During the school year we often get buried under everyday tasks, school duties, tight schedules. Here are 7 ways how a Teacher-Librarian can find inspiration, new knowledge and ideas throughout the school year.
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1. Participate in BCTL workshops and events
The BC Teacher-Librarians Association has already announced its first post-pandemic in-person conference. The BCTL workshops are not just providing excellent ideas, resources and materials for further development, but help librarians build connections and networks with other like-minded BC-based colleagues.
Future Ready Librarians is also a useful resource: this Washington, DC-based organization advocates for equal access of learning for students of all age, colour or socioeconomic status. Their website contains their framework, events, podcasts and webinars.
source: BCTL A website : FRL website
2. Follow and read librarians' blogs, websites and tweets
There are hundreds of blogs on the Internet and lots of those are worth following. I regularly got ideas for organization, decoration, activity planning and new titles to purchase.
3. Sign up for newsletters and email lists
I receive several newsletters each week from various publishing companies, newspapers and organizations. Sometimes I don't read them in detail, but most of the time I find valuable ideas for collection development. Two of these that I regularly check out: Saunders and Strong Nations.
4. Read Book Reviews
I read a lot of books... and a lot ABOUT books. I am an avid CBC listener and really enjoy The Next Chapter, Writers and Company, Canada Reads. I regularly check out their seasonal recommendations and listen to the programs dedicated specifically to Canadian children's literature. Another great source of reviews on popular children's books is Biblionasium. Besides reviews and recommendations they often run contests for students.
5. Become a ShareEd BC contributor/evaluator
ShareEd BC is an online platform with a large collection of digital resources, and a place for BC and Yukon teachers to connect with each other, provide and receive support. Writing a unit for the platform or evaluating resources gives opportunities to become more familiar with the BC Curriculum and to provide useful help to our colleagues remotely throughout western Canada.
6. Keep it local
The easiest way to network and exchange ideas is to connect with the other TL's in the district and the local public librarians. Invite each other to check out how the library is run, organize regular meetings, promote each others' programs. We often have workshops and trainings together, or borrow resources from each other. Right now it's time for telling our students about the Okanagan Regional Library's Summer Reading Club. We hope lots of kids will participate!
7. Share your knowledge
Make sure you regularly collaborate with your colleagues. Ask them how you can help. My experience is that they are extremely grateful for ideas to enhance their curricular content with technology and hands-on learning. Try to give regular updates to the whole staff at staff meetings: introduce new resources, apps, purchases and give a short summary of the ways they can be use. Your colleagues will appreciate it, and they will ask you for more!
Resources:
BC Teacher-Librarians Association https://bctla.ourconference.ca/index.php
Future Ready Librarians https://all4ed.org/
90 Best Library and Librarian Blogs https://blog.feedspot.com/library_blogs/
Saunders Book Company https://www.saundersbook.ca/
Strong Nations Publishing Inc. https://www.strongnations.com/
CBC Books.https://www.cbc.ca/books
Biblionasium Social Reading Community https://www.biblionasium.com
ShareEd BC https://www.shareedbc.ca/
Okanagan Regional Library.https://www.orl.bc.ca/
I'm interested in the Biblionasium platform. I've never heard of this before and I'm intrigued by the fact that it has several avenues to it. I see that there is an online reading log component, review system and sharing aspect to it. I like that it has this 'social media' piece so it encourages the positive side of having an online presence and how to frame this presence in a productive manner.
ReplyDeleteWe started to use Biblionasium when COVID hit. Even if we don't use it anymore as a school, I still follow it, because I find their newsletters and recommendations valuable. A lot of children's books came to my attention through their posts.
DeleteI really appreciate our local Teacher Librarian Association and all of the support that we get from our local public libraries. As a new TL, I have been invited into so many of our district's libraries so that I could get inspiration, ideas and tips. They are always so quick to answer my newbie questions, and I can't wait for our end of the year "meeting." I just spent a whole morning with a librarian from the public library as she met with most of our 400 students and got them interested in the summer reading program, and she also hooked us up with a free author visit this year!
ReplyDeleteThis is a strong post that shares a wide variety of ideas and resources. There are many excellent takeaways for your reader. I appreciate the way you formatted your post. Your ideas are clear and very accessible.
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