Donna Sullivan-MacdonaldI am the Library Media & Instructional Technology Specialist at Orchard School in South Burlington, Vermont.
The fall of 2023 will mark the beginning of my 28th year as the librarian at Orchard School. I have served on my district's Technology Committee for most of these 20+ years. I have also served on my school's Technology and Leadership Committees. I presently serve on Orchard School's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team.
Vermont School Library Association In May 2023 I was honored to receive the Service Award for my work on the April joint VSLA/VLA conference. Here's what VSLA past president Meg Allison said in an email to my principal: "On behalf of the Vermont School Library Association, I want to let you all know that Donna Sullivan-Macdonald was awarded the VSLA Service Award, given to a school librarian who has made outstanding contributions to school libraries and the library community in Vermont.
She is a treasure, not just in your learning community, but to all school librarians in Vermont. Her contributions are invaluable. Her impact is wide-ranging. Her work ethic is unparalleled." I was president of the Vermont School Library Association from June 2017 to the end of May 2018. During my year, I coordinated a summer retreat for board members where we developed a new three-year strategic plan for our organization.
I was honored to have been chosen to receive the Vermont School Library Association (VSLA) Award in 2015. It was presented to me by Rebecca Holcombe, Vermont's Secretary of Education at the Dynamic Landscapes conference.
Here is the text of what Rebecca Holcombe read:
"The VSLA Award for 2015 is being given to a dynamic person. Some words that were used to describe her are hardworking, tenacious, efficient, grounded, and kind. She is the epitome of a multi-tasker. She works as both the teacher librarian and information technology educator at her school. She has served multiple years as a VSLA board member in a few different capacities, including Conference Committee Chair and as the legislative representative. She is currently the President of the ISTE Librarians Network. She has procured grants for her school and most recently, every student at her school participated in the Hour of Code and the school was awarded a $10,000 prize from code.org. Whether she is in Washington, D.C. talking to our legislative representatives; finding amazing speakers for the Dynamic Landscapes keynote address; setting up boathouse dinners for VSLA members; organizing a Teacher Librarian News Night broadcast from her library; designing a Lego Wall; or reading a Red Clover book to a group of second graders, she does her tasks with professionalism, competence and thoughtfulness. She willingly shares information and opportunities with all of us; promotes social media to advocate for her students and her profession; and models lifelong learning. The Vermont School Library Association would like to thank Donna Sullivan-Macdonald for her service to all in her community of learners." For VSLA, I have been a representative for Legislative Concerns, reporting out to the membership any item of interest on the government level. I traveled to Washington for National Library Legislative Day and met with Vermont's Senators and Congressman.
Presently, I serve on the VSLA board as the co-rep for my region. Beginning in 2009, I have assisted in the organization of the Dynamic Landscapes conference, serving as the VSLA coordinator from 2011-2015 and then spent two years assisting the new VSLA coordinator. For Dynamic Landscapes 2018, I served on both the VSLA and VITA-Learn committees for the conference. I was the ISTE Representative for VSLA for four years. Flip Grid & BrainPOP Certified Educator - 2017Vermont Department of Libraries NewsletterOrchard School was featured in the April 2016 issue of the Vermont Department of Libraries newsletter. One school library was chosen since April is School Library Month.
FableVision Ambassador - 2016-presentI'm pleased to be the second FableVision Ambassador for Vermont. FableVision Learning's Ambassadors have one thing in common: They have a desire to develop, discover, and share creative tools for the journey.
Patterson Grant Recipient - 2015In June 2015, Orchard School Library received a grant from bestselling author James Patterson to support its school library. In addition, Scholastic Reading Club matched each dollar of Patterson’s donation with “bonus points” that Mrs. Macdonald used to acquire books and other materials for the library. Orchard School was one of 467 selected from more than 28,000 applications for funding grants. Orchard School was fortunate to be the only Vermont Patterson grant recipient.
IGNITE Educator - 2014I was named an IGNITE Educator for Vermont in 2014. IGNITE educators demonstrate innovative and transformative teaching.
Vermont Outstanding Educator - 2010I was named South Burlington's Elementary School Outstanding Educator in August 2010. Here is the statement read at the ceremony:
Donna Sullivan-Macdonald exemplifies excellence in the teaching profession. She works endlessly to promote literacy and resources for learning. She has guided our elementary school into 21st Century technology. She teaches summer courses to colleagues and is involved in state and national committees. As a colleague stated, "Donna consistently demonstrates a 'guide on the side' approach with both children and colleagues. Her amazing patience, understanding, and willingness to go above and beyond are unmatched as is her collaborative and supportive demeanor." Our library is an awesome place packed not just with books, but also with art, animals, and technology. |
nErDcampVT Committee ChairpersonIn December 2017, I organized a committee of Vermont educators to develop the very first nErDcampVT! This was held at Burlington High School on May 20, 2018. There were 26 authors involved in this very successful first venture.
