Big Bumps and Pinned Parts

I couldn't decide between two events to write about, so I'm going to write about both because I think they have some themes in common (although hubby says I'm stretching it a bit).

Big Bumps

On Thursday, one of the Grade 6 students who comes in regularly to the library at recess made an observation that led to a $200 bill and some authentic writing for a group of younger students.

"What's the matter with Ernie?", he asked.

Ernie, our school's skinny pig, had a huge swollen mass on his neck. It wasn't there the day before. It didn't seem to be bothering him particularly, but a big bump that appears overnight is not something a pet owner can ignore.

Ernie with his big bump!

I hoped that it would disappear as quickly as it had appeared, but on Friday morning, he still had this massive lump.

As part of my Partners time, I see a group of Year 2 Kindergarten students to work with them on literacy development. The group chose rabbits as their "passion project" and there have been a lot of connections between rabbits and our skinny pig library resident. When I collected the researchers from their class first thing in the morning, I said there was a problem that needed solving. We then checked out Ernie.

It took a lot of scaffolding for them to decide that Ernie needed to visit a vet. Some initially thought that merely taking him out of the cage and/or putting a bandage on the bump would do the trick. We also had to conduct a lengthy conversation to try and build some vocabulary so we could describe the issue to the vet on the phone. When I first asked them where the bump was, the senior kindergarteners would say "Here!" and point. When I asked how large the bump was, they'd reply "This big!" and gesticulate. Eventually, through some guided comparisons and body part talk, we were able to be more specific and explain that Ernie had a big bump about the size of a marble on the left side of his neck. The students helped me dial the number of Ernie's regular pet doctor, and we booked an appointment for Friday after school.

The students were bursting with information, so I grabbed the opportunity, printed the above picture that I took with my cell phone, made copies, and asked the students to write about what was going on. This is a group of very reluctant writers. It takes them a long time to write and only with lots of prompts. However, with this authentic reason for writing, they wrote more than they've ever done before for me. Here are some of their samples.

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

My principal kindly allowed me to leave school during my prep time to take Ernie to the vet. The lump has pus in it but the doctor on call was reluctant to lance it. Ernie now has antibiotics, pain medication, and a follow-up appointment this coming Tuesday. At least his weight is a lot more robust.

Ernie at the vet - Fri. Feb. 22/19

Pinned Parts

Timing can be quite serendipitous. My friend, Jennifer Casa-Todd, asked me to contribute to her students' White Pine slow chat focused on the book Chaotic Good. She knows that my daughter and I participate in cosplay, and my family is heavily into D&D and other RPGs. When my eldest heard that this book contained both, she was super-interested and I went to the public library and borrowed a copy for us to read. (I'll have to fit it in between the other books I need/want to read!) (Don't look too closely at the cover - Jen and I both have some criticisms of the image choices!)

White Pine 2019 nominee "Chaotic Good"

1st Chaotic Good Slow Chat question

 

It just so happened that both my daughter and I are working on cosplay outfits right now. It's bit tricky, which led me to seek advice from one of my sewing mentors, the fabulous and talented Natalie. I'm attempting to recreate the look of My Hero Academia's "Recovery Girl" and my daughter wanted to try her hand at sewing a poncho so she could be Ralsei. With the poncho, Natalie taught us how to do a bias seam for the neckline and a roll hem for the sides and bottom. Then my daughter, with great trepidation but also great courage, pinned and sewed the rest of the poncho. She did a great job!

Neckline cut - now what?

I've made a simple sheath dress when I was Joy from the movie "Inside Out", but I was in a hurry back then and pulled it together in a rush in one night. This outfit is a bit more complicated. I was uncertain about how the pieces would fit together. Natalie checked my pattern (that I created myself!), showed me how to add 1 cm on each side for seam allowances, and she and her assistant Simone guided me on how to cut and recreate the pieces of the pattern. This past Saturday, Natalie showed me how to notch the sides, line them up, and pin them correctly. I think I'll be ready to start sewing them together next week.

Do the notches line up?

Peeling layers and putting them together

One side of my "Recovery Girl" dress

An image of Recovery Girl

After finishing the dress, the next big challenge will be the head piece. What materials will I use to make the pink sides and purple visor?I found the medical jacket at Value Village for a great price ($4.99!) and the big syringe should be quite possible to construct.

Common Themes

• Having a real-life connection (the book about someone who cosplays when you cosplay) or real-life purpose (describing what has happened to the school pet) makes work very engaging.
• Watching someone with expertise (a veterinarian or a seamstress) is intimidating but inspiring.
• You can't "fake care".
• Sometimes it's scary to try things (writing or hemming) but if you are motivated enough, you can work through the fear.

Did I miss any other ideas that tie together my two news events?

