KASL Spring News Letter
Kentucky Association of School Librarians
OPGES: Change is a comin', are you ready?
Hi, Kentucky School Librarians,
I’ve traveled to several KY Association of School Librarians (KASL) district meetings this month to share information about OPGES (Other Professionals Growth and Effectiveness System). Look for sessions at the KASL Summer Refresher and the KASL Fall Conference about OPGES, as well, to receive the very latest updates.
If you haven’t had a chance to attend one of the OPGES sessions, remember to look at the quarterly KY School Library Media News that includes an OPGES update in each issue (spring issue was sent out earlier this week) and look at any email correspondence from me that relates to the effectiveness system. The pilot begins August 2014. Full implementation of the new effectiveness system begins August 2015. Even if you do not participate in the pilot, you need to begin learning about the pieces and parts of the system now. Summer professional learning opportunities in many districts will be around PGES (Professional Growth and Effectiveness System). That’s the system that was built for classroom teachers, including Art, Music, PE, and Special Education teachers. OPGES (Other Professionals Growth and Effectiveness System) falls under the overall PGES system and includes library media specialists, so any trainings about PGES will help you understand OPGES.
Below are links to PGES resources that might help you understand the overall system better. Do note that guidance specific to OPGES roles (that includes librarians) is coming soon, such as examples of Student Growth Goals and examples of Professional Growth Goals.
· Webpage for PGES: http://education.ky.gov/teachers/PGES/Pages/PGES.aspx
· PGES FAQ: PGES FAQ
· PGES Newsletters: http://education.ky.gov/teachers/PGES/Pages/Access-PGES-Latest-News.aspx
· Student Growth Goal Planning Guidance: Think and Plan Guidance for Developing SGGs
· Student Growth Goal “Think and Plan Tool”: http://education.ky.gov/teachers/HiEffTeach/Documents/Think%20and%20Plan%20Tool%20w-Guiding%20Questions-w-embedded%20sample-FINAL.docx
I encourage you to consider volunteering to be part of the pilot for your district for 2014-15. Pilot participants have the opportunity to give valuable feedback to ensure the best system is developed for full implementation for everyone in 2015-16. Although I’ve emailed the pilot participant qualifications before, I’m including them here again below. If you believe you qualify to participate, please contact your district PGES coordinator (every district has one) or email Amy Jacobs (PGES consultant at KDE) – amy.jacobs@education.ky.gov. A web collector is in the works for districts to enter the names of pilot participants for each of the six OPGES categories.
A pilot of the Other Professionals Growth and Effectiveness System (OPGES) will be implemented in the 2014-15 school year. Individuals who are tenured, not in their summative year and who have an Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) certification in one of the following roles are eligible to participate.
· Library media specialists/school librarians
· School guidance counselors/social workers
· Instructional specialists (school level)
· Therapeutic specialists (SPL, OT, PT)
· School psychologists
· School nurses
All districts will participate in the pilot with a minimum of one person from each of the identified role groups.
As always, let me know if you have questions, comments, and concerns!
Kathy
Kathy Mansfield
Library Media/Textbooks Consultant
Kentucky Department of Education
500 Mero Street, 19th Floor - CPT
Frankfort, KY 40601
502-564-2106, x4500
kathy.mansfield@education.ky.gov
Lync Contact
Braggin' Rights
ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant Recipient-- KASL
Dear Ms. Wells,
On behalf of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant Award Subcommittee, it gives us great pleasure to inform you that your application has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 American Association of School Librarians’ ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant Award, sponsored by ABC-CLIO. Congratulations!
This prestigious award will be presented to you at the American Library Association’s 2014 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the AASL Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will take place from 9:00-10:30 am on Saturday, June 28th. The Awards Green Room will be located near the awards ceremony location and will allow recipients and sponsors to be photographed and mingle with AASL leaders. We hope you can attend to receive the honor in person. Additional details will be sent as room
locations are confirmed with ALA and sponsor and green room schedules are finalized.
Sincerely,
Gail K. Dickinson Pam Chesky
AASL President,2014 Chair, 2013-14 AASL Awards Committee
Save the Date
Upcoming Meetings or Events to plan for
KET Multimedia Professional Development Day: Wednesday, July 16, 2014
If you are a Kentucky teacher, library media specialist, teaching staff worker, or administrator (public, private, and homeschools included):
- Go to the registration web page and complete the form to register for the July 16 event. You'll see a list of event sessions to choose from along with lunch choices.
