CE NEWS

August 3, 2020

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Table of Contents

• Alaska Library Association Virtual Conference
• Pacific Northwest Library Association Virtual Poster Session
• Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss
• Your Library and Homeschooling Families
• A Most Unusual Summer
• Supporting Children During the Pandemic
• August CE Calendar

Alaska Library Association Virtual Conference

Save the date! On August 7th the Alaska Library Association will be hosting a virtual mini-conference. This 1-day professional development opportunity is FREE to AkLA members and will feature the following speakers:

• Kyle Courtney
• Heather Lende
• Pono Shim

AkLA speakers:

• Robert Barr will talk about Controlled Digital Lending;
• Patience Frederiksen will talk about the State of Our Libraries;
• Mike Robinson will talk about library advocacy:
• and Freya Anderson will talk about new and temporary resources on SLED.

Pacific Northwest Library Association Virtual Poster Session 2020

The Pacific Library Association is hosting a FREE virtual poster session, August 4-7, 2020. Poster sessions will address the areas of Collections and Publishing, Literacy and Instruction, Relationships and Connections, and Leadership and Administration, with a special focus on the COVID-19 response.

Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss

• Reopening Archives, Libraries and Museums: Materials Testing and Resource Overview
  • August 4^th at 11:00 am
• Opportunities Out of Adversity: Digital Access in Rural and Small Libraries
  • Thursday, August 6th at 11:00 am

• Summer Reading Wrap Up
  • August 25^th at 2:00 pm

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

Your Library and Homeschooling Families

As schools in the United States struggle to create plans for safely reopening during the worsening COVID 19 pandemic, many anxious parents and caregivers in Alaska are deciding to homeschool their children. Homeschooling is defined as "learning outside of the public or private school environment" and differs from the remote learning that many parents experienced with their children when schools in Alaska abruptly closed in March. As Jeremy Reynolds noted his article, Virtual schooling is not homeschooling for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “there is a difference between bringing children home to school them and bringing the public school into the home.”

Once the decision to homeschool has been made parents and caregivers should

• Investigate Alaska’s homeschool options
• Join a local homeschooling group for advice, encouragement and support
• Select a correspondence program [PDF] best suited to their child’s learning preference
• Create a designated learning space in their home
• Set educational goals for their child
• Create weekly homeschooling schedules for their child

Public libraries have a long history of supporting homeschooling families, who are heavy users of community resources and often develop close associations with local libraries. Sarah Pannone, an adjunct instructor and dissertation chair for the school of Education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia recently conducted Homeschoolers’ Experiences with the Public Library: A Phenomenological Study to better understand what homeschool families' value about the public library. The results of her study identified three primary themes. Participants felt the library was a home away from home, participants valued how the public library saved them money, and participants valued library daytime programs. According to statistics from the US Department of Education the homeschool population has doubled from 1 to 2 million in the last decade. It will be interesting to see if the pandemic accelerates the homeschooling trend.

Alaska State Library staff have developed the Homeschooling Resources online guide to help public librarians support and meet the growing homeschooling needs in their community.

Resources

• Pannone, S. (2019). Homeschoolers' Experiences with the Public Library: A Phenomenological Study. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 17(1),5-10
• 8 Steps to Homeschool Success, Scholastic Practical recommendations for parents embarking on homeschooling their children
• When Homeschoolers Get a Helping Hand-Part 1: Libraries, Bridgeway Blog by David Engle, August 22, 2019

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

A Most Unusual Summer

2020 is a year many of us would like to forget. The COVID 19 pandemic has led to library closures, shifts to curbside service and virtual programming. Some libraries have seen a large decline in the numbers of families participating in their summer reading programs and youth services librarians are concerned about the negative impact this may have on student learning and achievement. Some educators are predicting that students may fall a full grade level behind because of the extended interruption to children's formal learning. They are calling this student learning regression the COVID slide.

In his article How to Overcome the COVID Slide, Robert Brian Gossage describes how the COVID slide will have the greatest effect on children from low income families, English language learners and those with learning disabilities. When schools closed abruptly, many families were unable to support their children’s shift to remote learning because they lacked the required devices and broadband internet service. Gossage outlines four strategies school administrators can use to address the COVID slide.

• Take stock of existing needs and work to eliminate inequities
• Engage more deeply with families
• Assess student’s readiness for learning in the fall and plan interventions to help close learning gaps
• Doing nothing isn’t an option

While Gossage's article written for specifically for instructional leaders, there are actions that public libraries could take to address the COVID slide. If a library is already loaning laptops they may want to expand the service and extend the loan period. Libraries may want to consider working with a local community partner to provide additional support to families. IDEABOOK, the research-based framework developed by the Harvard Family Research Project in partnership with the Public Library Association includes innovative examples on how libraries can encourage family engagement that improves outcomes for children.

Resources

• Public Libraries: A vital space for family engagement Harvard Family Research Project & Public Library Association, 2016 

Supporting Children during the Pandemic

Emergency Partners Information Connection (EPIC) is a broad array of organizations that exchange information that helps people stay safer and healthier during a public health emergency.  A CDC (EPIC) webinar Supporting Children and Adolescents During COViD-19 was held on July 22nd and featured Dr. Melissa Brymer, Director of the Terrorism and Disaster Program UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. Her presentation featured information on what makes the COVID-19 pandemic a unique global public health emergency and its impact on children, families and child-serving institutions. She also shared information on the five essential intervention strategies for immediate and mass trauma: safety, calming, self-efficacy, connectedness and hope.

Below are steps parents can take to support children experiencing anxiety or distress

• Minimize media exposure
• Create a routine that includes quiet time
• Take a break
• Provide reassurance
• Address missed developmental milestones
• Be a positive role model

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has developed a collection of fact sheets, resource guides, tip sheets and webinars to help parents, educators and juvenile justice professionals support children during the pandemic.

Resources

• Trinka and Sam Fighting the Big Virus: (National Child Traumatic Stress Network) Helps young children and families talk about their experiences and feelings related to COVID-19 and the need to shelter in place. In the story, the Coronavirus has spread to Littletown causing changes in everyone's lives.
• Trinka and Sam Questions: A companion to Fighting the Big Virus (National Child Traumatic Stress Network) Provides questions that Trinka and Sam have about the big virus and ways to answer those questions.
• Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event (National Child Traumatic Stress Network) Describes how young children, school-age children, and adolescents react to traumatic events and offers suggestions on how parents and caregivers can help and support them.
• Helping Children with Traumatic Separation or Traumatic Grief Related to COVID-19 (National Child Traumatic Stress Network) Offers information on how to talk with children about traumatic separation or traumatic grief as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in thousands of children being separated from loved ones who require isolation and/or hospitalization due to testing positive for the virus.

August CE Calendar

Visit the CE Calendar to see a complete list of all the free webinars being offered in August.