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Category Archives: School Library
Literacy First
Well I sort of fell of the blog recently, my life became exceptionally busy with additional paid work, and a new volunteer opportunity.
You see I volunteered to become a Reading Tutor at my child’s Public Primary School. It’s a school that is focusing on putting Literacy First this year. So I go in and spend a morning with students, listening to them read, and working with them building up the skills and confidence to read. It is incredibly enriching for me, a Librarian and voracious reader. I’ve got a voracious reader as a child, (a blessing I count each and every reading session I do), who took to reading like a child who loves books. They read daily, often the first to pull up a chair at school when they arrive, pull out the one of three books they take with them, and start reading.
But the students I’m working with, don’t have the same opportunities to books as my child and I did. They exist in a world of tablets, games consoles, and mobile phones. I talk with these students about any reading they might have done, and listen to them tell me otherwise.
So when I came across this article, I was heartened to see, that turnarounds in literacy are beginning to happen. It makes me more determined to turn up each week and help out. I do believe that if we can turn more children onto the magic of reading, we will see improvement across their academic careers.
Teaching Resources for First Nations Languages and Cultures
A really great collection of resources that Teachers, Education Support and Librarians can use to help honour and celebrate the First Nations of Australia. All of this is available here.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Behind the Shelves: Who Said That?
A great way to engage your school library patrons and play the Behind the Shelves: Who Said That? game.
I also think it’s a timely reminder to reflect on the collective wisdom that is listed here too.
Lifelong Learners and Effective Teaching
I’m a lifelong learner, I just can’t help but be curious about things, and so I set out to seek the information I need to develop and understanding. So when I came across first this article Feedback to support Lifelong Learning which maintains that there is a key influence on students achievement when teacher’s provide feedback.
What I found really exciting was this paragraph:
A key proposition of Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) feedback model is that feedback doesn’t only answer ‘How am I going?’ (feedback), but also ‘Where am I going?’ (feed up), and ‘Where to next?’ (feed forward). This can be supported by communicating learning intentions, with carefully crafted success criteria that are accessible to learners and allow students the opportunity to self-regulate in moving forward.
My own child’s teacher this year has asked for feedback on the way they teach the class, allowing each student to reflect on what the teacher is doing well, what areas they might need to improve on and hopes for the future. This has really engaged my own child, and it was a great area for us to discuss what a great teacher should be doing.
There is a great podcast too on this subject on what a good teacher should do.
Notice, Think and Act promoting Citizenship amongst students
I love the School Library Journal, this article in particular is great if you’re trying to establish Children as Citizens in your classroom or library.
Libraries making life better
When US based news site Buzzfeed asked readers how their local library inspired change in their lives, they collated an inspiring collection of anecdotes from readers near and far.
From the dyslexic student who was supported to read regularly, the people who found a safe space to escape to, or the therapy dog who visited children each Thursday, it’s gratifying proof of the important role libraries play in society. Read these here.
