The Alice Miranda Project

Author Jacqueline Harvey is behind the Alice-Miranda series. I recently heard of her interactive reading project while completing an Apple iPad course that was being facilitated by Catholic Learning Online. 

Click here to access the website.

Harvey created a learning journal that is based on her book Alice-Miranda in the Outback and was used as an example of digital storytelling. While the novel is a printed book, the activities set around the novel are digital in nature.

To maximise the learning experience, the learning journal can be completed on an iPad using Pages software. However pdf worksheets can be printed off if iPads are not available. 

I have looked at the activities, and I think you could incorporate the activities featured in the novel to any novel that is being studied in class.

Even though I may be secondary trained, there is great scope to embed this at secondary level and make the study of a novel more engaging for students. 

Apple Teacher Courses

I recently completed two courses that are provided by the Apple Teacher Learning Centre focusing on Foundational skills for Mac and iPad. 

I confess to being a big fan of Windows due to their availability and simplicity along with their famous office software which can easily be utilised on either Windows or Apple operating systems without the integrity, layout and formatting of files being comprised. Microsoft have removed those problems in recent years.

From doing both Mac and iPad courses, I was impressed by the options that software such as Pages, Numbers and Keynotes offer. I found that content can be more interactive than Microsoft office such as the easiness in embedding audio and media files and with Keynotes - animinations.

I found iMovie to be incredibly easy to use, even when editing some TV clips that I sourced for enjoyment and Garageband makes recording audio or creating music to be an easy process. 

You can view my learning logs by accessing the following links:

Mac

iPad

I have been advised that courses undertaken through the Apple Teaching Centre can count towards your Teacher identified PD hours as part of maintaining accreditation at Proficient Level in NSW.

For Catholic School Teachers in NSW, Catholic Learning Online also provides courses. You can either complete the ones provided online for 2021 or you can wait for 2022, when they intend to provide the courses again. 

But what does it mean for me? If a school has Macs as part of its device program, the opportunities open up. I can see myself sharing my knowledge with my colleagues, particularly in encouraging interactive presentation of information in the classroom. Students can record their own videos, take photographs or audio and embed them into their work. 

I can see that digital storytelling has the greatest scope, because Apple software allows creativity in the drafting and publication of books. They can be shared online too. It also makes me think of the school where Year 7 students as part of their English studies, are required to prepare a picture book. They should use Pages to prepare their book. 

Library Procedures Handbooks

A recent posting on the OZTL-NET forum focused on what to include in a Library Procedures Handbook and I decided to respond to the posting. 

During my work at Waverley College in 2015-2016, the library team drafted a Library Procedures Handbook with procedures to guide library staff in the management of the library collections, spaces, catalogue (including how to add new items and undertake a stocktake), communications, programs and initatives. 

In 2018, while filling in for Carolyn Mock at Strathfield Girls' High School, I also had access to her manual that she created for her library. Carolyn also made the decision that year to share it through a NSW Public School Teacher Librarian Messageboard (Independent of the NSW Department of Education) and is popular with Teacher Librarians.

I suggested to Teacher Librarians in my posting based on what I had experienced to consider the following if creating a handbook:

• Your existing library policies if already prepared (otherwise create them)
• Procedures for ordering new items e.g. what steps are needed to purchase a new library book through the school
• How to catalogue items using the Library Management System e.g. OLIVER including screenshots.
• Stocktake procedures
• Opening and Closing the library each day
• Overview of library collections
• Procedures for organising specific library programs and activities e.g. NSW Premier's Reading Challenge
• How to book library spaces and manage them.
• How to operate library equipment
• Copies of forms e.g. Permission form to borrow from the senior fiction collection

Margaret Sinnott, Learning Resource Centre Coordinator & Teacher Librarian at Emmanuel College in Warrnambool responded with a resource from the Australian Library and Information Association that can also be used to in assist in the creation of a handbook. Click here to access the link. Thank you Margaret for sharing this with me. 

10 Must Reads - Posters

Last Term, while relieving for two teacher libarians at a Sutherland Shire High school (they share one full time position and took separate periods of leave ), I decided to create posters to promote literatuer featured in the different genres that comprise of the fiction collection, excluding the general fiction collection.

Normally, I would have created a "Recommended Reads" brochure to promote literature but decided to attempt a visual approach through the posters and identify ten items that would be suitable and enjoyable for the students. If there the item was part of a series, I would promote the first book and then list the series underneath to open up further reading options, should the student enjoy reading the first book.

Click here to access the Google Drive folder.  

The library assistant did a great job in creating a book display to promote the items featured. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, remote learning, but also the conclusion of my work at the school, I cannot provide any feedback on the success of it, but it is a step forward.

Inclusive School Libraries

I have been working on the Advocacy Sub-Committee of the School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) a flyer with strategies to develop a school library that is inclusive of the learning needs and interests of students, focusing on students with disabilities or additional learning needs.

This has built up on the OLT courses on Autism and Personalised Learning that I have undertaken with Sydney Catholic Schools. It has given me scope to learn and reflect on what I have learnt from those courses and what I can do within a library capacity. This was supported by drawing on.academic literature.

As the flyer is a benefit available to SLANSW members, I can only reflect on it briefly.

What I can point out is that I realised that I was already doing it in practice, even in a mainstream capacity such as acquiring high interest literature but contains text with low/limited vocabulary and knowing interests and needs. Visual signage can make a big difference as well but also the approaches to signage. It was broadened further. 

For students with learning needs, they love having a special or responsiblity and encouraging them to step up to roles can make a bigger difference than a student who is mainstream.

"Just Read" at Queenwood

I thought I'd share two articles relating to a wide reading program - "Just Read" by Sydney independent school - Queenwood. It is an initaitve that is working effectively in developing a whole school wide reading culture. Every staff member is also required to participate.

• Queenwood News Weekly - Article from 21 February 2020
• 'Sense of urgency': One school's bold plan to get teenagers reading - The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 2020

At the end of April, I attended a presentation by Gabrielle Mace (author of the article from Queenwood News Weekly) and was very encouraged by the results of "Just Read" to date particularly embedding the wide reading time in the school timetable but also the motivation it gave the students to read for enjoyment. I was also impressed by allocating the time on Friday to sharing book reviews within their groups as well. I think student recommendations go a long way to encouraging one to read.