Developing Remote Canadian Libraries

This week I decided to focus on developing libraries within our own Indigenous communities in Canada instead of around the world. In Canada we have many Indigenous communities that are isolated by their location. Where I live I have easy access to many bookstores, free shipping from Amazon and easy Scholastic book orders. After researching into some isolated Indigenous communities, I realize how I take these services for granted. Many school libraries in these communities have sparse bookshelves that have outdated and used books. I found a non-profit Canadian organization called Books With No Bounds that does amazing work to support remote libraries. Started by two teenagers in Ontario, their continued work has stocked libraries shelves in Canada and around the world. These girls have stocked the shelves of different libraries, most recently at the Ma Tah Ha Mao School in the Peawanuck First Nation in Northern Ontario. You can check out their Facebook or Twitter page for up to date information on their endeavours. 

When libraries have books, they can become a community hub. This can be seen at Helen Kalvak Elihakvik in Northwest Territories. Here the library is open 5 days a week and two nights a week to both students and the community. Having the library be a place for community building helps bring learning and books to an important place of prominence. ( http://helenkalvakelihakvik.com/services/) 

Many of these remote communities rely on online classrooms, especially for high school students. Technology plays a large part of their schooling so it is important that they have access to computers and internet. Students in Ontario have the opportunity to attend Keewaytinook Internet High School, which provides course for students in grade 9-12. (http://kihs.knet.ca/) As a result the use of mobile devices will be essential for the success of these students.  

In my K-5 school mobile devices are not a prominent fixture in my students hands. We have a school set of laptops and IPads that is shared, but they are often used by other classes and not as available for library use. However, we have a well stocked library, so I can see how developing libraries having access to technology and the internet is imperative. Being able to have access to apps, like Epic, for free access to thousands of books would be incredibly beneficial. Overall, books and technology are so important for kids and adults to help them be educated and literate members of our communities. I hope to help our Indigenous communities and support them through initiatives in our school.  

Bibliography

1. Facebook.com. (2019). Books with no Bounds. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/bookswithnobounds/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].

2. Helen Kalvak Elihakvik. (2019). Services - Helen Kalvak Elihakvik. [online] Available at: http://helenkalvakelihakvik.com/services/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].

3. Kihs.knet.ca. (2019). Keewaytinook Internet High School | STAY AT HOME BUT STAY IN SCHOOL!. [online] Available at: http://kihs.knet.ca/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].

Leading to Success

 Being a leader in professional development is a new role for me. This is my second year in the library and I spent most of last year just trying to keep my head above water. This year, because I feel more confident and I have a better idea about what needs to be done while in the library, I feel like I can take on more of a leadership role in professional development. One change that has happened this year is we have new administration and with this change, my spot on the staff meeting agenda has moved up. With my new admin, she values the resources and work that I am doing in the library. Now I present different professional resources each staff meeting. I am also presenting this at the beginning or middle of the staff meeting, which we all know is a prime spot because by the end of a staff meeting many of us are tired after working all day. Before the staff meetings I put out new materials for teachers to look at when they come into the library. Making sure teachers know what is in the library is important, so they know what is available to them and it also sparks conversations between me and my colleagues.  

One area that I would like to improve on is my connection to the classrooms and what they are leaning, in order to better support the teachers and finding resources for them. In our library we have a large collection of teacher resources, we are lucky to have them but they are widely underused. Being in the library only two days a week can be tough to maintain the connection between the library and the teachers to help teachers find these resources. One way I want to combat that is to send out a quick survey for teachers. This survey would include questions about how I can help them better, if there were resources I could pull for them or topics I can help them find information on. Doing this once a term would help put all of our resources to better use.  

Finally, we have very supportive and informed Teacher-Librarians in our district who send out articles and resources through emails. These emails range from best practices from our own staff, article about the benefits of have Teacher-Librarians in schools and Freedom to Read. They want us to share their findings with our own school colleagues and use them to help improve our own teachings. 

Here are a few of the resources that have been shared to me from some of the TL’s in my district.  

This first is by the Heiltsuk Nation which is located near Bella Bella, B.C.. They have created an interactive map of a 6,000 year old village. Finding resources that are authentic to Indigenous peoples is a big topic of discussion for Teacher-Librarians and this one is definitely a useful resource.  

https://www.heiltsuknation.ca/ 

This resource is from UVic and it is called iMinds. This resource focuses on addition, substance use and mental health which fits into the PHE curriculum. Again it is helpful to have a Canadian resource that discusses tough topics. 

https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/cisur/publications/helping-schools/iminds/index.php 

Finally here is a graphic that was shared that shows just how important we are to children’s lives. This graphic was shared to us and it is from the American Association of School Librarians.

