This year's ITEM Fall Conference (ITEM stands for Information & Technology Educators of Minnesota) was a fabulous opportunity for learning! It was great to hear from innovative library and tech
specialists from all over the state of Minnesota! Because we are often isolated
as the only library/tech specialists in our schools, it is so great to have the
opportunity to learn from each other! This year, keynote speakers included super energetic Brad Gustafson and the ever inspirational Jennifer LaGarde! (pictured with me in the upper left hand corner) Brad spoke to us about using digital media to amplify student voice. He even treated us to a few seconds of drone action! Jennifer travels around the nation speaking about libraries and teaching! I have had the opportunity to hear her speak before, and every time I walk away with a renewed sense of purpose about what I do everyday with children. I think it is safe to say I have a professional crush on Jennifer!
My Lakeville media specialist colleague, Paula Hansen, and I presented a session on Promoting Your School Library. We featured our tech and library work with students and shared our "get the word out" approach using blogs, social media, and professional writing/speaking. We used the Emaze web app to create our presentation (see below), which worked well for collaborating with each other from a distance!