LIBE 477 and the Vision
of the Future assignment has been a huge learning process for me. Learning how
to blog, learning how to use Feedly, learning how to use Canvas, learning how
to create a Padlet and learning how to do a screencast were all new experiences.
On top of that, searching for and navigating the vast resources available for
my assignments and blog posts was both inspiring and mentally exhausting. There
have certainly been some frustrations trying to figure out the technology, but in
the end, I am happy with the Vision of the Future Padlet resource I have
created and look forward to seeing how it evolves over time. I am hopeful that staff
members will be interested in collaborating with me and that my staff will
contribute to the Padlet over time so that it becomes a valuable resource for
myself and my staff.
I really like the simple,
user-friendly format of Padlet and feel it has the potential for great success
with my staff. The team of grade 2/3 teachers I worked with this year were amazing
for sharing resources on Microsoft Teams. We all contributed resources to be
shared throughout the year and our Team eventually had an amazing number of folders
for each subject that were a valuable resource. I think this experience in community
creation and sharing resources through Microsoft Teams will have prepared my staff
for a resource like Padlet.
I enjoyed navigating
the resources available on the internet and in my community for my Vision of
the Future assignment. From the beginning of the course, I knew that I wanted
to explore Indigenous culture and how to better incorporate Indigenous culture
and content into my teaching. Indigenous education has always been a passion of
mine and it was nice to have an opportunity and time to really dig into some resources
and sketch out how they will be useful to me this upcoming school year. This
was a meaningful endeavor for me on many levels because it is a topic that is of
significant interest for me and will also be useful come September. It is rewarding
to work on a project that I can see benefiting my students and my teaching.
Blogging was a new and
challenging experience. I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos that
explained how to create blogs. I feel that my blog is very basic and could use
a lot of elaboration, but for a first attempt, I’m pleased with how it has
turned out. I’ve recently gone back and read by blog posts from the beginning of
the course and was not as horrified as I thought I would be. It is hard to read
your own work through the eyes of your audience. I enjoyed using Feedly to see
my classmates’ blogs. We have some talented writers in our class, and it was
such a joy to read and learn from all of you!
Screencasting was like
nothing I’ve ever tried before. I used Screecast-O-Matic, which was very easy
to use. I struggled with recording myself speaking, I really don’t like hearing
myself talk so this was very difficult for me. I probably tried about 50 times
to get the recording right and it’s still far from perfect, but I was starting
to lose my voice (just kidding). I have gained a lot of respect for people who
make videos and screencasts, it is quite a difficult process.
Here is a link to the
far from perfect screencast explaining the resources on the Padlet I made for
my digital artifact.
How can we create a Library Learning Commons that honors
Indigenous culture?
My geographic location is important to mention when
considering my Vision of the Future. I teach in School District 72 in Campbell
River. Campbell River is located near the Northern part of Vancouver Island.
This area has a rich history of Indigenous culture, fishing, logging, and
connection with nature. Those who live here are in constant contact with the
ocean, lakes, rivers, mountains, forests, and wildlife that surround us. The
immense contributions by First Nations can be seen, heard, and experienced
throughout Campbell River. To name a few, there are First Nations totems,
carvings, art, exhibits, buildings/structures, Indigenous language signage and
a radio station that shares Indigenous language.
In my experiences teaching over the last decade, I have found
that many teachers, like myself, are enthusiastic and keen to incorporate more
Indigenous content and Indigenous ways of knowing into their practice. We are
kind, caring and dedicated teachers who want to make sure we do this in a culturally
respectful and authentic way. Many teachers are uncertain how to teach
Indigenous content and don’t want to make a mistake that could be
misunderstood.
My vision for the LLC is that it becomes a “hub” of sorts for
accessing, sharing, and learning about Indigenous content and Indigenous ways
of knowing for students and teachers. The LLC could be a place to connect with district
Indigenous Education teachers, artists, language teachers, Elders, knowledge
keepers, and community members. The LLC could connect teachers with possible
field trip experiences, digital resources, artifacts, games, virtual museum
tours, language experiences, talking circles, land acknowledgement, digital
books, authentic literature, inquiry projects, orange shirt day resources,
teaching resources and other Indigenous content learning experiences for
students. The LLC would coordinate, curate, and share these resources, thus
supporting teachers in their endeavors to teach Indigenous content and
Indigenous ways of knowing.
