Saturday, October 27, 2007
This is our last full day in the land of cowboy hats, plaid shirts, spurs, and rhinestone belts worn in earnest at 8 a.m. Our bus driver assured me that the attire is authentic. Another visitor commented about two little brothers she had seen in the hotel hallway, the 7 year old tormenting his younger brother by lassoing his feet so he couldn’t walk.
Morning entailed final preparation for our presentation. Bob and I had plenty of time to set up and rehearse. Bob noted that our competition included a repeat concurrent session presented by Joyce Valenza, in the convention conference room next to ours.
Having just completed our concurrent session, Bob and I are very pleased. We had about 40 participants, the presentation went well and the podcasts created by Clemente students were well received. School librarian participants laughed and clapped and created podcasts! The handouts that Bob and I produced to enable participants to create their own podcasts are available to you, too, at
http://www.eshow2000.com/aasl/handouts.cfm
I am in the General Closing Session featuring Omar Wasow, co-founder of BlackPanet.com and an on-air technology analyst. He is funny, articulate, and loves libraries. He describes himself as a nerd and is a third year Ph.D. student at Harvard who says he owes his interest in technology to a childhood playing Donkey Kong. His is very comfortable talking to us about technology because we appreciate his journey through technological innovation and laugh at all the right spots during nerdy insider comments. He believes that school libraries offer not only information, but also transformation to its student patrons. He says that the space itself is unique in that it provides a noble space for individual reflection and group collaboration.
Tonight is the wrap-up party in the Reno National Automobile Museum. Tomorrow morning we will be in the taxi to the airport soon after 4 a.m.
See you at the ALA Mid-winter meeting in Philadelphia in January 2008!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
AASL Activities
Friday, October 26, 2007
Today’s activities started at 6:45 a.m. with a breakfast in the Silver Legacy Hotel sponsored by H.W. Wilson publishing company. The breakfast was beautifully presented and delicious, despite the hour. Wilson executives introduced new products via PowerPoint. After the presentation, I connected with Ray Barber who had extended the invitation, to tell him of the need for an identified urban fiction collection. That collection would consist of easy-to-read paperbacks of interest to young adults that do not glorify drugs, sex or violence. Ray introduced me to the company president, who said that they would look into finding an expert who knows the literature, and they would create a subset search heading to make the titles searchable.
Arriving at The Reno-Sparks Convention Center, my co-presenter Bob Karl registered. He checked out the room in which we would be presenting, we reviewed our presentation strategy, went to the Exhibit Hall, and then parted company.
I went to a concurrent session entitled Authentic Uses of Technology: Web 2.0 Tools in the School Media Center. The presentation covered integration into student projects and across technologies of Flickr, sharing digital photographs; del.icio.us, sharing electronic bookmarks; blogs and wikis. Bob had a great time in the Exhibit Hall, speaking to vendors and collecting goodies (including a whole collection of comic books!).
Lunch at the hotel was again beautifully served and delicious. The ride back to the convention center in the shuttle was enlivened by a talkative bus driver. They know the territory, and have interesting stories to tell about the locale.
I attended another concurrent session in the afternoon, accumulating more ACT 48 hours. This session was presented by a PA librarian, Celeste DiCarlo Nalwasky, Ph.D., on Designing Lessons So All Students Succeed. She was animated and funny, and presented some simple yet effective lessons.
Dinner was at the Japanese restaurant at Harrah’s. The cook’s performance was breathtaking (no, the knife never slipped), the food fresh and expertly prepared.
I pedaled so much in the exercise room this evening that I hope I am still able to stand through my presentation tomorrow!
Today’s activities started at 6:45 a.m. with a breakfast in the Silver Legacy Hotel sponsored by H.W. Wilson publishing company. The breakfast was beautifully presented and delicious, despite the hour. Wilson executives introduced new products via PowerPoint. After the presentation, I connected with Ray Barber who had extended the invitation, to tell him of the need for an identified urban fiction collection. That collection would consist of easy-to-read paperbacks of interest to young adults that do not glorify drugs, sex or violence. Ray introduced me to the company president, who said that they would look into finding an expert who knows the literature, and they would create a subset search heading to make the titles searchable.
