I have made changes to my school library and my
own practice over the past 4 years of being a TL at Coldstream Elementary and
hope the changes are both meeting the needs of our school community and
fostering a reading culture. Exciting
times this week, as my work order for a little redesign of my library space
finally went through and our physical space is getting an uplift! This is one step closer for our space to
become a library learning commons, but I hope it is a step in the right
direction to making our space more welcoming and hopefully will foster a comfortable
reading space. I feel good about the state of my collection and believe it is fostering
a reading culture, from the weeding of my library to the newer resources I have
selected. I make the most of my 20
minute book exchanges. I like to throw a
story in there, but also hopefully pique the interest of a student or two with
a book talk. Last year I introduced books by author, but
this year I am “selling” books by genre following the strategies in the book the
Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller.
Check out Miller’s facebook! So far more books are going out when
introduced by genre than last year’s by author.
As I introduce books in a given genre I have created simple visual lists
(book cover picture, call number) so students coming in are able to find
similar books to one they liked on their own.
Something new I am trying this year is Red Cedar Book Awards to inspire reading.
My generous PAC is on board and has given
money to buy these books. I am super
thankful of my PAC and appreciate their support of the library and also like
that it is my way of me sharing with the parent community what is new and
happening in our library. Every year we
do our own version of a battle of the books, called Gypsy Breath and Longstockings. Battle of the Books is great for those few
gung ho readers who are capable of reading 10 books, but Gypsy Breath involves
lots of readers of different abilities plus staff and parents. Teams are created of grades 3-7, at least one
book is to be read, and it concludes with a trivia evening event with 100
readers and their families dressed in costume with food galore and book prizes. This gets lots of kids involved reading, but
also involves their families. New this
year for Gypsy Breath we are making one book per grade be online. We are bringing in our public librarian prior
to our book title release and inviting students to get and use a library card. They can access this one title by using Libby
available through our public library.
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| retrieved from: https://www.amazon.ca/Book-Whisperer-Awakening-Inner-Reader/dp/0470372273 |
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| retrieved from: https://www.redcedaraward.ca/ |
One thing I am struggling with is not being able to have
open hours during the day to create a welcoming, open door atmosphere. We have teachers on staff that do not want
students in before the day begins and certainly not at lunch when they ‘need’
fresh air. I have been working at ways to be
considerate of the teachers’ needs, but inclusive of students and try for open
hours. I would love to have library
leaders in at lunch and mornings to help fellow students find books, but again
I have hit a roadblock. I snuck in a few virtual field trips at lunch hours, like talking with an author, so
that was a start last year at getting some events into our space and a way to
inspire students to read. I went google searching for ways to involve
students as leaders in libraries and I came across a New Zealand
This is on my to do list and one
thing I hope to have work out this year.
Trying to get EVERY teacher to collaborate with me is an ongoing battle,
but one where I think students would see the value we all place on learning,
working together, and thus a positive school culture overall. One last item I am investigating and merely
at the contemplating stage is whether or not to set up my library like a book
store model or not. I am dabbling a bit
with it this year by presenting books in genres. I just feel like students come in and ask for
fantasy books or mystery ones, and not as much by author. Certainly my primaries ask for princess stories or puppy stories. So perhaps the book store model would be more
user friendly with the browse around effect?
Fialkoff (2009), Fister (2009), and BISAC
(Book Industry Standards and
Communications) give some perspective on the Dewey or don't we" debate. Lots out there about
the dropping of Dewey!
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| retrieved from: http://www.accessola.org/web/OLA/Membership/Human_Library_Toolkit.aspx |
References
A school-wide reading
culture. (2018). Retrieved from
https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/understanding-reading-engagement/a-school-wide-reading-culture
BISAC Subject Codes - Book
Industry Study Group. (2018). Retrieved from https://bisg.org/page/BISACSubjectCodes
Dewey vs Bookstore Model in
the School Library. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4pHfAAm0F4
Education, O. (2018).
How to create the perfect reading environment in school. Retrieved from
https://www.oneeducation.co.uk/one-editorial/literacy/the-reading-environment/
Fialkoff, F. (2009). It’s Not About Dewey. Library Journal, 134(18), 8. Retrieved
from
http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=502989667&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Fister,
B. (2009). The Dewey Dilemma. Library Journal, 134(16), 22–25. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=44468055&site=ehost-live
Miller, D. (2014). Book
Whisperer, The. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Miller, D. (2018). The Book Whisperer.
Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/donalynbooks
Red Cedar Book Awards | B.C.'s Young
Readers' Choice Awards 2017/2018. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.redcedaraward.ca
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a book talk and promoting books by genre. It sounds like you are finding that it works well! A book talk would give that good balance between showing the children what is available in the library and giving them time to choose.
You bring up a really good point about some teachers/staff not wanting the school/library open before school. I think having that free time to explore and enjoy the library is really important for children (especially some struggling readers who maybe don't get as much support from their family at home). It must be really hard to navigate how to meet everyones needs.
I have seen quite a few different ways that libraries have organized books and the ones that have lots of visuals to help seem very easy for the younger students to navigate. My last school had lots organized by author with just the book spine facing out, and then they also had some buckets with popular authors for easy access. The popular author tubs had a picture on the front with the covers of these well loved titles. I wonder if its possible to combine the pros of the book store model with the pros of other models as well.
Happy Thanksgiving Monday!
ReplyDeleteI love the Red Cedar Book Club! When I worked at Braefoot School in Victoria, the TL was in charge of Red Cedar for our district. There was a committee that would often organize and hold an after school "celebration" that included authors, illustrators, and fun activities geared towards reading. As the technology teacher, I supported the TL with an online forum that the students could use to respond to the books they read, and offer an opinion as to whether or not they would suggest the book to other students. Every year, we had 25-40 students in grades 4 and 5 that would take part. It was a great way to foster reading within the school! Best of luck trying this out at Coldstream!
Cheers,
Darryl
This was a good discussion based post about the changes, successes and challenges that remain for your goals in creating a vibrant welcoming and supportive reading culture based out of your library for the whole school. I would hope that your Admin would play a central role in helping you cultivate a school wide shift what has an expectation of everyone getting involved and supporting these worthwhile goals. You have many good ideas here with lots of engaging activities and promotions. I am hopeful that as the good word spreads about the impacts and changes in students, you will get more staff on board. Good blog post with embedded media, images, links and labels!
ReplyDeleteHi Rehtaeh, I can absolutely identify with some of your struggles. Our library is also closed over the lunch hour, before, and after school. I have enlisted the help of our PTA to find a way to keep the doors open at least during the lunch hour. We are setting up a "Book Club" so that the doors can remain open. I will be the supervisor name on the club, but parents will do the bulk of supervision while I am eating my lunch, doing photocopying or helping students with my classes. I also teach five English classes and my teaching load does not afford me the luxury of having the time to keep the library open at lunch, before, or after school each day (I could do it once in awhile, but not every day). Parents are currently in the process of completing police checks and I will give them some basic book check out training.
ReplyDeleteI liked hearing about some of the activities your library does to promote reading and am particularly interested in the book debates. Also, I had never considered completely reorganizing my fiction section to the book store model. It is interesting to think about. If you go in that direction I would like to hear how it works out.