Welcome to Ian Warren from Nelson Education Gale. He will be presenting at the What's New at the Tech Zoo.
For more information on Nelson Education please visit their site - and visit Ian at the Conference.

MSLA welcomes CrossCan Educational Services as a Silver Sponsor of the 2013 MSLA SAGE Conference.
For more information on CrossCan, please visit their site- and their booth on October 25th. They will be presenting at What's New at the Tech Zoo as well.

    When Shaftesbury High School decided to renovate and build a new library they didn't stop there. They also created four classrooms and a resource area on the main floor, under the library. 
    Classrooms spaces are all alike - right? Wrong! Consider how 21st Century practice is changing the classroom. Now, we need projectors, whiteboards, and module furniture that allows the teacher to change the structure of the room to encourage independent work, group work, and presentations. Also, consider the students in these classrooms. Many have special needs that are not best met in the tradtional desk or table arrangement. 

    If you are interested in educational design, please consider attending the sessions planned to highlight Shaftesbury's new spaces - educational design isn't just about libraries. Angelo De Francesco (AM20) from Synyshyn Architecture Interior Design will discuss the decision-making process involved in Shaftesbury's innovative library that features a wall of cafe-style seating overlooking their sports field, to the reading nook tucked beside the fireplace - and did you know the lighting changes automatically depending on the natural light in the space?

    Carrie Hart of Lord Selkirk Regional Secondary Comprehensive School (PM26) will discuss their renovated space and how considering the students' needs can change the design. She will also discuss how the students naturally took ownership of their space after the renovation.

    Finally, Ralph Deayton of Accent Learning Environments (PM39) will discuss how collaborative learning, inquiry, and interactive instruction requires teachers and administrators to rethink what should go into the four walls of the classroom. Ralph will be holding a networking session to showcase some of the cool mobile and modular furniture available and discuss the benefits for instruction and learning. This session will be in one of the classrooms in the new Shaftesbury addition so you can test-drive some of the furniture. If you are interested in updating your classroom, this session should not be missed.

MSLA is happy to welcome Dean Shareski as a spotlight speaker for the Connecting Through Literacy Conference.  Dean will be presenting one spotlight session, 5 Minutes of Creativity, and two workshop sessions, The Three C's of Discovery Education and the Missing Links.

Dean Shareski is the Community Manager for Discovery Education Canada.He taught grades 1-8 for 14 years and spent 9 as a digital learning consultant for Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK.  In addition he teaches pre-service teachers at the University of Regina.  Dean began blogging in 2005. His blog consistently ranks
among the top educational blogs. Dean also writes for Tech Learning and the Huffington Post. As part of his role as digital learning consultant, Dean pushed many initiatives and is seen as an early adopter.

 From wireless access for all schools to cellphones in the classroom, Dean has been a part of many exciting and new ideas that support student and teacher learning. His work at the University of Regina has been seen as transformative for many beginning teachers.  In 2010 he won the ISTE Award for Outstanding Leader of the Year. His passion remains helping teachers explore the affordances of technology for learning. Dean has spoken and keynoted at conferences nationally and internationally. Dean brings a humility and sense of humor to his presentations and credits his extensive network of smart people as his greatest asset.

For more information on Dean please visit his blog, Ideas and Thoughts: Learning stuff since 1964

Welcome to Len Kirkness who will be representing EDU Reference at the Connecting Through Literacy Conference in October. The ability to access a variety of reputable digital resources is an important aspect of research in 21st Century learning and we need to be aware of the products publishers are supplying.
Len will be presenting a session on building a balanced collection which includes ebooks at the Conference. We appreciate EDU Reference's commitment to school libraries. More information about the sessions will be available in the coming weeks.

Shaftesbury High School has a beautiful new library. It is spacious with large window, low shelves, several different seating options and a fireplace.

The new Shaftesbury High School library opened in September 2011, much to the joy of the students, staff and the community. We are staffed
with a half time Teacher Librarian, Mrs. Bilyk,  and a full time Library Technician, Ms. Moran. Our library provides resources and space where Shaftesbury students can research using online and print resources, do homework, study, or engage in leisure reading.

Technology, technology, technology!  You will not find rows of desktop computers with mangled wires in our library; the new space offers a wireless environment that encourages students to ‘plug in’ using their own devices, whether it is a laptop, tablet or iPhone. Users can logon to the PTSD public network and sit wherever they choose. Students can also ‘whale’ in using their own devices and virtually plug into our school network from anywhere. Technology is also available in the form of Dell netbooks (mini laptops) and Dell Streaks (tablets) to be signed out by patrons during class time and over lunch.

 We sure have come a long way from our old, dark library with 1970s carpet and nowindows!  The new space has the feel of a‘trendy book store’ environment, with comfy, movable seating and barstools that overlook the school’s green spaces through an expansive wall of windows. The cozy fireplace creates a lovely ambiance on those cold winter days, and the high ceilings help the area to feel large and open. Advanced, automated lighting and electronic blinds add to the easy livability of the space.

The SHS library offers a large seminar room for meetings and for small group use. The room can easily be divided into two rooms with a moveable wall.  This space encourages group work by providing more freedom for students to engage in group discussion without disruption to the library common area patrons.

 There is something for everybody at the new Shaftesbury library!

Information literacy in the digital age looks very different than it did even 5 years ago. Interestingly, I think the Wordle has the terms in the right order; the literacies focus on finding, using, and manipulating information in a variery of ways.There is a greater recognition that literacy encompasses a much larger set of skills and life skills than the 5Rs.
Kathy Schrock has provided a concise list of the literacies that are important in the digital age.
So, here is her list:

               
Information literacy                             
Tool literacy             Health literacy               Critical literacy        Media literacy
Digital literacy         Historical literacy           Global literacy        Civic literacy
Data literacy             Economic literacy          Visual literacy      Traditional literacy  
  From "Literacy in the Digital Age" by Kathy Schrock

The question becomes "What are we doing to teach these literacies within our classrooms?" How do we incorporate opportunities for our students to practice and become comfortable with these literacies?

Maybe the first question should be how comfortable am I with these new vocabularies?

MSLA is excited to announce Dean Shareski is coming to the Connecting Through Literacy Conference as a Spotlight speaker. Thank you to Discovery Education Canada for sponsoring his visit.

We are pleased to welcome Gumdrop Books Canada as a bronze sponsor of the Connected through Literacy Conference.

    Well, that's a very good question. The concept of information literacy has changed over the years but I think that one of the best known definitions I have found still belongs to ACRL. In Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, information literacy is defined as "a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information'" (ACRL, 2000, p. 2). 

    Part of the reason I like this definition is that it is general enough to encompass the changing digital environment. However, much of the literature in the field makes the point that information literacy encompasses a wide array of literacies including numeracy, language acquisition, and, yes, technology. So, let's consider some other terms that have begun to be used with, or in relation to, the concepts of information literacy.

   Terms such as 21st century learning, digital literacy, media literacy, data literacy, transliteracy, technology literacy, and critical thinking are common.  Simply, information literacy has become a term that encompasses a wide spectrum of specific skills and concepts.  AASL (2005) in Standards for the 21st century learner, states, “Information literacy has progressed from the simple definition of using reference resources to find information. Multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for this century” (AASL, 2005).