BC Teacher-librarian Awards-Achievements
“a book is a garden carried in the pocket”-
Big and beautiful things can be found in tiny packages as in a good book.
The Bookmark wishes to share the wealth of our BCTLA colleagues and their achivements during 2008-2009 school year. Sharing some of the achievements of teacher-librarians during the school year is a challenge because the teacher-librarian community is so talented. Along with a brief description, current award recipients are summarized. Like all awards or competitions, behind the winners are plenty of talent and committment. We all feel proud to have BC teacher-librarians recognized for their leadership and excellence in education. Like Michelle Farqharson recently said in a VTL video, “Working with teachers is what teacher-librarians are all about...that is what we are here for..” (vsb)
Some of the most significant educational change and educational progress is initiated with healthy school libraries and energetic and knowledgable teacher-librarians.
On behalf of all BCTLA members, school libraries and B.C. students,
congratulations to everyone for your successful school library initiatives, advocacy and hard work!
Introduction
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association honors practicing teacher-librarians who are making an outstanding contribution to school librarianship in British Columbia. This award may be given annually by the BCTLA Executive and, if given, is presented at the BCTLA Conference.
Criteria
Individuals nominated for the award should be demonstrating the planning and implementation of a school library resource centre program of such exemplary quality that it is serving as a model for others. They should also be involved in one of the following areas:
1. Service to the profession through the BCTLA and related organizations.
2. Commitment to professional growth through continuing education, research, or participation in national organizations.
3. Sharing of ideas and resources through such means as workshops and publications.
This year’s winner of the Diana Poole Award of Merit is Karen Lindsay, teacher-librarian at Reynolds Secondary, SD61. Karen is the president of the Greater Victoria Teacher Librarians’ Association and second vice president of the BCTLA. She tirelessly led the Drop Everything and Read(DEAR) campaign that spread throughout the province and had thousands of people including children, teachers, community members and politicians reading at the same time on National School Library Day in October, 2008. In her own school, Karen has successfully inspired her entire school to take part in D.E.A.R. each day for 15 minutes. She shared this initiative with other teacher-librarians at the provincial BCTLA conference in October and it is a huge undertaking! BCTLA offers their congratulations to Karen on this well deserved award!
Check out her travel blog for a terrific summary and feel of the CLA Conference in Montreal.
http://clamontreal2009.blogspot.com/
KEN HAYCOCK PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Introduction
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association recognizes the need to further the professional development of the BCTLA by giving an award to be used for any credit or non-credit courses, workshops, conferences or programs in the field of teacher-librarianship.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the award an applicant must be:
1. A Canadian citizen.
2. A resident of British Columbia.
3. A member of the BCTLA.
4. A holder of a valid BC Teaching Certificate.
Terms of the Award
The recipient shall:
1. Use the award monies within 12 months of presentation.
2. Provide proof of registration for the course, workshop, conference or program.
3. Submit an article to The Bookmark.
4. Receive payment of award monies upon proof of completion of the course, workshop, and conference or program and submission of the article to The Bookmark.
This year’s recipient of the Ken Haycock Professional Development Award is Christine Evans, teacher-librarian at Tyee Elementary School in SD 39, Vancouver. Christine has been a teacher since 1978 and a teacher-librarian since 1987. She has been a member of VTLA and BCTLA since 1991. She is a BCTLA chapter councilor and this April took on the role of BCTLA Treasurer. Christine plans to attend the IASL conference this September in Padua, Italy. We can look forward to Christine’s account of the IASL conference in a future issue of The Bookmark. Congratulations Christine! We’ll look forward to your insights in the fall.
Distinguished Service Award
Introduction
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association recognizes the efforts of individuals other than practicing teacher-librarians who have made an outstanding contribution in support of effective school library resource centre programs in British Columbia.
Criteria
The award may be presented annually by the BCTLA for outstanding service in support of school librarianship. The contribution made by the recipient(s) of the award should be:
(a) outstanding in its own field;
(b) altruistic; and
(c) significant in terms of the continuing history of school library service.
Consideration will be given to projects which have been completed in the previous year; or to a continuum of activities extending over a longer period and which have, currently, a positive impact on school library service at the individual school, district, provincial or national level.
This year’s winner of the Distinguished Service Award is Ross Davidson, Principal of Scott Creek Middle School in SD43. Ross is a tireless supporter of school libraries in Coquitlam and founder of Hog Wild for Reading, a charity that has raised over $100,000 for school libraries.
