I attended the Growing Wisconsin Readers Symposium last week in Stevens Point.  I was pleased to see so many folks from IFLS-land there (and to see a fabulous display by our colleague Julie Belz from Ellsworth!).  I left with my brain FULL of ideas and conversations and plans, and I hope the rest of you had a similar experience.  I’m going to be reflecting (and acting) on this symposium for a long time.  Watch for that to crop up in my blog posts, CE offerings, conversations and collaborations in the future.

My main take-home message:  no matter how we encourage it, with technology or early literacy playgrounds or special programs or collaboration with other agencies or book-promotion–engagement and relationships are the key to child development.  The challenge for us as librarians is how to learn to do support this.  Watch for some great ideas coming up at upcoming IFLS workshops about this topic!   Also–lots more thinking and discussion about the use of technology with young children and the opportunities and challenges it presents–coming soon to a blog near you.

For now, I want to draw your attention to the excellent reflections on the Symposium posted on the Growing Wisconsin Readers blog, written by librarians who attended the conference:

Early Literacy Innovation Panel

Dipesh Navsaria’s Presentation:  Screens:  Success or Sabotage for Schools? (written by our own Arlene Mabie from Hawkins!)

Rebecca Katzenmeyer:  Early Literacy Spaces