A library is a place of safety, a haven from the world.
It’s a place with librarians in it.
We need to teach our children to read and enjoy reading.
We need libraries.
We need books.
We need literate citizens.
Neil Gaiman, 2013
"The reference interview is fundamentally a conversation between the school library media specialist and the study, for the purpose of clarifying the students' needs and aiding in meeting those needs"
(Riedling, 2013, p.99)
I work 4 days a week in a K-5 LC. 75% of my time is prep time. The other 25% is my prep time, collaboration, and library administration time. From what I hear around the district, I feel more privileged than most to receive library administration time. I also feel very supported with having an experienced library technician 50% of my time. Besides recess, lunch, before, and after school there is very little time built into the day's schedule to provide a calm, quiet environment to give my full focus on a question that may arise from students or staff. I see 16 of the 22 divisions on my 4 days and to be honest, I need my breaks to decompress. However, I am very mindful of my role to provide the most accurate and relevant information to users of the LC.
We need literate citizens. People learn best when they feel safe and cared for, in an environment that nurtures trust and openness.
Photograph was taken in Langley, BC February 2023
I am working hard to learn more about the 550+ students and staff I work with. I carry post-its everywhere. There are so many of them and just one of me. I write down each question/query so that if I am unable to answer that question at the moment, they know (and I know) I will get to it as soon as I can, which curiously enough, is before or after school, recess, and lunch breaks. To help with this, I ask students to tell me what's on their minds or what they are curious about (related or unrelated to the LC) at the beginning of their prep during attendance. I also write a quick reflection about the prep session I had with the class so I can refer it to the next time I see them. This gives me more of a handle on where I should direct some of my information-giving before sending them off to browse the collection and planning ahead with their LC-related skills activities.
Photograph was taken in Langley, B.C., February 2023
Three basic purposes of reference interview questioning are as follows:
1) to ascertain what information the student wants 2) to clarify the question (what it really means) 3) to discover the amount, level, and difficulty of the resources that will answer the question
(Riedling, 2013, p. 103)
I find I am able to satisfy the purposes outlined above with adequate efficiency in relation to ready references. I have focused on familiarizing myself with the collection in our LC regularly. Because our collection only builds with the acquisition and purchasing by me, I can easily direct students and staff to materials we have, or if we don't have, I am able to navigate our district catalog with ease. Recently, the Grade two teachers were planning a Book Tasting and I was able to gather various genres of books at their grade level for them quickly.
Research project interviews, as Riedling describes them, "...lie at the other end of the spectrum" (2013, p.104). I am confident I can steer the student to a resource they can access and any following resources that may be needed. However, being able to provide prompt, regular interactions or teacher literacy skills for a single student is highly improbable. This provides a great opportunity to offer my collaboration time and services to the classrooms to be active participants in their learning for their research.
The biggest takeaway from reviewing BCTLA Working and Learning Conditions was the unbalanced access to materials in the province. I was surprised to see that the Richmond District's responding schools allotted an average of nearly $20 per student whereas Maple Ridge was only $3 per student. To see that the average funding for elementary schools a few years ago was just under $3 000 made me hope that schools were receiving funding from PAC, gathering funds from Scholastic Book Fairs, and/or grants. If we use Riedling's definition of reference resources as "sources specifically designed to be consulted for definite items of information" (2013, 139), the cost of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and atlases seems quite high. Because we are building a collection to meet our users' needs and needs vary from school to school, a committee of financial stakeholders like the principal, district principal if you can, PAC members, as well as student and staff representatives, would be beneficial to outline what is needed for the LC, both in physical and digital formats. From thereon, acquiring wishlisted resources and calculating costs would perhaps help persuade PAC and the district to provide more monetary support. I have already been told many times that PAC will not be supporting the LC for the next few years as they are putting all their fundraising toward playground equipment.
As I have mentioned in my previous blog, a space encyclopedia is the extent of our K-5 physical resource reference collection. Encyclopedias are limited to more topic-related rather than something vaster like Britannica. After more probing on the district elementary's catalog, almanacs have more recent publishing dates and National Geographic dominates many of the elementary schools' collections. I use the term "dominating" loosely as there are only one or two copies of resource reference titles within the entire district of elementary schools.
"School districts’ funding is established at the provincial level... Note that the provincial allocation to districts does not specifically target funding for learning resources" (ERAC, 2008, p. 70)
SD35 provides across-the-district resources like the digital resources found on their website as well as resources from the district learning commons. Oftentimes there is something new like Mystery Science available for the year, but each school would have to purchase or ask the district for funds to continue a digital resource if teachers asked for it. This doesn't always mean schools receive it.