(http://www.ala.org/aasl/)

Being fairly new to being a Teacher-Librarian, I feel like doing these small steps will start me on my way to being a better leader in professional development. By promoting myself, as well as resources at staff meetings, sending a survey to teachers and sharing important articles and resources, I will be able to be on my way to being a leader and go-to person in my school for professional development.  

Bibliography 

1. 1. “Heiltsuk Tribal Council Bella Bella, BC - Home of the Haíɫzaqv.” Heiltsuk Nation, www.heiltsuknation.ca/. 

2. 2. “IMinds - University of Victoria.” UVic.ca, www.uvic.ca/research/centres/cisur/publications/helping-schools/iminds/index.php. 

Let’s Taco ‘Bout Pro-D

This past week I had an amazing opportunity to visit another school, during school hours, with real live children there working and learning. As a teacher this is unheard of for professional development. Most of our professional development is done a few times a year in a conference hall or local high school with an expert talking to us. I understand why this is the norm because it would be astronomical to pay for a TTOC for for every teacher multiple times a year. However, after this past week I would argue that I learned more in one day of observation and talking to colleagues than in most of my other Pro-D. I was able to watch a guided reading lesson in the same grade that I teach, talk to students, talk to the librarian, see the amazing reading programs in place, as well as talk to their full time literacy coach. This is a school with very high needs and it was great to see what they are doing there to help their students. My biggest take away was a tool used during the guided reading lesson. Each student had this book to mark where and what they wanted to share with their teacher. I hope to make these this week and start implementing this with my class next week.

 With today’s social networks, it is possible to constantly be connecting and learning from fellow educators. While I do not have twitter, I can see the value in it as an educational tool. I’ve seen how you can connect with teachers from around the world, discuss educational practices and share your stories. The reason I am not on Twitter is because I enjoy talking with people in person and I don’t want to add another social media to my already technology filled life.

After this class is over I know that my professional development will continue. I think that it would be hard as a teacher to not to professional development. I believe that there is always something you can learn or do differently to help you be a better educator. Whether that is trying a new project, connecting with another classroom, or talking with a fellow teacher, we should always be learning from each other.

Families + Reading Culture = Success!

Fostering a reading cultures in school is a big focus at my school this year. One reason for this is because our school’s Action Plan for Learning is focusing around literacy and self-regulation. One thing I have done recently around fostering a reading culture is by having a Family Literacy Bingo card. I ran this through the library so I was able to introduce it to every class in the school and hype up the activity. Students enjoyed the various activities on the card which included play a board game together, read a book together, look at family photos and make a meal together. What I thought was important was making reading fun for families and that it was about spending time together. When students brought back their card with at least one line complete they were given a prize. I asked each student what their favourite activity they did was and many of them said building a fort a reading in it. I think that this is such a fun experience for families to do together while making reading fun.  

Family Literacy Bingo Card 

Sunday, January 27th is Family Literacy Day! 

Names: Adult(s):_______________ Child(ren): ____________________ 

Grade(s):______________ Classroom Teacher(s):__________________ 

Instructions: Over the next week, colour in the boxes of the activities that your family has done together throughout this week. If you colour a complete line (across, down, or diagonal) you can return this sheet to the school library, on or before Friday, February 1st, and get a prize from the library!!! 

Read a book together	Do a crossword puzzle together	Visit the public library	Draw a picture together	Cook supper  together
Read a magazine together	Do a jigsaw puzzle together	Explore the online digital resources through our school website	Play a board game together	Make a craft together
Play a board game together	Write a letter to a family member or friend and post it in the mail	Tell a family story	Make a shopping list together	Look at family pictures together
Talk about the best parts of your day	Fix something around your home together	Look at family pictures together or draw your family	Play a word or guessing game like “I Spy”	Make puppets to retell a favorite story
Act our part of a play or make believe together	Build a fort and read inside with flashlights	Make up a story together and draw pictures to go with it	Make a thank you card or birthday card for someone	Work on homework together

Another school wide initiative is our Drop Everything and Read mornings. This year we have had two mornings where families are invited to read with their children throughout the school for the first 20 minutes of the day. Being able to promote reading with families is so important, because if reading isn’t valued at home then the student can be at a disadvantage at school.    

(http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/reading-aloud.htm)

Recently, our principal has received a large grant for our school to help us with our Action Plan for Learning. As a result, tomorrow I get to visit another school to learn from them on what their literacy and self regulation programs look like. I am very excited for this opportunity. The school I am visiting is seen as a “need” school so they have a full time literacy coach and librarian, who we get to talk to tomorrow. I’m wondering how having this full time support will look compared to our minimal literacy coach support and me as a librarian only two days a week. I hope to learn different strategies to use both in my classroom and in the library. We don’t often get a day to learn from other schools, so I fully intend to take advantage of this day of learning from others.