- After you have filled-out your session and lunch choices, choose a payment option. The registration fee of $50.00 per person includes lunch and refreshments, and helps to support travel expenses for our event presenters. If paying by check or purchase order, please mail those in as soon as you can.
- This year's session titles are listed below. Descriptions are at the registration website.
For more information about registration and PD credit, contact Cynthia Barton, KET:
cbarton@ket.org
(800) 432-0951, ext. 7271
(859) 258-7271
We look forward to seeing you at KET!
PD Credit
To find out whether the KET Multimedia Professional Development Day workshop hours can be used toward fulfillment of your school district’s staff professional development requirements, contact your school or district official in charge of professional development.
KET is also approved to award EILA (Effective Instructional Leadership Act) professional development credit to Kentucky K-12 school administrators for attendance at our summer event workshops.
For More Information ...
- About the event:
Jeff Gray, KET
jgray@ket.org
(800) 432-0951, ext. 7263
(859) 258-7263
- About registration, payment, and PD/EILA credit:
Cynthia Barton, KET
cbarton@ket.org
(800) 432-0951, ext. 7271
(859) 258-7271
And for more workshops during the year...
Check out our KET Media Lab's multimedia workshops and KET tours for students and educators that are available year-round by appointment. KET Education Consultants will also give various free workshops for staff and students at your school!
DIstrict News
November 7th, four members of Southern KY Association of School Libraries (previously 3rd District) met at Panera in Bowling to revise district by-laws to include district name change and meeting procedure updates. Creating a Southern District website was also discussed, and Renee Hale of Warren Elementary in Bowling Green has already established a Facebook page for the district. Participants also enjoyed district fellowship and a wonderful buffet of finger foods in a suite at the Galt House Friday evening of KLA/KASL, sponsored by WKU's LME department and faculty members Dr. Marge Maxwell and Dr. Andrea Paganelli, where we also began discussions about the webpage idea and also outreach efforts to strengthen our district organization. Plans are to further promote the outreach with specified activity in our Southern District's 2014 Spring Meeting April 17th at Butler County Middle School with President Latisha Cardwell presiding. KET will also share new aspects in programming, and our 2nd Share Fair will be provided by volunteers who have signed up for presenting information on Google Docs, Symbaloo, and Cataloging Free Ebook Websites, where attendees will have the opportunity to access their own Destiny accounts to catalog these websites and free ebooks during the session. More sessions will be provided according to more volunteer sign-up.
District Meetings
(I know many have already occurred. If you missed it, make sure you contact someone in your district to find out what you missed. Then, make plans to attend the next meeting in the Fall. )
Below is information regarding Spring 2014 District Meetings. This information is also available under NEWS on KASL's website:
First District
Meeting Date:Thursday, March 27
Location: Patti's Annex
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Second District
Meeting Date: Tuesday, April 15
Location: TBD (Owensboro)
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Southern District
Meeting Date: Thursday, April 17th
Location: Butler County Middle School
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Fourth District
Meeting Date: Thursday, April 24
Location: Bethlehem High School in Bardstown
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Fifth District
Meeting Date: Monday, April 21
Location:
Time:
Jefferson
Date: March 11th
Time: 6-8
Location: Old 502 Winery
Central
Date: Tuesday, April 15
Location: Madison Southern High School
Time: 5:30 registration/6:00 dinner
Northern
Date: Thursday, April 17
Location: Grant County High School Library
Time: 4-5:30
Middle Cumberland
Date: Tuesday, April 29
Location: Sonny’s BBQ in Somerset
Time: 5:30 PM
Upper Cumberland
??
Eastern
??
