SSL Member Update

Hi fellow colleagues,

There are some changes developing with our parent organization, NYLA. We sent info to membership with the Balanced Budget Task Force presentation, including the PowerPoint/Slidedeck, and recording from the Council meeting where these changes were discussed. Please know we are hard at work discussing the implications of these changes, while planning for the future of this fabulous organization. We will be in touch with additional information as it becomes available.

As the year moves at an incredibly fast pace with lots of hustle and bustle, never forget you are important, you are valued, you matter. If you can, instead of racing from one place or task to another, take a moment or two to breathe, focus on your surroundings, your posture, and try to embrace a gentle pace. Sharing this tidbit from Breathe for Change: Educator Wellness & SEL Platform. Hang in there, you got this, you're awesome and amazing!

Yours in solidarity,

Madelyn Haussner

NYLA-SSL President

This is your opportunity not only to help recognize an outstanding author or illustrator, but also to help choose the banquet speaker for the 2025 NYLA/SSL Spring Conference!

Established in 1991, the NYLA/SSL Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature recognizes a living author or illustrator currently residing in New York State who has demonstrated a consistently superior quality which supports the curriculum and the educational goals of New York State Schools.

To assist with your nomination, here is a partial list of authors and illustrators living in New York State.

2023 Carol A. Kearney NYLA/SSL Educational Leadership Institute

Breaking Barriers: Going Beyond Media Literacy with a DEI Lens

July 27-28, Syracuse

Interested in enhancing your media literacy instruction skills with a critical focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)? Join us for the 2023 Carol A. Kearney Leadership Institute, July 27-28 in Syracuse to take a needed dive into media literacy, focusing on DEI in every aspect of media.

This year’s Leadership Institute, Breaking Barriers: Going Beyond Media Literacy with a DEI Lens, will explore the intersection of media literacy and DEI by examining creators of media, audience, focus, voices, representation, and more. You will learn more about the media itself–who is creating it and why, who is being left out, and what voices are being represented—while learning how to interact with media content through a DEI lens and developing strategies for empowering your students to become critical and informed media consumers, incorporating respect, inclusivity, and empathy into their role as media users, connectors, and producers.

11 NYSED CTLE hours will be given for attendance at this event.

Institute Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ssl-leadership-institute/2023

Thank you to all who participated.

Nominations for the 2023/24 Awards will open in October 2023.

NYS Senator Iwen Chu recognized 10 outstanding NYS librarians "that go above and beyond the job for New Yorkers. They have demonstrated commitment and passion for their work. With their staff, these librarians provide a great service and value to communities across New York State."

Four school librarians were recognized for their contributions to their communities:

Britt Buckenroth, New Lebanon Jr./Sr. High School

Jenna Landon, Cato-Meridian Middle School

Becky Leathersitch, SUNY Geneseo

Rebecca Rosas, Oxford Academy Middle School

Breaking Barriers: Going Beyond Media Literacy with a DEI Lens

July 27-28, Syracuse

AASL

National Conference

October 19-21, 2023

Tampa, FL

Register NOW!

Save $60 with code AASL60 (expires 5/31/23)

May 16-18, 2024

Lake Placid, NY

SSL 2024 Stories Link our Past, Present and Future are proud to announce the following keynote speakers! Ruta Sepetys, Stacey Lee, Kate Messner and Knickerbocker winner Charles Smither Jr. Please be on the lookout for more information regarding the 2024 conference being held in Lake Placid, NY at the Olympic Center.

If you have any questions regarding this event please email Amber Gladle & Anne Paulson at nylassl2024@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you in Lake Placid.

https://sites.google.com/view/ssl-2024

SSL Region Representative: Melissa Iamonico

School Library Media Specialists of Southeastern New York

SSL Region Representative: Debra Armbruster

Eastern New York School Library Media Association

ENYSLMA celebrated their first in-person program since the Covid shutdown! We co-hosted local author Coleen Paratore with the Albany City Area Reading Council. We were very excited by our 30 attendants! It was an engaging evening of dinner, conversation, fellowship, book give-aways, and a celebration of the writing process.

We got such wonderful, positive feedback, that we are planning on a similar program each spring!

Region 4's Beth Davis will be serving on YALSA's Outstanding Books for the College Bound Committee from May 2023 through April 2024. If you want to know more about the committee, please visit https://www.ala.org/yalsa/outstanding-books-college-bound

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In Region 6, four librarians were recognized with CNYSL's 2023 Soaring with Excellence Super Librarian Award, which seeks to honor librarians in the region who have made significant contributions to envisioning and building the future of school librarianship.

