The sixth biennial TMC Symposium (TMC6) took place in Toronto, Ontario on Friday January 31 and Saturday February 1, 2020, presented in partnership with the Ontario Library Association (OLA), the OLA Super Conference, the Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) and The Association of Library Consultants and Coordinators of Ontario (TALCO).
Theme: Participatory Learning in the Library Learning Commons
Sub-Themes included:
- Collaborative Environments
- Culturally Relevant and Responsive SLLC
- Accessibility for All
- Creativity and Innovation
- School Culture
Spotlight Speakers
Eric Walters, Best-selling Canadian author of over 100 books for children and young people. TMC Dinner Keynote Speaker
TMC Symposium Spotlight Speakers:
Garfield Gini-Newman, Associate Professor, OISE, and Senior National Consultant at The Critical Thinking Consortium
Deborah Dundas, Editor, CBC Books
Leigh Cassell, Founder and CEO, The Digital Human Library
The interactive TMC Research Symposium was led by Anita Brooks Kirkland and Carol Koechlin; Table Talks and papers were presented by such learning leaders as Dr. Dianne Oberg, Dr. David Loertscher, Jennifer Casa Todd, Beth Lyons, Greg Harris, Melanie Mulcaster, Jennifer Brown, Diana Maliszewski, Alanna King, and many more participants who were first time attendees.
TMC6 Call to Action: “Yesterday, you had a Learning Commons. Tomorrow, take over the whole school! Be visible and indispensable.” ~ Dr. David Loertscher
More Big Ideas from TMC6
Participatory learning is really about focusing on who the students are – their lived experiences and identities, learning needs and interests – and this applies to collections, programs and learning approaches.
Collaboration is the necessary ingredient for building participator learning – teacher with teacher, teacher with student, teacher with community, teacher with administrator.
School libraries are about enhancing the moral purpose of schools, as well as the educational or scholastic purpose. The moral purpose includes supporting the development of ethical citizens as well as taking the lead in advocating for under-served students.
And New Questions
Rethinking the power of the learning commons beyond the physical space of the school library – how can the entire school be an example of the learning commons?
What systemic structures do we need to dismantle to truly disrupt our current thinking about the library learning commons?
Transformations in the school library learning commons are never finished, always in beta.
How can we build this continuous change mindset with administration and staff school wide?
How might we expand and diversify the voices in school librarianship across Canada? What responsibility do we have to lead the learning by amplifying the voices of other practitioners?
Please use the sidebar menu to navigate to papers from this and other symposiums.