Key Elements for this Vision of the Future
1)1)Supporting Learners -The LLC would be an inclusive space for all
learners, family, community members, and educators. It would aim to make
everyone feel welcome, safe, and respected. It would be a space that incorporates
the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FNESC, 2008) into every aspect of the
library.
-Indigenous learners would see their culture reflected in the LLC in a
respectful way. This could be fostered by the presence of Indigenous language
on signs in the LLC, digital recordings of Indigenous language and music,
Indigenous language taught by a language teacher, art displays created by local
Indigenous artists or student art inspired by local Indigenous artists, artifacts,
talking circles, authentic Indigenous literature, pursuit of personal inquiry
projects, and guest speakers (Elders, knowledge keepers, artists, community
members).
-The physical space would be set up to allow
for individual, partner and group work.
-Student choice would be incorporated into
assignments, inquiry, and resource selection.
-Students and teachers would work
collaboratively.
-Self-reflection and self-assessment would be
encouraged, taught, and discussed.
2)2) Supporting Teachers – The LLC
would be a place teachers feel welcome and encouraged to come for resources and
support. Hamilton (2011) believes “The strength and relevance of today’s
school libraries lie in the relationships and sense of community that school
librarians build within the school community”. Teachers would not feel pressured, judged, or overwhelmed.
The TL would be available to work collaboratively and cooperatively with
teachers. Staenberg and Vanneman say, “Successful collaborations are built on
successful professional relationships that are built over time on trust, flexibility,
creativity, understanding of best practice, knowledge of curriculum and
assessment, good planning, and the willingness to share teaching,
decision-making, and professional growth” (2009). Staenberg and Vanneman’s
description of “successful collaborations” would be evident throughout the LLC.
3)3)Inquiry – The TL is in an
excellent position to offer opportunities to teachers and students to support
their inquiry endeavors. According to the BC Teachers’ Library Association, “The new
curriculum demands this too, as personally driven learning, inquiry research
models and knowledge creation becomes the norm for B.C. students”. MacKenzie (2019) calls teachers “Your Inquiry
Superhero” because they have many skills and access to resources to support
inquiry processes.
-The LLC could become a place that facilitates inquiry
projects into Indigenous innovations and Indigenous culture. The NOIIE website
provides case studies where BC schools have incorporated inquiry. The case
studies are all related to supporting Indigenous learners and embracing
Indigenous culture. Case Studies
2020-2021 – Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education (noiie.ca)
The Indigenous ways of knowing outlined by Sandford
et al. (2012) are an important component of my Vision of the Future. They can
be viewed alongside the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Both align well
with inquiry-based, student-centered learning. The Indigenous ways of knowing
are as follows:
·Learning is
emergent
·Focus on
students and teacher interaction
·Learning happens
in many locations, inside and outside the school; classroom can be noisy
·Students
construct knowledge through gathering and synthesizing information
·Students work in
pairs, groups, or alone depending on the purpose of the activity
·Assessment is
used in context to promote and diagnose learning
·Learners are
guided to find their own solutions and answer their own questions
·Students
evaluate their own learning; teachers also evaluate; teaching and assessing are
intertwined
·Students have
multiple opportunities for success and quiet recognition
·Students have
some choice of learning activities and topics
·Approach is
compatible with multi- and inter-disciplinary investigation (figure 1)
I have considered these and the First Peoples
Principles of learning throughout the creation of my digital artifact and this
blog post.
My digital artifact is a Padlet. It is a work
in progress and is a document that I will continue to develop over time. I hope
to share it with my staff and encourage them to add to it as well. It is
intended to be a resource for the library and for all teachers on staff to
support them in their endeavors to incorporate more Indigenous content into
their teaching. My Padlet includes all the resources I have found so far that I
feel are best suited to this task. There is a brief explanation with each
resource. Here is the link to my Padlet https://padlet.com/macleoderintana/visionforthefuture.
