Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to empower your students to become more confident, tackle challenges head-on, and learn perseverance? Explore these standards-based programs with activities that take students through critical-thinking exercises inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game and its characters. Students and teachers do not need prior knowledge of D&D to use the programs. They just need imagination and a collaborative spirit!

For grades 4-6, and 6-8 (Subject Area: Language Arts, STEAM). Made possible by: Wizards of the Coast

Website includes lesson plans, a "Field Guide to Dragons", "Storytelling with the Bard", Activity Books, Coloring Pages, "Build an Adventure" kit, a Digital Magazine, Character Wardrobes & Gear, free "Encounters", guides, "How-to's", webinars about the pedagogical benefits of D&D, and more!!

This is a Dungeons and Dragons module meant to introduce new dungeon masters and players to the game. The module runs about 2-2.5 hours and accommodates a group of 3-8 players. This module does require the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook to play.The game is formatted like an escape room to introduce players and the DM to the basic mechanics in a condensed amount of time. In the attached folder there are the module pdf, printout maps, props and premade character sheets to make it easy as possible to sit down and start playing. The setting is also open ended regarding the world and lore, so it makes a good introductory game to larger campaign or to insert to an existing one.  

This is the original school library reopening plan proposed by the ECASD LMS. Our practices, protocols and work have changed with decreased spread in our area and increased knowledge of Covid 19.

Environmental Inquiry (EI) is a collection of ideas and resources to support student projects on a wide range of topics in the environmental sciences.

This resource is a link to slides of a presentation titled "Esports - A Good fit for Librarians", offered by Shelly Napier, District Librarian for the Slinger School District in Wisconsin, at the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association (WEMTA) annual conference 2024.

Shelly shared outstanding and inspirational info about her journey of going from a "total newbie" in the Esports world to developing a wildly successful and popular (officially recognized) Esports team at her school, reaching new students who hadn't necessarily found their "group" prior.

To contact Shelly directly, you can email her at: shelly.napier@slingerschools.org

This video, created by the UW-Madison Libraries, addresses how to fact check sources by evaluating across different sources. Aligned with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy - Authority is Constructed & Contextual.

An interactive tutorial, created with LibWizard by UW-EauClaire McIntyre Library.  Students practice evaluation of sources with real-world examples by assessing relevance, credibility, purpose and audience.  They learn to avoid misinformation with fact-checking techniques (like reading laterally) and to consider authority critically.ACRL frames: Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, Searching as Strategic Exploration

This is a Future Ready School Library Plan tracker. It will support your priorities, goals, and actions to help your plan come to fruition. There is a tab for tracking and for a timeline. This can help organize your plan, as well as keep vital evidence of your progress to use with your stakeholders.

This is a list of Star Wars-related games and activities, suitable for a Star Wars-themed party in a library or classroom setting. Most ideas come from sources that encourage reading and literacy.

Article Abstract: This survey-based research explores whether first-year college students who have had previous interactions with
library instruction, services, and resources at the high school level are better prepared to undertake information
literacy challenges and are better equipped to adapt to the rigors of academic research. In this collaborative
project, academic librarians across six colleges in New Jersey surveyed first-year students regarding their
research preparation and their experiences in high school and in their first year of college. Additionally, the team
surveyed a group of vetted, certified high school librarians in New Jersey regarding their resources and
instructional practices and followed members of their senior class to college Based on student survey responses
relating to their high school experiences, the team was able to identify, study, and compare three groups of first-
year students: novice researchers, non-novice researchers, and a subset of non-novices from the high schools with
vetted librarians. These were labeled alumni non-novices. The team found that students with prior high school
research experiences (non-novices), especially those followed from schools identified as having certified li-
brarians (alumni non-novices), felt more prepared for academic research and performed at a higher level relating
to their understanding and use of research tools and strategies. The results point to equity concerns and suggest
that students require differentiated attention at the college level.