"The main goal in acquiring learning resources is to make them available as quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively as possible. The purchasing process is enhanced by ordering from as few sources as possible; for example from consortia, wholesalers or jobbers, bulk ordering of key resources, etc." ((ERAC, 2008, p. 76). I see this as part of my role as a TL to promote the materials we have available to us as educators through staff meetings, e-mails, and collaboration.
"In carrying out these evaluations, it is recommended that teachers consider all five areas of the Ministry evaluation criteria: curriculum fit, content, instructional design, technical design, and social considerations" (ERAC, 2008, p.75). A few years ago, teachers were able to use their own Apple ID and add apps to their class iPads without consulting evaluative-type permissions from the administrator. Now, apps can only be downloaded through a self-service which has been vetted by the district IT department.
Money is tight and educators need to be proactive. I fully support open access to resources. If educators can back up the rationale behind using them using a school or district selection criteria and the administrator is aware of the use, then this would save the classroom and school money and the resource can easily be shared amongst colleagues. When evaluating and then selecting such resources some points to keep in mind are:
differentiation to fit student levels and age-appropriateness
copyright issues
tech issues (as it is already difficult to get IT to problem-solve vetted resources from the district)
quality as we want to give the best resources to our learners
Nothing compares to a live human being in your learning environment whose primary job is to boost your learning. Paralleling the LC as the "hub" of the school community, Clinton states: "We need libraries more than ever because they are places for communities to come together... as librarians you go above and beyond every single day to serve the needs of the people living in your communities."
Photograph taken in Langley, B.C. 2023
Photograph taken in Langley, B.C. 2023
There is no one way to deliver a library program to your users because there is no identical type of users in each school, and there is no identical school. There are many guidelines offered by each district and by the provincial TL associations, and the ministry itself. We have established how time and money bear a strain on providing access to the best resources for our learners so that they can meet their full potential. With the changing times of DIY videos, self check-outs in grocey stores, AI programs that claim to substitute health professionals and educators, I am not the one to devalue my profession and myself as a professional. The photographs above did not create a safe, inviting space that promotes learning and reading in the LC; a living, breathing person with passions and hopes to motivate her community did. Each LC curated resources and space both physically and virtually to meet the needs of their users.
Perkins, M. (2013). Canva: free design tool. Canva. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://www.canva.com/
Riedling, A. M., & Houston, C. (2013). Reference skills for the school librarian: Tools and tips. Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC CLIO, LLC.
In TED Talks, The Way We Work series Robert Reffkin gives viewers suggestions to stay connected with their co-workers. He claims that "technology has made it easier to communicate. But it hasn't made it easier to connect with other human beings" (2020). How evident is this now? I can only imagine being a part of a new school right now. Making meaningful connections at present require more time, creativity, and effort amidst all the other challenges that face educators today; a special type of brew.
image by Bitmoji
The three that I really appreciated are:
👍 show gratitude - be thankful for your peers' abilities, skills, talents, and willingness to share them.
👍 share and inquire - share resources/ideas/your point of view and be open to receiving others'
👍 be honest - go beyond the "niceties" of small talk and really get to know the people you are working with.
At the moment, I am co-teaching the Seven Sacred Teachings (this is a full unit plan if anyone may be interested) with our school indigenous support worker. Some of the ideas that Reffkin offers tie in with the teachings:
image from southernnetwork.org
Just to use as an example, the grade 3 curriculum is focused entirely on indigenous studies. I am quite aware that I am not an expert in the field, however, I do know there are many in the district that are trained to support my students' learning in this subject area. Instructors from the district have come to the school to explicitly teach peace/sharing circles. To promote awareness and understanding of indigenous cultures, the Aboriginal Program offers classroom presentations, for example in grade 3, Ms. Gabriel teaches students about Sto:lo tools past and present.
Image from Bitmoji.com
Who knows what hidden talents, skills, and professional development your colleagues have? I worked with an intermediate teacher and I would like to think I was friendly enough with him, but I had no idea that he was opera trained! He never volunteered for the Christmas concerts and just by chance our friendly conversations turned into this little treasure revealed.
How can we best respond to the needs of our staff, in their wide spectrum of abilities and experiences, with the most appropriate and useful professional development?
We need to know what the actual needs are of our staff: being a part of school based team meetings, school goal committees, action plans, and other groups within the school that focus on student needs and improvements will give us a more thorough understanding of what professional development would be appropriate and useful for fellow staff members.
In our district, we use Microsoft Teams, and the TL having a channel of his/her own would help teachers look back at any staff meeting presentations available for viewing later, instructions for using tech tools in the learning commons, link to book TL/llearning commons facility, etc. Because it is a program that each teacher in the school has to use on a regular basis, it is easy access for peers.
Image from Bitmoji.com
How can we, as educators and TLs share what we've learned with our wider communities of practices?
