LIBE477B

Fostering Reading Cultures in School

When I came into this position, nearly a year ago, there were already several programs taking place within the library to foster a reading culture within the school. However, this is certainly an area that needs continued concentration and hard work.The following list will give specific examples outlining what is currently being done in our library as well as the direction in which I would like to move (and generally work toward in any library) and ideas to use in the future.



I feel to foster a reading culture within the school, it is very much a team effort. Perhaps considering the teacher librarian as "general manager"; classroom teachers and administration being "coaches" of the team. Support staff, parents, and community members are "captains" and the students are "players, participants and spectators". Every part of the team needs to be:

✽ invested in the importance of reading
✽ value the importance of reading
✽ place reading as a priority within the school


Having said that, I do feel it is the role of the teacher librarian to be the general manager; co-coordinating, supporting, and establishing what is required for success. It is important to communicate with the rest of the team the school's vision and the reasons behind creating, fostering and growing a reading culture. Clearly state the WHY?

WHY?
Why is it important to create, foster and grow a reading culture? 

As Arthur Barigye Mugunga, the CEO of School Books Distributors, Rwanda says:

"Reading builds critical thinking and an innovative culture in a students.
Such students are able to solve many questions compared to those not exposed to reading." 

The National Library of New Zealand states on their website:  

Creating a reading culture in a school is essential if you want to
encourage students to become engaged and motivated readers.

Creating engaged readers takes commitment to developing a school-wide reading culture
that actively encourages,
supports, and models reading for pleasure.
Fluent and reflective reading improves literacy, social skills and well-being,
and enables independent learning.  

 

What I'm currently doing to foster a reading culture:

✽ Reading Buddies - Grade 8 classes are paired with grade 2 classes and they meet once a week in the library to read together. In addition to the class buddies, there are individual middle school students who spend 20 minutes per day during the months of May and June supporting any elementary students (as suggested by classroom teachers) needing extra reading time.

✽ Listening to needs - In addition to purchasing books requested by students, I am there to help them find books for projects, pleasure or classroom silent reading times. On several occasions, I have had to explain to parents that graphic novels are an acceptable genre for their son or daughter to read. I have shown parents some of the amazing graphic novels available and suggested that the student borrow the French Graphic Novels in order to further improve their vocabulary. 

✽ Author Visits - Whenever possible, we invite authors to visit the school. Most recently, Trudy Spiller, author of Trudy's Rock Story  visited all the kindergarten classes. 

✽ Field trips to library - We are fortunate enough to be within walking distance of a public library. Teachers arrange directly with the library for students to apply for library cards and classes walk over for an orientation and to collect their cards. The library also visits classes in May and June to describe and promote the summer reading program. 

✽ Literacy Week - National Family Literacy Week at the end of January is always a great celebration! During this time, we have book theme days, special author visits, dress as your favourite book character day, Read-a-Thon (generally collecting approximately $1500) and a huge books swap running throughout the week. Families donate gently used books and then all students have the chance to visit the library and choose a "previously loved book" to take home. During the kick off assembly, the band and choir perform, there is a book smack and a special guest author to launch Literacy week. 

✽ Scholastic Book Fairs - These fairs not only promote reading and get students extremely excited about books, they provide a major source of resources for our library. This past year, the total credits will exceed $6000. There are always three fairs per year; English, French and a BOGO fair.

✽ Indigo for the Love of Reading Foundation - We signed up for this program in the fall, which proved to be very beneficial. The program was promoted on social media to families and many stories about peoples' love of reading were shared online. Free books were awarded for every story shared, voting took place, and other incentives were offered. In the end, our school ended up with over $2000 in free books! Students heard the stories that had been posted online during morning announcements and were very proud of the school's accomplishment.

✽ Lit-Circles - I have been available in the library to support teachers and novels being covered for LitCircles. 