Arriving at The Reno-Sparks Convention Center, my co-presenter Bob Karl registered. He checked out the room in which we would be presenting, we reviewed our presentation strategy, went to the Exhibit Hall, and then parted company.
I went to a concurrent session entitled Authentic Uses of Technology: Web 2.0 Tools in the School Media Center. The presentation covered integration into student projects and across technologies of Flickr, sharing digital photographs; del.icio.us, sharing electronic bookmarks; blogs and wikis. Bob had a great time in the Exhibit Hall, speaking to vendors and collecting goodies (including a whole collection of comic books!).
Lunch at the hotel was again beautifully served and delicious. The ride back to the convention center in the shuttle was enlivened by a talkative bus driver. They know the territory, and have interesting stories to tell about the locale.
I attended another concurrent session in the afternoon, accumulating more ACT 48 hours. This session was presented by a PA librarian, Celeste DiCarlo Nalwasky, Ph.D., on Designing Lessons So All Students Succeed. She was animated and funny, and presented some simple yet effective lessons.
Dinner was at the Japanese restaurant at Harrah’s. The cook’s performance was breathtaking (no, the knife never slipped), the food fresh and expertly prepared.
I pedaled so much in the exercise room this evening that I hope I am still able to stand through my presentation tomorrow!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Opening of the 13th AASL National Convention
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The moon set behind the Sierra Nevadas after 6 a.m. this morning. Lovely.
There is no free wireless in any of the Reno hotels affiliated with this convention, so I took my laptop to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center to catch up on my email and blog posts. Disappointingly, a vendor had fouled the wiring, so an internet connection was not available for quite awhile. In the meantime, I attended a newbies’ luncheon hosted by ABDO publishers. The luncheon not only provided a box lunch, but also an introduction to AASL committee members. Each speaker provided a tip for first timers. A couple were memorable, such as affixing a luggage tag to your conference bag, rather than asking at the Lost and Found counter for a white and blue bag (provided to all registrants by Gareth Stevens), while another speaker told the librarians to rip the needed day’s pages out of the program book to avoid carrying extra weight. These are all good suggestions for ALA Mid-Winter, which will be held in Philadelphia in January 2008.
Next, I attended the Exploratorium. This venue highlights innovative school library programming. My tip for getting the most from future Exploratoriums is to read the booklet thoroughly. The booklets are not available ahead of time; you receive one at the door as you enter. Cruising around the tables without the benefit of first reading the booklet is not productive because the displays are frequently filled with lots of small print. Reading the Exploratorium program booklet first will allow you to pinpoint the librarians to whom you may wish to speak.
I was finally able to connect to the internet, and caught up on email and posted the blogs.
The formal Opening General Session took place in the ballroom. As stated by the AASL president, Sara Kelly Johns, the new Standards for the 21st Century Learner are being unveiled at this conference. The daily newspaper, AASL Advocate, on 10/25/2007 said “The purpose of these standards is to shape how school library media specialists teach their students and to help librarians shape student learning more broadly.” The new standards will be available online.
The guest speaker was Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. In this book, Pink explains why right-brain, creative thinking, the kind taught in school libraries by school librarians, is needed in today’s world, where routine tasks are, and will continue to be, outsourced. He quoted a gentleman from Fairfax, VA, whose name escaped me, who said, “We need to prepare children for their future, not our past.” Mr. Pink spoke with “brevity, levity and repetition.”
The Exhibit Hall opened following. I picked up books, pens, and more advertising bags than I can use at one time.
Exhausted and over-loaded, we all lined up to catch the shuttle bus that returned us back to the hotel.
It was made known in the AASL community that J. Linda Williams, a school librarian, is running for the position of ALA president. It is imperative that every Philadelphia school librarian who is a member of ALA marks the ballot for Linda and mails it in. If all 9,500 members of AASL do that, she will win the election to become president of ALA.
The moon set behind the Sierra Nevadas after 6 a.m. this morning. Lovely.
