Building a Schoolwide Culture of Reading

Presented by Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair, New Canaan High School, CT; and Melissa Thom, M.A., Teacher Librarian, Bristow Middle School, CT

Sponsored by Mackin Educational Resources

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Reading may seem like an independent activity but for children who are developmentally wired to seek and feed on peer connections, social reading transforms what some kids think of as a chore into a something they enjoy. Connecting learners with books is a gift that lasts a lifetime.

Watch Michelle Luhtala and Melissa Thom in this edWebinar as they share innovative ideas that will get learners of all ages engaged in reading! This recorded presentation will be of interest to K-12 librarians, teachers, and administrators. 

About the Presenters

Michelle Luhtala is the Library Department Chair at New Canaan High School in Connecticut and was one of five school librarians named as a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal in 2015. She is the winner of the 2011 “I Love My Librarian” Award and the Library Association’s 2010 Outstanding Librarian Award. The New Canaan High School Library won AASL’s National School Library Program of the year in 2010. Follow her on Twitter @mluhtala.

Melissa Thom, M.A. is a teacher librarian at Bristow Middle School in West Hartford, CT. She earned her bachelor’s in elementary education from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, a master’s in elementary education from Northern Arizona University and a master’s in educational psychology/gifted and talented from the University of Connecticut. She spent 12 years teaching grades four to six as a classroom teacher, and four years ago she earned her library media specialist certification from the ARCLMS program. She is the vice president of the Connecticut Association of School Librarians, a member of the Customer Advisory Board for Scholastic Book Fairs, a 2019 AASL Social Media Superstar Reader Leader finalist, and her most recent publication was an article in the June issue of School Library Journal entitled, NGSS Maker Challenges.

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 Mackin is one of the top providers of library and classroom materials for grades PK-12. Working with over 18,000 publishers and a database of nearly 3 million printed titles, and more than 1.9 million digital titles, Mackin supplies print books, eBooks, online educational databases, audiobooks and video resources to schools around the globe.