Starting August 15th we’ll start a weekly discussion on the AASL Conference Ning.  Click on groups and join The Shallows-Book Discussion group.    We’re going to take a chapter each week which should take us almost up to the AASL Conference!   I’ll post some discussion starters in a forum, but feel free to respond and ask your own questions, too!   I’m really looking forward to the conversation!  Then, we can continue the conversation on site in Minneapolis on Friday, October 28^th!

In The Shallows, Carr asks the question: “As we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?” Carr then describes throughout the book how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind” — from the alphabet, to maps, to the printing press, the clock and the computer. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store and share information can reroute our neural pathways.  A preview of “The Shallows” is available via the AASL conference website.

Here’s the link to the official press release about our book discussion here.

For me personally, the highlight of the conference was on Tuesday.  I officially ran the first AASL Board meeting as the 2011-2012 President.  Following that was the ALA Inaugural Banquet honoring Molly Raphael at which they recognize all the division Presidents, too.  I am really excited about the year ahead.  I have no doubt it will be filled with all sorts of opportunities and challenges.  However, I also have no doubt we’ll continue to follow a course that moves forward AASL and the school library field.

At the banquet, there were several AASL Presidents from the past, present, and future.  We all got together for a group shot!

back row  (left to right)
J. Linda Williams, 2005-2006
Barbara Stripling, 1996-1997
Ken Haycock, 1997-1998
Carl A. Harvey II, 2011-2012
Nancy Everhart, 2010-2011
Susan Ballard, 2012-2013

front row (left to right)
Cassandra Barnett, 2009-2010
Ann M. Martin, 2008-2009
Sara Kelly Johns, 2007-2008
Frances Roscello, 2003-2004

Many years ago, AASL began sending both the President-Elect and the Executive Director, Julie Walker, to this training together.  The design of the workshop provides for lots of talking, discussion, and sharing between the CEO and CSO.  While Julie has attended before, she told me that each new President-Elect has a different perspective and the conversations are always rich and useful.  There are still a few more months (thank goodness!) with Nancy Everhart as the President of AASL, so I have a little while to ponder and think how the training might be useful during my term!

There were all types of associations at this conference.  The group is kept small — 100-150 — so that you really get a chance to interact with the presenters and attendees.  AASL has had Paul Meyers come and work with us during out strategic planning several times since I’ve been on the board.  His insight has help guide AASL through some pretty heavy topics and come out with a plan and course of action.  So, to have three of the Tecker group leading it was pretty amazing!

In talking with other Past-Presidents, I had been told this was one of the best professional development sessions you’ll attend as President of AASL.  I certainly would have to agree.  For someone who is learning about our organization, you’ll find that much of how the board operates, deliberates, and make decisions is based off this training.  Sometimes with associations, you can come off and on the Board so fast you don’t really get an understanding of how and why it operates the way it does.  This training really is great for the President-Elect to really see there is research and thought behind how the organization operates.

I can only share my experiences, but in the years I’ve been on the Board I’ve seen a real focus on being strategic from the AASL.  We could spend a lot of time in managing the association, but we don’t.  Instead we focus most of our time on the big issues surround the field and how we as an organization can help move it forward.

My two days in Chicago this last week were amazing.  My hope is that I can use some of what I learned to help continue to move AASL and our field forward during my year as President.  I’m still kind of thinking through a “theme” for my year, but I keep coming back to this word – engaging!

• I want us to engage the AASL membership to get active and involved!
• I want us to engage our AASL leadership to help accomplish the work of the association and move AASL and the the field forward.
• I want us to engage in our schools to become leaders within our buildings.  We all have those teacher leaders in our buildings who are respected for what they do and how they do it!  I think as school librarians we should be right there at the top of that list!

But, I know that a lot of what I learned, I can take back and use in my school.  A lot of what I learned in how to work with people, how to thinking strategically, and how to evaluate our effectiveness can work at my school and school library just as well as it will work for AASL.  Anytime I talk with someone who asks why I’m involved in the profession I can give them two quick reasons:

• I feel obligated to give back to a field that has given so much to me.
• Every committee, meeting, conversation, interaction, etc. that I have had in working in AASL, I learn something new that I can transfer back to my day to day job.