Congratulations Ross!
ALAN KNIGHT MEMORIAL AWARD
Introduction
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association and the Editorial Board of The Bookmark recognize the contribution to communication in teacher-librarianship made by the submission of outstanding articles to The Bookmark.
Criteria
This award will be presented annually by the BCTLA for the most outstanding original article submitted to The Bookmark during the past calendar year. The article may be either practical or theoretical in nature but must be significant in terms of the continuing history of school library resource centre service in British Columbia, contribute to the professional growth of teacher-librarianship and reflect the generosity of sharing ideas with others.
For 2008, the Alan Knight Memorial Award recipients are Pat Kirkey and Jim Gillett from Central Okanagan School District 23. In The Bookmark’s spring 2008 issue, Kirkey and Gillett contributed an article entitled “Literacy and Advocacy: An Author Visit Program” They followed that article in the Fall 2008 issue with a second article entitled “A Crash Course in Staging a Major Literary Event”. Along with that article they provided sample letters, forms and schedules to help interested readers plan their own event. This author event guide was well received by many readers and demonstrated how useful a resource The Bookmark can be.
On behalf of the BCTLA I would like to congratulate Pat Kirkey and Jim Gillett for their outstanding work in The Bookmark!
BCTLA Val Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association recognizes the lifetime commitment and achievement of teacher librarians who have made outstanding contributions to teacher-librarianship, school libraries, and/or to the BCTLA.
Criteria:
The award may be presented annually by the BCTLA for an outstanding, substantial and recognizable long-standing contribution to the BCTLA, school libraries, or teacher-librarianship.
* This award may be given annually by the BCTLA Executive Board and, if given, is to be presented at the fall conference or the AGM.
* This award may be given to more than one recipient in a year.
* Nominees may be practicing or retired school or district-based teacher-librarians.
* Nominations, following the approved format, may be forwarded to the BCTLA Executive Board by local chapters or by individual members of the BCTLA.
* Nominations should be sent to the Communications Officer by April 1st
* The BCTLA Executive shall adjudicate the award.
Nominations shall be considered for only the year in which they are received.
This year’s recipient of the Val Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award is Judith Kootte, Coordinator of Technology and Information Services for SD 38, Richmond. Judith is a former BCTLA president (1994-95), winner of the Alan Knight Memorial Award (1993), the first chair of ERAC’s video committee, a school library technology leader, and a contributor of articles to numerous journals and national-level documents. Judith’s contributions to school libraries and teacher-librarianship include over 15 years of commitment to our profession and passion at the school, district, provincial, and national level. Congratulations on a well deserved award, Judith!
BCTLA WILLIAM H. SCOTT MEMORIAL AWARD
The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association recognizes the need to encourage professional development within chapters of the BCTLA. Each year the William H. Scott Memorial Award will provide $500.00 to a local chapter for in-service, workshops, or guest speakers in the field of teacher-librarianship.
Eligibility
To be eligible for an award, a chapter must be:
1. An active, registered chapter within the BCTLA.
2. An active participant in the Council Meetings.
3. Up-to-date with chapter reports and all required documentation for the BCTLA.
The recipient of the William H. Scott Memorial Award for 2008 is the Langley Teacher Librarians’ Association. With this financial award, the Association plans to “design and provide a CTAP (Commitment to Action Program) staff development series that focuses on Inquiry Based Learning”. They plan to do this “through collaborative teaching, as a model for research for all grade levels in the school district”. Congratulations to the Langley TL Association!
BCTLA Honorary Life Membership
The BCTLA Honorary Life Membership is not awarded every year but only when a nomination for someone who has given tremendous service to the BCTLA, teacher-librarianship and school library programs. This year the Honorary Life Membership is awarded to Lynn Turner, teacher-librarian, SD 82, Terrace. Lynn has been BCTLA’s Continuing Education Chair for more than a decade and has made great contributions at the provincial level. She has made presentations on behalf of school libraries, developed brochures to support new teacher-librarians and teachers, developed contact information for teacher-librarian speakers, and most recently has coordinated the K-12 Information Literacy Scope and Sequence Project which she previewed at the BCLA Conference in April.
http://infolitbctla.pbworks.com/
Lynn is retiring this June and this is a much deserved recognition of her years of service and commitment.
Congratulations, Lynn!
