Read Into This

Read Into This co-host Beth Lyons, Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) Vice-President, and Jenn Brown (OSLA Past President) chat with Tim Boudreau and Connie Scott about the most recent #ONLibChat that was held on July 28th. The chat still centred around the question “How might our school libraries look in the fall if/when we return to school?” but shifted to focus on ideas around advocating for the role of school libraries within a learning community and how school library professionals might use their collective voice to share the necessity of a school library with education stakeholders. The panel discussed the upswell in advocacy that resulted during the chat as participants asked if OSLA was prepared to reply to the education announcement once it was shared and Beth discussed the process of writing the letter - School Library Staff: Essential to Supporting Students Adapt and Succeed in the Unprecedented 2020-21 School Year . The panel also discussed the roles of teacher-librarians, the lack of equitable funding for school libraries across the province, the possible role of the school library as schools re-open with COVID 19 protocols in place and as always, as we can serve the students in our communities.

The next chat has been scheduled for August 25th at 7:00pm- https://www.accessola.org/web/OLA/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=EIW200825A

Jenn Brown @JennMacBrown
Tim Boudreau @TimBoo_Drow
Connie Scott @LibraryScott

Alanna hosts author and educator Jennifer Casa-Todd and we talk about her journey from being a fearful and reluctant parent of teens in regards to the use of social media, to blogging and using social media with her students, and now student voices on a global scale. Jennifer gives some solid advice about setting up norms in social media for student participation and handling multiple perspectives for learning.

Shoutouts to Alec Couros, George Couros, Dean Shareski, danah boyd, Henry Jenkins, Leigh Cassell, Stacey Wallwin, Tina Zita, Donna Fry, Mark Carbone, Brock Baker, Allison Fuisz, Nicole Kauffman, Michael Drezek and Dave Burgess.

Jennifer’s paper for Treasure Mountain Canada 2020:
https://tmcanada.blogspot.com/p/tmc6-casa-todd.html

Get involved with #GlobalEdSsChat: https://globaledsschat.com/

Want to know more? Here’s Jenn’s book Social LEADia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35444016-social-leadia

Alanna hosts author and reading advocate Eric “Momentum” Walters and chair of Canadian School Libraries Anita Brooks Kirkland as we dissect some of their year of passionate intention to increase reading engagement in K-12 students. Eric suggests that all he needed to do was a little spark to the fire that teachers and school library staff already do. He wants more passion for student choice and voice in reading choices. Anita talks about how her research and data collection convinced key stakeholders to let the books go out during the summer. We round out this conversation by talking about the needs for virtual engagement in the library learning commons, building partnerships with public libraries and how to pivot in this pandemic.

The article that sparks this discussion: https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/the-eric-walters-school-library-summer-lending-project/

Bibliovideo YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoRQbrmtvSYMRm1emqkhP8Q

Anita’s Webinar series on Building your Own Virtual Library: https://www.bythebrooks.ca/build-your-own-vllc/

Shoutouts to Orca Books, The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Michael Marchenko, Debbie and Ruth Ohi, Eugenie Fernandez, TD Summer Reading Program

Beth explores how podcasting has helped educators Pav Wander and Chey Cheney find their voice and work to share it with others. Chey and Pav are the co-hosts of The Staffroom Podcast and The Drive and have found that by sharing their voice and ideas with others using these mediums they are becoming more comfortable with having courageous conversations and pushing their learning forward.

During the episode Beth, Pav and Chey discuss the intertwined literacies of listening, speaking, sketchnoting and reading, curating articles and texts that connect and push pedagogy forward and the experience of curating a playlist in relation to theme each week for their live radio show hosted on VoicEd Radio.

Chey and Pav reflect on their use of podcasting with students in the classroom as an organic experience that grew out of a Genius Hour project and the changes that might take place if podcasting were more intentionally embedded through the inquiry process.

Books mentioned during this episode:
Pav: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Chey: Practical Wisdom: The Right Way To Do The Right Thing by Barry Schwartz

Alanna, Lisa and Beth jump right into the second quarter of Emily St. John Mandel’s novel Station Eleven. In this episode we unpack some of the themes that are emerging and we are particularly drawn to Mandel’s use of memory and time with multiple narrators and also a non-linear timeline.

We start to explore the abandoned places that are explored in the novel, and the technology objects that are left behind. We talk about Ai Weiwei’s work as a protest against Chinese nationalist policies and how he plays with value of objects, the same way Mandel is. We talk a lot about how children and families fit into the pandemic and the conditions that we’re experiencing, that are emphasized in the novel.

