Get live feedback on your signing storytime activities!
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Group Coaching Session
Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 2:00-3:15 PM Eastern/1:00-2:15 PM Central/12:00-1:15 PM Mountain/11:00AM-12:15PM Pacific. 1 hour and 15 minutes, Online via Zoom.
Here’s your chance to get live feedback on your storytime activities using American Sign Language! In this interactive small-group session, each participant will demonstrate a story, song, rhyme or other activity they plan to use with signs in storytime, and storyteller and nationally certified ASL interpreter Kathy MacMillan will give live feedback on vocabulary choices, sign production, presentation, and introducing ASL vocabulary in context. Expand your storytime toolbox with ideas from your peers and enhance your storytime confidence!
Each session is capped at 12 participants, so register now!
Pricing:
- Individual: $40 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Group rates available for groups of 10 or more. Contact me for details.
- Optional Add-on: Individualized video feedback: $25. Submit a video (up to 10 min) demonstrating your planned signing activities for storytime and receive individualized feedback on sign choices, production, and more from Kathy MacMillan via return video within 14 days. Must be used within 6 months of purchase.
Register for Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Group Coaching Session
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Interested in a session just for your library? Find out more about booking a private webinar for your group here!
Learn Autumn Signs for Storytimes!
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Autumn Signs
Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at 2-3 PM Eastern/1-2 PM Central/12-1 PM Mountain/11 AM-12 PM Pacific. 1 hour, Online via Zoom
Add some American Sign Language to your storytime toolbox! In this interactive session, we’ll focus on basic ASL vocabulary for autumn sights and activities. Learn how to incorporate ASL into storytime songs, rhymes, and stories in a respectful and effective way. Certificate of completion available upon request with successful completion of post-test.
Pricing:
- Individual: $40 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Group rates available for groups of 10 or more. Contact presenter for details.
- Optional Add-on: Individualized video feedback: $25. Submit a video (up to 10 min) demonstrating your planned signing activities for storytime and receive individualized feedback on sign choices, production, and more from Kathy MacMillan via return video within 14 days. Must be used within 6 months of purchase.
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Register for Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Autumn Signs.
Interested in a session just for your library? Find out more about booking a private webinar for your group here!
25% off webinars when you register by August 31!
Get 25% off any of the following webinars and webinar series when you register by August 31 using coupon code EARLYBIRD! Group rates also available! Contact us for details. Click on the graphics below for more information and registration. 
Interested in a session just for your library? Find out more about booking a private webinar for your group here!
Signing with Children eCourse begins August 23! Register now!
Sign Language for Children in Storytime or in the Classroom: A Practical Guide eCourse
Asynchronous eCourse beginning Monday, August 23, 2021 (6 weeks of lessons; Participants will have a total of 12 weeks to complete course materials)
Instructor: Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S.
Cost: $250.00 (discounts available for American Library Association members and bulk registrations); Estimated Hours of Learning: 30
American Sign Language is most commonly used in storytimes for babies, but the applications can go much further. In this 6-week eCourse, expert Kathy MacMillan explores the benefits of signing with all children. In addition to learning basic American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary appropriate for use with children in library and classroom settings, you will also learn to teach stories, songs, and other activities that incorporate ASL. MacMillan provides you with a linguistic and cultural context to help make your programming more accessible.
A few of your assignments will be to create videos of yourself signing, so that you can get direct feedback from the instructor.
Reviews
“Sign Language for Children in Storytime or in the Classroom: A Practical Guide is one of the most well-organized and rewarding professional development courses I’ve taken. I really appreciated the topics covered and all the additional tips the instructor contributed to the discussion forums.”
“Your methods for teaching, quizzing, and giving feedback for assignments were more responsive than any ecourse I’ve taken so far (on this site or in grad school!)”
“Kathy MacMillan was an outstanding teacher, and I would highly recommend this class to my colleagues.”
“This course was appropriately named. It was practical and extremely informative.”
Add some signs to your storytime toolbox!
