Sept.

2002

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Superintendents’ Conference
Kathy Lowe

Great news! I have been invited, with some MSLMA colleagues, to provide an exhibit at the annual Superintendents' Technology and Curriculum Leadership Conference, sponsored by the Mass. Association of School Superintendents!

I submitted the proposal below and it was accepted. Now I'd like to invite YOU to contribute your collaborative projects to our exhibit at the conference on October 16th. This is our chance to show school superintendents from all over the state what good libraries and LMS's mean to their schools. I hope you will all be able to contribute.

Here's the proposal:
Our theme will be Collaboration: The Essential Element of an Effective School Library Media Program. I will present collaborative lessons designed by librarian/music teacher pairs who participated in a workshop cosponsored by MSLMA and the education department of the Boston Symphony Orchestra that I facilitated last March, as well as collaborative projects contributed by YOU - MSLMA members from other Massachusetts school districts. The library at the Boston Arts Academy and Fenway High School includes an Education Resource Center that is supported by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, so I will also talk about how the collaboration between Boston Arts Academy, Fenway High School, and the BSO resulted in the creation of our library.

The following MSLMA members will attend with me to highlight some other MSLMA initiatives that we feel will be of interest to superintendents:
  • John Keenan, Tantasqua Regional High School - The Selection Connection (a collaborative project between MSLMA, UMass, WGBY, and the MetroWest Regional Library System to provide access to resources that support the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.)
  • Donna Guerin, Palmer High School, MSLMA Public Relations Chair and Western MA Area Director - MSLMA's Model School Rubrics (designed to help administrators and library media teachers identify exemplary school library media programs.)
  • Dorothy McQuillan, Newton South High School, MSLMA President – MSLMA Standards for School Library Media Centers (designed to help administrators and school library media teachers bring quality school library media services to students, thereby positively impacting their
    academic achievement.)
  • Ann Perham, Needham High School, MSLMA President-Elect and Educational Technology Chair - the MSLMA web site (a collaborative effort of several MSLMA members that provides library media teachers with information they can use to enhance their library media
    programs.)
  • Elaine Mokrzycki, Agawam High School - Update on Agawam's new library. (Elaine exhibited the plans for the library at last year's conference. This year she will bring pictures of the recently opened facility and present a brief summary of how MSLMA Standards were used to inform the design and programming.)

What we need from you to make our exhibit most effective are projects that you have planned collaboratively with teachers in your school. The more examples we can show of the good work done in schools throughout the state, the better.

Now, this is the important and exciting part....Ann Perham, MSLMA web mistress and president-elect is going to prepare a web page, with links, grouped by town for all of the projects we will showcase at the conference.

Send your documents, PowerPoint presentations, images, etc. to BOTH Ann and me via email as an attached file, if possible. If that isn't possible, send hard copies to me at the addresses below AND to Ann Perham (aperham@massed.net) at Needham High School, 609 Webster St., Needham 02494.

If there is anything you want us to hand out at the conference, please provide 25 copies.

Don't be shy! Your superintendent will most likely attend this conference. What a feather in your cap to have him/her find your work on display for all the other superintendents to see!

Please contact me if you have questions and please take this opportunity to share your best practices. I'm hoping to hear from many of you soon! I know how busy everyone is at the beginning of the school year, so I appreciate your prompt action. We would love to present projects from every district in the state. Don't be left out!

Katherine Lowe, Director
Boston Arts Academy/Fenway High School Library
& Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Resource Center
174 Ipswich Street, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617 635-6470, Ext. 236
Fax: 617 635-9204
Email: lowe@massed.net