Aoi’s Bookroom

Keynote — Anita Beaman and Amy Oberts: Reading 2.0

These two dynamic speakers arrived with a fun presentation that showed how librarians could mix technology and reading in very creative ways. These ides can be found on their Reading 2.0 wiki.  Here are just a few examples:

• Look for interactive sites that are associated with books.  The example they used was the Elephant and Piggy dance game from Mo Willems’ site.
• Create screen savers that represent books that students could read.  Instructions for how to do this appear here on the wiki.
• Put a label in the back of nonfiction books with links to more information.
• Wordle can be a new way to do a book report.
• Movie-making isnot as hard as it looks.
• Bookmark author sites on school library delicious account.

Session 5 — Change from the Radical Center — Presented by Doug Johnson

Doug opined that we can’t usually get much done when we’re polarized.  How do we bridge the gap between two extremes?  He discussed 10 ways to do this.  I’m hoping that his presentation will be uploaded to the ning.  My mind is like a sieve these days.

Session 6 — Keyboarding Issues in the Elementary — Presented by Gina Light

This was a very informative session describing what was required for keyboarding instruction, at what age, who should be instructing, etc.  I’ll be meeting with my principal in about a week and will give this information to her.

Overall Conference Impressions

I enjoyed the conference and, as expected, came away with good ideas that I can use back at school. In general it was a little depressing. The profession in Minnesota appears to have been decimated by recent budget cuts so the number attending was lower than in previous years. It probably didn’t help that it rained the entire time.  Fortunately we were able to get around through the skyway. The most uplifting part for me was seeing friends from grad school and other colleagues I’ve gotten to know. I also made a new friend in the Kahler Grand Hotel elevator. Can’t ask for much more than that.