This year's award winners included:

• Deb Abbott - Stonehedge Elementary - West Genesee CSD
• Aja Hahn - Weedsport Elementary & Weedsport Jr/Sr High School - Weedsport CSD
• Kate Shanahan - C.S. Driver Middle School - Marcellus CSD
• Serena Waldron - Fitzhugh Park Elementary - Oswego CSD

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Also in Region 6, during the week of May 15th - 19th, over 1500 students in grades one through twelve, representing 56 schools across the Central New York region, participated in the annual virtual Battle of the Books competition. The winning teams from each level came from the following districts:

• Grades 1 & 2: East Syracuse-Minoa CSD
• Grades 3 & 4: Oswego CSD
• Grades 5 & 6: Central Square CSD
• Grades 7 & 8: Fulton CSD
• Grades 9 - 12: Pulaski CSD

The Central New York School Librarians welcome participation from schools throughout New York State in next year's competition! The books have been chosen for the 2024 Battle of the Books competition and can be found here. Those interested in participating in next year's competition should contact CNYSL president, Heather Turner at hturner@ocmboces.org.

I attended the SSL 2023 Conference and was inspired by so many amazing presenters! Of all of the sessions I attended, I found myself going back again and again to Cathi Brewer’s ChatGTP presentation.

AI, and ChatGTP in particular, hold “four letter word” status in my district. The “what ifs” are endless; What if kids use this to complete their homework? What if AI destroys writing as we know it? What if we cannot trust any product turned in ever again?

Well, I say phooey! AI is here, there is ready access, and it is our obligation as librarians and media literacy educators to teach responsible and ethical usage of these powerful tools.

So I leaned into AI…hard.

I started with ChatGTP (and thank you Cathi Brewer and the App Smackdown Contingent, Fox/Regitano/Turner/Waldron, for the inspiration and gentle shove!) because I had tinkered with it for a whopping 40 minutes. The learning curve was honestly fairly short. I was easily able to take the tips offered and create several instantly usable products for my library. I generated summer reading lists for rising 6th, 7th and 8th graders, consisting of fiction and nonfiction titles, all from the past five years. I generated read-a-likes for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a perennial comfort book series for my middle schoolers, and a letter to my building administrator and department head, requesting an additional warm body in the library (a clerk would be an amazing addition to our TA, so that she could actually push-in to classes and not be stranded at the circ desk). All I needed to do was “train” ChatGTP to generate from my perspective - an early-mid-career middle school librarian, passionate about intellectual freedom and student’s rights. ChatGTP is blocked for kids in my district, although I have put it to work for me.

As I was fiddling around in ChatGTP, some of my students noticed what I was up to and shared their use of SnapAI. I had no idea that SnapChat had an AI function (I use my account purely for Bitmoji generation and for taking weird, filtered selfies), and I can report that they use it primarily for generating required flash cards and solving math problems (without showing their work). While not great from an ethical and learning standpoint, these are not doomsday uses. Our kids also have access to CanvaAI (through our district’s Canva Pro account), though they do not know about it…yet. I am preparing lessons and video tutorials to push these products out to our students. Realistically, it will only be useful for them to generate ideas for projects, and to turn their Docs into Presentation Slides. You can find more information about Canva’s AI uses here: https://www.canva.com/magic-write/

With my profound thanks to the Algorithm Gods, TikTok has given me many more useful AI tools to share! AIEducatorTools is a site aggregate that allows you to search AI options by category and price (I’m all about free). Diffit, which is in beta testing at the moment, allows you to take any text (URL or copy/pasted text) and regenerate it to a specified grade level. I am in the midst of a WWII project with 8th graders, many of whom read several grade levels below. Have you tried finding information on Operation Valkyrie or WWII Stolen Art written for 3rd grade? Good luck! But with Diffit, I am able to adapt anything, from a LOC web article to an ABC Clio database article, to something my students can understand. My resource and SPED teachers are stoked! Twee, which is marketed to ELA teachers and is broken down by learning standard, creates lessons, vocabulary exercises, speaking prompts, and even scripts and summarizes Youtube videos. QuestionWell creates questions on a topic that can be exported into gamification sites, such as Blooket, Kahoot!, and Google Forms. Picsart will create images from a detailed description (and we thought AI would end the need for quality writing!), and EduAide will act as a personal assistant, generating unit plans, sub plans, accommodations and IEP outlines to an editable workspace. Can we say #GameChanger? Which will you try? Let me know!

Debbie Armbruster

debra.armbruster@nccsk12.org

Shaker Middle School Librarian

SSL Region 4 Rep, ENYSLMA

Here’s a shameless plug to join THE best group in NYS, the Section of School Librarians! Check out the available positions, and take your spot with this smart, intelligent group of educators and super-heroes, aka school librarians. We'd love to have you join us!

Please contact Lisa Perkowski if you are interested.

Email: nyla.sslibs@gmail.com
Website: www.nyla.org/ssl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/54348998258
Twitter: @nyla_ssl