Month: March 2023

Selecting Resources through a Reggio Lens

“To make a lovable school, industrious, inventive, liveable, documentable and communicable, a place of research, learning, re-cognition and reflection, where children, teachers and families feel well – is our point of arrival.” 
Loris Malaguzzi 

In reflecting on the Reggio Children (2022) twelve principles of the Reggio Emilia Educational Project:

  1. Children are active protagonists
  2. Progettazione
  3. The hundred languages
  4. Organisation
  5. Environment and spaces
  6. Participation
  7. Environment and spaces
  8. Co-construction
  9. Professional growth
  10. Educational Research
  11. Documentation
  12. Evaluation

You can see that resource collection must be a collaboration between the Teacher Librarian, Classroom Teachers, learners and the wider community.

As a Teacher Librarian (TL), guided by the principles above, the relationship that exists between TL and teacher, TL and learner, learner and teacher and each with the wider school community must be reciprocal and collaborative. Observing children in their learning and play, being an active part of teacher research and planning and being the conduit between the school and greater community will ensure that resource selections are relevant and authentic to the learning that is taking place.

It is also important for the TL to know what is available in order to introduce teachers and learners to new provocations and ideas.

Child agency is extremely important. Children must be consulted as to the types of resources that would best support their learning and interests. They may even use this provocation as a basis for a project inquiry surrounding how resources are selected.

Just in time purchasing is a considerable proportion of the development of the collection with the TL making contributions based on the values and direction of the curriculum for the learners.

So how would this look in my setting:

  • Conversing with borrowers about their interests, inquiries and preferences.
  • Working with teaching teams to create bibliographical resources to support their student/class inquiry projects.
  • Planning collaboratively with all teaching teams.
  • Promoting the purchase by request service to teachers and students.
  • Including a ‘Suggest a book’ service in our space.
  • Ensuring that my knowledge is up to date, regarding new publications in order to suggest these to the community.
  • Observing the learners engaging with texts and researching how we can optimise their learning experience.
  • Constantly observing, questioning, reflecting and collaborating.
  • Ensuring the environment is organised in a way that the teachers and learners can easily see what resources we have, in order to uncover the possibilities of what we can acquire.

Reference:

Reggio Children. (2022) Values: Principles of the educational project. Reggio Emilia Approach. https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/valori-en/

Making the most of eBooks.

Our collection is made up of digital and hard copy resources. I’ll need to do a bit of digging, but I suspect that the digital resources are not getting the work-out that they ought to be! I thought I’d have a think about the benefits and challenges regarding eBooks in order to understand why and uncover ways to promote them further.

Benefits of eBooks:

  • eBooks are convenient. As long as you have your device you have a whole library at your fingertips, wherever you are.
  • Access to a greater range of material.
  • They take up no space for the user or the library.
  • eBooks are sustainable.
  • They can’t be damaged.
  • Digital resources can be edited or updated without having to be reproduced.
  • Borrowers don’t have to commit. If the text they have isn’t useful, they can instantly return and borrow another.

Challenges:

  • Access to eBooks could be inequitable depending on having access to a suitable device and internet connection. Some families do not have access to these things, so the learner is disadvantaged by their circumstances.
  • Using eBooks could be seen as increasing screen-time for children.
  • Is it a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for children borrowing ebooks? Do children need something physical (like a hardcopy book) to remind them to engage?
  • Digital devices present distractions that may take the reader away from the text.
  • Additional features of eBooks such as narration, animated illustrations, and complementary games take the focus away from reading the print. (de Jong & Bus, 2002)
  • eBooks can have an impact on the level of interaction an adult may have with the child when engaging with the text. (Korat & Or, 2010)

Questions to consider:

  • How many students/families are accessing our online resources?
  • How can we promote our eBook collection further?
  • What is our investment in eBooks, how does this work?
  • How do families feel about reading from screens?

I’ll have to do a bit of research in our school community to uncover the borrowing habits of the students and their understandings of our eLibrary. Hopefully we can encourage increased participation in using eBooks.

 

  1. de Jong, M. T. & Bus, A. G. (2002). Quality of book-reading matters for emergent readers: An experiment with the same book in a regular or electronic format. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(1), 145-155. http://doi.org/10.1037//0022-0663.94.1.145
  2. Lowry, L. (2016). E-Book or Paper Book − What’s Best for Young Children? The Hanen Centre. E-Book or Paper Book − What’s Best for Young Children? http://www.hanen.org/helpful-info/articles/e-book-or-paper-book-whats-best-for-young-child.aspx
  3. Korat, O. & Or, T. (2010). How new technology influences parent-child interaction: The case of e-book reading. First Language, 30(2), 139-154. http//doi.org/10.1177/0142723709359242

Examining past experiences and perceptions: My reflections and understandings of the Teacher Librarian role in schools.

My teaching story began back in 2007 when I commenced teaching in a Catholic School with 29 four-year-old students. We visited our school library at a scheduled time each week. In this amazingly picturesque library space with panoramic views over the city, was a tidy collection of books and the hard-working Library Assistant who returned and scan out books. I had an extremely limited understanding of this role as a newly graduated teacher!

After two years, I moved to work full-time in a four-year-old class in a large independent school which is where I still work today. This school is greatly influenced by Inquiry-Based Learning (Murdoch, 2021) and the Early Childhood year levels were inspired by the Reggio Emilia Educational Project (Malaguzzi, 1998). We visited the library at a scheduled time each week where the inspiring and passionate Teacher Librarian would warmly welcome us with the most amazing picture book read-aloud. She would then guide the children in their book selections, teach them how to make informed choices and converse with them about their interests to match them with their ideal book. She made the job seem effortless (even though I’m certain it wasn’t!), and she was always full of excitement for the next story she would share. This was her way of encouraging the children to become lovers of books.

