Takeaways, Game Plans, and Ponderings After Meeting My EduHero
Last weekend a couple friends and I carpooled up to Nebraska for a literacy day trip to spend the day at the Plum Creek Festival. During the day you attended five sessions from well known education researchers and advocates, as well as very well-known authors and illustrators. I had the pleasure of meeting those that created the following outstanding books during the book signing time, as well as helped Christian Robinson find the room he left his bag in. :)
There were many moments throughout that day that will stick with me for a long time, like seeing Dr. Teri Lesesne speak in person, bonding with Sharon M. Draper over being cancer survivors, seeing the (tear-provoking) sibling bond between Matthew Holm and Jennifer Holm, and the unfortunate fan-girl reaction whilst speaking to Kadir Nelson... to the point of making him uncomfortable. Way to go, Audra!
But the highlight of my day was attending Donalyn Miller's session and getting to speak with her... of course after overcoming yet another fan-girl moment since I can't seem to every be cool, calm, and collected. Donalyn is a literacy advocate, teacher, and is well known as The Book Whisperer. Many of her beliefs speak to my librarian heart and her work has helped to mold me into the educator I am today. So yes, I was over the moon to meet her, but speaking with her at the end of the day was such a pleasure and added more fuel to the fire her session ignited in me.
Donalyn's session was called Access to Books: Game Changer for Kids. It was all about what we can do to create more access to books for students. Here are my big takeaways, game plans, and ponderings on how I can do what is best for my students. I would love your feedback and ideas on any of the following:
1. In case you need some research to back up independent reading, let's start with this:
2. School Libraries and Public Libraries Unite!
Obviously, the more connections a child can have to books, the better chances are that they will become a lifelong reader. Donalyn encouraged us to find ways to connect the school library with the public library. This made me start brainstorming ways to get our brilliant children's librarians, Darcy and Amy, from the public library into our school, in addition to getting our students into their library. I'm thinking field trips to the library, signing up for a library card, and inviting them to do STEAM challenges and story time with us. I will definitely be contacting them so that we can build this relationship over the course of the year.
3. Access to Books 3-6-5
Another talking point that got my head spinning with ideas is the idea that the key to success is being locked up all summer... books. We can't depend on our students to get to the public library: transportation, inability to pay overdue fines, and sometimes even the weariness of giving information to a government agency. So instead, we should be willing to send some kids home with books. Does that look like kids being sent home with their own books for the summer that can be added to their home libraries? (How do we get the money for that?) Do you open the library doors once a week? (Do kids have transportation to get there?) Or does it look like a book mobile? I don't know, but I'm down for that if I can make it work. Obviously, I have some thinking to do here and would love to bounce ideas off of you!
4. Lose a Book, Not the Child
Each year I lose books to the same families. It's the nature of the beast. But I'd rather lose that book, than to tell kids they can't check out. One suggestion Donalyn had was for families that can't pay fines... have them pay in service. I will definitely be doing this, as those kids could use some extra time being surrounded by books and talking with their librarian about what they are reading, perhaps while do some light dusting. ;)
5. Supporting Classroom Libraries
The size of the classroom library shouldn't be dependent on which teacher your child gets. There needs to be equity across the board. Some people aren't comfortable with spending their life savings on books, and there is nothing wrong with that! Like Donalyn said, "We don't make basketball coaches pay for their basketballs." She talked about how to evaluate a classroom library to see what their needs are. I would love to get a team together to do that in our building. Perhaps the Scholastic Book Fair profits could support classroom libraries with books that will stay with the grade level from year to year. This is something I will be taking with my colleagues about so that the school library can better support the classroom.
6. Weed. Weed. Weed!
There was a number that Donalyn tossed around that blew my mind. In a library, there should be 5-7 books per kid, which 2-3 more for each of the following years they are there. I need to do the math on this, but I can tell you right now we have WAY too many books in our school library. Books that are very old, never been checked out according to inventory, taking up space which makes it difficult for kids to browse, and just not appropriate choices for our readers. I have to find the time to weed the library and make it more accessible for students and teachers. I will use that number above for a guideline, but will also use the practices I have been trained in using for collection development and weeding.
7. No More Oppressed Characters
Students should see characters that are "positive affirming portrayals of all their experiences." Enough of slavery and migrant worker stories. Let's find stories about everyday kiddos, that just happen to be any other color than white. This is a big item on my book list for this year. I want to make sure that ALL of my students will see who they are in a positive light.
8. Ix-Nay on the Exclusion-Nay
Once again, all of our students must be represented, i.e. MIRRORS. But they also need to see into the lives of those who are different than them, i.e. WINDOWS. Purposely excluding a book just because it doesn't mesh with one viewpoint is not only wrong on many levels, but can also get you in some major legal trouble. We call this "censorship!" Remember, "the absence of a voice is a judgement against it."
As you can see, it's a week later and my mind is still reeling with ways that I can change what I am doing regarding access for my students, teachers, and community. If you would like to put heads together on any of these points, PLEASE get ahold of me!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Audra Reed
email: thereedinglibrarian@gmail.com
instagram: @thereedinglibrarian
twitter: @thereedingLMS
For more of Donalyn's work you can find her on Twitter, @donalynbooks , and her website, thebookwhisperer.com.
