Thursday, August 16, 2007

Week 9 Thing #23 Part 1 Learning for Life...

The School Library Learning 2.0 learning experience was truly one of the most valid professional development experiences I've ever had.

As the "information landscape" changes (David Warlick's phrase), librarians face the opportunity to become more important and integral to the learning experience than ever before. People will need guidance to find authoritative information! As Warlick (he's one of my favorite thinkers, does it show?) and so many others insist, in an age where we can no longer predict what kinds of jobs or lifestyles our young people will face in adulthood, the most important skill we can hone in them is the ability to continue teaching themselves new things when they need to. We should model this behavior for our students--not only for the sake or modeling, but also because lifelong learning is a fundamental tenet of librarianship! Learning is what we facilitate--it's what we're about! So...we have to walk the walk!

As my friend, mentor and fellow learner said to me today, we must stay a step ahead if we can. We might not be a step ahead of our adaptable young learners all the time, but we can stay a step ahead of the norm in terms of learning new and better ways of doing things! And if our kids see us learning, then I say we've done them a favor, because we've shown them that learning is a forever pursuit!

I am wildly appreciative of the California School Library Association for the spirit of collaboration and lifelong learning that they've exhibited by making this program available to me, a Texas librarian, who will probably never be a resident of their state. The sponsors of SLL2.0 have been supportive and helpful to me and my other Texas colleagues, and we will in turn spread the word--and give the credit to this wonderful team. Thank you again for being so willing to share your knowledge and time--this was really a wonderfully engaging and pertinent professional development experience.

2 comments:

Lifelong Learner said...

Congratulations! You did it.

I couldn't agree with you more. It has been a wonderful learning experience. I am so glad that we had the opportunity to take this journey together. I hope that we will be able to inspire our fellow librarians to join us on the journey so that we will be better prepared to reach and teach our students.

Thanks for being my inspiration. Annet
Annet

Jackie S, 2.0 project manager said...

Congratulations on successfully completing School Library Learning 2.0 -- consider yourself a Texas member of the CSLA 2.0 Team. :)

Glad you enjoyed the discovery learning experience. We will keep this course and a new version called Classroom Learning 2.0 online over the 2007-2008 school year so individuals and groups (2.0 partners) can enjoy the fun learning experience.

Best wishes.
- Jackie Siminitus
CSLA 2.0 Team project manager
CSLA2Team@yahoo.com