In The RPS Newsletter
In The RPS Newsletter
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SRMSLLC Named National School Library of the Year!
SRMSLLC Named National School Library of the Year!
Librarian Cites Fail Forward Culture as Recipe for Success
Librarian Cites Fail Forward Culture as Recipe for Success
The Scotts Ridge Middle School library has always been first in our book, and this week, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) named the SRMS LLC the 2025 National School Library of the Year (NSLY). Sponsored by Follett Content, the NSLY Award annually honors a school library that exemplifies the implementation of AASL's National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Scotts Ridge Middle School will receive a crystal obelisk – the symbol of school library excellence – and $10,000 toward its school library.
The team of Librarian Janine Johnson and paraeducator (of the year) Emily Shiller has made the Scotts Ridge LLC a hub of innovation, learning, and inclusion. Their thoughtful implementation of programs like 1 Book 2 Schools, the Morning Show, March Madness, and collaboration with educators across SRMS is a national model. They are enthusiastic readers and thoughtful people, and their curiosity and love for ideas and words run through everything they do. Read more about the award and quotes from their Scotts Ridge colleagues in the AASL announcement.
Ms. Johnson writes, "We're thrilled to be named the National School Library of the Year by the American Association of School Librarians and Follett! We believe school libraries are a sanctuary for reading, discovery, risk-taking, and, most importantly, connection. The 'Fail Forward' culture at Scotts Ridge nurtures creativity and collaborative curiosity, benefiting our students and accelerating learning.”
What will they do with the award money? Trip to Paris for two, including a few paperbacks? No, they are running a poll to see what Scotts Ridge thinks. Maybe more stationary bikes for the LLC...Congratulations!
In The RPS Newsletter: at SRMS!
In The RPS Newsletter: at SRMS!
On Tuesday, Scotts Ridge welcomed students from Ponus Ridge Steam Academy (PRSA) in Norwalk as the finale of the 1 Book, 2 Schools 2025 Program. This library-led book club is voluntary and includes students from all middle school grades from both schools. This year, the SRMS and PRSA students read Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me, an insightful and moving novel that explores themes of friendship, social justice, and identity. It follows six students who are put together in the ARTT room (A Room to Talk) and, despite their differences, grow to have a special bond fused by their shared struggles. SRMS and Ponus Ridge students have met after school and virtually for the past year to discuss sections of the book. This week, they came together in person for further discussions about the book, moments of connection and joy, and pizza.
Scotts Ridge students reflect on the day:
“I liked connecting with kids from PRSA. It was refreshing to meet new people. I don’t get to do that too often.” ~ Elianna A.
“The books bring us together. They connect us and show us that even though we are all different, we are actually very similar.” ~ Sophia K.
“This is my 3rd year doing 1B2S. The book discussions make me stop and think about real-world connections. And then when we meet the students from the other school, we discover all the things we have in common, even though we come from different backgrounds.” ~Ella C.
Ms. Johnson and Mr. Salem joined 200+ CT administrators at the CAS (CT Association of Schools) annual leadership conference in Mystic on Friday, March 28th. There was a capacity crowd ready to share, discuss and problem solve together at our "Cultivating a Culture of Care: How Leaders 'Make or Break' School Culture" session.
In The RPS Newsletter: at SRMS!
In The RPS Newsletter: at SRMS!
All SRMS 7th graders read "A Night Divided" by Jennifer Nielsen in the LLC this month.
"A Night Divided" by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is a historical fiction novel set during the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. It exploring themes of communism, freedom, family, and survival.
The story provides a fictionalized account of life in East Berlin during the height of the Cold War, allowing students to explore the realities of life under communist rule and the impact of the Berlin Wall.
Students will create a podcast discussing the historical events, political ideologies, and the human cost of conflict.
Jennifer Nielsen will be speaking at SRMS April 3, 2025.