✽ Book Displays - There are endless ideas for book displays. I made these in the school's main foyers this year for Remembrance Day, Winter Celebrations and International Women's Day

Taking the time to create displays either in the display units or within the library definitely engages students. Books included in the display are always quickly signed out and there are always great ideas available on Pinterest. Currently on display at my library are:

•  Seen the Movie? Read the Book!!
• Wordless books - Use your Imagination
• Canadian Authors

✽ Practical upkeep - This, by far, is the most time consuming and important aspect which nobody really seems to notice but without this, the library would not function. I would include the following areas in this category:

• signage (by Dewey) locations of books 
• ordering resources as per curriculum requirements and suggestions from teachers, staff and students
• ensuring safe comfortable space
• establishing and building relationships
• weeding
• maintenance of collection
• maintain library portion of the school's website
• communicating with parents 
• books lists 
• technology

On the "to do list" to grow and foster a reading culture:

✽ Library presence throughout the school. From the principal's office to the gym; every effort be made to show the school and individuals that teachers as readers. 

✽Reading club - Once a month meeting to review and discuss books during lunch. 

✽Board Game Group - Lunch hour once a week assorted board games in the library.

✽ Student Book Reviews - With each review, students get their names entered in a monthly draw (for a gift card to a local store.)

✽ Summer Reading - Visit Adrienne Gear's sites for great reading suggestions:

• Summer picks 9-12 year olds - part one
• Summer picks 9-12 year olds - Part tw

✽ Visit the following websites: 

• Click here  for 10 ways to foster a reading culture in your school. 
• Ten ways to cultivate a love of reading in your school click here.
• Fostering a Reading Culture at school is an excellent article filled with terrific ideas. 
• Click here for some great ideas in setting up the library space and engaging readers.

✽ Keep materials current; websites such as the Scottish Book Trust (www.scottishbooktrust.com) and Love Reading 4 Kids (www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/) offer a wealth of information about new and popular reading materials.

References

Aguilar, E. (2013). Ten Ways to Cultivate a Love of Reading in Students | Edutopia. [online] Edutopia. Available at: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/cultivating-love-reading-students-elena-aguilar [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Bout, A. (2016). An ‘Aha!’ moment about fostering a reading culture – LIBE477 – Inquiry Blog Post #1. [online] Mrs. Bout's Learning Commons. Available at: https://angieboutblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/an-aha-moment-about-fostering-a-reading-culture/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Ducharme, S. (2018). MS/HS Library job. [online] Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/276971445807594816/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Education.gov.scot. (2015). Reading for Enjoyment - Creating a Reading Culture. [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/Literacy/LIT12_ReadingForEnjoymentSeptember2015.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Hopper, C. (2016). 10 Ways to Foster a Reading Culture in Your School - Classroom Chronicles. [online] Classroom Chronicles. Available at: http://tnclassroomchronicles.org/10-ways-foster-reading-culture-school/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Natlib.govt.nz. (2018). A school-wide reading culture | Understanding reading engagement | Reading engagement | Services to Schools. [online] Available at: https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/understanding-reading-engagement/a-school-wide-reading-culture [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Rose, J. (2018). Fostering a reading culture. [online] Times of India Blog. Available at: https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bibliobibuli-by-jaya-bhattacharji-rose/fostering-a-reading-culture/ [Accessed 27 May 2018].

Tumwebaze, P. (2017). Reading culture: Why every student should embrace it. [online] Bing.com. Available at: http://www.bing.com/cr?IG=6BB91E5C3F2249729DA84A464205462E&CID=2EF9352929CE6E3304283ED628336F12&rd=1&h=dGlj-1R0E-bDnhCxGt_TFVollI7IoNis-T3oH0dZt5A&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.newtimes.co.rw%2fsection%2fread%2f208008&p=DevEx.LB.1,5527.1 [Accessed 27 May 2018].

LIBE477B.96A Reading Review Part B

LIBE477B.96A Reading Review Part B

Literature Research and Data Collection

Collect, link, cite, annotate and publish descriptions of about 3-5 different resources that you have found useful in better understanding your topic(s) from Part A. This blog post will review and highlight the resources as potential citations for your more detailed explorations later in the course. 

In researching my keywords, I seem to be opening myself up to heading down a relatively deep rabbit hole and discovering many other tangents I would like to research. However, I am also discovering through blogs of other students on this course, that many of these topics are being researched and discussed by others. This sort of collaboration is fantastic and I am now feeling more excited and less overwhelmed.