We talk about the power of cultural artifacts to transform us back to moments of impact where we were called to action or to think in a different way.

Here’s the theme wheel we talk about: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/station-eleven/chart-board-visualization

Jump into the conversation with us on TVO’s TeachOntario:
https://www.teachontario.ca/community/explore/TO-OSLA-book-club/projects/station-eleven

Shoutouts to this previous episode with Rolland Chidiac and Chris Cluff:
EP 08 How do stories hold us? What stories do you hold on to?

https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/ep-08-how-do-stories-hold-us-what-stories-do-you-hold-on-to/

Read Into This co-host Beth Lyons, Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) Vice-President chats with Jenn Brown (OSLA Past-President) about the recent #ONLibChat they facilitated that took place on June 25th and looked at the question- “How might our school libraries look in the fall if/when we return to school?” The chat was an open discussion between school library professionals across Ontario (and BC!) and a few key themes and concerts emerged:
Will school libraries open if/when we return to school?

How might we support community wellness by advocating for the LLC as a safe space for learners?
How can we continue to use the school library space as a centre of support for student health and wellness?

How might we advocate the need to have centralized databases, resources, and school library positions at all Ontario boards to support modern learners?
How might we foster collaboration with educators and other library sectors as a result of what we have learned during this time?
What role can school library professionals play in supporting educators and students in exploring ideas of digital citizenship, privacy, and copyright?

Further chats have been scheduled for July 28th at 7pm and August 25th at 7pm.
http://www.accessola.org/web/OLA/Events/Online_Events/ONLibChat/OLA/Events/Online_events/ONLibChat.aspx?hkey=2ff011df-23bc-4fa8-b93d-27c2256b9c8e

Resources mentioned in the discussion:

Toronto Sick Kids Hospital Recommendations for School Reopening: https://www.sickkids.ca/PDFs/About-SickKids/81407-COVID19-Recommendations-for-School-Reopening-SickKids.pdf

Alanna, Lisa and Beth dive into the first quarter of the Emily St. John Mandel’s novel Station Eleven navigating the wicked discomfort, and juicy details about survival and finding civilization, or at least meaning, in a pandemic. We talk about our own intentions and survival strategies during the pandemic compared to the characters’ choices in the book. We also wonder about the meaning of using Shakespeare’s King Lear as the opening scene and recurring theme in the book…..what does it all mean? We discuss at length how there are a surprising lack of grocery stores in this novel as the infrastructure disintegrates.

Jump into the conversation with us on TVO’s TeachOntario:
https://www.teachontario.ca/community/explore/TO-OSLA-book-club/projects/station-eleven

Lisa, Beth and Alanna talk about learning and unlearning about racism personally and taking this learning into the professional realm. In this episode we start to unpack how to translate our reading into action. We talk about the real struggle of providing resources that are not from a deficit lens. There are so many resources again in this episode but we’ve shouted out to our favourites.


Shoutouts to Colinda Clyne, Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga, the film Deeply Rooted by Cazhhmere, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Robin D’Angelo, Pam Palmater and Matthew Morris

Read Into This highly recommends this podcast series Anti-Racist Educator Reads https://voiced.ca/project/anti-racist-educator-reads/

Alanna interviews Richard Beaudry, who currently chairs the Canadian Federation of Library Associations / Fédération canadienne des associations de bibliothèques (CFLA-FCAB) Intellectual Freedom Committee, representing Canadian School Libraries. Richard got the opportunity in November 2019 to see what was on the cutting edge at the American Association of School Libraries (AASL) conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Richard is known in Canada for his activities to promote human rights and freedom of information, and is currently interested in diversifying school library collections and the gaps between secondary and post-secondary education. Richard’s takeaways from his experience and lifelong love of school libraries will spark your own ideas for your school programs.

Shoutouts to SOJI 123 Education https://www.sogieducation.org/ and Andrea Langelaar

See some of his photos in the Canadian School Libraries Journal article at:
https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/aasl-conference-2019/

Laughs abound as Lisa Corbett is joined by her daughter Claire and they host author Amy Ludwig VanDerwater http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/ Lisa asks Amy about Betsy the Writing Camper and all of the magical things that inspire this writer. Claire reads a poem called “Dead Branch” and asks all the hardest questions to Amy. Amy reads from her brand new book called Write! Write! Write!