Thanks to Prairieland’s visionary scholarship program, I was able to attend the Fall ITEM conference in Alexandria, MN on October 26. It had been several years since I had the opportunity to attend and it was important to network with other school library staff across MN. Over breakfast, I spoke with the head of Minneapolis Public School’s library media program about staffing specific to secondary needs. The morning keynote was by Dr. Charlie Miller, designer and cofounder of Flipgrid, a powerful platform for social and emotional learning. Never underestimate the power of community. There were so many attractive breakout sessions, I had difficulty choosing. The first session was lead by a school library and public library duo “Under the Radar: The “Other” Youth Book Awards Worth Watching”. The most notable aspect of this session was the incredibly well linked Google Slides presentation. I have already taken time to research each award presented and which titles are available in my libraries. This presentation would be worth sharing across the country. Next, I attended a session on MackinVIA, an open platform for research and econtent. I have already taken steps to explore using this to support the new literacy curriculum for grades 3-5. My third breakout session was a report of “Student Voice and Choice in Middle School Libraries”, reflecting the results of St. Paul Public Schools’ grant. Middle School students who completed three reviews in Destiny Quest got to select a book for their library and be the first to borrow it. Perhaps the most valuable resource from this session was the 19 page list of student selected books. Over lunch, there were two panels where local authors answered the question, “If you were a crayon from the crayon box, what color would you be?” The responses were insightful, humorous and creative. In the afternoon I attended two additional breakout sessions: “American Indian Literature Resources for Educators” presenting a bibliography tied to the K-12 standards. Hearing from Dr. Jane Harstad, director of the Office of Indian Education was meaningful. The final session was presented by Maria Burnham who was a high school librarian last year “Putting the Fun Back in PD”, but this year has returned to an English classroom this year. The level of planning for applicable and fun professional development is commendable. Overall, it was a well-spent day, learning, networking and reflecting upon how to continue to make the library relevant, supportive and top-notch.
