and Champion Elementary School’s media specialist, Jacqueline Ouellette, invited children’s author, Katheryn Russell-Brown who congratulated all the students for winning the statewide award. The author is also a professor of law and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law.
You can watch all the videos in 11 different categories: Animation, Book Trailer, Comedy, Drama, PSA’s and more and the live broadcast of the ceremony at www.floridamedia.org/page/EduVisionminisite.
The FAME Jim Harbin Student Media Festival was created in honor of Jim Harbin, a former consultant with the Florida Department of Education, who originated the idea of a statewide student media festival to recognize the excellent work being done across the state of Florida by student media producers. FAME, The Florida Association for Media in Education, sponsors the Festival to encourage students of FAME members to communicate through media production and to recognize and reward outstanding presentations. View the list of winners on the FAME website, www.floridamedia.org.
Introducing SSYRA, Jr.!
Written by Laurie Arnez, SSYRA, Jr. Chair
The mission of the Sunshine State Young Reader's Award Jr. program is to develop student interest in reading for pleasure by exposing them to a wide range of appropriate literature. Sunshine State Jr. books are selected for their wide appeal, literary value, varied genres, curriculum connections, and/or multicultural representation. Students are encouraged to listen to these books, read them in a small group setting, or read independently to develop skills in fluency and comprehension.
The SSYRA Jr. Committee was very proud and excited to announce the inaugural list for K-2 readers at the FAME Conference. The board approved the formation of the committee in May, and we decided we wanted to begin right away. Books began arriving in June and we quickly read, read and read some more! The Committee decided to select 10 picture books that would be great read-aloud and 5 beginning chapter books to challenge the independent reader. We selected the books and began working on the activities right away. We have included ideas for story openers, fun craft ideas, and discussion questions. These materials were created to be easily used by the media specialist during story time. In addition to the activities, the committee created bookmarks, posters, a Power Point with covers and short summary, class lists, and book labels that are available on the FAME web site. A special thank you to Lucretia Miller for designing the new SSYRA Jr. Logo.
Since this is a new award, we are hoping from input from all of you! At my school, I am reading the picture books to my K & 1 classes. I challenged my 2nd graders to read all 15 books independently. Many of my 1st graders are also reading the Beginning Chapter Books independently as well. My entire school will be voting for their favorite SSYRA or SSYRA Jr. book when we have the county supervisor of elections come to the school in March. We will also have a school wide reading celebration at the end of the year.
I believe this is a great addition to the FAME Reading Award programs, as we now cover every level from K-12!
I hope your K-2 students are as excited as mine to be participating in the SSYRA Jr. program. Please make sure to check out the activities and resources on our web page. We need your recommendations for titles so we may continue to create a great list!
SSYRA Voting is Now Open to All Florida Schools!
The FAME Board of Directors has unanimously voted to open SSYRA voting to ALL Florida schools!
Effective this year, any school librarian can submit votes for their students. This is such wonderful news!! SSYRA resources will also be available to anyone who wants them.
Please pass on this exciting news to school librarians in your county who are not members of FAME.
FAME Intellectual Freedom Student Scholarship
Rules and Requirements:
As a member of FAME, your high school seniors are invited to apply for the FAME Intellectual Freedom Scholarship.
Students must write an essay on “The Importance of Intellectual Freedom.”
Applications and details are available on the FAME website.
One application per county is considered.
All applications and essays of 1000 words or less must be submitted by March 1, 2016.
The winning entry receives a $1000 scholarship from FAME.
Winners will be notified by May 1, 2016.
A Question of Copyright
Written by Gary H. Becker
Q. Last evening I attended a rather large gathering of educators who listened to a presentation about eBooks, digital devices, etc. The presenter (a college professor and author) told everyone in the room that as educators they could take their cassette and audio tapes and convert them to MP3 files, load them on iPods, iPads, etc., use them freely in their classrooms and that it was permissible. Several media specialists were in the room and questioned this (due to our training), but he adamantly said that it was not true, and that a teacher could make the conversions. He insisted that they could do this and use it freely in their classrooms. I can find nothing to support him. Please let me know if there is a change I have missed.
A. The information that was shared by the guest presenter is partially true. Following are the circumstances in which materials in one format may be converted to a digital format without prior permission of the copyright owners.
1. For personal use only. If you own analog recordings and wish to convert them to digital recordings and place them on a digital device you personally own, that is permissible.
2. If, as a teacher at a school, you wish to convert an analog medium to digital for the purpose of using a portion (not the entire work) in a distance learning class for which the instructor is directly involved in that class (not a recorded distance learning class that is used repeatedly), then the conversion in order to transmit the digital works would be permissible, as long as all the requirements of the The Teach Act are met. Since the Teach Act doesn't specify how much may be used from a work, other than not permitting use of the entire work, general Fair Use criteria applies to the amount to be taken from each source.
3. Applying general Fair Use, portions of works may be digitized for use in a transformative manner (use for other than what the original material was designed) as long as tied directly to instruction.
Other than the preceding, there is no blanket permission to carry out, format conversion of a total work, without prior permission of the copyright owners, or by applying Fair Use criteria. I would recommend visiting the following link for learning more about Fair Use in a classroom setting. The following code of best practices established the basis of interpreting Fair Use more broadly for educators and is well respected.
I have suggested, in the past, when I have received questions similar to yours, that if you have a guest speaker who is making a statement concerning an aspect of any law, for which there might be a question, that the guest speaker be requested to provide documentation as to the source of the accuracy of that statement. Sadly enough, people will hear what they would like to hear and sometimes the information presented is not totally accurate or the interpretation of what was presented is not totally accurate.
A “Question of Copyright” is an ongoing column authored by Gary H. Becker, national copyright law consultant and retired public school system technology administrator. If you have a question, pleased send it to gbecker@beckercopyright.com. You will receive an individual response and your question may appear in a future edition of FMQ. Requests to withhold names will be honored.
Advocacy in Action!
Marc Tyler Nobleman, an ALA notable title author is available for school visits in January, 2016
"Gripping story everyone should hear": January 19-22, 2016!
“Wow—incredible! An inspiration—absolutely gripping story everyone should hear.”
—an educator who attended the Charlotte S. Huck Children's Literature Festival, CA
Maryland author Marc Tyler Nobleman (Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman; Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman) is booking FL school visits for January 19-22, 2016—and offering a one-time discount of $1,500 (normally $1,800 plus travel); two nearby schools may split him.
His talks are real-life detective stories with a strong social justice component: part motivational, part educational, and all entertaining for any age...even to those who couldn't care less about superheroes. And one of his books just changed pop culture history. Students will be riveted during the talk and excited for months after about writing and research...guaranteed.
“You were AWESOME. I was near tears hearing the impression that you made on my son, who is in 3rd grade. For weeks after your presentation, I continued to hear how your message had resonated with many others.”
—Karin R. DeWispelaere, reading resource teacher, Laurel Ridge Elementary, Fairfax, VA
To inquire or book: mtnobleman@gmail.com.
FAME contact information:
Email: floridamediaed@gmail.com
Website: floridamedia.org
Phone: 813-380-5673
Twitter: @FloridaMediaEd