Promoting Healthy Choices at the 2021 CSLA Conference

Attendees to CSLA’s 2021 virtual conference really stepped up. Over the ten days from the conference’s start to the final session, participants collectively walked 4,925,331 steps! This is the third year we’ve run the Step Challenge and the conference’s Healthy Choices programming, and this year, with all of us behind screens, perhaps the most necessary. While the CSLA conference historically has offered scheduled scenic walks and excursions, the Healthy Choices programming emerged partially from Yosemite’s majestic setting of the 2018 Tenya Lodge conference, and mostly from CSLA’s belief in wellness, connection, and honoring ourselves as whole people as we actively work to combat professional burnout.

As invigorating and yet exhausting as an in-person conference is, the standard fatigue of sitting through back-to-back sessions and fully-booked days was further compounded this year by the preceding months of working in front of screens, mostly tied to our desks, and in general a lot less mobile in our work lives than in past times. For these reasons and more, it was definitely time to collectively pull on our sneakers and bring a new meaning to zoom! 

As in previous years, participants tracked their steps and logged their progress daily in the leaderboard designed by CUE presenter and Innovation Strategist at Hillsboro School District in Portland, Oregon, Chris Hesselbein. But although the leaderboard and the total step-count dial are fun, they’re never the point. CSLA loves some healthy competition, but the true challenge is always to set and meet personal goals. For some participants, their step counts came in far lower than their normal daily average, but the challenge kept them moving more than a busy day of professional learning at home otherwise might have. For others, it was the perfect springboard to jumpstart some much-needed activity. 

Getting outside to breathe fresh air, stretch our bodies, raise our heart rate before, between, or after sessions was as restorative as ever. Some of us even found ways to stay moving during the day’s sessions by logging in from mobile devices or by using an active desk setup. While there’s nothing like that conference high when our minds buzz with innovative ideas, igniting as new learning connects with growth opportunities, we can easily become overwhelmed. Making time for physical activity is a positive way to decompress and process the day’s information and events. 

From its start, the Step Challenge was designed to get us both moving and talking and has provided attendees a unique way to meet outside of the regularly scheduled sessions. Many of the people I’ve stayed connected with from the conference I met through the scheduled morning and evening walks. LAUSD teacher librarian at Linda Marquez High School and new section rep. for Southern Region section 2, Charles Stelzried said, “I loved participating in [the Step Challenge] at last year's conference and getting to go on a group walk with ... other TLs at the beautiful Pacific Palms Resort walking trails.” 

This year we wanted to maintain the opportunities to meet new people and form connections for networking and friendships as an important aspect of the Step Challenge within a virtual setting. A foundational belief of CSLA, after all, is that we are better together. Enter Discord. While we mostly walked, ran, and moved on our own this time around, the Discord #Hallway #Self-Care and #StepChallenge channels were there for updates, encouragement, and connections. Some participants even took advantage of Discord’s Voice channel to chat with other attendees while on the move. 

Something else new this year, was the conversion chart. While unofficially a part of the Step Challenge for the past two years as participants converted swim laps to step counts, this year the Step Challenge aimed for more inclusivity and included conversion charts to count all forms of mobility and fitness. 

A library-crafted item from the conference experience box added another element to our self-care time away from Zoom. Modeled after the work by artist Rudy Willingham and cut using my Cameo Silhouette machine, the butterfly cut-out sent conference attendees into the world beyond their computer screens to view their surroundings within a new frame. Holding up the card to fill the negative space with the views of our own neighborhoods, pets, bookshelves, and more, participants physically took a bit of the conference with them, just as we hope the presented content will remain with everyone far beyond the month of February. Snapping photos to share gave us new context to our surroundings, bringing the spirit and ideas of our time together out of our self-contained professional development and transposed it into our daily lives. There it takes on more meaning and greater purpose and is where we have the potential to achieve the most impact.

