Literature and Data Collection

Reading Review #2- LIBE 477B 63C

 

    In my previous blog post, I had compiled a list of 10 topics and keywords that I would like to explore that would benefit my library. For this post, I have narrowed it down to 4 topics to explore more deeply.

 

1. Technology / Coding

2. School Community Development

3. Teacher Collaboration

4. Parent Involvement

 

 

1. Technology / Coding

 

Coding in the Classroom: A Long-Overdue Inclusion

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/coding-classroom-long-overdue-inclusion-merle-huerta

 

    This article by Merle Huerta on edutopia.org supports the notion that coding is a new type of literacy. He feels that teaching coding in schools helps to increase inclusion and equity among students because they all have access to the same technology and instruction. Huerta also feels that teaching coding in schools is preparing all students for the jobs of the future. “Those students who master it are better prepared for a technical revolution that spans cultures and language boundaries. That’s because coding isn’t just a language. It’s a way of thinking about problem solving.” I like how Huerta discusses a variety of groups to promote inclusivity, from economic gaps to gender stereotypes, and tries to encourage more female students to enter careers in technology fields.

 

 

The Library Voice- A blog by Shannon McClintock Miller

https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/search?q=coding

 

    This blog post by McClintock Miller provides a multitude of coding resources hand-picked for Teacher Librarians. This isn’t a research-based blog, but it is a wonderful collection of practical websites and programs. Her blog covers many topics that are useful to Teacher Librarians, but for my keyword research I focused on the coding section. McClintock Miller is known for sharing her library choice boards with fellow educators and the Symbaloo board she put together with coding resources is very helpful. Many of the sites she links do require students to sign up, but most are free. At the very least, it helps teachers to narrow down their search for activities and saves them the hours it would take to do on their own.

 

2. School Community Development

We’re All In This Together: Building Community in a School Library

https://programminglibrarian.org/blog/were-all-together-building-community-school-library

    This blog post written by Donna Mignardi and Jennifer Sturge gives practical ideas for Teacher-Librarians to use in their libraries that will boost student engagement and sense of community. It is a quick read, but I found it very useful, and it gave me ideas that I could implement immediately in my program without much cost or preparation time. Their ideas range from community building story suggestions for younger students, to contests, challenges, and book club ideas for older grades.

3. Teacher Collaboration

 

What Can Collaboration With A Teacher-Librarian Look Like?

https://bctla.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/teacher-librarian-infographic-final.pdf

 

    This infographic and article was published by the Surrey chapter of the BCTLA. It includes a great visual to promote collaboration within schools and gives suggestions for ways that all school staff can work together for the benefit of students. Some of the topics covered in this article are evaluating apps and websites, making resource lists for teachers, co-planning lessons, and integrating ADST activities. The conclusion of this article sums it up the best; “All stakeholders (administrators, parents, teachers, education assistants and students) are best served when collaboration and communication are allowed to flourish and effective partnerships develop within a culture that supports them.“

 

 

 

Strategies for Successful School Librarian and Teacher Collaboration

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1292862.pdf

 

    This article explores 3 different Teacher Librarians (elementary, middle, high school) and their efforts to promote collaboration in their schools. He suggests that there are four common practices in Teacher / Librarian collaboration, “each of which requires more commitment and greater investment. These practices are: coordination, cooperation, integrated instruction, and integrated curriculum” (pg. 3). I liked that this article acknowledges that there are many barriers to collaboration that are out of our control, such as time allowances and administrative policies. One of the things that the authors mention that makes a lot of sense is that collaboration in schools if often brought on by a new program to learn or a special project that needs more support. This article is not a ‘reader-friendly’ as some of the others I have showcased, but it offers a lot of good research and information that may be useful in an inquiry project.

 

 

4. Parent involvement

 

Parent Involvement In Elementary School Libraries

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1354472965

 

            This is a dissertation written by Michele Rzewski Copeland for her Doctor of Education degree in Virginia. The author researched different ways that parent volunteers can help in school libraries and the positive effect it had on their programs.  Some of these include shelving books, repairing ripped books, running book fairs and other tasks in the daily running of a library. They also talk about how parents can be invited in to be story readers and run reading incentive programs. Copeland finds that the positive effects that parent volunteers in the library extends to advocation as well. “Likewise, library volunteers often become advocates for school library programs; when people volunteer in libraries they become the strong supporters if cuts to library programs are proposed” (pg. 53).

            Once we can have parent volunteers in the school again, I would love to try out some of these ideas. In the past, we have had parent helpers for the book fair and a school wide reading incentive program, but it never occurred to me to invite them in to help with daily tasks like I did when I was in the classroom.