The Librarian's Journey

Learning. Engagement. Empowerment.

This week I listened to a conversation on VoicEd Radio about learning and how we define it. I plan to listen to it again to try and solidify my thoughts around the conversation that took place and I think it should be mandatory listening for all educators.

Follow this link to have a listen for yourself.

So what is learning? How do we define it?

These are great questions for all educators to grapple with on an ongoing basis. I don't believe it's something we can define one time and move on. It will be an living definition that changes as an educator grows in their pedagogical knowledge, as they build their capacity of assessment for, as and of learning, as they develop their ability to build trusting relationships with their students.

As they learn.

Learning is ongoing. Learning is a process. Learning is a collection of moments.

Learning is the reflection of those moments.

Learning is the discussions that take place within a community. Learning is looking back to move forward.

Learning is asking questions and being okay to sit in the space with those questions and not always have all the answers. Learning is not knowing everything but wanting to learn more. Learning is saying "I was wrong and now I know better".

Learning requires quiet moments of thinking.

Learning requires that we make a mess and tinker with ideas, materials, and making.

Learning requires that we pause and rethink. Learning requires that we listen just as much if not more than we talk. Learning requires that we recognize the knowledge of others and invite them in to learn with us.

Learning requires that we read and read widely. Read about others who are different than us, from different backgrounds than us, from others that we disagree with and want to argue with, and that we read with a window into our own world as well.

That we read for fun. Learning requires that we question our reading.

Most of all, learning requires time.

Time to sit in the space of our learning.

Time to move beyond what we thought we knew to be true.

Time to come back to our thinking and re-think and re-learn.

So what does all this mean for educators in the classroom?

Well, that is the question isn't it?

And it is a question without an easy answer.

I have been a voracious reader my whole life. Almost every childhood memory can be tied back to book that I was reading as in coincides with other important memories.

I remember reading a Richard Scary book at the cottage at a very young age and sounding out the word "prefer" and my mom and her friends being so shocked and excited that I could read it.

I remember the many, many, many visits to the public library in my hometown with my mom. She would get these HUGE stacks of big books. I'm talking 500+ pages and there would be 10 of them. I couldn't wait to read the same books as her.

I remember starting the Harry Potter series. I remember being at camp when the newest one would be released and everyone would be clamouring to get to the tuck shop to see if their copy had arrived from the city in a care package yet. I remember reading in the dark after everyone else had fallen asleep and Dumbledore dying. I remember trying so hard not to cry too loudly but feeling like I had lost a friend.

When my first daughter was born eight years ago and then my second daughter three years later my reading time took a serious hit. A serious hit. It's only been in the past year and a bit that I've really felt like I've been able to delve back into books and read as much and as often as I want to. It's so wonderful.

So this year I decided to track my reading using Goodreads. I set a goal of 50 books for the year and am on track so far to make it for sure. I also thought it might be interesting to look back at my reading every now and then and talk about the books I've read, loved and learned from as the year progresses.

So here are the first eleven books of 2019.

1. Becoming- Michelle Obama

2. Awkward- Svetlana Chmakova

3. Britt-Marie Was Here- Fredrik Backman

4. Women Talking- Miriam Toews

5. We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World- Malala Yousafzai

6. The Sisters of the Winter Wood- Rena Rossner

7. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood- Trevor Noah

8. Girl of the Southern Sea- Michelle Kadarusman

9. The Library Book- Susan Orlean

10. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality- Bob Joseph

11. On the Come Up- Angie Thomas

Thoughts on these books? Well to be honest I don't like giving book reviews and I don't like reading them. I want to decide for myself if a book sounds interesting. And yes, I do judge a book based on the cover! And the title. A good title and cover art will get me almost every time.

But here are some brief thoughts on some of the books for what it's worth....

I read Becoming over the winter break because my husband gave it to me for Christmas (so technically I started it in 2018...) and I felt like I had travelled back in time the Obama White House when intelligence and the pursuit of learning was celebrated. When moving forward to improve the lives of all people was the aim of society and I really didn't want to finish the book. I have tickets to see Michelle Obama speak in May and I'm over the moon excited.

Women Talking was recommended to me by several people and had been on my TBR list for quite awhile. I was very interested to read it and delve into such a troubling topic but I did not enjoy the ending. I felt it came too fast and left me wanting more.

I read We Are Displaced in a single day after a colleague read it and recommended it. LOVE.

The Sisters of the Winter Wood had everything I love in a guilty pleasure read- magic, mystery, set in the past and it was nice thick book! (I read very fast so I like my books big and juicy.) I also loved that the author and main characters (the sisters) in this story were Jewish and it was based on historical events. I'm hoping Rena Rossner has more books to come.

I am a huge fan of Trevor Noah and The Daily Show. This book did not disappoint and I've heard from multiple sources that the audiobook version is outstanding. It was an interesting look into apartheid and trying to learn more about why and how people treat each other in such horrible ways around the world.

The Library Book is a book that will stick with me for a long time to come. I could not put this book down. It's a look into the history of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Public Library, the place of libraries in our society and our fascination with stories. This is a book I will re-read at some point.

What have you read so far this year? What should I add to my TBR list?