Reflecting on the Sharjah International Book Festival and ALA Conference

I am humbled by the scope and power of the journey I recently made to the Sharjah International Book Fair/ALA Library Conference (#SIBFALA17) on behalf of ALA.


Look - it's me!


The most valuable piece of this experience was in the exchange that took place between educators.  Even on the other side of the world we share similar challenges.  Recurring themes were
  • Time - We don't have much.  How do we squeeze it all in?
  • Relationships - How do you cultivate these in your school?
  • Schedule - How does this impact your instruction?  How could it be improved?
My first presentation on Project-Based Learning took a deep dive into the learning my students did this past spring around The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.  Attendees were curious about the multiple intelligences used, how I differentiated the learning and how the learning was assessed.

My second presentation, Developing a Community of Learners was a broader look at the ways in which I foster a learning community in our library and beyond.  I shared a broad variety of tools and celebrations that encourage learning with each other.  My hope was that attendees would identify a small handful of ideas that appealed to them and their students and try these with their students.

Overall, I felt warmly welcomed by all at the SIBF.  The fair itself was a giant celebration of books from many countries and I enjoyed perusing books in a variety of formats and languages.  With some help I was able to find a book that I enjoyed in English and it's Arab translation.  I was especially taken with the quality of books published by Kalimat.




Coincidentally, an author of one of these books (and school librarian) attended one of my sessions and we had a lovely conversation about her work.  I came home with a fine assortment of books to share with my students.

I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with my students.  I am grateful to the ALA for granting me this opportunity to share, learn and grow.

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