Today I Went to #LRR2016

and I WASN'T PRESENTING. Which I have done at every conference I've attended for the last I don't know how long because 1) I wanted to try getting a position on a different campus and thought that would help; and 2) a previous admin wouldn't let me attend a state level conference being held in my own hometown and I thought "Never again, they can't say no if I'm presenting!" (Ha ha to the previous winter when yes, I got to go, but only on the two days I was presenting, so I missed 70% of it because the last day was only a half day :().

It was very nice to just attend and learn. I wish I had some awesome ideas to share this time but no. Just soaking it all in with no stress.

The keynote was Jason Reynolds. I haven't actually read any of his books but at least one has been on my TBR list for a while and perhaps I should bump it up. Curiosity may lead me to add another one of his titles. He had a great message about helping kids find the books that they connect with. And told stories about his literary and writing journey as "Langston Latifah." He tells it better. You should just take any opportunity to hear him. And actually the anecdote about the time he met Queen Latifah is pretty funny. Takes about 26 seconds to tell.

Then the first actual session was David Liss. He will be coming to our school in November. I LOVED Randoms so I'm excited to read Rebels.

Weekend reading. 😍😍😍 #scifi #kidlit

A photo posted by Angie Oliverson (@msoreadsbooks) on Sep 23, 2016 at 12:42pm PDT

I bought these from the indie shop that was there. And I wasn't thinking when I handed them an Amazon credit card, now was I? She made a joke about covering that name up. Took me a sec to "get" it.

The second session I went to was about Genius Hour. I have done a few things similar to this ... but started it a little differently last week and am regretting it a bit. Showed part of Caine's Arcade and now 9 of the 10 want to build something out of cardboard. Will go back next week and try to revamp to somewhere in between. It's super awesome and motivating for kiddos to go after their passions. Just ... what do you do when the one non-cardboard person one insists her passion is building a printer? A 3rd grader?

Then we had lunch and we got to hear a highly condensed 45 minute presentation from Mr. Schu. Actually never heard him speak before. Definitely passionate about kidlit! I came home and ordered two books because P&E in any form are awesome. Don't know why Amazon says they are written by MW, though, because they are not. Just part of a series.

Third one was about delivering PD in the age of TTESS (our state teacher eval system). There were some interesting ideas shared that I may post about later. I really liked most of them. A couple ... wow. Made me feel a little overwhelmed with responsibility. I try to know a lot about what is going on all over campus. Just ... how on earth can I know everything?
My friend and colleague tweeted this out cause she had a better angle. And oh drat. Embedding doesn't show the pic preview. Well. Libraries and world domination. Click through if you have a sec.

Librarians supporting T-TESS. Perfectly situated to support teachers in differentiated, self-driven PD. Learn with us! #lrr2016 #neisdlibs pic.twitter.com/83igrW5yzf

— Wendy Howk (@whowk) September 23, 2016

Then I went to a refresher on TeachingBooks.net because it's been a while since we had access to it. I always really liked it and need to figure out a better way to get staff involved using it.

Then I went to a meeting about being a mentor to a teacher going through the UNT master's program. Though my mentee hasn't contacted me yet or responded to my message. Bummer. Now, I will admit ... there is quite a lot to this being a mentor. Who knew? Also I am glad I was able to concentrate on school and didn't have to keep teaching while I took the classes because that would be hard.

WEEKEND! Had two teachers ask about possible lessons next week. One ... second graders researching flexible seating to help a teacher spend $500. I LOVE that she asked. Just not even sure where to start! Then a fifth grade teacher with a couple options. Reading Separate is Not Equal for Hispanic Heritage. Maybe some mini bio research. Teaching kids how to search for photos for projects. And possibly integrating heat energy with that. Must do some test searches. Will looking up "heat" get us ... weird inappropriate images?