This has been the question on the mind of every school library professional since the start
of the shut-down. At least, I know it has been on mine.
The LLC is a space where students and educators come together to tinker,
explore, play and of course READ.
What happens when we need to stay apart for the safety of all?
How might we re-imagine the methodology and pedagogy behind the LLC in order to bring the learning to the students, educators and their families?
Jenn Brown and I facilitated an open discussion at the end of the school year with school library porfessionals across Ontario (and from BC!) discussing what the future might hold for our LLCs and the stakeholders we serve.
You can listen to our debrief here as a podcast episode of Read Into This. We also looked over the notes taken during the discussion and the thoughts submitted from the participants in Google Form to come up with six "big" questions K-12 library questions in a pandemic world.
These questions can be seen listed in Open Shelf.
Of course my mind as been whirling and swirling all summer long. An educator's mind is never far from school and what might be...
A few thoughts I have had about how I might adapt my library program to move beyond the wall of the library space and into the classrooms of students....
BOOKS.
Most importantly, in my mind, is getting books into the hands of students. Each class can have a designated bin of books that is delivered on Monday and picked up the following Friday. The books can be kept in "quarantine" if needed after I pick them up before being distributed to other classes.
Pros:
-students will have access to books in their class that they can read through out the week
-classes can put together request lists or topics of interest to help guide me in choosing books for their bin
Cons:
-students don't have access to the entire library collection and the self-regulation that comes with choosing their own reading materials in the space
-it will be time and labour intensive to choose and deliver bins of books to 30+ classrooms each week
INQUIRY.
Last summer when we moved to Caledon East I was very excited to see inquiry style bags that had been curated for busy families. The idea being that families could choose a bag of 10 or so books to bring home without needing to spend time browsing and choosing. Also included in the bags were artifacts, games, and other items that connected with the books or might spark an inquiry at home.
Pros:
-students love to explore and play with the tinkering stations spread through the library when they visit as part of our free flow routine, by creating this type of inquiry provocation in a bag or a bin student can continue to enjoy and explore within their classroom
-students may get an opportunity to explore a material they haven't previously explored or revisit an old fave
-the bins can be tailored to specific curriculum based inquiries that educators are exploring with their class (this can also help educators with their planning, grade level teams can co-plan with the teacher-librarian to create a set of bins related to the curriculum that can be shared among the classes (with proper disinfecting completed as needed))
Cons:
-a lack of of free choice in materials to explore, students usually have free range of the library space
-do we have enough materials to spread out among the entire school population?
-completing the necessary disinfecting and tracking of materials to ensure equitable access
-once again time is a factor...
MAKER.
Cultivating a maker mindset and a maker culture within our school community has been a huge focus during my time as the teacher-librarian and I'd love for the momentum and passion for making that has been developed to continue to grow... even if we can't create together in the LLC space. I documented our journey and wrote a paper about it for Treasure Mountain Canada 2020. (You can access the paper and accompanying photo essay here.) (I also recorded my paper and was interviewed by Alanna King for the Read Into This podcast. The episodes can be found here and here.)
Once again.... bins, bags, boxes.
Different maker provocations could be bundled up and delivered to classes.
Perhaps each grade level could explore a different material? Perhaps it's just a box of materials and the invitation to create anything you can think of? Perhaps it's a guided maker project where the students can explore and learn a new skill? Perhaps it's a focus on the process of making and the creation must be deconstructed (like with loose parts) once the making has been completed and documented.
Pros:
- students get to make stuff
(That's it... in my mind that's the best rationale there is. Students. Get. To. Make. Stuff.
Cons:
-materials (budget? containers? disinfecting? amounts?)
-always time...
At this point, no one know what the fall might bring in terms of school or in terms of of school library learning commons but I'm hopeful that the magic of the library will still be there. Perhaps in a different form, perhaps in a better form?
Time will tell.
Do you have an idea for how you might spread the magic of your school library program if/when we return to school? I'd love to hear about it.
