Monthly Archives: August 2019

Breaking down the barriers

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Breaking down the barriers

 

Break out boxes are a fabulous activity that engage and excite students of all ages.  These boxes mirror how an escape room works in that students puzzle their way through to find the code that will unlock the box and obtain their prize! 

These boxes were amazing all throughout book week!! My fabulous colleague Jordan is a whiz at creating activities that stimulate the brain, evoke critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication.   Using the Critical and creative thinking continuum from the General capabilities, the puzzles were selected to address the various strands at the appropriate stage for each class.  Our students were thoroughly engaged in the pursuit of a grand prize.  TBH, the grand prizes were lollies as that was what the budget permitted.  

The boxes were such a hit that we have been clamoured with requests to repeat them with other classes.  The 2IC of RE has asked the boxes be available for Year 8 RE to sum up their World Religions unit at the end of next term as well as 7 RE for their unit on ‘Gospels, Parables and Miracles’.  9 History wants it for exam preparation in two weeks. 10 English want it next week to reinvigorate the flagging interest in ‘Lord of the flies’ that I have previously grumbled about.   We even managed to get an elusive science class requesting it – 11 Biology is going to trial one to introduce the next unit of work.  

So what does this mean for us as a TL?

Besides embedding the Gen Caps into the teaching and learning, breakout boxes draw in the skeptical teachers by breaking down barriers.  We all know there are teachers in every school that have strong aversions to libraries and teacher librarians.  There are ones that are not sure of what a TL can contribute to the classroom, and others that avoid the library like its a contagious disease.  Some are not even sure why we are there at all!

We have found that breakout boxes are so captivating that its plainly obvious how it can work in the classroom teacher’s favour.  But this indulgence comes at a cost…  They need to book a TL to do this activity either in the library or their classroom.  And maybe then they will see, we aren’t all that scary.  And then… maybe then, they will come back, to borrow books, request teaching spaces and most importantly, collaborate together in planning units of work.  

Maybe then they will understand what we do, and who we are.

Now who is feeling smug?

(my HOD…  this whole concept wasnt my idea, but as my HOD and colleagues are not going to blog about it. I might as well)

Book Week – Making reading fun!

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Book week.  

Two simple words.

Two words that can excite little kid hearts, big teacher hearts and terrify parents who have to organise costumes for their kids’s parades. These are also two words that hold little excitement for those teen hearts.  

Why?

Oh please, ask me why? 

Never mind I will just tell you.

It may come as no great surprise to you – but teens don’t read…

Well they do not read as much as they used to and they certainly do not read the variety and depth of texts that their parents and grandparents read. To put it mildly, many teens do not read for recreational purposes.  A modern teen is overwhelmed by the variety of recreational activities they could choose from including the persistent lure of technology and glitzy apps, which as we all know, hold far more appeal than stodgy texts. For a bibliophile like me and an emerging Teacher librarian, this dilemma has coined a phrase known as ‘reluctant readers’ which means people, both adults and children that do not read for pleasure. 

Why does this occur?  We are all aware of how important literacy and reading are in primary school.  Students have readers that come home weekly and library visits as a class. Parents are constantly bombarded to read to their children by advocates from both the health and educational faculties.  Reading is fun! Schools run literacy activities that boost skills as well as point out the pleasure in reading, such as the CBCA book week. Within this week, teachers and other educational providers seek to promote books and the love of reading to children of all ages.  It is thrilling to see little children so excited by costumes and parades. Their faces light up when they hold up their favourite book against their outfit with happy eyes and grins to match. Primary schools across the country go through great lengths to set up parades. Teachers get dressed up in elaborate costumes and there is a general feeling of goodwill and happiness to all.  But when does this joy with reading decline? 

The answer sadly is high school.  