I am currently a classroom teacher and
constantly seek out those who will collaborate with me around incorporating
more Indigenous content and Indigenous ways of knowing into my teaching and our
school. My Vision of the Future emerged from my passion to find ways to better support
Indigenous learners. I intend to share the Padlet I created with staff members
who are interested in exploring ways to incorporate more Indigenous content and
Indigenous ways of knowing into their practice. It could potentially be shared
at a staff meeting with my entire staff if that is an area of staff interest. I
want to be respectful of others’ interests and needs. I don’t want to add one
more thing to their plate if people are already overwhelmed. I have created a
screencast annotation explaining the potential uses of the resources on the
Padlet so that if a teacher wants to look at it on their own time, they can do
so.
Here is a link to the screencast explaining my Padlet:
Harris, C., & Mayer, B. (2010). Child's
play. Children and Libraries: The Journal of the Association for the
Library Service to Children, 8(3), 47–48.Child's Play.:
EBSCOhost
Holloway, P. (1999). Cycle of the cedar.
[Board Game]. School District Office Resource Center, Campbell River,
BC.
Literacy is a way to help break the cycle of poverty. Internet,
mobile devices, and digital technologies have become a means to provide access to books and elevate literacy in developing nations. According to a UNESCO report (2014)
“the
internet is helping to level the playing field. It has accelerated the spread
of information and, in many instances, democratized access to it. Digital
networks, computer processors and liquid crystal display (LCD) screens remove
production constraints that have kept reading material prohibitively expensive
for centuries.” This universal access created by the internet and technology is exciting and has opened so many doors for those in developing nations. It seems the possibilities are only limited by our imaginations. There are some amazing organizations creating access to books and literacy opportunities to those who might not otherwise have it.
In my research into this topic I came across an
organization called Worldreader. Worldreader partners with libraries
in developing nations to provide “digital reading technologies to improve access to local language
early-grade-reading content” (Heavner, n.d.). In one of Worldreader’s
pilot projects, Project LEAP they set out to “increase
the availability of reading materials in Kenya’s libraries with the provision
of e-readers filled with relevant books.” (2015).
Another organization similar in its intent to
Worldreader is called Library for All. Library for All “provides access to culturally
relevant, age-appropriate books in a language and context children understand
and relate to”. Providing children with access to digital technologies and
subsequent access to books is empowering and life changing. Making access to
books universal plays a huge role in improving literacy world-wide, and both
Worldreader and Library for All seem to be making a huge impact.
In
Australia the Indigenous Literacy
Foundation
seeks to increase access to print books for First Nations people in remote
locations in their country. Although these resources are not digital, I wanted
to share their work because I think it is equally as important and shares the
same vision and goals as Worldreader and Library for All. One of the many
remarkable things about the ILF is that it also publishes books in indigenous
languages that are created by children, families, and communities. ILF also helps communities implement programs that support early literacy and community
education around fostering literacy learning among children under 5.
While reading about all the remarkable and inspiring work
that is being done by individuals, NGO’s, technology giants and governments to
bring books both digitally and in print to the developing world, I couldn’t
help but think, what about children here in Canada that don’t have access to
books? What about Indigenous Canadian youth that don’t have access to books?
Could some of these digital and print initiatives taken to promote literacy in
the developing world be implemented here in Canada to provide better access to
books for Indigenous children?
Below are some stats about graduation and literacy
rates here in Canada:
-According to a Government
of Canada document (2018), “about 44% of First Nations on-reserve (age 18-24)
have completed high school, compared to 88% for other Canadians.”
- In 2015, StatsCan reported that “Aboriginal people have lower
literacy and numeracy scores than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.”
-The following graph comes from StatsCan
in 2011:
I also came across these two stats from the Chiefs Assembly on Education (2012):
-1 in 4 children in
First Nations’ communities lives in poverty.
-Almost half of First
Nations households do not have an internet connection.
