Travelling Road Show

As many of you will know, I have been a one-person travelling road show since the beginning of May. I delivered or oversaw the delivery of ten workshops, one important literacy-planning luncheon where the "caterer" (next year's TL at Tupper) got sick at the last minute, a SLRCCC meeting with a huge agenda, and a presentation to the Trustees. Thanks to everyone for your support, patience, and initiative in keeping the show on the road. I was also grateful for the opportunity to share the directions for teacher-librarianship that are transforming our work and to solicit feedback on the themes of literacy and technology integration.

I had no idea that May in this job would have been so busy -- at least as busy as it is in the schools -- but I will be much smarter next year. I have also been working alongside Maryann as she gets back up to speed -- no, really, it's more like just trying to keep up with her! She's exhausting me. Does the energy and enthusiasm for the work and her return to "the chair" permeate the email lines?


This morning I finally retrieved all the space in my car, space that has been occupied by books, snacks, utensils, equipment, and the evidence that I am a regular patron at Starbucks as a regular stop in getting to the next destination. I only went to the wrong school once (and it got even more confusing when I ask for Hugh, and the secretary replied, Who?). On the wind-down to year-end in a cubicle, I forgot to go to the school visit entered on my calendar weeks ago. The TLs, in best TL style, were incredibly gracious and will likely enjoy the snack they had prepared and the peace and quiet until our next try at meeting.


Here's what you need to know:

• there was great interest in the elementary/primary library applications of Smartboards; more than two attendees at Updates where Sylvia demonstrated Smartboards have begun the search for means to bring this tool to their schools, often a search that begins by pressing the administrator!
  
• ironically Sylvia and Maryann could not get the Smartboard to work during the SLRCCC presentation to Trustees! One or two of us may have been making jokes about a "dumb-board."


• French Immersion TLs debated the fine line between supporting on-site Literacy initiatives and being recognized as literacy experts in their own right, experts who work with different but important specialist understandings about what works to encourage students' reading


• some elementary sessions grappled with the role technology integration plays in their instructional programs


• there was generally a really positive response to the draft Literacy and School Libraries document as a source of ideas and of information for those who might have missed the connections
  
• the draft Literacy and School Libraries document was shared both with Trustees in the SLRCCC presentation and with the writer for the District Literacy Plan; there is always the chance that it provides new information about the relationship between school libraries and literacy


• there is an emerging sense of the state of technology in elementary school libraries; one school fully meets exemplary criteria; there is a positive correlation between acceptable standards for technology and administrative support, with help from parent funding being another significant factor