Just after her retirement, we had a HUGE redevelopment. The new space was enormous and full of potential. A space for robotics, self-checkout stations, large interactive screens, flexible furniture and a range of seating options, but one key ingredient was missing. This space did not have a Teacher Librarian.  There were teachers working in this space, and also a Library Assistant but it didn’t seem to fill the void.  Another change was the switch to a flexible timetable. The idea behind this was ‘just in time learning’: the accessibility of information and the opportunity to access these whenever needed, or ‘just in time’.

This approach to our Learning Hub (no longer called a library) continues today but has dimmed a little without a Teacher Librarian. My understanding of the TL role was that of management and organisation of the physical library space working predominately with books. I recognised that the TL worked alongside teachers to resource the library with materials to support planned learning. I understood that an important part of the role is to promote a love of reading and literature through read-alouds, displays and engagement with learners. Whilst I’ve only worked with a TL for a brief time in my career, I see the role as being so much greater that what I thought and see it as a vital piece to the puzzle for developing a culture and love of inquiry and reading in any school community.  The Teacher Librarian is our missing link between teachers, students and information as well as playing the pivotal role of being the passionate champion of reading and literature. I look forward to cultivating this culture of literature rich learning and inquiry in this space as I step into this role.

______________________________

Malaguzzi, L. 1998, ‘History, ideas and philosophy’, in Edwards, C. Gandini, L. and Forman, G. 1998, The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach, Ablex Publishing, Greenwich

Murdoch, K. 2021, ‘The art of inquiry’, ACCESS, Vol. 35 (No. 4), 39-43, Australian School Library Association, The+Art+of+Inquiry+article+ACCESS_Vol35_No4_Dec_2022.pdf (squarespace.com)

 

Where to start?

 

I’ve been reading about collection development and management and have considered the ‘Collection Development process’ See Oddone: School library collection development: It’s not as simple as you might think – Linking Learning

To begin in our large (some may call it intimidating!) collection in our Junior School, I will begin in the ‘Stocktaking and Evaluation’ phase. I have been a part of the school for 14 years, so feel I have a good understanding of our community which is why I think this phase is a good place to start. I’ll take a good look at what’s there already. We have an extremely large collection and I know we don’t utilise it all, but careful consideration needs to be made regarding the things that will support our learners best. I’ll consider:

  • Which titles and categories are most popular?
  • Which cohort is accessing these popular texts?
  • Are there any groups of students who aren’t well catered for?
  • Are there some categories that are overstocked and aren’t being utilised?
  • Are unpopular texts taking up valuable real estate?
  • Are there sections of the collection that aren’t being frequently borrowed and what may be the reason for this? Is it positioning, the condition or age of the books,  or are they not appealing or relevant?

Once careful reflection has been made in the ‘Stocktaking and Evaluation’ phase, I’ll move into the weeding phase. As I already know that we have far too many physical books, I will ensure careful consideration is made and will consider weeding out titles that fit into the following categories:

  • Books that don’t support the needs and interests of the community.
  • Books that may not support our values or purpose.
  • Damaged books.
  • Books which aren’t being borrowed.

Next, I will move into analysing the needs of our community to see if this aligns with what we have and to ensure that new titles and resources will support the needs of the learning community. I will consider:

  • Are all members of our community represented in the collection?
  • Is the collection aligned with our values, learner attributes and pedagogy?
  • Are there opportunities to inspire creativity, provoke curiosity and inquiry and offer insights into different perspectives through rich contemporary texts and resources?
  • What are the passions, preferences and interests of the learners?

I will then collaborate with Year Level Teams and classroom teachers to ensure that we have the appropriate resources to support planned units of inquiry. Considerations of classroom learning, extension and enrichment, learning support, cultural perspectives and wellbeing will all be made to ensure the collection best caters to the needs of all.

Acquisition, cataloguing and processing will all follow.

Something further to consider is how the physical space is laid out. I’ll need to ensure that the location of books and resources according to need is considered. Can the teacher or learner quickly and easily access what they need whilst also ensuring the space is enticing and inspiring to those who wish to browse and find something new?

There is so much more to collection development and management than I ever thought. According to Ranganthan, the fifth law of library science is “A library is a growing organism.”  I’m wondering if this growth is transformative or ever expanding, and if it is the latter, then how many books is too many?

I’ll leave you with this quote, which sums up my thoughts beautifully.

“We need to think of the school as a living organism. Children have to feel that the world is inside the school and moves and thinks and works and reflects on everything that goes on.

Of course not all children are the same — each child brings a part of something that’s different into the school.”

Loris Malaguzzi

Malaguzzi, L. (1994) Your Image of the Child.  Where Teaching Begins in Child Care Information Exchange 3/94 Translated by Baji Rankin, Leslie Morrow and Lella Gandini, Child Care Information Exchange U.S.A.
Accessed from: https://www.reggioalliance.org/downloads/malaguzzi:ccie:1994.pdf

A New Chapter Begins

After teaching in the Early Years for the past 16 years, I have decided to courageously step out of my comfort zone to embark on a new journey of discovery, inquiry and learning in my school Learning Hub and Library space. This is an entirely new position for the school, so my thoughts are filled with countless possibilities and opportunities to cultivate a new culture of learning, creativity and inquiry into this space.

I am passionate about the Reggio Emilia approach to learning and am committed to bringing the Principles of Reggio Emilia into this new role. I am excited to shape the physical space to reflect the principle of Environment as Third Teacher  in order to convey the values and opportunities for learning that the space will provide.

I will be working alongside students from 3 to 11 years old, supporting them to develop a love of literature, inquiry and creativity, whilst also embarking on a new learning journey of my own.

Bring it on!!

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