All this information led me to wonder, how can we use
mobile devices, internet, and other devices to bring books to Indigenous
communities in Canada? What can we do to improve the literacy rates and
graduation rates of Indigenous children here in Canada? I think a lot can be
learned from Worldreader, Library for All and the Indigenous Literacy
Foundation. It surprises me that something like the Indigenous Literacy
Foundation in Australia doesn’t exist here in Canada. I am filled with hope
that one day soon we will see more positive change for literacy rates and
universal access to internet and books here in Canada.
WorldReader. (2015). Project LEAP:
Evaluation the effects of E-readers in libraries in Kenya. Retrieved July 29,
202l fromPROJECT_LEAP.pdf (worldreader.org).
Worldreader. (2021, July 29). Worldreader. https://www.worldreader.org/
How can we best respond to the needs of our staff?
As Teacher Librarians we need to have open minds about
what collaboration and professional development looks like. The BC Teacher Librarian's Association (2020) says “Collaboration looks
different in every school community and is dependent upon the needs of all the
learners involved.”As TL’s
we are in a unique position where we can work with everyone in the school, we
need to respect that everyone comes with different values, beliefs, and
preconceived notions about what education looks like. As Fontichiaro and Oehrli
(2014) discuss, as Teacher Librarians, we need to be flexible. We can’t enter a
relationship with other teachers where we are set in our ways and only willing
to collaborate the way we want. We need to listen and try to understand what it
is that teachers are looking for, rather than telling them what resources they
should use and how exactly they could use them. We need to listen more than we
talk and really understand where our staff are at, what they want, what they
need and move forward from there.
What could
collaboration look like?
Collaboration can look
different depending on the teacher and the TL. We need to be willing to try
different methods and meet our colleauges where they are most comfortable. I really like this infographic created by the BCTF
because it illustrates how collaboration takes place at different points in the
learning process and further breaks these down:
I love that old proverb, “you can
lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”. I thought the extended
version shown in this image was especially applicable to teachers!
Shellert (2019) says that as potential
facilitators of professional development, we can provide teachers with “provocations
or invitations to be leaders of their own learning.” We can purposefully
present learning opportunities, ideas, strategies in such a way that teachers
don’t feel they are being pressured or expected to participate. We must be
resourceful and creative in finding ways to support teachers, gain their trust,
and put ourselves in a position where they come to us as a resource because we
are consistent, reliable, and helpful.
How can we create
opportunities to bring staff members together? How can we create an environment
that fosters professional learning and professional growth?
I have found myself
considering this question for quite some time. I think the library needs to be
seen as a gathering place, where all staff and students want to go because it
is vibrant, fun, inclusive and welcoming. I think it would be wonderful to host
staff meetings in the library, every staff I have been on, the staff meetings
have been held in the staff room. If they were held in the library, maybe
teachers would notice a new book display or see a resource that they might not
have otherwise noticed. After staff meetings while people are packing up and
chatting, they might be more inclined to browse through the library or start up
a conversation with the TL or other teachers about an inquiry project that they
could use support with or a project they need resources for. I think hosting
more events in the library for staff might open more doors for
professional conversations that spark further conversations down the road. At
these times TL’s need to position themselves in a place where they can help
teachers nurture their ideas and move them forward. Staenberg and Vanneman say
“Successful collaborations are built on successful professional relationships
that are built over time on trust, flexibility, creativity, understanding of
best practice, knowledge of curriculum and assessment, good planning, and the
willingness to share teaching, decision-making, and professional growth” (2009).
Relationships, relationships, relationships. We need to build relationships and
establish trust with our colleagues before we can expect them to take a risk to
collaborate with us.
How can show teachers
that we are a valuable resource?
Teachers are busy. They
are working with students all day. We can’t always add one more thing to their
plate by expecting them to give us more of their precious time to collaborate.
What can we take off their plate? What resources can we share that will lighten
their load? As TL’s, we need to have an arsenal of awesome resources to inspire
and excite teachers and students. We need teachers to believe in us and know
that we are there for them. MacKenzie (2019) states “Many teachers see the librarian interact only
with students, but they are invaluable resources for teachers as well.”
