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ASLA April 2021 E-Newsletter

ASLA April 2021 E-Newsletter

Dear Members,

It is my great pleasure to send my first email as President of ASLA. I am proud to be a part of this amazing association and want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of outgoing board members and ASLA staff.

Margo Pickworth - outgoing President

Kerry Pope - outgoing Vice President

Sophie Partington - outgoing Administrative Assistant

Chris Skrzeczynski- outgoing Website Manager

On behalf of the ASLA board we thank them for their service to our association.

Thank you to those members who attended the ASLA AGM. Our new board executive members were announced during the AGM and are listed below.

Natalie Otten - President

Claire Elliott - Vice President

Wendy Rutten - Secretary

Robin Zeidler continues in her role of Treasurer.

All other board members continue in their Director roles.

Judith Thompson joins the ASLA team as our Executive Officer. You can contact her via the asla@asla.org.au email address.

As we begin Term 2 over the next few weeks, I wish you all the best and look forward to you joining us for our upcoming webinar.

ASLA/SLASA National Virtual Conference

12 - 13th April, 2021

The ASLA/SLASA virtual conference concluded on 13 April and was a hugely successful event attended by 180 delegates from Australia and internationally. A reminder that registered delegates can access the recordings of the conference for 90 days from the close of the event. Delegates have been emailed instructions on how to access the recordings.

Conference highlights

Over the two days of the virtual conference, delegates heard from a variety of speakers who highlighted the Keys to Learning: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration.

Steve Francis inspired us with his keynote 'Juggling Jelly and other impossible tasks like pleasing everybody'. His focus on the keys Collaboration and Communication encouraged delegates to think about "The realistic approach to the multiple dimensions of working in a complex environment and managing the relationships that matter. "

Ron Ritchhart challenged us with his keynote '4 Key practices of making thinking visible.' Delegates were able to make connections to the keys of Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication throughout the keynote.

Luka Lesson's breakout session 'Amplifying Youth voices through Poetry' was inspiring. One delegate summarised the session by saying how powerful it was to consider- "The idea of amplifying student voices - of allowing students to articulate themselves and make their poetry authentic. "

More information about the fantastic conference presenters will be shared in ACCESS magazine.

The conference team have enjoyed reading the feedback from delegates and look forward to implementing some of the great ideas when planning the next ASLA conference.

Conference sponsors

Thank you to our conference sponsors. If you did not have the opportunity to visit their virtual booth during the conference, please visit their websites to see the great services and products they offer.

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

ASLA Australia Teacher Librarian of the Year Award

A huge congratulations to Anne Girolami who was awarded the ASLA Australia Teacher Librarian of the Year during our recent conference.
Thank you to SCIS for sponsoring this prestigious award.

Kind regards,

Natalie Otten

ASLA President

Upcoming Events

May 5 Webinar

Click here to register

National Simultaneous Storytime (ALIA)

Partnership with IASL

ASLA is now proudly a Partner member of the International Association of School Libraries. All members of ASLA now become individual partner members of IASL, with access to;

IASL listserv
IASL Newsletter online
School Libraries Worldwide journal online
reduced fees for conferences and publications
participation in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and committees
access to the members-only area on the IASL website

IASL RESOURCES

Thank you SCWBI
for your donation of prizes for the Virtual conference!

Thank you BookFace for your donation of prizes for our conference!

Marc McBride artwork

A silent auction was held as part of the virtual conference and raised over $300 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Congratulations to the highest bidder who will receive 2 pieces of art from illustrator Marc McBride.

Marc is a talented artist who has illustrated for Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest series and the 2020 shortlisted book The Glimme.

Conference Feedback

Thank you for such a diverse range of excellent speakers who have been generous with their time, knowledge and resources. Your expertise and energy have been evident and highly valued.

A fantastic, engaging conference with a variety of speakers and presenters.

Thank you so much to the ASLA and SLASA team, delegates, and contributors for providing us with this amazing conference! The best educational conference I have ever attended!!!!

Conference logo design

The ASLA/SLASA conference logo was designed by illustrator Max Hamilton. She illustrated 'My Possum plays the drums' by Catherine Meatheringham. A huge thank you to Max for her work with the conference team.