Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
Posts tagged travel
Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (VAHPERD) State Conference, November 7-9th 2014
10 years
Longwood wins first VAHPERD Trivia Bowl!
While taking a year off from teaching and returning to Longwood for a masters in adapted physical education, I looked forward to attending this year’s state conference. VAHPERD is always on the cutting edge offering many different insights into the different aspects of physical education. By far my favorite session I attended while at VAHPERD was meeting with the Sun Wheelers, a wheelchair basketball team; not only did I learn about wheelchair basketball but I also got to play it! From sessions like “inclusion in action” to “utilizing evidence-based practices to teach motor skills to children with Autism spectrum disorder”, I was able to come away with such valuable knowledge that I can’t wait to return to my school district and share these new ideas. In addition to sitting in on sessions that have enhanced my understanding of adapted physical education, I had the chance to witness Longwood’s undergraduates win the first ever VAHPERD trivial bowl! Overall it was a great weekend and I can’t wait to return next year see what’s new in the world of physical education.
VAASL 2014 in Roanoke, VA
10 years
I enjoyed attending this year’s VAASL Fall Conference in Roanoke, VA, and experiencing the professional rejuvenation of participating in conversations with talented librarians and students from around the state, listening to inspirational presentations by master librarians and published authors, and thinking about how the information applies to my studies. Some of the highlights included:
- Learning about technology and free programs that can be implemented within the library and classroom to enhance student experience
- Dr. Church’s “Top Ten Topics and Trends” – how one person can speak so quickly and cover so many amazing topics in such a short time is beyond me. Simply incredible!
- Spending time with Longwood students and faculty!
Fun at VAASL
10 years
selfies with authors!
I had a terrific time at my first VAASL conference! We did not get to stay at the Hotel Roanoke, which was too bad since the hotel itself was absolutely beautiful. However, the hotel that I was at was a 2 minute drive to the conference. The three big highlights of my trip were:
- Listening to Neil Shusterman talk and read from his books, including a selection from his soon to be published book. He was witty and personable and seemed like he truly enjoyed speaking to us.
- The talk given my Sharon McQueen, from Old Dominion University was amazing! She spoke about picture books for older readers and introduced so many different titles to me. Her passion for the subject was evident in her excitement as she presented. Her talk was tailored down from 90 minutes to 45 minutes, but I was lucky enough to have been able to stay for a bit to chat with her about the rest of her presentation. I was very glad to have gotten a list of titles that were introduced.
- Getting to see Roanoke. I’ve never been there before and I had a blast exploring the city center with my cohort friends and my family.
I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to see different presentations. I only wish that I was able to go to more sessions. Maybe next year!
Refreshing Ideas at the VAASL Conference
10 years
Stacy Hammer and Michelle Sanders
I had the great fortune of attending the Virginia Association of School Librarians conference in Roanoke this year. Needless to say, it was a lovely place to stay for a couple of days, and the conference was certainly educational. But what I loved most were the refreshing takes on the school library and education at every session I attended. Here are just a few:
- Kendra Albright discussed graphic novels written by incarcerated teens to educate other students. “AIDS in the End Zone” was written by a group of incarcerated young men who used their own lives as inspiration to write a graphic novel that could educate student readers about HIV/AIDS. Students who read the graphic novel instead of the CDC material on HIV/AIDS retained significantly more information. This makes me think of two immediate projects for the school library: 1) Be sure to acquire graphic novels that deal with nonfiction issues across the curriculum, and promote them with the staff; and 2) Creating a graphic novel would be a great way to assess students’ ability to synthesize and connect to researched information.
- Having a mock-Caldecott award competition was a great idea provided by Elyse DeQuoy. This would be a great way to ask students to think critically about why they like a particular book or illustration, while introducing them to a wide variety of new books. As a middle school teacher, I could do the same program, but with the Newbery Award.
- Author Kimberly P. Johnson was exactly the kind of presenter that I needed during Saturday’s third session. She said that we would feel rejuvenated after her session, and she was absolutely right. Keeping us on our feet, thinking quickly, and laughing with a variety of games, she reminded us that students need this stimulation to become engaged in their learning, and that it can be applied to the library- or, in fact, any educational setting.
