Yikes. Found some notes I’d scratched down from Joyce Valenza’s Keynote on Thursday. I thought I’d taken more notes, but since I couldn’t find them, I thought I must have imagined them! Anyway, here they are:

• Most of her items can be found at http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com
• “Kids are already content creators,” be it good or bad content, we need to make that content appropriate, legal, better, etc.
• She charged us with ensuring that blogs, wikis, nings, and other Web 2.0 tools are unblocked by our schools/districts. We should be illustrating, discussing, showing these tools are essential tools/skills that should be taught to our kids and not block access to our kids. My word: Instead of telling kids we don’t trust them at all (hence the blocking of all websites) we should be teaching them how to be responsible citizens and users of technology.
• Educators (especially media specialists) need to become familiar with Creative Commons and ensure our teachers are using appropriate (and legal) images. No more Google images searches!
• VoiceThread was highlighted and some ideas I thought of were to use this instead of PowerPoint – specific project include family stories and book reviews/reports.
• Apple Learning Interchange: “The Apple Learning Interchange (ALI) is a social network for educators. Find a wealth of content ranging from simple lesson ideas to in-depth curriculum units for K-12 educators as well as a new channel for Higher Education faculty showcasing campus projects, research and more.”

Friday: “Booktalking the Young Adult Book Award Nominees” presented by the Young Adult Book Award Committee. My last official act as a member of the YABA committee was to booktalk The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson. I also booktalked the book The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin for another member who couldn’t make the conference. To start the session, Mary Lou Elliot, our committee Chairpserson, played the podcast episode for Avalon High by Meg Cabot. The podcasts were performed by my Wagener-Salley HS drama club students. The podcasts will be made available shortly on the SCASL website but, at the time of this posting, they have not yet been uploaded. Until then, you can access the first two here and from a link on the Wagener-Salley HS Library Media Center page.

“Google Lit Trips: A Journey Your Students Will Never Forget” presented by Julia Davis, Richland School District One Instructional Technology Specialist. I posted this on an earlier blog post since I thought the tool was such a good one. There are so many possibilities for using Google Earth on it’s own, but Lit-Trips are great way to involve students imaginations and help them understand settings in novels, and possibly timelines/history depending upon how you set up your trip!

And last, but certainly not least, I attended the Author Celebration Luncheon featuring Jamie Adoff, Melinda Long, and Eloise Greenfield. We also learned which books won the 2007-2008 Awards:

Picture Book: Sweet Tooth by Margie Palatini
Childrens Book: The Old Willis Place: a Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Junior Book: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Young Adult Book: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Whew! Overall, what I really took from the SCASL conference was a renewed energy and excitement for my profession. And of course, lots of new tools to explore and skills to learn! Thanks to all of the conference planning and organization folks (and especially to Valerie Byrd-Fort) for all your hard work and dedication. It paid off in spades!