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Group Coaching Session
Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 1:30-2:45 PM Eastern/12:30-1:45 PM Central/11:30 AM-12:45 PM Mountain/10:30-11:45 AM Pacific
1 hour and 15 minutes, Online via Zoom
Here’s your chance to get live feedback on your storytime activities using American Sign Language! In this interactive small-group session, each participant will demonstrate a story, song, rhyme or other activity they plan to use with signs in storytime, and storyteller and nationally certified ASL interpreter Kathy MacMillan will give live feedback on vocabulary choices, sign production, presentation, and introducing ASL vocabulary in context. Expand your storytime toolbox with ideas from your peers and enhance your storytime confidence!
Each session is capped at 12 participants, so register now!
Pricing:
- Individual: $40 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Group rate (10 people): $300 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Optional Add-on: Individualized video feedback: $25. Submit a video (up to 10 min) demonstrating more planned signing activities for storytime and receive individualized feedback on sign choices, production, and more from Kathy MacMillan via return video within 14 days. Must be used within 6 months of purchase.
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Register now for ASL for Library Staff, Level 2 – begins June 28!
American Sign Language for Library Staff: Level 2
Asynchronous eCourse beginning Monday, June 28, 2021 (6 weeks of lessons; Participants will have a total of 12 weeks to complete course materials)
Instructor: Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S.
Cost: $250.00 (discounts available for American Library Association members and bulk registrations); Estimated Hours of Learning: 30
Level up your knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) along with your library’s services to deaf and hard of hearing library users. Designed to provide more in-depth learning, practice, and feedback for those who have completed American Sign Language for Library Staff Level 1, this course will use readings, multimedia resources, online discussion boards, and hands-on assignments to introduce more ASL vocabulary, grammar, and culture topics relevant to the library setting. Instructor Kathy MacMillan is a librarian and ASL interpreter and will provide individualized feedback via a video project customized to your learning goals. You will also have the opportunity to participate in two live online class sessions to interact with the instructor and peers. The live sessions will be recorded for those who do not attend.
This 6-week, asynchronous online course will introduce more American Sign Language vocabulary and grammar appropriate for use in a library setting and place that information within a linguistic and cultural context to aid participants in improving library services to patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Each week will focus on a different aspect of library services and will take approximately 5 hours to complete.
Please note that ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions eCourses on learning American Sign Language focus on library-specific vocabulary and Deaf Culture topics. Even if you have taken a conversational ASL course elsewhere, we recommend that you begin with American Sign Language for Library Staff Level 1 (called Basic American Sign Language for Library Staff in past iterations), as it covers library-specific vocabulary not usually taught in community ASL courses.
Also open for registration:
Sign Language for Children in Storytime or in the Classroom: A Practical Guide eCourse
Asynchronous eCourse beginning Monday, August 23, 2021 (6 weeks of lessons; Participants will have a total of 12 weeks to complete course materials)
Instructor: Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S.
Cost: $250.00 (discounts available for American Library Association members and bulk registrations); Estimated Hours of Learning: 30
American Sign Language is most commonly used in storytimes for babies, but the applications can go much further. In this 6-week eCourse, expert Kathy MacMillan explores the benefits of signing with all children. In addition to learning basic American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary appropriate for use with children in library and classroom settings, you will also learn to teach stories, songs, and other activities that incorporate ASL. MacMillan provides you with a linguistic and cultural context to help make your programming more accessible.
A few of your assignments will be to create videos of yourself signing, so that you can get direct feedback from the instructor.
Reviews
“Sign Language for Children in Storytime or in the Classroom: A Practical Guide is one of the most well-organized and rewarding professional development courses I’ve taken. I really appreciated the topics covered and all the additional tips the instructor contributed to the discussion forums.”
“Your methods for teaching, quizzing, and giving feedback for assignments were more responsive than any ecourse I’ve taken so far (on this site or in grad school!)”
“Kathy MacMillan was an outstanding teacher, and I would highly recommend this class to my colleagues.”
“This course was appropriately named. It was practical and extremely informative.”