There is no free wireless in any of the Reno hotels affiliated with this convention, so I took my laptop to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center to catch up on my email and blog posts. Disappointingly, a vendor had fouled the wiring, so an internet connection was not available for quite awhile. In the meantime, I attended a newbies’ luncheon hosted by ABDO publishers. The luncheon not only provided a box lunch, but also an introduction to AASL committee members. Each speaker provided a tip for first timers. A couple were memorable, such as affixing a luggage tag to your conference bag, rather than asking at the Lost and Found counter for a white and blue bag (provided to all registrants by Gareth Stevens), while another speaker told the librarians to rip the needed day’s pages out of the program book to avoid carrying extra weight. These are all good suggestions for ALA Mid-Winter, which will be held in Philadelphia in January 2008.
Next, I attended the Exploratorium. This venue highlights innovative school library programming. My tip for getting the most from future Exploratoriums is to read the booklet thoroughly. The booklets are not available ahead of time; you receive one at the door as you enter. Cruising around the tables without the benefit of first reading the booklet is not productive because the displays are frequently filled with lots of small print. Reading the Exploratorium program booklet first will allow you to pinpoint the librarians to whom you may wish to speak.
I was finally able to connect to the internet, and caught up on email and posted the blogs.
The formal Opening General Session took place in the ballroom. As stated by the AASL president, Sara Kelly Johns, the new Standards for the 21st Century Learner are being unveiled at this conference. The daily newspaper, AASL Advocate, on 10/25/2007 said “The purpose of these standards is to shape how school library media specialists teach their students and to help librarians shape student learning more broadly.” The new standards will be available online.
The guest speaker was Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. In this book, Pink explains why right-brain, creative thinking, the kind taught in school libraries by school librarians, is needed in today’s world, where routine tasks are, and will continue to be, outsourced. He quoted a gentleman from Fairfax, VA, whose name escaped me, who said, “We need to prepare children for their future, not our past.” Mr. Pink spoke with “brevity, levity and repetition.”
The Exhibit Hall opened following. I picked up books, pens, and more advertising bags than I can use at one time.
Exhausted and over-loaded, we all lined up to catch the shuttle bus that returned us back to the hotel.
It was made known in the AASL community that J. Linda Williams, a school librarian, is running for the position of ALA president. It is imperative that every Philadelphia school librarian who is a member of ALA marks the ballot for Linda and mails it in. If all 9,500 members of AASL do that, she will win the election to become president of ALA.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Library Supervisors’ Conference before AASL
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Today was the meeting of library supervisors enlisted from school districts affiliated with the Council of Great City Schools (U.S. large urban school districts). The sponsor was Cengage http://www.cengage.com/librarians/learning_librarians_school.aspx that school librarians know as the former Thomson-Gale Publishers. The Cengage representative expressed his newly named company’s interest in school libraries. Cengage in return received the heartfelt thanks of the urban library supervisors’ community.
The hosts were Dr. Ann Weeks http://www.clis.umd.edu/people/weeks/ from the University of Maryland, who originated and has developed the idea of this urban school library supervisors’ conference, and Pam Berger http://www.infosearcher.com/ nationally recognized expert and educator on educational technology. I reconnected with library supervisors from across the country who have developed remarkable school district library programs and are wrestling with common problems such as creating and maintaining school library programs that effectively support student learning, assessment of student learning in the school library, using those assessments to bolster school library programming, and providing useful information about their school libraries to school principals to better enable them to support the programs. More information about the endeavors of this group can be found at the wiki
http://greatlibs.wikispaces.com/About+Us
The fitness room was next to work off the excellent lunch to which we had been treated, followed by a walk in the fresh air. We went down to stroll on the short but scenic River Walk beside the Truckee River. Reno has created pocket parks here. The moon was full.
This was an intellectually stimulating day.
Today was the meeting of library supervisors enlisted from school districts affiliated with the Council of Great City Schools (U.S. large urban school districts). The sponsor was Cengage http://www.cengage.com/librarians/learning_librarians_school.aspx that school librarians know as the former Thomson-Gale Publishers. The Cengage representative expressed his newly named company’s interest in school libraries. Cengage in return received the heartfelt thanks of the urban library supervisors’ community.
