Perhaps you are packing your bags today or about to travel to Louisville, Kentucky, for the American Association of School Librarians Conference and Exhibition. Or perhaps you’ll be learning from the conference via #AASL19, Facebook, or other social media.
The School Library Journal Staff posted a blog article last week to spotlight Attendee’s Top Picks. It is my privilege to be involved in three of these picks as well as additional conference learning experiences that I will highlight here (in chronological order).
Thursday, November 14, 2019
On Thursday morning, the Educators of School Librarians Section (ESLS) will hold a Research Symposium from 8:30 a.m. until noon in M103 in the convention center (KICC). One of the presenters, Dr. Daniella Smith wrote about it on the Knowledge Quest blog last week: “Let’s Talk about Research.” I was invited to kick off the symposium with a review and discussion of “Researching and Educating for Leadership.” You can access the research base for the discussion and learn more about my part in the event on my presentation wiki archive.
I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a part of my day sharing an author visit with K-4 children at the Walden School in Louisville. Being with children (and teens) reminds me why this work is so important to me. Thank you to Walden for inviting me.
Thursday evening after the exhibits close, Drs. David Loertscher and Blanche Woolls are co-hosting “Symposium of the Greats: Wisdom from the Past and a Glimpse into the Future of School Libraries.” The event will be held at the Seelbach Hotel, 500 S. 4th Street, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The evening will be divided into two one-hour sessions. The first will be focused on the papers submitted for the proceedings; the second hour will focus on table top discussions on future thinking for the profession. My paper is entitled: “School Librarians as Teachers of Reading.”
Friday, November 15, 2019
From 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., we will share “Taking Our Case to Decision Makers: Effective State- and District-Level Advocacy.” Room L017-018, KICC. I will be on a panel with Kathy Lester, from Michigan, Christie Kaaland, from Washington State, and Pat Tumulty, from New Jersey. I will be sharing information about the Tucson Unified School District School Librarian Restoration Project. Deborah Levitov will be our panel moderator.
Other events on Friday include meeting with the School Library Connection Advisory Board and the AASL School Leader Collaborative, where I will represent the Teacher Librarian Division of the Arizona Library Association.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
From 10:10 – 11:10, I have the privilege of sharing: “Collaborate! To Build Influence.” Room L013, KICC. The content and activities we will discuss during the session come directly from my book Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018), which will be on sale at the ALA Store. (Thank you, ALA Editions.)
From 1:10 PM – 2:10 p.m., I have the pleasure of moderating a session for school librarian supervisors from the Lilead Project. The session is called “Collaborate, Evaluate, Advocate: Tales from the Trenches in Assessing Readiness for Change!” Room L007-008. The presenters/authors contributed articles in the January/February, 2019 issue of Knowledge Quest: “Evaluation and Assessment for Learning.” In addition to moderating, I will follow up my KQ article with a look at a Coplanning/Coteaching Checklist from my book.
Attendees and Followers
Attendees can download the conference app. The entire program book for the conference is available online.
If you are unable to join us in Louisville, please be part of the #NOTATAASL Crew. Jane Lofton wrote a blog post to help virtual attendees get the most out of their conference experience: “Unable to Come to Louisville for #AASL19– Join the #NOTATAASL Crew as a Virtual Attendee.”
Whether in person on social media, I look forward to sharing this ultimate school librarianship learning experience with you.
Truly,
Judi