As we all have experienced, in order for learners to engage, there has to be a "buy in". I believe the same goes with adult learners. Canvasing co-workers, be it personal drop-ins or an inquiry note in their mailbox,, noticing frequently checked out teacher resources and print material for the classroom, observing what teachers are attending for professional development days, or using online surveys to gather intel. Most administrators will give their TLs time during staff meetings to up to date everyone on what is happening in the learning commons, so I feel that is a great start - something short, sweet, and enticing. I have seen TLs use SWAY, Bitmoji Classroom, Prezi, and Keynote.
image from sway.office.com
image from weareteachers.org
image from prezi.com
What tools and strategies are best implemented to meet the professional development of staff?
As the professional development representative at my school level, I have found that scheduling presenters to come into the school for Pro D days have been more meaningful and has created team-building opportunities. BCTF offers quite an array of speakers on various topics. We have had speakers come in for conflict resolution, self-regulation, mindfulness, and balance. Understanding where our co-workers are coming from and taking common professional development has been quite nurturing.
Caskey and Carpenter's article on Building Teacher Collaboration provides an explicit organizational model that promotes teacher collaboration within a school. The biggest take away has been that collaboration must be meaningful - teachers that are working together share the same vision for their students on their focused topic. Educators are willing and voluntarily carve time out to work, professional develop, gather data, and discuss students' needs, then put it into practice.
imagefromamle.org
Image from bitmoji.com
As a TL, providing mini-workshops to familiarize teachers with programs within the learning commons and resources has created an on-going professional development for teachers and EAs within the school. Our previous TL held a "Tech Tuesday" after school for anyone and for any topic regarding technology that wouldn't be appropriate for the district IT team to problem solve.
What about the stakeholders? TLs should be making a regular appearance in PAC meetings; there is a beneficial reciprocal relationship in the rough here. As well, making connections with the local public library and their programs could support the school learning commons. For example, if the public library is using coding tools like this one here: Spheros at FVRL and Ozobots at FVRL perhaps co-teaching and collaborating with teachers in the school to use these could also create on-going professional development and lead to new technology discoveries.
LIBE 477 63A Fostering Reading Cultures in School: Reflecting on classroom and school wide literacy plans
Image from Pinterest.com
Figure 1. A photo of personal notes taken in Abbotsford, B.C. October 6, 2020.
A quick brainstorm of activities that I feel have helped nurture a love for reading made me realize how much I myself, love reading. I can admit I do not have the best retention of plots I read, so re-reading the same book still brings me joy, wonder, and curiosity the second and third time round. So, how have I promoted this in my classroom without outright demonstrating it? Believe me, I have thought about it and I have tried it a handful of times, but the guilt of losing so much teaching time has made it one of the few activities I have not included in this list below:
utilizing Daily 5, a balanced literacy program that focuses on five essential literacy habits (Read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work, work on writing) and allows differentiation to occur while the teacher is able to work on specific skills in small groups.
and most recently, the class and I set a goal of 100 books read aloud and chart them on our wall.
Our reward? A movie based on a book complete with pyjamas, stuffies, and snacks. Of course we
we will be celebrating differently this year. We are at 25 already!
As a grade 3 class, we are gifted with a kindergarten/grade 1 buddy class. We collaborate weekly on various playful learning and curricular activities. During read to self every day after lunch, a group of grade 3s will head down to the K/1 wing and read or listen to reading with our buddy class.
Each student has a reading bin with “Right Fit” books that they have access to at all times of the day. My PAC funds and personal money go into my every-growing classroom library. I hope to think the texts reflect student interest (Dog Man and Raina Telgemeier graphic novels) as well as diverse text, genre and non-fiction. Along with a classroom library that is set up as a mostly genrefied collection similar to their school learning commons, there is a bin of student-made books that peers can enjoy reading.
Quick Post-it reviews: I encourage students to add a little sticky note in a book they have finished reading for those peers that have difficulty choosing something to read.
District Media story kits: our district learning commons has prepared grade-level story kits with lesson plans as well as kits that cover genres from habitat non-fiction readers to indigenous graphic novel sets.
Book swap: Around Christmas I do a classroom book swap. Students can trade in their very good condition books for someone else’s. It freshens up their home library and gets them excited to read something a classmate also loved!
Book talks: Before I introduce new titles into the classroom library, we often do book talks. I will show a video of the author talking about the process or have students in pairs take a new book and gather some quick information to present to the class (author, genre, recommendations).
Home Reading: in previous years, I have been graced with lots of adult volunteers who are able to come in every day and listen to the students read, check their home reading, hand out incentive tickets. The focus is not on the amount of books read, but making time each day to read to someone for at least 20 minutes and talk about what they are reading. We have reading draws and prizes as well. I know we have naysayers about extrinsic motivation.