MacKenzie
(2019) created the above graphic Teacher Librarian: Your Inquiry Superhero to
illustrate how TL’s can spark inquiry collaboration with teachers. TL’s can
play a huge role in supporting teachers in inquiry projects with students, and
with their own inquiries. If this graphic resonates with you, have a read of MacKenzie’s
article called Classroom Inquiries Secret Weapon: The
Teacher Librarian, it’s very inspiring!
In conclusion, I think TL’s are in a very special
position within a school and they need to situate themselves to make the most
of this. Foster curiosity, encourage inquiry, provide support, and listen. I
hope to do all of these things if I have the opportunity to be a TL one day.
As a mom of two little ones under 4, a part-time grade 2/3
teacher, and most recently a UBC student, any spare time that I once possessed has now vanished
into this air. I constantly ask myself (and my friends), “What did I used to do
with all of that spare time? Why haven’t I learned another language? Why can’t
I play the guitar?” If only I could go back in time, I’d have done all those
things and more…maybe. Back in that time of spare time abundance, I spent a lot of time reading professional books and attending professional development opportunities.
Since having kids I’ve had to become wily in my quest for
professional development, I’ve had to become crafty in my means of acquiring
moments here and there. This reminds me of something Donalyn Miller said in her
novel The Book Whisperer, “readers steal time to read, they are time
stealers” (I obviously read this book prior to having kids when I had all that
spare time!).
I now understand what she meant by this on a different level, I must
steal time to read, and I do just that. When I’ve successfully acquired time and can develop
my teaching skills, here are some of my top picks:
I listen to any podcast I can find that hosts Jody Carrington
or Shelley Moore.
I recently listened to Jody Carrington’s book Kids These
Days on audiobook while painting a dresser in the evenings because my
children were sleeping. I strongly recommend this book to all parents and educators.
I make a conscious effort not to use my cell phone
around my little ones (other than to make phone calls). I don’t want a screen to
steal my time from them. I have held out from creating a Twitter account since its inception. Since creating one for this class, I have enjoyed following significant people in education, most recently Wab Kinew https://twitter.com/WabKinew. He is an Indigenous Canadian politician and often gives keynote speeches at professional development opportunities for teachers. I look forward to commandeering time from my day (when the kids are sleeping) to explore more of what Twitter has to offer for my professional development.
I look to this coming school year with a heart full of hope.
Hope that there will be more opportunities to collaborate with staff members
and other district staff. Hope that we will be able to meet with colleagues
more often during the school day and after the school day. This year I felt
very isolated from staff and really missed the informal professional conversations
that typically happen before and after school with my colleagues. Although the
professional development opportunities that happened on Teams were meaningful,
I look forward to attending professional development opportunities in person
with my district colleagues.
Works Cited
Carrington, Jody. (2020). Kids these days: A game plan for
(re)connecting with those we teach, lead, and love. IMPress.
Kinew, Wab [@WabKinew]. (n.d.). Tweets. [Twitter Profile].
Retrieved July 22, 2021, from https://twitter.com/WabKinew.
Miller, Donalyn. (2009). The book whisperer. Jossey-Bass.
Early literacy has been
a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it started back when I
was little, I spent much of my time teaching my teddy bears how to read and
write. I was a dedicated teacher of teddy bears, crafting whimsical stories for
them to read, helping them create their own story books, and teaching them
lessons about how to read and write. This passion was nurtured by my mom, who
always found fun stationary for my literacy teaching pursuits. She helped me
create cozy reading corners for my teddies, provided me with a flashlight so I
could read with my teddies when it was dark, and created outdoor reading spaces
for my teddies and me. I suspect I had the most literate teddy bears in our
neighborhood!
Now fast forward to
2021, I have now been teaching for over 10 years, mostly in grades 1 and 2.
