Styling Librarian – Special Feature: Conference Presentation

Loaded up and ready for the presentation!

Last week I received a message from a former colleague inviting me to present at my school district’s Literacy Staff Development conference.
I discussed what I might present on:
How to help kids to read independently; resources connecting kids to books; book talking; connecting kids to books online…

I decided to talk about encouraging a reading environment in the classroom/school, special literacy days to enjoy through the year, new books I recently read and would recommend, and some online resources for book selection and reading e-books online. It was brief. I presented during three sessions for 1 hour and 15 minutes each.

Since I spent quite a bit of time on the presentation and the book lists, I thought I’d share here. Hopefully is will be useful for others.

Please note, part of my talk on encouraging a reading environment in the classroom included quotes and reference to Donalyn Miller, Jennifer LaGarde, and Pernille S. Ripp. They each create so many inspiring resources. I knew that those resources would be perfect for teachers to go to in the future. Additionally, I shared a link to Nerdy Book Club during the presentation.

Here’s the slideshow: (I uploaded this to slideshare, also it is a Google Presentation.)

Here’s the booklist I created.  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZkGFTVdn0Pw8v70Nsg7taUROv1SIha_PScp_80em29E/edit?usp=sharing
I shared one pile of wonderful book treasures after another with them categorized this way: wonderful books to begin the year with, fantastic wordless picture books, lovely reading and writing connected books, fact-packed non-fiction books, and novels to read aloud through the school year.
I shared almost all of the books on the above linked list and the district provided money to purchase giveaway books. I promoted all the books and then at the end of each session I asked the teachers to share books they would recommend for read alouds and the ones who answered first each received a book. I love giving book gifts.

I also addressed that the district was purchasing books for every classroom in the district, a gorgeous selection to create and add to classroom libraries. I referred in my presentation to the books purchased with a list of the books I’d pull out of the boxes first and share.

This was a pretty special day since I was able to connect with many special friends, colleagues, and it honestly felt like a wonderful homecoming experience… It was exciting to meet some of my new colleagues at McKay Elementary, will be nice to have some familiar faces when I start working. I loved that people appreciated the presentation and I appreciated the accolades I received. I also was excited about the dialogue that was occurring with those leaving the presentation. Those were three pretty packed presentations with many positive people listening. Grateful for the opportunity…. but returning to summer break for a few days!

Want more book ideas and reviews? – Yes, I’m quite brief, but a prolific reader!  Please visit me at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1941055-the-styling-librarian Also, please follow this blog through email updates – (do so to the right of this blog post), my Facebook page, comment, or meet up with me on Twitter. I appreciate all of the support, makes my day! Honored by all the wonderful followers.

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© 2013 by Debbie Alvarez of The Styling Librarian. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @stylinlibrarian or at my Styling Librarian Page on Facebook.