MASL

Friday I was delighted to be able to attend my first MASL (Maryland Association of School Librarians) Conference where I was able to present about the un-deweying pilot that started this blog.

One of the things I loved best about this conference was that the Morning Keynote Speaker, Andy Plemmons, and the Afternoon keynote Speaker, Matthew Winner, were both practicing school library media specialists.  They were talking the talk and walking the walk.  Their presentations weren't full of , "When I was in the library..." but "In my library.." and I think that is so valuable.  It made them relatable and their ideas and insights and thoughts practical and applicable.  That is always significant to me because there is nothing worse than walking away from a presentation and thinking that i took nothing away because it wasn't realistic in a day to day teaching sense.

 My first session of the day was Reaching Diverse Readers Through Diverse Reading Programs with Jennifer Siderius from Frederick Co., MD.  She had some awesome ideas for ways to engage readers.  I was particularly impressed with how she worked with the classroom teachers to make sure that the mystery book bags were specific to the reading levels within a class.  WOW!

The next session was the one Kelly and I presented at and we had a pretty full room.  There were lots of questions and feedback.  I have to admit it was a bit daunting to see Andy Plemmons turn up to hear our session. 

After a delicious lunch (sidenote - be prepared to gain some pounds if you attend this conference as there is food EVERYWHERE), the next session I went to was Best Book Sites (so far).  I have a HUGE list of sites to visit this weekend.  I am learning to pace myself and put some things on the back burner for another time.  Do small things well and add on instead of doing many things poorly.
Matthew Winner was the presenter for this session and it is obvious that he has a passion for literature.  He read aloud from an advance copy of "Little Tree" by Loren Long.  I see this being a book coming to a professional development near you very soon.

And then Matthew ended the day, as the keynote, with a presentation entitled, "What Makes a Hero?" and challenged all of us to think about the legacy we are leaving.  I was ready (almost) to head back to school right that day and get started.