Announcements
7/21/2010
Candidates for NCSLMA Board
The following people have graciously volunteered to run for the openings on the NCSLMA Board. Please read the following candidate bios and look for voting information to follow in the next few weeks.
President-Elect
Sarah Justice
I am originally from Lenior, NC and I attended Appalachian State University. After receiving a BS in English Education, I taught Senior English at Pinecrest High for one semester. In the Fall of 1998, I started teaching all levels of English at Rosman High in Transylvania County. After two years, I moved into the media position for both Rosman Middle and High Schools and then finished my master's program through UNCG at UNCA. In 2004, I achieved my National Boards in Library Media. While in my media position, I have been the coordinator for Senior Projects, sponsor for Battle of the Books, and the tech person for both schools. I am a great lover of young adult literature and can always be seen with a book in my hands. I'm proud of the changes and advances I have brought to my media program and am excited about the future. I am married to a wonderful man who is now the Transportation Director and county Athletic Director for Transylvania County, and we have two wonderful, energetic boys who make our life exciting.
Secretary
April Dawkins
Currently serving as a media coordinator at Porter Ridge High School in Union County, April has been a media coordinator since 1999 and a member of NCSLMA since its formation. Previously, April taught social studies and was a media coordinator in Richmond and Scotland Counties. April achieved her National Board certification in Library Media in 2002. From 2005-2007, she served as the National Board Candidate Support Coordinator for Richmond County.
Mountains Director
Gail Buckner
I have served as a teacher, librarian, school administrator and central office administrator for Buncombe County Schools for over 15 years. My most recent position was as the Director of Media and Instructional Technology where I supervised school librarians and assistants, a district team of library support personnel, a district team of technology facilitators, the district's distant learning team, and the district's NCWise and technology user support team. I worked closely with school and district personnel to implement the Big6 research process, garnered funding for our library collections and re-vamped our policies and procedures regarding library operations throughout the district. I completed my graduate work in Media Library Science at UNC-Greensboro and my doctoral work in Educational Leadership at Western Carolina University. I currently am at home with my young daughter, but have completed contract work with area school systems and served as a member of SACS-CASI school/district accreditation teams during the past two years. I anticipate returning to work with Buncombe County Schools when my daughter enters kindergarten.
Piedmont Director
Evelyn Bussell
A National Board Certified Teacher, I have worked in school library media for eight years. I have experience at the high school and elementary levels, in traditional and magnet schools, on fully fixed, partially fixed and fully flexible schedules, and in both traditional and year-round calendar schools. As a member of NCSLMA, AASL, and ALA I have attended and presented at conferences for each organization. As an emerging leader I am enthusiastic about helping others in the school library media field to grow professionally. I am a member of a district-based professional learning community (PLC) for media specialists, as well as a school-based PLC. A native North Carolinian, I attended East Carolina University where I received my Bachelors in History, and later attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I received my Masters in Library Science.
5/31/2010
NCSLMA Newsletter Now Available Online!
The NCSLMA Newsletter, Media Connections, is going totally digital. Instead of a newsletter just giving you news of the organization, the new format will be a thematic e-zine. Each issue will be centered around a theme and we would love to have members write articles on the upcoming topics! Watch for more information coming soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the first issue with its focus on professional development. Click here to read Media Connections.
5/15/2010
Big6 "Train the Trainer" Workshop
We're looking for a few good NCSLMA member media specialist teaching teams, for a "Train the Trainer" Workshop!
21st Century Learning Skills: The Big6 Information Research Process
Offered by: Gerry Solomon - School Library Media Consultant with
NCDPI, in conjunction with NCSLMA.
Description: Collaborative planning between teachers and media and
technology professionals offers many opportunities to
design and implement authentic learning activities for
students that promote higher-order thinking skills as part
of 21st Century literacy. This workshop will focus on the
importance of an information research process as part of
21st century learning. Strategies and resources for
implementing each of the stages of the Big6 will be
shared. Hands-on activities are included. Participants
will work in teams and should come prepared with a unit
topic or curriculum objectives as a focus for the planning
activities in the workshop.
Level: K-12; all curriculum areas
Who: Collaborative teams of one media specialist and one
teacher
When: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: NCDPI in Raleigh. Travel expenses paid for those who
live more than 100 miles from Raleigh.
Application
process: Attendance is limited, to be considered for this free workshop,
attendees must agree to hold at least 3 workshops
in their own region (and invite multiple counties) so that
other media specialists have an opportunity to be trained.
Please submit the attached application (Word version) to Catherine
Barone catbarone@yahoo.com by May 21, 2010.