(This is the spot where I would like to insert a Sketchnote to illustrate the
various offshots I would like to research;
however, for now, I will stick to the resources I have found for a few of my keywords.
Sketch notes will be inserted later.)
For now...

Tackling the bigger pieces:

Where I am at right now in both my journey as a Teacher Librarian and as a student in this course I feel that tackling the larger issues of Future Ready LLCs and Future Ready Schools will be areas to consider when I am further along in my journey. (This Link will be for future reference.)

For now, I would like to concentrate on areas where I can collaborate with other teachers in helping make students Future Ready. 

INQUIRY - 

In the fall of 2017, I was fortunate enough to attend the Google Summit in Victoria. One of the most engaging and memorable key-note speakers of the summit (besides, of course, Aaron Mueller's fabulous Teacher Librarian workshop) was Trevor Mackenzie's talk about Inquiry Based learning. The key questions he puts forward have had me contemplating how best to bring inquiry into the LLC.

Why do some of our students become disconnected from their learning in school? Where does this natural curiosity go? And how, as educators, can we ensure all of our students experience a meaningful and wonder-filled journey through their education?

     --Trevor Mackenzie, author of  Dive into Inquiry (2016) and Inquiry Mindset (2018)

Here is the Link to Trevor Mackenzie's website and blog post.

What is Inquiry?
Trevor Mackenzie has a short YouTube video to explain: Click here for YouTube video (**I was not able to make my blog  view the YouTube video without having to click to an external link.**)

I also came across the Cool Cat Teacher blog by Vicki Davis. This episode has Trevor Mackenzie discussing 5 ideas to bring the inquiry mindset into the classroom.

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Inquiry Mindset co-author Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt teaches French Immersion kindergarten. Discovering that Trevor Mackenzie, a high school English teacher and a kindergarten French Immersion teacher co-wrote this book is very intriguing. I have wondered how to incorporate inquiry at all grade levels and subjects. "Better meeting the need of students" (Mackenzie, 2018) is key to helping students at all levels.


Here is a link to an article by Bathurst-Hunt where she discusses her shift in teaching to better meet the needs of her students: A Journey of Growth, Inquiry and Passion.

I also came across  Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt's Blog and have had a hallelujah moment. She is a French Immersion teacher and she is using English books in her kindergarten class! She has a wonderful explanation here on how she incorporates the book into her teaching using Google slides. I love this solution.

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I came across the Canada 2067 site, promoting the importance of STEM based activity in moving into the future. While I was initially considering not following this link based upon the omission of the Arts in STEM (I believe it should be STEAM), I'm glad I did follow as there is a list of 8 simple ways to support inquiry based learning which are quite helpful.

Rather than continuing down the rabbit hole, I will leave Digital Literacy, Makerspace and Library Learning Commons Spaces for additional blog entries.

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Why School - Topic 1 

Based on Richardson’s prologue to the book and Part 1: Old School, do you think games should be a part of learning, especially networked, online, massive, multiplayer games like “Minecraft”? What kinds of learning were demonstrated by Richardson’s son and his friends?

(I am posting this question to my blog so I can remind myself and refer back to the discussion thread as necessary.
There has been a great deal of very thoughtful, insightful and thought provoking discussion to this prompt/question.) 

In reading "Why School" I couldn't help relating Richardson's son to some students I see in the library as well as my own son. Minecraft definitely has huge impact and has many levels of learning. I love the collaboration that takes place. The interaction amongst players from all over the world is something that would absolutely astound my grandfather, who had been a teacher all his life. He went out of his way to connect students from all over the world through pen pal groups, old photos and stories.

When considering that Richardson's "Why School" was published in 2012, nearly six years ago, I can't help think about some other games and online, multi-player based activities that have more recently had considerable impact.

Pokémon Go! had sizable impact around the world. I often heard of the negative factors surrounding Pokémon Go! however, I saw some amazing learning and collaboration take place while observing groups of kids (and adults) engaged in this app. Folks were out exploring areas that they may never have otherwise found. I spent a great deal of time with my kids, walking through various parks searching for the various items and we constantly met people from all over the city, country and world! We spent far more time walking, exploring and being outside than usual. We ended up at PokéStops located in libraries, museums, historis buildings, parks and many more place we certainly would not have otherwise visited! It was bit strange to have my 14 year old son begging me to take him to every library in the city! The summer learning that took place in 2016 was huge.

