I always enjoy going to the North Carolina School Library Media Association annual conference and manage to pick up a few ideas to try at work.
This year opened with Dr. Rebecca Constantine, who heads AccessBooks, which provides books to impoverished children in the LA area. I tried not to think about how scary the increasing poverty rate in the United States has become, even as she talked about it. I have seen it some in my work but compared to these areas of California, where the cost of living is extremely high and where schools only have libraries if the parents fund them, North Carolina seems to do pretty well regarding equitable access to resources, and the poor having a chance to pull out of poverty. She talked about what a difference books made to these children who had none, how they went from being uninterested in reading to preferring books to pizza or TV, all because they were presented with the right books and shown that reading was important.
I'm always looking for more ideas for grades K-2 so I went to a primary sources session for those grades, and learned how to have them use a picture to get ideas on how people might have lived, or even do something as simple as look for shapes. We were given information on resources from the Library of Congress, resources I was somewhat familiar with but not aware of how expansive they were.
I renewed my membership with AASL this year after a several year absence. The past president, Terri Grief, a high school librarian from Kentucky, gave us an overview on how to get more involved. One of them was to write for Knowledge Quest (I would love to, it's one of those areas in which I think, do I need more experience? More topic ideas? A doctorate?) and participating in online forums. Made me wish I could go to Columbus in a couple of weeks, which I thought it would, but...two years to save for Phoenix.
At lunch, author Deborah Wiles told her story and the story of her books, which often overlapped. I have Countdown in the library but had not read it; that will change soon. I look forward to Revolution as well, and Freedom Summer, which I also have in the library. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. The stories she told were funny, heartwarming, sometimes sad and sometimes shocking. I gasped out loud at the story of the swimming pool filled with tar after the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Towards the end she left us with this: "I write because I am tired of being invisible. Be brave enough to share your story." That is inspirational enough for me to look back on the days when I did more writing of my own. Even for people who do not do any writing, it's a good reminder to speak up and be heard.
I went into the Storytelling with a Twist session hoping to get some information on how to reach students who are reluctant to write and make them more comfortable with it. I got that through a walk through of ideas for story starters as well as a list of digital apps, which I will try or make my children try when I get home. One of the story starters ideas was to caption a photo. I've done that with Star Wars scenes for years, it's always fun.
The last session was the Top Ten Topics for School Librarians, led by three professors from the University of South Carolina. Heather Moorefield-Lang is energetic and fun and, according to her Twitter, a Doctor Who fan, which is always a plus. We got a handout of journal articles on the topics covered, and I'm one who loves looking up journal articles in EBSCO, I actually miss that from grad school, so I look forward to digging into those later this weekend. We covered apps, maker spaces (from which I learned that there is no "correct" way to do it, cyber bullying, and LGBTQ resources--I had not looked at the Stonewall Awards in awhile and it was nice to get an updated list.
A fun and very informative ride, wish I could do a few more sessions tomorrow.
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