Sometimes, I am the staff member who offers to perform the role-play in front of my colleagues. Sometimes, I am the staff member who is found at the school on the weekend, straightening up to make everything "just right". Sometimes, I am the staff member who finds that one interesting tidbit of information or way to help that makes everyone else's lives just that much easier. And sometimes, I am a little too hard on myself. Source: https://womenforone.com/portfolio/grace-meeting-moments-journey-picking-back-humble-enough-learn-not-hard-michelle-peluso/ I have treated this course as a way to relax after an especially hard Monday or Tuesday at work. I have also treated this class as a way to learn at my own pace, under the direction of my own personal interests. These inquiry blog posts have been right up my alley (with the exception of the really difficult post previously). I feel like each week I have carved out a bit of PD time, just for myself. It is too easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over again. So this blog post is a celebration of all of the little things I have since made time for, all of the times I have stood up in the rut, looked out, and saw all the other teachers digging and navigating their own ruts and trenches around me. Without further ado, I bring you... Krista's list of Reminders and Learning to Herself to Escape THe Rut
Source: https://sylvaniadigitallearning.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/pd-session-basic-google-literacyg/
I needed to write this post today, because in a number of these courses, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to be better, to do better, to know more, without expressing what I already know. Many of these courses are set up so that it's a competition in the discussion forum for who has a better idea, who is first to respond, the number of responses in a given week is counted toward/against your mark. It's just one big rat race without truly taking the time away to decide what is important for you in your specific circumstance. This inquiry, this phase 2, for me, was liberating and validating in that I am able to communicate what I know, what I have chosen to take on, and manage how it all fits together. References [Google Wormhole of Life]. (2015, October 5). Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://sylvaniadigitallearning.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/pd-session-basic-google-literacyg/
[LifeVestInside]. (2011, August 29). Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang - "One Day" [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU Kittle, P. (2013). Book love: Developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Women For One. (2015, December 11). [Grace]. Retrieved October 29, 2018, from https://womenforone.com/portfolio/grace-meeting-moments-journey-picking-back-humble-enough-learn-not-hard-michelle-peluso/
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As a general studies teacher in a small school known for it's high expectations, I run a pretty tight ship. Every day, I use an agenda on the SmartBoard. If I come back from break and see my students without having their supplies ready, I ask them the question: "who can read?" We are nearly five weeks into the school year and still, I have students looking at me, hands in the air, volunteering like I am asking them to read something for me. By grade 5, students in my school are fairly adept at problem solving: if they cannot read the agenda, they ask someone next to them or follow what the rest of the class is doing. I am also sensitive to the fact that if I were teaching in a different environment, I would not dare ask this question. By me asking this question, I am telling my students daily that reading is important. It is ingrained into what we need to do to function in our society. When I ask my students to complete surveys at the beginning of the year asking them about what they like to read, the amount of students saying "I don't like reading" is disheartening. How can we change that? This week's blog topic: Fostering Reading Cultures in schools is important to me for a variety of reasons. My first teaching job landed me in a school two hours from where I attended school and in a community of less than 600. Most of my students rode the bus, up to an hour and a half each way, often coming in from the neighbouring reserves. The students who chose to come to our school off-reserve were often in it for daily access to town services and the Automotive Technology program, run by a respected local plant worker turned teacher. In year three of my career in this community, I had the great idea that I would start a reading course. Our division was going through a Re-Imagining process where the staff and students in the division worked to Re-Imagine how school was done. There were some really great things that came out of the process, including programs running today such as building homes and auctioning them off in the community, becoming a Leader In Me school, and my own reading course. My great idea was that there were kids in our community who would love to have the opportunity to read for a whole class, so why not allow them to do that? I created a syllabus, talked to students, and obtained help from the school librarian. I ended up having two different courses running at the same time: creative reading and creative writing. In the first few days of class, I sat each student down at my computer and told them to go nuts on Amazon. I had them fill up an Amazon cart with all of the books they wanted to read. I then went to the principal, showed him the list, and said, "we need to buy these books for the kids." He was more than willing to finance our idea and told me to place the order and get a cheque requisition form. At the end of our first semester, most students had students reading anywhere between 3 and 30 books, with thousands of pages read between them. To bring this back to our topic: how do we foster a reading culture? I think the way this question is phrased is important. We, as teachers, teacher librarians, and even administrators simply cannot create a reading culture. We must foster it. The video above demonstrates that reading is not just important for learning in a classroom environment, but it is important for real life (like telling a girl you like her and cannot wait to spend time with her). For other examples, read Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet - the literate ones always get the girl... it's a reoccurring theme! (Forgive the endings though, those are simply tragic). I think there really are a lot of different ways we (as a school community, as teacher librarians and classroom teachers) can foster a reading culture. In one of my other classes, I created a video chronicling the recipe for success for a school library learning commons (see below). I think the items mentioned in the video are important, but I think one piece is missing from the video to answer the question of how to foster a culture of reading. The answer is this: relationships. While I would argue that relationships are likely the most effective way to foster a reading culture, Webster states in her article, Fostering a Reading Community (2017), "increasing the variety of texts students can read in the typical language arts classroom" (p. 28) is more beneficial to student learning and engagement versus whole class novel studies. I think that in my experience, the more that students are trusted and given choice (there's the relationship building!), the more ownership they take over their learning. Not only is the relationship between the classroom teacher and the student important, but Webster goes on to say that "one of the most critical components of a successful independent reading program has been the support of the school librarian" (p. 29). This role that the teacher librarian has is so important, because unlike my previous situation, most teachers do not have an unlimited budget for books - in my (limited) experience, the opposite is true: administrators believe that there are plenty of resources in the library or SLLC. If someone who was in charge of the SLLC were to say something to the contrary, I think it would have more effect. Also, refraining from limiting student choice is important, according to Webster, "[the school librarian] encourages students to check out any books that interest them rather than confining them to a certain reading level" (p. 30). I think it really is a shame that students might feel as if they were unable to check out a book because it wasn't a "good fit" for them. According to the Daily Five, there are three different ways we read a book: by reading the words, reading the pictures, and by summarizing or paraphrasing the text. Finally, using the formed relationship to engage in conversation about texts is a significant aspect to consider. Penny Kittle's book, Book Love stresses the importance of book talks. Ever since I heard her speak when I worked in Manitoba, I feel as if transferring my own love of books is so important to getting our students to love reading. Kittle warns, however, that "we need to balance pleasure [reading] with challenge, increasing volume for all readers" (p. 8). I feel like I am constantly giving my students new texts to read by giving them a bit of glimpse into the book to get them interested. I was pleased to read that "A booktalk is motivating, and when done well, grabs students’ interests immediately so as to create a sense of urgency for them to read it" (Webster, p. 31). Book talks work with students of all grade levels! To summarize, here is a list of things I personally can do to help foster a reading culture: - Student choice - Unlimited student choice - Allow students to help choose texts to bring into the SLLC - Develop relationships with staff and students - Ask for staff input - Utilize digital technology - Use warm colours, comfortable furniture, and a variety of workspaces - Involve administration - Share the variety of ways in which we read - Give booktalks! References Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2014). The daily 5: Fostering literacy independence in the elementary grades. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse.
Hsu, V. [Vert Hsu]. (2006, October 15). Indigo - Love of Reading Commercial [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/h5SIONYCuLs Kittle, P. (2013). Book love: Developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [Logo]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2018, from https://www.theleaderinme.org/ Webster, R. (2017, 12). Fostering a reading community. Teacher Librarian, 45, 28-31. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1979764335?accountid=14656 |
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