MSLA Conference Reflections

The MSLA conference really exceeded my expectations. Working full time and taking this course makes me feel like I’m already short on time so it was difficult to imagine giving most of my precious Sunday up but I’m so glad I did!

I will admit, I considered sleeping in and missing the keynote speaker but I’m thankful that I didn’t. The keynote speaker was Rajani LaRocca who is an author of picture and middle grade books in addition to being a physician. How cool! Her story was so interesting and she was so engaging — hard to do at 8am on a Sunday! Something that resonated with me from her presentation was advice given to her by her high school creative writing teacher. She had told him that although she loved writing, she knew she wanted to be a doctor and he replied, “Who said you can’t be both?” Her presentation was a reminder that we really can do all that we want to. It was the jolt I needed! After listening to her describe her multi-award winning book, “Red, White, and Whole,” I immediately added it to my TBR list. I can’t wait to read it and as an added bonus, I’ll be able to check off one of this year’s Read Harder prompts!

It was really difficult to decide between the different presentations but luckily most of the presenters linked their materials on Sched. I did feel a bit of FOMO though!

The first session I attended was “Fold and Flip: Engaging students in active experiences using basic bookmaking ideas” presented by Carol Kelly. This session was so fun as Kelly took us through some basic bookmaking construction and showed us examples of projects students had made. This session was a great reminder of how fun and relaxing it can be to do something with your hands. Although the presentation seemed to mostly focus on bookmaking with younger grades, I was still inspired and spent some time brainstorming how bookmaking could be used with the 7th-12th grade crowd. I hope that when I am in a library position I am able to create a makerspace that is a balance of tech and old school hands-on crafts. I will definitely  remember this session!

Next, I chose to attend “Empowering Learners while Bridging the Gap between Library and Classroom Instruction” presented by Maryann Muhilly and Hugh Poza. The presenters did a great job of demonstrating various ways to use Gale. While I’d browsed Gale in the past, this was really informative for me. My favorite feature was the “Topic Finder.” Users can enter a topic and they’ll receive a visual (either tiles or a wheel, I prefer the tiles) that can help them narrow their topic down and find related articles. Here is an example:

And because Gale describes it better than I can, “This tool takes the titles, subjects, and approximately the first 100 words from a subset of your top results and feeds them into an algorithm. Keywords shown in the graphics are those found most often in the text with your search term.”

After lunch, I attended “Equity in Inquiry: Collaborating for student learning” presented by Leslie Maniotes. She discussed Guided Inquiry Design as a framework to support authentic student learning. Dr. Maniotes shared findings and results from teachers and librarians she had worked with using GID. The topic was really interesting and I definitely want more information but overall I felt a bit confused by this presentation as if maybe I was supposed to have some background knowledge on the topic or had missed a required reading. I will be looking more into Dr. Maniotes’s website and will consider buying her book. This kind of inquiry process seems really engaging for students but difficult for staff to take on. I’m curious how it relates to AP’s newer inquiry course which seems to be gaining a ton of traction and interest.

Finally, I attended Elizabeth Halley’s presentation, “Media Matters: Using Comics in the Classroom to Reach All Students.” I chose this session because I have only read one comic and I don’t really feel drawn to that genre but I have so many students who are. Halley had some fun hands on materials at the tables (sequencing comics, blank make-you-own templates, and different books). It was fun to try and put a comic in order that had been cut from its original sequence. We found that most people organized the panels differently. Halley had some great recommendations and examples of how to use graphic novels and comics in the classroom. What I enjoyed most was listening to Halley dispel some common misconceptions about comics, like the idea that this genre is “easier” than prose. 

Overall, I’m really glad that I attended the conference and wished I could have stayed for Monday’s sessions as well!