During this past school year, there have been many other recognized events, projects and school library programs that exemplified professionalism. A brief summary is intended to illustrate the diversity of programs around the province. Share your stories with us and we’ll recognize your excellence in an upcoming issue of The Bookmark.
A dew more successes...
BCTLA Position Statement
BCTLA was pleased to announce the release of our first position statement, “Book Levelling and School Library Collections”. Moira Ekdahl , Heather Daly and their team worked tireless to publish this much needed document. This position statement addresses the levelling of existing school library collections. It is intended to provide a well-researched defense to support teacher-librarians should they be asked to level school library collections against their better judgement.
In addition to being presented to and passed unanimously at the April 2009 BCTLA AGM, the position statement has been presented to the BCTF Executive and to PSAC (Provincial Specialist Advisory Committee). It has also been requested by the BCTF’s Teacher Newsmagazine for publication. It is BCTLA’s hope that the “Book Levelling and School Library Collections” will be the first of many such official positions. see page 12
Vancouver- teacher inquiry
As part of their year-long Teacher Inquiry project, Vancouver teacher-librarians have created and made available a video, “Teacher-Librarians: Supporting 21st Century Learners”. The professionally produced video features teacher-librarians working with students at Charles Dickens Elementary, Kerrisdale Elementary, Tecumseh Annex, and Vancouver Technical Secondary. Executive produced by Moira Ekdahl, Vancouver School Board’s Teacher-Librarian Consultant and our BCTLA Liaison Chair, the video powerfully demonstrates “school libraries in action” and I would urge everyone to take a look! Once you have watched the video, check out the other inquiry pages on the Vancouver teacher-librarian inquiry wiki site.
Teacher-librarian Video
As part of their year-long Teacher Inquiry project, Vancouver teacher-librarians have created and made available a video, “Teacher-Librarians: Supporting 21st Century Learners”. The professionally produced video features teacher-librarians working with students at Charles Dickens Elementary, Kerrisdale Elementary, Tecumseh Annex, and Vancouver Technical Secondary. Executive produced by Moira Ekdahl, Vancouver School Board’s Teacher-Librarian Consultant and our BCTLA Liaison Chair, the video powerfully demonstrates “school libraries in action” and I would urge everyone to take a look! Once you have watched the video, check out the other inquiry pages on the Vancouver teacher-librarian inquiry wiki site by using the Side Bar on the right-hand side of the page.
http://schoollibraryprogram.pbworks.com/Video-Project
New Teachers’ and Student Teachers’ Conference.
The BCTLA and New Teachers’ and Student Teachers’ Conference. Val Hamilton, Moira Ekdahl and Mary Locke worked the service desk to support new teachers and provide awareness of the role and services teacher-librarian colleagues can provide.
http://bctlanewteachers.blogspot.com/
The British Columbia Library Conference 2009 in Burnaby looked a bit different this year. Thanks to the relentless advocacy and the receptive planner sof the BCLA event, over 30 BCTLA Chapter Councillors attended 2 sessions free of charge. The feedback was terrific and the networking was very benficial. Check out BCLA 2010 in Penticton.
http://www.bclibraryconference.ca/default.aspx
BC Book Prizes Tour
Dozens of schools hosted the BC wide author visits of the BC Book Prizes. many school libraries patricipated and integrated projects around this annual literary event.
Okanagan Education Week Author Visit
Visit program enjoyed the presentations of David Bouchard. Over 3000 students enjoyed his story telling and music. Over 400 people attended the free community night. Jim Gillett has announced that Kenneth Oppel will be the speaker for Education Week Author Visit 2010. Deborah Ellis is also confirmed for the 2011 visit and corporate sponsors and SD23 are committed for the next two years. Kirkey and Jim Gillett will continue to help out on the Education Week Committee but will be stepping back slightly. Angie MacRitchie has agreed to lead the group for 2010 along with committee members: Sarah Parmar, Wendy Beaudoin, Misty Smith, Sharon Bede and Al Smith.
