library media specialists | Expect the Miraculous

west ga resa camp

It’s summer. Educators have the summer off, right? While on paper it may seem that educators have two months off, most of us continue to develop our professional lives and dream and plan for the upcoming school year. I’m excited to join media specialists from around Georgia and neighboring states at West Georgia RESA on June 20 from 8:30-3:30 for a summer camp for media specialists. I’m so thankful to West Georgia RESA for providing this opportunity to librarians around the state who often don’t have professional learning targeted directly at them. Registration is still open and costs $65 for RESA members and $85 for non-members.

What will we do together? Here’s a look at our approximate schedule for the day.

8:30-9:30 Opening presentation/Q&A Empowering Student Voice. We will set the stage for what it means to empower the voices of our students as well as think beyond the walls of our own schools.

9:30-9:45Break

9:45-11:00 Tools for collaborating, crowdsourcing and sharing. Disruptus game. sharing tools crowdsourced by us all and thinking about how to disrupt their uses. There are so many amazing tools out there, but we will use this time to think about tools that will allow us to crowdsource information and collaborate both synchronously and asynchronously to create classrooms that are part of a global community.

11:00-11:30 Harness social media and develop your own PLN. We’ll answer any questions about social media and look at how social media allows us to show our work, connect to opportunities, and empower all the voices in our library community.

11:30-12:30 Lunch

12:30-2:00 Makerspace Exploration. Hands-on exploration and a look at my own makerspace, how it’s funded, and how it functions

2:00-2:15 Break

2:15-3:15 Goals that Matter. Time to talk about goals and set some short and long-term goals

3:15 Final Q&A

We will of course be flexible and take into consideration the needs and requests of the group as we spend time together. Join us in Grantville, GA and bring your wisdom to share with the room. See you there!

I am excited to announce that I have been chosen as the Northeast Georgia District Library Media Specialist of the Year for 2011-2012. In October, I will speak on a panel with other incredible district library media specialists of the year at the COMO conference and attend a luncheon where the state media specialist of the year will be announced. I am honored and humbled to be recognized with this award. Media specialists around our state and our country are doing critical work with our students, teachers, and families, and I’m proud to be among so many dedicated professionals. The past 3 years in the David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center have been amazing. The work that our students have accomplished in collaboration with the media center is inspiring. Students have published their own work in a variety of formats from print to multiple forms of web 2.0 technology. This year promises to be another innovative year as projects are already beginning to take shape. Every year I look forward to what seeds get planted in my work with students and teachers and can’t wait to see how those seeds of ideas sprout and blossom into thriving learning experiences.