On October 27-29, I had the unique opportunity to attend the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) National Convention in Minneapolis. This was an amazing conference, filled with people whose main goal is to instill a love of reading in others. Thursday night I attended the keynote address by Nicholas Carr. He is the author of the book The Shallows. His talk, "The Mind in the Net" had the premise that our mind behaves differently because we are now trained to multi-task. He believes that when we emphasis one way of thinking, we de-emphasis another. The Internet gives us an "information rich, interruption-rich" environment which encourages quick shifts in focus. This change actually discourages sustained attention.
I was fortunate to attend six concurrent sessions with a variety of topics. "Book Clubbing without Boundaries" gave me ideas and insights into conducting Book Clubs as an after-school program. Information was shared regarding how to choose the novel, advertise the event, type of groups (groups for at-risk students, grade level, etc.), and "Skyping" with authors after a novel has been read.
"Recommending Reading: Letting Technology Lend a Hand" gave a wealth of information pertaining to websites that suggest books to read based on patron's interest and books that they have enjoyed in the past. I aslo attended a session called "Kids Tell It Write", which was pesented by Sue Black, who is a storyteller who uses her skills to encourage students to write. This session allowed participants to practice her techniques in activities that can easily be used in the classroom. "Plagiarism and All That Comes with It " gave case studies of celebrities who were take to court over copyright infringements, as a way to share copyright, plagiarism and fair use information. Another session was "Turning the Page from the Past: Purposeful Programming for Your Patrons". This session gave fabulous ideas for after-school programming such as : "Teen Read" weeks, poetry slams, movie nights and many more. Excellent information was given regarding time management, fund raising and grant writing, and how to get teachers and staff on your side. My favorite session was "Knock 'em Dead: Using Book Trailers to Get Students Reading and Researching". This session gave websites and software options to create (and have students create) book trailers. I have already created a book trailer to use with my classes during book checkout weeks because of this session!
This conference was, perhaps, the best one I have ever attended, simply because the whole focus was the promotion of reading. The ideas and suggestions that I gathered will certainly be put to use.
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