VICTORIA
Conference 2008
The Greater Victoria Teacher-librarians Association hosted the BCTLA Conference 2008. The GVTLA’s successful Mission Literacy was hosted at Sprectrum Secondary School. The Conference was preceded by an Author’s Festival throughout Greater Victoria schools. The keynote speaker, Richard Van Camp, shared stories that inspire and empower. Dozens of relevant and well run workshops were a strong example of excellence in the profession.
http://www.sd61.bc.ca/gvtla/
Be sure to join Richmond for Champions of Literacy in October 2009.
http://bctf.ca/bctla/conference/index.html
BCTLA launchs new website
No fanfare. Just doing business to help TL’s. The new site has been in development for just under a year. It is designed to be a one-stop source and entry point to all of our blogs, wikis, resources, publications, contacts, events, and governance materials. Al Smith has said,
“I have been updating and uploading a new fresh BCTLA website. We want to make this site your portal to BCTLA news, events and support. We have plans to expand and solidify service points for all our great TL colleagues.”
Share your ideas, good reads, questions, events and successes.
Please contact Al Smith about anything related to the BCTLA website or the Virtual Bookmark!
http://bctf.ca/bctla/info/membersonline.html
http://bctf.ca/bctla/contacts.html
http://virtualbookmark.typepad.com/
virtualbookmark@gmail.com
http://twitter/virtualbookmark
or SMS 250.878.0578
Any correspondence related to the Bookmark should contact Angie MacRitchie at
angie.macritchie@gmail.com
http://booksforboys.pbworks.com/
BCTLA FORUM
BCTLA Forum>Google groups> manager and moderator Val Hamilton(ret), has witnessed a busy discussion group. The benefits of this web 2.0 forum over the old listserv are many: reduce your email inbox, threaded messages, RSS feeds, documents, easy interface and a wide range of expertise. From veterans like Val to novices, they all have wisdom to share. Check it out!
http://groups.google.com/group/bctla-forum
Subscribe to RSS feed:
http://groups.google.com/group/bctla-forum/feeds
Learn more at:
http://groups.google.com/intl/en/googlegroups/tour3/page2.html
BCTLA PSA-PQT
Teacher Inquiry Project
About the Project
The BC Teacher-Librarians’ Association is the recipient of one of three $7500 grants for PSAs to engage in teacher inquiry through the Program for Quality Teaching (PQT). This BCTF initiative, made possible by a grant from the Province through the BC Ministry of Education, aims to co-ordinate and to expand the Federation’s pilot study work in teacher inquiry led by the BCTF’s Program for Quality Teaching and the Research and Technology Division in 2007–08.
Focus
Our inquiry focus will be around the work of Dr. Ross Todd, “Knowing and Showing How School Library Programs Help Students Learn”. Our general questions are: how can we evaluate our work by what students have learned and not by what we do, and knowing this, how can we respond to Todd’s question, “What would you answer?”
According to Dr. Ross Todd (Rutgers), it is time to illuminate the formational (student learning, knowledge creation, use, production, sharing, and reading literacy) and transformational roles....
Todd, Ross. 2004. Knowing and showing how school library programs help students learn. http://www.accessola.com/osla/toolkit/Resources/Knowing+Showing_RossTodd.ppt
BCTLA Information Literacy K-12 Benchmarks Project-
The New 3Rs in Education are
Reading, Research, and Resources
The BC Benchmarks Project uses a three-dimensional model in which strands, benchmarks, and dimensions of student learning serve as a frame for Information Literacy; that is,
-STRANDS that represent the aspects of all school library programs -- Reading, Research, and Resources, the new 3Rs in Education, are learning outcomes drawn from teacher-librarian and teaching experience, from IRPs, from related documents, and from new understandings about literacies
-BENCHMARKS, as opposed to a scope-and-sequence or list of skills to be introduced, reinforced, and so on; that is, within benchmarked periods, content learning outcomes can be matched to what students need to be able to do by for grades 3, 7, 10 and 12
-DIMENSIONS of student learning, student as information seeker, as information processor, as communicator, and as reflective learner
-THEME: WINDOWS that portrays the relationship of students to the world in terms of what they know about it and their interpretation.
Lynn Turner
Moira Ekdahl
Julie Robinson
Michele Farquharson
http://infolitbctla.pbworks.com/
Constitution Revision II
The BCTLA Constitution and Bylaws
were last revised in 2004. Three Executive members—Bonnie McComb, Heather Daly, and Val Hamilton—have been working on revising the BCTLA Constitution and Bylaws with an April, 2010 approval date in mind. The current Committee has developed some progressive ammendments in a Draft 2010 BCTLA Constitution and Bylaws to be presented at the 2009 BCTLA AGM for consideration.
The focus of the revision is to make the Constitution and Bylaws much shorter and clearer. Changes to the governance of the BCTLA includes revisions to the BCTLA Executive.
