3 Schools Win TEAMS Award

  • By Mike Hohenbrink
  • 09/27/11

Library Media Connection Magazine and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and have selected three winners for the 2011 TEAMS Award--Teachers and Media Specialists Influencing Student Achievement.

The prizewinners, Winter Park Elementary School, Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy, and Skyline High School, each received $2,500 in cash, Gale products, a one-year subscription to Library Media Connection, and the Educator’s Professional Bookshelf from Linworth Publishing. In addition, the winners will be featured in an upcoming article in Library Media Connection.

The awards, designed to recognize teacher and media specialist teams for improving student achievement, will be presented at a special reception at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) annual conference in Minneapolis, MN in late October.

Nominations were evaluated based on:

  • Demonstrated collaboration between media specialists and teachers during the school year;
  • Effective techniques that positively impact student learning and achievement;
  • Support received from school leadership; and
  • Ability for others to replicate this best practice.

The competition, held every two years, was open to all K-12 public and private schools in the United States and Canada this year.

Examples of winning collaborations include using large print books to improve student reading scores, integrating electronic and print reference resources into classroom learning, and using libraries to explore world cultures.

"Even after many years of presenting the TEAMS Award, we continue to be amazed and gratified to see that school librarians are moving strongly forward in the face of budgetary adversity," said Marlene Woo-Lun, publisher of Library Media Connection. "This year's winners continue to teach critical thinking skills to students and other educators by modeling them through impressive collaborative efforts."

In addition to the cash award, the Gale products have an approximate value of $500, and the Educator's Professional Bookshelf has an approximate value of $500. A full list of winners and honorable mention recognitions is available at news.cengage.com.

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