My first AASL Experience November 4, 2007
Posted by dlevitt in : AASL2007 , trackbackI arrived in Reno in the evening excited, nervous and completely alone…sort of. It’s hard to truly be alone when you are going to a conference of roundabout 4,000 people whose job is similar to yours. Even so, the nerves only lasted until Thursday morning when I got on the bus and sat next to a Florida State University MLIS student on the way to the convention center. From there, I met some truly wonderful people and saw some interesting sessions.
As an MLIS student, I haven’t yet entered the field of teacher librarianship. I decided to focus my sessions on those serving new school librarians. I didn’t get to all of them, but I did manage to get to Ruth Toor and Hilda K. Weisburg’s session Present Tense? Future Perfect! Though not directly linked, it was based upon their book New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist’s Guide to Success as well as Clair Gatrell Stephens and Patricia Franklin’s session, Library 101 (their book is titled the same as the session).
Toor and Weisberg’s session was very informative. I learned to approach the “nonpublic” professional side of things like a businessman would, such as by drafting a belief statement and forming a philosophy that reflects what you are all about. This would normally be a daunting task if it wasn’t for all the interactive help given to us by Ruth and Hilda. All in all, though, they stressed the little things. I find that is important because, as a new school librarian, I think I’d find myself worrying more about my lessons and my collection more than things like being sure to smile or learning names.
Library 101 handled more of the major functions of school librarianship, especially revolving around collection development. In that session, I learned that collection development is a school wide project, not just a librarian undertakes on Tidalwave.
I didn’t just fixate on the “I’m new, HELP!” aspect of conference sessions, however. I did get to have some fun and some broad learning experiences. The highlight of my conference was the two sessions I attended on censorship and book challenges. Keep it Real featured three authors: Lois Duncan, Carolyn Mackler, and Chris Crutcher. This was the best session I attended. I had a lot of fun and I got to talk at length with Chris Crutcher, a man I admire to no end. Someday, I will bring him in to talk at my school library, if I choose a middle or high school librarianship.
The final session I attended was one on the new standards. This has particular impact on my education because I am currently wading through Information Power. It was somewhat disconcerting to go through and internalize those standards only to come to the session and learn “Information Power no longer exists.” I think it would be much different if I were already in the field. Despite this, I think I am coming into the field as a new wave of 21st Century librarians revved up and anxious to make an impact on the lifelong learners of tomorrow.
I would also like to add that volunteering was something I also undertook at the conference and it is something I’d recommend to anyone who is considering going to the next AASL convention in Charlotte. I had a great time doing it and it helped me meet even more people.
By Daniel Levitt
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?