What is a school reading culture?
I believe it is where everyone in the community (students, teachers, parents and school staff) are active readers who share their reading with each other. It is a school community where reading is an activity that is given time and space within the school day. Also, it is a culture of valuing books and the freedom to choose what you want to read. I have formed these ideas organically as an educator and reader throughout my career and I have also been strongly influenced by Donalyn Miller's works, The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild.
I was really excited about delving deeper into this topic as it is one of my passions as a teacher-librarian - as I am sure it is for many of us! I thought about some of the things that I am bringing into the library learning commons in an an effort to build the reading culture and engagement in our school.
Scholastic Book Fair - I know that this is a common place event for many schools however we have not had one at our school in over twelve years! Even the teachers are excited. I have never run a fair but I am looking forward to bringing the excitement of buying books to our school in early December. I am also aiming to raise enough money to purchase books for our library and hopefully involve the students in the decision making process of choosing books to increase their sense of ownership of the collection.
Drop Everything And Read is also rapidly approaching on October 28th. I am hoping to get everyone to participate even if they are engaged in other activities. I particularly want to highlight the adults stopping their other activities and reading, giving weight and visibility to the idea that reading is worth prioritizing.
However, I also used this week as an opportunity to look deeper into ways in which I can build a reading culture that reflects the diversity of the readers in our school. This TED talk by Alvin Irby is well worth watching and provides insight into inspiring all children to identify as readers.
As a white educator, this is something I ask myself regularly and his advice to view children as co-creators in their reading identity is something that made me think deeply about how I can incorporate this into my practice as a teacher-librarian. How can I bring the cultural identity of my students into the library learning commons? I think it is important to have a diverse collection in order for all readers to see themselves and others in the books that they read. I am also aiming to highlight the authors behind the books that I read aloud by playing interviews and read-alouds from the authors themselves - we are lucky to live in a time where there are many of these available on YouTube.
In addition to that, how can I invite "relevant male reading models into early literacy" (as Irby advises)? How can bring relevant reading models for all of my students into the library learning commons? One answer may lie in bringing in our families to read and learn in the school space.
Earlier this week, Andrea Langelaar (our Surrey Schools Teacher-Librarian Helping Teacher) retweeted this tweet where a teacher in the US invited a parent to come to the classroom and read aloud in her home language.
Even though some of the students may not understand, there is complete engagement as she reads. I have started thinking about how I could potentially invite some parents to read in the library during our 'Meet the Teacher' Open House night later in the month.
I find social media to be really helpful for ideas on how to promote reading as a shared activity in the school. Good readers share what they read and thus we need to allow students opportunities to do this. Following other school librarian's on Twitter and Instagram is a huge source of information and inspiration for me.
Two of my favourites are:
Mike @thebookwrangler has so many great ideas to promote reading to students. I love his posters that suggest reads for students based on what they already have enjoyed. "What Should I Read Next" is available to download from his blog for free and the other one is a paid product on TeachersPayTeachers. I think they are worth the investment. I can't wait to print them and start using in our library learning commons. His Toilet Papers (Book review posters that can be displayed in the school washrooms) are also particularly creative and fun.
Jessica @teachergolz is a teacher-librarian and STEM teacher in Chicago and her ideas are also fantastic. She has created an interactive genre recommendations station with an iPad that allows students to view book reviews by teachers in the school. I love the idea of collecting recommendations from teachers, students and parents. Our school collection is not genrified so recommendations by genre may not necessarily work for us yet but I was thinking I could link the video reviews to QR codes that I could post around the library near the books that are recommended. This is an idea that I also saw on social media somewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where. If anyone knows or has seen this idea posted somewhere, please let me know so I can link to it.
Just recently, I came across this idea from LibrarianArika's blog called 'Lunch and Listen'. She invites upper intermediate students to come to the library to eat their lunch and listen to a read-aloud. This really appeals to me as the intermediate students at my school only get about 15-20mins for their weekly book exchange and it is not really enough time for me to do a read-aloud. So this is a great way to do some book talks and read-alouds for my older students.
Hopefully, these ideas and the many more that we all share with each other as educators will build strong, vibrant reading cultures in our school communities.
I believe it is where everyone in the community (students, teachers, parents and school staff) are active readers who share their reading with each other. It is a school community where reading is an activity that is given time and space within the school day. Also, it is a culture of valuing books and the freedom to choose what you want to read. I have formed these ideas organically as an educator and reader throughout my career and I have also been strongly influenced by Donalyn Miller's works, The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild.
I was really excited about delving deeper into this topic as it is one of my passions as a teacher-librarian - as I am sure it is for many of us! I thought about some of the things that I am bringing into the library learning commons in an an effort to build the reading culture and engagement in our school.
Scholastic Book Fair - I know that this is a common place event for many schools however we have not had one at our school in over twelve years! Even the teachers are excited. I have never run a fair but I am looking forward to bringing the excitement of buying books to our school in early December. I am also aiming to raise enough money to purchase books for our library and hopefully involve the students in the decision making process of choosing books to increase their sense of ownership of the collection.
