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When schools and public libraries partner to give access to more resources, students win! This session tells the story of how the "student public library card" program in ISD196 and ISD191 came to be. Wondering how you might implement something similar? This session will explain the how-tos behind planning, implementation, and communication as well as share successes, popular public library resources your students need, and reflect on lessons learned.

Link to session presentation  

Link to resources on the Student Card Program Page via the Dakota County Library 
(Select "Access Resources" to view)

Anne Nash & Mike Patterson from Google's Education Team will be sharing "Be Internet Awesome" which is a new digital citizenship program from Google designed to help teach kids how to be safe, confident explorers of the online world. The program includes resources for parents (like our Internet Awesome Family Pledge), a robust curriculum for educators, and Interland, an adventure-packed online game for students. Be Internet Awesome is free for all; no Google Account or sign-in required. The program has also been granted the Seal of Alignment by ISTE. Learn more at https://g.co/BeInternetAwesome

In Claudia May's When I Fly With Papa a black girl journeys with the God she calls Papa and expresses her emotions through a relationship steeped in love and freedom. Without apology, the central character Winnie co-creates a relationship with her Creator that is fun, liberating, sometimes turbulent, and transparent. Through Winnie’s adventures children discover what it means to be free to feel and explore what their relationship with God means to them. This presentation will teach adult instructors how children can apply their creative potential and emotional experiences to matters of the heart. It will also provide suggestions on how adult teachers can help children to cultivate a spiritual awareness that is empowering.

STEM, MakerSpace, robotics - the words conjure pictures of fun, activity, and excitement. And all of that can be found but sometimes the challenge is to link the activity to learning and critical thinking.

Children love to play with robots such as Dash and Dot, Ozobots, and Spheros but moving the activity from play to learning is where the magic happens. There are resources and curriculum to support learning and we will explore ways to integrate the skills needed for the robots to reinforce the concepts students are developing in the classroom. A list of resources will be included and attendees will be encouraged to share their own ideas and resources.

Our students are diverse in backgrounds and interests. Minnesota has a long history of welcoming immigrants, and Minnesota’s achievement gap is one of the highest in the country. Having books that reflect the ethnic, religious, and other diversity elements that reflect the student body is mission-critical. Students become better citizens when they have access to windows into other lives and ways of being, as well as mirrors of their own lives and experiences. These windows and mirrors in literature are also correlated with improved student achievement when students who are from different ethnic or social groups have access to books that reflect who they are. A quick survey of the makeup of the student body and the composition of the circulating collections of school libraries from across the state and the student bodies they serve will be shared. This session will lead attendants through the process of looking for data to understand their student body, such as that found in the Minnesota Report Card, and ways that librarians can study their collections using Follett Destiny or Mackin. The session will include robust shared resources to help you learn more about your students and find the best book reviews for the age level, diverse qualities, and interests of the student body in your school.

Resources

#OwnVoices Titles

Slides

Ebooks Minnesota for Schools is a collection of ebooks, primarily from Minnesota independent publishers, created for classrooms, students, and teachers in Minnesota. With about 2,700+ titles, and thousands more coming soon, Ebooks Minnesota for Schools covers all subject areas and offers multi-user access with no check out periods and no holds, meaning that students have unlimited access to the content. Find out more about this collection and the larger Ebooks Minnesota collection, how to access MARC records, promotional materials, and more in this session!

Flipgrid is a free video discussion platform used by millions of educators, students, families, experts, and communities around the world! Come ready to collaborate as the team leads a discussion on promoting social learning, fostering an engaged community, and hearing from every single one of your learners.  

Five Future Ready Fixes For Your Media Program:
Learn about five important things you can change in your media program to make it Future Ready! Using student agency and the 4C’s you can recreate the look, feel, and purpose of your media center.We don’t need a lot of money to make the best of what we already have in our programs. Learn how to create buzz and publicity with creative events like Escape Rooms and MakerDays to garner administrative support (which helps with financial support). Change the way you operate your media center and it could change how the school and district value the media program as a whole.

A panel of our guest authors who write for secondary grades

Shannon Gibney
Anne Greenwood Brown
Carrie Mesrobian
Margi Preus
Marcie Rendon
Jacqueline West

Students in eight Saint Paul Public Middle Schools helped select books for their school libraries through an LSTA sponsored reading incentive program. Students read and reviewed books, published their reviews on Destiny and had the opportunity to select a book for their school library. Come to our session to hear if program increased engagement with the library and to gain access to the list of books that the students selected.

Link to Presentation