Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
Posts tagged graduate
Charting the Course: VAASL 2016
8 years
I charted my course to Norfolk, where the 2016 annual conference of the Virginia Association of School Librarians was held. As a student, I was delighted to start off with the session, “New to You! Lesson Ideas”, which was chock full of lesson ideas to use in an elementary school. Both new and classic books were discussed with innovative ideas to use them in the library classroom. Dr. Rob Furman followed up with an inspirational keynote presentation that proposed “Principles for Facilitating a Reading Culture” that included suggestions on technology tools, such as Plotagon and Kindoma. I was fortunate to be able to attend Dee Griffith and Marsha Stewart’s, “What’s New in Children’s Literature” session. I attended their 2015 session, and was so excited to see that they were doing it again this year with 2016 published books. Being able to see the books in person, to examine the readability, and find out their connections to SOLs will be useful for years to come. The next stops on my voyage were to learning about strategies for supporting English learners in the library classroom and finding the treasures in AASL’s Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. Day one of my journey ended with a gathering of Longwood students and Alumni where we paid tribute to our Professor, Frances Reeve. It was an unforgettable day. Day two started off with “Managing the K-1 Library Period”, where I found out cutting-edge techniques of incorporating centers to ease the check-out process while keeping students engaged in learning. I traveled on to the Junior Library Guild presentation on new releases, followed by a presentation by my amazing cohort classmates who taught us how to promote reading with the use of book trailers. The last stop on my session route was the “Addictive Magic of Book Series” where I learned the benefits of series for our students. This expedition was definitely rejuvenating, and I am already looking forward to 2017 in Chantilly (my home turf!). – Marci Hoyt
VAASL 2016 Takeaways
8 years
I was very excited to attend my first VAASL in Norfolk as a Grad student. There were so many choices for each session that it was often hard to decide which to attend! I attended 3 different Genrification sessions, since this is going to be something my high school is about to embark on and I will be a part of that for my clinical hours. I learned A LOT about this process, and my hesitations and concerns about doing this were dissolved. I’m excited to share the ideas and resources with my two librarians this week! I also attended a couple of sessions on research. The picture below (I’m in the center of the picture) is from a session titled, “Inquiry: Rubrics, Research, Reflection” which had several great tips, ideas, and lessons. I’ll be sharing these ideas with the English and Social Studies departments immediately, since these two departments often have students working on projects and conducting research. By attending this conference, I was able to network and meet other people who are doing terrific things in their schools and have their contact information for future questions/contact. I also came away with many, many resources that I’ll be able to share with my colleagues to help their students, especially with research skills. My biggest takeaway though was from the three Genrification sessions, and the change of perception I had on this prior to the conference. I’m excited to start this process in our library and I have three excellent people to tap into if/when we have questions.
VAASL Conference 2016
8 years
I just returned from the VAASL conference, Libraries: Charting the Course, in Norfolk, Virginia. This is the first time I attended a conference for librarians and I have to say I wish I could’ve stayed there longer! Due to a conflict, I was only able to attend one day of the conference, but I already know I am planning to attend the entire conference next year. I learned a lot about planning for the future in school libraries, new books in children’s literature, how to use Virginia Reader’s Choice books for instruction, and how to turn your traditional library into a learning commons. I am also really excited to talk with other students that attended the conference to share what I’ve learned and hear about what they learned!
Virginia School Counselors Conference
8 years
On October 12th I had the opportunity to present alongside Dana Kieran, Associate Director for Disability Resources and Dr. Lauren Wynn Assistant Professor for Counselor Education at the Virginia School Counselor’s Conference. It was a great experience to present as it was a goal of mine prior to graduating from my program.
Our presentation focused on how school counselors and disability service providers can collaborate to assist students with their transition to the post secondary environment. For our presentation we started out with an activity that helped individuals think of barriers to the postsecondary environment that might exist for students with disabilities. We then began to talk about the challenges that students face in their new academic environment along with the changes to various relationships that they might have had previously.
The main portion of our presentation that really created conversation amongst the counseling professionals in the room was an explanation of the differences between the secondary and postsecondary environments when accommodating students with disabilities. And then we ended with a conversation about what it means for students to be college ready. This presentation proved to be a great learning experience for me and my colleagues. I believe that we began a very substantive conversation about how we can better prepare students for a postsecondary transition. Also professionally it was great to network with various folks in the field. I was able to receive a few invitations to do some follow-up presentations for various school systems and non-profit groups.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to use what I have been learning in the classroom and combine it with the work that I’m currently doing in my role with Disability Resources. Thanks Graduate Studies for the opportunity.