This love of teaching literacy has never faded, it’s only gotten stronger the
more I have learned about the importance of early literacy. According to the Winnipeg
Public Library, “A child's
positive early experiences with books and language lay the foundation for
success in learning to read”. This is a belief that I hold dear and strive for
in my classroom and with my own two small children every day. This belief is
central to the reading culture that I have created in my classroom over the
last decade. Listed next are a few of the things I do to promote a reading
culture in my class:
How do I create a reading culture in my classroom?
Spaces for
Reading- I try to create appealing
spaces in my classroom for reading, whether it is a cushion, a special chair, a
piece of carpet, the physical space should be inviting for students to read. I always
encourage students to “get comfy”, go anywhere in the room with your book,
under a desk, on top of a desk, lay on the floor, curl up in the coat room, I
love to be comfy when I read, and so can they.
Shared
Reading- Whether they are
reading with a friend, a teddy bear, a big buddy, alone, or with an adult, I
try to create varied social opportunities for reading. In my experience I have
found students love reading with a big buddy. I have also found that grade 1
and 2 students love reading to a little buddy (a student from a younger grade,
perhaps Kindergarten). It is so fun for them to realize their reading growth
and how far they have come since they were in Kindergarten. I usually save this
little buddy experience for the last term so that all students have something
they are confident to read to their little buddy, even if it is an alphabet poem
that they have memorized.
Book Talks (sometimes called book reviews)- Lee (2020)
defines a book talk as, “concise presentations that serve as an advertisement for a
particular book. Unlike a book report, these quick talks are designed to pique
interest rather
than summarize the plot.” I have found that when students are given the opportunity
to share information about the books they are reading with their classmates, it
empowers them as readers, and inspires their classmates. Students are keen to
read books that are recommended by their peers and feel validated when their
peers want to read a book they recommended. Here is a video of a girl giving
book talk/book review, after watching the video I certainly wanted to read the
book!
Author Studies- Lee (2020) suggests the use of “narratives and biographies
of individual authors to promote interest in their work” plays a role in
creating a reading culture in a school. I have found that students love listening to a collection of books by
the same author (Robert Munsch, Mo Willems, David Shannon, the list goes on and
on). They also love learning facts about those authors, how old they are, where
they live, what they like to do, why they became authors, which books they like
to read. There are so many engaging ways to connect with authors online: Youtube,
blogs, websites, and Twitter. One of my favorites is an interview with the
younger version of Mo Willems where he talks about why he became an author. He
also has many you tube videos where he teaches children how to draw his book
characters.
I typically view
literacy teaching through a primary lens as that is where the bulk of my
experience lies. I have found when teaching intermediate students that they are
more than enthusiastic to engage in reading activities that I typically use
with our youngest readers. Grade 3- 6 students still love to find a cozy spot
in a classroom and curl up to read with a teddy bear. Although they want to
appear mature, intermediate students are still very young, and given the opportunity
to engage in reading activities typically thought of as for primary students, I
have found they often jump at the chance!
How can we
encourage a school-wide reading program?
During my research for
this blog post I consistently found studies stating the benefits of reading for
enjoyment over skills acquisition. According to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), ‘On average, students who
read daily for enjoyment score the equivalent of one-and-a-half years of
schooling better than those who do not.’ This is a critical aspect of a
whole-school reading program. The program needs to foster and cultivate reading
for enjoyment, not reading for skills acquisition and test purposes. The
school-wide reading program should have fun and engaging activities that draws
in students of all ages, as well as teachers and families.
A large part of a school-wide reading program is
having a staff who value reading and are willing to make it a priority. Having
a school leadership team that is willing to make reading a priority at all
costs is essential. In Tyson’s article she cites the need for “high-quality
classroom libraries” and that “when students are provided with well-designed
classroom libraries, they interact more with books, spend more time reading,
exhibit more positive attitudes toward reading, and exhibit higher levels of
reading achievement” (NAEP, 2002). This has been a significant issue at all
schools I have worked at. Most teachers feel their classroom library is inadequate
to meet the needs of their learners, not to mention horribly outdated and in
poor repair. My current school is no exception. Teachers on our staff
consistently ask for more books for their classroom libraries and consistently
receive the same answer, books are expensive…so where do we go from here? Being
creative and finding funds to support having current, beautiful, popular, books
in every classroom and library is paramount to a school-wide reading program.
