About the Authors

Mercer Hall is a teacher at Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn, New York, with over twelve years as an educator. He is a four-time honoree as Teacher Of The Year, and he has been awarded both the Thomas J. Reid Excellence In Teaching Award and the Powers Family Teacher Recognition Award. Mercer's core disciplines are American history, language arts, media literacy, and financial literacy. He brings experience to his teaching from the fields of business consulting, marketing, and publishing. Mercer has coordinated workshops for faculty and has presented on literacies and curriculum design at national conferences, such as the National Council for the Social Studies, the Association for Middle Level Education, the International Visual Literacy Association, the New York State Computers and Technologies in Education, and NYSAIS Teaching with Technology.

Patricia A. Russac is a Library Director and history teacher at Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn, New York, with over twelve years of experience. She is TED Educator and a National Association of Independent Schools Teacher of the Future.  She has been awarded the school's Thomas J. Reid Excellence in Teaching Award. She received the Planet Orange Financial Literacy Grant from ING Direct, and the Curriculum Project Grant from the American Immigration Law Foundation. Her passion for helping learners become informationally, technologically, and media literate is evident in her continued upgrade of the school’s curriculum to meet the needs of the learner. She also brings a wealth of experience as a practicing artist and in her education as an art historian. Patricia has presented on instructional design and curriculum at the National Council for the Social Studies, the Association for Middle Level Education, the International Visual Literacy Association, the New York State Computers and Technologies in Education, and the NYSAIS Teaching with Technology conferences.

Mercer and Patricia have partnered for over a decade in designing collaborative lessons, projects, and professional development workshops.

Special Recognitions
Gutierrez, Peter. "Who's Playing Who?" School Library Journal. (February 2013): 28-30.

Gutierrez, Peter. "Media Literacy, Powerfully: A Model For School Librarian and Classroom Teacher Collaboration." Connect the Pop Blog, School Library Journal, February 1, 2013.

Gutierrez, Peter. On Libraries and New Media, "Saving Kids from Sneaky Online Marketing," The Digital Shift Blog, Library Journal/School Library Journal, February 7, 2013.


Workshops
"DLIT: Design, Literacy, Information, and Technology"
Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES, Norwich, NY
Full day workshop, January 24, 2013


Recent Presentations
New York State Council of the Social Studies - March 2013
"Maps vs Mapping: Visualizing History and Geography"
  
New York State Computers and Technology in Education (NYSCATE)
November 18-20, 2012
"10 Ways Twitter Makes Us Better Teachers"
"DLIT: Design, Literacy, Information and Technology"

Contact Us
theasideblog@gmail.com

Work With Us
If you are interested in having us conduct a workshop for your school or conference, please contact us at theasideblog@gmail.com.