Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
School Librarianship
VAASL Conference in Roanoke 2014
10 years
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL) conference in Roanoke. Besides spending time with my colleagues from the Loudoun cohort of Longwood University, it was wonderful to meet so many librarians from around the state. There are multitude of great things happening in Virginia libraries! My favorite session was presented by the dynamic Heather Moorfield-Lang who compiles the VAASL “best of” website and apps lists every year. She presented several websites like haikudeck.com, pearltrees.com and thinglink.com. I am looking forward to sharing this information with my school and colleagues. The speakers were dynamic and invigorating, especially Kim Johnson and Neal Shusterman. Hands down, the highlight of the weekend was hearing Dr. Audrey Church introduce each of us at the Longwood Alumni gathering. Dr. Church makes all of us feel like we are the most important student to her, but to realize that there was a great network of librarians and future librarians in her fold made me feel like I am part of something special.
~Elizabeth Madigan
VAASL 2014
10 years
I attended several sessions at Friday’s Virginia Association of School Librarians Conference. The session with the most take-aways that apply across the board was the AASL’s best websites for teaching and learning.
I photocopied the bookmark for my colleagues and encourage you to visit www.ala.org/bestlist. Current and past winners are listed there, and the links are grouped into six categories: media sharing, digital storytelling, manage & organize, social networking & communication, curriculum collaboration and content resources. Every site listed should have some level of free access for educators, although an upgrade may have a price tag. You can visit the presenter’s website at http://www.techfifteen.com/tech-15.html.
Another favorite site that is being overhauled for spring is the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Memory page. I was able to see a Beta version, and it looks user-friendly for both teachers and students. The primary documents that will be featured will also include a transcription, making some of the previous undecipherable manuscripts more accessible for all. (And if you want to help with transcribing, the LOV is crowdsourcing that on their current site,http://virginiamemory.com/ )
It was a long, stressful drive in the rain on Thursday afternoon and evening, but the ride home Saturday was gorgeous. 81 is really breathtaking this time of year, and this episode of Car Talk kept me in stitches, http://www.cartalk.com/
In the words of the parking lot attendant at the Hotel Roanoke, “Have a great day and a better tomorrow.”
VAASL conference
10 years
Margaret Schear with Daisy
I attended the VAASL for the first time this past weekend. It was a great experience networking with other librarians. I learned a lot about collection development and teaching strategies. My favorite workshop was about doing a Caldecott mock election lesson with my students. I plan to try that lesson with my students. I got lots of ideas for new books to purchase for my library at school. I am already looking forward to the conference next year.
Margaret Schear
VAASL 2014 Annual Conference: Nov. 7-8. 2014
10 years
Maura Madigan
I went to the Spring Regional, so this was second experience with a VAASL conference and once again I was really impressed. It was difficult to choose among the selection of concurrent sessions. They all looked so interesting! I was able to attend sessions on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, adding to my professional toolkit as a teacher and future librarian.
The best sessions I attended were “How Google Work,” “Standards in Action,” “Making Space for a Makerspace,” and “Makerspaces in Elementary Libraries.” I’m a proponent of problem-based learning, so I found the makerspace sessions particularly interesting. Both sessions offered concrete ways to get started and management tips. Once I become I librarian I would love to have a makerspace in my library.
The key-note speaker, Paige Jaeger, was both entertaining and informative. She discussed the challenges we face with millennial students and how to overcome these. Friday evening I attended the author banquet with Neal Shusterman. I’ve read Unwind, so hearing his inspiration for this novel was a highlight. I bought a copy of his second book and had it signed for my daughter. The conference was great professional development. It was also a way to connect with librarians from all over Virginia and to share ideas. (more…)