Drop Everything And Read is also rapidly approaching on October 28th. I am hoping to get everyone to participate even if they are engaged in other activities. I particularly want to highlight the adults stopping their other activities and reading, giving weight and visibility to the idea that reading is worth prioritizing.
However, I also used this week as an opportunity to look deeper into ways in which I can build a reading culture that reflects the diversity of the readers in our school. This TED talk by Alvin Irby is well worth watching and provides insight into inspiring all children to identify as readers.
As a white educator, this is something I ask myself regularly and his advice to view children as co-creators in their reading identity is something that made me think deeply about how I can incorporate this into my practice as a teacher-librarian. How can I bring the cultural identity of my students into the library learning commons? I think it is important to have a diverse collection in order for all readers to see themselves and others in the books that they read. I am also aiming to highlight the authors behind the books that I read aloud by playing interviews and read-alouds from the authors themselves - we are lucky to live in a time where there are many of these available on YouTube.
In addition to that, how can I invite "relevant male reading models into early literacy" (as Irby advises)? How can bring relevant reading models for all of my students into the library learning commons? One answer may lie in bringing in our families to read and learn in the school space.
Earlier this week, Andrea Langelaar (our Surrey Schools Teacher-Librarian Helping Teacher) retweeted this tweet where a teacher in the US invited a parent to come to the classroom and read aloud in her home language.
I find social media to be really helpful for ideas on how to promote reading as a shared activity in the school. Good readers share what they read and thus we need to allow students opportunities to do this. Following other school librarian's on Twitter and Instagram is a huge source of information and inspiration for me.
Two of my favourites are:
Mike @thebookwrangler has so many great ideas to promote reading to students. I love his posters that suggest reads for students based on what they already have enjoyed. "What Should I Read Next" is available to download from his blog for free and the other one is a paid product on TeachersPayTeachers. I think they are worth the investment. I can't wait to print them and start using in our library learning commons. His Toilet Papers (Book review posters that can be displayed in the school washrooms) are also particularly creative and fun.
Jessica @teachergolz is a teacher-librarian and STEM teacher in Chicago and her ideas are also fantastic. She has created an interactive genre recommendations station with an iPad that allows students to view book reviews by teachers in the school. I love the idea of collecting recommendations from teachers, students and parents. Our school collection is not genrified so recommendations by genre may not necessarily work for us yet but I was thinking I could link the video reviews to QR codes that I could post around the library near the books that are recommended. This is an idea that I also saw on social media somewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where. If anyone knows or has seen this idea posted somewhere, please let me know so I can link to it.
Just recently, I came across this idea from LibrarianArika's blog called 'Lunch and Listen'. She invites upper intermediate students to come to the library to eat their lunch and listen to a read-aloud. This really appeals to me as the intermediate students at my school only get about 15-20mins for their weekly book exchange and it is not really enough time for me to do a read-aloud. So this is a great way to do some book talks and read-alouds for my older students.
Hopefully, these ideas and the many more that we all share with each other as educators will build strong, vibrant reading cultures in our school communities.
I absolutely loved reading your blog. You have given me so much insight by sharing your journey on building a reading culture within the school. I instantly started following your top two Instagram inspirations.
ReplyDeleteYou also got me thinking about "how can bring relevant reading models for all of my students into the library learning commons?" and your idea of involving families to come read is brilliant. This spread the reading culture to community, which is a huge part of the school. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback Kaitlin! I'm so glad that you found the post helpful :)
DeleteThank you so much for sharing this blog post! I have so many new resources now :) I especially loved the Ted Talk by Alvin Irby. I'm going to look for his book Gross Greg this weekend! Having students identify as readers is the goal of so many teacher-librarians. The way he talked about how books that are geared toward black boys are always about serious or historical topics was really interesting. As a white female, this particular bias wasn't something on my radar. I believe that representation is something that is very important in all forms of media. Children need to make connections to the media that they are consuming. It is important to learn to relate to people who aren't like you, but I imagine it can do more harm than good if you never get the chance to relate to people who are like you. Again, thank you for posting this. It is a really valuable resource and I'm looking forward to looking into Alvin Irby more!
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalee! I appreciate your feedback. I also want to find that 'Gross Greg' book for the library. 'Jabari Jumps' by Gaia Cornwall is also good - I just ordered it.
DeleteThis was an excellent blog post on fostering reading cultures that captures your intentions, connections to the topic, rationale and purpose. You've done a great job outlining the key questions that guide your practice and support your growth. You've also done a great job outlining some of the key resources, sites, videos and people that have helped you get to this understanding and supporting your initiatives and experiments. I really appreciate the authenticity and personal heart that goes into your approaches for this and the ways you hope to engage all the students in your school. Excellent use of the features of your blog, like labels and links and other media.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the detailed feedback, Aaron. I found this to be a great topic to explore and read more about.
DeleteYour blog post initiated action on my part. I have shared the Ted Talk with my administrators and we are going to be setting up Barber Shop Books in our "nest" where students go to regulate and our office space where parents and children gather as well.
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic to hear! Well done on taking action so soon - sounds like it will be a great addition to the 'nest' at your school.
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