January 2010 Newsletter

President’s Corner!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays were wonderful and your well deserved break was fun and restful.

It was certainly nice to have our December meeting in downtown Chicago. Seeing the holiday decorations and having the opportunity to shop and participate in the many holiday activities added to our Chicago Architecture Foundation (“CAF”) presentation. Jean Linsner, our host and presenter in December, provided us with an energetic presentation that highlighted some of the many engaging ways the CAF brings children, youth, educators and families together to explore architecture. Jean also explained how the CAF can work with high school librarians/media specialists, our colleagues and students to incorporate architecture into the curriculum. If you are interested in obtaining information regarding future CAF professional development workshops please let me know so that I can forward your name and email to Jean. We appreciate Jean’s willingness to give up a precious December Saturday morning to be with our group.

With the New Year and school semester here I realize once again how quickly time flies. In the last two weeks I have done my usual evaluation: what were my goals for first semester and what actually got accomplished! Although I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions I do want to embrace and utilize the current 2.0 technology this school year.

Many of you are already using 2.0 technology with your instruction and work. Whether you are or want to be a 2.0 expert, make sure you attend our next meeting on Saturday, February 20th at Maine South High School in Park Ridge. Dr. Hank Thiele will share his expertise of this current technology and teach us how we can better reach our students. Rose Retrum, our host that morning, will give a guided tour of the Maine South High School.

So, please join us in February for another invigorating professional development meeting of learning and sharing. Remember that you may now earn 2 CPDU’s for attending this meeting.

Lisa Walsh
President



SAVE THE DATE – Saturday, February 20th Meeting!
(Earn 2 CPDU’s)


Maine South High School
1111 South Dee Road
Park Ridge, IL

“2.0 Savvy – Making Information More Accessible, Collaborative & Visual”

Please join us on Saturday, February 20th to learn the latest on how we can adapt our practices by using current 2.0 technology. Dr. Hank Thiele, Director of Technology at Maine Township High School District 207, will share his expertise on how we can use 2.0 to better connect with our students. Certainly our students are comfortable with changing the way they access, find and share information. In turn, it is important for us to stay abreast of these new methods and adapt our practices.

During this presentation Dr. Thiele will focus on the shifts that are making information more accessible, collaborative and visual. He will show us some of the ways instruction can change to incorporate these three principles in order to improve how we reach our students. Prior to the meeting feel free to check out Dr. Thiele’s blog: http://henrythiele.blogspot.com/

Our host on February 20 is Rose Retrum, Lead Librarian at Maine South High School. Rose will gladly answer any of your questions about the library and provide us with a tour.

PLEASE RSVP by Wednesday, February 17th to: **mediamanjay@comcast.net**

Meeting Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 Meeting Registration, Breakfast Refreshments and Library Tour
9:00 – 9:30 Business Meeting & Get Acquainted Activity
9:30 – 10:30 2.0 Savvy Presentation
10:30 – 10:45 Bylaws presentation and discussion
10:45 – 11:00 Nominating Committee Meeting
11:00 – 11:30 Officer’s Meeting


What’s New?

BYLAWS (revisions have been drafted)! Proposed changes to the HSLMA’s bylaws will be presented and discussed at the February meeting. It has been 10 years since the last time the bylaws were updated. Earlier in the school year Jay Katzman graciously agreed to head up the Bylaws Committee. Thank you Jay for your hard work, time and the great job you are doing on this project.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE! We need a few people to serve on the HSLMA Officer’s Nominating Committee. In April, we will be voting on a new slate of officer’s for 2010 – 2011. Please email Lisa Walsh (lwalsh@bhsd228.com) if you are interested in serving on this committee.




Remaining 2009 – 2010
HSLMA Meeting Schedule & Program:


Saturday, April 17th – “Rounding out the Year with YA Literature”

Dominican University
River Forest, IL

Presenters: Mr. Thom Barthelmess
2009 – 2010 ALA/ALSC President
Curator, Butler Children’s Literature Center
Graduate School of Library & Information Science - Dominican
University

Ms. Sue Tindall
Educational Technologist
Trinity High School

Host: Mr. Thom Barthelmess

Helpful Web Sites:

Thinking of purchasing a new car? Go to this joint U.S. Dept. of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency site to get accurate fuel efficiency measurements of cars and trucks:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Not sure what the financial term “delta” means? These two sites can be of help to you and your economics students when you need a financial term definition:

http://www.investorwords.com/

http://www.businessdictionary.com/

Looking for an interesting professional development workshop or seminar. Check out the site below for the current Newberry Library’s course schedule:
http://www.newberry.org/programs/seminars.html