Janine and Tim presented at the AMLE (Association for Middle Level Education) conference in Nashville in November. In addition to the capacity crowd at Tim's presentation, "Cultivating a Culture of Care: How Leaders 'Make or Break' School Culture," Tim and Janine presented how a librarian-leadership team invigorates learning with "ReNew, ReThink & ReImagine: Reaching Teachers & Influencing Outcomes."
When staff regularly hear from leadership why it is important to collaborate with their library staff, relationships grow, and the "snowball effect" of experimentation accelerates, as is evidenced at the beginning and at :56 in this AASL video from Tampa addressing innovation.
Principal Tim Salem and LMS Janine Johnson co-authored "Collaboration and Connections: How to Transform the School Library into a Vibrant Learning Hub" for the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE's) member newsletter.
Principal Tim Salem and LMS Janine Johnson co-authored "Collaboration and Connections: How to Transform the School Library into a Vibrant Learning Hub" for the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE's) member newsletter.
Future and advanced degree Social Studies teachers in Mr. Salem's WestConn class learned about how they can collaborate and innovate with their library staff when Janine visited his class in October.
Scotts Ridge Middle School Principal Tim Salem and Library Media Specialist Janine Johnson traveled to Tampa in October, 2023 for the bi-annual American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Conference. In 2022, AASL awarded Mr. Salem the Distinguished School Administrator Award in recognition of his contribution “to the operations of exemplary school libraries and to advancing the role of the school library in the educational program.”
Mr. Salem was also named to the AASL School Leader Collaborative, a group of superintendents and administrators from throughout the US dedicated to "deepening the visibility and understanding for leadership of an effective school library where the school librarian provides an inclusive and personalized learning environment, creates equitable access to diverse resources, and transforms teaching and learning for all learners."
Tim and Janine presented at the conference, attended an awards ceremony and morning "Interactive Summit" between librarians and administrators, as well as numerous other sessions throughout the three-day event. They met other librarians, building leaders, and authors, including the keynote speaker ARTivist, author, and Hollywood film illustrator Nikkolas Smith.
More can be found in the RPS Newsletter and Ridgefield's Hamlet Hub.
"As seen in" the Ridgefield PS District Newsletter
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Fund for Teachers Fellows present at CASL/CECA 2022 conference. See below for more about Mrs. Johnson's FFT travel.
Tim Salem was the Lunch Keynote Speaker at the 2022 CASL/CECA (CT Assoc of Librarians/CT Educators Computer Assoc) conference on November 4th at Southern CT State Univ. Janine Johnson was one of four Fund For Teachers grant recipients presenting a morning session titled, "Oh the Places You'll Go! How Fund for Teachers Can Get You There!"
Tim is the recipient of the 2022 AASL (Amer. Assoc of School Librarians) Distinguished School Administrator Award. Tim has also been named to the AASL School Leader Collaborative, a group of superintendents and administrators from throughout the US dedicated to "deepening the visibility and understanding for leadership of an effective school library where the school librarian provides an inclusive and personalized learning environment, creates equitable access to diverse resources, and transforms teaching and learning for all learners." Congratulations Tim!
Summer 2022: Ms. Johnson traveled to six cities in Central Europe, thanks to a Fund for Teachers grant tied to the SRMS curriculum/collection. Click below for her post-fellowship report and slides capturing the experience.
Summer 2022: Ms. Johnson traveled to six cities in Central Europe, thanks to a Fund for Teachers grant tied to the SRMS curriculum/collection. Click below for her post-fellowship report and slides capturing the experience.
Tim Salem AASL.mp4CONGRATULATIONS MR. SALEM!!!!
He is going to need a bigger shelf in his office! Please join us in congratulating Tim for winning the 2022 AASL (American Association of School Librarians') Distinguished School Administrator Award! Since its inception in 1985, only one administrator per year has received this national award.
We already knew we were fortunate to be working with amazing administrators and staff before Covid, but since returning to "somewhat normal," we appreciate even more the "fail forward" environment we work in.
<<<This video captures the moment he found out.
