Professional Travel Grants for Graduate Students
Posts tagged travel
VAHPERD 2014
10 years
My profession is lucky enough to have a state conference, VAHPERD, every year. This conference brings PE and Health professionals from far and wide to share their ideas and new stuff with anyone who wants to hear what they got to say. I’ve attended this conference once before two years ago. In 2012, I traveled with my whole undergrad group, but this year I traveled with my grad program! Although, our group was much smaller we still managed to have a blast! The conference started off with a Longwood Meet and Greet with current students and alumni of our wonderful university. I was able to see two people from my undergrad group who are out in the real world with their teaching jobs. It was great seeing them and hearing about their experiences during their first year of teaching. Later that evening, myself and two other Longwood PHETE people attended a glow in the dark night. We were given the opportunity to play all sorts of games, such as corn hole, kan jam, slam ball, and ladder ball. What made this event even better was that it was in complete darkness and everything was covered in glow sticks. This was a great and fun way to start off the conference weekend. My most memorable experience of this year’s conference was a session that I attended that was all about hula hooping. Now, you’re probably thinking hula hooping is no big deal or I could do it in my sleep. It was actually quite the opposite. The presenters were doing things with hula hoops that I have never seen before and they showed us how to make hula hooping fun for all ages! The energy during their presentation was infectious; it just made you want to get up, participate, and laugh while doing so. I’m extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to attend VAHPERD this year. I look forward to attending VAHPERD in years to come as a LONGWOOD ALUMNI!!
VAHPERD Annual State Convention
10 years
During the VAHPERD Convention I was exposed to so many new possibilities to incorporate in my future classroom. I learned new and exciting games called speedminton, tchoukball, and spikeball. These games allow all students to participate at once in a classroom with few equipment pieces. I know if i thoroughly enjoyed these three activities my students will too. In addition to learning new and exciting activities, I also was able to attend two sessions with the sports physiologist from Duke University who gave me great insight on how to coach. I plan to coach baseball on the high school level along with teaching health and physical education and from this session I learned the importance of how to become an efficient. effective, and respected coach. Lastly, during my weekend at the VAHPERD Convention, I attend a few adaptive physical education sessions that really gave me a hands on perspective of how students perform task in a classroom with certain disabilities. I highly respect all adaptive physical education teachers for what they do and really believe those two sessions will allow me to reach the needs of all students in my classroom by incorporating inclusion into my future classroom.
Joshua Barmoy
Heather Lyle VAASL Annual Conference 2014
10 years
VAASL 2014 Conference
Virginia Association of School Librarians
Roanoke, VA
November 6-8, 2014
I was excited to attend this conference and I was not disappointed in the least. The VAASL presenters were knowledgeable and gave the attendees concrete examples on what has worked for them in their libraries and what wasn’t so successful. Each presentation included great speakers and handouts and after the 45 minutes sessions were up I wanted to stay and listen to them more. The first two days were fast-paced and I feel like I have quality ideas to share with my librarians when I get back home.
One of the most beneficial aspects to my first VAASL conference attendance was being able to request a mentor. My mentor Karen was awesome! She was always willing to give me advice and answered my endless questions with a smile. An added bonus was that we live in the same town, so she was able to meet with me the week before the conference. Knowing her ahead of time made it nice to arrive here in Roanoke and see a friendly face. I would definitely encourage 1st timers to request a mentor as I did when I registered online.
Alicia LeRoux @ VAASL November 2014
10 years
by
in School Librarianship
Alicia LeRoux, left
Leslie Swenson, right/vendor for Five Ponds Press
This was my first VAASL conference and I can sum it up in one word: WOW! It was great fun going to the conference with my library cohort buddy Jenny Larson. I learned a lot in all my sessions…favorites were the ones on technology, primary sources, and makerspaces. I can only wonder when the day will come when I will be able to use all my new ideas when I am hired as a librarian. I really enjoyed the dessert buffet with David Baldacci, and yes, library friends out there reading this, he really is the brother of the family who attends my church. When visiting the vendors, I ran into a former colleague of mine and previous Longwood School Librarian graduate student, Leslie Swenson. She now works for Five Ponds Press. In the picture, you will see me to the left, Leslie to the right, the display of Five Ponds Press in the background, and my finger to the far right. I need to practice my selfie technique! A big shout out to Frances Reeve, Audrey Church, and Karla Collins for a lovely reception with introductions by Audrey (amazing!) and the gift!! Thanks to the Longwood Travel Grant for supporting my conference adventure!
VAASL Conference November 2014
10 years
Author Kimberly Johnson hands me a signed copy of her book “The Adventures of Itty Bitty Frog”
What an amazing whirlwind weekend of learning and fun! The conference offered so many break-out sessions; it was hard to choose. I learned about Makerspaces, AASL Best Websites, new release books, top ten trends for 2014, and spent time with my new favorite author/presenter Kimberly Johnson. Ms. Johnson is a firecracker! You couldn’t possibly walk out of her presentation without a smile and a new-found love of teaching. Her session included engaging movement and learning games for students, strategies to increase student vocabulary, ways to help kids turn $5 words into $1,000,000 words (insert her “Rags to Riches” song here),and fabulous poems. She reminded us to TALK THE POSITIVE! Thank you Longwood University and Virginia Association of School Librarians for this incredible learning opportunity.
