The IB conference has been really good. Huge amounts of work to be done, of course. But a very interesting exercise overall.
Met up with all kinds of great people from all over the US, not one fitting the stereotype of American which many of us have!
School librarians in the US are all teachers as well, and are called School Media Specialists. They are the ones responsible in general for instilling good practice in information literacy into their kids, but again it's a variable exercise and some states have programmes in place, others don't.
The IB seems to be in a position to encourage really good collaboration between teachers and librarians, even if the librarians are not teachers as well - the skills needed are transferable, I think, and most NZ school librarians would find the expectations "meetable" - I know that is NOT a word, okay?
The library is significant in the IB programmes, and I see it as essential for librarians to be involved in the planning for implemenation of IB in schools in NZ, probably meeting with coordinators regularly.
I will write this up more fully later, but that's the overall impression for now.
Seattle rains a lot. Today it's sunny, for the first time in 6 days. Minor miracle , it seems, as from now till April it is usually overcast and grey and frequently raining. Sound familiar??
This has been a great end to my trip, and although I was pretty apprehensive about the whole conference, it has been a positive experience. Now my apprehension relates to the amount of work I will have to do back in NZ!
Signing off, but will keep this blog going I think just for local stuff and my deliberations on the way through this IB process.
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