From here I can see June!

From morguefile

On returning from the short, damp, and still chilly version of Spring Break here on the western edge of Canada, we begin to plan the last three months of the school year, in particular, for me, it will be those sessions and initiatives that support our newest directions and also enable the district's teacher-librarians to close up their programs and their facilities, clean up their collections, and plan for the year to follow.

In casting an eye to June, I have to ask, Can it really be that I am coming the end of my second year here on the penthouse floor? But there hasn't been much time to ponder deeply this week. Every time I turned around in a circuitous schedule of meetings and more meetings this week, there was another person asking for a meeting or about my schedule, the question to then be followed by a mini-celebration.

My, my! So much fabulous cake, so many lovely gifts, and so many "best wishes" that it was hard not to feel really special. I hope every consultant feels so appreciated -- that is unquestionably the most enviable piece of the job of the TL consultant. Thanks, everyone. You make doing this work fun and I do feel appreciated. I have been the lucky recipient of such a wonderful series of surprise fetes to celebrate my BIGGEST-EVER birthday and have on hand "the materials" to prepare for the late-summer trip to Italy. In case you haven't heard, I will be attending this year's IASL conference in Padua. And I am not the only Vancouver TL going. Stay tuned for more details.

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

TED stands for Technology, Education, Design. Everyone -- not just in the educational community -- should check out video clips of talks given by the world's leading thinkers, creators, designers, and movers.

TED began in 1984; since then it has grown and "now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)."

• over 200 talks are achived now
• talks are available under Creative Commons licensing -- that is free for sharing and posting elsewhere.

Gwen sent along this TED clip featuring David Merrill, an MIT graduate student who is working with "siftables," or digital manipulatives that enable the creation of stories, math sequences, and music. I think there must be some important learning for us TLs in the group of "talks" about The Rise of Collaboration ... I am keen to check out the one about bees. Pretty cool stuff!