My Many Microaggressions

Wednesday, February 13, 2019 was the TDSB Beginning Teachers Equity Conference at OISE. (The hashtag was #tdsbequityoise if you want to examine some of the tweets.) Friday, February 15, 2019, in addition to being a Parent-Teacher interview day, was also the second time the book club that I'm a part of met, to discuss chapters 3-4 of White Fragility, Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. I really needed to attend both of these events. I still have so much to learn.

Let me explain the blog title. This definition comes from Psychology Today (see https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race)

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

Sadly, I may have made a microaggression as I was getting ready to attend a session on microaggressions. I mixed up the presenters of "Microaggressions in Schools: Making the Invisible Visible" (Sharla Falodi and Farah Rahemtula, who shared it at the TDSB Unleashing the Learning conference as well as this TDSB Beginning Teachers Equity conference) with the presenters of "Microaggressions in Your School Library" (Gemsy Joseph and Deborah Haines, who shared it at the OLA SuperConference). It wasn't intentional, but that's the thing about microaggressions: it's not the intent but the impact that matters.

I was able to attend all of Sharla and Farah's talk (and only a few minutes of Gemsy and Deborah's talk, but that is available to listen to on VoicEd Radio via this link and their slides via the link mentioned in the tweet below). Farah and Sharla's talk was excellent. They had the participants go through and examine a variety of real-life examples to examine the intent and impact. They also shared a handout on potential responses when you experience a microaggression.Turns out what I needed was a handout on how to respond appropriately when you are the one perpetuating the microaggression.

Fabulous presentation on micro aggressions in our libraries by Deborah Haines and Gemsy Joseph. Love the distinction between equality and equity. See their resource here https://t.co/nYe9OaqsGS. @HCI_library ⁦⁦@tdsb_FHCI_LLC⁩ -LLC ⁦@TDSBLibrary⁩ pic.twitter.com/4mnCox3fGv

— Ms. Surdivall (@Tina_Surdivall) February 1, 2019

A fabulous group of Beginning Teachers discussing student and educator experiences with microaggressions in @tdsb. What might the potential interpretations be? Sitting with voices from various identities, reflecting on impacts, & how to disrupt. @Farah_Rahemtula #TDSBequityOISE pic.twitter.com/XT1lAMWfVG

— Sharla Falodi 🗯 (@SharlaFalodi) February 13, 2019

Both Sharla/Farah and Deborah/Gemsy referred to this video, which is worth viewing multiple times.

As I alluded earlier, unfortunately, mixing up the presenters was not the only microaggression I made. I made a bigger one during my own presentation earlier.

Before I detail my awful misstep, I want to thank @MrKitMath on Twitter, who helped educate me about the difference between "pronouns" and "preferred pronouns". People who are marginalized shouldn't have to do the heavy lifting and teaching (although they often do - I used Kit's quote about our obligations as educators as an image to end our slide deck). The correction made me more aware and now I've learned. I hope I can be as gracious when corrected as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the American congresswoman who talked about her cis-privilege, and apologized for her use of the word "cis-genedered" instead of the more accurate "cis-gender". Her apology was not defensive and she promised to do better (and it seems like she has altered her words in subsequent tweets and interviews).

Because it makes “cisgender” a verb! It’s an adjective. (And the same applies to “transgender;” “transgendered” is incorrect.) “Verbing” the word implies that gender is an action that a person takes, effectively designating it a choice rather than a state of being.

— FC (@beewielder) February 2, 2019

I spoke about Anti-Oppression Opportunities for Media Literacy with Michelle Solomon. We named our privilege and tried to include as many identities and examples as possible. Somehow, we were able to finish with time to spare for questions and comments. Someone called us out on our choice of visuals and examples and said that we focused too much on the negative, and not enough on positive representations. I apologized. Michelle and I felt terrible about it afterwards. It's easy to get defensive and start to numerate the amount of positive examples we had included but weren't mentioned in the criticism, but we stopped ourselves. I know I asked myself why I didn't include the photos circulating Twitter right now of decorated doors that celebrate black hair and positive black representations. I do it in class (i.e. reading books about beautiful black hair like the book, Don't Touch My Hair,  I borrowed from amazing teacher-librarian Rabia Khokar as well as discussing the teen wrestler who was assaulted with scissors to his dreadlocks) so why didn't I do a better, balanced job then?

When your principal says decorate your doors for Black History Month, why not make sure it is steeped in cultural competence. @LC3_TDSB @MsPoulis @JS_tdsb @nplc3_tdsb @jeewanc @MsPoulis @SherylZona @LizBHolder pic.twitter.com/x0juPV6p0b

— P Duah (@iamprinceduah) February 2, 2019

I was still thinking about my conference session on Friday when I attended my book club meeting. Thank you to the educators who are a part of that wonderful group that allowed me to bring up the incident and helped me to make sense of it within the context of the book we are studying. I won't go into further detail, but thanks again Ken, Courtney, Ruth, Leslie, and Josephine. Mistakes are part of learning.

