Professional+Commitment

__**Professional Commitment** __
__3.1 Lifelong learning__ Excellent teacher librarians - empower others in the school community to become lifelong learners

__3.2 Commitment__ Excellent teacher librarians -foster a reading culture through the active promotion of literature

__3.4 Community responsibilities__ Excellent teacher librarians -promote library and information services to the school and the wider community

__Promotion of reading (book displays, reading challenges, book fairs, reading blogs) __
Whilst other influences on reading habits cannot be ignored, the importance of the school library as a reading environment, and the teacher-librarian as an enabling adult, is crucial in the task of bringing young people and books together. A research report found that 28% of 10 to 18 year olds who read for pleasure mentioned the school library as a source of books. This figure is higher than for bookshops, the public library, family or friends (ACYL, 2001, p.29). Hughes-Hassell (2003) states, “//Although it is preferable for students to read a variety of materials, studies have shown that light reading provides motivation for more reading, and does improve fluency and comprehension.” // The TL at Cairns School 1 has subscribed to a number of different children’s magazines that are on low, easy to see and reach shelving. These magazines are very popular with all year levels and it is through this simple avenue that the TL is able to converse with children about book titles that often stem from these magazines. Over time, the TL has seen a gradual love of reading.  ====Hughes-Hassell (2003) also state that "reading what they enjoy may help students to develop a reading habit, leading them towards the goal of becoming lifetime readers." James Moloney, author of "Boys and Books" says "A good book for a boy is one he wants to read." (Moloney, 2011) ==== ====This can be said for any reader of any age. The problem reluctant readers often face is that they are not being offered and encouraged to read books and other reading material that they want to read. Modeling a positive attitude towards reading is especially beneficial if the school is supported by the parent community. ====

media type="youtube" key="7-iFGNkgyJ0" height="329" width="580" "Dad's Read", featuring Shane Webke, youtube video viewed on October 25th 2011)

At Cairns school 1 the TL is passionate about encouraging children to read and he has adopted a number of methods to ensure children feel comfortable and enjoy choosing a book when they are in the library. As part of Book Week, the TL organised local indigenous artists to run small workshops during lunch times to promote one of the 2011 shortlisted books ‘Why I love Australia’ written by Bronwyn Bancroft.



During these workshops, students created their own art pieces, some of which were displayed in and around the Information Resource Centre. Being a highly indigenous school, this activity provided children with the opportunity to celebrate and be proud of their culture. This initiative also provided an opportunity for the TL to draw the parent community into the Library and involve them in[| **Book Week**]activities. Other avenues that the TL regularly uses to promote reading are the **‘new book’** stand, **‘book of the week’** stands and **book display area** (which has been recently become a gallery display for a budding artist in Year 7 – see photo below). This display was able to be tied in wonderfully to lessons as the TL used the display to compliment his own teaching as well as then recommending drawing and other art book titles from the collection.



The school library is a pivotal space where students, teachers, teacher-librarians, resources and technology can come together to create engaging and meaningful learning experiences for all. (Hay and Foley, 2009) The TL has created a committee that runs a playgroup reading group once a month whereby young mothers in the community bring along their children (birth - 4 years age) to listen to stories in the library. This is also an opportunity for these young teenage mothers to also take time to read themselves and enjoy networking with others during morning tea. Whilst the TL explores new and interesting ways to encourage reading, the school itself has come to heavily rely on the Library as a place of ‘refuge’ for children at lunchtimes that may have trouble socialising with others. According to a Year 5 teacher at the school,//“Staff have noticed that playground problems have dramatically declined and children are returning to the classroom after breaks happier and ready to learn since the new library has been built.” //

The TL noted to me on my first visit that children are very well behaved in the library as they draw, watch DVD’s in the break out room, play games/puzzles, or play online computer games. It was indeed a pleasure to watch the hive of activity but low noise level, however it was astounding to me that there was only one or two children actually reading or making use of the Web 2.0 technologies available to them. It was also disappointing to hear that due to the number of books that have disappeared or been damaged in the past, children are no longer permitted to borrow library books or take home school readers. Whilst I understand the frustration endured by my TL, it is disappointing that children are not permitted to borrow library books to take home. My aim would be to explore necessary options for children to be able to enjoy the experience of taking a book out of the library and being responsible for it.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Being a Year 1 teacher, I have witnessed the joy of seeing a young child read a book independently and then ask when they can go back to the library to borrow the next one. It is for this reason I have chosen to study to be a teacher-librarian. At my own school I have recently developed a Prep-1 Reading Group that focusses on lunchtime reading in my own classroom (or the library depending on timetabling). Each week we look at a new book and read together then share our opinions of the story with each other. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">As a pre-service TL, I envision my library with some similarities to that of my current SPP. However I would like to make use of more reading initiatives and finding ways to encourage the school community into the library to ‘read’ to be a high priority. Activities such as weekly reading circles or fundraisers such as the MS read-a-thon or scholastic’s ‘100 books in 100 days’ I believe would be worthwhile pursuing. I would implement ‘story time’ into regular lunchtimes so that children are exposed to a reading culture where they can see how reading is pleasurable. As a replacement to the current board games, computer games and DVDs I would like to see more literacy based board games, online reading initiatives such as [|ABC Reading Eggs] and DVDs such as [|WordWorld]. Encouraging the parent community into the library through shared reading experiences such as visiting authors, creating visually appealing book and art displays and running small workshops on reading would all be ideas I would like to pursue.

<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">According to a survey conducted by Scholastic America in 2010, approximately 25 percent of the children surveyed said they had already read a book on a digital device, including computers and e-readers. A further fifty-seven percent between ages 9 and 17 said they were interested in doing so. <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Francie Alexander, the chief academic officer at Scholastic, called the report a call to action.“I didn’t realize how quickly kids had embraced this technology,” Ms. Alexander said, referring to computers and e-readers or other portable devices that can download books. “Clearly they see them as tools for reading — not just gaming, not just texting. They see them as an opportunity to read.” ([|teacherlibrarian.com], 2010) <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I believe we need to use all the ways we possibly can to motivate students to read, to help them develop the reading habit, and to provide them with time and resources for reading to happen at school. I think that technology can be a positive motivator to get kids reading, so e-books and e-readers would be a tool to implement into class lessons as well as for recreation at lunchtimes. We need to model the power that reading has in our lives and to show students that we read too; in other words, to persuade them that they need to make reading a priority in their lives.