Beyond Sensory storytimes - Renee Grassi
Advocacy for Technology in Kids Spaces - Elizabeth Gray
Making Advocacy Awesome - Jenna Nemec-Loise
Removing barriers to early literacy - Beth Crist
Opening public libraries for children with special needs. |
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I have added my notes to my page 'ALSC Conference', found in the 'Study Tour of the US ' link on the side bar. I have added my notes from the following presentations:
Beyond Sensory storytimes - Renee Grassi Advocacy for Technology in Kids Spaces - Elizabeth Gray Making Advocacy Awesome - Jenna Nemec-Loise Removing barriers to early literacy - Beth Crist
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I have added updates to my pages on the ALSC Conference and the San Francisco Library. These pages are found in the side bar, 'United States Study Tour 2014'.
Whilst touring in San Francisco the tour bus driver educated everybody as to why San Francisco had so many people who were homeless. Apparently people from all over the US move to San Fran to become homeless as the conditions are so fantastic. For example you can receive several free health care visits, a free meal each day - and the clincher - you can earn up to $300 a day begging. Which our tour conductor informed us was more than he earned. I managed to refrain from asking when the tour conductor was changing careers into homelessness . And here I was thinking mental health issues, disability and drugs played a key role in homelessness!!!! At the ALSC Conference I greatly enjoyed listening to a panel of four children's authors representing diversity. Whilst listening I was struck by the question: Where are the authors with special needs / disabilities ? Are they included included in our discussions of diversity in literature? At the ALSC with some of the wonderful children's librarians. From left - Sara , me, Tess Prendergast (who is undertaking her PhD on a similar topic to mine) and Kelly Clarke. Thank you for looking after me at the conference and introducing me to some to key leaders in this field. The best science interactive museum I have ever visited. The Exploratorium has six main galleries and although I spent 5 hours here, I had to rush through the last two. The museum was full of inspiration for a range of possible library programs for children with special needs. Absolutely amazing!
Andrea Davis PinkneyAuthor, Andrea Davis Pinkney gave the closing presentation at the conference today. She was one of the best author presenters I have ever seen. She is so eloquent, powerful and absorbing. Andrea is an African American female author of children's true story novels and picture books. In her presentation she spoke about her book, Ella Fitzgerald. The children's book is narrated by 'Scat the Cat Monroe' , who follows Ella throughout her life. Andrea reads and sings her text to the audience - amazing voice. What is also so inspirational is that Andrea struggled to read, only being proficient in year 6 at school! http://andreadavispinkney.com I started the day with a wonderful conference breakfast. The breakfast included a panel of four diverse tweens fiction writers from the US: Tim Federle, Pam Munoz Ryan, Rita Williams-Garcia and Gene Luen Yang. The panel discussions were fantastic. I had not read any of their books, I am now very keen to do so. I spent the afternoon at the San Francisco Public Library with Marti Goddard who was a wealth of knowledge. San Francisco Public Library also houses the Library for the Blind and Print Disabled the Deaf Services Center. It is was great to hear about the services they provide to children and adults with special needs. I am off to dinner with two of the conference presenters tonight - Renee Grassi and Tess Pendergast, two wonderful leaders in the area of library services for children with special needs. I also met Dr Betsy Diamant-Cohen, creator of the early literacy program 'Mother loose on the goose'. This program was a major influence on how children's programs were presented in public libraries in the US. What a wonderful opportunity. I have already attended some fantastic presentations and met some amazing Canadian and American children's librarians.
The sessions I attended today were:
These were all excellent. Naturally I particularly enjoyed 'Beyond sensory story time' by Renee Grassi. I will be catching up with her during and after the conference. Her knowledge and experience in this area makes her one of the leaders. I am keen to learn as much from her as I can. I will be posting some of the key points that I gained from each of this sessions in the US study tour - ALSC Conference page in my Blog. Hopefully I will be able to do this over the weekend. I also had the wonderful experience of listening to the keynote speaker, Steve Sheinkin, talk about his new book, The Port Chicago 50. This is a true story book, written primarily for middle school children. It focuses on an historical event, dealing with issues of race, during World War 2 in the US. Absolutely fascinating. The research process that Steve had to undertake to discover the truth was also so impressive. Can't wait for tomorrow! Tomorrow is the first day of the Children's Conference - I am really looking forward to it.
Booked into the hotel late tonight, after travelling over 12 hours from the amazing Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. Registration starts at 8 am so I will be up nice and early. I hope I can sleep tonight. |
Jo KaedingChildren's Librarian and PhD student. Interested in library programs for children with special needs. You can follow me on Twitter :
@KaedingJo Archives
April 2017
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