The conference in between those two workshops (mine at 10:30 am and the one on microaggressions at 2:00 pm) was still full of learning, although maybe not as emotionally charged. Big thanks to my friend Tracey Davies, who carpooled with me and made the two-hour-long commute to OISE from Scarborough bearable. Tracey and I used to have such rich conversations when she drove us back from our Media AQ course a couple of years back and it was good to have the time to reconnect and share our thoughts while on the road. Thanks also to Ashley Clarke, who accompanied Tracey and I back to the east end of the city after the conference was over. Ashley was an LTO at our school last year; (I wrote about her on this blog previously) she is a permanent teacher elsewhere now but both the students and I miss her immensely. Thanks to Alicia and Casey for their excellent talk on anti-bias education in the early years, and to Jennifer Watt for organizing such a great conference. Also thanks to the people I had the pleasure of chatting with at lunch, an informal way to keep the learning going: Rizwan, Andrea, Iniyal, and a bunch of people whose names I've just forgotten (one of whom just won a prestigious award - how have I forgotten?).

I'm writing about my humiliation publicly not to collect any "poor-me-points" but rather to illustrate that there are going to be awkward and uncomfortable moments when doing equity and anti-bias work. It doesn't mean we should stop trying to be better, but we need to understand how the fog of the implicit bias we live and experience shapes us in ways we are unaware and think, reflect, read more, listen more and continue to try.

YouTube Club - Status Report 1/2 way Through

This school year, I launched several new clubs to replace Minecraft Club (which could no longer run due to recent technology limitations beyond my control). I brainstormed with some classes about what would make good replacements. Based on my schedule, availability (and let's be honest, my own interests), the new clubs offered were

• Comics Club (offered for Primary students, Junior students, and Intermediate students, on Mondays at lunch for a two-month chunk per division - one month for reading comics, one month for writing comics)
• Keva Plank Club (offered on a month-per-grade basis, either on Wednesdays at lunch or Wednesdays after school)
• Board Game Club (open to Grades 4-8, one grade at a time, one month at a time, during lunch on Fridays)
• YouTube Club (reserved for Grades 7-8 together on Thursdays after school for a three-month period)

We are halfway through our YouTube Club time and I thought it'd be beneficial to examine how this new, experimental club was progressing. 

To be frank, I wasn't exactly sure what YouTube Club was going to be like at first. Someone in one of the intermediate classes suggested it, probably not entirely seriously, and the idea intrigued me. When the sign-up list was being circulated, many asked what would happen in YouTube Club and I admitted that I wasn't sure. They told me what they thought could or should occur and that helped shape some of the content. I decided to limit the club to just the intermediate students because there was a chance that they might see something inappropriate and you have to be a certain age to have a YouTube account. (Plus, I didn't want the group to be too big and unmanageable!) I talked about the formation of this YouTube Club with fellow members of the board of the Association of Media Literacy (AML) and they had some fantastic recommendations about possible activities, challenges, videos to watch, and discussion starters. 

There are a couple of things we've done as part of this club that I haven't tried in other clubs I've been involved with. 

1. We established a "code of conduct" and some "ground rules" together. For instance, we limit watching of a single video to five minutes. We also said that no one should be forced to show or watch a video that they don't feel comfortable seeing/hearing.

2. I take meeting notes. I record who attended, link to the videos that were suggested, and summarize some of the discussion that takes place.

I think I've learned more from YouTube Club than the students have! For instance, Neil Andersen, president of the AML, told me about Social Blade, a website that " tracks social media statistics and analytics. Social Blade most notably tracks the YouTube platform, but also has analytical information regarding Twitch, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Mixer, and Dailymotion" (Wikipedia)

To my surprise, not only did the students already know about Social Blade, they had some interesting opinions about accounts that YouTube favours and those it doesn't, regardless of popularity.

Another example - speed settings. I only recently learned how to use the Speed Settings on YouTube, during my attempt to complete all of Sylvia Duckworth's Sketchnote challenges. It was driving me bananas to constantly pause and rewind segments of her tutorials, but then someone told me to change the speed setting of the video to 0.25 and then I was able to follow along at an easier pace. Watching and drawing simultaneously isn't easy!

Me with my Sylvia Duckworth certificate!

Some students were unaware of the speed settings options, but many were. They had plenty to say about why viewers would want to watch a video at a different speed, and they shared a really cool story about a YouTuber who filmed a segment in one speed and had his fans watch it in another, manipulating the viewing stats in a unique way. (I'm not describing it adequately here, so I may need to copy and paste from my meeting notes to properly convey the clever tactic.)

