The conference sessions began today, and I needed to be at the convention center at 8:00 am. The hotel restaurant doesn't serve breakfast until 7:30 on weekends, so I made a point to look up nearby coffee shops before leaving the hotel. After walking quite a distance, it turns out the coffee shops aren't open early on weekends either. Bummer!
I took the shuttle to the Convention Center and began my busy day. My first session focused on how to teach 21st Century Skills in elementary school through college. The presenters made me think about how I teach research skills and how to make sure students are using higher level thinking skills and not just "answering the questions." My favorite idea from that session was that school librarians need to be "Super Librarians." We need to be able to teach students how to be 21st Century learners, we need to be able to integrate technology, and we need to teach students how to use libraries.
Next, I did a loop through the exhibit hall and picked up more ARCs. While I was on the exhibit floor, I chatted with Marilyn Singer, who is a lovely person. I bought a copy of Mirror Mirror, which she signed. I also met Russell Freedman and bought his WWI book for the Plummer-Motz kids.
I then left the convention center and walked to a local restaurant to attend a luncheon with Cornelia Funke sponsored by Little Brown. Cornelia was promoting her new fantasy novel which comes out in the fall. I met some great people (reviewers, librarians, publishers) and left with a free copy of the new book.
After an amazing meal, I made it back to the Convention Center in time for a session on using iMovie and Powerpoint to create booktrailers. This is a personal goal for the upcoming school year. I want to find creative ways to sell books to kids, and I don't have time in a 30 minute class to "book talk" all of the great books we have in the library. I took lots of notes, and the ideas are still swirling... I plan to bring my ideas to our reading PLT (professional learning team) in the fall.
Later that evening, I met up with Peggy (FMS librarian) at the Newseum for ALA's Scholarship Bash. ALA took over the museum for the night, desserts were served, and we drank wine and looked at exhibits. What an interesting place! FBI exhibit included the Unibomber's shack, Patty Hearst's wool jacket, and other creepy artifacts. There was an amazing Berlin Wall exhibit complete with guard tower, sections of wall, and Lenin statue. The 9/11 exhibit was so powerful and sad.
The shuttle delivered me back at the hotel, and I thought about the day. I had never attended anything remotely like this ALA Conference. When I was a classroom teacher, I went to quite a few conferences and workshops on topics like assessment, literacy, differentiating instruction and classroom management. These were usually held in dark rooms that served bland, banquet food. Sometimes we would get free pencils or little pads of paper. At the end of the day, I would leave the conference feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. My head would be filled with thoughts like, "I need to do more. This job is too huge. How will I ever find time to fit this all into the school day?"
My ALA experience is so different. Here at ALA we have vendors and publishers wining and dining us. I ate scallops and risotto with one of my favorite authors, publishers gave me free copies of books to read, and everyone is celebrating the importance of libraries. I felt like Sally Field, "You like me. You really like me!"
The job of the librarian can be demanding and stressful at times. There is so much more to the job than people on the outside realize. It's way more than just checking out books! Here at ALA, we are being told that we are important to children, to parents, to teachers, to authors and illustrators and to the whole community.
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