Part B: Reflective blog post
In my first blog post, The future of children’s literature (2020), I described that my vision is for children to gain more knowledge through reading books regardless of the format change of children’s literature. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), reading is an essential activity “for success in education”. (p.1)
My new insight is that reading to the child is very significant because it crucially influences “children’s engagement in reading”. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012, p.1) While I was doing ETL 402 assignment 2 Part A, I learned that interactive “read alouds” are a literature response strategy for teachers in order to model students’ reading and for students to be exposed to excellent literature. (Lehman, 2007, p.27) I would like to apply this interactive “reading alouds” in my future literature teaching because it motivates students to build their sense of story and their understanding of “how different text structures work”. (Lehman, 2007, p.28)
Trisha Templeton (2020), in her forum post, states that her school runs mandatory silent reading program for 2 x 10 minutes a day across Years 7 / 8 / 9 due to the lack of recreational reading among students. I think the mandatory silent reading program is beneficial to engage students in reading and some of them will read for pleasure in the future very likely.
In terms of reading from the screen, Daniel Murphy (2020), in his forum post, states that although his school runs the Scholastic Literacy Pro Lexile program, students always have access to digital reading options through the platform. We can see that students have preference for digital reading because of the impact of digital environments. In my blog post, What is digital literature? (2020), I refer to the suggestion of Combes (2016) where teachers and teacher librarians need to instruct students’ traditional literacy skills before teaching them digital literacy skills.
I have understood the difference between literary learning and literacy learning. In my blog post, What is literary learning? (2020), I refer to the explanations of Derout (2020) which define literary learning as students learning through literature and literacy learning as students learning to be literate through learning “how to read literature” and “how to deconstruct it”. (ETL 402 module 5) It is easy to see why teachers and teacher librarians can use literature in education.
My extended knowledge and understanding of the use of literature in education is that teachers and teacher librarians are able to use quality literature to teach students curriculum subjects and cross-curriculum priority areas. The role of the teacher librarian in teaching literature across the curriculum is to provide teachers and students with current and relevant resources to “support the curriculum through information resources”. (IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2015, p.35) When the TL works with classroom teachers collaboratively to meet the curriculum requirements, learning needs and interests of students, both are able to elicit strong results in students’ literary learning and teachers’ literary teaching.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2012). Reading: The home and family context. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0~2012~Main%20Features~Reading:%20the%20home%20and%20family%20context~205
Combes, B. (2016). Digital literacy: A new flavour of literacy or something different? Synergy, 14(1). Retrieved from https://www.slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/4/2
Daniel Murphy (2020, April 21). Forum 4.2 Reading from the screen [online discussion comment]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_44234_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_88815_1&forum_id=_181938_1&message_id=_2862910_1
Derout, L. (2020). Literacies and Learning. In Multi-literacies. [ETL 402 module 5]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_44234_1&content_id=_3228488_1
Eun Hee Kim (2020, Feburary 18). The future of children’s literature [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/eunhee/2020/02/18/hello-3/
Eun Hee Kim (2020, May 7). What is digital literature? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/eunhee/2020/05/07/what-is-digital-literature/
Eun Hee Kim (2020, May 10). What is literary learning? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/eunhee/2020/05/10/what-is-literary-learning/
Lehman, B. A. (2007). Children’s literature and learning: Literary study across the curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.
The IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. (2015). IFLA School Library Guidelines. (2nd ed). USA: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
Trisha Templeton (2020, March 3). Forum 1. One thing I would introduce. [online discussion comment]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_44234_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_88815_1&forum_id=_181935_1&message_id=_2720545_1