Students spend the majority of their year in a focussed environment where they are consistently practicing and participating in reading. But when the doors close for summer and the students leave to head back into the real world, they don't perceive reading as a fun or pleasurable activity. And therefore not worth pursuing whilst they are away from school. The strategies that haven't quite turned into long term knowledge disappear into the clear blue skies of summer break. Thus resulting in a regression in reading progress.
Category: Library Journey
The Power of Professional Development
I was privileged to host the SLANZA Term 4 event in our library last weekend and was blown away by the passion, and in depth conversations I witnessed from the 37 participants. Being a new librarian I find it invaluable to attend as much professional development as I can. The potential and mind expanding properties… Continue reading The Power of Professional Development
Themifying our Collection – why and how?
Libraries have traditionally organised their collection based on the author's surname and in the case of non-fiction upon the Dewey Decimal system. However, a fictional collection based solely on an author's surname does not appear to be a responsive or particularly helpful method for students to find books. And here's why... Jean Piaget was an educational… Continue reading Themifying our Collection – why and how?
Growth Mindset: Seeing the risk and taking the chance anyway
Maurie proposed a challenge for our staff at the end of a long, exciting and full-on Term 1. The Challenge to examine how we are developing our Growth Mindsets. Over the past week and a half I have had a chance to think more deeply and reflect upon building and maintaining growth mindset as I attended and participated… Continue reading Growth Mindset: Seeing the risk and taking the chance anyway
The power of gaming in education
This term I have been offering a MyTime slot known as Gamer's Anonymous. Most Wednesdays I have the privilege of hosting this slot in our library and watching the students strategically and skilfully playing games such as DOTA, LOL, Minecraft and Neverwinter. I never wanted the library to be a silent space where I peer… Continue reading The power of gaming in education
Creating a Space
Space. The noun describes a physical space where people are free to remain or move around. As a verb, it refers to the act of positioning items at a distance from each other. When creating a physical space to initiate, support and enhance learning the purposeful creation of separate and well positioned spaces is an… Continue reading Creating a Space
The Circles of influence
Over the past three weeks the vision for our library has been at the forefront of my mind. Settling down to the nuts and bolts of book buying and equipment/technology installation has made this journey feel even more real. After a meeting with Mark Osbourne, I was introduced to this Ted Talk; How Great Leaders… Continue reading The Circles of influence
The vision for future focussed leadership
Musings on the Library of the Future
“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien Well first, what is a library? Claire Amos wrote a brilliant blog post about the advent of the modern library environment. And I wish to follow on from it with some thoughts of my own. The scariest thing about becoming a librarian and… Continue reading Musings on the Library of the Future
Sharing Aspects of Self
The importance of relationships is something that is taken for granted. Many people assume that if they say the statutory "Hello" in the morning to their colleagues and remember their children's names, they have a relationship. These types of friendship only ever touch the surface of who a person truly is. They also do not… Continue reading Sharing Aspects of Self