Upper KY River
Date: April 30
Location: TBD
Time: TBD
Southeastern
Date: March 25
Location: North Magoffin Elementary
Time: 5:30
Author Corner
ALECIA WHITAKER
Alecia has already visited many of your schools (some twice), and she is fantastic. For more information about Alecia, her books, and her school visits, check out her website:
http://aleciawhitaker.com/bookings.php
Thanks,
Jocelyn Sams
Andrew Gross
An Evening with New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross
When: Tue, Apr. 29, 2014 @ 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Where: Warren County Public Library Bob Kirby Branch, 175 Iron Skillet Court, Bowling Green, KY 42104
The Warren County Public Library presents an evening with New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross. This event is free and open to the public at the Bob Kirby Library. For more info, please call 270-781-4882 or visit http://www.warrenpl.org
The Kentucky Writers Conference is made possible through the generous support of Dollar General. Authors who will be participating in the Book Fest on Saturday, April 26, 2014 will give attendees at the Writers Conference the benefit of their wisdom on Friday, April 25, 2014. Free workshops on a variety of writing topics will be presented during this day-long event. Sessions run for 75 minutes and the day begins at 9:00am and ends at 3:30pm. The conference is open to anyone who would like to attend including high school students, college students, teachers, and the general public. There are very few spaces available for this year's conference. Please call or e-mail Kristie Lowry at (270) 745-4502 or kristie.lowry@wku.edu to register.
Kentucky Writers Conference program booklets are available at Barnes & Noble and Warren County Library locations, and the booklet is currently available through this website by clicking the "Event Program" button.
These sessions are FULL: 9-10:15am-Science Fiction with Jack McDevitt; 12:45-2pm-Altered Perception and Altered Writing with John Branscum; 12:45-2pm-Heroines, Humor and Homicide with Julie Anne Lindsey.You must APPSolutely try these.
Download the app Destiny Quest
Click on basic
To connect to your library, type in your site address
Then click connect
From here you can scroll to find your school
You will then need to enter your user name and password
You will need to create this on one of the computers at school or on a laptop/desktop computer before logging in on your tablet/phone device.
You will use your library barcode number and your last name
It will then ask you to put in your birthday
Next you will create your user name and password to use with Destiny card catalog and ebooks
Follett Enlight K-12
To read ebooks from the school library on your electronic device, download the app Enlight K-12
The Enlight app is strictly for viewing and reading ebooks from the Destiny Follettshelf
To log into the Enlight K-12 App, you will use your log in and password you created and the Follettshelf URL for your school site
You may use the Destiny Quest app to read the ebooks on the device at school, however if you wish to actually check out the book and have access to it 24/7 without wifi, you will need to check it out and read it on the Enlight app
Web Sources
Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winners
Kentucky Bluegrass Award
The Kentucky Bluegrass Award is an annual award for the best book as chosen by the students of Kentucky. The KBA promotes and encourages Kentucky students in kindergarten through grade 12 to read a variety of quality literature. All Kentucky public and private schools, as well as public libraries, are welcome to participate in the program.
The votes are in and the winners of the 2014 Kentucky Bluegrass Award are:
- K-2: This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick) by Jon Klassen
- 3-5: Wonder (Knopf) by R. J. Palacio
- 6-8: The Ghost of Graylock (Scholastic) by Dan Poblocki
- 9-12: I Hunt Killers (Little, Brown) by Barry Lyga
Thanks to all who participated and made this year’s KBA program a success.
2014 KBA Luncheon
Plan now to attend the Kentucky Bluegrass Award Luncheon during the KLA/KASL Joint Conference September 17-20, 2014 at the Galt House in Louisville. The featured author for the luncheon will be Mary Amato author of the 2014 KBA nominee Guitar Notes and the 2010 KBA nominee The Chicken of the Family. Additional information about Mary Amato is available on her website.
KBA Preschool Master List
The formation of the new Kentucky Bluegrass Award Preschool Master List committee is now underway. The charge for this group is to create an annual Master List of ten books for preschool readers (ages 2-5). For the foreseeable future, this will not be a voting list. The list is to be used as a recommendation and acquisition list for those working with this age group. The committee will follow similar selection criteria and organization as the other KBA Master Lists. If you are interested in reading and suggesting books for this age group, and wish to serve on the KBA Preschool Master List committee, please contact Abby McCurry at the Lexington Public Library who will serve as the chair of the committee.
2015 KBA
Plan now to participate in the 2015 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Program. Information about the award including the 2015 Master Lists is available on the KBA website. Additional information is also available from Jennifer Smith, KBA Executive Director, at smithjen@nku.edu or 859-572-6620.