Graduate Travel
Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
VAASL 2015
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
I am very happy that I was able to attend the 2015 VAASL conference in Williamsburg VA. The keynote speakers were wonderful and both had very powerful messages about student reading and participating in the library. I was able to attend many different sessions that gave me some wonderful ideas that I cannot wait to put into practice in my library. I have been looking into creating a makerspace in the library and now have a much better idea about how to get one going and use it to help increase student learning. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to attend again next year!
VAASL
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
The VAASL Conference was wonderful. I loved meeting up with other librarians and reconnecting with former classmates. Such a wonderful network to be a part of with fabulous exchanges of ideas and inspiration. I attended information sessions about creating an atmosphere of reading, collaboration, using Twitter, teaching students to write computer code and many more! I am so grateful for this opportunity!
VAASL 2015
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
VAASL 2015 in Williamsburg was a great experience! The best part was meeting librarians from across Virginia and sharing ideas as we waited to attend sessions. The sessions were informative and left you with a feeling of excitement and hunger for more learning. Sessions I attended included book talks by local authors, sessions on creating a Makerspace and twitter account, and a session on the latest trends for 2015. I am so looking forward to VAASL 2016!
I hate Nicholas Sparks-VAASL 2015
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
I cannot stand his books! If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading one, here is how THEY ALL go…there is a tragedy, and due to the tragedy, someone falls in love. Now, you have no reason to ever have to read one his books! Sparks has written tons of books, they have all been on the New York Times Best Seller’s List, and he has sold over 100 million copies. So clearly, my feelings about his books are not the majority. People like them. They buy them. LOTS of them.
As a graduate student in School Librarianship, I have been recently struggling with how to teach content in the library while not crushing the potential spirit of readers. With so much emphasis in schools on test scores and data, how do you maintain student’s excitement?
Margaret Willison was Thursday’s keynote speaker at VAASL and she is funny! And what I took away from her presentation is that people are going to read what they like. It may not be what you like or perhaps even millions of people worldwide like, but for them, there is value in what they are reading. So, instead of promoting certain books, promote the love of reading for there is certainly value in the love of reading.
We all have our things. Sparks certainly isn’t mine. But I LOVE the Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. And while the basic plot is the same in that series just like Spark’s books, I gain huge value in the pleasure of reading.
Where to find Willison:
https://twitter.com/MrsFridayNext?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
http://tinyletter.com/twobossydames
https://twitter.com/atvpodcast
http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/129472378/pop-culture-happy-hour/
VAASL 2015
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
I am finishing up the School Librarianship cohort with Prince William County. As part of the program we asked to attend the VAASL (Virginia Association of School Librarians) conference in Williamsburg, VA. I recently moved to Connecticut, but I traveled back to VA to attend the conference. It was well worth it! I went to 10 sessions and every single one was amazing! I am currently a high school librarian and I learned so much at this conference. I have so many new ideas I can’t wait to bring back to my school! My favorite session, by far, was Maggie Stiefvater’s presentation on Mythology in YA literature. My book club is currently reading The Scorpio Races. I can’t wait to show them that I met her and got a picture with her! The kids are going to be so excited! Her stories and explanation of what inspires her to write was interesting and I can’t wait to share that with the group, too. Another session that was great was one on how to promote your library program. I came away with great ideas that don’t really cost all that much. This conference was a great way to network and learn about all the wonderful things that other librarians are doing! This conference was extremely educational and I can’t wait to return next year.
VAASL Conference
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
This was my first year attending the VAASL Conference. As a current student in the School Librarianship program, I loved hearing from current librarians! I attended three session on Saturday. The sessions I attended were about beginning to create makerspaces, Web 2.0 tools, and creating a culture of reading. It was extremely exciting to see some of the ideas I have read about in classes, actually taking place in school libraries. My only regret was not being able to attend more sessions during the week. I hope next year I will be able to attend in Norfolk!
VAASL Conference 2015
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
Keynote speaker Margaret Willison and me (Julie Platt)
Conference was awesome. In three days, I attended 13 sessions, two keynote speakers, and an awards banquet. I came home exhausted and excited. It was great to see and meet all of these super people. I also met some of the people whose names I see on the listserv. I like having faces to go with the names.
