Reflections of Blogs-Past

Good Evening,

I have just gotten over a serious case of reportcarditis and am feeling much better now that it's over, thank you very much. This week I have read, re-read, and read yet again my blog posts from the past month. Each week gave me distinct takeaways and ideas to translate into my own practice which I would like to share with you.

Fostering A Reading Culture

There are many effective ways to engage students in reading but I think educators who are authentic to their own reading habits will have the most success. For myself, this means that I must have a comfortable environment to read in or it's just not happening. In my post I mentioned Guided Reading between the grade 2 classes at my school, read alouds, and the abundance of books available in my classroom. However, I truly believe my students are able to read for 30+ minutes a day because of the calm, relaxing environment provided for them. The tiny humans look forward to winding down after lunch with pillows, stuffies, and, best of all, a good book. I actually went into the school just this morning to rearrange the space and make it comfortable for the kids tomorrow (see the video below). Part of the thought process behind the new arrangement was to disperse the books throughout the room because I was finding my students needed to take turns finding books during silent reading. I am hoping the new setup will allow them to choose books more efficiently. If you're interested in the results comment below and I will update you over the next couple weeks. 

Professional Development

The biggest takeaway from the Pro-D week is that professional development is readily available to us and it doesn't necessarily have to take the form of a district conference or workshop. I was blown away by the amount of professional development opportunities on my district website including the North Vancouver School District's Mentorship Program. I was also happily surprised to determine that my secret indulgence of "creeping" teaching Instagram accounts and teacher vlogs on Youtube such as My 2nd Grade Life is a perfectly acceptable form of professional development. However, the most productive part of my exploration was remembering my desire to finish the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and Google Educator training.  I had these projects on the back burner for so long that I had actually forgotten about them so it was a good reminder.

Connecting with the SLLC

Thinking about developing the library at my school into a School Library Learning Commons through collaboration and communication with staff had me brainstorming how best to connect with teachers and other staff members at my school. The best part of my brainstorm was that I was coming at it from a teacher's perspective because I am not yet a Teacher-Librarian. Due to my perspective I was able to see gaps in the communication and connectivity between the school library and our staff that perhaps our current teacher-librarian is not yet aware of. In my post I suggested way to reorganize the teacher resources in our library to make them easily accessible to staff and a resource sign out process as well as a resource request application. Most notable was the discovery that the majority of the staff at my school have such an aversion to technology. This is something that I am thinking of looking into further for my Vision blog posts. I am considering starting a technology club to assist those who feel uncomfortable with technology at my school. I already included the following video in my blogpost entitled "The 'Teacher' Part of Teacher Librarian" but I would like to share it again because it sums up exactly why technology is so important to the 21st century learner (and educator). 

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0RyaAsVNGU)

Tech-knowledge-y

Again, technology proves to be an invaluable resource for teaching and learning in the 21st century. Not only is technology important in local libraries, it is the most effective way to bring knowledge and empowerment to developing nations! There are many initiatives to assist people in developing nations to have access to books and technology but the one that hit home for me was Library for All. It is imperative that everyone, regardless of socio-economic status, have access to the same unfiltered, uncensored information. Library for All provides those in developing nations the opportunity to empower themselves via books and technology access.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0G6drthKjc)

Reflection

It would be challenging to pick just one topic from the past month but if I had to I think it would be "fostering a reading culture." I am always looking for new ways to engage my students and believe that early literacy is one of the (if not THE) most important aspect(s) of elementary education. I love to hear from other educators about what they are doing in their classrooms, libraries, and school to engage young readers. While I feel like I have a really solid literacy program there is always room for improvement. I would interested in looking more into activities I could incorporate into my literacy stations. Additionally, I am hoping to start novel studies after Spring Break but am unsure how to go about this with all my varied levels of readers. My students reading abilities vary greatly, as do their interests. If anyone has any suggestions, I am more than open to new ideas.

Take care,

Miss P. 💕