YouTube Club members also took it upon themselves to discuss the advertising that appears before some of the ads, comparing those that pop up at school vs at home, whether or not they skip the ad, and the impact of the ad on them as consumers. (One YouTube Club member is a proud supporter of Grammarly, it seems.)

Another benefit for me is that I've learned more about the interests of my students. We have a lot of students who are huge fans of BTS (a K-pop group). I knew about BTS, thanks to my students and to educator and tweeter Rafranz Davis, but I had never taken the time to watch BTS videos or listen to their songs. YouTube Club provided that time. BTS videos are filled with impressive dance choreography and incredible video production. I think the one I like the best is "Idol", featuring Nikki Minaj, although the students scared me with their description of why it was (or wasn't) appropriate viewing for school. The students like to share the history and fan theories behind the songs, and that makes it interesting. Some members of the YouTube Club have tried to insist we put limits on the number of BTS videos we watch during a club meeting, "because it's YouTube Club, not BTS Club", but so far, we're sticking with our student-centered playlist.

So, it sounds like things are going quite well but there is one part of YouTube Club that has me concerned. YouTube Club, like Comics Club, incorporates multiple grades. For YouTube Club, it's for the Grade 7s and 8s. However, for some reason, the Grade 7s and 8s do not mingle or interact with each other almost at all. In the presence of the Grade 8s (some of whom are big and boisterous), the quiet Grade 7s who are part of the club say nothing. I've made a point of insisting that no one can have a second turn at sharing their favourite YouTube video (with an explanation of why it's beloved) until all those who haven't had a turn and want one get to go. The Grade 7s approached me after all the Grade 8s were gone with their video idea for the following meeting. They wanted to share a video but did not want their names attached to the link and their reasons. How do I ensure they feel comfortable? How can I decrease the divide? 

And while I'm on a roll of asking questions ... what other things could I do with YouTube Club? I still have a list-full of possibilities, but is there anything I'm missing?

OLA SuperConference 2019 Abridged Reflections Part 3 - "Experiments and Endings"

This is the third blog post (all published on the same day) outlining a shortened version of what went on at OLA SuperConference 2019. I've called this day's reflections "Experiments and Endings" because much of my time on Friday was consumed by an experimental space and novel learning opportunity called the Sandbox, and everyone could see the finish line ahead.

Friday, February 1, 2019
7:00 am

You read that time correctly. All the SuperConference planners meet early on the last official day of the conference to eat breakfast together, touch base and provide "2 Stars and a Wish". I couldn't stay to hear everyone's thoughts, because I had presenters coming in early to set up their gear at the OLA Sandbox. The goal of the Sandbox was to provide conference visitors with a lot of time to tinker and explore some of the hands-on, interactive options available in schools and public libraries. The Sandbox was scheduled to be 90 minutes of mostly playing, with one-on-one conversations peppering the experience.

Friday, February 1, 2019
9:30 am

There are so many things I can say about the Sandbox. There were a lot of positive things about this pilot, but also a lot of things that can be changed and improved for next year. I am so grateful to all the people who contributed to the Sandbox. (One thing to alter is that, although the Sandbox was mentioned in the program, there was no explanation about what it was all about and the presenters weren't mentioned by name.). Thank you to:

• Cortney LeGros (Huntsville PL) = Lego Robotics Mindstorms
• Tina Surdivall (Toronto DSB) = Lego WeDo and Scratch
• Shahin Dashtkian and Karen Papadopoulos (Pickering  PL & Durham DSB) = Virtual Reality
• James Steeves (Peel DSB) = Augmented Reality Sandbox
• Peter Skillen = Code to Learn book giveaway
• Lisa Noble (Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB) = Self-Regulation Station
• Sara Furnival (Upper Grand DSB) = E-Textiles
• Heather Stoness (Halton DSB) = Breakout EDU
• Alison Yntema (Oshawa PL) = Makey Makey
• Laura McEwan (Oshawa PL) = Green Screen and DoInk

 At first, things were slow in the Sandbox. People couldn't find it or didn't know what it was. The interest started to grow, just as we were supposed to be closing shop to get ready for the OSLA Spotlight session! We also noticed more youth attendees, accompanying their parents who were at the conference, coming by later in the day. What were we to do?

Thankfully, those generous people who were located in the Sandbox agreed to stay a little longer. Sara really wanted to see our OSLA Spotlight speaker, since they had a lot in common. We put a "be right back" sign on her table and she vowed to help people once she returned.

While I managed the Sandbox, Alanna took care of four separate sessions! They were Children's Books with Mental Health Themes by Lorna Schultz Nicholson, Learning with Scavenger Hunts by Keri DeClute and Grace Chung Fung-On, Growing Kids Who Can Change the Game: The School Library Learning Commons Movement in Newfoundland and Labrador by Leigh Borden, and How to Talk to Middle Schoolers about Death and Grief by Monique Polak and Merrie-Ellen Wilcox. I really wish I could have attended Leigh's talk, as I'm not sure when I'll get the opportunity to hear her speak again in person. Newfoundland isn't exactly around the corner!


