Up to 100 classroom teachers will have the opportunity to learn more about the value of teacher/librarian collaboration through specially designed activities, including conference sessions, guest speakers, and other engaging activities at this one-day special event during the TLA virtual conference.

The goal of Teacher Day @ TLA is for classroom teachers, who experience this event and a TLA conference, to return to their districts as library advocates and collaborators – and perhaps become librarians themselves.

Librarians ‘sponsor’ up to two teachers (preferably) from their schools, encouraging the teachers to apply, attending the Teacher Day @ TLA sessions, and helping them navigate a day at the TLA Annual Conference. TLA is an event open to current in-service classroom teachers who would like to learn innovative ways for collaborating with their school librarian and who are not currently pursuing higher education in library science (Library school students who are are already pursuing a path for school librarianship are able to register for the conference at discounted student rates).

Teacher Day @ TLA is Saturday, April 24, 2021. A reduced fee of $120 for teachers and includes:

• Activities designed to strengthen teacher/librarian collaboration and partnership
• Access to conference sessions that are perfect for teachers and librarians to attend together
• Full conference registration so teachers may attend one or more days of the conference
• An invitation-only interactive author event
• A one-year TLA individual membership

Steps to Attend Teacher Day @ TLA

1. Teacher and Librarian discuss attending this together; secure funding and days off first; then work through application with your librarian.
2. Application opens Friday, December 18, 2020 – via link below- and the deadline to apply is March 16, 2021.
3. Once accepted, you must register for TLA using the link provided by the Teacher Day Committee in your acceptance communication.
4. All payments are due by April 16, 2021.

When teachers and librarians collaborate, students benefit from the rich learning experience. Get your principals and administrators on-board and ask them to encourage teachers to participate, and provide the funds necessary when needed. This is a truly unique professional development opportunity! We’ve compiled information for principals and administrators for you to use as needed.

“This experience really opened my mind to the vastness of library resources and the true potential of these resources for teachers and our students”
-2018 Teacher Day @ TLA teacher participant

Featured Speaker at Teacher Day

We are pleased to announce that Varian Johnson will be our featured author/speaker of the day.

Varian Johnson is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including the graphic novel Twins; The Parker Inheritance, for which he won a Coretta Scott King Honor award; The Great Greene Heist, which was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2014, and a Texas Library Association Lone Star List selection; and To Catch a Cheat, another Jackson Greene adventure and a Kids’ Indie Next List pick. He lives with his family near Austin, Texas.