Before this class, I had never even heard of the term “reading culture?” I knew that the new school I was going to suffered from low circulation and was just beginning to get some ICT devices this year. To me, I had always thought that promoting reading was an inherent part of being a teacher-librarian. Every student benefitted from reading more right? Thus, it never occurred to me to really analyze the school’s reading culture and shape my library program to meet its needs.
My vision for my new school so far has been to promote reading through technology. This could be in the form of having students talk about their favourite authors on the library blog to using iPads to create book reviews in the form of podcasts. To me, it sounded like a good plan, but after learning about reading cultures, I began to really think about my school and how my vision might realistically work out. First of all, my school is going to obtain a set of new technological devices (i.e., iPads and laptops) that they never had before. Nowadays, even though many students are familiar with using tablets, they have had little opportunity to use these devices in an educational setting. Would the initial excitement from seeing all this technology in the school overshadow the fact that their value as an educational resource? How much exposure to ICT have they had in the school using their desktop computer lab and SMART board? Moreover, have they had much access to ICT at home? This last point is important because I was hoping the parents will access my blog and students will also be able to make contributions to the blog at home. Ultimately, all the answers to these type of questions will influence my blog of the ICT resources I use.
Another aspect I have to consider when talking about reading culture, are the types of materials the school community enjoys reading. I have found through my experiences as a teacher-librarian to never assume that some books being popular in one school will have the same effect on students in another school. For example, the Rainbow Magic series was really popular with late primary students at my other school, but the interest in them at my previous school was almost non-existant. Unfortunately, I had purchased a few of these books at the beginning of the school year assuming the late primary students at the school would enjoy them as well. In my initial vision for my school blog, I had considered writing some book reviews about new and popular fiction. However, I am now thinking about also writing some books reviews reflecting the trends in reading at the school. I feel like there are many other areas to consider when talking about reading culture in a school; I have only hit the tip of the iceberg. Even though it may be difficult, it will be rewarding to truly engage with my school community.
I have been thinking of a new job title, “Forensic Cultural Analysis”. This person would be able to conduct social science research to collect data and qualitatively analyze prevailing cultural practices associated with particular topics. Understanding the reading cultures in schools would be a very important element of a teacher librarian’s knowledge of the schools reading constituency. What would be the analytical elements of reading culture? This could be a very interesting line to pursue.
The wow factor of digital technology must be factored in, but it can also be used to disclose expectations of the use of digital technologies for learning. Most people do not associate their screen time with their digital devices as formal learning time (except graduate students!). We might equate our digital technologies with the production of papers or reports, but that is not the same as actually using it for in-depth learning prior to writing. That is why plagiarism and wikipediaitis are so prevalent. Students don’t know how to conduct, manage, process, and interpret information collected through online inquiry.