OLA Super Conference Think It Do It-Putting into Action great ideas @onlibaryassoc @oslacouncil

I love attending the OLA SuperConference

each year because I always come back with practical ideas and examples of how I might implement new ideas and improve my practice. This year was no exception.

I connected with a variety individuals - teacher-librarians, school administrators, researchers, authors, book sellers, publishers -and I gained valuable ideas and insight into making school libraries better places to learn.  

Here are some great things I learned this year:

1."The best Bloggers are also the best writers."
Chris Kennedy@chrkennedy explained that when students, teachers and principals blog, it's the best writers who have the most followers.  Great bloggers write often, consider word choice and since they are online their followers are based on the quality of their writing not just popularity.  This gave me an authentic reason to promote the use of blogging to a Grade 4 classroom teacher this week. 

2. The school library is the perfect place for a makerspace.
I got to hear how two public libraries have transformed their libraries into makerspaces.  I love the idea of a maker in residence idea.  I think I can have this happen at the school level. The teacher-librarian can support teachers and students in learning using the growth mindset concept and help students to "think it and do it."  There is a lot of excitement around makerspaces and it ties into STEAM goals.  I have high school and elementary schools who are creating maker spaces and the entire school community is excited and engaged!  I even managed to connect with +kidscanpresscanada and we are now running some field tests around a great maker idea!

3. Genius Hour 
Wow what a great presentation by @sherri_stokes.  She had practical ways to run Genius Hour in a school library and she was also a fantastic resource for French Immersion schools as she has her resources in English and French!  Her great ideas are being used in one of our schools and I will be sharing our successes soon!

4. Treasure Mountain-Research in School Libraries
I enjoyed being part of the panel for this session where we shared what is happening in school libraries around Ontario.  It was exciting to connect to the "Thinkers and Doers" from around the province like @AnitaBK, @kitchenerd, @infosmarts and @Bigideasinedu.  I have already connected with two of the presenters to improve my thinking and to develop new ways to support school libraries in my district.

5. OSLA Awards
Once again I always love to hear the inspiring speeches from the Teacher-Librarian, and the Administrator of the Year and it was GREAT that the Honourable Liz Sandals attended again this year. This is a great way to highlight our successes and keep school libraries in the minds of the Ministry of Education.

Each year I get to connect to other talented school librarians who provide inspiration and practical suggestions to  try new initiatives. The "Think It Do It" theme was exactly what I needed to hear. There were so many great reasons to attend the OLA Super Conference this year but these are just the ones that  I have put into action in the last two weeks!

Collaborative Sessions with Lead Learners -Teacher-Librarians #scdsb #bettertogether

Teacher-Librarians (TLs) are lead learners in their schools.  They are the "go to" people when curriculum changes, when new initiatives need clarification and when one's technology plans need a plan B.  Many of my fellow teacher-librarians are actively engaged with their (Personal Learning Network) PLN through our district's email list serve and on Twitter. Sometimes though, face-to-face sessions can be valuable.  I think the "lateral learning" from side conversations that arise when an engaged group meets can be just as important as the planned content.  This week those side topics were about maker-spaces, book collection, digital citizenship and other tech related topics.

I felt that I had the chance to collaborate in two different ways this week.
First,  I had the opportunity to organize and facilitate two full day professional learning sessions for teacher-librarians (TLs) with the help of three Elementary Student Success Teachers (ESSTs), and three Instructional Resource Teachers IRTs.   We co-planned and facilitated  two sessions to help teacher-librarians understand the importance of the Creating Pathways document and some of the electronic tools that are available.  Then we gave the teacher-librarians the time to play with the various software.

 The second half of the day was designed to further our collective knowledge and to determine this year's professional needs to create successful inquiry opportunities for students.
The ESSTs presentations were engaging because they demonstrated their passion for Grade 7 and 8 students as they described some of the tools teachers can use to support students.  It was also an opportunity for the teacher-librarians to meet with their ESSTs and learn more about Pathways.  It is important that teacher-librarians are kept up to date so they can assist students.
The teacher-librarians appreciated the time to network with colleagues -one mentioned he enjoyed meeting his PLN from Twitter face-to-face;)
The chance to co-plan and present with staff from Student Success and Program was one positive aspect of the sessions because it gave me an opportunity to connect and learn from other talented teachers in our district.
The other positive effect of the day that I didn't expect was the requests for more collaboration opportunities. I am now booked to help one TL develop a D2L site for her school library, another wants to learn more about Genius Hour and I can't wait to help another increase his fluency with online presentation tools.  I feel that we achieved our goals around Pathways and Inquiry at these days and I think that the positive attitudes and openness to learn encouraged others to ask for more support. It was a perfect example of a growth mindset at work.
We have three more presentations for TLs in three more areas over the next two weeks.  I will get the chance to co-present with additional  IRTs and ESSTs and I look forward to learning more with each session.
I wonder if the participating teacher-librarians realize that they help me to learn and grow when they share their successes and challenges? I will have to thank the next group!