First a shout-out - if you're an international librarian and reading this - please join the International Librarians Lead (inTLlead) moodle - it aims to bring together a repository of resources, ideas and discussions on everything to do with being a 21C librarian in a global setting. We have 195 members and growing. Further to … Continue reading When to read what how
Every year around this time, some parent will ask the teacher or myself what their child should be reading. The "correct" response to this question is that we don't make reading lists of prescribed or recommended books but prefer students to come and have a chat to us about what they like reading, what hobbies … Continue reading Why lists and awards matter
This phrase is attributed to Peter Drucker and made famous by Mark Fields (although can't easily be authenticated). I firmly believe it to be a reality both in business and education, and many a manager has been burnt by this. I'm currently in Bangalore, having spent the last three days at the Neev Literature Festival where … Continue reading Culture eats strategy for breakfast
Classroom libraries vs. school libraries, teacher superstars marginalising teacher librarians - or is it our fault?
I'm busy preparing for next week's library lessons. G5 has one of my favourite units in "How We Express Ourselves" People create messages to target specific audiences Ostensibly it's about advertising, as the lines of inquiry indicate, 1. Advertising techniques can be used to influence society (Perspective) 2. Critically evaluating messages presented in the media … Continue reading #NotOurDiversity
I firmly believe that one of the main role's of a school librarian is to make teachers' lives just that little bit easier. And if we can do this while fostering a love and enthusiasm for reading in students - well that's a double win. Over the last few years I've written about the things … Continue reading How librarians can leverage the GRA
Last week I attended a "#Call to Action: Fake News, Misinformation and Post-Truth" held by the SMU libraries in Singapore. Library network groups are full of requests for student appropriate examples of fake news. Most librarians have a stock list starting from the spaghetti harvest (1957) / tree octopus (1988). And we've unfortunately become over … Continue reading #fakenews – symptom or disease?
Quite a few schools in our network have cut-back on funding for professional development and have either started limiting the time off or financial support for PD. This is extremely disappointing, as PD can be the lifeblood of educators, and dare I say, particularly for teacher-librarians with their often solitary status within a school. There … Continue reading How to get free PD
Last weekend I had the privilege of being invited to join the first children's literature festival in India, hosted by Neev Academy in Bangalore. What a fabulous weekend it was. One of my constant concerns as a librarian here in Singapore in an international school is that I don't feel that my collection reflects the … Continue reading Celebrating the joy of reading
During the vacation I've been catching up with some podcasts, including listening to a few new ones that were recommended to me by friends. While there are some great educational podcasts out there, sometimes while one is looking outside of the field that you are struck by things that are relevant. So it was with … Continue reading Can we be smarter with communicating benefits of reading?
Informative Flights - Musings of a Teacher Librarian 