NCSLMA Regions
NCSLMA Workshop Flyer
Big6 Workshop Application (PDF copy)
5/10/2010
Battle of the Books State Championship
The NCSLMA Middle School State Battle of the Books Competition was held Friday, May 7, 2010 at Elliott University Center, Cone Ballroom, on the campus of UNC – Greensboro.
Participating schools for 2010 included:
Region 1 – Northeast – G. R. Whitfield
Region 2 – Southeast – Topsail Middle School
Region 3 – Central – Ligon GT Magnet Middle School
Region 4 – Sandhills – John Griffin Middle School
Region 5 – Piedmont – Aycock Middle School
Region 6 – Southwest – Jay M. Robinson Middle School
Region 7 – Northwest – Pilot Mountain Middle School
Region 8 – West – Waynesville Middle School
Region 9 – Independent – Canterbury School
First place – Region 6 – Southwest – Jay M. Robinson Middle School
Second place – Region 7 – Northwest – Pilot Mountain Middle School
Third place – Region 5 – Piedmont – Aycock Middle School
Each of the winners received a trophy, medallions, certificates and free educational materials. In addition, first and second place winners received a set of next year’s Battle of the Books and the third place winner received a DVD player. The name of the first place winning school will be engraved on a perpetual plaque that resides at the school. Congratulations to all the teams!
4/18/2010
Conference 2010 Call to Present Form Available
The Call to Present Form is now available. Please fill out the form on Google docs. The deadline for completing the form is August 1, 2010.
Presenters will receive their conference registration FREE (maximum of 2 presenters per session) but must register and pay for pre-conference sessions and other conference meal functions.
4/15/2010
NCCBA Winners Announced!
Picture Book Category: Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, written by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery, won with 26, 940 votes.
Junior Book Category: Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam, written by Cynthia Kadohata, won with 2,820 votes.
Thanks so much to everyone who participated! Read more about all the nominees on the NCCBA page.
2/8/2010
NCSLMA Newsletter Now Available
The January newsletter is now available. If you have any information you think should be included in future newsletters, please contact our newsletter chair at cvibbert@charter.net.
1/31/2010
Become More Involved in NCSMLA!
Have you ever thought about becoming more involved in your professional organization? Every year we have openings on the Executive Board for NCSLMA and we struggle to find willing candidates. This year we would like to start recruiting earlier and offer people who might be interested the chance to see what a board meeting is like, talk to board members, and understand the responsibilities of a board member. The openings that we will have for the 2010 election include President-elect, Director: Piedmont, Director: Mountains and Secretary. Please contact Deb Christensen at debncslma@earthlink.net if you would like more information or would like to take advantage of this opportunity. We would love to show you how you can take a larger role in the organization! You can also just fill out the nomination form and send it to Deb Christensen by June 30, 2010.
1/31/2010
Vote on By-Laws Change
NCSLMA is proposing a change to the bylaws that will create a student membership category. Members need to vote on this change in order for it to be approved. The text of the proposed change is listed two announcements down and on the By-Laws page. Click here to take survey
1/31/2010
Member Survey!
Recently, leaders from both the NC and SC School Library Associations have been talking about the possibility of offering a joint conference for our members. If we pursued this possibility, the NC/SC conference would probably be held during the late summer (end of July) in Myrtle Beach, SC in either 2013 or 2014.
We have envisioned the opportunity to offer a longer conference and the possibilities for including a tourism package so that attendees could use this time at the beach for relaxing with the family as well as professional development. A joint NC/SC conference during the summer of 2013 or 2014 would take the place of our annual Fall conference. We've also talked about adding a one day in-state professional development event (possibly 1-day regional events) later that year, and then returning to a normal conference timetable in the following year.
We need your feedback to help us decide whether to form an exploratory conference committee with the SC Association. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey. Click here to take survey.
12/1/2009
Proposed By-Laws Change
NCSLMA is proposing a change to the by-laws that will create a student membership option. Here is the text of the proposed change. The membership will vote on the change soon.
RECOMMENDED BYLAW CHANGE
Article III: Membership
Add:
Student Membership $15 per year for a limit of two years
Students actively pursuing a Master’s degree
in Library Science or Library & Information
Science and enrolled in an accredited program
will be allowed to join as a student member.
Students in pursuit of certification and not the
full degree do not qualify for this membership
11/12/2009
New NCSLMA Blog - Check it Out!
NCSLMA President Kelly Brannock and President-Elect Deanna Harris have created a blog for our organization and everyone is invited to check it out! The blog is called "Hanging Out in the Library" and can be found at this URL: http://ncslma.blogspot.com. Please join in on the conversation! Don't forget that NCSLMA can be found on Facebook as well - search for NC School Library Media Association.