Today I had the absolute joy (pleasure! honor!) to present a pre-conference session at my state library association's annual conference WITH the incredibly fabulous Jennifer Northrup (aka: the "candid librarian.") Jennifer and I joked, as we were setting up this afternoon, about the fact that today was actually the first time we'd ever met. Which is true. She lives in the mountains of NC and I live at the beach (I'll trade her by the way). And though we'd been collaborating for some time, we'd never met face to face before today (and only about an hour before we were slated to wow a group of about 50 librarians from all around the state, I might add). A recipe for disaster, you ask? Perhaps for lesser mortals, but we had a GREAT time - due in large part to the amazing group of librarians who piled into our session to participate, collaborate and goof around. We had fun, learned a lot and made a few mistakes (think tron girl!) but made a lot more, what I hope will be, lasting connections.
Here's our session description:
Are you ready to take your practice to the next level, but feel overwhelmed by all the web 2.0 tools and technology gadgets being thrown your way? Do you want to engage today’s digital learners in meaningful, technology rich lessons, but still need help mastering these resources yourself? If so, this session is for you! Bring your laptop and a desire to learn! Hands-on experience using the latest cool, often free and ALWAYS impactful technology resources will not only make you the envy of your colleagues but will also ignite the curiosity and enthusiasm of your 21st century learners. Take the skills you learn back to your school to increase your impact and promote your value and the importance of the media center.
Here's the incredibly good looking people I had the chance to connect with today. And here's a few of the things they asked me to post links to in this post. (Ask and you shall receive).
Librarians are Ready Flyer.
Interactive Librarians are Ready Flyer.
My library webpage.
My school's universal "permission slip."-
(6th grade/7th-8th grade)
Finally, here's the wallwisher we used for feedback. (If you were at our session, please feel free to continue contributing by adding stickies to our board!)
As we were packing up this afternoon, one librarian said to me, "this conference is the one time of year when I get to connect with other librarians... I always leave so inspired!" I know this is true of so many of us in libraryland. And while I'm thrilled to be a part of what inspires, it also makes me a little sad. So... to all those librarians out there who feel isolated throughout the year, please accept this post as an invitation to stay connected with me and your colleagues during the other 362 days of the year that AREN'T filled with concurrent sessions. Times are tough and our time/resources have never been more limited. But, we're lucky. We can count among us some incredibly talented colleagues who have mountains of knowledge to share. Don't wait until next fall to share what you've learned and what you're doing. We need each other, folks
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