Engaging the Learning Community
Course
Example: Reading Culture [7:55]
https://players.brightcove.net/2566261579001/HyuWsfFhb_default/index.html?videoId=4895799273001
About
Reading culture is an important component of the community of learners. Here, we are going to look at three categories of events and activities to promote a culture of reading; book discussions, family literacy, and storytelling and digital storytelling.Transcript
What are some of the strengths and needs in terms of literacy and reading in your school, in your community? What are some considerations for the educational level of parents and families? What are some living situations? What languages are spoken in your community? Then consider those components and think about, what is a reading culture to you? What will it look like? And who is involved?
From here, think about a range of opportunities. Maybe co-learning, maybe instructional, and don't forget just for fun, which is still a great way to promote the library. Here, we are going to look at three categories of events and activities to promote a culture of reading; book discussions, family literacy, and storytelling and digital storytelling.
Let's start with book discussions. At its most simple level this might just be making a concerted effort to share out what kids are reading at school. It might be in a reporting out that's as simple as a prompt for dinner time conversation, or maybe there's a more direct involvement with engaging parents in the reading. This could happen in person. It might be with parents and caregivers, maybe with a community group. Maybe a senior citizens group comes in to do lunch time reading discussions. Perhaps it's across the school with the one book, one school initiative or maybe with partner schools near or far.
A book discussion might happen virtually. So perhaps you use a course management system like Edmodo, you could work with a threaded discussion or blog. You might try a Twitter discussion. If you have a small group, a video chat might work; so Hangout or Skype, in order to facilitate and foster conversations about reading. We Need Diverse Books, or #wndb, might be a great focal point for a book discussion approach. It would be a good way to engage students and families in learning about their own and other's cultures.
Whatever you do with your book discussion, keep up with the families. Check back, keep the conversations going, whether it's parents and caregivers of a particular grade level, community groups; track the books read, track the topics shared. And be ready to share that information across the community whether that's the school community or the broader level maybe through your library website, or online portal.
Showing that we talk about books, value books, and that we read, is an important part of the reading culture. Another aspect of the reading culture is family literacy. Some of these activities may take on a more instructional mode. And others are more just sharing for fun. Just some ideas here at the elementary, bringing families in for programs on different topics that are instructional. Giving them tools, tips, and strategies to build children's literacy.
Reading aloud with kids might be a great topic. Sharing favorite books could be one that's less instructional and maybe just more lateral sharing. Learning nursery rhymes. Learning games for literacy. Poetry writing and sharing. Apps for children's books.
At the middle or high school level, a family literacy event either virtual or face to face might be a shared book discussion. And with middle or high school reading levels, we can get in to some really great shared conversations as readers. Things like memoir, or narrative or literary non-fiction, are really great for this kind of work. You might even consider reading something other than a book. Maybe an essay or long-form writing, blogs and aggregators, or maybe kind of a read and create situation where we're reading as well as crafting curated content.
Another way to think about family literacy would be to invite family in the community, in when you have an author visit. So maybe at school, or again in the evenings, kind of a dual visit if that's possible. Or open school day events to families, depending on the space and scenario.
Another good consideration might be multi-age offerings. Maybe students teach something to parents, or students teach an area of literacy to younger students. Perhaps face to face, perhaps through a model where high school athletes read to the younger children who often think that they are famous stars. Or students teaching and reading to community members. Working with animals can sometimes work here too, where students read to the dogs. This is a program that has been popular in many schools and communities.
We don't want to forget highlighting special book and library events as part of our family reading. So here are few examples: World Read Aloud day is in February. Read Across America also known as Dr. Seuss' birthday is March. School Library month and National Library week happen in April. Día or Children's Day/Book Day—El Día de los Niños is in April. Teen Read week is in October. And Picture Book month is in November. Promoting these holidays and events as part of family literacy is a really great step.
You also might consider more forms of literacy. Oftentimes we think just books and reading. But consider for instance visual literacy via graphic novels. Or focus on images, photos and artwork. We engage different interests when we consider a broader perspective on a topic. Of course once again don't forget the evaluation component in this area. And one great way to evaluate is surveys on home-school connections.
One last consideration for storytelling and digital storytelling as part of family literacy is engage the community. Think about storytellers and authors. You might have a local storytelling group or an author's group in your area. You might share stories, they might coach writing, or they might be willing to participate in a shared creation experience. Something like, bringing families in to construct a digital storytelling project. This might be a great collaboration with a public library or with classroom teachers where students and either families or community members, or maybe both, create oral histories, original stories, fables and folk tales, fractured fairy tales, or perhaps they collect community stories and present these through traditional storytelling or digital storytelling.
As I mentioned, the collaboration with the public library would be a good consideration here, or maybe the university library if you are in the neighborhood or community close to a college or university. Here again, share the story as evidence for the evaluation of this program, maybe through the school website, or perhaps a celebratory event.
This concludes our example on building the reading and literacy culture as part of the community of learners.
Activities
A reading culture in the school is a valuable piece of the learning community. Through programs like book discussions, family literacy, and storytelling and digital storytelling, school librarians can help make reading experiences rich and meaningful, and inclusive of different people and groups. Virtual and face-to-face activities, one-time events or series, and extensions of classroom lessons are all options for engaging deeply with literacy.
View the American Library Association's Celebration Weeks and Promotional Events website (link provided in Resources below). This website highlights special events for libraries across types and audiences. Consider possibilities for planning events and outreach for school libraries, like Teen Tech Week (March) and School Library Month (April).
American Library Association, Celebration Weeks and Promotional Events
http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks
Entry ID: 2122865
Additional Resources
About the Author
Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com
Twitter: @rebeccajm87.
Select Citation Style:
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Engaging the Learning Community. Example: Reading Culture [7:55]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, June 2016, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018657?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902.
Chicago Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Engaging the Learning Community. Example: Reading Culture [7:55]." School Library Connection video. June 2016. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018657?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902.
APA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. (2016, June). Engaging the learning community. Example: Reading culture [7:55] [Video]. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018657?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018657?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2018657