Ontario Library Association Superconference 2008
Summary of Sessions
Note to readers: It’s a challenge to be able to contain in a nutshell all the fabulous things I got out of attending this annual conference in a way that can adequately convey the excitement of the event in a timely fashion – I can’t sit down with each of you over a cup of tea and a good meal to discuss at length some of the workshops! I hope this method will suffice for now. Feel free to e-mail me to chat about any aspect of the conference.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
7:30 a.m. – Special Preview of Ministry Library Document
Summary
This was a chance for special guests (OSLA Council, school board library coordinators, etc.) to get an advanced preview of the new Ministry Library Document.
3 key ideas/points
- Leadership Forum to be held March 31 for feedback and discussion (after regional meetings to go over and critique piece)
- “Learning Commons” concept of library > a place to gather to learn, but flow of information goes in and out, from various sources (doesn’t mean we re-label libraries)
- Big emphasis on collaborative nature of learning; heavily influenced by some major names on 21st century learning (Heppelll, Loertscher, etc.)
So what? My take.
Ø This document is an important “vision” piece that will help set the stage for further action by the Ministry regarding school libraries. We need to support it but also make it the best possible document.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
9:05 a.m. – PLCs and TLs: A Natural Fit (by me)
Summary
My workshop dealt with PLC concepts, the roles TLs can play (in various scenarios) and how to form/operate PLCs.
3 key ideas/points
- definition: “A PLC is composed of collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals linked to the purpose of learning for all”
- possible to apply concepts in PLCs (collaborative culture / student learning / SMART goals / common assessments / evidence (data & results) / best practices / strategic interventions) in school-based PLCs, TL PLCs and even where no PLCs officially exist
- most promising strategy for sustaining school improvement – build capacity of school personnel to function as their own PD within a PLC (fits with Tribes, evidence-based practice, etc.)
So what? My take
Ø I ran the workshop, so I can’t be too objective about it all J It was an interactive presentation, with lots of audience talk, and it was educational for me to hear how OFIP should (and sometimes doesn’t) fit with PLC in various regions of the province.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
10:40 a.m. – Re-Wiring Our Youth (by Sgt. Robyn MacEachern) (OPP)
Summary
This workshop dealt with the cyberbullying and other dangers present while using the Internet and other forms of technology. Sgt. MacEachern showed ways of protecting young people from victimization.
3 key ideas/points
- 70% of exploitation with MSN/IM on the Internet deals with password stealing and misuse of webcams; therefore, “treat your password like your toothbrush” / create passwords creatively (e.g. make a sentence you’ll remember and use the first letter of each word, along with some significant numbers in between or at the end), cover up webcams unless in use (in visible area of house), and enable the MSN feature that saves a log of all IM conversations
- reason why students don’t report cyber bullying is that the common adult reaction is to take away the child/teen’s Internet privileges, their prime form of expression & enjoyment
- teens look at their behaviour models on the Internet = other teens, and often the more flashy or outrageous you are, the more “popular” you are: “Lord of the E-flies”
So what? My take
Ø Although it was a very sobering and “scary” presentation, there were many useful nuggets (like sleeping with the computer keyboard if you suspect that your child wakes up in the middle of the night to sneak on the Net). I’ll present part of this at a parent council meeting.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
2:10 p.m. – All Conference Plenary Speaker (Ethan Zuckerman)
Summary
Ethan founded Geekcorps and Global Voices On-line. His talk was around how the Internet was meant to unite and understand others, whereas now in some places it is being used to separate and isolate, and how we can “aggregate, curate and amplify the global conversations online”.
3 key ideas/points
- bridge bloggers are key people: they provide context, “translate” and explain their society and their “cultural shorthand” to the rest of the world (for example, in the “Great Firewall of China”, the term “harmony” is blocked [it refers to your blog being censored by the government] and the Chinese script symbol for river crab is close to the symbol for harmony, so having a river crab on your page sends a message)
- scam baiters and the misperceptions on both sides: the wealthy Nigerian e-mail scam has been around as the “imprisoned Spanish king” scam of 1570, except this scam is complicit with the idea that Nigeria is a corrupt place where you can get money easily > scam baiters try to trick the people they receive the e-mails from into doing crazy things (like carving a computer out of wood or filming the “dead parrot” scene from Monty Python and sending it to them) > one group feels the others are criminals, the other group sees the first group and greedy and stupid > unfortunately this leads to people searching for ways to disconnect or shut each other out (the “Internets”)
- 6 years ago, only 2 countries actively blocked Internet content; today it is 48 countries
So what? My take
Ø I liked his phrase “resist homophily / faciliate serendipity / be a xenophile”. Although it is human nature to flock to ideas and people that are similar to you and yours, we need to expand our horizons.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
3:45 p.m. – Character Education @ Your Library (by Kendra Godin-Svoboda)
Summary
Kendra showed us about how to “use your book award programs as a vehicle for teaching and promoting virtuous characters and behaviors… learn strategies and resources to create a culture of virtue in your library and school, use exemplary resources for partners units, teach specific character traits and behaviors in the library, and promote character in the library and among staff and students.”
