As a lifelong lover of literature, I was drawn to this subject and the immense possibilities it could provide to my future career. Coming from a secondary English background, I already felt fairly confident in my ability to foster a love of reading and use literature to open new avenues for student engagement, empathy and learning.
However, despite this initial confidence, this unit has dramatically expanded my understanding of embedding literature across the curriculum, and the powerful potential of using fiction as a tool to enhance learning. Rather than being primarily utilised in English classrooms and reading for pleasure activities, I discovered fiction has tremendous scope to enhance learning across all learning areas. Whilst non-fiction texts can provide key factual information, they don’t always inspire engagement, and isn’t a form students readily relate to (Monbiot, cited in Foran, 2018). In contrast, fiction has the capacity to deeply impact students on a personal and emotional level, transporting them beyond their own experiences to gain insight into the perspectives of others (Whitten, Labby & Sullivan, 2016, p.51).
But classroom teachers, as we know, are time-poor, and many may be disinclined to try new things. This is where the valuable input of a passionate Teacher Librarian comes into play. Teacher Librarians must endeavour to proactively engage and collaborate with class teachers, ensuring they are ‘visible… and integral’ within their learning community (Oberg, 2007; Ryder, 2021). As they have unique insight across key learning areas, and the chance to support learning within a school-wide context, they should endeavour to be an instructional leader (Baker, 2016, p.145), guiding teachers to embed literary learning. I learnt I will need to promote fiction within the school community by attending faculty meetings, giving book talks, creating book trailers, and creating literacy learning kits and compiling literary teaching materials for teachers, and highlighting the value of including literary learning in the classroom (Novak, 2016).
Ultimately, this unit was deeply rewarding and challenging me to think about my pedagogical practice in transformative ways. Although I had believed to have had an insightful understanding of children’s literature and its evolution, this unit has expanded my understanding of genres, formats and modern trends. I have learnt that children’s literature is increasingly diverse, and as a Teacher Librarian I will need to ensure chosen texts represent a broad range of perspectives, ideas and issues, rather than presenting a single world view that solely affirms to past metanarratives. I should choose texts where students can see themselves, whether it be fiction reflecting multiculturalism, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, LGBTQIA+ themes, or people with a disability. This ensures literature is relevant and meaningful for students.
I have also gained a more more detailed understanding of digital literature, which is not, after all, just e-books. I have learnt about the power of interactive storybooks, multimodal texts, hypertext narratives, and transmedia and their scope to engage students and enhance learning. I have gained a strong understanding that I will need to ensure I am continuing to keep up with digital trends and advancements, now and in the future (O’Connell, Bales & Mitchell, 2015).
As I came to realise, the power of fiction is extensive and compelling, and the role of the TL is to guide and support the whole school community to ensure this takes place.
References
Baker, S. (2016). From teacher to school librarian leader and instructional partner: a proposed transformation framework for educators of preservice teachers. School Libraries Worldwide 22(1). 143-159. https://iasl-online.org/resources/Documents/PD%20Library/11bakerformattedfinalformatted143-158.pdf
Foran, J. (2018). Review of ‘Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age in Crisis’ by George Monbiot. 2017. Journal of World-Systems Research, 24(2), 483-487. doi:10.5195/jwsr.2018.866
Novak, B. (2016). It’s time: Let’s improve schools’ perceptions of teacher librarians. Connections, 99, 1-3.
Oberg, D. (2007). Taking the Library out of the Library into the school. School Libraries Worldwide (13)2. I-ii
O’Connell, J., Bales, J., & Mitchell, P. (2015). [R]Evolution in reading cultures: 2020 vision for school libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3). 194-208 DOI:10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043
Ryder, L. (2021). How teacher librarians impact students’ reading engagement: A NSW case study. Scan, 40(5), 17-26.
Whitten, C., Labby, S., & Sullivan, S.L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research, 2(4), 48-64.