Introduce Yourselves!

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

Hi, y'all -- Some of us know each other face-to-face, others through Twitter, blogs, or Facebook. Tell us a little bit about who you are.

And then hop over here and add yourself to the connectivity chart. Let's see how information traveled and connected you to this book club!

[karenklieg]

Hi - I'm Karen Kliegman, a teacher-librarian at Searingtown School (elementary) in Long Island, New York. I received my MLS at Long Island University and after that went for a masters in Educational Technology, also at LIU. I have been a teacher-librarian for 12 years and an adjunct professor at LIU for the past 3 years. I have taught in their educational technology and library science graduate programs.

I have presented sessions about the intersection of educational technology and the school library program, web 2.0, project-based learning, and Google Apps (I attended the Google Teacher Academy in NYC last year and am a Google Certified Teacher) at several conferences over the past few years. This past summer I received the SigMS librarian-teacher collaboration award at NECC in Washington DC, where I got to meet some very, very cool librarians, including Joyce Valenza. I was on Joyce's Library Web 2.0 Smackdown Panel at NECC and am now getting much more involved with ALA, AASL, and our profession as a whole. I welcome this opportunity to meet all of you and have this discussion! I just received my book and plan to start reading it today. Wow, it would be great if we could have a virtual session on Elluminate! Wonder if there is a way we can do that?

I have met many of you through either Twitter (I am @kkliegman), Facebook, or the AASL listserv (Hi Kristin!). I am so impressed with all that all of you do and hope that I meet many of you face 2 face in the future.

My blog is Wired Librarian although I don't write in it as much as I'd like to.
I also maintain a site called Digital Explorationsand am the creator and webmaster of my school library website.
I am excited to read the book and think of how it fits and can shape the research program I co-teach with our technology teacher to our 4th and 5th graders. We have successfully piloted a 1-hour/1X week class that we co-teach, where our students have the use of both the library and the computer lab, and for which we design project-based learning, classroom curriculum, information literacy and technology units for each grade. We have worked a lot with the Big 6, with KWL, and other methods of research. My goal, still, though is to make my program absolutely integral to the classroom teachers and I still don't think that I have achieved this to the extent I want to. So hopefully, this book, and our discussions will help!

[Beth Friese]

Hi Karen. I'm reading back through all the intros - somehow I missed your description of the class you co-teach. That sounds like it could have a lot of potential. Looking forward to hearing more about it as we go on.
Your post also reminded me to find out about Elluminate - thanks!

Beth

[Raya Samet]

My name is Raya (rhymes with Papaya) Samet. I tweet @LibraryRaya.

I just graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information (Go Blue!) with a concentration in K-12 Media. I did the elementary half of my student teaching with the wonderful and talented Kristin Fontichiaro, and the secondary half at the renowned International Academy here in Michigan with the awesome collaborator Klaudia Janek. Before that, I sucked up all the talent and skill of the amazing youth librarians at the Ann Arbor District Library, where I honed my storytime craft.

Starting in January, I have the pleasure of working in the Birmingham, MI public schools at their 3-8 Science and Technology magnet school, filling in for an amazing SLMS who is on maternity leave.

I love graphic novels, and am also an avid reader of fanfiction. I love to cook, knit/crochet, and garden, and I sing with a professional choir. Most of all, I'm a bit of a technology geek.

I can't wait to get started with discussions--this is such a fantastic group!
-Raya

[Beth Friese]

Hi Raya.

When do you start your job? You will be great.

I am interested to hear about the fanfiction you enjoy - its one of the "hot" subjects in new literacies research these days. I am a huge graphic literature lover. What are your faves?

Glad we get to talk more as this goes on!

Beth

[Ingrid Hopson]

Hi I'm Ingrid and have been a school librarian since 1987, before that a mum and before that a lending librarian at a large public lib. So as you can guess I am rather on the wrong side of 50! I have worked at a large comprehensive school (1950 students ) in Guildford Surrey UK. I am in my 19th year there. I love the job but it has its ups and downs. Sometimes I feel that I am really making a difference and working really collaboratively with teachers and then at others I feel as if the teachers just see me as resource and weblinks provider.
The pinnacle of my career came in 2007 when I was selected as the 3rd schoool librarian of the year in UK. I was thrilled and had a super year and was asked to do lots of exciting things. I even got to meet Tony Blair before he left the post of PM and was mentioned in Hansard by Jim Knight.