Kymberlee Powe, Children and YA Consultant for the Connecticut State Library Division of Library Development, dives into the makeup of the publishing industry. You will learn how to identify the difference between a diverse collection and an inclusive one and walk through the logistics of performing a diversity audit of your collection. The examples and resources provided in this session will focus on youth collections; however, the methodology of performing a diversity audit, and the reasons to do so, are universal to all collections.This presentation is brought to you by the Connecticut State Library, in collaboration with the Indiana State Library, the Library of Michigan, and the State Library of Ohio.

Simply make a copy of this template to be used in meetings when you are highlighting work you are doing. Just describe the project or task in the wedge(s) to which it applies. By filling out one of these templates at each meeting, you can gather evidence about what wedges have been focus areas. This could give you insight on future areas of work or help identify priorities.

Sometimes, the process of creating a library plan can be...well...not fun. Professionally, we are pulled in many different directions at our schools, and we may have multiple people we are answering to who have their own ideas and priorities. It can be tricky to distill our goals into clear and concise statements about where we want to move our library for the benefit of our stakeholders.

I am in the process of creating my second library plan (the first plan had been approved 3 years ago, and our plan was due for an update). I found the article, "The Future Ready Librarian in Practice" to be a very helpful quick read, and a reminder about what I hope to do in my library: create a space that invites experimentation, creative, research, and collaboration.

I would recommend this article to any librarian who is beginning their Library Plan process for the first time, and to colleagues, like me, who are revising their plans. The suggestions in the article, such as "Empower your students to lead" are helpful reminders that we don't need to copy what another library is doing. What does that statement mean to you? How would you like it to be a reality in your library? Those moments of inspiration can be great sources for new library goals.

I had a draft of my library plan prepared, but have been reflecting on my goals before showing it to my administration before asking for school board approval. This article made me re-think some of the goals I had in my draft. It may do the same for you. Happy reading, and reflecting!

This is a Google Doc version of the Future Ready Framework that you can copy and edit for your own district. Answering the questions can help you to create your library plan. My administration loved this form.

After reviewing the previous GBAPS Information & Technology Plan and reflecting on our library work over the
last three (3) years, the Long Range Library Planning Committee has developed the following goals and
objectives for our LMS and library programs. Our goals and objectives directly align with the GBAPS District
Strategic Plan and are guided by the practices outlined in the Future Ready Librarian Framework. It is important
to note that these goals and objectives are rooted in the beliefs that our work is student centered, and literacy is
at the heart of everything we do.

Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) – Dungeons & Dragons being the most popular example - can positively impact the multiple facets of students’ lives: academics, durable skills, social-emotional learning. In Part One of our two part series, let's quest together as we encounter how research supports using TTRPGs in education, explore stories of teachers using TTRPGs in their classrooms, and discover ideas and ways that librarians and the library can play a critical role in making such transformative game-based learning a success.

Before the webinar begins, please complete Slides 3-5 of the “Character Sheet Reflection Tool” (i.e. “Before the Quest”). We will complete the second half (“At the End of the Quest”) of the Reflection Tool at the end of the webinar.

Webinar Date & Time:
Wednesday May 8, 2024 at 3:30 PM EDT

Presenter:
Adam Watson
email: awatson@ovec.org
Kentucky Educators for Role Playing Games website: kyedrpg.com
social media: @watsonedtech and @kyedrpg (#kyedrpg)

Adam Watson has been a Kentucky educator since 2005, starting out as a high school English teacher and became National Board Certified in 2013. In 2014, he was hired at Shelby County Public Schools to be its district Digital Learning Coordinator, where he was a leader in several initiatives, including a 1:1 Chromebook implementation and the launch of Shelby's Profile of a Graduate. In his role at Shelby, Adam also was the lead liaison for the district’s librarians. In 2022, he joined the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) as a Deeper Learning Design Specialist. Adam is a frequent presenter, PD facilitator, and published writer on innovative education, particularly on the topics of edtech and game-based learning. In 2019, KySTE (the state chapter of the International Society for Technology in Education) named him the Outstanding Leader of the Year. For more on Adam’s educational journey, please visit adamwatson.org.

A series of excellent webinars and presentations about Games & Gaming in Libraries (covering a number of different subtopics -- like D&D integration in library programs, game collection development, LARPing / ARGs, playful learning science, and more) facilitated and hosted by the Indiana State Library.