AASL's Social Media Superstars!

Over the last several months, I have had the privilege of serving as Chair of AASL's Task Force to establish new "Social Media Superstars" recognitions. And, yesterday, our task force had the excitement of announcing the inaugural group of superstar finalists. We developed seven different categories for the recognitions (in no particular order), and there are three finalists in each category:



We shared the details about what each category represents on the AASL website. Here are the descriptions and the finalists for each category:

In every case, the finalists are, of course, exemplary in what they do in their teaching and programs, but they take it a step further by generously amplifying their ideas and messages using social media to model practice and reach more of their peers. I'm not linking to the individual categories, here, only because I REALLY want you to go to through the overall posting, then link to each category from there, to read all the wonderful things about each finalist.

Why is this new superstars program important? In my mind, anyway, I love that the AASL Board chose to create a new recognition for our members, appreciating the value of social media to amplify our voices for advocacy, leadership, and social justice; exchange of great program, curriculum, and technology integration ideas; and empower our students' voices. And, equally important, I believe, is the opportunity this gives all of us - librarians, other educators, and education and library supporters, alike - to learn about 21 amazing people (7 categories x 3) you may not yet be following and add them to your Personal Learning Network for new inspiration and networking.

Then, once you explore all seven categories, please add endorsements for your favorites. The task force will consider all the endorsements as part of the selection of the seven top superstars. Please add your endorsements by April 14, then stand by for a webinar announcing the winners on Thursday, April 27, at 6pm Central Time.

And, finally, share this information far and wide so that more people in the school library and education community can benefit from learning about and following the 21 AASL Social Media Superstar finalists.

I'd like to thank the task force members, all of whom worked very hard on this and are definitely also great people to follow on social media!: Marifran DeMaine (@abookforfrances), Liz Dodds (@lizdodds), Elissa Malespina (@elissamalespina), and Cathy Jo Nelson (@cathyjo). Many thanks, too, to our amazing staff liaison, Jennifer Habley, and our Board liaison, Pam Harland @pamlibrarian).

In January, I signed up for the #Edublogsclub to help motivate me to blog each week. I'm afraid I'm not keeping up, but I am tagging this as part of the club, because I am confident that all the other educational bloggers participating will benefit from learning about and following these 21 AASL Social Media Superstar finalists!