Month: February 2016

This week on Informania, Deb the Librarian talks about strategies shared in the document, “Becoming a Strategic Learner,”  Topics include setting goals, motivation, overcoming anxiety, and attitude.  Other topics covered in becoming-a-strategic-learner include concentration, time management and information processing.

Additional sources shared on this Informania program include:

Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/), a source that provides overviews about different occupations, including salary range and educational requirements.

Testing and Education Reference Center, a source, available to Alaskans, that provides (from their website description):

• Over 300 practice tests and courses
• Ebooks containing valuable study material and practice tests
• Information on over 4,000 accredited schools
• Scholarship search featuring $8 billion in available scholarships
• Resume builder with over 1,000 brainstorming phrases to get you started
• Career modules covering subjects from career change to salary negotiations

To access the Testing and Education Reference Center and other subscription resources for Alaskans, check out SLED.  Searching the words Alaska SLED in Google is a quick way to find this website full of many useful resources!

On Wednesday, February 3, from 9am-10am, Informania host Deb the Librarian interviewed Casey Conner (age 16), and 907Boards co-owner (and Casey’s Mom), Lisa Conner, about Casey’s longboard business, 907Boards. Casey first developed interest in creating longboards while a middle school student at Hanshew in an afternoon wood shop program.  For seven months now, he has been running his own longboard store in Anchorage, near Dimond and Old Seward (between Papa John’s and the Pink Elephant Car Wash).  On this Informania show, Casey and Lisa discuss the steps they took to establish Casey’s business of designing and making longboards and opening a store.  They have also expanded services to include longboard lessons, field trips, and birthday parties (they have a half pipe in the back of the store!).   Casey welcomes opportunities to be a guest speaker at schools, and invites field trips to his business.

Longboarding

In addition to sharing about business development, Casey provides education about longboarding, differences between a longboard and skateboard, and talkes about the longboarding community events he organizes.  Casey welcomes opportunities to teach people of all ages how to longboard.  Safety equipment is a must!!!

Check out this article about 907Boards:  http://www.concretewavemagazine.com/page/3/

LB4C

Casey and Lisa are passionate about helping students that learn differently develop literacy.  They are advocating for this through Longboards for Change, LB4C.  They believe all people have the right to a good education, and strive to promote literacy for all.  Lisa and Casey want to bring awareness to literacy services, and help parents easily find the resources they need to help children struggling with dyslexia and other learning challenges.  Longboarding provides a healthy way to engage students and draw attention to this important cause.  Way to go, 907Boards!

You can call 907Boards at 907-242-0166, or check them out at 907Boards.com or on Facebook.  Their store on Old Seward is open 12pm-6pm, 7 days per week.

This Informania show will be replayed on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 5pm.  Listen and be informed!