GSLIS recently hosted the second annual Summer Getaway, a series of workshops that brought together over sixty school librarians from across the state to learn about current topics in K-12 librarianship from experts and from each other.
Each day of the three-day event offered a different professional development focus. On Monday, attendees learned about the latest state requirements for using Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) to show academic growth and were able to begin writing and revising their own. Tuesday’s group learned how to maximize benefit from Google Apps for Education, and on Wednesday, attendees heard from a public and school librarians who have transformed their libraries into engaging and innovative spaces that have improved the student experience.
“We design the Summer Getaway so that school librarians will walk away not only with new ideas, but with hands-on experience. Our hope is that the connections they make and the knowledge they gain will make a substantial impact on their professional work,” said Georgeann Burch, GSLIS K-12 program coordinator and organizer of the Summer Getaway.
Since many school librarians serve as the only librarian for several schools or even for an entire district, opportunities for these educators to share resources and network with peers are very valuable. Laine Pehta (MS '14), the library learning director at Franklin Middle School in Wheaton, attended all three days of the workshop and said, “It is nice to hear that everybody is having the same issues, and I appreciate the solid collaboration time with other librarians. Whatever we’re learning how to do, it is nice to do it with other librarians because most of us are usually an island in our school.”