Just when I get comfortable and think I am being an effective teacher librarian (TL), I commence a new subject. New learning comes and the ‘to do’ list grows again! ETL402 has enabled me to delve deeper into new aspects of a TLs role. My two biggest take-aways are:

1. Understanding the concept and application of literacy learning and the TLs role to work with teachers to embed the use of literature and literature response strategies into the curriculum.
2. An awareness of enhanced digital storytelling resources.

I have not been ensuring literacy learning is taking place in the classroom. I get excited sharing titles with staff that link to their curriculum topics. Then I hand the resources on in the hope that they are well used (and sometimes they are!) I believe a lot of classroom practice in a primary school focusses on learning to read rather than reading to learn. My future practice will involve working with teachers to apply literacy learning into classrooms to ensure that literature is being used to learn in all curriculum subjects.

The other new learning is around enhanced digital storytelling resources. O’Connell, Bales & Mitchell (2015) identify three types of enhanced eBooks including interactive story books, hypertext books and transmedia books and I reflected on these in Digital Literature: it is not just eBooks (Mounsey, 2020d).  Rowberry (2018) discusses how 21st century citizens rely on decoding and analysis skills to utilise different formats of literature, including digital. TLs and teachers need to ensure students have strategies for navigating and analysing hypertext and multimodal literature.

What else have I reflected on in this subject?. Here are some important posts where I have been provided with research to back up some existing knowledge.

1. Schools should provide time for reading for pleasure with self-selected texts. This has been found to have a positive impact on children’s academic performance and many schools have created effective initiatives to implement this (Allington, 2014; OEC 2011; Stower & Waring, 2018). I reflected on this in Why reading is important (Mounsey, 2020i) and discussed this in the module 1 discussion forum (Mounsey,2020f).
2. Templeton’s (2020) blog on Literacy learning  discussed how standardised testing has no proven benefit to improving literacy outcomes and I replied in the module 5 discussion forum (Mounsey, 2020g) where I reflected on my own experience of this.
3. Module 3.3 posed the question, if libraries didn’t exist would we build them today? YES! Libraries have had to reinvent themselves in the 21st century to embrace massive technological change. In my post, Connecting with Stories and Copyright Implications (Mounsey,2020c), I discussed how library closures due to COVID-19 have provided opportunities for libraries to evolve again.
4. I explored trends (Mounsey, 2020b) in children’s literature including the growth in literary non-fiction (Mounsey, 2020e, 6-7) and how these texts are excellent tools for literacy learning. Analysing trends also involved looking at diversity (Mounsey, 2020h) and censorship (Mounsey,2020a) in children’s literature.

So, that is a lot of reflecting! Literature has always played a vital role in education. This subject has helped open my eyes to the possibilities of how literature can be used across the curriculum to help students develop 21^st century learning skills. So now I better get to it…time to embed literacy learning into the curriculum!

References

Allington, R. L. (2014). How reading volume affects both reading fluency and reading achievement. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 7(1), 13-26. Retrieved from https://www.iejee.com/

Mounsey, S. (2020a, May 16) Censorship and developing a library collection. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/05/16/censorship-and-developing-a-library-collection/

Mounsey, S. (2020b, March 8) Children’s Literature: past, present and future. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/03/08/childrens-literature-past-present-and-future/

Mounsey, S. (2020c, March 29) Connecting with stories and copyright implications during COVID-19. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/03/29/connecting-with-stories-and-copyright-implications-during-covid-19/

Mounsey, S. (2020d, May 23) Digital literature: it is not just eBooks. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/05/23/digital-literature-it-is-not-just-ebooks/

Mounsey, S. (2020e, April 19) The Dulwich Information Book Award. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/04/19/the-dulwich-information-book-award-dibas/

Mounsey, S. (2020f) Module 3.1 Read like a girl. ETL402 Discussion Forum. CSU. Retrieved from 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=_181937_1&message_id=_2840459_1

Mounsey, S. (2020g) Module 5: Blog entry for literacy learning. ETL402 Discussion Forum. CSU. Retrieved from 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=_181939_1&message_id=_2913314_1

Mounsey, S. (2020h, March 16) Thinking about diversity: shortlisting titles for the red dot book award. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/03/16/thinking-about-diversity-shortlisting-titles-for-the-red-dot-book-award/

Mounsey, S. (2020i, March 15) Why reading is important. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/paws/2020/03/15/why-reading-is-important/

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. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2011, September 18). Do students today read for pleasure? PISA in Focus, 8. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/48624701.pdf

Rowberry, S. P. (2018). Continuous, not discrete: The mutual influence of digital and physical literature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies, 26(2), 319-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856518755049

Stower, H., & Waring, P. (2018, July 16). Read like a girl: Establishing a vibrant community of passionate readers. Alliance of Girls Schools Australia. Retrieved from https://www.agsa.org.au/news/read-like-a-girl-establishing-a-vibrant-community-of-passionate-readers/

Templeton, T. (2020, May 7) Literacy learning. [Blog post]. Retrieved https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2020/05/07/literary-learning/