Friday, February 1, 2019
10:45 am

Our OSLA Spotlight speaker was Chelsea Klukas, who is a Product Design Manager on Facebook. Her talk (which, in the common theme or thread for much of this conference, I didn't hear much of) centered on the "origins of the creative technology movement, the communities that fuel it, the makerspace movement, how libraries can build their own creative spaces and how library can support how information and skills are sourced and shared". I was still heavily preoccupied with handling the Sandbox and fielding other questions.


The SuperConference planners are required to wear a distinctive red vest and this attracts all sorts of inquiries. Our goal as planners is to try our best to give all attendees the most positive experience at the conference, so "customer service" is important, even if it means that you are interrupted from doing your original job to three new ones that crop up unexpectedly. To be honest, I like helping people. I even had some fabric fidget mazes in my pocket to distribute to people whom I thought it would help. I gave fidget mazes away to everyone from the 2018 OLA President, Kerry Badgley (who had to deal with the OLA AGM) to a volunteer (a "blue vest") that had a dull job so she wouldn't be bored. I wish I had more mazes to give out. Better get sewing to be ready for 2020!

Friday, February 1, 2019
2:00 pm

The Sandbox took a while to disassemble, and I really appreciated those folks who were able to extend their time serving others in the Sandbox. I actually had time to grab lunch (from Subway across the street) and eat it with Alanna King, Lisa Noble, and Christy denHaan-Veltman in the Speakers Lounge. Christy was here as the representative of the BCTLA. She's a former TDSB TL and we had the chance to hang out off-and-on during the three days of the conference. The 2:00 pm time slot was the last section for a variety of workshops, prior to the closing keynote. The three OSLA tagged workshops were Demonstrable Value: School Libraries by the Numbers by Marc d'Avernas, Get Your Game On with the Game of P.I.E. (Plagiarism and Integrity Education) by Richard Sims, and Microaggressions in Your School Library by Gemsy Joseph and Deborah Haines.

I have been dying (not literally but figuratively) to hear Gemsy deliver this talk since last year, when she debuted a version of it at a TDSB professional learning event. I couldn't attend it then because my own session was scheduled for the same time slot, and I couldn't attend it fully at the OLA SuperConference because all SuperConference planners were expected to report to Room 105 to be ready to go on stage for official photos and to be thanked. It was with great reluctance that I left that room to do my duties. I learned a lot even during the short time that I was there (like understanding how posting photos of the past administrators on the walls might have a negative impact on some students and could be a microaggression). Thank goodness Gemsy and Deborah's session was recorded by VoicEd!

I also lost my lipstick for the second time at conference. I lost it the first time around 4:00 pm on Thursday and by some minor miracle, Alanna found it for me in one of the conference rooms. Since one of my vanity goals is to have lovely tinted lips like our amazing SuperConference leader, Michelle Arbuckle, I was carrying around the lipstick so I could reapply it just before all the photo-taking on-stage - and I lost it again Friday afternoon. (I think my tweet about my lost lipstick garnered more attention and response than any of my #OLASC tweets!)

Friday, February 1, 2019
3:00 pm

The conference closing Keynote was CBC's The Debaters, doing a live version of their beloved show. Steve Patterson, Deanne Smith and Arthur Simeon generated a lot of laughs with their stand-up routines and their mock debate on whether we should get rid of librarians in the age of Google. Once again, planners had to exit early to prepare for their final task, sharing gum for the road and offering champagne for a final 25th anniversary toast.

Friday, February 1, 2019
7:00 pm

Yes, I said that my final duty was to distribute treats, so why wasn't I home? I chatted at length with Ruth Gretsinger, Heather (the new Toronto representative for OSLA Council), Rose Dotten, and others. Whenever there's a party and Joel Krentz and I are both present, chances are good that we will be the absolute LAST to leave. It happened at the OSLA AGM and it happened after the closing keynote. Then, I helped the OLA staff pack up their cars and vans. After that, I went to The Beguiling and Little Island Comics, where they were hosting a post-conference social for librarians of all stripes and types. I was tired but glad to talk to the wise and wonderful Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, the always positive Jordan Graham (Professional Library @ TDSB), and meet some new comics folks like Lindsay, Gemma, Amie and Matthew. (The photo below is of me and Ruth.) I made it home to my family closer to 9:00 pm

There are so many people I should thank, in closing. I know I'll miss some. Thanks Michelle Arbuckle, technically the Drector of Member Engagement and Education at OLA but in our hearts is the OLA SuperConference head honcho and main Mom. Thanks Zack O, Jacqueline, Zack M, Matthew, Alex, Megan, Andrew, Ben, Michelle G, Lee, Veronique, Jennifer, Desmond, Michelle L, Nancy, Karen, Amanda, Elizabeth, Angela and Manda, the SuperConference planners. Thanks Alanna King, my OSLA co-planner and Energizer bunny. Thanks to all the presenters, vendors, and attendees. I will be the senior OSLA conference planner for 2020 and Kate Johnson-McGregor will be my junior partner. We are excited to try our best to best represent the entire school library sector and select the best possible sessions for everyone's professional learning. Wish us luck!

