FAME: I'm Gonna Learn Forever

I've been a little absent from the blog.

Thanksgiving week we only had school for two days. The kiddos that came to me disguised turkeys as their favorite book characters. They did a really incredible job and I love that they can be inventive and creative while tying it to literacy.

That same week I submitted two proposals for next year's AASL conference and I also submitted an article for our FAME Quarterly issue.

This week I had 7th grade classes doing maker space activities and I scored about 300 students's 20 Book Challenge submissions.

Wednesday through Friday I was at my state Media Specialist annual conference. It is my favorite thing I go to all year. I love being around so many other energetic Media Specialists to learn from them and grow.

Wednesday I did an 8 hour Makey Makey training and it was awesome! I learned how to complete a circuit, how to play a piano using a drawing and my Makey Makey kit, I drew a book review in four parts and used Scratch to code voice into it, and worked on an awesome group project. I also made several new friends and got to hang with one of my fellow Brevard County Media Specialists.

Right after my training we did Speed Dating with an Author which is one of my favorite parts of the conference. You sit at a table and an author comes by every two minutes to tell you a little bit of the back story of why they wrote their book(s) and to allow you to ask questions. These are always some pretty big name authors so it's always a thrill.

Wednesday evening I had the privilege of going  to  dinner with the other SSYRA committee members and some of the authors. It was so incredible! I sat and spoke with Peter Brown, author of The Wild Robot, and so many others.

Thursday I had breakfast with two of my favorite people and then got to watch a powerful Keynote by Elizabeth Acevedo, author of Poet X. I got some books signed by Elizabeth and Neal Shusterman, and then I got to present on diverse books with one of my fellow Media Specialists, Ana Woodbrey. We talked about the importance of diverse books, how to find them, how to promote them, and why all of this even matters.

I attended a session about the #readwoke movement and then I got to present another session on curating resources through Collections by Destiny with our amazing Follett rep and my fantastic District Media Resource person.  I also went to an SSYRA session, an SSYRA book meeting, and had a quick stop by a special leadership event for up-and-coming FAME leaders.

After that some of my Brevard peeps and I went and had dinner at Disney Springs and laughed and laughed so hard. We did the Christmas tree trail and made it back in time to watch Late Night Library Games.

Friday morning I had breakfast with someone I admire so much, Jennifer Underhill, and she taught me all the things I need to know for the upcoming year, and we had the pleasure of being joined by the hilarious James Ponti. I chatted with some people in the vendor hall, went to Jenn and James's awesome session on author visits, back to the vendor hall, and then lunch and our closing session with none other than Jennifer Lagarde, Library Girl herself. She armed us with how to fight the zombie librarians and be awesome for our kids and staff.

I always leave this conference full of great ideas and so inspired to go back and do great things to boost student learning and engagement.

It's been a pretty great week!