By Jessica Robbins who
currently serves as the Director of Curriculum and Special Programs for Aransas
County ISD in Rockport, TX.
About eight years ago,
I was approached by my campus librarian who had something very sneaky up her
sleeve. She was baiting me into a love affair with the Texas Library
Association annual conference. Maybe “sneaky” and “baiting” is a little
overdramatic. The truth is, when you offer a young high school English teacher
a 4-day trip to free books and rooms full of authors, you can expect hero
status. I had no idea as I responded with an emphatic “YES!” just what a
gift she was offering me.
Most high school
English teachers do not struggle with a love for reading. They often
chose the profession because literature lured them into a degree that has
limited career options. English majors share an appreciation for the
canon and envision themselves sharing the passion for the greats with a
classroom full of eager teenagers. It isn’t until your first round with To
Kill a Mockingbird or Beowulf that you discover that somehow you
missed something in college.
I was one of those
English majors who entered the field of teaching not JUST because I loved
American Lit. I wanted desperately to inspire kids. So when I was
presented with an unconventional approach to reading something besides the
classics with the possibility of reaching more students with more books, I ran
quickly toward the door. I knew my librarian sprinkled some kind of fairy dust
on kids who walked into the library, but I didn’t realize until after TLA that
it wasn’t magic; it was young adult literature. She was keeping up with the
latest releases on books that were written FOR my reluctant readers and my
passionate readers. She had her finger on the pulse of YA and this gave
her most of what she needed to crack the door open to a world of reading.
My students needed this, and I didn’t realize how badly.
My immersion into this
world changed my life. I spent my week participating in sessions where
authors sat at tables and talked about the experience of writing for my kids, I
was exposed to the most recently released works from a wide variety of publishers,
and I learned about digital applications for the classroom at a rapid rate. I
realized how many opportunities my students were missing when I allowed the
unknowns of technology to intimidate me to the point of avoidance.
At the end of each
day, I returned with my treasures and met up with the team of professionals who
traveled with me. Our district had received some additional grant money
that year to provide this opportunity to administrators, instructional
technologists and teachers. We debriefed each day, and I realized that I
was not the only person experiencing this new level of enlightenment.
As we talked about our sessions, we wanted to take a piece of TLA
home with us, and at the end of one of our final days, we committed to a K-12
collaborative team that I am still proudly a part of today.
I now work at the
district level in curriculum and instruction. As director over our K-12 ELAR
program and several special programs, I take every chance I get to budget for
and send teachers from our district to TLA. There are very few forms of
professional development that have had such a powerful impact on my career, and
I continue to hear the same from attendees who return in April. TLA can
inspire new teachers, veteran teachers, and tired teachers. It has immediate
results. Teachers come home fueled and empowered to lead students toward a
love for reading, and administrators come home equipped to lead their staff in
powerful reading opportunities, cutting edge media and technology.
I know budgets are
tight, but if you have any control over professional development in your
district, the Texas Library Conference will be pennies well spent. Texas
teachers need this, and as difficult as it is for educators to break away from
campus, the gains will be well worth the sacrifice. I still shamelessly
thank my librarian for paving my way to TLA and repay the favor as often as
possible. I signed my first administrator up for the April 2017
conference yesterday, as a matter of fact!
Join Us! On Friday, April 21, 2017, 100 classroom teachers will have the opportunity to experience a one day special event during the TLA conference, comprised of speakers, activities, and pricing designed just for them. Planning has begun for a fun, interactive day for the classroom teachers who attend, as well as the librarians who sponsor them. Participants are welcome to stay for the full conference. The focus of this program is for classroom teachers to return to their districts after experiencing TLA as library advocates and collaborators. Details about Teacher Day at TLA and the application for teachers to participate can be accessed at http://www.txla.org/teacher-day.
No comments:
Post a Comment