Finally, whole school guided reading groups is a
non-negotiable in my opinion. Students need time every day in a small group to
read engaging books at their level with peers who are at a similar level. They
need time every day to practice the reading strategies, phonological skills,
and phonemic awareness in a small group. When I have been at schools that made
this a priority, the commitment to reading and reading growth permeated the whole
school.
Resources
to support educators in establishing a vibrant reading culture that honors
indigenous ways of knowing.
I am in the process of investigating how to create a
vibrant reading culture in schools that honors and shares indigenous ways of
knowing. More specifically, I would like to find digital resources that will
help create this vibrant reading culture. Below I have compiled a list of 5
resources, the first 2 of which I feel help give teachers some important background
knowledge on inclusion and incorporating some indigenous ways of knowing into
their school/library/classroom. The third resource shares ways of using digital
technology to establish a reading culture. The final 2 resources are examples
of engaging resources that could be used to spark curiosity and interest in
students to pursue further investigation of indigenous culture or as a means of
sharing some aspects of our rich, local indigenous culture.
1) Dupuis, J. K. (2019). What happens when you create a
culture of respect, trust, and innovation in school library spaces? Canadian
School Libraries Journal, 3(2).
·In this article, author Jenny Kay
Dupuis speaks to the important role school libraries have in creating a space
that is inclusive and establishes a safe place for indigenous people to see
their culture reflected in literature. She shares a very thought-provoking
account of her own experience in libraries as an indigenous youth and her
desire to see indigenous people accurately and currently portrayed in books.
2) McAuley, A. (2009). Knowledge Building in an Aboriginal
Context, V35(1) Winter 2009, Alexander McAuley. Canadian Journal of Learning
and Technology, 35(1).
·This
journal article looks at creating a “knowledge-building community” in a
classroom using computer-based research of different indigenous peoples.
Students in the classroom chose their own group of indigenous peoples to study,
used classroom computers to conduct research, and collaborate with peers to
find other information and deepen their understanding. Students were very
engaged in the project.
3) Flanagan, E. (2015, November 29). Using Technology
to Develop a Reading Culture [web log]. https://www.erintegration.com.
·The
author of this blog stresses the importance of providing students with many
opportunities to share the books they are reading and the books they love with
their classmates and community. She outlines two web-based resources/apps to
support teachers in creating a reading culture using digital technology: PicCollage
and PhotoPeach. Both look really engaging and user friendly.
4) Davidson, S. F., Norton, B., & Doherty, L. (n.d.).
Indigenous Storybooks. https://indigenousstorybooks.ca/#.
·This
website offers a collection of open access online books that can be translated
into many different indigenous languages. The books that currently exist on the
site are reading levels 1 and 2. There is also a resource section that provides
access to authentic indigenous stories that can be listened to in various
indigenous languages and read along with by children or adults.
·This
is a video showcasing what Indigenous Storybooks is all about:
·This
website is a repository of audio recordings of 34 indigenous languages. It is
administrated by the First Peoples’ Council of Canada. It can be used in the
classroom to share local indigenous words. I think it would be a really
engaging way to teach students about indigenous culture and the importance of
their oral traditions.
During this process
of searching for resources I stumbled down many “rabbit holes” and found the
process inspiring to say the least. There are so many exciting and innovative
resources out there, it is endless. I struggled to keep my count to only 5
resources, but have documented many more on Symbaloo for future reference. I am excited to continue this
process of finding the most engaging and inspiring resources for students. I am
even more excited to use these resources that I find in my classroom next year.
In Will Richardson’s (2012) book Why School? he suggests that sharing your
learning and your learning process with students is a powerful part of learning
itself. He states that we can be “people who model their own learning process,
connect to other learners as a part of their day, and learn continuously around
the things they have passion for.” I love this concept and I hope to share this
current learning process with my students in the upcoming school year as we pursue
passion projects and inquire into those things that spark our interest.
Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Talks.