For an article talking about the Pokémon app and summer learning opportunities, please follow this Link.

Currently, many intermediate, secondary and high school students are quite engaged in Fortnight. As a parent, Fortnight is not a gaming platform I would want to hear my kids were taking part in at school and I do have some reservations about this game. My son calls it "Call of Duty for kids". While I don't think there will be as much opportunity for summer learning with Fortnight as there was with Pokémon Go!, it is good to see kids connect over something. As a positive factor, tt helps build reaction times, as proven by son who is now 16 and learning to drive. He had a deer run out in front of the car and has managed to navigate the situation perfectly. 

I do feel that it is good to introduce games to students in order to have them use different skills and abilities. It engages and connects learners who may not otherwise be engaged or connected. However, it is important for our school districts to support these learning platforms. Schools need to have adequate technology and tech support to move forward and offer these opportunities without having to spend too much trouble shooting the problems.

LIBE477B.96A Reading Review Part A

Admittedly, the first task of this course drew a blank; for about two seconds!

Explore and discuss what is personally and professionally interesting to me as I dive into this course? Keywords describing where I would like to travel down this road...

Oh My!! The list of keywords is a long one. There are so many areas I want to explore. I feel as though I most certainly have a responsibility to learn as much as possible about many areas in order to provide as much support to students and colleagues as I am able.

I created a Word Art piece using the first words that came into my mind, which emphasize points of great interest to me.




Digital Literacy - I have been on a steep learning curve for the past few years; on a mission to strengthen my skills in this area. I want to be able to support teachers needs within the organization of their classrooms and what they can pass along to their students. Extensions, the Google Suite, so many areas that can make a huge difference for teachers and students. Touching upon the core competencies through digital literacy is of great interest to me.


In searching for an image for Digital Literacy, I came across this Unicef site. I strongly agree with what has been quoted on this site "instead of banning children from the Internet, teach them how to use it properly."




Inquiry - Watching students work their way through inquiry based projects is very exciting. I would like to investigate how to best work collaboratively with teachers in supporting students through these projects. I am currently working with a few classes on passion projects and genius hour.


"Step out of your comfort zone into the magic zone”- A. Doucet, 2016 -

Makerspace - A space such as the one detailed below would be an amazing asset to a LLC. Too often, I have seen Makerspaces turn into a bit of a recycling disaster. I would like to investigate creating a Makerspice with recyclable items.







Learning Commons - In the move toward a Library Learning Commons space at the K-8 school where I currently work, we run into some rather large obstacles. There are so many students coming through for book exchanges, we have very little time for collaborating with other teachers and supporting students. The administration in acquiring new books to support the new curriculum and the French Immersion program in huge. I would like to investigate how to best balance these areas. Simply configuring the space to support the LLC, yet house the books we have is a challenge.


Unicef Image retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/montenegro/campaigns_31500.html


Makerspace Image retrieved from: http://www.makemuseum.com/education/makerspace-for-education-home/

Passion Projects https://www.lifelessonlearning.com/passion-projects

Richardson, Will. (2012, September). Why School? TED Conferences.

Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00998J5YQ

The journey to become a Teacher Librarian has me sitting inside a library on a beautiful, sun-shiney Mother's Day...in my happy spot.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a Mum to my three wonderful children, more than anything, actually. However, as they grow, gain independence, and develop their wings, I feel great pride. It is rather bittersweet as they seem not to need me in the same way; but here I am trying to further my own career and help other kids in this wonderful world of libraries.

I have other blogs that I have created for other courses on my Teacher Librarianship road and my task for today is to try and link everything together in one spot.

And...I can't seem to archive them. I'm sure there is a way, but for now, I will paste the links below and see if that works.

Full term assignment LLED 462 Jan-April 2018:

• Building a Library Learning Commons

Assignment #3 - Social Justice LLED 462 Jan-April 2018:

• Teacher Librarians and Libraries as Co-constructors and Spaces of Learning 

Lesson learned...I should not create a new blog for each course or assignment on this journey. This one shall be the starting point for moving forward.