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:
- School administrations play a vital role in developing and maintaining a school’s reading culture
- Adequately funded and resourced school libraries support a reading culture
- If the administration at the school are readers themselves, then the library is likely to be better funded and resourced
- Staff who are active and engaged readers act as role models for students.
- 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
Firstly, thank you for mentioning One Book, One School. I had a peek at their website and it seems like a really neat idea, particularly for schools with reading goals. I am going to look further into it and maybe make a case to my admin.
One of your conclusive points that really stood out to me is the one about parental support. This is something that is so important. No matter how hard we work at the school level to foster that love of reading, we are heavily impacted by the home connection. The students that are the hardest to reach are the ones that report that they watch TV or play video games all weekend. A colleague of mine was telling me that he read a study that showed improvement in reading in kids that watched TV with subtitles turned on. Literally reading ANYTHING outside of school has a great impact!
You mentioned Storyline Online. I love this site and use it often, but I’m wondering how you believe it helps in fostering a reading culture?
Hi Jen, thanks for your feedback. With regards to Storyline Online, teachers are using it in their classrooms and explaining to students and parents how to access it at home. By viewing a story in this way, students are being exposed to various parts of a story such as character development, vocabulary, plot, setting, most of all entertainment. Depending on one’s definition of reading, accessing this type of book online at home and in school could easily contribute to fostering a culture of reading.
Hi Christopher and Jen,
The resources you mention here are amazing and I hadn’t heard of any of them; thank you for sharing! Like you both mention, the home-school reading partnership is very important to nurture. I think it shows students that reading is a life skill rather than just a school skill.
Storyline Online is perfect for some of my students who just don’t have many (or any) fluent adults they can listen to read. It makes read alouds accessible for all students at home, as long as they have an internet connection. Just think – a student whose parent works at night could still hear a bedtime story! It’s also a great way for students to re-listen to or share books they may have enjoyed at school with their family.
Jen, I hadn’t even thought of turning on subtitles, but what a great idea!
Hi Christopher,
Both of the resources “Read To Them” and “Story Online” are new to me.
I can’t believe I didn’t know about Story Online-it’s fantastic. Being read to often is a key component to developing literacy skills and viewing reading with a positive attitude. It is important that children be exposed to different reading opportunities. I often use EPIC books to mix it up and provide another medium, and I can now incorporate this as well. I’m also impressed that there is American Sign Language being used in one of the books! I hope they do this for more. Thanks for sharing this!
In response to the information from the interview by teacher librarians, I agree that school administrators play vital roles in the reading culture of the school. My principal was a TL prior to becoming an administrator, and she is very supportive of our programs, and my autonomy in my role. I am very grateful, as I know some who do not have the same support.
Having a funded and resourced school library is crucial. I saw how much of an impact this makes when we received a large grant and were able to order massive amounts of new books. The students’ attitudes in the library changed and many are so eager to check out new books.
Well done Inquiry post about all the very interesting events and initatives your school does to encourage and promote reading among the entire community. Thank you for sharing those resources, examples and videos! All entertaining, engaging and informative. The insights gathered from your research are also insightful, and remindful about the team approach to literacy and how it really involves everyone in the school community to be effective. Role-modeling stands out as one of the most important ways we all can demonstrate how to be a good life long reader. Excellent new design on the blog, and great use of media, tags and comment responses.
Wow, thanks for sharing so many great resources, Chris! Ever since I read George by Alex Gino, I’ve wanted to impliment a similar thing but had no idea there was a whole network and program to support! This is fantastic! What are some books your school has done?
I also really like the Story Online – another resource I had never heard of. As Kristi mentioned, this will be great for students who don’t any fluent English speakers at home. This would make a great inspiration for a class project too -have students record themselves reading out favourite books to then share with younger students, or parents and relatives.
The article you shared form the Australian Journal of Education sounds very interesting -I’ve bookmarked it to read later this week. Thanks!