The same attitude for recreational reading does not translate into the latter years of schooling.  High school students are not encouraged to find pleasure in reading. There are multiple reasons for this decline.  Arguably the primary reason is that teenagers are often plagued by compulsory texts that hold little appeal for them.  Texts that have endured generations of disengaged students. I know from my own memory of high school two decades ago, and the apathy that quickly follows William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”.  But yet the text’s presence in the curriculum continues. Yes, I agree that it has valuable social commentary. But I am sure that there are more engaging texts exist- “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins is plausibly a good replacement for Goldings dry and dismal story.  But forcing students to read books that they have no interest in only elicits anger and disgust for the text and its taint spreads to even the activity of reading.  

Douglas (2013) prescribes that an ability to read for pleasure as a teen is an indication of an ability to thrive in social environments. He goes on to explain that children that derive intrinsic pleasure and joy from reading are also the ones who end up being life-long learners.  This could simply be because those that find that inherent motivation to read are also the ones that have that immanent drive to succeed. Or it could be that those, even when cajoled, bribed and begged to read, with no innate motivation, are guided into the habit of reading, which over time could develop into something that brings great joy’ as Marie Kondo is often quoted.   Either way, the importance of reading is no longer just an educational issue but rather a social issue

Elphaba, 2018

Douglas (2013) elucidates that the demise of recreational reading in teens is based upon gender, attitude and societal expectations.  I can only tell you how many times I have rolled my eyes backwards when I hear parents and occasionally some teachers excuse reluctant readers with the banal phrase ‘boys will be boys’.  In some circumstances, my eyes have rolled back so hard they have gotten stuck against the back of my head! But I digress!! This gender based preference for reading is societal in origin rather than biological as Wong (2018) points out, “the brain is a unisex organ”.  But first world nations such as Britain, US and UK, the disparity in reading statistics between boys and girls is no longer just a fable, a myth. It is a disturbing statistic that affects half our student body. This inability to read translates to less dexterity in processing words, less sophistication in communication, and a consistent decline in educational outcomes.  On the note of societal disparity – in developing countries, the gender gap is primarily based upon unequal access to education. 

Queen of Hearts – 2018

 The other problem lies in that once a student is considered to be a competent reader in upper primary school, the focus changes from ‘learning to read’ to ‘read to learn’.  Ill informed parents believe that their children can now read and after years of being forced to read “Where is the green sheep” (by Mem Fox), (#mylife!), they dance their way from having to read to their children.  I must include myself with this charge. I too stopped reading to my eldest once she could read and have had only re-started after seeing the research. my Netflix time can wait a little longer. 

Malificient – 2018

 

As educators and as teacher librarians, we need to make reading FUN for our high school students.  We need to remind them of when a book character could make you laugh, cry and fall in love. We need to show them how reading books is not just about school work and assignments, but rather reading can be the quickest escape from it all. 

 

Cruella 2018

I am going all out for book week this year.  I am going to make a complete idjit of myself and show my students that reading is FUN! That reading books you are interested in brings great joy!  Most of all, I am going to show my colleagues that recreational reading is still important for teenagers.  And I am going to show them that whilst looking FABULOUS!

 

This year’s theme!

Douglas, J. (2013) The importance of instilling a need to read. The Telegraph UK. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10035473/The-importance-of-instilling-a-need-to-read.html

 

Wong, A. (2018) Boys don’t read enough. The Atlantic- Education. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/09/why-girls-are-better-reading-boys/571429/

Choice matters.

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I just read a fabulous article on Facebook that was shared by another TL about how much choice matters in recreational reading.  Korbey in her Edutopia article “The reading wars; choice vs canon” presents various perspectives to this scholastic issue.

qimono / Pixabay – which will you choose?

 

The problem lies in that if students are forced to read particular texts, then there can naturally be a resentment towards the task, the book and the activity of reading.  But if a student only ever reads what they want to read then their minds will never be broadened by wider concepts and or cognition stretched.  Korbey goes on to elaborate that leaving all texts to student choice poses challenges.  The obvious challenge is that students are less able to ascertain which reading material is best suited to their abilities.  They often return to old childhood favourites rather than allow their reading material to grow with them.