OLA SuperConference 2019 Abridged Reflections Part 2 - "The Best Possible Outcome"

This is a continuation of my photos and experiences at this year's 2019 OLA SuperConference. The subtitle for Part 2 is "The Best Possible Outcome". Many people asked me about how I felt about the results of the meeting that inspired last week's blog post, and my common refrain was that it was the "best possible outcome" - not wonderful, not terrible, but considering the circumstances, the path that was the most beneficial to take. Despite that one hour looming large, there was plenty to see, hear and do before and after.

Dinner the night before at a lovely restaurant could have also ended with a bad taste in our mouths, but I hope that things will proceed like how that late-night dinner ended - with an admission that mistakes were made on both sides but that a positive resolution that satisfied all parties was found.

 Thursday, January 31, 2019
8:00 am

Duties begin early. Alanna and I started with the TALCO (The Association of Library Consultants of Ontario) AGM and breakfast. I skipped the 9:00 am Keynote address by Robyn Doolittle to help out at the front desk with participants who needed to collect their badge holders, print their badges, or deal with registration issues.



Thursday, January 31, 2019
10:45 am

Attendees really like sessions that have hands-on components to them. While Alanna took care of the session Let's Get Together: School and Academic Librarians Unite to Tackle the IL Gap Between Secondary and Post-Secondary Education, I helped convenor extraordinaire Dawn Telfer support Stephanie Morris and JEn Taylor with their talk, called Investigating Makerspace: Tools and Strategies to Support and Engage All Learners. A huge crowd attended (123, based on my count) and there were so many activities to try. I bonded with a new friend over at the paper craft area - I'd share the photo I took of her with the simple-but-stunning card she made, but I don't have her permission. I'll have to locate her email and send the picture to her directly. I think I want to invest in either a button maker or those magnetic shapes that can create 3D solids. Once again, participation at one event meant forgoing another event. There were two amazing spotlights on at 10:45 am, the Public Libraries Spotlight by Ryan Dowd on the The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness and the Intellectual Freedom Spotlight by James Turk, Pilar Martinez and Michael Vonn entitled What is Hate Speech, and What Do We Do About It?

Thursday, January 31, 2019
12:30 pm

No pictures here. It was the OLA AGM, rescheduled from 9:00 am. The atmosphere was tense. Proxies were arranged and people even attended online using Adobe Connect. Those in favour of and against the motion being proposed made decent points. In the end, someone brought to the floor an alternate motion, recommending that a committee, consisting of representation by all impacted stakeholders, be formed to deal with the language of the by-law and that a recommendation be made two months before the next OLA AGM. Even though there were enough bodies and votes to strike down the original motion, I think it was better to decide on this path of action. It was the best possible outcome. The next steps won't be easy. Despite the "best possible outcome", there were a lot of hurt and stressed out people exiting that meeting. As someone told me, a lot of healing is going to need to occur, especially since Peter Roger (former OSLA and OLA president) pointed out that this is an issue that has plagued the organization for 40 years and has been the downfall of one version of the Canadian equivalent organization. I know it negatively tinged some of my OLA SuperConference experience. I just hope we can move forward.

Thursday, January 31, 2019
2:00 pm

This was probably the busiest time slot for OSLA sessions. Three started at 2:00 pm and continued 'til 3:30, and two more started at 2:50 pm and ended at the same time as the others. Another started at 2:00 pm and ended at 2:40 and I missed it completely, to my great disappointment. I really wanted to see Game-Based Learning Using Minecraft in the Learning Commons because of the speaker, the inspirational Jen Apgar, who was a wonderful last-minute replacement for a speaker who was unable to come. I got to see five-minute chunks of Doing Data: A Fun and Innovative Way to Count What Matters by Caroline Freibauer and Anita Brooks-Kirkland, Make Writing: Making Creating and Communicating by Melanie Mulcaster, Angela Stockman, and Amanda Williams-Yeagers, and Fostering Wellness in the LLC: Stories from Around the Board by Enid Wray, Caroline Schoales, and Adrienne Kennedy. Alanna checked in on Learning and Unlearning: Coordinating Cultural Competency Training for Information Professionals, as well as Beyond "Evidence": Narrative and Graphic Mental Health Literature in a Clinical Collection. Stephen Hurley continued to record audio for VoicEd Radio and we also had Peter Skillen donate books to distribute for free. Books were shared at the OSLA Council-run session at 3:45 pm How School Libraries Advocate for the People! An Advocacy Story (as well as at the OSLA AGM and Friday's Sandbox). At 3:45 pm I was monitoring Tough Topics: Talking to Children about Prejudice, Tragedy and Online Safety with Dr. Jillian Roberts, but convenor Lauren Flattery had things in control so solidly that I was able to briefly take a peek at the Expo Hall, filled with exceptional authors, great vendors and super swag. I didn't have time to grab anything for myself, but at least I made it up there. Another "if I only could clone myself" would have been to visit Helanie Becker as she talked about The Next Wave: Diversity in Picture Book Biographies, as well as a session that was so crowded that people were spilling into the hall to listen, Dismantling the Resilience Narrative: Honest Talk about Burnout, Morale Issues and Negative Workplace Culture in Our Libraries.

