ISTE SIGMS Election Please Vote for Brenda Now!

Right now a very special & talented person is running for Professional Development chair of SIGMS...and she needs and deserves your vote! She's talented, innovative, empathetic, energetic and a true change agent! She's dedicated, experienced and....she's amazing!

Please, if you're a member of ISTE SIGMS vote here for Brenda!

Here's the info on the ISTE site to seal the deal!

Brenda Anderson
Instructional Specialist
Montgomery County Public Schools
Kensington, MD
Blog: Imagine, Innovate, Inspire: Piecing Together My Learning Journey

Describe your previous work experiences and volunteerism with professional organizations which qualify you to serve as a SIGMS officer.
"Work Experience: I was an elementary library media specialist for 15 years before moving into a district level position of instructional specialist for the School Library Media programs unit in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. I have worked in this position for three years. In my district level position, I design and deliver professional development to over 200 library media specialists who work in PreK - 12 schools. In addition, I take a lead role in working on the district's elementary integrated curriculum team. My role is to infuse information and technology literacy skills into the curriculum, and I provide professional development for the team in the creation of multimedia resources for the curriculum. I am a member of the 2007 - 2008 cohort of the JHU/ISTE online Graduate Certificate in School Administration and Supervision. For my ISTE internship, I worked with Jennifer Ragan-Fore as a social media intern. Volunteering for Professional Organizations: Over the past 19 years, I have volunteered for my local (MCEMSA) and state library media organizations (MASL) and state technology organization (MSET) helping with special projects and presenting at conferences. This past year, I volunteered for the SIGMS playground at NECC. It was through this volunteer opportunity that I met Lisa Perez who asked that I serve as the SIGMS professional development chair. I have been serving in this non-elected position since July 2009 organizing the monthly webinars and article discussions."

Identify the three most salient issues in technology for school librarianship and how you will support SIGMS membership in addressing these issues.
"1. Staying current with the ever changing landscape of Web 2.0 and other technology tools and knowing how to effectively integrate the tools into their educational practices to support student learning; 2. Gaining access to resources, tools, or equipment that might be blocked or unavailable in their school systems due to lack of funding for school library programs; 3. Taking leadership roles in their schools and districts as information and technology specialists in order to help shape how technology is used with staff and students. I think the professional development opportunities that SIGMS has put in place this year has provided a wonderful start for offering school library media specialists support in addressing these issues. During this past year, I have come to realize how willingly many people in our practice share their time and experience to help each other with these issues. I would continue to develop relationships and make connections with the leaders in the ed tech and library fields in order to have speakers for the Second Life presentations, webinars, and other presentation platforms. I would work to recruit more SIGMS members to volunteer their time to work on various committees so that we can expand our professional development offerings. I do see the work we have done this year as very beneficial and I know it can grow. I would love to continue to be an active member in this growth."

Describe your management style and your experiences in working with other adults in committees. (If submitting a nomination for the PD chair, please also answer the following: Include information on your comfort in using various platforms for the delivery of professional development.)
"I feel that I am a very open and honest communicator and when I work on a team I focus on the project that needs done. I manage by developing and assigning tasks with the team members, establishing clear deliverables and deadlines. I check in on a regular basis as needed for the projects. I feel a team flourishes when people work to their strengths, and I like to provide the management support to enable them to be successful. I work on numerous committees/teams with my job. Some of them are fluid and temporary, others more permanent, for example: the elementary integrated curriculum team. I feel very comfortable in either a leadership or participant role on a team. I enjoy collaborating and creating with a team and feel that most team experiences are an opportunity to grow professionally. People tend to see me as a facilitator and trust me to complete and deliver high quality work on time. I am very comfortable in synchronous chat rooms, asynchronous discussions, and in hosting webinars. I can create NINGs and wikis. I have the least amount of experience in delivering any type of professional development in Second Life. If needed, I am sure that I can learn. I embrace learning new platforms."

Let me just add my opinion to that last statement - I've spent some time with Brenda in Second life (see our visit to my Steampunk Treehouse above) and I'm sure she could deliver professional development events in Second Life!

Pictured above: Meredith Dreamscape, Brenda's Second Life Avatar with Capt. Red Llewellyn - from her Flickr Stream

Brenda at AASL with Andrea Christman and Gail Bailey of MCPS - from her Flickr Stream

Brenda Presenting with Wendy Stephens at the Library Tools Smackdown at AASL - from her Flickr Stream

with Joyce Valenza at the Bloggers' Cafe - - from her Flickr Stream

Contact information: Follow Brenda on Twitter! @brendaanderson