A Student’s Experience at the VAASL Annual Conference
10 years
I had such a wonderful time at the VAASL Annual Conference! This was the first school librarianship conference I’ve ever attended and I am so excited to come back next year!
Although I was only able to attend for one day, I got to experience all the best that the conference had to offer. I sat in on informative concurrent sessions hosted by some of the field’s best and brightest (AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning with Heather Moorefield-Lang, Making the 2014 Elementary Connection: What’s New in Children’s Literature with Dee Griffith and Marsha Stewart, and Top Ten Topics and Trends for 2014 with Audrey Church). I spent time and made memories with my peers from the Loudoun cohort, perused the vendor hall, met up with my former library mentor Dee Griffith (here’s a picture of us from when I was in high school), laughed and ate more than my share of delicious deserts at the reception with David Baldacci, and was duly impressed by the overwhelming support for Audrey Church’s candidacy from the over 140 Longwood University alumni on Thursday night.
Most importantly, I felt validated that school librarianship is exactly what I want to do and where I belong. I truly felt like a member of not just a community of librarians all working toward the same goal, but a family. Everyone was so welcoming to a librarian student like me and I couldn’t be more grateful for helping to making this an unforgettable experience. (:
Brittany Biesecker (School Librarianship Program – Longwood University)
VAASL Annual Conference November 6 – 8, 2014
10 years
The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center in Roanoke, Virginia was a great location for the annual Virginia Association of School Librarians conference. The hotel provided the space necessary for all the wonderful sessions and participants. There were so many presentations offered that I could not attend them all. The highlights of my trip included the Keynote speakers, Stephen Krashen and Paige Jaeger, both of whom I enjoyed so much that I attended their concurrent sessions. I was pleased to listen to Neal Shusterman discuss his novels, writing and favorite authors. Paul Barron taught valuable Google search methods, and librarians and teachers shared classroom ideas – many of which I will be able to incorporate into my own curriculum. The first timers breakfast was a treat, as were all the door prizes. The VAASL Annual Conference is definitely not to be missed!
Daisy, The Reading Pig, at VAASL
10 years
As a first timer at the VAASL 2014 Annual Conference in Roanoke, I was surrounded by my two favorite things: books and people that love books! I was shocked to discover that there was even a pig, a male pig, named Daisy, who loved sharing the joy of reading with kids. Farmer Minor, Daisy’s friend, was such a pleasure to talk to and I loved meeting his Pug Puppies and Daisy. Check out all of the great things Farmer Minor does at this site: http://daisyminor.com As you can tell from the tense smile in my picture, I was a little nervous about being so close to Daisy: not only was he sticking his tongue out at me, but he also gave a very angry sounding grunt just as the picture was snapped. No worries, Daisy just didn’t feel like being hugged and was letting me know it. I learned so much at the conference. I have already gotten my 6th grade English students hooked on Neal Shusterman’s book, Unwind. I have shared great presentation sites with my PLC from the “For the Love of Technology” session that I attended. My PLC and I will be using these sites for our PBL. I really enjoyed this conference and will try to attend again next year.
Librarian Conference 2014
10 years
Wow…I learned so much at the conference! I am really glad I was able to attend. Some of my favorite sessions were The Top 25 New Websites…the bookmark is a great tool. I will be making copies to give out at my next Department Meeting. I was able to share the Makerspace information with my librarian. The Art teachers in my building also have 3-D printers…they are so excited to get the information from the Makerspace Build it Will They Come? session. I also enjoyed the Dinner on Friday evening. The keynote speaker Neil S. was very interesting. I loved hearing his story about being the kid who was always in the hallway at school…One of my favorite speakers was Kimberly Johnson…she was fabulous….so full of energy and wonderful ideas for getting students involved with learning through so many different techniques. I am taking away a wealth of knowledge that will help me now and in the future.
VAASL 2014 Annual Conference
10 years
Mary Ivory with author Neal Shusterman
I attended the VAASL Annual Conference in Roanoke, VA from November 6-8, 2014. This was my first experience at a conference for librarians; however I have attended state conferences for middle school educators in the past.
After registering, I immediately began pouring over the conference guide to select the sessions to attend. There were so many great choices and I appreciated that many were offered more than once so that I could balance out a schedule. It was difficult making some of the choices because there was so much being offered that I could see being useful in my classroom now, and to keep in mind for my future role as a librarian. The best session that I attended was Middle School Medley presented by Dawn Farrell and Alicia Garbelman from Lake Ridge Middle School in Woodbridge, VA. I can see many possibilities for using what they presented right now as a classroom teacher and in the future as a librarian. Other great sessions included: 150 Best Websites Selected by AASL, Using Twitter in Your Library, Using Pinterest As a Tool for Organization in Your Library, and The Contemporary School Story which was about using different novels with students that relate to some sort of standardized testing in schools and how the characters handle taking those tests.
The opportunity to meet authors David Baldacci, Neal Shusterman, and Kimberly P. Johnson were high on my list of things to do. I am so glad that I signed up for these special events with these talented individuals.
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to attend this conference and I am looking forward to attending again next year!