The hosts were Dr. Ann Weeks http://www.clis.umd.edu/people/weeks/ from the University of Maryland, who originated and has developed the idea of this urban school library supervisors’ conference, and Pam Berger http://www.infosearcher.com/ nationally recognized expert and educator on educational technology. I reconnected with library supervisors from across the country who have developed remarkable school district library programs and are wrestling with common problems such as creating and maintaining school library programs that effectively support student learning, assessment of student learning in the school library, using those assessments to bolster school library programming, and providing useful information about their school libraries to school principals to better enable them to support the programs. More information about the endeavors of this group can be found at the wiki
http://greatlibs.wikispaces.com/About+Us
The fitness room was next to work off the excellent lunch to which we had been treated, followed by a walk in the fresh air. We went down to stroll on the short but scenic River Walk beside the Truckee River. Reno has created pocket parks here. The moon was full.
This was an intellectually stimulating day.
American Association of School Librarians National Conference, Reno, Nevada
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
It snowed in the Rockies this past weekend. The snowcaps were still evident as we flew over Colorado to Reno, Nevada. [I recollected John Denver.] The snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains creates the crystal clear Truckee River, which flows through downtown Reno. The American Association of School Librarians national conference is being held here this week.
Reno is a gambler’s paradise and a place devoted to separating you from your money. You can play slots in the supermarket. You never have to leave your hotel because you sleep in the rooms on the upper floors where you can view a television station devoted to people engaged in the act of gambling. You can play the machines on the bottom floors, as well as eat good food at reasonable prices in the hotel restaurants and use the restrooms, right there. Neither day nor night exists in the casinos. It is always flashing neon time. If you win money, you can spend it at the jeweler’s store in the casino. If you hit it really big, you can get married at the Antique Angel Wedding Chapel, just one of several available within walking distance of the casinos. I surmise that drug dealers can’t make a living in Reno, because the slots get the money first! The streets of downtown Reno are relatively empty in the evening. One can only guess where everyone is!
The card dealers that I saw at the Silver Legacy Casino deal the cards with great style and finesse, shooting the cards out from the pack, shuffling and stacking them neatly, flipping them over and fanning them out precisely. Card dealing here is an art, very interesting to watch.
There is a huge model of a silver mining machine in the Circus, Circus Casino area, under a domed ceiling much like a planetarium, painted to look like the sky. It is probably three or four stories tall. The machine is illuminated with colored lights, the sky lit by artificial lightening with rolling thunder. It is reminiscent of a setting for a Series of Unfortunate Events movie; I expect the Baudelaire children to appear at any moment.
The automobile license plates out here are different, as is the terrain. From a large picture window at the end of the flight gate concourse in Denver, I saw what I thought were the Rockies, so close you could almost reach out to touch them. Turns out that those were the foothills of the Rockies, 45 miles from the airport. In Pennsylvania you don’t get 45 miles of flat in any direction, ever!
From the airplane window, I saw the lines of pressure exerted on the Earth’s crust causing mountain peaks and valleys. I saw multicolored layers of ancient sediment uplifted and turned sideways so that mountains appeared striped from top to bottom, as well as striped horizontally. I saw tan desert as far as the eye could see. I wondered how the large green circles were formed, as if they were companions to the Nasca lines, until I realized that they were irrigated crop circles!
The weather is balmy. Locals are saying that September has returned. It doesn’t rain that often, so there is little need for deep curbs in the sidewalks—very welcoming to people in electric go-carts. There also are no curb cuts because the pavements are newer. Buildings are basically newer. There is little that is old.
It’s about a mile walk out to a real grocery store. Reno is located at the crook of California’s elbow, so that it is further west than Los Angeles. That translates into very fresh California produce at the supermarket. We selected fruit, including strawberries, a California brand that is available in Philadelphia. I noted that the strawberries here were smaller. However, when bitten into, they were the sweetest strawberries I had ever eaten! The really big ones must be packed for the East coast because they will travel with less damage due to their size. They are tasteless, as well. I also picked out a citrus fruit that I have not seen in Philadelphia called a pummelo. It is described as being sweeter than a red grapefruit. What I can tell you is that it is the size of a small basketball. Incredible!
