The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training

Provide a critical reflection on how your views, knowledge, and understanding of the concept and application of literary learning has developed during this subject and how this will inform your future practice.

Upon reflection the unit has significantly increased my knowledge, views, and understanding of what literary learning is and how to apply it across the curriculum.  I did not know what a literary learning resource kit was or entailed at the start of the unit. A discussion post in response to another student shows my developing knowledge of literary learning elements (Coddington, 2021d). The first concept I learned about was literary non-fiction, demonstrated early in the unit in my discussion post (Coddington, 2021a) which revealed new understanding of literary nonfiction and preliminary knowledge of how to apply it to literary learning. I discussed using it to teach not only the history of Australia, but also key curriculum skills – something Flaim and Chiodo (1994, p.225) attest literature is highly useful for (Donaldson, 2001, p.24; Miller et. al., 2007, p.52; Peterson and Belizaire, 2006, p.37).

As the semester progressed it is clear from blog posts and engagement in the discussion forum that my learning had become more focused on genrefication, diversity in literature, and the potential for literature to be a lens through which complex topics are studied (Coddington, 2021f). In a discussion forum post on 27^th April (Coddington, 2021b) about future arrangements of fiction collections I discussed genrefication, whilst there was a notable silence from myself in the threads discussing strategies to foster a love of reading.

I showed a shallow understanding of digital texts in discussion forum posts, mentioning only eBooks (Coddington, 2021c). Wiggins (2021), in contrast, discussed gamification of learning in her own practice, serving to highlight my lack of knowledge and experience not only about literary resources, but also how they can be applied in the curriculum through literary learning. I displayed a deeper understanding of e-Trends and how digital texts can be applied to literary learning in a blog post, demonstrating developing awareness of how digital texts can be applied to engage students in literary learning (Coddington, 2021e).

However, after completing the second assessment task, I have a much deeper understanding of what literary learning is, and how it can be applied in the curriculum, which will significantly impact in my future practice.  Literary learning is the use of literary texts as a pedagogical resource to facilitate engagement of and learning in the curriculum. It makes use of literature response strategies, such as book trailers, Socratic circles, bento boxes and literature circles, in the classroom to engage and motivate students (Peterson and Belizaire, 2006, p.37; Straits and Nichols, 2006, p.52). Using the literature as “springboards” into learning, literary nonfiction and fiction texts can be used to not only teach about subject specific language and skills (Flaim and Chiodo, 1994, p.225), but also develop critical literacy and digital literacy skills (Lintner, 2010, p.17).

This new, clearer understanding has implications for my practice. Now that I understand what literary learning is, I have already begun to put together literary resource kits in the library. In addition, I also feel significantly more confident in approaching teachers to collaborate to improve student learning. Taking my learning directly from assessment task 2, I have already begun to collaborate with the secondary Science teacher at my school to offer texts about sustainability next year in the sciences. In the future, collaboration and literary learning will only occur more frequently, to the betterment of students.

Word count: 550

Reference List

Coddington, M. (2021a, March 15). 2.2b: Literary nonfiction. Discussion forum post [ETL402 Interact2].

Coddington, M. (2021b, April 27). 3.3: Future arrangements of fiction collections. Discussion forum post [ETL402 Interact2].

Coddington, M. (2021c, May 2). 4.1: Digital publishing trends. Discussion forum post [ETL402 Interact2].

Coddington, M. (2021d, May 2). 5.2: Literate practices. Discussion forum post [ETL402 Interact2].

Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1] (2021e, April 20). e-Literature and e-Trends – How will technology impact the TL? The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/category/etl402-literature-across-the-curriculum/

Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1] (2021f, March 7). Diversity: The future of children’s literature. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/category/etl402-literature-across-the-curriculum/

Donaldson, D. (2001). Teaching Geography’s four traditions with Poetry, Journal of Geography, 100(1), p.24-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221340108978414

Flaim, M. & Chiodo, J. (1994). A Novel Approach to Geographic Education: Using Literature in the Social Studies. The Social Studies.September/October, p. 225-227

Lintner, T. (2010). Using Children’s Literature to Promote Critical Geographic Awareness in Elementary Schools. The Social Studies, 101, p. 17-21. DOI: 10.1080/00377990903283981

Miller, L., Straits, W., Kucan, L., Trathen, W., and Dass, M. (2007). Literature Circle Roles for Science Vocabulary. The Science Teacher, 74(5), p.52-56.

Peterson, S. & Belizaire, M. (2006). Another Look at Roles in Literature Circles. Middle School Journal, 37(4), p.37-43. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23024485

Straits, W. & Nichols, S. (2006). Methods & Strategies: Literature Circles for Science. Science and Children, 44(3), p. 52-55.

Wiggins, E. (2021, April). 4.1: Digital publishing trends. Discussion forum post [ETL402 Interact2].