Register now for Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Group Coaching Session
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Group Coaching Session
Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 1:30-2:45 PM Eastern/12:30-1:45 PM Central/11:30 AM-12:45 PM Mountain/10:30-11:45 AM Pacific
1 hour and 15 minutes, Online via Zoom
Here’s your chance to get live feedback on your storytime activities using American Sign Language! In this interactive small-group session, each participant will demonstrate a story, song, rhyme or other activity they plan to use with signs in storytime, and storyteller and nationally certified ASL interpreter Kathy MacMillan will give live feedback on vocabulary choices, sign production, presentation, and introducing ASL vocabulary in context. Expand your storytime toolbox with ideas from your peers and enhance your storytime confidence!
Each session is capped at 12 participants, so register now!
Pricing:
- Individual: $40 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Group rate (10 people): $300 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Optional Add-on: Individualized video feedback: $25. Submit a video (up to 10 min) demonstrating more planned signing activities for storytime and receive individualized feedback on sign choices, production, and more from Kathy MacMillan via return video within 14 days. Must be used within 6 months of purchase.
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Jump into summer reading with ASL!
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Summer Reading Special
1 hour webinar, recorded.
Learn basic American Sign Language vocabulary for summer and animals and how to use it in storytime! This session teaches themed vocabulary while demonstrating storytime activities and best practices for signing with young children. Includes storytime demo and language and culture notes to help you present American Sign Language to hearing audiences in context. Purchase includes access to the webinar for 30 days, plus access to webinar resource page. Certificate of completion available upon request with successful completion of post-test.
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Register Now for Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Summer Reading Special
Little Hands Signing Professional Development: Summer Reading Special
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 2 PM Eastern. 1 hour, Online via Zoom.
Add some American Sign Language to your summer reading toolbox! In this interactive session, we’ll focus on basic ASL vocabulary for summer and animals, to go with the Collaborative Summer Library program theme of Tails and Tales. Learn how to incorporate ASL into storytime songs, rhymes, and stories in a respectful and effective way. Certificate of completion available upon request with successful completion of post-test.
Pricing:
- Individual: $40 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Group rate (10 people): $300 (includes live webinar and recording access for 30 days after the live event)
- Optional Add-on: Individualized video feedback: $25. Submit a video (up to 10 min) demonstrating your planned signing activities for storytime and receive individualized feedback on sign choices, production, and more from Kathy MacMillan via return video within 14 days. Must be used within 6 months of purchase.
About the Instructor:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators.
Intermediate ASL Practice for Library Staff Starts May 11! Register now!
Hands Up! Live ASL Practice for Library Staff (Intermediate)
Practice and gain confidence in your American Sign Language skills for library settings in this interactive series.
Tuesdays, May 11-June 15 from 10-11 AM Eastern/9-10 AM Central/8-9 AM Mountain/7-8 AM Pacific. Online sessions via Zoom (6 weeks, 1 hour per week). Recording access will be available to those who cannot attend the sessions live.
This series is appropriate for those who have taken previous Hands Up! sessions, ASL for Library Staff eCourses through the American Library Association, or anyone who already knows some library vocabulary in ASL and wishes to polish their skills.
Pricing:
- Individual: $240 (includes live webinar and recording access for the for the 6-week series)
- Group rate (10 people): $2000 (includes live webinar and recording access for the for the 6-week series)
About the Instructor: Kathy MacMillan (she/her) is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, instructor, consultant, writer and signing storyteller. Kathy is the author of the Little Hands Signing board book series (Familius Press) and Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press), as well as many other books for children, teens, and adults. She has worked in public libraries for over twenty years, and was the Library/Media Specialist at the Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia Campus from 2001 to 2005. Kathy presents American Sign Language programs for families and workshops for library staff and educators. She also serves on the board of Deaf Camps, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides camps for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and children learning American Sign Language. She lives in Baltimore, MD.
Next session of Beginners series starts June 30!
Hands Up! Live ASL Practice for Library Staff (Beginner)
Learn and practice American Sign Language for library settings in this interactive series.
Wednesdays, June 30-July 21 from 1-2:30 PM Eastern/12-1:30 PM Central/11-12:30 PM Mountain/10-11:30 AM Pacific. Online sessions via Zoom (4 weeks, 1.5 hours per week). Recording access will be available to those who cannot attend the sessions live.
