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Advocacy Hour: How Advocates and Collaborators Passed New Jersey’s K-12 Information Literacy Curriculum Requirement
Thursday, February 16, 2023, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDT
Category: MLA Connect Advocacy Hour

MLA Connect Advocacy Hour: How Advocates and Collaborators Passed New Jersey’s K-12 Information Literacy Curriculum Requirement

Thursday, February 16, 2023
3:30 - 4:30 PM

Could Michigan be next? In January 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the nation’s first statewide information literacy requirement for schools. The bill requires the state’s education department to gather a committee of educators, primarily certified school library media specialists, to develop the learning standards for information literacy. K-12 students will now learn about how information is produced and spread on the internet, critical thinking skills, the difference between facts and opinions, and the ethics of creating and sharing information both online and in print.

Join us and learn more about the advocacy efforts that got this legislation passed, who led the charge, who helped, and when the work began. We encourage public and school librarians to attend! Please note that this Advocacy Hour will be held in the afternoon to welcome our school librarian colleagues.

Advocacy Hour conversations are always free to attend but registration is required.

View Recording at
MLA Connect On Demand

Guest Speakers

Olga Polites

Olga Polites
New Jersey Chapter Leader, Media Literacy Now

Olga Polites is the New Jersey Chapter Leader of Media Literacy Now. Media Literacy Now leverages the passion and resources of the media literacy community to inform and drive policy change at local, state, and national levels in the U.S. to ensure all K-12 students are taught media literacy so that they become confident and competent media consumers and creators. 

 

 

Eric BeanErik Bean
Michigan Chapter Leader, Media Literacy Now

Erik Bean is the author of Bias Is All Around You: A Handbook for Inspecting Social Media & News Stories. He holds a master’s degree in journalism and a doctorate in education and teaches high school English at St. Catherine of Siena Academy. In addition to being a section editor of The Journal of Leadership Studies, he has 25 years of experience teaching composition, journalism, cyber communications, critical thinking, and technical writing. Last year he earned a Henry Ford Innovation Nation First Place Teacher award for information literacy studies used in the classroom, the theme of his most recent presentations at the 2022 JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention, the 2022 National Council of Teachers of English ELATE Home Coming, and the 2022 Qualitative Report Conference. In 2018 he presented a paper at the University of Oxford about fake ads masquerading as news. Erik serves as the Michigan Chapter Leader of Media Literacy Now.

 

Ewa Dziedzic-ElliottEwa Dziedzic-Elliott
President, New Jersey Association of School Librarians

Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott serves as the subject librarian for all departments in the School of Education. She has 10 years of experience as a K-12 librarian, including work in both elementary and high school settings. She holds an MLIS from Rutgers University and an MA in Polish Language and Literature with a minor in Speech Therapy from Jan Kochanowski University, Poland, EU. She also holds NJ supervisor and principal certifications. Her research interests include research skills of high school and first-year college students; diversity and equity in collection management; and barriers to information, especially in the immigrant, multicultural, and bilingual communities. She has published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship and Library Connections. She is an executive board member for New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) and currently serves as NJASL President. 

 

Mary MoyerMary Moyer
Legislative Consultant, New Jersey Association of School Librarians

Mary Moyer Stubbs is a former School Library Media Specialist and the current legislative consultant for the New Jersey Association of School Librarians.

 

 

MLA Connect Advocacy Hours are an opportunity for the library community to learn more about MLA's advocacy and legislative priorities including funding, elections, property taxes, literacy, internet access, privacy, intellectual freedom, and more. Each month, we will address a new topic and share any pending legislation introduced in the House or Senate that could impact the Michigan library community. Open discussion and Q&A will follow the interview-style agenda.

Monthly sessions will generally take place on the third Thursday of the month at 10:00 am. Advocacy Hours are free to attend to anyone interested in joining the conversation! A maximum of 500 attendees can join each live event. Registered attendees will receive information and a link to access the meetings on the Zoom platform. 

Please note recordings of all MLA Advocacy Hours are available to watch for free and on-demand at MLA Connect On-Demand.




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