SLAV Online Book Club – March 20th, 2024 – Award Winners.

Posted on March 26, 2024 by SLAV Connects

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday March 20th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Award winners. We all purchase award winners for libraries but what are the titles that really work with young people?

We asked our members to share relevant Award Listings they have found to be successful in helping them choose titles for their libraries. As always, you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us and we had a great deal of fun!

This was our second book club meeting for 2024, and we want to say a very special thank you to all who attend and contribute to these informal and informative meetings. It was also the final book club meeting for our wonderful outgoing Executive Officer – Dr. Susan La Marca. We thank Dr. La Marca for her wonderful and tireless contributions to making our SLAV online book club such a valuable resource for our members. We also welcomed our new incoming Executive Offficer – Pam Saunders. We very much look forward to Pams future book club topics and meetings. Find details about our next meeting HERE.

We absolutely encourage you to reach out to the wonderful Deb at The Younger Sun as an invaluable resource, for further information and recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable!

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Padlet with Links to Awards discussed can be found HERE.

New Titles shared by Deb from the Younger Sun

YA
One by One They Disappear Mike Lucas
I hope this does Not Find You Ann Liang
Birdy Sharon Kernot
Wombats go to Wizards Wharf Maddie Frost
Lily Halfmoon Xavier Bonet
My Aunt is a Monster Reimena Yee
Australian Middle Years
To and Fro Anton Clifford Motopi
Losing the Plot annaleise Byrd
Cora seen and heard Zanni Louise’
Leo and Ralph Peter Carnavas
Andromache Between the Worlds Gabriel Bergmoser
Overseas Middle Years
Whisperwicks Jordan Lees
The Swifts Beth Lincoln
Ferris Kate Di Camillo

SLAV Online Book Club February 15th, 2024 – Books Worthy of Reconsideration

Posted on February 19, 2024 by SLAV Connects

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday February 15^th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Books Worthy of Reconsideration. We asked members to share with us titles we may have forgotten or overlooked and as always, our members had so many wonderful contributions to share with us and we had a great deal of fun!

This was our first book club meeting for 2024, and we want to say a very special thank you to all who attend and contribute to these informal and informative meetings. We cannot wait to see you all at our next meeting, your generosity is greatly appreciated. Find details about our next meeting HERE.

Titles Discussed:

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Story Of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke

Five Parts Dead by Tim Peglar

Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursulas Le Guin

Anne of Green Gables by Anne Montgomery

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

A Simple Gift by Steven Herrick

All the Green Year by Don Charlwood

Ash Road by Alan Marshall

Zeroes by Scot Westerfeld

Warhorse by Michael Morpurgo

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

The Bogan Mondrian by Steven Herrick

Simone Howells novels

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden

One by Sarah Crossan

Robert Muchamore’s Cherub Series

Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud

Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

Cath Crowley’s novels

Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo

Rick Riordan’s Various Series

Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman

Sally Lockhart Trilogy

Mr Monday Series by Garth Nix

Tamora Peirce’s novels

The Rangers Apprentice Series by John Flannagan

Spooks Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

Drac and the Gremlin by Alan Baille

Kate DiCamillo’s novels

The Famous Five and Secret Seven Series by Enid Blyton

I Am David by Ann Holm

The Long Walk by Kerry Greenwood

When We Were Two by Robert Newton

Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester

The Silver Sword by Ian Serailler

The Black Dog Gang by Robert Newton

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis

Slightly True Story of Cedar B Hartley by Martine Murray

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near

Books Shared by Deb from The Younger Sun

Outlaw Girls by Nova Weetman and Emily Gale

Lani and the Universe by Victoria Careless

Smoke and Mirrors by Barry Jonsberg

Countdown to Yesterday by Shirley Marr

Eleanor Jones is not a Murderer by Amy Doak

Into the Mouth of a Wolf by Erin Gough

A Small Collection of Happiness by Zana Fraillon

Children’s and Young Adult Titles read over the break

Dana Swartz – Anatomy: A Love Story

Travellers Along the Way: a Robin Hood remix by Aminah Mae Safi

Rebels of Mt Buffalo by Helen Edwards

The Frugal Wizards Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms (graphic novel)

Vanessa Len -Never A Hero

Holly by Stephen King

Adult Titles discussed

What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

(Bronwen Ch’Ng)

Holly by Stephen King

Madukka the River Serpent by Julie Janson

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt,

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doeer

Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Gender Queer: A Memoir A graphic Novel about the complexities of gender identity

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Benevolent Society of Ill-mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lisa Evans The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer

Helen Dunmore Zennor in Darkness

Philippa Gregory Normal Women

Barbara Kinsolver Demon Copperhead

Paul McCartney Lyrics.

