I watched the Connected Librarians Day 2014 – Heidi Neltner. It was quite long. I liked the idea of creating a Google Photo Screen saver using Picasa with pictures of new books. I also liked her Symbaloo Destiny Homepage. I have trouble that Destiny cannot show my GoogleSites homepage for some reason. Perhaps if I used Symbaloo I wouldn't have that trouble and I'd probably attract different students than my traditional website does. I also liked the idea of adding book trailers to MARC records. I will be asking CapRegion BOCES about it. There are a lot of good book trailers out there. I use them for some of my booktalks. They really attract some of the hard to reach students.

I was interested in Heidi Neltner’s idea of using Google Forms for student sign-ins, but I’m not sure that I can afford the loss of a computer that is dedicated to this purpose. The idea of using Smore for the analytics is interesting. I explored and found out that a single educator account is $59. I guess I have to explore Smore and decide if it is that much better that it is worth the expense. I found the comment that she used Publisher to create email blasts to parents because it directly embeds in email, include photos, etc. interesting. I wonder if there isn’t another alternative. I also wonder because I don’t like waiting for all of the graphics to download in my emails. Since I often use my phone to view email, I want the files as small as possible. Am I just weird?

In addition to giving me some ideas, it also reinforced that some of the things that I normally do are advocacy even though I don’t think of them that way.

Our email to all ES teachers automatically goes to the administrators, so when I do my regular work of informing teachers about resources that will help them with their job, I am also advocating for my job and my program. The administrators will comment when they are really excited about something that I created for the teachers and staff. The teachers will send me thank-you notes for some of the emails that I send them. (I now save copies of these for APPR purposes for proof of communicating with my coworkers.)

Recently, I added pages to my website of teacher resources to help with locating nonfiction texts at the appropriate Lexile level. Since our interim superintendent had personally given the staff PD on Common Core and the Modules, I asked her for suggested additions to the pages. I also asked the local listserv for their suggestions. Several librarians asked for my permission to share my webpage with their staff. Although the initial intent of my contact was to improve my work, this also makes my work visible to a larger audience.

The idea of having a common banner/logo for emails, social media, etc. seems good. For the longest time I had used the district letterhead at the top of my communications, but I got frustrated that it changed so often and that the district lagged behind in creating a new version. I have a VERY simple logo that I have been using this year. I’m not sure if I should get flashier or stay with what I have created. I did have some positive feedback from parents that it was easy to identify what came from the library in the sea of papers that they sometimes get.

I watched the School Libraries Matter video from Capstone. It was good, but those libraries had a LOT of technology. I wish we had that much $$.

I read 10 Things Teachers Need to know. It was pretty good, but I do like a modicum of quiet. I tell kids not to impede other’s learning or work.

I explored Four ways to advocate for libraries. So many of the ideas I already do:

create online materials in collaboration with teachers (Lexile resource page),
collaborate with teachers (I help them with lessons that aren't really going to involve the library),
tech training (I have a professional tech group),
helping with tech (ALL the time),
demonstrating how to with tech (Teachers are now taking out the laptops and chromebooks so often that I can't use them with my classes!),
collection & databases (I am trying to get more $$.),
space for personalized learning (Kids come in daily during recess and study times!)

I loved the reference to:

"A school with a good library:

Believes that education is about teaching kids how to ask and answer questions, not just know the "right" answers.
Believes that asking questions is a sign of intelligence, not stupidity.
Believes that kids should have access to a diversity of topics and points-of-view and be taught the skills to make informed opinions of their own.
Believes that kids' personal interests are legitimate areas of investigation.
Believes that it is as important to create kids who want to read as to simply create kids who can read.
Believes that access to good fiction collections helps kids meet developmental tasks and reading fiction can foster empathy.
Believes that kids should be content creators and content sharers as well as content consumers.
Believes that it is important to have more research skills than simply being able to Google a topic - and that it is important to have a professional who helps kids master those skills.
Believes that edited, quality commercial sources of information should be available to all kids regardless of economic level.
Believes that technology use in education is about creativity, problem-solving, and communications.
Believes that the classroom is not the only place learning occurs.
Believes that kids, like adults, sometimes need a "third place" where they feel welcome, comfortable and productive."

from:

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2015/2/8/bftp-what-does-a-good-library-tell-you-about-a-school.html

Then I watched the video Flipping the Switch: Everyday Advocacy for Your School Library Program. I liked the clip from Joyce Valenza's think create share grow video.I like the ideas from Advocacy 101: be a leader, volunteer for committees (I try.), help w/ tech integration & common core, trend watch (Cap Region BOCES helps a lot with this. Teachers always ask how I knew about things before they did.), listservs, AASL & NYLA send letters to BoE (something to remember for the future), parent advocates, understand your limits (make proposals), keep message positive. I need to investigate Flipgrid. I don't have a position statement but I should look into it. I like the idea of taglines (School librarians are the hub of learning resources. Strong school libraries support strong students.) I need to look into the Survive & thrive initiative to target which is on Googlesites. So far my ideas include:

make stickers to put on projects made in LMC
work on the logo idea
shoot video footage asking important questions of administrators, teachers, students and parents (What does the school library mean to you? What did you learn in the library today? Why did you come to the library? What books do you like to borrow? What do you like to do here?)
I want to look more closely at http://www.slideshare.net/PaigeJaeger & http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2014/03/smart-goals-for-visibility.html
I made an advocacy video board on Pinterest to include: Principals Know: School Librarians are the Heart of the School. Should I put some links on my webpage?