I got new ideas to use immediately and new visions to add to long term goals. I want to add a newsletter to our monthly report. The monthly report goes to administration. I want to post a monthly newsletter on our library website for students, parents, and teachers.
The conference was great professional development. It is important to always keep learning and growing.
Julie Platt
The American Society of Criminology
9 years
by
in Sociology
Although attending ASC 2015 Annual Conference was not my first experience at a conference, it was by far my favorite! The mere size and attendance was overwhelmingly large but very enlightening. I loved being able to attend the many presentations and also present my current research at the second poster session! Having leading scholars stop by my poster was extremely nerve wracking, however, also very exciting! I was able to talk to many people around the United States, as well as meet a researcher from Toronto, Canada. Sharing our experiences about our current research and our future plans was so nice and we plan on meeting up at our next conference!
I think its extremely important to step out of your comfort zone and travel to such conferences because they allow for you to feel a sense of independence in a way you may not otherwise experience. Coming from a small town lifestyle and a very protective set of parents, while I was always encouraged to follow my dreams I never actually felt the independence of going away to school; this conference changed that for me. I believe conferences are a great way to create connections and build relationships with scholars in your field of interest, while also exposing you to the importance of doing research.
ASC was so much fun for me and I owe a big thanks to Dr. Connie Koski in the Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice studies department for pushing me, challenging me, and being there for me throughout my undergraduate and graduate career at Longwood! Had she never come to Longwood, I am unsure I would have ever pursued independent research that brought me to ASC!
Overall, attending this conference is something that I can take with me for the rest of my life; in experience, knowledge, and academic credentials on my resume and I am so thankful for such an opportunity!
Sneaking into VAASL Fall 2015 Conference
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
Allow me to clarify: I paid to go to the VAASL Fall Conference, but it felt like sneaking in because I’m not actually a school librarian yet-still taking my graduate classes to get me there. But it was certainly beneficial being able to attend this conference as it gave me more of an idea as to what my future Falls will look like as I’m sure I’ll be attending this conference annually. Getting the chance to start the networking within the librarian community is also a wonderful benefit from attending as I’ll have people I can turn to from day one when I become a librarian myself.
And while I’m not a librarian yet, I can obviously see how I can use much of the information I learned while at the conference once I am. Now I will admit that there were so many sessions and new ideas/info that it was a bit overwhelming at times, but reflecting back a week later, there were some things that stuck pretty well. I really liked the session on genrefying the fiction section as this is a topic I’ve been curious about the relevance of doing this in a library; but based off the statistics and advice I heard in this session, I think it is certainly worth a try. Learning how significant primary sources can be when beginning the research process from a former Library of Congress librarian imprinted the notion that it is so important to ensure our students care about the work we ask them to do so it can be their work, not ours. Another session also uses the same LOC photos idea, but these two fun, creative librarians shared a lot of wonderful ideas for integrating more hands-on, critical-thinking activities like learning stations and research products using green screen technology. Lastly, there was the idea of taking students on virtual field trips via websites with video tours of locations (like the Sistine Chapel or the human body); a great idea for those days when there’s school-wide testing or the last days of schools.
Again, I’m not a librarian-yet, but attending this VAASL Conference has really inspired me to look forward to the day when I can implement the various things I’ve learned this past week. If the future conferences are anything like this one, I look forward to my future as a librarian and as an attendant.
A big thank you to Longwood University Graduate Studies for providing a travel grant so I could learn more about the career I can’t wait to start thanks to opportunities like this and of course my absolutely wonderful professors in the School Librarianship Program (as pictured).
Librarians on the Edge in Williamsburg
9 years
by
in School Librarianship
I learned so much at the VAASL Conference in Williamsburg. I picked up a wealth of ideas, resources, and contacts to take back to my school. Some of the highlights included keynote speakers Shannon Miller and Margaret Willison, but my absolute favorite was YA author Maggie Stiefvater. As a first-year librarian, this conference was very valuable to me and I hope to return every year!