VAASL 2016
8 years
I had the great opportunity to attend the VAASL Conference in Norfolk, VA. This was the second opportunity for me to attend this conference. Again, it was a wonderful conference, and I cannot wait to attend again next year. It was very exciting to learn so many new things that I would be able to use in my classroom, as well as ideas for when I become a librarian. This year, just like last year, I came away feeling refreshed, energized and excited about teaching and becoming a librarian. I was able to attend Thursday, Friday and Saturday concurrent sessions, but my favorite day by far was Friday!
I attended, But they’re scary! Tech tools to over math and science teachers, using picture books in 6-8, charting the course with topics and trend and of course the keynote speaker, John Schu. The concurrent sessions gave me some great ideas to use for my current classroom as well as share with my teachers in the building. I am already planning on sharing the great tech tools in the math and science department meetings. Listening to Audrey Church’s top ten, was just amazing. I attended last year as well, and this year was just as good or better then last.
John Schu, was so inspirational to me as teacher, book lover and future librarian. As I look into the future to becoming a librarian, I plan to keep the quote “What do you want your library students to remember about your library 10 years from now?” and “Not to get the books back, but the readers back.” He is a person/librarian/lover of books, that we all can hope to become and be able to share with students. He gave some great book talks and ways to promote reading and libraries for every student.
Again, I was not disappointed by this conference and look forward to many more!
Virginia Association of School Librarians Conference
8 years
Michelle Yalavarthi
I had the opportunity to attend my first state conference for school librarians in Norfolk, Virginia. I was able to apply what I learned through my Longwood grad classes to the conference sessions. I was able to learn the best educational apps to use in education and share that knowledge with the other teachers at my school. I also learned about how to use student helpers most effectively in the school library. The information that was shared with me at the conference will impact how I manage my school library and teach students and staff how to use the latest technology. The conference was an amazing way to learn from professional school librarians in Virginia. I look forward to attending the conference next year.
VAASL 2016
8 years
I was so thrilled to attend my first VAASL Conference in Norfolk. I attended the Thursday and Friday sessions. There were so many options or sessions to choose from. I enjoyed meeting all the new people. It was a great opportunity to network with everyone. The format of the conference was easy to follow and the sessions were informative. The length of the sessions were perfect. I appreciate being able to view the documents and presentations of the sessions I could not attend. I am not a librarian yet, but the conference gave me insight on what to expect. The atmosphere was friendly and up beat. I appreciate this as there have been other types of conferences that were dry and boring. I recommend any educator attending this annual conference. I will not miss one in the future.
Virginia School Counseling Association Conference
8 years
I had such a wonderful experience at the Virginia School Counseling Association (VSCA) Conference! The theme this year was “Creating Connections”, and I definitely made some amazing connections thanks to my amazing professor, Dr. Wynne (pictured here taking a selfie with me!). She introduced me to everyone it seemed like! I was so grateful to have her there as a guide and resource. I began the conference with a pre-conference session on working with LGBTQ+ youth by Charles Dyson. It was extremely interesting, and I learned new information, such as the prevalence of an individual being born intersex is the same as those being born with red hair. I was able to meet several school counselors and administrators at the President’s reception that night. The next day was full of many sessions ranging from classroom management to yoga guidance classroom lessons. The last day we had a lunch with keynote speaker Gayle Danley. She is a slam poet, and her poems left everyone speechless. She was so powerful with her words. This experience is one I will never forget. I am so thankful that I was able to attend, and hope to in the years to come.
NACADA ATL: Advise to Learn 2016
8 years
Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2016 annual conference brought together over 3,200 current and future higher education advisers, and is the largest academic conference in the western hemisphere! During my time at the conference I was able to attend several sessions covering a variety of topics and issues in higher education advising. I also had the privilege of presenting with Longwood’s Counselor Education Professor, Dr. Quentin Alexander, during the conference. Our presentation, “Understanding Our Privilege within the Context of an Academic Advising Relationship”, we discussed the various forms of privilege in our society, and how our privilege has impact within the context of the academic advising relationship with students. The framework for our discussion around privilege was built from the work of Peggy McIntosh and others who have researched topics of privilege and oppression. Throughout the presentation, we engaged in lively conversation with our audience on understanding privilege, recognizing our privilege as advisers, and understanding how this can impact the advising relationship. At the conference, our presentation was selected as LGBTQA commission-sponsored session, because it reflected information that is particularly representative of the sponsoring commission’s interests. I would like to thank Longwood’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies for providing a travel grant to assist with the cost of this amazing opportunity!
Virginia Social Science Association
8 years
by
in Sociology
My experience at VSSA was extremely challenging for me. This was the very first conference I have ever attended where I presented my research to an audience. I have been to a few conferences in the past and presented during the poster sessions, but standing in the front of a room full of scholars and professionals was new (and scary) for me. Going to VSSA was a great opportunity and I am so glad that I pushed through and presented my research even though I was nervous. I highly recommend VSSA as a first presentation conference for young scholars. The people were extremely friendly and you truly feel support from everyone there.