We are in a tower hotel room. Initially, the idea of escaping safely in time of fire crossed my mind. However, I realize now why so many rooms are in towers. Reno sits in a geologic basin surrounded by mountains in the Sierra Nevada range. From our hotel window we see a panorama of the Sierra Nevadas, in the evening the landscape illuminated with the lights of the city.
I inquired about the quality of the schools. The resident grimaced. Apparently the Reno revenue goes to the state and not that much comes back for the school system.
Reno also is taking a hit due to Indian casinos nearby.
More to come…
It snowed in the Rockies this past weekend. The snowcaps were still evident as we flew over Colorado to Reno, Nevada. [I recollected John Denver.] The snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains creates the crystal clear Truckee River, which flows through downtown Reno. The American Association of School Librarians national conference is being held here this week.
Reno is a gambler’s paradise and a place devoted to separating you from your money. You can play slots in the supermarket. You never have to leave your hotel because you sleep in the rooms on the upper floors where you can view a television station devoted to people engaged in the act of gambling. You can play the machines on the bottom floors, as well as eat good food at reasonable prices in the hotel restaurants and use the restrooms, right there. Neither day nor night exists in the casinos. It is always flashing neon time. If you win money, you can spend it at the jeweler’s store in the casino. If you hit it really big, you can get married at the Antique Angel Wedding Chapel, just one of several available within walking distance of the casinos. I surmise that drug dealers can’t make a living in Reno, because the slots get the money first! The streets of downtown Reno are relatively empty in the evening. One can only guess where everyone is!
The card dealers that I saw at the Silver Legacy Casino deal the cards with great style and finesse, shooting the cards out from the pack, shuffling and stacking them neatly, flipping them over and fanning them out precisely. Card dealing here is an art, very interesting to watch.
There is a huge model of a silver mining machine in the Circus, Circus Casino area, under a domed ceiling much like a planetarium, painted to look like the sky. It is probably three or four stories tall. The machine is illuminated with colored lights, the sky lit by artificial lightening with rolling thunder. It is reminiscent of a setting for a Series of Unfortunate Events movie; I expect the Baudelaire children to appear at any moment.
The automobile license plates out here are different, as is the terrain. From a large picture window at the end of the flight gate concourse in Denver, I saw what I thought were the Rockies, so close you could almost reach out to touch them. Turns out that those were the foothills of the Rockies, 45 miles from the airport. In Pennsylvania you don’t get 45 miles of flat in any direction, ever!
From the airplane window, I saw the lines of pressure exerted on the Earth’s crust causing mountain peaks and valleys. I saw multicolored layers of ancient sediment uplifted and turned sideways so that mountains appeared striped from top to bottom, as well as striped horizontally. I saw tan desert as far as the eye could see. I wondered how the large green circles were formed, as if they were companions to the Nasca lines, until I realized that they were irrigated crop circles!
The weather is balmy. Locals are saying that September has returned. It doesn’t rain that often, so there is little need for deep curbs in the sidewalks—very welcoming to people in electric go-carts. There also are no curb cuts because the pavements are newer. Buildings are basically newer. There is little that is old.
It’s about a mile walk out to a real grocery store. Reno is located at the crook of California’s elbow, so that it is further west than Los Angeles. That translates into very fresh California produce at the supermarket. We selected fruit, including strawberries, a California brand that is available in Philadelphia. I noted that the strawberries here were smaller. However, when bitten into, they were the sweetest strawberries I had ever eaten! The really big ones must be packed for the East coast because they will travel with less damage due to their size. They are tasteless, as well. I also picked out a citrus fruit that I have not seen in Philadelphia called a pummelo. It is described as being sweeter than a red grapefruit. What I can tell you is that it is the size of a small basketball. Incredible!
We are in a tower hotel room. Initially, the idea of escaping safely in time of fire crossed my mind. However, I realize now why so many rooms are in towers. Reno sits in a geologic basin surrounded by mountains in the Sierra Nevada range. From our hotel window we see a panorama of the Sierra Nevadas, in the evening the landscape illuminated with the lights of the city.
I inquired about the quality of the schools. The resident grimaced. Apparently the Reno revenue goes to the state and not that much comes back for the school system.
Reno also is taking a hit due to Indian casinos nearby.
More to come…
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