I undertook ETL402 as my last subject, except for my professional placement subject. My reasoning for this was that due to my background as a high school English teacher, I was confident with my literature skills. In hindsight, I wish I had undertaken this subject close to the beginning of my degree due to the valuable understanding of what literature actually is and how best to incorporate it into the classroom.
Throughout this subject, I was introduced to genres of literature that I had previously overlooked due to my own preconceived ideas that they weren’t valuable. Picture books for older readers have been lacking in my current library as I deemed them to be only valuable for students who couldn’t access the literacy levels needed for more complex texts. Through reading the information from The National Library of New Zealand (2013), I was introduced to the concept of sophisticated picture books. From this, I was able to take this information back to my school purchase books from some of the authors listed. From this, students have really engaged with these texts from 7-12 and have been asking for more.
Another area that has changed my practice was through raising my awareness of the range of LGBTQ books available. Our collection at school, had some titles but these were aimed at older readers. I quickly realised that through not having age appropriate LGBTQ titles I was sending the subliminal message that these students were alone and overlooked. (Oltmann, 2016) I quickly began scouring the internet to be inundated with booklist after booklist of great inclusive texts for all ages. Since creating more awareness of these titles in the library, I have found that I have many new faces popping into the library during breaks to not only borrow but to spend their breaks in the library due them now feeling like this is a safe space for them in the school.
I was also forced to reflect on my choice to implement genrefication in our library last year. Despite it still being argued about within library circles, I was pleased to see that other TLs are undertaking this massive task of arranging books by genre rather than by Dewey. I realised that our school has supported the findings in the article by Cornwall (2018), in that since making the change, we have less students needing to ask where to find their next book and are instead spending their time browsing their chosen genre looking for their next literary love. This is opening up their literary worlds and exposing them to new authors and styles.
Moving forward in my TL career, I believe I will need to continue to reflect on my book choices to ensure that I am not inadvertently sending messages to minority groups through not having an inclusive collection as well as ensuring that I don’t dismiss a specific genre without actually investigating it and trialling a few books to gauge whether students appreciate the style.
Reference List
Cornwall, G. (2018, July 22). How genrefication makes school libraries more like bookstores. In Mindshift. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51336/how-genrefication-makes-school-libraries-more-like-bookstores
Oltmann, S. M. (2016). . “They kind of rely on the library”: School librarian serving LGBT students. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, 7(1). Retrieved from http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Oltmann_They-Kind-of-Rely-on-the-Library.pdf
The National Library of New Zealand. (2013). Sophisticated picture books. Services to Schools. Retrieved from https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/childrens-and-youth-literature/sophisticated-picture-books