Thursday, January 31, 2019
5:30 pm

The OSLA AGM was held in an unique space in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Saunders Book Company sponsored the event, for which we are extremely grateful. I know I needed a beverage and a snack around this time of the day, despite filling my pockets with granola bars and portable munchies to keep me energized throughout the day. The president and treasurer report was shared, the new council was introduced and we had awards. Congratulations to Amanda Chapman, the OSLA Administrator of the Year, Leigh Cassell and the Live Learning Canada - digital Human Library won the OSLA Award for Special Achievement, and we had two OSLA Teacher-Librarians of the Year, Kate Tuff and Glenn Turner. We also hosted the OLA Technical Services Award, which went to the Library Support Services Team from the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. My job at the AGM involved furniture relocation, award distribution, and photography.

Thursday, January 31, 2019
8:00 pm

A planner's work is never done. After the OSLA AGM (and some great conversation with Joel Krentz and Andrea Sykes), I was supposed to attend both the Karaoke Pub Night and the Games Night Social. I could only make the Games Night event. I didn't get to play any games and I skipped dinner, but I had some more wonderful conversations with Connie Scott, Michelle Goodridge, and Matthew Rohweder. Although I ended the night earlier than Wednesday (10:30 vs midnight), I was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally, but I had a sense that I tried my best and did as much as I could ("enough", one might say) and that I had to let go and be ready for the next day.

OLA SuperConference 2019 Abridged Reflections Part 1 - "The Quiet Day"

I have attended the Ontario Library SuperConference for a very long time. I first presented there in 2000 and if the records in my photo albums, on my wiki and my blog are correct, the only times I have not attended the #OLASC after that date were in 2002, 2006, and last year, 2018. (Technically, last year I was present at the Super Conference Planners meeting but spent too much money at AASL to be able to afford going to both AASL and OLA.)

My favourite photo taken of me at OLASC
Credit to photographer Anita Brooks-Kirkland
Me and my partner in crime, Alanna King

It is traditional for me to write my reflections on my blog, summarizing sessions, highlighting key points and revealing my "so what" next steps. I don't think I can give my "report" in quite the same way for 2019. Experiencing the conference from the point of view of a planner, like some of my wonderful OSLA planners before me (Alanna King, Jess Longthorne, Sarah Oesch, Joel Krentz, Lauren Flattery, and many others) is a completely different experience. It is both more and less - more altruistic, less self-centered; more sessions to check in on and ensure things are going smoothly for all attendees, less workshops to personally attend for a significant length of time. Some observations should only be shared with our SuperConference Planning Team, as they are behind-the-scenes deliberations that are not meant to be negative but serve to improve next year's conference. I think that this year, instead of my regular structure, I'll provide "snapshots" and some abridged reflections of the event.

ETA: As I began to write, I realized that there was NO way it would all fit into one post. Therefore, I'm creating three separate blog posts. Day 1 is subtitled "The Quiet Day" because I was told that Wednesday, the first day, is the quietest of the three days of SuperConference. You may disagree after reading about what took place.


Tuesday, January 29, 2019
4:00 pm
After trying unsuccessfully to carry all my luggage to the bus stop, I gave up and drove downtown. Driving downtown was a dream! I was parked and in my hotel room before 5:00 pm!
It's very important to like and work well with your division co-planner. My co-planner was the incomparable Alanna King. Tuesday evening prior to the 6:00 pm on-site All-Planners meeting was the first of many times that Alanna and I sat down to ensure we were organized and prepared. We also did wellness checks on each other. Dinner in "The Vault" at The Loose Moose was lovely! (Alanna, that was Tuesday, right?)



