Scholarship Bash

Enjoyed the Scholarship Bash at the Art Institute. Took a drawing class - what a disaster. Saw American Gothic by Grant Wood and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper - both of which have been parodied in children's books - and I referenced in my recent presentation on using children's literature in art classes.

Authors

Chatted with Laurie Halse Anderson as she accepted the Scott O'dell award for historical fiction. Chains was indeed worthy of the award - follows the life of a slave during the American Revolution. She is still interested in coming to KU. Will e-mail her when I get back.

ALA/AASL Standards

Went to a hearing about the program standards. Margie Crutchfield from NCATE was there. It looks like ALL programs will end up with a maximum of seven standards with four elements under each standards. Some SPAs are suggesting a total of 28 elements rather than four per standards. The standard will reflect each element therefore the program must ensure that all standards are addressed in the core assessments. Data must be provided for two administrations of the the core assignment. Eileen Kern and I were there representing KU and had a chance to comment on the new AASL standards.

Closing the Gap

Judi Repman moderated a session on Making Information Literacy Seamless Across K-16. Many resources were shared that will be very helpful as I work with Bob Flatley and Krista Prock on the Assessment Grant. The session emphasized the alignment between ACRL's Info Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

Networking

Met with Lesley Farmer, well-known author in the field of library science, and professor at California State University - Long Beach. Was anxious to talk to her about Task Stream. As it turns out they do use it in the College of Ed but she does not specifically use it. She also serves as an adjunct profesor at Clarion. Interesting - I'm anxious to find out how Clarion/Mansfield hire all these adjuncts. Also chatted with Deb Kachel from Mansfield - she taught for Mansfield while at Ephrata and now works for them full time. Also interesting to note is that neither she nor Cindy Keller has a doctorate degree.

Holiday House Reception

Previewed new books from Gail Gibbons, Russell Freedman, Christopher Myers and a host of other authors. Bought a copy of Washington at Valley Forge and had Russell autograph it. Many of these authors have appeared at the KU Children's Literature Conference.