Liz Gray - Thurs. Oct. 22 to Sat. Oct. 24, 2009

Not all school media specialists and teacher librarians work in public schools. Back with this class again is Liz Gray, Library Director at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.

Liz Gray's varied work experiences include serving as a School Library Director in Rome, Italy as well as stints in both a public library and an academic library. She is a former English teacher who has taught in Switzerland and England. You can find additional information about Liz at the following website:

http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/lizgray.html

Liz consults on library space planning and has taught "Planning Libraries for the 21st Century" and "Good Ideas: Successful Library Programming and Instruction" at the Taft Education Center in Watertown, CT.

Robyn Young - Thurs. Oct. 15 to Sat. Oct. 17, 2009

Like several other of our guests, Robyn Young, director of school media at Avon High School, has interacted with students in previous years. But last year, she was busy serving as President of AIME - - I didn't even try to schedule her participation then. A visit to her bio site will confirm that she is busy . . . all-the-time http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/young.html

She has a rich background in teaching and school library media including expertise and experience with the assessment of school library media programs, use of graphic books, learning standards, grants and funding, leadership, mentoring and more.

Hella Rumschlag - Sun. Oct. 11 to Tues. Oct. 13, 2009

Hella Rumschlag is the media specialist and technology coordinator at Mohawk Trails Elementary School in Carmel, IN. Start learning about Hella by reading a brief bio at http://eduscapes.com/- - rumschlag.html.

Mohawk Trails Library Media Center http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/- -media-center/

Hella is an active member in ILF and AIME; she is a presenter at the upcoming conference. She has been able to effectively collaborate with teachers and students in her building. Helen uses Moodle for a YHBA (Young Hoosier Book Award) program and also supports several teachers with their use of Moodle in the classroom. She is about to launch another collaborative Moodle between two grade 2 and 3 transition classes at two different schools.

Hella's extensive background makes her an excellent resource for discussion on career change, combined responsibilties for technology and library media, and other topics directly related to schools and learning.

Robin Tanis - Thurs. Oct. 8 to Sat. Oct. 10, 2009

Robin Tanis is the Head Librarian at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta, GA. At St. Pius, Robin has worked to establish a collaborative partnership with teachers. She was an early pioneer in technology integration bringing computers, automation, and the Internet into the library and then the rest of the school. Robin was the original Webmaster for the school and is still responsible for keeping the Flannery O’Connor Library Website up to date.

Encouraging pleasure reading is a professional interest of Robin’s. Robin is also known for ASPIRE! - - a Summer Reading Enrichment program. She has presented her program at state and national conferences. ASPIRE! was featured in both Knowledge Quest (Sep/Oct 2003, Access to PDF document requires login) and School Library Journal (Jan. 2004). She has established a Teen Library Council to give interested students leadership opportunities. She also moderates the Anime Club.

Learn more about Robin at http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/tanis.html.

Blog Interaction with Chris Somers - Mon. Oct. 5 to Wed. Oct. 7, 2009

Chris Somers is the media specialist at Indian Creek Middle School in Trafalgar, Indiana. Chris has been successful in securing grants for her school and collaborating with teachers. She is another Indiana teacher librarian who is integrally involved in classrooms and student learning and who is always looking for new and interesting opportunities.

Learn more about Chris and her professional interests and expertise at:
Chris Somers http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/somers.html.

You can also visit her school's and media center websites:
Indian Creek Middle School http://www.nhj.k12.in.us/icms/
Media Center website http://www.nhj.k12.in.us/icms/library/index.htm

Blog Interaction with Elizabeth Winningham - Thurs. Oct. 1 to Sat. Oct. 3, 2009

Elizabeth Winningham of the Avon Community School Corporation is another outstanding Indiana school media specialist. She is active in IAME and has served in a number of committees and roles - - IN DoE: Information Literacy Task Force Committee, involved with the integration of INSPIRE resources into teaching lessons, and a member of the Blue Ribbon School Committee.

Elizabeth began her school library career opening the media center at Avon Intermediate School (Now designated as East). More recently, she was centrally involved in the planning, development, and opening of the media center for a new school, Avon Intermediate School West (Her current school location).

Learn more about Elizabeth Winningham at http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/winningham.html

Visit the site for her Media Center at

http://media-cen.media-center . . . . . . 517ecf

Blog Interaction with Maria Savoldi - Mon. Sept. 28 to Wed. Sept. 30, 2009

Maria Savoldi has work experience as a classroom teacher, a media specialist, and as county director of instructional media and technology - - much of that employment with the Glynn County School System, Brunswick, GA. She has a wealth of experience in designing and delivering professional learning courses (staff development, teacher training) that foster effective technology integration.

Like most of our guest experts in the field, Maria often presents sessions at state and national conferences and has served in various governance roles in professional organizations. She is a former President of the Georgia Association for Instructional Technology (GAIT) and the Division of School Media and Technology (DSMT) of AECT. For a number of years Maria also worked as a trainer for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards™ in the Library Media certificate area.

Maria now works for the Georgia Virtual School where her current role is technology support specialist. Learn more at http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/savoldi.html

Blog Interaction with Nancy McGriff - Thurs. Sept. 24 to Sat. Sept. 26, 2009

Nancy McGriff is another school library media specialist with a proven "track record." She has headed up library media programs at all grade levels.

At two different schools and in three different school years (1992, 1999 and 2005), Nancy's media programs have garnered outstanding awards. She is a strong mentor and a leader in the profession. Nancy has published articles and frequently presents at state and national conferences.

To learn more, be sure to visit http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/mcgriff.html

More recently Nancy received the "American Star of Teaching" Award for Indiana (Link to article at LaPorte County Herald-Argus) from the U.S. Dept. of Education and its No Child Left Behind program.

Bonnie Grimble - Mon. Sept. 21 to Wed. Sept. 23, 2009

Bonnie Grimble is department chair of the Media Center at Carmel High School. Carmel High, grades 9 through 12, has over 4,100 students, 240 classroom teachers, eleven administrators, and 150 other support and service staff members. In her position, Bonnie works closely with two other media specialists and three media managers. Learn more about Bonnie Grimble at http://eduscapes.com/sms/grimble.html

Bonnie has a comprehensive range of expertise and experiences gained at her large-urban high school workplace and her service and contributions in the school library media profession.

Helen Adams - Thurs. Sept. 17 to Sat. Sept. 19, 2009

Helen Adams teaches online courses for Mansfield University's (PA) School Library and Information Technologies program. Formerly Helen was a school librarian and technology coordinator in Wisconsin.

Helen is an advocate for school libraries and teacher librarians; a strong leader who is active at state, regional, and national levels. She is a frequent conference presenter and has authored a number of articles and textbooks. Her latest book is Ensuring Intellectual Freedom and Access to Information in the School Library from Libraries Unlimited.

http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591585398

Helen's professional interests focus mainly on issues and ideas related to intellectual freedom, privacy in school library media programs, and Internet filtering. Learn more about Helen Adams at

http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/adams.html