My time at the VAASL conference was definitely well-spent. As well as packing my days full of inspiration and excitement about being a librarian, it was great to share that with my coworkers, professors, and classmates. I look forward to using all of these fresh ideas in my classroom and practical library hours, and eventually in my own library.
VAASL 2014 Conference
10 years
Farmer Minor and his precious pets were a hit in the Exhibitor Hall of the hotel. A good cup of coffee and a doggie kiss first thing in the morning…it doesn’t get much better than that. This was my first stop on a whirlwind journey into The Heart of the School. There were so many things to see and hear I felt at times I needed another set of eyes and ears. It would be hard for me to choose just one thing as my favorite. I came away from EVERY session with new information, ideas and a passion for my job. The sessions were moving and inspiring producing laughter, tears and times of reflection. The gathering of the Longwood alumni was a special time of making new friends. Thanks to all who gave their time, effort and energy to create an atmosphere of friendship, learning and fun. Thank you Longwood for making this journey possible.
Conference Candor
10 years
From the gorgeous weather to learning at least six new digital resources, I thoroughly enjoyed the VAASL conference in Roanoke!
My attendance at the conference had many high points. My favorite session was Project CPR: Bringing Life into Your School. Presenter Catherine Rolfe walked us through how to have the students create Vokis, Wordles/Tagxedo word clouds, Animoto videos, and image editing tools such as Tuxpi. The latter was something that I had not even heard of before. The presenter also shared her own examples of products that she herself made with these websites. I know that our English teachers will find all of these resources useful once I share what I learned with them in my brief visits to their planning meetings.
I also attended a session entitled “Interesting Literature Lessons at the Heart of Technology.” The presenters provided some great examples of how librarians can incorporate technology into lessons focused on fiction works that are taught in middle school, such as Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Our school is considering using this book next year for One School, One Book initiative, and I know our students will benefit from the project examples and templates they shared. I loved learning about how to use QR codes to create digital scavenger hunts where students use iPads to scan and answer questions!
From the gorgeous venue to the lovely, fall drive, the entire experience was wonderful! I have to say, my favorite moment, though, was listening to Dr. Church’s speech and seeing her grin in surprise when everyone raised their pink “Team Audrey” signs!! I have so enjoyed taking her super organized, informative classes, and so it was nice to see her relish this opportunity (and to get some recognition!)
VAASL Conference
10 years
![20141106_134208[1]](http://blogs.longwood.edu/gradtravelgrants/files/2014/11/20141106_1342081-e1416165150627-168x300.jpg)
Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Virginia Association of School Librarians annual conference. It was a great learning opportunity for me as a student in the School Librarianship program.
Some of the things that I learned about were elementary library centers, creating a library that supports teachers, and how to better promote my library program. Hearing the keynote speakers was inspirational and really supported many of the things that I already knew about reading. The one point that Dr. Steven Krashen made that will stick with me for many years was the best way to close the achievement gap is to provide greater access to books.
The best part of the conference was the networking opportunities. I got to meet and make connections with librarians from across the state.
VAASL 2014
10 years
One of the best conferences was Top Ten Topics and Trends given by our own Audrey Church, Ph.D. She covered
- Augmented Reality
- Digital Curation
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Genreflectin
- Library Reports
- Makerspaces
- Professional Developmet
- Project based Learning
- Research
- Web
She talked at 90 miles per hour and gave so much information that I wish I had gone to this session twice!
VAASL Conference
10 years
Laura Robinson & Mary Ivory
I’m so happy that I got to experience the VAASL Conference. What a wonderful opportunity for librarians to share with other librarians (and librarians to be)! I attended some really great sessions. First I went to a session presented by Lynne Farrell Stover called The Contemporary School Story: A New Nemesis Appears. I heard this presenter at Longwood over the summer when she shared her lessons on Unspoken by Henry Cole so I knew I would enjoy it. She went through a few books that are now incorporating story lines with testing and data. She handed out lesson plans to go along with the titles she shared. I will be able to do some of these lessons in my own class and I’ll share them with the librarian in my school.
