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Lights, Camera, and an Idea Worth Spreading

Student presenting his Ted-ED Club presentation

Most of us are familiar with TED Talks, a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas through short, often powerful, talks. As librarians, we can use the format of a TED Talk to engage students and teachers with research and encourage them to spread their ideas.

We chose to incorporate TED-ED into our ninth-grade programming — with excellent results. In fact, we are now hoping to spread it to eighth and fifth grades as culminating projects during those capstone years in our district.

ALA's Sara Jaffarian Award Presents - Teaching the Tulsa Race Massacre with Guided Inquiry Design

Shawnee Middle School was the winner of ALA's 2020-2021 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming.

In their program, they first taught students about how assumptions create conflict in society using the Tulsa Race Massacre as an example. Using Guided Inquiry Design, they then encouraged students to think about where they see assumptions causing conflict in the world today or in their own experience. Students chose a topic to research further.

What Is a Program, Anyway? Findings from NILPPA, ALA's National Study of Library Public Programs

As U.S. libraries transform to meet the needs of a changing nation, public programming is rising to the forefront of daily operations. While libraries have always had a broad educational mission and an esteemed role as collection holders and lenders, the 21st century is witnessing their rapid transformation into centers for lifelong experiential learning, hubs for civic and cultural gatherings, and partners in community-wide innovation.

The Nine Competencies of Programming Librarians: Findings from NILPPA, ALA's National Study of Library Public Programs

As U.S. libraries transform to meet the needs of a changing nation, public programming is rising to the forefront of daily operations. While libraries have always had a broad educational mission and an esteemed role as collection holders and lenders, the 21st century is witnessing their rapid transformation into centers for lifelong experiential learning, hubs for civic and cultural gatherings, and partners in community-wide innovation.

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