Triage: Libraries and School Refusal and Reluctance

A Simmons Library Student Visits the Pod!

Magenta Jasinski talks about work-life balance, being a Simmons student in two MA programs, and feeling awkward at the conference (not this one, the one we had in Amherst). They are self-described as “Your favorite Simmons student (who's drowning in research projects),” so Ella and Luke asked about those, plus their work at the Benjamin G. Brown Elementary School in Somerville and involvement in LOTS of different things. Topics discussed listed below, and congratulations to the recent graduates of library programs! Happy Spring!

Q/T library: https://www.qtlibrary.org/store

WBUR Q/T Library interview: https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2023/08/28/boston-library-lgbtq-community-sober

Cape Cod Toy Library https://www.capecodtoylibrary.org/

Gholdy Muhammad’s Historically Responsive Literacy Framework https://hillpedagogies.com/about/

Wrinkle in Time, https://www.madeleinelengle.com/books/middle-grade-young-adult/a-wrinkle-in-time/

Harry Potter, https://www.wizardingworld.com/

Divergent, https://veronicarothbooks.com/books/divergent/

Moonflower, Kacen Callender https://www.kacencallender.com/

Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl, Virginia Hamilton, https://www.virginiahamilton.com/virginia-hamilton-books/the-magical-adventures-of-pretty-pearl/

Ghost in the Shell, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RF09G8Ymqg

Cross-stitch

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems, https://www.pigeonpresents.com/books/dont-let-the-pigeon-drive-the-bus/

Shackled, by Candy J. Cooper, https://astrapublishinghouse.com/product/shackled-9781662620133/

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden, https://katherineardenbooks.com/

Simmons University Student’s Snippets Blog

Advocacy: “Naturally– without realizing it– creating an inequity..."

I’ts advocacy update time with Dr. Georgina Trebbe and Dr. Deborah Froggatt, school librarians, one current and one retired, who are working on statewide advocacy efforts through the MSLA and other organizations to provide each school with a “Licensed School Library teacher that earns certification”. Georgina and Deb talk to Luke and Ella about the different advocacy fronts– local, statewide, and federal– that impact our profession. And with so many different fronts, there are so many different ways to get involved: visit the Everyday Advocacy page on the MSLA website or check out the links below, all of which are mentioned in the ep:

H.3239: An Act empowering library access to electronic books and digital audiobook.

Censorship bills: HD.4389, HD.4443 and SD.2679

MBLC '25 Legislative Agenda: Top Five Reasons for a licensed School Library Teacher in Every School

Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students in the Commonwealth, 2018

Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting and agendas

MA DESE livestream

Programing the Acceleration of Computing & Equity (PACE), Anne DeMallie, dir. Of STEM at DESE.

NEASC Standards

Pressley unveils bill to confront rise in book bans…

Ayanna Pressley Convenes Authors, Educators, & Advocates at Library of Congress to Discuss Book Bans (YouTube)

EveryLibrary Institute John Chrastka, Executive Director

Legislative Breakfast info: from MA Library Association or just email Debbie at [email protected]

We Must “Apprentice ourselves to turtles”

Turtles can teach us about a sacred, cyclical renewing time that connects us to eternity, says science author (of 36 books!) Sy Montgomery. Sy talks process, experience, and, animals, with Librarian Luke Steere and Science Teacher Sarah Friswell Cotton from Wilson Middle School in Natick. Joining Montgomery is humble illustrator Matt Patterson, who truly is as Sy says-- a "turtle savant". Patterson's work is featured with Sy's on two recent books all about turtles, one for adults and one for children. Our discussion checks-in with how the book is being received, and delves into the nature of time, aging, falling in love with a research topic, and human-animal relationships.

Mentioned media:

Sy Montgomery: https://symontgomery.com/books/

Matt Patterson: https://www.mpattersonart.com/

From Head and Heart conference page https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/professional-development/from-head-and-heart-caring-for-the-environment-through-science-stories-and-action

Freshwater Fish of the Northeast, illus. by Matt Patterson

The Book of Turtles, Sy Montgomery, illus. by Matt Patterson

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

From Head and Heart conference page https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/professional-development/from-head-and-heart-caring-for-the-environment-through-science-stories-and-action

Becoming a Good Creature, Sy Montgomery, illus. by Rebecca Green

Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery, Matt Patterson (Illustrator)

“Endangered Turtles Offer Hope In an Era of Despair A look at Sy Montgomery's compassionate portrait of turtles,” https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/animal-emotions/202311/endangered-turtles-offer-hope-in-an-era-of-despair

Artists for Conservation, https://www.artistsforconservation.org/

“Sy and her buddy Fire Chief, a snapping turtle,” https://symontgomery.com/sy-and-her-buddy-fire-chief-a-snapping-turtle/

Dog Smart, Jennifer S. Holland https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739453/dog-smart-by-jennifer-s-holland/

An Immense World, Ed Young https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616914/an-immense-world-by-ed-yong/

Turtle Survival Alliance, https://turtlesurvival.org/

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/

Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben https://www.peterwohllebenbooks.com/about

Finding the Mother Tree, Susan Simard, https://suzannesimard.com/finding-the-mother-tree-book/

MSLA Conference '23

A bunch of us went to the conference in Amherst, MA on March 19th and 20th of this year. It was our organization’s first in-person conference in four years. Ella and I captured a few on-the-floor interviews during our time there, and then had Conference Committee Co-Chair Alix Woznick speak to some of the reactions members had to the conference, including about locations, days, keynote speakers, food, and next year’s planning schedule.

Get involved with the conference comm: [email protected]

Conference Committees Final Report: in a Google Slides doc

Official Conference Page: https://www.maschoolibraries.org/conference.html

Reach out to the podcast: [email protected]

Project SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution?

“I think the dirty little secret here is that parents are assuming that kids have access to libraries and school librarians and districts are not telling them otherwise, but the data speaks for itself,” says Project SLIDE Director Debra E. Kachel, a faculty member at the School Library Media Endorsement Program at Antioch University Seattle. She joins us from Pennsylvania along with SLIDE Principal Investigator Dr. Keith Curry Lance, a consultant at the RSL Research Group, joining us from Colorado. Co-host Deeth Ellis is the Head Librarian at Boston Latin School and a doctoral student at Simmons University who volunteered on Project SLIDE. Deeth joins Luke for a look at data and possible avenues for addressing uneven development and equity around school librarians in Massachusetts. We begin with background and a discussion of the health of data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics, and move into Massachusetts-specific elements of the study and resources to access them, and, finally, possibilities for advocacy. We hope the episode provides some talking points for you in your district, and use the links below for additional context:

Project SLIDE website

Project SLIDE Massachusetts Data

Deeth's Academic Column on SLIDE (MSLA Forum)

National Center for Education Statistics

Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us: When schools have high-quality library programs and librarians who share their expertise with the entire school community, student achievement gets a boost Apr. 2018, Phi Delta Kappan (Vol. 99, Issue 7)

The Sower: Interview with Keith Curry Lance, 2007, SLJ