I also attended a session presented by Elizabeth Kyser and Rebecca Schneeberger called Virginia Readers’ Choice – Primary. These two presenters went through the newest list of Virginia Readers’ Choice books and talked about how you can use them in your classroom or library. I learned that the books on this list are not necessarily new. I saw titles that I’ve been using in my classroom for years. Uh, why did I not know that?
Dee Griffith and Marsha Stewart presented a session on Making the 2014 Elementary Connection: What’s New in Children’s Literature. This session was fast paced with book talks on a lot of new books! I feel like since I’m not using different types of technology in the library yet, I wanted to go to sessions on books. This one was perfect! Oh… the wish list of books I want to purchase!
The next session I attended was presented by the one and only Audrey Church – Top Ten Topics and Trends for 2014. I had told myself that I wasn’t going to attend sessions by our professors because they would most likely share this information in our classes at some point. But when I saw the title of this one, I knew Audrey wouldn’t be sharing this in class. This was another fast paced presentation on topics such as augmented reality, digital curation, evidence-based practice, genrefication, library reports, Makerspaces, professional development, project-based learning, and research. Wow! I plan on purchasing a few augmented reality books for my classroom. My students will love them. I also want to learn more about digital curation so I’ll be reading some of the articles Audrey gave us.
On Friday I attended NonFicton StoryTime by Gwen Lantz and Margaret Alger. The pair went through non-fiction books and talked about how they used them in the classroom. I got excited about using non-fiction and learned how to read this type of text to engage kids. The story behind Biblioburro: A True Story from Columbia by Luis Soriano was amazing. He had a library on his donkey!
I went to a session presented by Susan Morris called Reading Together: Parent/Child Book Clubs. She explained how book clubs are a great way to bring kids and parents together to enjoy good books. She went through the steps on how to start a book club and which books she chooses and why. I probably took the most out of this session because it’s something I’m going to do as soon as I get back to school.
I went to a session presented by a very animated Allyson Watkins (I wish she was my teacher/librarian when I was little) called The Math-literature Connection in the Elementary Library. Not only did we learn about good titles to use with math, but also her story about why she had to do so much math in the library was very interesting.
By this point in the day I was happily on information overload and went to relax in my room. The keynote with Stephen Krashen was uplifting, dessert with David Baldacci was very entertaining, and dinner with Neal Shusterman was moving. How lucky for me to be able to experience all this in just a few days! I am so looking forward to the next time we all get together as librarians and learn from one another. Fabulous!
Loving Libraries at VAASL
10 years
Stacy Hammer, Dorathy Winkler, Michelle Sanders
Last weekend I spent some time in lovely Roanoke at the VAASL 2014 Annual Conference at the Hotel Roanoke. Though I enjoyed the town, the shops, the hotel, and the restaurants, it was the conference that I enjoyed most of all. As a library student at Longwood, this conference was an excellent educational experience. Some highlights of the conference included:
- Destination Imagination with Kimberly Johnson- Kimberly shared activities that I was able to use in my classroom on Monday. She is full of energy and shared activities that suit the needs of students who are full of energy. I will be using her strategies now, as a classroom teacher, and in the future as a school librarian.
- AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning with Heather Moorefield-Lang – Heather is a great speaker and shared some of the best websites for teaching a learning. I can’t wait to incorporate these websites into teaching and student projects. From creating banners and infographics in canva.com to turning a quote into a masterpiece with recitethis.com, I think I’m going to be keeping myself and my students busy and entertained.
- Take 5 with Krista Hartenbach- Krista shared how she transformed the perception of the school librarian at her school with five minute presentations at every faculty meeting. By providing tips, addressing misconceptions and concerns, and sharing resources, Krista changed the way her school library was viewed and utilized. This was a beneficial session since I’ll be a new librarian at a school in the near future.
I learned so much at the conference that I can apply to life as a librarian, but what so impression was the sense of community and sharing that the conference offered. I’m excited for a future in School Librarianship.