So, I can hardly wait to see what all I have to learn in the months ahead.    I’m certain that with all the opportunities to work with many of you, I will be learning a lot!

Last week I had the pleasure to head down to Louisiana and spend a few days at the Louisiana Library Association.  The Louisiana Association of School Librarians is the state affiliate to American Association of School Librarians (AASL).  LASL is a division of the Louisiana Library Association.

One of my favorite parts of being President-Elect of AASL is that I get a chance to represent the association at some of the state conferences.  Many years ago the AASL Board votes to start a rotation so that the AASL President (President-Elects and Past-Presidents) would visit the various state conferences on a consistent basis.  Earlier this year I visited Nevada and the other state on my list this year was Louisiana!  The goal of the program was to help build and reinforce the connection between our affiliates with AASL.

The reason I enjoy it so much is the people.  Over the 2 1/2 days I was there, I got a chance to meet some amazing librarians doing some amazing things.  LASL is luckily to have quite a dedicated group at the helm of their organization.  They ran a wonderful conference.  I had the honor to present a couple of sessions – Engaging the Profession and 21st Century Skills are Elementary.  It was great to share some of the things AASL is working on.  Even more exciting is that we’ll be back in LA for ALA this summer in New Orleans.

Besides the time I was sharing in front of the group, I got time to sit back in the audience and enjoy of the session they offered.  There were some wonderful session such as Skyping with an Author and What to Read Next after  Percy Jackson with some great tech connections.   You can see some of the resources on the LASL wiki!  I also had the chance to attend their awards reception and the author luncheon with Wendelin Van Draanen who is an amazing presenter.

Carl Harvey and author Wendelin Van Draanen

But, as I said before the people are what makes these conference so wonderful.  The little chats and conversations in the hallways, before and after sessions, or at the meal functions were certainly the highlight for me.  I came back for ideas I can use in my own library as well as feedback for AASL, too.  I’d also like to thank LASL for the newest addition to my tie collection.  Its wonderful!  Thank you to all the great librarians in Louisiana for a great visit!  Looking forward to being back there in June!!!

There were some amazing speakers this year.  The Fall Forum is held in years opposite of the AASL National Conference.  It is a focus two day event that dives deeper into a topic than might be possible in a concurrent session or keynote speech.  Kicking off the event, Paige Johnson from Intel gave us some glimpse of what our students are going to need to compete in the 21st Century.  Johnson is an active part of the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills, which AASL is a member organization.

Dr. Gail Dickinson lead us through Essential Questions.  There is a wiki of resources here.  We talked about essential questions that are focused on program outcomes based on the student learning.  Essential questions start with “How” and not “What” or “Why”.  After Gail’s presentation, we worked in small groups to think about essential questions both for student learning and for our field – like “How do we show the value of school libraries on students achievement?”   The next day we started with Dr. Leslie Maniotes whose presentations focused on enduring understandings.   The key ideas include knowledge that transfer, principles that apply to many situations, flexible strategies, and conceptual understandings.  The last speaker was Dr. Ross Todd.  I’ve heard Ross several times talk about evidence based practice, but I always come away learning the process and concept just a little bit better.  One of his quotes from the presentation was, “Without evidence, we are condemned to be oblivious.  With it, we have a shot at being a part of the future.”  Certainly wise words for our field as we navigate through the touch economy and changes in education in this country.

As with all conferences, my favorite part were the conversations at the table, in the hallway, at the reception party, during the breaks, and at dinner.  To me that network time is invaluable, and the format of this years Forum provided plenty of opportunity to strengthen connections and make new ones, too.  The 2012 group will be starting soon to plan the next Fall Forum.  I can’t wait to see what they plan for us!

