PMBW teacher librarians

There is already activity over on the “Bear & Chook” books rap blog site. This book rap, based on two picture books, “Bear & Chook”, and the newly-released “Bear & Chook by the sea”, is aimed at students in Early Stage 1 (Kinder) and Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2). It officially commences Term 4 Week 2 (26 October, 2009). But please, by all means, drop by rapblog6.edublogs.org/ and have a look around any time.

Several schools have already introduced themselves, there are some great comments turning up on the Teachers‘ section, and there are already things to look at in the Gallery. This book rap will also feature participation by the author, Lisa Shanahan, and illustrator, Emma Quay. An online video, of Lisa and Emma reading “Bear & Chook by the sea” at Caddies Creek PS, and answering students’ questions, will be an exciting addition to the usual teaching resources. The rap is being coordinated by Jenny Scheffers (TL at Caddies Creek), “Scan” editor Cath Keane, and yours truly. Interstate and international schools are welcome, and there is no cost involved in book rapping.

I’ve had a few questions from first-time teacher book rappers, and people who last did a rap in the previous email listserv format, regarding the whereabouts of the support material (programming and planning, syllabus outcomes and rap sheets) for the “Bear & Chook books rap”. The rap pages on the NSW DET website are still under construction and will be open for viewing from NSW’s Day 1, Term 4. When live, they will be linked from:
schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/index.htm
The rap itself will commence in Week 2, Term 4, in the week of 26 October 2009.

If you’re trying to visualise the scope of the programming and planning, syllabus outcomes and rap sheets, you might like to check out previous recent raps, such as the 2008 Stage 1 “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” book rap, in which the discussion component was also in a blog format:
schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/wilfrid08/index.htm

You can also email cath.keane@det.nsw.edu.au for further information about the rap. Have a great holiday and don’t forget the warm honey toast!

Regards,
Ian McLean
Teacher librarian and rap co-coordinator,
Penrith PS

The School Libraries & Information Literacy Unit at State Office, NSW DET, is asking for comments on the question, “Do we need a school library in 21st century schools?”. There is a School Libraries 21C blog and associated readings.

The moderated discussion blog will be engaging a diverse range of perspectives, working towards a common vision. Discussion started 1 June 2009, and concludes 26 June 2009.

Dr Ross Todd, Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL), School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, USA, and Lyn Hay, Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship at Charles Sturt University, are guiding the discussion.

The Suggested background reading, “School libraries building capacity for student learning 21C” by Lyn Hay & Colleen Foley is linked from the site. It is also in hardcopy in the current issue of “Scan”.

The discussion is organised under three main headings:
1. The future of school libraries
2. The school library of the future
3. What will it take to get there? Supporting continuous improvement and capacity building in school libraries.

Please do join in the discussion. It’s also a great way to become more familiar with blogging in education.

Thank you for dropping by. This blog will cover many aspects of teacher-librarianship in primary and secondary school in western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Over the years, Department of Education & Training teacher librarians in the districts of Penrith, Mt Druitt, Blacktown and Windsor have planned and coordinated professional development together.

The 2008 Committee hopes that a blog will help us unite in an online forum, to keep us in communication between Development Days, share useful websites and, hopefully, to promote the use of Web 2.0 for educators and students. The great thing about Edublogs is that these tools can be readily accessed, and uploaded to, from NSW DET computers. I hope you will join us on the next stage of our Web 2.0 learning journey.

Regards, Ian McLean,

Vice Chairperson, 2008