Michelle Luhtala's Colleagues

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Awards

Started Sep 10, 2011 0 Replies 0 Likes

Maybe I missed it, but is there a place where folks can post links to calls for Awards nominations? Here is one, but I thought it might be a useful discussion to open it up for other awards too.The…Continue

Tags: collaboration, CTOs, administrators, technology, awards

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Michelle Luhtala's Page

Profile Information

School / Work Affiliation: New Canaan Public Schools

Blog: http://bibliotech.me

Website: http://nchslibrary.info

Skype Account: mluhtala

Twitter / Plurk / Other Account: mluhtala

About Me: Born in Mexico. Childhood split equally between New York, NY, Paris, France and Menlo Park, CA. Undergrad at NYU. Started teaching in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1990. Challenging times in a challenging 'hood, but great kids. Forty + kids per class and no classroom - taught, science, social studies, English, special education with as many as six preps per day.

In 1991 took a maternity leave and, after a bit, moved to Connecticut with husband to raise our daughter. Rebooted career in 1996 and took a job teaching social studies in a Bridgeport, CT middle school (Read Middle School - prophetic, no?) - 4 preps, class size cap of 30, my own classroom, and again, great kids.

Enrolled in library science program at Southern Connecticut State University in 1999, and was offered a position as school librarian at New Canaan High School in 2001. Had doubts about leaving classroom, but once I started, I was smitten. Became department chairperson in 2004, just before embarking on a three - year building-wide renovation project that involved shifting and/or moving the library collection four times.

Moved back into gloriously renovated NCHS library in 2007, spent the last few years experimenting with emerging technologies to improve student achievement and embed 21st century skills across disciplines. Joined Connecticut Digital Library Advisory Board's Database Committee in 2009.

The 2009-2010 school-year was spectacularly rewarding (see kudos page). In the spring of 2010, joined the Consortium of School Networking's (CoSN) Awards Committee, and started facilitating a free online webinar series at edWeb.net called Using Emerging Technology to Improve Your School Library Program.

Recently joined Connecticut Digital Library Advisory Board. Writing some. Having fun. Was recently asked about what I was passionate. My answer follows:

Knowledge: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Innovation: “Separate space + radical autonomy = innovation” Curtis W. Johnson
Productivity: “Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” Franz Kafka