Tuesday Slice: There ain't no cranky...

"There ain't no cranky like the last-day-of-TLA cranky," the sharp-dressed women declared, waiting ahead of me in the Starbucks line at the hotel across the street from the convention center.  I nodded my head in agreement.  "Everyone is just done," she added.  I concurred again.  "Hopefully the coffee will help," I replied.

Four days of waking up just before 4am, to catch either the 604am or 633am train downtown.  Two 7am meetings. Five hours of Tech Camp, beginning with lots of tips from Richard Byrnes of "Free Tech for Teachers". Three hours of "speed dating" half-a-dozen Bluebonnet Award Nominee authors with another half-dozen activities viewed and ten books signed for me and our library.  An opening session with Sylvia Acevedo, rocket scientist/ CEO of Girl Scouts, USA via Skype and a closing session of heartbreaking, masterful storytelling from Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes". Seven break-out sessions on culturally responsive pedagogy, student-centered librarianship, Texas Library Standards, a picture book artist panel, administrative involvement in library programming (with my principal!), deep connections between readers and text, and how to use Google Keep.

Let's not forget the three learning lunches--tech camp, database offerings, Bluebonnet Award presentation--and one breakfast with my Teacher Day @TLA attendees, all of us starry-eyed over Kate DiCamillo, Chris Van Dusen, and Mr. Schu's presentation as we munched on eggs and bacon and caffeinated ourselves after the 604am train ride.

And the exhibit hall, oh my.  Bumping into favorite local authors, sharing titles with a fellow district librarian, finding a booth of Indian kidlit--so needed for my campus.  Gifts for my assistant and mentee, new library shirts for me (my yearly splurge!).  Confirming my book fair, getting posters from my favorite jobber, and grabbing free books along the way.  

So yes, by Thursday morning, many of us were tired, ready to get back to our libraries and our lives.  Our minds were buzzing, our arms tired from carrying heavy bags of books, our notebooks brimming with ideas to ponder and hopefully implement in the coming school year.

There ain't no cranky like the last-day-of-TLA cranky...but there ain't no event like the Texas Library Association Annual Conference.  Sign me up for next year!