At the learning commons at Katzie, we try to foster a love of reading through ICT and non ICT strategies. The 1.0 FTE librarian is a wealth of information for ICT tools, and has taught me many new approaches to fostering the love of reading, in such a short time already.
One strategy we use that I find unique is the use QR codes to access the learning commons blog. The students seem very excited to scan our QR code with their iPads, and see where it takes them. From here we have them search around the learning commons blog for a question we may have posted or a link we may have shared to a reading related game. We also have them look up information about the author of a book we just read together. For example, we are reading Kenneth Oppel’s A Bad Case of Ghosts, and we had the grade 2-3 students scan a QR code, find the Authour section of the blog, find O for Oppell, and then explore his page. We saw looks of wonder and excitement as they explored the authors website, and many students wanted to know of more books we have by this author. We then sent them home with paper bookmarks with the learning commons QR code on the back, so they can easily access our site at home. Simple things like giving the students a challenge to discover where an author is from, helps them understand there is a person behind every book, and I believe this fosters student engagement.
Here is a picture of Kindergarten students enjoying the use of iPads to listen to Stella and Sam. They have not yet mastered their ability to reading independently, but they show their love for reading by listening to and interacting with this App.
Here is a link to the Katzie learning commons blog, created by the 1.0 librarian at our school. Our librarian who manages this offers and shares many great ICT ideas.
Another strategy we use frequently is Tumblebooks and audio books. Students enjoyed hearing the fun Spanish accents of “Caramba” that would have been challenging for me to replicate. They also liked viewing various thanksgiving related books on Tumblebooks.
If you aren’t familiar with tumble books herein a quick sample I found off youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cit5eq9f2w&sns=em
A study of two classes at a middle school in the Midwest of America, looked at literacy success rates dependent on teacher beliefs and practices. The study compared two teachers with relatively different teacher beliefs. The first teacher organised her students in homogenous reading level groups, and used a reading program she chose and implemented. The second teacher created book club groups, composed of students with varying reading levels. They engaged in multiple activities from listening to books on tape, to partner reading; students also chose their own reading material as long as it was appropriate for their reading level. The first teacher had students read 20 minutes silently, and write about random topics in their journals, whereas the second teacher modeled silent reading and read her own novel silently, for 10 out of the 20 minutes her students read for. As well, she connected journal topics to reading content and she linked themes they studied in science and socials, to what they read about as a class during teacher read aloud times.
It is rather obvious to see that the literacy success rates of the second teacher were more successful than those of the first. I think modeling silent reading is a great way to foster a love for reading. Although I have heard about this strategy, I have yet to implement it as a classroom teacher. As librarians we get to model a love for reading during read aloud; however, it would be interesting to see if a casual silent reading group at lunch, where the librarian also found a comfortable place to read alongside the students, would foster a love for reading. Although the second teacher did not use many ICT tools to foster a love for reading, I could see her practices open and conducive to new ICT ideas.
To end, here is a short video about one perspective on fostering a love for reading in the home!
Works Cited
Brock and Boyd. Fostering Meaningful Middle School Literacy Learning: Voices from the Middle, Volume 19, Number 1. Sept. 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/VM/0191-sep2011/VM0191Fostering.pdf
A very well done blog post and such an interesting study! I’m glad you shared that with us, as well as all the other strategies your TL at your school has been sharing on her excellent blog. Great work embedding videos, connecting links and your works cited. One thing to keep working on is to use “Tags” or “Categories” on your posts to help you organize and curate your posts under keyword headings like “literacy” or “reading”. Overall, great stuff for many people to read about and hopefully try out!
Hello neighbour! I didn’t realize you were at Katzie (I was at Bothwell last year and am now at Bear Creek). So do you work in the library part time and teach part time? I love your QR code idea, students are always SO excited to use tech. I’ve been teaching the kids how to use the library catalogue, so I’m wondering if I could use QR codes as part of their scavenger hunt next week. I agree that learning about the author is a great way for kids to connect more with the book. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Hi Bronagh,
Thanks for the blog link. Fab, fun things happening in your Library! Very inspiring.
My family may just have to make a pilgrimage to see the encyclopedia house mentioned—how cool is that!? Reminds me of the book fort mentioned in (one of the all-time best beginning-o’the-year read aloud books) Melanie Watt’s Have I Got a Book For You!
You’re at Katzie! I love Katzie! I TOC’d there a few times in a Kindergarten classroom last year and it is a beautiful and warm school with great students! Lots of fun things are happening at your library, it’s so great to take a peek into your world. I recently discovered how awesome Tumble Books and the students love it. What a great idea to use QR codes around your library, I have seen a few librarians do this and I think it is brilliant. Thanks for sharing your great ideas!
Do all the students that come into the library get to use an iPad or do you just have a few to use? That sounds amazing. Also, thanks for the introduction to Tumblebooks! I will have to look into it more. It’s great to hear from TLs in the field and I remember you saying that your 1.0 TL is a wealth of info (in one of our Google hangouts). I guess we will ALL get to glean from her through your blog posts! 🙂
yes I believe every TL in Surrey is entitled to an iPad cart for the learning commons, but don’t quote me on that! Anyways, our students are lucky enough to get to use two carts work of iPads in one learning block, because we team teach 44 kindergarten students at one time! Its pretty crazy seeing 44 5year olds on iPads, we definitely try to keep the sound button low. I will try and capture a picture next time, its just hard to avoid their faces.
Hi Bronagh,
Thanks for sharing the idea of QR code! I love the idea, unfortunately, I do not know how to scan those code with my electronic device, so forget about using it. I will learn it one day, but right now, my priority would probably be learn how to create and maintain a blog.
Also thanks for sharing the Katzie library blog. I think it is a direct and most effective way to reach out to parents, and it also provides students a 24/7 access to the school library. Are students allowed to post on the blog? Or only the TL could post?
right now the TL can approve posts if the students choose to; I do not think she has introduced them to posting yet. I agree with you, I am trying to navigate my way through blogging as a definite place to start!