Technolandy

I am a little excited to do some sharing about our online/asynchronous connections we are doing for this years Literacy Week! As a POLS (Provincial Online Learning School) we have to sometimes do things a bit different(iated). And one of my personal goals this year has been around communication in the form of reaching out to where our families are. This has included doing/sharing TaskMasterEDU… monthly themed social media shares… and online ‘assemblies’ – where people can either gather at our Oceanview campus where I am based… or log in via our secure TEAMS site… This year, my inner librarian has been coming out more and more with my push for some thinking and doing around having a comic book library (we have never had a traditional library with our program, and I don’t intend to start that now…!) and doing some asynchronous shares. Next week, I will be sharing:

Monday at noon: Read Dahl Loud (read a loud): the enormous crocodile – I break this one out every couple of years… I love how Pernille Ripp 🧡 got the Global Read Aloud project going – loved it when I was more connected with a classroom… and how a sub-plot was ReadDahlLoud – read Dahl loud sounds like read-a-loud and lets some of us read the wacky and dark writing of Roald Dahl to an audience who often know him better from the movies based on his books!

Tuesday: Poetry (of Shel Silverstein) I may incorporate some other poets, but Silverstein veers so nicely from comedy to dark comedy to pensive. I also kinda like that since the 1980s he’s been one of those authors who has faced many book ban challenges.. hmmm where does the sidewalk end??

Wednesday: Book Smash –

Book and a cartoon and a movie? https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OGYxMDNlZTctMWZhMS00ZTc5LTliOTctZTdlMjBlZWEyNjQ0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22132748a2-0733-4603-8e95-784a5976a442%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2249502993-2afc-4e06-998f-07180a2067f5%22%7d

I once did (as a more traditional librarian – still pushing towards what has since been defined as a learning commons… and even wackier thoughts like ‘the thousand book library’) a reading club: families would read a book over a couple of weeks and then we would all gather in the library to wind up: A Book, A Dinner, and A Movie. With students around the province, this is harder to collate – so instead I’ll read one of the fun books – Ferdinand the Bull, then show the delightful short cartoon version, and then co-stream the full movie! Popcorn has to stay at home!

Thursday: Comic Book Corner: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTU0ZjJkNmUtYjBjMy00ZmMyLWFmYmYtMDA2ZWQ4ZGNiMDUy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22132748a2-0733-4603-8e95-784a5976a442%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2249502993-2afc-4e06-998f-07180a2067f5%22%7d

I am finding myself enjoying the side-exploration of what a comic book librarian can be! Especially in a school setting! Sign outs are hard since we don’t have funding nor equipment to do a more traditional sign out, so I have started by using the library share that is most common in our community: the honour system! So far only a few titles have disappeared (but reappeared in classrooms where we do our in-person learning opportunities! I’m thinking that this should be a growth area in schools… not a graphic novel section, but an actual comic book shop feeling space to explore the true source of getting passionate about reading! Looking at the re-introduction of DuckTales (cuz issue two features Magica De Spelle – someone I hoped Jason Aaron would’ve brought back in the reintroduction of Uncle $crooge and the Infinity Dime… )

Friday: Choose Your Own Adventure https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmFhNDM1NTgtOGY2YS00N2RlLTlhYTQtMTVjY2JmZWU0YWQy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22132748a2-0733-4603-8e95-784a5976a442%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2249502993-2afc-4e06-998f-07180a2067f5%22%7d

I did this once when I was more attached to a classroom – a group reading of a choose your own adventure book, which are designed for a more POV reading experience… a bit frustrating for some, which was delightful as ‘majority decided’ – even if it was a wrong choice… so I’m going to try it with potentially even more chaos: a virtual audience! Likely going to introduce the Time Machine series… by far my most favorite CYOA series – still have the original run – the first book series that I c/would anticipate when a new issue would be released on our irregular trips to Kamloops to get specific groceries… loved stopping by the book store in the mall… also led me to see the trade paperback publication of The Gunslinger… good times!

Others things that we are going to be sharing about next week:

1. Author/book trivia of the day ~ a snippet to guess what book it was from – on PIE Instagram
2. staff favourite books and one sentence reason: super challenge: one word!
3. Sharing that a teacher brought over 100 books from home library to give away to students.
4. Model how a teacher created a classroom lending library of curriculum-based picture books.
5. Encouraging students to bring books in to Study Hall/Support Zone all week long! It’s a good week to get caught reading!

And my biggest rant of 2024/25 – if we, as adult educators, truly believe that this fad/experiment of reading paper tablets is not coming to a close as we get back to basics (being oral/aural focused, not decoding images we call an alphabet) we need to model that it is important. Read in public (like AJ Brown did in the NFL Playoffs); share what you read – and who you read so we might uncover some new authors – even today I was chatting with a student enrolling in our school and we got distracted when he said he was reading Terry Brooks and we spent a few minutes talking about the original Shannara series… could’ve gone longer – and an author I ‘bumped into’ when I was doing a tour of UBC as a prospective student… hmmm might need to download my e-versions for spring break…