Recognition for participation in the Step Challenge also changed this year. In keeping with the spirit of championing all progress and setting and meeting personal goals over outdoing each other, this year multiple prizes were awarded by a random name drawing. Every 10,000 steps a participant logged earned them one name entry in the drawing sponsored by TeachingBooks. All participants prioritized self-care and a healthier conference experience; three lucky participants, Nora Allstedt, Jen Berube, Amy Linden won gift certificates and signed books by Avi. And our top walker, Charles Stelzried, earned major bragging rights for his impressive 505,794 step count. He set a goal, and did he ever knock it out of the park! Charles said, “Since last year, I've been walking more and trying to exercise more. At this year's conference, I really liked that there was an option of using step conversion charts, which allowed me to incorporate many more activities like cycling, weightlifting, and many more, in addition to walking and hiking. Awesome program and fun challenge!”

In addition to the Step Challenge, the conference once again offered a stretching, breathing, and light yoga session. Taught by CSLA member Nancy Zerner, teacher librarian at Fernando Rivera Middle School, the 8:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday morning sessions were a beautiful way to gather together, center ourselves, and get ready for learning, collaboration, and growth. Nancy highlighted stretches that would work from a desk and that would have a high impact between Zoom sessions.

Though there could be no ballroom dance party this year, that didn’t keep us from coming together at the close of the third day of conference to hear music and move. To both celebrate the collective “awesome” of each other and the work we’re engaged in and to energize our bodies as we already had invigorated our minds, we met on Zoom Friday night for an hour of Zumba. Sara Smith said, “The Step Challenge, yoga, and Zumba made this more of the “real” conference experience than if I was just attending webinars. It was so nice to get out and move!” Instructor and high school teacher Landi Mello was captivating to watch (though, for me at least, too skilled to follow faithfully!). She was a master class in engagement and connection despite only looking into a bunch of virtual black screens. 

Though I was glad to participate in virtual Zumba, as a first-timer with little rhythm, I found myself grateful we were remote with access to that camera-off feature. But even then it was a lesson in perfection being the enemy of (I can’t even say “good”) action. We don’t have to get “it” right. As was echoed throughout the conference from workshops to keynotes to concurrent sessions, if we wait to be an expert in something before getting started, we’ll never begin. The struggle is the good part. Whether it be a Zumba triple jump, practicing self-empathy, coaching an eSports team, embedding inclusivity and accessibility in all practices, or conducting a self and institutional diversity audit: The work is ongoing.

The 2021 CSLA Healthy Choices programming concluded Saturday with the concurrent session “Breath and Boundaries”. High school teacher, teen mindset coach, and yoga instructor, Tammi Sheridan shared some of the science behind mindfulness and guided attendees through various breathing techniques and mindful practices. This quiet session is one to revisit through the recordings and available to access as needed. One attendee remarked, “It’s important to balance the manic energy of great ideas from a conference and some of that ‘I’m not doing enough’ comparative thinking with some self-care!”

Thank you to all who participated in the 2021 Healthy Choices programming. Just as the learning, networking, and professional development continue long after the conference ends, so too do we at CSLA invite you to the ongoing challenge of wellness, balance, and your best personal health. You, like your students, matter. Take time throughout the year to relax, recharge, and move!

Ashley Brockman
Teacher Librarian, Palos Verdes High School
CSLA Conference Committee & Membership Committee

You can check out the step challenge leaderboard at bit.ly/CSLAstep. Follow the designer, Chris Hesselbein, on Twitter @ChrisHesselbein and check out his website www.insertcoin.org for resources on how to use Google Workspace tools to modify and design leaderboards for your own library or classroom. The Zumba session could not be recorded due to licensing rights, but you can find recordings of the yoga sessions to access and follow along with. Also check out the recording of the “Breath and Boundaries” concurrent session. Keep sharing on Discord and with @4CSLA on social media what wellness practices you exercise in your own life and with students.

Terra Hazen, Petaluma, CA

Mindy Wilmot, Bakersfield, CA