Term 2 Professional Development - Poet Paula Green

The New Zealand Book Council is bringing NZ Poet Paula Green up to Northland for school visits Week 1 of Term 3. Paula has kindly agreed to give two after school workshops for SLANZA. This will be a marvellous opportunity for librarians and teachers to meet such a passionate advocate for poetry, and to learn strategies and activities to lead children into poetry writing.

·         Manaia View School Library, Whangarei

Wednesday 22 July

3:30pm for afternoon, Paula starts her workshop at 4:00pm

FREE – kindly sponsored by the NZ Book Council

·         Oromahoe School Library, Kerikeri

Thursday 23 July

3:30pm for afternoon, Paula starts her workshop at 4:00pm

FREE – kindly sponsored by the NZ Book Council

Do have a look at Paula Green’s website The Poetry Box for a sample of her poetry, books, bookshops, children’s poetry, tips, competitions and challenges.

Contact me if you would like a copy of the PDF flyer to share

RSVP to me please

Post from President - SLANZA Needs You

Dear SLANZA members,

Our regional committees need you.  They need people who really care about school libraries to come along to committee meetings - or even to contribute online or by email - to ensure that our regions are able to continue.

Why do we need you:  
Our regional committees need a Chair, a secretary, a treasurer and a national representative to function.  They also need some committee members to share ideas and help. These people keep your region running, organising the events you go to, the PD you are offered close to home and in the major centres. You can’t have all this good stuff without having an enthusiastic bunch of people to make it happen.

New fresh blood is important.  Some of our regions are really struggling to find people to join the committee.

•      It isn’t an onerous job 

·         It is often really good fun
·         It looks great on your CV
·         You get to be more involved in what is happening near you and having a say in what is offered in your region
·         Principals love their librarians to be involved 
·         Enhance your skills and get to know some really great people.
·         Contribute to the development of school libraries in New Zealand

Are you interested?  Contact your local rep. Join at the next AGM. (Or just send an email to your rep saying you are keen to help.)  All our committees will welcome new members.  We really want new people to share their ideas and to get involved. We also need to have new people coming through the system so that SLANZA doesn’t run out of steam.

From a personal standpoint, being a member of our committee makes me happy, we have lots of fun, we enjoy coming up with ideas of things our members might enjoy. Making our events happen is exciting and stimulating and we build relationships and networks with cool people.

I heartily encourage you to get involved. Bring your passion for school libraries and make our organisation hum.
Bridget Schaumann
President SLANZA

Submissions sought on Diversity in the School Library for Collected magazine

Don't forget that we are open  for submissions to Collected 16.

The theme for this issue is diversity. How do we provide for  the cultural, social, ethnic, and recreational needs of the diverse special interest groups in our schools, such as Maori and Pasifika students, LGBT students, refugees, international students, students with special learning needs and the gifted and talented? Any articles that reflect this theme will be welcomed.

We also need articles on other matters that may be of interest to your fellow  SLANZA members. This could include book reviews, articles about awesome PD you’ve attended or provided or anything you may think will be appropriate

Our deadline is July 15. Details about submissions, images and the magazine in general can be found at slanza.org.nz under the Resources tab under Collected.

We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at slanzacollected@gmail.com

Greig Daniels

Editor, Collected

Call to join your SLANZA committee

An excerpt from my Chairperson's report:

At a national level SLANZA offers members Professional Development in many forms: Collected magazine; Connected Librarians - online courses; community discussions on Google+; and the National Conference. At a regional level your committee strives to offer members local Professional Development through sessions and workshops.

Unfortunately, SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau is struggling at the moment.  We have no contributions from this region to the Collected magazine, no one from this region enrolled in furthering education through Connected Librarians online PD, and only one member from Northland has joined the Google+ PD discussion forum. Shockingly, four of the last six events planned for members have been cancelled due to lack of interest. In addition, the three committee members that hold positions of office are stepping down at our AGM and there are no apparent members willing to join the committee.

I am disheartened and deeply concerned for the future of SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau.

“SLANZA will only thrive if members value and contribute to the organisation at the local and national level.”  

~ Lisa Salter ~

If there is a problem in the PD provided then communicate that issue or better still, get involved and be the change. If the problem is the distances to travel, members driving to committee meetings are entitled to a petrol subsidy or can connect through Google Hangouts or Skype.

Providing local Professional Development for school library staff, the SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau committee meets four or five times a year to plan, implement and action these events. Committee members are expected to attend and contribute at meetings which are usually scheduled to follow on after a PD session. As a team, there is not a lot of work. 

Please get involved in SLANZA by joining your regional committee.

AGM this Thursday, June 25, Kerikeri High School Library, 3:45pm for afternoon tea, 4:00pm start followed by a session on Digital Tools for Efficient and Dynamic Curation, finishing with a Committee meeting.

Replies/discussions to me please - jsmith@kerikerihigh.ac.nz