3 key ideas/points
- remember that every child is someone’s gift / miracle, and treat them in that way
- 2 great resources: “Life’s Greatest Lessons” by Hal Urban, and “Winning with People” by John Maxwell
- incorporate it into everything from your hall displays to your lessons to the way you teach the lesson (e.g. after reading “The Librarian of Basra”, talk about what admirable characteristics she had)
So what? My take
Ø It was interesting that Kenda focused less on nailing down definitions of specific character traits and tackling them month by month and more on nurturing the general atmosphere and “walking the talk”
Thursday, January 31, 2008
5:15 p.m. – Ontario School Library Association Annual Meeting
Summary
The Annual General meeting is open to all OSLA members.
3 key ideas/points
- the Queens University school library research study is in phase 2 now
- the Educational Institute is not being used enough by the school library sector and we need to tap into this resource better
- talks are ongoing with the government on the election promises of increased and directed provincial funding of school libraries
So what? My take
Ø This is an exciting time for OSLA, with lots of efforts coming to fruition. We need to keep abreast of developments. (This meeting was followed by the OSLA Awards Reception, which doesn’t require a summary.)
Friday, February 1, 2008
9:05 a.m. – Harnessing the Changing Shape of Information (by David Warlick)
Summary
Due to the snowstorm, it took me 2 hours to make it downtown and I only got to hear the last 10 minutes of David’s talk. L
Friday, February 1, 2008
10:40 a.m. – All Conference Plenary Session (Carl Honoré)
Summary
Carl “builds a compelling case for slowing down as a way to live better and get ahead in this fast-paced world.”
3 key ideas/points
- putting in tons of overtime does not necessarily make you productive: one company found that executives were not taking their owed vacations, but absenteeism skyrocketed and people got burnt out; once the company completely shut down for 2 weeks in the winter and 1 week in the summer, thereby forcing people to take a break, they saw the benefits
- we live in a culture of speed and we become addicted to the adrenaline rush of zooming from one task to another but often times deeper understanding of a subject is neglected in favour of quick surface learning of several topics
- we don’t have to reject technology like cell phones and e-mail; we just have to control them (e.g. have a “no e-mail afternoon” – statistics show that when you are distracted or interrupted when you were concentrating on doing a task, sometimes it can take up to 15 minutes to get “back in the groove”, e-mail is a distraction that we can control)
So what? My take
Ø This was a very powerful talk for me, so much so that I bought the book for myself.
Friday, February 1, 2008
2:10 p.m. – Meeting of Great Minds (by Stephen Heppell and David Warlick)
Summary
Two of the leading online education experts and visionaries of 21st century learning came together to answer questions from the crowd.
3 key ideas/points
- Q: I’m older and I have no interest in getting involved in Facebook, so how do I keep up-to-date with the Web 2.0 technology and what my students are into? = it depends on your community of interest, look into something that appeals to you where you can talk with people you wouldn’t get a chance to, find a place where they need to know who you are and build a level of trust (it doesn’t necessarily have to be Facebook; it can be a community of bloggers – a study in 1996 showed that the best learning experience has the following traits: invovlment / others rather than isolated / people around to guide and coach / you can make or do something / chance for the individual to move forward in some way)
- Q: I get depressed when I see these wonderful possibilities but then I take these ideas back to my school and there are teachers that don’t allow these sorts of conversations, so what’s it going to take to get this moving? = the worries about the economy and 21st century skills will drive it; pay attention and respect kids’ information experience and showcase what they are doing (e.g. at a tech fair, let kids show the learning from video games); remember that teacher-librarians are powerful spheres of influence, like an army of gentle but subversive powers of change; co-opt what the kids are doing, direct their enthusiasm and synthesize their learning; kids want to converse (e.g. once using blogs, kids start to beg for writing assignments, once they see it as more than just a writing exercise but as communication)
- Q: My admin worries about liability and my board has a firewall that prevents kids from going on YouTube at school so how can I access these things? = swamp sectors with news of the good stuff (celebrate the excellence and remember that the media “sells fear and death” so counter that with your own examples, e.g. statistics that 57% of teens use online social networking systems to discuss school work); instead of firewalls, use logs so we entitle the students and help them be responsible
So what? My take
Ø For me, Warlick and Heppell help justify my sometimes-unconventional teaching methods (e.g. using Webkinz to teach primary media literacy) and reassure me that I’m on the right track
Friday, February 1, 2008
3:45 p.m. Deconstructing the Movie Machine 10 (by Fiona Denzey and Doug Atkinson)
Summary
These two people work for CVS (see www.cvsinc.ca) and examine Children’s DVD releases. They talked about and showed clips from several of the new films from 2007.
Key ideas/points
- remember that “get the most bums in the seats” is the philosophy of major film studios, so movies often advertised as “kids” movies have many elements that “take things up a notch” to appeal to other target groups (to make money, they need to get people other than “mom dad and the kids” in, such as “couples on a date” and “groups of teens”) / one example was Aragon and The Last Mimzy, based on a kids book but with a lot more scary scenes that might be too much for some
- some films that you expect to be garbage were actually surprisingly okay, such as Night At The Museum and Bratz the movie
- many films released were re-releases and re-packaged material, so be alert (but some are worth it – their favourite they showed was The Jungle Book)
So what? My take
Ø this was a nice light way to end the conference sessions, and it was good to get to peek at movies I hadn’t seen before and hear their opinions on them
Friday, February 1, 2008
5:15 p.m. Larry Moore Tribute Event
Summary
This was a reception and tribute to the director of the Ontario Library Association, Larry Moore, who is retiring after 34 years with the OLA. It was hosted by Evan Solomon. There’s no need to make key points, other than that Larry was a pivotal person to libraries in Canada and will be greatly missed.
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