ALA Midwinter 2020

What I learned from my #alaleftbehind adventure #alamw20

Live blogging from a conference when you’re not actually there is not as crazy as it seems- thanks to the Internet of course! Again and again I wonder how “they” ever did it anything my BFF the internet!

Here are five fun things I’ve learned while NOT attending a conference:

  1. Graphic Novels are taking over the world. The fact that a graphic novel won the Odyssey (Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka) and the Newbery (Jerry Craft’s New Kid) and a Printz Honor (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Meby Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell)is so unprecedentedly awesome. Hopefully this can show to all the teachers, educators, students (myself) out there that graphic novels are REAL literature with so, so many benefits!
  2. It is important to think critically. Yes, my favorite song of all-time is EVERYTHING IS AWESOME but I need to remember it might not always be awesome! #critlib is the latest hashtag I am following after Midwinter (and hopefully joining in on some Twitter Chats). It is important to scrutinize everything when looking at sources and technology. I need to remember that this is very important when working with children, because these are the habits we are passing on to them!
  3.  Forward Together is an awesome initiative that looks at making ALA better- https://forwardtogether.ala.org/index.php/about-forward-together/member-engagement-opportunities.
  4. Librarians have the power to change the brain by teaching new skills. I need to find more resources from the presentation: “Toxic Stress, Early Brain Development, and What Libraries Can Do to Support Young Children Experiencing Adverse Childhood Conditions.”
  5. There needs to be a way to instantly ship local food places. The donuts, the meat, the Reading Terminal. That is what the Internet is yet to fanangle. Someone figure it out please!!

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