Past AIME Presidents, Leslie Preddy, Carl Harvey, Kim Carr, and Rick Jones

After missing the 2009 ILF conference because I was sick, I was glad for the chance to catch-up with my Indiana friends this year.  The 2010 Indiana Library Federation conference was full of good times and great opportunities for learning.  The Association for Indiana Media Educators (AIME) had some big changes with this year’s conference.  Formed in 1978, AIME was a combination of the Indiana School Librarians Association and the Indiana Association for Educational Communications and Technology.  At the ILF conference this week, AIME went through another change and renamed the organization to the Association of Indiana School Library Educators (AISLE).

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from the current AASL President, Dr. Nancy Everhart, who made a swing by Indianapolis on her way to continue visiting schools all across the country as part of her Vision Tour.  Nick Bruel came to accept his Young Hoosier Book Award for Bad Kitty.  He provided a hilarious speech sharing about where the characters came from in his books. The main event at the conference, however, was the performance

Past, Present, and Future AIME Presidents, Jill Youngblood, Vicki Builta, and Lael DuBois

from A.R.T. — Authors Readers Theatre.  The troupe included Avi, Richard Peck, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Sarah Weeks.  Performing as a group, they did Readers Theatre performances selected from the books they’ve written.  It was absolutely amazing!  For me, I got a chance to meet Sarah Weeks who will be coming back to Indiana in March for our annual author visit.  Our kids are going to love her!  But, as always my favorite part of any conference are the conversations – at lunch, in

A.R.T.-Richard Peck, Pam Munoz Ryan, Avi, and Sarah Weeks

the hallway, during a break, or in the vendor hall.  The time to share, to commiserate, to celebrate, and to learn from one another is so invaluable for school librarians.  Our world can be so isolating as we’re the only one that has our job in the school.  We need that opportunity to find others like us.  It helps us grow and develop as professionals to be even better for our students and staff.  Next year the ILF conference will be going back to Ft. Wayne.  Looking forward to it already!

I’ve also come away learning just as much as if I had traveled to a convention center or hotel.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I still love to travel and attend conferences for that face to face connection.  But, webinars certainly have their place, too.

Paul from P21 sent this note last night:

“I’ve already posted a discussion thread on the Cyber Summit (http://www.weareteachers.com/community/p21-cyber-summit) with your webinar title, so please feel free to post additional ideas, questions for discussion or links there for the community—As I said, we hope the conversation continues beyond the temporal confines of the 60 minute webinar. In that discussion post, you’ll find a PDF of your slides as well as a link to the online recording of your webinar.”

The new adventure last night was that I was one of three co-presenters for the webinar.  I’d always been on the receiving end and so it was quite a switch to be on the other side of the slides.   I will have to give a great shout out to Paul with the P21 folks.  He made sure the technology worked and was pretty easy to use.  He walked us through every step of the way and his help was invaluable.  My co-presenter, Melissa Johnston who is a Doctoral Student from Florida State University and Vince Barnes (my principal).  The time went fast as did my voice (I talk REALLY fast when I’m nervous sometimes).   I think we helped provide a little clearer picture of what P21 Skills look like at the elementary school age.

Our webinar was part of the P21 Cyber Summit this week.  Each day for the last couple of weeks P21 had anywhere from two to three webinars going on.  I know I was most honored for them to invite me to be a part of this.  I’m also glad that they archived all of these webinars because I wasn’t able to attend very many.  It will be good to go back and listen to some that I missed.

• The AASL Fall Forum will be in Portland, Oregon on Nov. 5th-6th.
• AASL has created in partnership with Britannica an online planning guide and assessment tool to compliment Empowering Learners
• Nancy Everhart, current AASL President, is visiting school libraries all over the country during her presidential year.  She is documenting her visitings on her website – OutstandingSchoolLibraries.org.  She even has a theme song called Check It Out.  You can download the video, the music, the sheet music, and create your own video music.  Nancy would love for other schools to try it out and then submit those videos to her.
• AASL’s new list of the Best 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning is available on the AASL website.
• The 15^th AASL National Conference will be in Minneapolis on October 27^th-30^th, 2011.  The theme is “Turning the Page”  and the Concurrent Session program deadline is November 1st
• Lastly, and probably most important, to continue to be aware of and follow-up action with the re-authorization of the ESEA act.  We want school libraries in that legislation, so we need to make sure our representatives in Washington make it happen.  When you see postings on the AASL Forum, etc. asking you to make contact, don’t wait, don’t assume someone else will do it for you, just do it!!!

