November has probably been the most exciting, exhausting, and busiest month of my career to date. I’ve been a little off the grid for the last week or so, trying to recover and rest my brain a bit. Now it’s time to do a little reflecting to truly appreciate everything that’s happened this month…

ISLMA Keynote

I was so incredibly honored (okay, and a little bit nervous) when I was asked to give the Saturday keynote at the Illinois School Library Media Association annual conference. These folks put on a really great conference, and I’m so thrilled that I was able to be part of it! This was my first keynote and is a memory that I know I’ll treasure for the rest of my career. My keynote was “Examining the Sacred Cows of School Librarianship.” I had the chance to talk about many things near and dear to my heart — including a little about genrefication!

I also presented another session on my Favorite Tech Tools:

Other highlights from the conference include meeting Tim Green and Sharon Draper and having the chance to hear them speak!

  

And I made a quick visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which was amazing!

CMS Book Fair

I went home just in time to meet my friends from Cavalier House Books to set up our book fair, which ran from November 4-7. I am so lucky to live near these guys, because they sure do put on an amazing fair! I did my first fair with them this spring, and it was one of the best things I did last year!

#AASL13

I’d been looking forward to AASL since the last conference in 2011! Not only did I get to see so many of my amazing library friends, I presented with many of them, too!

A Library in Every Pocket: Click the image above to see the wiki full of resources from this pre-conference and abbreviated encore session I presented with Gwyneth Jones, Michelle Luhtala, Shannon Miller, and Brenda Boyer.

AASL Best Apps: It was very exciting to be part of the committee that put together the 2013 (first ever!) AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning list, and at the conference we had lots of fun sharing that list! Click the image above to see the list!

Unconference: Even though I knew I was already pushing my limits with all of the presentations I was involved with presenting, when Joyce Valenza asks if you’re interested in helping with ANYTHING, you always say YES! I had a blast helping out at the AASL Unconference. There was such a great turn out, and so many great discussions took place!

Ditching Dewey: I had an absolute blast presenting with Shannon Miller, Sherry Gick, Kathy Burnette, and Megan Scott on genrefication! We even got a little shout-out from School Library Journal here!

I’m a National Board Certified Teacher!

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the results from my National Board portfolio and assessment submissions for MONTHS. I am so excited to have achieved certification in my first year of the process! Even though I don’t think I’ll see any monetary benefits from this from my state or district (I believe they made changes after I started the process that cut off funding  for those certifying after July 2013, but I haven’t really researched this since I was already in the process and didn’t want it to impact my motivation), I’m still quite proud of myself for this accomplishment!

So, that’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing for the past month! I’m so thankful for my friends, family, and amazing PLN that have supported me through all of these exciting things that took place this month. And now, I’m thankful for a break from school and some time to relax!