Starting with staff – What is a Classroom Library?

Late in Term 1, we ran a couple of introductory sessions to staff on: “What is a classroom library?” Sally showed us some video/photo footage of different classroom libraries and classes using Independent Reading from schools she had worked with across Western Melbourne. She also discussed the data that showed that this region in Melbourne made the biggest growth in reading results according to NAPLAN testing across all Victorian schools.

Groups of teachers had a go at sorting and categorizing a selection of books – a task that students would undertake after they had borrowed many books from the school library for their class library. In their groups, they discussed how they might go about the process of sorting according to the age levels of their students, genres of texts, series, authors, topics, etc. They also talked about what explicit teaching may need to occur and what questions they may ask to get students to reflect on why they may have grouped books in a certain way or to assist them in book sorting. In groups, teachers brainstormed what benefits they thought a classroom library would have and what were the questions that were coming to mind about this approach to reading.

Staff's brainstorming and questions on Classroom Libraries

Staff’s brainstorming and questions on Classroom Libraries

 

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We then asked for volunteers who felt they could start this process of setting up their classroom library early Term 2. The expectation was that everyone would be involved but the Literacy committee thought we would stagger it so the early starters could then mentor those that would begin later. 60% of class teachers wanted to start straight away.

Developing a whole school approach

We embarked on a whole school approach to increase the reading achievement of students at Hackham East in Term 1, 2013.

Data from internal testing (e.g. PM Reading level benchmarks, TORCH-Reading Comprehension) as well as NAPLAN and teacher observations showed that students required explicit teaching in:

. specific comprehension skills (ie inferring, visualizing, summarizing);

. selecting appropriate reading material;

. developing reading stamina

Sally Slattery (Deputy Principal) led the team of Bob Thiele (Principal), Jonathon Kaesler (Librarian) and myself (Reading Support Teacher) to talk about our vision for developing lifelong readers at our site through programmed weekly meetings in Term 1. Questions such as the ones below were deeply considered, discussed and debated:

. What did we as a school community need to do to improve reading?

. How could we as literacy leaders empower teachers by building their knowledge about their students and about reading instruction?

. How could we shift the focus from measuring reading achievement from test results and attainment of reading levels to other means that would show students the reading behaviours they exhibit and guide them in how to develop certain skills they needed in order to become a proficient reader?

We looked at the big picture through the lens of a “Lotus Diagram” that Sally had been a part of developing across schools in the western suburbs of Melbourne. We met with the Literacy committee (consisting of 5 teachers across Reception- Year 7) to share the Lotus Diagram and to discuss and refine our vision before we took it to the whole staff.

Lotus Diagram

Lotus Diagram

A bit of background

Below is a quick snapshot of what has happened in literacy at my site, Hackham East Primary School, over the past 2 years.

In 2011-12, Reception to Year 3 teachers trained in Jolly Phonics and were using this synthetic phonics and grammar program, some were incorporating the Guided Reading approach in their Literacy sessions as well. Year 4-7 classes were looking into Book Clubs or using the Guided Reading approach or trying to make sense as to how the TORCH Reading Comprehension test results or other data could direct their teaching.

Students measured themselves as a reader by what reading level they were on, not on what they could already do and what their next learning steps would be to further develop their reading.

In 2011, our school set up a literacy intervention program for students not meeting reading benchmarks using the WAVE Intervention framework. These students worked in small groups (WAVE 2) or individually (WAVE 3) with an SSO on sight word vocabulary, specific phonemic needs, oral reading and comprehension. This is continuing with nearly 20% of students now accessing Multilit and Minilit as these programs have proven to be effective in raising the reading achievement of students with low literacy levels.

 

 

Being passionate about literacy

For as long as I can remember, I have loved reading and books. Mum would always read a bedtime story to me from a very young age and I used to love it when she would change her intonation of voice for different characters or when something meaningful was about to happen. One of my most cherished moments from childhood was the monthly visit to the Adelaide Library with my mum and my younger sister where I would have the wonderful opportunity to peruse through many different titles then select six new books that I was interested in to take home for the next 4 weeks. When I was sick with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in Year 5, I had a whole term off school. I loved school and missed it terribly. What helped me through was reading The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. I loved being immersed in the worlds of these characters, connecting to their experiences and visualising the events in these novels. With this “package” of skills as well as being able to make successful book selections and receiving support from significant adults, I was provided with a solid foundation to become a lifelong reader.

Now as a mother of three and a Reading Support teacher at a school of nearly 400 students, my desire is for children to be excited about reading and love it just as I do. Providing and maintaining a strong, independent reading program with a well equipped and organised classroom library will, I believe, ignite (or reignite) the passion for reading with children, teach them the elements of different genres  and help them to develop the necessary skills in comprehending texts.

Last term, our school (Hackham East Primary) embarked on this journey of creating classroom libraries under the guidance and influence of our Deputy Principal, Sally Slattery who has been involved in developing independent reading programs across several school sites in Melbourne and New York . The following posts will contain my documentation of this exciting and challenging venture.