PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES
The first step to creating your makerspace or rejuvenating an existing makerspace should be getting the mindset right. Makerspaces are all about hands-on learning, creativity, and technology. No matter their size and regardless of the resources they host, makerspaces provide students with an environment where they can explore, experiment, and innovate.
Do you have a vision for your school library? What about a personal or professional vision statement? Now, I know sometimes these things can seem like just business rhetoric, or perhaps you see the school’s vision statement trotted out by leadership without any actual reflection of what’s happening in the school. But having a vision for yourself and your school library is incredibly powerful.
You Need A Manifesto
– Charlotte Burgess-Auburn and Stanford d.School –
Ten Speed Press
Published 4 October 2022
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You Need A Manifesto is my favourite of the d.School Guides that I have read so far. If you are interested in directing your creativity, narrowing down your vision or just putting into writing your thoughts about your future, I highly recommend You Need A Manifesto.
Happy New Year. Welcome to 2024. I hope it is an exciting, yet calm, rewarding and fruitful year for you. A new month and a new year means new professional learning opportunities and I have an excellent list of articles, podcasts, booklists and more for you. It seems people have been creating and reflecting in these last few months.
I love to see students up and moving about during my library lessons. I also try to limit the amount of talking I do. I want my students to be the ones who do the talking. So, when I am running “getting to know the library” sessions or introductions to a genre or even rotational activities, I like to use scavenger hunts and QR code hunts. In the past, I’ve done these by creating my own QR codes using the QR Code Generator, writing clues and having students use paper to record their steps. I have also used apps like GooseChase to create scavenger hunts but was limited by cost in the number of groups with which I could use it.
When I discovered ActionBound, I was utterly thrilled. It is an online platform and app that allows you to create scavenger hunts using QR codes, missions, location points on a map, quizzes, surveys and so much more. But the best part? It has a completely affordable Library subscription plan.
Signage can have a massive impact in a school library. Part accessibility, part marketing, your signage helps your students find and discover sections.
Depending on your shelving and wall space, large banner signage can make a big statement, and disguise old walls or hide unsightly shelving tops. When in our old library space, our graphic novel section needed a lot of love and new banner signs above the collection really gave it a lift. You can read all about how I updated the graphic novel collection here.
Out of Our League
– Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli (editors) –
Feiwel and Friends
Published 23 January 2024
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This is a book I have been waiting for for a very long time. An anthology of YA stories about girls and sport.
It’s has become a bit of a tradition of mine to reflect back on the year that has just passed. I find it immensely helpful to not only remember all the things I actually got done in the year, but to also track what I am spending my focus on, track my goals and my progress towards them and set new goals for the year ahead.
Honestly, 2023 feels like it could have been two years with the amount that has been squeezed into it. To say it has been a massive year feels like a massive understatement. Before writing this, I read my reflections from 2022. I had to chuckle at the plans I had set for the start of 2023. I thought I had it all organised and all laid out. Well, let me tell you, the start of 2023 did not go as planned.
I think most of us are on holiday breaks, about to be on a holiday break or seriously counting down the days until a holiday break. December can be a crazy busy time in someways and a quieter one in others. It’s certainly a little quiet in the professional learning area. So, here’s your reminder to check out the past 11 editions of this newsletter. There are plenty of articles to return to, webinar recordings to rewatch and podcasts to play when you need something to distract you from the festive chaos (or is that just me?). What ever you are doing this December, take care and we’ll see you again for more professional learning in 2024.
Well, here we are, more than two years on from when I first started this journey investigating how to build a reading culture. I never could have imagined where this journey would take me.
I’ve looked at organisational culture research, culture change research and methodology, reading culture research, and tools for measure reading culture. I also used those tools to measure our reading culture starting point.
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