#AASL15 Day 1 Recap (cliffnotes version)

Quick recap and notes on Day 1 of AASL 2015 - full writeup and images/links to come tomorrow. 

Day 1 recap: 

Not a fan at all of the new "all digital" format - can we please have a balance next time between all digital presentations and the posters that were undoubtedly a pain to haul on a plane? Made it very difficult to connect with presenters, took too long to stick around to look at an entire presentation. listen to speech to contextualize. 

IdeaLab: 
- Holocaust Project - online “exhibits” that students visit to learn about and contextualize as they learn about the Holocaust and read Diary of Anne Frank. Online resources to facilitate blended learning, all the prompts are there, modeled on USNHM cards that are handed out at the start of your visit in person 

- Mixed Media Poetry - LOVED this! Kids read the book “Stardines” by Jack Prelutsky, then wrote their own original poems and mashed up images to illustrate the poems. Easy to do and lots of fun. 

- BeeBots - robots (multiple levels, these are the most basic ones) that K/1 can learn to use. Kids learn to program them, integrate robotics with curriculum (math - counting by 10s, science, learning about Maine animals). 

- Legos in the Library: Creative club for kids after school to build with legos around a certain theme. Structured activity. 

- Heifer International Read to Feed 

- Next Gen PBL - you are an epidemiologist, have to learn about your virus, how it spreads, how you’ll tell people about it (basic level) —> higher differentiation was that the virus had mutated - what were the mutations, what implications for treating the outbreak. Seems pretty awesome, if ambitious. Library/Science collaboration. 

- Montgomery County virtual and physical transformation: checklists for guiding website development across a district even when individual sites are different, and checklists for guiding the transition to a learning commons space 

- Link Ladies - not sure because didn’t hear their presentation, but link to presentation. Involves apps. 


Resources: 
FactCite - Potentially promising new database offerings, fairly reasonably priced, covers a broad range, designed to be accessible for multitude of grades. Seems good for high ES and MS especially - variety of topics. 

Facts4Me: Really great looking database - accessible to kids, covers a wide variety of topics, very reasonably priced. Not all the bells and whistles of PebbleGo, but similar in some respects (image based guidance for searching once you select initial topic) - opening menu is long and unwieldy, but worth it for the content: Colonial America, countries, Presidents, Animals of all sorts, etc. 

Other: 

Harry Potter Alliance - Awesomely geeky talk with other librarians about how to channel Doctor Who (our chosen fandom) into social justice issues/topics for kids to talk about. Cybermen - acceptance of technology unquestioningly, robots taking our jobs and implications for the world economy. Why has the Doctor never been a woman or a POC? Ageism and the debate over whether the latest doctor was too old when cast. Relationships/gender expectations/portrayals and the Doctor and his companions. Linking the Doctor as a STEM model to an “I am the Doctor” campaign to encourage women and minorities to enter STEM fields. Idea based off of social activism from popular culture that’s relevant to kids: i.e. using Harry Potter characters to talk about topics like discrimination, racism, chronic illness, lack of access to healthcare/insurance, etc. Chocolate campaign that was successful - pressured Warner Brothers to make sure all HP chocolate was free-trade. Can start a chapter easily, they can help supply resources. Great video on YouTube linking Hunger Games to real issues - incarceration/racial disparity, income inequality, food stamps, disappearing unions/protections, etc. Very impressive!