ASLA Webinar - The 2022 CBCA Shortlist- and Beyond (1 June 2022)

I decided last night to attend another ASLA webinar and it was because I was guaranteed a good presentation if Paul McDonald was the presenter.

He own's The Children's Bookshop, a specialist bookseller catering to schools and school libraries in NSW. It originally began as a physical bookstore at Beecroft, trading between 1971 and 2019. McDonald had run the store for its final fifteen years.

I enjoyed listening to his insights into the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) shortlists for 2022, predicting who is likely to win and their suitability for various audiences. 

As a bonus, we were also treated to some of the latest trends on Young Adult and Children's reads. He is always "on the ball" with the latest developments and he does it with alot of passion. It was surprising to hear that Historical Fiction is gaining some appeal. I guess people either want to explore a different world from that of 2022. As a history teacher, this is encouraging, because it allows the reader to learn about different historical periods through fiction texts.

Not surprised about Graphic Novels and Manga continuing to gain a broader appeal. I see it at school myself as fans of Graphic Novels crave the next set of books in the series in that they may be interested in.  

 

ASLA Webinar – Creating Internal Wide Reading Challenges

On Wednesday Night, I presented my first (solo) professional learning session for the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) as part of their monthly webinar series. I had set myself a challenge for 2022 which was to lead a professional development session through a non-school provider. It has been five years since I presented my first professional learning session, but it was at a school level. I knew who my audience was at the time and was not daunting. 

Late last year, I attended one of the ASLA webinars and a question was asked in the feedback form if attendees were interested in presenting monthly webinars. I expressed my interest and it went from there. I decided to focus on Creating Internal Wide Reading Challenges as I felt that I owed a debt to those who provided their ideas to help me organise the Cover 2 Cover wide reading challenge for Bethany College Hurstville in 2019. 

I believe that there were people out there who wanted to create one and why not lend them a hand and share my experience and give them ideas. Even in 2019, I remember one teacher librarian on the OZTL-NET Forum who was looking to do the same and for me to share their ideas with them. 

I felt it was a “dry topic” when it came to school libraries and wide reading, again raising opportunities to share. It also encouraged me that one of my fellow members of the Management Committee from the School Library Association of NSW was present along with others within my professional network, some of whom contacted me to ask about the webinar before the evening. 

As for the presentation itself, presenting it online was not scary at all even for a virtual audience. If it were face to face, I would have had a few nerves, but as I was able to organise the presentation and reinforce it with my experiences, it was straightforward. The feedback is positive so far from the attendees, but will need to post a little more in an upcoming post.