My two passions are reading comprehension and using ict to support teaching and learning.
However I do think that the work I try to do is hindered by the uk exam system. Everything is geared towards targets and progress, identifying which students are below on or above target. Consequently teachers are very geared towards teaching for the test and like to be in control of the teaching.

I feel that achieving my goals is a constant battle and I continually need to market and promote the work that I do.

I am enjoying the book and am looking forward to reading and learning from the responses, and hopefully I will be able to add afew gems of my own too.

[Beth Friese]

Hi Ingrid. I love your introduction - how amazing to be honored with such an award! That must have been such a thrill! And yet, I also appreciate that even though you are recognized as a leader, there are still ups and downs.

I'm interested to hear more about the UK exam system as we go along. One of the most interesting parts of this group is that we have several countries (and regions within countries) participating. I'm already learning a lot about the kinds of issues that schools around the world are dealing with, which I find fascinating. Glad you are with us - looking forward to the "gems." :)

Beth

[Franki]

Hi:-) My name is Franki Sibberson (Twitter @franki22). I am an elementary librarian in a K-5 school. This is my 2nd year in the position after classroom teaching and some literacy leadership/coaching positions for 20+ years. I am getting ready to start my Master's program through the University of Alberta's Teacher Librarianship Distance Learning program in January. I've learned a lot from Harvey and Daniels and their work for classroom teachers and am anxious to think about how their work can impact my work in the library. Outside interests--reading, baking. Looking forward to the discussion!

[Beth Friese]

Hi Franki! I am such an admirer of yours - I love your blog. I'm teaching language and literacy to preservice elementary teachers this semester and they will be following your blog soon too. :) So glad you are in the group!

Beth

[Sharon Hermann]

Greetings,

I'm Sharon Hermann and I'm a primary school librarian in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I work with K - 5 students at an IB school. The school has all three IB programmes, so inquiry is a very important part of who we are.

Like Joan, I love books and horses. No grandchildren yet, though. My oldest child is almost 23 and my youngest is 15, so my husband and I have a little way to go before we are "empty nesters."

I look forward to reading the book and sharing thoughts with and learning from all of you!

Sharon

[Beth Friese]

Hi Sharon. I'm from the Atlanta area too - I saw your post and wondered if we should have an in-person book club meeting at the end. :)

I don't know as much about IB as I would like (although I have heard great things), so I'll be interested to hear how all this fits together for you.

Beth

[Sharon Hermann]

Sure, I think that's a great idea. Maybe you would like to come visit our school some time. I'm really excited about the book -- so far I've read about the first five chapters -- and the group.
So nice to "meet" another teacher-librarian from Georgia.

[Carl Harvey]

Hi everyone -

My name is Carl Harvey (Twitter - caharvey2) and I am the library media specialist at North Elementary School in Noblesville, Indiana. I started at North in 2002 after 4 years as an LMS in another district. In addition to my role in the building, I am also the Department Chair for Library Media for the school district. I am lucky to work in a district where we are well supported. I have an amazing administrator in my building. He truly gets the role the library media program can be and lets us in turn try to create that vision. One of our school wide initiatives is C.L.A.S.S.. This is a comprehensive brain compatible instruction model and is heavily focused in literacy. In my spare time I work for them presenting workshops and creating their monthly E-Tools newsletter.

Outside of school I'm very active in our professional organizations. I've been President of the Association for Indiana Media Educators and the Indiana Library Federation. I, currently, am also on the Board of Directors for the American Association of School Librarians as a Member At Large and am on the ballot running for President of AASL this spring. My other professional roles include writing -- I've written three books all published by Linworth Publishing and I've written numerous articles for a variety of journals.

I'm very lucky to live close to my 1 year old niece and 2 year old nephew (my nephew is just across the street), so I am having a grand time being an Uncle and spoiling them both -- with lots of books and other fun toys!

I'm very interested in the leadership role of school library media specialist and how that can impact the program. I also am curious about the way principals learn about libraries and how library media specialist can impact that as well.

I'm looking forward to the discussion and interaction with this book group. I think the experience as well as the topic will both be a great learning opportunity. The hard part may be getting me to start reading the book. I've been bitten by the "break" bug and so far have enjoyed reading some mysteries and a variety of other books not related to school or learning at all. (This is a rare thing for me.) But, I'm sure I'll get it started and enjoy this entire experience.

Thanks to all who got it started and organized!