But what is the happy medium?  In this article Korbey talks about teacher lead explicit instruction and the impact it is having on students.  The answer seems elusive.

One idea is for teachers to select a general theme and or moral objective and then find books that address that theme in a variety of genres and text types.  This way student choice is addressed as well as the need to expand and challenge their growing minds.

This is a definite change in direction but I do think that George Orwell can work with Suzanne Collins; Mark Zusack with John Boyne and Jackie French.  But that also calls on English teachers to be brave and well supported by their colleagues.

Is your school brave?

 

 

Where was that green sheep (cake)?

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Can you see the green sheep (cake)?

 

Getting the word about Book week out.  We have asked the kids to bring in food that has a book theme.  They will be judged and then prizes awarded before selling them to raise money for the Pajama Foundation.  We had a lovely student bring in some a few days early to drum up support.  So far we have had 40 students agree to bring in something delectable for next week.

stay tuned …

Out of the Box!

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How do you teach students about the context behind texts such as Jackie French’s Hitler’s daughter or William Golding’s Lord of the flies to very disinterested teens? 

I am not sure about you but I found both those books dull, dry and depressing as a teen; and I will say they have not improved with age!

Our graduate English teachers were struggling with the rampant disengagement with those two novels.  The indifference was causing the teachers great distress as they were concerned how the students were going to submit their essay assessment task if they would not engage with the book.    More experienced teachers were able to forge through the disengagement but our newest recruits were finding teaching the text challenging.

It then occurred to me that memorial boxes could be the answer!

WW2 Memorial Box set up

I had discovered that the Australian War Memorial had a whole host of educational resources available for loan to schools in the form of memorial boxes.  These boxes contain genuine artifacts from various military events in Australian history. I had requested a box for our 10 History classes earlier this semester as a ‘hook’ factor to engage and elicit interest at the commencement of their World War 2 unit.  

Artifacts from the memorial box

My cognitive connection between our great English dilemma and the memorial box was very much delayed!  It wasn’t until I was unpacking the resources in our library seminar room that it occurred to me that the same artifacts that were engaging our Year 10 history students could also stimulate our year 7 and 10 English students. 

I had an epiphany of sorts!

I was so happy my HOD agreed with my madcap proposal about using the memorial box as a stimulus for English.  The scheme was simple.  The students would come to our ‘library museum’ and view the various artifacts displayed within. Then in pairs, the students would interview each other to create a podcast with an accompanying transcript.  A very clever English teacher quickly whipped up a worksheet  and then, just like that… our immersive experience had begun.

Pictures and Memorabilia

Now I would love to tell you it was all a huge success, but I would be lying. 

The memorial boxes were a great triumph with our 10 History students but success was variable with our English classes.  This lackluster response could be attributed to the inadequate time for the students to complete the activity. The classes that visited the library twice had more success than ones that came just once. 

What we did discover was that students were stirred out of the apathetic stance towards the books because they began to understand the context  surrounding it. The memorial box activity connected the students to the mileu of the books and engaged them in the character’s turmoil.  As the worksheets were collected at the end of the session, the teachers were able to use those responses to formatively assess student literacy and other learning goals.  

The focus of a school library has changed in the past decade from archivist and curator of information to being an active facilitator of knowledge both physical and digital.  This means that teacher librarian may need to think out side the box for some more out of the box thinking!

The in class essays are all occurring this week for year 7 and next week for year 10.  I would be very intrigued to know if the memorial boxes assisted in increasing student engagement with the books and the outcome of the assessments.  I would also like to analyse the results of the English classes that declined to attend our library museum and compare them to the classes that did come.  If there is a significant difference, then I would have sufficient evidence to run this activity for more teachers and students.  

I await reporting time with great avidity.