Skype in the Classroom offers virtual meets with authors. I have had Sarah Giles and Cressida Cowell booked in the past. I am very disappointed I just missed Todd Parr, but we have one scheduled with Howard Binkow next month. There are also many robust webpages that authors have, like Peter H. Reynolds, Robert Munch, and Mo Willems, which offer readings of their books, insight to the writing and illustrating process, and interactive activities.
I used to have the Langley Rivermen, a junior hockey team, come in and read with the kids. They would challenge the kids to 21 days of Reading straight, and award them with signed swag and tickets to their games. The players would tell the kids about their favourite books growing up, and stress the importance of reading.
Reading groups are alive and well in the grade 3 class, and due to the prolonged absence last year, I feel like students more than ever, need small group instruction to support their decoding and comprehension skills; being able to discuss the same text with their peers.
The problem of not always having access to quality books right away has been more evident this past month. Websites and YouTube playlists like Story Line Online and Save with Stories have celebrities, natural storytellers, read quality picture books.
Epic! My children at home and my students love this free digital library. It has kid-safe, engaging videos on how to make slime, audio books, read to me books, of all different levels, genres, and types of texts. This library was a game changer for remote learning. Unlike Raz-Kids, which uses levelled readers, Epic! allowed students to use any text of their choice to explore reading and writing elements.
I don’t want to discredit Raz-Kids at all, but as we know, we read for different purposes. Especially for those lower readersRaz-Kids ensures that students are not missing important sight words along the way, and have a chance to record and listen to their reading. There are also comprehension questions so this can help parents and educators decide whether or not the book level is a “good fit” for the child. There are lots of incentives for the students to read as they gain points to do more to their account.
What makes a reading culture weave magic and wonder? What measures have created an ineffective concoction to promote reading as a daily, positive habit?
By the power of School-Wide reading, what can be conjured up to support and nurture a community of readers?
Our B.C. teacher’s contract was stripped and school funding was bare in the early to mid-2000s. During this time, non-enrolling staff like teacher librarians were cut. In Langley, the learning commons positions began to open up about four years ago. Having a skilled co-teacher available to a school to support literacy as well as other subject areas, including A.D.S.T. has made a huge impact. With a hub in place, our TLs have been able to connect, collaborate, and support whole-school goals like literacy.
Here are some tools and implementations I have seen at my K-5 school (pre-Covid):
Book club for students that are reading chapter books: students come from all grades and classes and meet with the TL, have some hot chocolate, and enjoy discussing their book of the month.
Family Literacy Night: Parents come with their children to the school and learn about ways to help with home reading. They sit and read books with their family and play literacy activities with support of teachers that make reading a part of the family’s activities.
Connecting with the public library and hosting author visits; advertising summer reading program, and participating in the Langley Reading Link challenge (schools create teams that read chapter books freely given by the public library, which can be sourced into the school library, and answer comprehension questions)
Langley Picture Book of the Year is something that the district TLs started. They pick a handful of quality picture books for K-3 and chapter books for intermediate classes. School TLs purchase the texts and teachers read them to their classes. The school votes on their favourite, all the schools participating votes get pooled, and the book winners are announced with special stickers to mark their significance in the school library shelves. This used to be done by the classroom teachers, but TLs now incorporate it into their teaching.
The Scholastic Book Fair is always a sure-fire way to get families into the school and purchasing books for their kids and their kids’ classrooms.
The TL has an instagram account for parents and students to follow. They can see the new reads and what they are doing in the learning commons.
Many school groups like the Garden Club, Legoclub, Makerspace club, etc. meet in the learning commons creating a community atmosphere in the learning commons.
During remote learning, our TL created a page with activities and on-line reading material. Activities ranged from school staff reading a chapter of a book each week, emoji clues to guess a book title, and a reading of a story while the PE teacher led students in a yoga exercise.
Sounds fanciful, but what is missing here? What are some other ideas that will strengthen that Home-school connection and engage even the most reluctant of readers?
Some great ideas that I have pulled from this website:
📕Making a “What I’m Reading” bulletin for the entire school community to SEE from students to teachers and perhaps, even parents!
📗Spice up morning announcements by having students share a quotation from a book, a joke, a poem, etc. to get students excited and engaged.
📙Following literacy movements like #WorldReadAloudDay or start a school-wide reading challenge and publish an ongoing tracking system in public areas of the school
📘Using social media, start fake profiles for book characters
You haven’t mentioned anything about “what is not working”?
The years vary, like one such as this, and I think as educators we do what works, until it doesn’t and we try something new. Asking your class what they are interested in, why they like reading, why they don’t, will help guide your literacy practice for that year. Knowing whether or not a digital platform is redundant or produces more benefit to engaging readers is also a critical skill to practice in today’s classroom.
