Loudermilk

Over the years I have attended many different professional conferences and workshops, but my day at the OELMA convention was one of the most educational, productive, inspiring, and enjoyable professional development days that I have had in a very long time. The first session I attended was //__"Yet Another 100! Top-Ten-Top Ten Great Websites"__// with Greg Byerly and Carolyn Brodie. Both presenters were full of humor, neat stories, and great ideas. Here are just a few of the websites I thought were interesting:

The Big Six- Banana Split Style ​ Life Magazine Image Archive

The AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

The second session I attended was perhaps the most inspiring one of the day. The session was called "Do You Believe in Miracles" and featured guest author Lauren Myracle. I enjoyed hearing her talk about the dangers of censorship and the importance of meeting young readers were they are at and not where we want them to be. Myracle writes YA novels that feature some controversial topics, but she still seems to value an honest and reasonable dialogue about her books. She was engaging, inspiring, and even moving in her efforts to give a voice to young readers and their struggles.

I attended three other sessions: How to Read and Write Like a Writer in the 21st Century, The Librarians Role in Creating a Meaningful Senior Research Project, and Dipping Your Toe into Web 2.0. Though all three sessions were informative and interesting, I found the session on Web 2.0 very enjoyable. Kathy Halsey and Louise Teaman did an excellent job demonstrating how valuable Web 2.0 design can be for classroom learning. They also made a strong argument for why there should be more access to web 2.0 sites for students while at school. The session gave an overall quick introduction to Web 2.0, RSS feeds, Glogster, Delicious, and even Twitter. One of my favorite sites that they mentioned was [|www.wordle.net]. I have actually already arranged for my students to use Wordle next week as a way to visualize the American Dream. The presenters did an excellent job in this session!

The session on "The Librarians Role in Creating a Meaningful Senior Research Project" was also very interesting. The speaker stressed the importance of helping students become more informationally literate by teaching them to follow a research method, evaluate their sources, use academic search engines, cite their sources, and problem solve. The session leader's school actually implemented a "senior career project" which involved intense research on a specific problem or subject in the student's anticipated career field. Students were expected to partner with a mentor already working in their career strand and use their knowledge to decide on a relevant research topic. The entire process was actually packaged as a required senior class entitled "Information Literacy.

In addition to all the great sessions I attended, I also enjoyed browsing the Exhibit Hall and eating lunch with the Library Media Specialist from my school. We had a great time talking to book reps, looking at books, and simply discussing what it really means to be a librarian in the 21st century. We even started thinking of ways to incorporate some of the things we learned from our sessions. I think this is perhaps one of the best possible outcomes of the OELMA conference. I was struck by how much collective wisdom was present in each session, in the vendor's hall, and even around the lunch table. I truly enjoyed getting to experience it.


 * The websites you shared would be great ones to add to our virtual libraries (and maybe the toolkit we are doing for class). I'm glad you got to hear an author. When I go to conferences, I always try to hear at least one author. I also went to Lauren Myracle's session. Now if I can only force myself to read TTYL or another IM-lingo based book...

I went to a similar session on Web 2.0 and agree with everything you commented about. I think school access is one of the biggest problems right now for 21st-century learners. It is a shame that some really great websites are blocked. I also agree that the Exhibit Hall was a lot of fun to browse and a great way to meet people. And the freebies were good too! KE

Sounds like you sat in on some great sessions also. We needed a 3rd day at the conference with repeats so we could hear all the information we wanted. I am interested in learning more about censorship in the middle and high schools. I have even used some of the tools I learned at the conference. JD

I think you made a great point about learning not only from the sessions but also from just talking with everyone in a social atmosphere! It's a great idea to find wisdom from the people around you. It's wonderful that your librarian is so supportive of you! :) EAS

I love the LIFE Magazine Image Archive! They have such great photos, and it's searchable in Google so if I'm looking for something historical, I'll type in what I'm searching for and add "source:life" to search their archive only and then move on to all images. It came in handy when putting together my digital story. CMS

I agree that more of the Web 2.0 sites should be available for student use at school. Hopefully, we are headed in that direction. Since Dr. Berg mentioned that we could use Delicious for our library toolkit, do you have an tips you learned that you would like to share? JT

Thanks for sharing more about the Web 2.0 sites from your session. I was hoping someone would post about that session. The wordle site is awesome! I really think the kids will enjoy it, and I know I can use that in my classroom as well. I am so excited (and sometimes overwhelmed) by all of the Web 2.0 tools that are so easy and useful! You're also so right about the collaboration and collective wisdom that is everywhere just by going to OELMA. I spoke with several librarians from my area during the "break time." They were all so welcoming to the profession. Librarians are so passionate about what they do. It is very motivating. KAP

Thanks for the information about Lauren Myracle's session. I didn't get to go to hers, but from what you mentioned I totally agree with her. I think we sometimes censor too much, especially in junior high. Yes, there are some topics that are inappropriate, or maybe the topic of the book is appropriate but the content isn't. Still, it's important to provide our students text on those controversial issues, because many of them deal with those issues in their own lives. Students are drawn to those books because they connect with the character or situation. Thanks for the info! CNR

I especially liked the "Big6 Banana Split" and "Life Images" sites - thank you so much for passing those on. The one session you attended on Web 2.0 sounded very interesting. I see the presenter, Kathy Halsey, on OELMA's listserv quite frequently. What are your thoughts and/or plans on using twitter in the classroom? --Bill Reagle

I have been to Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators and it has a ton of resources that are very useful for educators. I would definitely recommend this site to all of you. Thanks for the link to the Life image library. I am always looking for good photos. Flickr is also another good site to find photos as well. MP