The personal learning of ALA July 3, 2008
Posted by maharlan in : ALS2008 , add a commentI am back from the ALA conference in Anaheim. Conferences are an interesting event as the experience is both personal – what did you learn, do – and communal – the opportunity to share, discuss, and collaborate.
This year at ALA I only attended a couple of sessions – a presentation by Judi Moriellon and Deb LaPlante about collaborating to teach reading strategies. This session was of particular interest to the elementary librarian as most of the strategies discussed were piloted with elementary school students. What I appreciated about Judi and Deb’s approach is that they were advocating moving beyond reading promotion to teaching reading. As a former middle school language arts teacher the strategies were familiar, and usable at all three levels. More information can be found at Judi’s website.
I also attended a presentation on youth involvement in legislation through teen advisory groups or youth council. Two teens, the director of Oakland Public Library and the coordinator of teen services (brand new) spoke. The teens emphasized how their participation in Oakland’s Youth Leadership Council had made them more self-confident and improved their public speaking ability which is a pretty cool thing for a library program to be able to provide, particularly the self confidence. The teens represented the library and local and state legislative events, talking to state representatives, city council and the library board.
Mostly I attended meetings, which is a great way for me to make new connections and see old friends. I met someone in the throes of her doctoral thesis, a content analysis of popular titles using adolescent development traits, which I am very interested in seeing the outcome. I put faces to the names of people who post on this blog, who I have never actually met. And I enjoyed myself . . .
There were a number of interesting events: a videoconference with teacher librarians at NECC, Newbery/Caldecott dinner, an Advocacy workshop, and other interesting presentations that I missed. I hope to hear more about people’s ALA experiences.