Leaders in the Library

 

Implement and Try #1: Leaders in the Library...

Last week during Robyns weekly catch up with our student leaders, they discussed ways they can inspire others to read for enjoyment. After talking through a couple of a suggestions they all decided one way they could do this was to offer a weekly lunchtime reading opportunity. The plan is to invite one class a week on a Monday to join the leaders in the library for story time. There is no formal plan as they want this to be organic and evolve naturally.

To set ourselves up for success we introduced the Leaders in the Library idea to the school at our weekly assembly. Room 7, our Year 2 students were the first class to be invited. Even though I'm pretty sure they didn't fully understand, Room 7 were very excited to hear they had been chosen as the first class to take part. To keep the momentum going we will be announcing the name of the class who will be invited to join us each week at assembly. 

Fast forward to today... The students of Room 7 were invited to join our Leaders in the Library group for story time. Some students wanted to have a story read to them 1:1, some preferred having a story read to them with their friends in the same small group, and others want to read the book to one of our leaders themselves. As teachers our total input to this initiative was to unlock the library and take photos. Our amazing student leaders took control and created the most welcoming and relaxing reading environment. When Robyn walked back into the library after chatting to a colleague she saw one of our Year 8 students helping one of our younger learners to choose a book. She was asking him all sorts of questions to understand what type of story he enjoyed so she could help him choose the 'perfect' book. Dotted all over the library were pairs or small groups of Year 2 students enjoying exploring stories with our Year 8 students. What truly amazed us even more was that apart from the murmur of the reading together session, there was absolutely no need for any behaviour reminders. All the students who were there wanted to be there. 

A shared love of books was the connection these students had today despite being a number of years apart in age. We did have to smile at our class who decided after reading the books they would have low key 'learning conversations' with their new reading buddies to check their understanding of the story and talk about the characters. We are excited to see where this goes as the experience was empowering for everyone involved.  

Mood and Emotions in Poetry and Art..

Last week Robyn and I introduced our learners to the way authors use words to evoke mood and emotions in poetry. We used ANZAC poems as this was both timely and sets us up for success in our upcoming unit. We began by asking our students to choose three emotions then match them to a colour before sharing their reasons for these colour choices with with their groups.

The challenge was to read each poem then respond to the questions below that were guided by feedback from Dr Aaron Wilson at our last PD session. We did the first poem together as a class. This was very much a guided teaching time. Our students then worked their way through the DLO below, choosing the order they read and responded to the poems in. 

• Use the highlighter tool to match a colour to the emotion or mood the words make your feel. 

• How did the poem make you feel?
• What words did the author use to make you feel a certain way?
• Did you want to feel this way?

Ours students were given the choice of who they worked with and were asked to share their thinking throughout the lesson with their peers. The time for talk allowed for ideas to be shared and gave our learners the opportunity to learn with and from each other.

The presentation below is the teaching DLO we used. 

Link to Presentation

To reinforce and strengthen connections to mood and emotion, I took an art lesson that focused on Kadinsky's concentric circles. This encouraged our students to respond to the mood and emotions that listening to the instrumental music evoked. What amazes me is the difference in the colours chosen by each student.