Yet again the Treasure Mountain Canada symposium experience
exceeded our goals and wishes for success. TMC 2016 brought together creative
and energetic minds from sea to sea to sea virtually to study the diverse
papers on the TMC collaborative Book to Cloud publication. Face to face
participation in Toronto was enriched by the voices of enthusiastic
practitioners and school library leaders from six provinces. Many participants
we welcomed back for the third and fourth time and we were delighted to have so
many joining us for the first time.
Friday evening we enjoyed greeting old and new friends at our delicious ‘kick off’ dinner at Joe Badali’s restaurant. It was confirming to learn more about the work of our keynote speaker David Cameron, researcher People for Education. He encouraged us to move beyond measuring things that are easy to count in our work in school libraries and develop ways to address student success that consider what really counts in preparing learners for the future. Leading Learning is the place to start!Saturday was a very interactive busy day of working through the papers at Table Talks and playing with innovative ideas. As Diana Maliszewski tweeted, “ideas were flying –literally “
Table Talk Presenters
Lisa Ainsworth - Teacher/Teacher Librarian Assessment
Collaborative Inquiry
Melanie Mulcaster - Making it Work: A Learning Commons
Approach to Engaging Middle School
Caroline Feibauer - Spheres of influence: Can a teacher
librarian make a difference? Part 2
Peggy Lunn and Elizabeth Iori - Blueprint for a Teacher Librarian
Alternative Placement Practicum: A practical guide to hosting a Teacher
Candidate in your School Library Learning Commons
Diana Maliszewski Purposeful Play: Games Based Learning in
School Library Learning Commons
Monica Berra and Leona Prince - Culturally Response Aboriginal Resources
Michelle Campbell - If You Build It, They Will Come - Sharing
Makerspace Bins @ Upper Grand District School Board
Alanna King - #BIT15Reads: Building a Participatory
Learning Community of Professional Readers
June Rysinski - Coming together For Learning: Reflecting
on our past and Mapping our Progress
Diana Maliszewski - Climbing Mountains - Methods for Mentoring Teacher-Librarians
Cindy Van Wonderen - Leading Together for Inquiry learning
Greg Harris - Evolution of inquiry based learning at
Ardagh Bluffs Public School
Focus Speakers
Monica
Berra creatively shared her journey in Prince George school district to
lead schools into the maker movement and Dr
David Loertscher followed up with a virtual maker space his San Jose
students created in Symbaloo. Time to play in a virtual sandbox of learning
environments spawned rich ideas and discussions for building participatory
learning environments.
Dr Dianne Oberg in sharing her paper reminded us that, “Adoption is
easier than Implementation.” Another key learning that resonated with everyone
is the concept of flipping the questions we usually have when working with
principals. Instead of requesting support for the library, ask the principal, “How
can I assist you?” This approach aligns so well with the collaborative approach
of a Library Learning Commons.
The day was sealed with personal and collaborative commitments to further the implementation of Leading Learning and the growth of School Library Learning Commons in Canada.
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The extended session led by Liz Kerr and Anita Brooks
Kirkland was well attended and resulted in the development of a survey to
‘test the waters’ for support to proceed with work to establish a new national
association for school library learning commons in Canada.
Browse through my Storify to catch a taste of the rich professional
learning in Twitter time https://storify.com/carolkoechlin/tmc4-2016-in-toronto#publicize
In past posts we have thanked our OLA partners for their
support. Enough cannot be said to recognize their assistance in making TMC4 a
memorable and successful event. We thank OSLA Council for the award recognizing
the accomplishments of Treasure Mountain Canada. This award is testimony to the
national work this ‘gathering of the minds’ has been able to achieve and a
thank you to every paper shared, the organizing committees and participants who
have made TMC a force for change to enable the best school library learning
commons for every student in Canada. Here is the link to TMC4 papers https://sites.google.com/site/treasuremountaincanada4/
We need a partner for TMC5! Bring TMC to your district in 2018 and showcase your association nationally. Contact anyone on the TMC planning committee with your ideas for a combined event.Start thinking about your goals now for the future and turn those into research for TMC5 papers!Thank you everyone! |