WCAX sent a camera crew to nErDcampVT and here is their report: www.wcax.com/content/news/BHS-hosts-first-Nerd-Camp-483162001.html Here's what the Children's Literacy Foundation had to say about the day: clifonline.org/nerdcampvt/. It was a fabulous event that was repeated in April 2019. Commendation from AASL for nErDcampVT
Libraries Ready to Code Grant - 2018Orchard School Library received $500 from the American Library Association (ALA) to help plan and implement coding activities during Computer Science Education (CS Ed) Week 2018 (December 3-9) and beyond. Orchard’s library was one of 250 school and public libraries around the country to receive this microfunding from Libraries Ready to Code, an initiative of the American Library Association sponsored by Google.
Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant Recipient - 2018In January 2018, Lowe's awarded Orchard School's library a $2675.00 grant to fund a "Makerspace Makeover." My application was based on the goal of improving the library's physical space. Fabulous new benches were purchased and the library classroom received gorgeous new carpet tiles.
School Library Month Spotlight Librarian 2018ISTE Librarians NetworkI served on the Leadership Team of the International Society for Technology in Education's Librarians Network from 2013-2017. As president of the 2000+ members, I spoke at the ISTE15 conference breakfast in Philadelphia (shown below).
After three years as president-elect, president, and past president, I served on the Communications Committee for the ISTE Librarians Network Leadership team.
In San Antonio, at ISTE17, I participated in a panel discussion on Future Ready Librarians. I left the Leadership Team in June, 2017 to focus on my new role as president of the Vermont School Library Association. School Library Journal Leadership Summit 2017I was honored to have been asked to be on a four person team to organize and facilitate a Town Hall-type discussion in Nashville, TN on October 7-8, 2017 for the School Library Journal Leadership Summit. Information about the summit is linked here. My bio appeared on the "Speakers" page for the event.
I was interviewed about the event by South Burlington's The Other Paper. The article appeared in the October 26, 2017 issue and may be seen here on page 15 or viewed by clicking on the button below.
Maker Challenge at ISTE 2016 in DenverI was fortunate to be chosen to participate in the first Maker Challenge. Please click the link for more information.
Common Sense Media - 2016I'm proud to have been named a Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certified Educator by teaching digital citizenship using Common Sense Education resources.
PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator - 2016In March 2016, I was named a LearningMedia Digital Innovator by PBS. The 2016 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators Program is a yearlong, free professional development program designed to foster and grow a community of highly engaged, tech-savvy K-12 educators who are effectively integrating digital media and technology to inspire learning.
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Selected Presentations and Published Articles
In October 2017, I was asked to write a guest column for NEA Today magazine's Winter edition. I was surprised to see that my piece was published online during the last week of October! Here's a link to the article.
Here's how the piece actually looked in the Winter 2018 edition of the magazine. |
Fact Finders: Librarians' Tips for Helping Kids Make Sense of Online Information
On October 3, 2017, KidsVT magazine published a piece with my comments regarding teaching digital citizenship. The online version is linked here.
Fake News? Ask a Librarian
On July 25, 2017, The Burlington Free Press interviewed me for an article about teaching digital citizenship in schools. The online version is linked here.
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The "Coding in the Library" presentation was a part of the monthly TL Virtual Cafe webinar series. In it, Jenny Lussier (who is a colleague from Connecticut) and I spoke about the importance of teaching coding in elementary school. In addition to sharing how we incorporated programming instruction in our libraries, we shared resources that could be used with students in preschool through high school. To view the webinar slides or the archive, please click here.
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Streamed live on Jan 28, 2016, Jenny Lussier, Andy Plemmons and I presented a one hour Google Hangout on Air for EdCamp Global. Our topic was "Coding with Robots." It was so interesting to have our students participate in this event that went out live to classrooms around the world. I detailed this adventure on a "Special Projects" page on this website titled, "Finch Collaboration."
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Members of the Leadership Team for the ISTE Librarians Network were asked to write pieces for School Library Journal. Here are links to some of my online articles:
VT School Librarian Previews Google Expedition App by Donna Macdonald - May 30, 2016
Classrooms Connect Virtually to Code with Finch Robots by Donna Macdonald - March 18, 2016
Connecting the World Through Books: Tips from The Global Read Aloud by Donna Macdonald - November 9, 2015
Teach More, Librarian Less, Say SLJ Leadership Summit Panelists by Donna Macdonald - October 1, 2015
Resources from Mobile MegaShare | ISTE 2015 by Donna Macdonald - June 30, 2015
"How I Organized My School's Hour of Code" by Donna Macdonald - December 22, 2014
VT School Librarian Previews Google Expedition App by Donna Macdonald - May 30, 2016
Classrooms Connect Virtually to Code with Finch Robots by Donna Macdonald - March 18, 2016
Connecting the World Through Books: Tips from The Global Read Aloud by Donna Macdonald - November 9, 2015
Teach More, Librarian Less, Say SLJ Leadership Summit Panelists by Donna Macdonald - October 1, 2015
Resources from Mobile MegaShare | ISTE 2015 by Donna Macdonald - June 30, 2015
"How I Organized My School's Hour of Code" by Donna Macdonald - December 22, 2014