During the semester, I gained further knowledge regarding literary learning and its connections to the curriculum. As a current Prep teacher, the students in my class start their journey by learning literacy. The ability to recognise a letter’s name, say the sound it makes, and then put the sounds together to make a word to say, read or write it is paramount as their foundation for further learning. However, as I have discovered, literary learning combines many literacy skills to explore, engage and respond to literature embedded across all curriculum areas.
As I first embarked on this subject, a question was posed in the modules, and I explained my thoughts in my first blog post Do you have a vision for the future of children’s literature? Who will be the drivers of change? (Bolden, 2023, February 28). I explain that, as TLs, we need to be the vision and driving force for change. In a discussion post in Module 1, I defined children’s literature, then briefly explained Children’s Fiction (Bolden, 2023, March 12) and Realistic Fiction (Bolden, 2023, March 22). I realised that so many genres and forms of fiction have expanded and changed. Some of these genres and forms require further investigation and whether they are included in the school library.
During this subject, I enjoyed reading many books that I may not have initially read and that have taken me out of my comfort zone. Understanding and recommending their use in the library, connections with the curriculum and with classroom teachers has been invaluable. The fiction collection is worth much more than pleasure reading for students (and teachers). In my post, Connecting readers to literature (Bolden, 2023, March 22) and in the discussion post Module 4, I wrote about the current fiction arrangement in the library and how it would be interesting to try genrefication. The Digital Literature – Reflection (Bolden, 2023, April 26) touches briefly on technology and how, unfortunately, I am a little behind the times.
As a reflection on the final assignment, it is interesting that the State Government of Victoria (2020) has a page on Literature Circles, but I need to network with other schools in the area that use this strategy to develop my skills. The Book Bento Box sparked my interest, and I want to try it. In the future, I plan to implement these strategies when I am in the TL role.
There were many readings but in particular the book Literacy: Reading, Writing and Children’s Literature (Winch et al., 2010) is an excellent resource for all TLs and classroom teachers as it provides practical information regarding Literacy. It is exciting to read and agree with their thoughts that a book is a multi-sensory experience as students see, hear, touch, turn the pages, say the words, and imagine, and it is like a kind of virtual reality (Ross Johnston, 2010). Encouraging students to experience this with books that excite and help them learn, is one part of the TLs role.
Drawing to the end of my TL degree, and although I still need to be in the role, there are still some aspects that I need to develop further. There are more resources to link to the curriculum and more strategies I could investigate to implement within the school library.
Reference List
Bolden, N. (2023). Do you have a vision for the future of children’s literature? Who will be the drivers of change? https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/nicoleb/2023/02/28/do-you-have-a-vision-for-the-future-of-childrens-literature-who-will-be-the-drivers-of-change/
Bolden, N. (2023). Defining children’s literature. Module 1.1a.
Bolden, N. (2023). Children’s fiction. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/nicoleb/2023/03/12/childrens-literature/
Bolden, N. (2023). Realistic fiction. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/nicoleb/2023/03/22/realistic-fiction/
Bolden, N. (2023). Connecting readers to literature. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/nicoleb/2023/03/22/connecting-readers-to-literature/
Bolden, N. (2023). Fiction arrangements. Module 4.3.
Bolden, N. (2023). Digital literature – Reflection. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/nicoleb/2023/04/26/digital-literature-reflection/
Ross Johnston, R. (2010). Language, literature, literacy and the Australian curriculum. In G. Winch, R. Ross Johnston, P. March, L. Ljungdahl & M. Holliday (Eds.), Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature (4th ed., pp. 465-487). Oxford University Press.
State Government of Victoria. (2020). Literacy teaching toolkit: Literature circles. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/teachingpraccircles.aspx