I got to spend the rest of the day enjoying the conference.  They had some great sessions about dealing with change and adversity!  I enjoyed the opportunity to go to Nevada and look forward to visiting other states over the next three years.

One of the songs in the musical in particular makes a strong connection for me.  “For Good” is near the end of the musical and the lyrics really have a message that stretch far beyond the storyline:

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

I wholeheartedly believe this to be true.  Sometimes I might not be as aware of it as I should, but truly the connections we make with others is what helps us be a better person whether it be professionally or personally.  I could rattle off pages of folks who have helped me be a better library media specialist, a better educator, and just a better person.

Comments on LM_Net this week have made me think of this song in terms of the professional connections.  Someone posted advising that people skip attending state library media conferences and focusing more on the national and international conferences.  They suggested that the state conferences are often the same old same old thing.  I’ll admit up front that I’ve planned three state conferences and many statewide workshops – so I might be slightly biased.  But, I see great value in the local state library media conferences.

Networking to me is the most important part of a state conference.  That feeling of being alone in our libraries can quickly evaporate when we meet others the next district or county over from us.  Lifelong colleagues and friends develop from these meetings, and I can’t tell you the times I’ve dropped and email or picked up the phone to ask a question when I needed a quick answer.  Sure, you can get this same opportunity from attending national conferences, but sometimes you need someone who knows the ins and outs of your own state.  Keeping in mind, too, that when looking for a new position or when positions are in jeopardy, having a network of colleagues and friends can be an important place to rely on for help and support.

Another thing is to take the time to learn who the local representatives of various vendors are in the state.  I don’t see a lot of salesman reps mostly because I just don’t have time, but I want to know who they are.  If I do need help or do need to order, I can go straight to the local source.  It sometimes can be very helpful with orders to have a local sales rep who can help iron out any problems.  I also tend to only support vendors who do exhibit at our state conferences.  It is a sign to me that they support our professional organization by coming to the conference.

I still get ideas from conference sessions at the state conference.  Often being away for a few days gets my brain moving and thinking and while I’m listening on a session I am listening, but also thinking.  I’m thinking how their ideas might work at my school.  I’m thinking how I could take a piece of what they are doing and maybe alter it or improve it to make it work in my building.  I always come back from conferences with long laundry lists of things to do because I’m excited about the potential.  It may have just been a 5 minute spark from a session that sends me off to think of something new and exciting.

Lastly but not least the last line of the “For Good” lyric quoted above is very important.

And we help them in return

Having planned countless state conferences, it can often be difficult to get folks to turn in forms to present the great things happening in their libraries.  I know in our own state there are lots of library media specialists doing fantastic things, but they often thing it isn’t that cool or no one would want to hear about it or they are too shy to talk in front of a group of their colleagues.  Time to get past that and “help our colleagues in return”.  This helps make the state conference even better when we have a wide variety of sessions and topics.

Finally for those of us that do get to the national conferences, the state conference is a great place for us to go back and share as well.  In our conversations and sessions, we can help bring back the dialogue from the national level and begin to think about it in terms of how that looks or sounds in our state.

I’m an admitted conference groupie, but I think it is because I get different things from each conference all of which are important in helping to move forward and become an even better library media specialist for my students and staff.

Brian’s presentation included seeing the original film that inspired the Caldecott Medal winning book – The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Grimes presentation was very poetic talking about colors and reading many of her amazing poems.  We also got a glimpse into the quick timeframe she had to write Barak Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope.  Unfortuantely, I didn’t get to see Sue Corbett.  I was giving a presentation on how to host an author visit, which was fun and I hope helpful for those attending.

I can’t wait to see who will be coming to Indy for the 2nd Annual Indy Youth Literature Conference in 2010!