Wednesday, January 30, 2019
8:00 am
We were lucky to have Stephen Hurley from VoicEd Radio come to the conference to live stream and record for later broadcast several of the sessions. We met early in the morning to give him a tour of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and guarantee that he knew where to find the first presentation he was scheduled to record, a 9:00 am talk called Diversity at Your Library: Effective Strategies, Best Practices, and Lessons Learnt by Nadia Caiki, Andrea Cecchetta, and Louise Reimer. I worked the front desk, helping wonderful people like the 2018 OLBA President Mariam Hamou alongside library school volunteers assembling lanyards.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
10:30 am
Jess Longthorne and Jacquie Raycraft from the Simcoe County District School Board gave a great talk called Using the Outdoors to Power Up Your Library Learning Commons. It was well attended (43 people squeezed into the room) and I know my next step is to learn from Jess how to do an outdoor story walk (and get access to her slide deck). That would be a perfect fit for my Platinum Eco-School!

Alanna took care of two other OSLA sponsored sessions at this time: Finding Your Voice:Engaging with the OLA Advocacy Toolkit (Dawn Telfer and Jesse Carliner) and Phenomenal Learning for Young Learners and Activists (Greg Harris, Stephanie Tosh, Jamie Taylor and Alicia Dart Shaw). I got some great photos from Sarah Oesch's session, called EmPowering Our Youngest People: Storytime Sessions as a Transitional Tool for Pre-JK Students and Their Families. Our friend Jennifer Casa-Todd did a great job with her session, Virtual Reality and Your Library Learning Commons that started at 11:20 am.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
1:00 pm

We could really use one of Hermione Granger's time-turners during the SuperConference. Thanks to Alanna's simple but sufficient lunch she pre-packed and stored in her room, we were able to claw back some time that eating would, pardon the pun, eat up. Still, there's never enough time in the day. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall at the OLITA Technology spotlight to hear Dr. Safiya Noble speak. (She wrote the book that my AML friends have frequently referenced, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism.) Alanna was able to squeeze in some time to see the Careers Spotlight speaker, Melissa Nightingale (author of How F*cked Up Is Your Management? An Uncomfortable Conversation About Modern Leadership) at 9:00 am and she liked it. I needed to be at my friend Lisa Noble's talk called Organizing Your Digital Closet: The What, Why and How of Curation. Heavens knows I need some better curation systems for my personal life. Lisa's introductory activity taught me that I'm not a totally lost cause; I do have some curator tendencies, but choosing the right tool will help keep, sort, and organize information more effectively. I plan on trying out Diigo, Symbaloo, and/or Wakelet. Lisa's URL for her talk is bit.ly/OLAcloset. Simultaneously, Alanna took care of the needs of the popular talk by Jennifer Thiessen, Colleen MacKinnon, and Amanda Pemberton, Beyond CRAAP: Critical Thinking in the Age of Fake News.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
 2:30 pm

All OLA conference sessions are assigned a convenor that is meant to assist the presenters with whatever needs they might have prior to their session. Convenors introduce the presenters, read scripted announcements that are required to be shared, and other duties. My friend Ruth Gretsinger convened this very well-attended talk by David Zambrano, Christopher Su, and Kate Wetmore (employees of the Markham Public Library) called Transforming Your Library into a STEAM Learning Hub Through Camps. I was glad to be around, because this dynamic crew had a lot of things they brought for their participants to explore. These photos are just a small portion of the shots I took - and these are just ones with no faces included. At the same time, Alanna was supporting the talk Mind the Gap! Information Literacy Challenges, Needs and Opportunities for Students' Transition from High School to University / College  by Kate Johnson-McGregor, Sarah Shujah, Sophie Bury, Samhita Gupta and Christopher Tomansini. The Indigenous Spotlight speaker, Tanya Talaga, was also sharing.


Wednesday, January 30, 2019
4:00 pm

Keynotes are sessions that are deemed to be of interest to all OLA conference attendees. As such, nothing is scheduled at the same time as the keynotes, and there are only three keynotes, one per day. Our Wednesday keynote, at 4:00 pm was Micah White, activist, educator, author and the co-creator of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It was a good talk and it challenged some of our assumptions about activism. He provided an illuminating allegory about pigeons in a research study. One received food every time it pecked a lever. The second received food every second time. The third received food at random intervals. At some point, the researchers disabled the lever's connection to food. The first and second pigeons stopped pecking the lever after a try or two. The third pigeon never stopped pecking. Micah said we have to stop acting like the third pigeon, using the same strategy in the vain hope that things will change. He said that despite all the environmental activism of the past 30 years, we are in dire straits and we need to change our approach.

The interesting part of being a planner is that we are actually scheduled to attend socials and our job is to have a good time and make sure others are having a good time. Our All-Conference Welcome Party started at 5:30 pm. The theme was "Dragged Out of the 90s" to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the OLA SuperConference. As such, we had many things that linked to the past. (I got to see my friend Jessica who had some Rubik Cubes for people to play.) The centerpiece was a performance by two talented drag queens, who lip-synched to some 1990s classic stars, like Britney Spears, old-school Beyonce, and the Spice Girls.