ALA Conference in Boston

Yesterday I went to the American Library Association Midwinter Conference which is being held in Boston. It was my first ALA conference. My original plan had been to be there to soak up every single minute of it, but life got in the way. So yesterday was it.

This was my first view of the exhibition hall:

I hit the ground running and didn’t look up for an hour. I’d made it down half a row. There was so much to see, so many new books to sample, myriad ideas for using materials we already have or soon will, that it was impossible to see it all.

While I was at the conference I learned that AASL has voted to use the term “school librarian” to refer to librarians working in schools. I understand that the decision was not taken lightly and that many hours of debate went into the decision.

The experience of going was just what I needed. I met new people, found books which are just the thing to fill a need in our library back home, was inspired by new ideas I saw and generally got charged up and re-inspired. Coming home, taking the things out of the bags and organizing them made it fresh all over again. I’ve returned with new ideas for how to use Ellison Die Cuts, a variety of prizes to motivate students, and plenty of advance copies to read.

It was a wonderful day.

Teaching Folktales

Part of the curriculum for our small charges includes teaching about folktales. Trying to teach about folktales is not the same thing as reading them. What exactly do we want 5 and 6 year olds to remember about folktales? Is the ability to tell particular tales the most important aspect? Is it the fact that they can identify different sorts of folktales – creationist, por quoi tales, trickster tales, tall tales etc.? Moreover, how to select which folktales will be used for these lessons?

The Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework defines folktales as:

Folktale: a short narrative handed down through oral tradition, with various tellers and groups modifying it, so that it acquired cumulative authorship. Most folktales eventually move from oral tradition to written form.

This week I tried something new to illustrate the idea of how folktales develop. I chose a student to be the storyteller. The student stood up next to me. Then I told a story, really a number of facts about a colorful aunt I had. The storyteller then had to retell the story to the class. We had three or four people try their hand at retelling it. The results were hilarious and sometimes heartwarming. Needless to say, the story took on a life of its own. Sometimes the changes were unintentional, but several of the students were natural embellishers. I took care to mention that these acts of omission or clear fabrication were part of the process a story had to go through to become folklore.

To me, hearing the story of my aunt who lived in a lemon grove, turn into a story about my father who lived in a lemon, was shear magic.

MSLA 2009

I’ve been attending the MSLA annual conference this weekend. I always look forward to this conference. There is so much to see, learn and ponder over. I never leave without ideas for implementing in our school. Sometimes it is overwhelming and I wonder how I will rise to the challenge. Sometimes it takes months before I even really comprehend some of the things the speakers and trainers share with us. I wonder how many things I never get. Every year I come back and find something new to stretch me and make me go farther than I thought I could go. I’m so grateful that I live in a place with so many great role models.

Yesterday morning I had the great pleasure to hear one of my favorite authors, Mitali Perkins, in a session on Books Between Cultures. I’ve read all her books, I follow her website, her blogs and yet seeing her presenting I saw a whole new facet of what she offers. Those of you who have her come visit your schools are truly fortunate.

Two great days of great inspiration, sharing of knowledge, and considering future. I have been inspired, affirmed, renewed, challenged, stretched and invigorated. Thanks MSLA.

Questions

As I continue to think about teaching information fluency skills several things keep coming back to me. Really fundamental to the whole process of research is that very first step: asking questions.

In working through KWL charts and other tasks I found that our students really didn't know how to ask questions. Many of them weren't comfortable with asking questions and even less so with the grammatical structure necessary to be successful questioners. Even some of our most inquisitive students were not able to consistantly ask grammatically correct questions. When you consider that English is not the first language for some of our students, unlocking the mechanics of question making is a considerable, yet very valuable, undertaking.

Having rolled these thoughts over in my mind, I decided to make question asking central to the mission of our library. To this end I designed and created this quilt last summer. The finishing touches weren't completed until November.

Each day I see the quilt hanging in the library and it inspires me all over again. I like question asking to be encouraged in our library. For this reason I try never to disrespect questions our students ask - even ones which make me squirm. Students often ask questions like "How old are you?" or "What's that mark on your face?" or (my favorite) "What happened to your hair?" After saying that as the librarian I like to encourage questions of all sorts, I explain that some adults will think it is rude for children to ask those questions. It's funny that adults often ask these same questions of children. Sometimes we answer the questions, sometimes we talk about how to find the answer. I always want them to feel free to ask questions. It's how we begin our journey.