Scotts Ridge and Rogers Park Middle School have concluded their year of virtual and in-person shared book discussions centered around Jacqueline Woodson's book Harbor Me. In April the students traveled to one another's' schools.
The experience and student reactions will be shared at a CEN conference 1:30 pm presentation titled Hybrid Meetings and Shared Reading: Creating Connectedness and Community on May 5th.
This February, Tim and Janine joined Wesleyan University’s Head Librarian and DEIJ Program Coordinator in a presentation addressing fifty academic, public and school librarians across the state for the Connecticut Library Consortium’s “Community Collaborative” discussion around DEI initiatives.
https://www.ctlibrarians.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1600362
Not exactly an article or an award but....SRMSLLC was featured on Ridgefield Tiger Talk discussing today's Library Learning Commons.
On March 23, 2021, CAS (CT Assoc of Schools) hosted “Race, Equity & Books: How Reading Can Be an Entry Point for Essential Conversations,” a webinar featuring staff from Scotts Ridge Middle School in Ridgefield. During this 60-minute session, Principal Tim Salem, Library Media Specialist Janine Johnson, and Social Studies Teacher Tom Broderick shared strategies and resources for using literature to foster conversations around equity, social and racial justice, and cultural responsiveness.
SRMS Principal Tim Salem and Assistant Principal Lisa Frese have been named co-winners of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians’ 2020 Administrator's Award. This award honors administrators who provide support for school library services through encouragement and funding. October, 2020
Janine Johnson has been awarded a 2020 Fund for Teachers Fellowship award. Her project description and more about FFT can be found HERE.
AASL (American Assoc. of School Librarians) Collaborative School Library Award, Spring 2018 (See article below for more information about this project.)
The CT Association of School Librarians awarded Janine Johnson the Carlton W.H. Erikson Award in the Spring of 2018
Publications:
Publications:
Education Dive: As K-12 virtual reality use grows, researchers consider impact on children
Knowledge Quest (Journal of the Amer. Assoc. of School Librarians): Jumping into the world of virtual and augmented reality, March/April 2019
Knowledge Quest: How to Get Started: School Libraries Go Beyond the Four Walls - March/April 2019
SRMS in the News:
SRMS in the News:
Generations connect through portrait exchange (5/30/18)
Scotts Ridge students raise more than $1600 for Ann's Place (4/5/18)
Human Body Systems: Scotts Ridge project receives collaborative award (4/10/18)
Mark Twain Library hosts program on fake news (4/16/18)
SRMS fundraiser at 850 supports Ann's Place & guest author (3/22/18)
Ridgefield Schools 'Read Across America' (3/10/17)
Fake News: Schools tech director to host FB Live event (4/18/17)
In The RPS Newsletter: News Literacy Week at SRMS!
In The RPS Newsletter: News Literacy Week at SRMS!
Scotts Ridge Middle School Morning Show hosts Gus Miceli and Dolev Shahar donned silly hats and wigs to engage their schoolmates in essential lessons and have fun doing so. It’s News Literacy Week when schools across the country highlight the importance of understanding the information we see and hear.
Each day this week, the SRMS Morning Show crew broadcast a lesson written by librarian Janine Johnson using News Literacy Project resources on navigating our complicated information landscape. From how to do a reverse image search to determine, for example, if sharks really did swim on streets after a flood to strategies to how to resist the videos an algorithm feeds you to how to verify a source, lessons in news literacy help SRMS students judge for themselves what information to trust, believe, and share.
Hats off to the SRMS Morning Show students, who show up every morning to run the camera, cue the teleprompter, and create graphics under the guidance of Paraeducator of the Year Emily Shiller.
SRMS Morning Show Crew: Ivan Galvan, Bibi Madeira, Ava Reiner, Saia Dave, Alyssa Riviezzo, Mar Epstein, Aubrey Reynolds, Lalina Idriss, Grace Rizzo, Jonathan Waymire, Nicole (Nikki) Civale.
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