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!

HOMAGO Maker Spaces levels of engagement-I'm ready for MA!

Last weekend I attended the Toronto Mini Maker Faire and was impressed with the variety of projects that were on display all under the term "maker."  

I got to see very excited kids and adults trying new things and learning how things work.  The creative buzz was everywhere!  I loved the way that the Maker Faire was organized as an interactive- give it a go kind of feel.

As I visited the various exhibits and spoke with the enthusiastic creators I recalled the term I learned at last year's OLA Super Conference thanks to +Bill Derry.  This term is used to describe your level of engagement in a maker space:

  Hanging Out. Messing Around. Geeking Out.

https://sites.google.com/a/mtlsd.net/raitano/home

I definitely saw all three levels of engagement at the Maker Faire!

 
At the beginning of this month I was firmly in the HO stage but I am now ready to try the Messing Around stage.  Participating in the ECOO Minds on Media workshop gave me the chance to develop some basic understandings and to learn the vocabulary so I could ask questions of maker enthusiasts at a local hackerspace and at the Toronto Faire. I have been co-learning with students and teachers about coding and with green screen technology and I'm convinced that learning is accelerated when such tools are integrated into lessons.

I'm still working on how I might introduce it to some colleagues and principals.  How might the makerspace concept fit in to an already very busy school library?  Would it have an arts theme, or a hacker space idea??  I saw many examples of  inexpensive and creative makerspace projects that I can now share with colleagues.
I have also got a small but enthusiastic group of colleagues who are also ready to continue learning about the makerspace movement- so the momentum is gaining!

At first I thought that HOMAGO was a linear step by step process but I realize that you can engage at any level in a makerspace and that your level of participation may vary. Some of my friends who attended the Faire jumped right into MA-messing around with their kids and next week they might be back to HO.

Today I had the opportunity to share some of my excitement for the makerspace movement with other teacher-librarians and explain why I think makerspaces is a great idea.  I love that makers are open to all ages and that the process of creating is more important than the actual product.  I think that we need to teach our students to be builders not simply consumers and the MS movement certainly does that! The continuous popularity of LEGO and Minecraft supports the desire in all of us to be creators.

Next week I have arranged a visit with the Innisfil Public Library to try 3D printing and I can't wait to see what we create when we get to Messing Around!