Fostering A Reading Culture In School: a quick peek around.

The next few posts on my blog are going to be dedicated to discussing a few broad topics that pertain to Librarianship, as well as uses of new media and technology to assist in developing programs, pedagogy and ICT in a school library context.

Before I share my learning this week, I wanted to take a moment to discuss one of the amazing ways my school and the school library foster a culture of reading.  One of the highlights of the year occurs in January when we launch our One-School-One-Book program. Before rolling out One-School-One-Book each year, we sit down as a staff to select an appropriate book that is suitable for the whole school to read.  We use the Read To Them website to help select books.  Each family in the school receives a free copy of the book to take home and complete assigned readings and weekly activities.  A movie adaptation is often shown in the gym as a culminating activity if one is available.

While thinking about fostering a reading culture in my school, I found several interesting resources.  One of them is called Storyline Online.  Storyline Online is a website that uses SAG-AFTRA Foundation members and well-known actors, voiceover artists, broadcasters, and dancers to read books aloud in a video format.  These videos are available on their website or on YouTube. Many of the primary teachers in my school would love this resource. More suited to the older grades in elementary school, Here Comes The Garbage Barge by written by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Red Nose Studio and read by Justin Theroux is one of my favourites.  I think it would be good hook when discussion waste reduction.

“Here Comes the Garbage Barge read by Justin Theroux” by Storyline Online is licensed under Standard YouTube license

I also came across an article from the Australian Journal of Education titled, Building a school reading culture: Teacher librarians’ perceptions of enabling and constraining factors.  I was initially attracted to it because it was published this year, but as I processed it I found it quite interesting.  The article, which tries to determine whether Australian schools actively foster reading cultures that are supportive of reading for pleasure was determined by interviewing 30 teacher-librarians from Western Australian schools.  As I read the introduction the following statements made me wonder about my own practice and development as a new teacher-librarian:

• “professionally trained librarians and information experts can provide children and young people with the transferable skills required to achieve throughout life and develop a lifelong love of reading” (The Scottish Government, 2018, p. 7)
• At a classroom level, recent research suggests that children in upper primary school may not view their teachers as avid readers (Merga, 2016)
• Regular reading may also be associated with mental wellbeing (Clark & Teravainen-Goff, 2018)

The conclusion that researchers came to after interviewing the librarians was that:

1. School administrations play a vital role in developing and maintaining a school’s reading culture
2. Adequately funded and resourced school libraries support a reading culture
3. If the administration at the school are readers themselves, then the library is likely to be better funded and resourced
4. Staff who are active and engaged readers act as role models for students.
5. There is a need for increased parental support in fostering powerful reading habits.  A reading culture is stronger when there are reading partnerships between the school and home.

References:

StorylineOnline. (2017, November 6). Retrieved September 28, 2019, from      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb3bXKAkeek

Merga, M. K., & Mason, S. (2019). Building a school reading culture: Teacher librarians’ perceptions of enabling and constraining factors. Australian Journal of Education, 63(2), 173–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944119844544