Meet+The+Stars

=Meet The Stars=

The vicarious star-studded glamour of the Hollywood era provides a backdrop for a professional development opportunity available to Saskatchewan teacher-librarians. Designed to engender a passion for reading and exploit the potential of a range of emerging technologies, //Meet The Stars: Books & Web 2.0// explores all facets of the school library program - information literacy and the reading and literature programs. //Meet The Stars// is poised to become an overnight sensation in Saskatchewan libraries.

Remaining abreast of exciting new releases and then finding the time to read the novels, much less promote them in an exciting booktalk, can overwhelm teacher-librarians. Joyce Valenza, in her blog post [|Booktalking 2.0], discusses teacher-librarians can "share our booktalks, and in true 2.0 style, we can involve learners in creating them. I love that we can link to or share a colleague's booktalk. Through the magic of streamed media, we can involve learners in creating them. I love that I don't have to create them all from scratch."

Outcomes
//Meet The Stars// concentrates on the areas of the library media program that should be measured:
 * 1) Collaboration and Conversation
 * 2) Reading
 * 3) Information Literacy
 * 4) Technology

Events
//Meet The Stars// is divided into two parts - book promotion and the information literacy cycle.
 * Part One - In The Spotlight:** Using a list of potential book award winners, participants explore ways to reflect upon, critically examine, and promote the literature through professional dialogue and emerging technologies.
 * Part Two - The Backlot:** Illustrating the information literacy cycle, participants develop their repertoire of search tools, pathfinders, and online organizational tools.

Block One: The Nominees
An introduction to the list of nominated books and the impact of emerging technologies on traditional booktalks. Participants explore sites featuring book reviews (blogs, author Web sites, and book review sites) and build a list of their favourite links.

Block Two: The Review
Be the critic! Create a blog as a means to communicate thoughts about the potential award-winning books - questions that were not answered explicitly, but inspired by the text, the author’s ability to evoke detailed and richly descriptive images, etc.

Block Three: You Oughta Be In Pictures
Advertise your book! Use image generators to provide a book teaser or to communicate, encapsulate, and emotionalize memorable moments in the nominated book.

Block Four: Lewis Theatre
Take on the role of the director. Turn your book into a movie. Premiere your movie and view other's contributions.

Block Five: Behind The Scenes
Explore a variety of technological resources that can be used to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Block Six - The Editor
Redesign activities to discourage plagiarisms and foster critical and creative thinking.

Block Seven: The Organization
Store, share, and create diagrams of relationships between ideas or information using [|social cataloging application] and mind-mapping tools.

Block Eight: Digital Citizenship
Explore the norms of behaviour in regards to technological use (etiquette, responsibility,security, etc.) in order to practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.