Connect the dots – Page 2 – Thoughts and reflections from a Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) student

Digital Storytelling Topic Proposal

August 27, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 4 comments

For my digital story, I am creating a non-fiction narrative of the life of a child in the 1960s. The story will centre around a seven-year-old girl and share stories and artefacts about what life was like for her during this time. Digital artefacts, such as videos and photographs containing hotspots, will be created using artefacts and stories from my mother’s childhood. This digital story is inspired from an interview that my 2018 Year 1/2 class conducted with my grandmother…

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Digital Literature Review: Space Frog!

August 27, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

Space Frog! (npckc, n.d.) is a piece of hypertext fiction that embodies a Choose Your Own Adventure style of reading. The story is about a frog called Space Frog, who is on a quest to find a star. The simplicity of the story line and the use of anthropomorphic animals makes it a suitable option to use as an introduction to hypertext fiction for a younger audience. The first Choose Your Own Adventure book was published in 1979, with…

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K'gari: The Real Story of a True Fake (SBS, n.d.).

Digital Literature Review: K’gari

August 27, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

K’gari (SBS, n.d.) is a digital documentary that challenges Eliza Fraser’s account of events from when she became shipwrecked on the island of K’gari (previously known as Fraser Island) in 1836. This review will apply the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2021, p. 34) to analyse the effectiveness of the digital elements used within this digital documentary. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning outlines that learners actively process incoming information through multimedia when it engages both the visual…

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Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy iPad app cover (Kiwa Digital, n.d.).

Digital Literature Review: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy

August 27, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

The popular children’s book Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd (2005) has been digitally reproduced into an interactive iPad app, with digital elements included that support early readers to read the story independently. The digital version of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy mimics the layout of the print books, with pictures on the left-hand side of the screen and matching text on the right. This makes the format familiar to children who have experienced reading the print…

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Prior Knowledge and Pigeons: My Preliminary Understanding of Digital Literature

July 9, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 4 comments

Within the introductory module of ETL533 Literature in Digital Environments, my preconceptions of digital literature have already been challenged. Prior to the commencement of this unit, I would have classed eBooks or PDF books as a part of digital literature, but as explained by Giovanna Di Rosario in her TEDx Talk, Pixelated Words: Literature Facing the Digital World (TEDx Talks, 2018), it pertains to literary works that are created for and on digital devices. From the examples shown within the…

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ETL503: A Reflection On Learning

May 22, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

‘Mirrors and windows’ is an analogy that I first encountered during my studies in ETL503. It means students must be able to see themselves reflected in the school’s library collection (the mirrors) and be provided with opportunities to learn about the lives and experiences of others (the windows) (Adam, 2023, p. 1). This analogy has underpinned much of my thinking as I worked through this unit, further developing my understanding of the nature of school library collections and the practical…

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Annual Reporting: Making the Invisible Visible

April 29, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

An annual report can be a powerful tool that gives a teacher librarian the ability to provide transparency, take accountability and advocate for their library. In this blog post I elaborate on these three concepts, detailing some of the ways an annual report can be beneficial to a school library and to the role of a teacher librarian. For transparency: Creating an annual report plays a part in making the invisible visible. Karen Bonanno (2011) describes how teacher librarians…

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Censorship and the school library

April 19, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

In the article entitled Selection & Censorship: It’s simple arithmetic (2002), Dave Jenkinson outlines the following three challenges when dealing with censorship in the school library. This blog post will analyse each challenge and identify if Australian school libraries face the same challenges around censorship. 1. The majority of school censors are parents, but in-school censorship from teachers and other school personnel is still significant. While it is difficult to obtain statistics around who is censoring materials, there is…

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Mirrors and windows: How to engage learners in collection development

March 15, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

When learning about student-lead collection development in school libraries, I was introduced to a theory that really resonated with me. This theory was: mirrors and windows. Teacher Librarian at Melba Copeland Senior Secondary school, Mali Jorm, used this expression to explain how a school library collection should contain literature that shows a variety of different experiences and perspectives (School Improvement Branch, 2021). Students should be able to see themselves reflected in the literature that they are accessing (mirrors); and should…

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The difference between a proficient and highly accomplished teacher librarian

March 9, 2023 Amanda Wilson Comments 0 Comment

What separates a proficient teacher librarian from a highly accomplished one? By analysing the Australian School Library Association’s Evidence Guides and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2011), one can identify the skills and qualities that set highly proficient teacher librarians apart from those who are proficient. This blog post will use teaching standard 3.4 Select and use resources to compare and contrast. As all my experience has been centred around classroom…

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