Gunflower by Laura Jean McKay

We Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Vital Organs by Suzie Edge

SLAV Online Book Club Wednesday May 18th 2022 – Humour

Posted on May 19, 2022 by SLAV Connects

Our thanks to those of you able to join us for yesterday’s book club meeting to share your favourite Humour picks. We all love a good laugh, but we don’t all share the same views about what is funny in fiction. What books work best with your readers? As always, so many of you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us, and it is very appreciated.

This was our third book club meeting for 2022, and we look forward to chatting with you again at our next Online Book Club discussion on June 16^th to discuss the topic: Non- Fiction for pleasure. Books that present factual information for pleasure have become more sophisticated with high production and design values adding to the pleasurable reading experience. What texts are always off the shelves in your library?

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and students needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Books Discussed/Attendee suggestions

Young Adult

That Thing I Did by Allayne L. Webster

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Louise Rennison Series (possibly a bit dated)

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams

Junior/Upper Primary Fiction

David Walliams Series

My Life as an Alphabet by Barry Jonsberg

The Wimpy Kid Series by Jeff Kinney

Paul Jennings – Unseen, Unbearable, Uncanny, Uncovered

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings

The Weirdo series by Anh Do

The Wednesday Weeks series by Cristy Burne & Denis Knight

Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

Matt Larkin titles – The Orchard Underground and The Chameleon Thief

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey

Funny Stories for 8 year Old’s by Helen Paiba

Malory Towers – Enid Blyton (BBC series)

The World of Norm by Jonathan Meres

What’s New Harper Drew by Kathy Weeks

The Little Brute Family by Russell Hoban

Picture Books

Backyard Birdies by Geppert (non-fiction)

The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It was None of His Business by by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

Tyes Picks – SLAV Book Club May 18^th 2022 – Humour.

Young Adult

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell https://www.readings.com.au/products/27633528/wayward-son

It’s Not You, It’s Me by Gabrielle Williams https://www.readings.com.au/products/33725018/its-not-you-its-me

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee https://www.readings.com.au/products/23546046/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue

The First Third by Will Kostakis https://www.readings.com.au/products/17240619/the-first-third

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy https://www.readings.com.au/products/19460247/dumplin

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett https://www.readings.com.au/products/26868214/good-omens

Stardust by Neil Gaiman https://www.readings.com.au/products/5124406/stardust

Junior Fiction

The Naughtiest Unicorn Bumper Collection by Pip Bird https://www.readings.com.au/products/33210346/the-naughtiest-unicorn-bumper-collection

Marge in Charge by Eglantine Ceulemans, Isla Fisher https://www.readings.com.au/products/21975952/marge-in-charge

Fortunately, the Milk . . . by Neil Gaiman, Chris Riddell https://www.readings.com.au/products/31346500/fortunately-the-milk

Skunk and Badger (Skunk and Badger, Book 1) by Amy Timberlake, Jon Klassen https://www.readings.com.au/products/32916785/skunk-and-badger-skunk-and-badger-book-1

The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier, Douglas Holgate https://www.readings.com.au/products/27266334/the-last-kids-on-earth

Look into my eyes by Lauren Child (Ruby Redfort) https://www.readings.com.au/products/14670542/look-into-my-eyes

The Bolds by Julian Clary https://www.readings.com.au/products/19410936/the-bolds

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, K.G. Campbell https://www.readings.com.au/products/21735595/flora-and-ulysses

Hilda and the Hidden People by Luke Pearson, Stephen Davies, Seaerra Miller https://www.readings.com.au/products/26846991/hilda-and-the-hidden-people

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny–Detectives Extraordinaire! By Polly Horvath, Sophie Blackall https://www.readings.com.au/products/17513683/mr-and-mrs-bunny-detectives-extraordinaire

Jefferson by Jean-Claude Mourlevat, Ros Schwartz https://www.readings.com.au/products/32659486/jefferson

Mat Larkin https://srchy.readings.com.au/results?query=Mat%20Larkin

The Wee Free Men: A Tiffany Aching Novel by Terry Pratchett, Laura Ellen Andersen https://www.readings.com.au/products/23772770/the-wee-free-men-a-tiffany-aching-novel

Picture Books

Who Wet My Pants? By Bob Shea, Zachariah OHora https://www.readings.com.au/products/27502393/who-wet-my-pants

Going to the Volcano by Andy Stanton, Miguel Ordonez https://www.readings.com.au/products/26360624/going-to-the-volcano

Super Happy Magic Forest by Matty Long https://www.readings.com.au/products/19858036/super-happy-magic-forest

I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon https://www.readings.com.au/products/30361565/i-just-ate-my-friend

I’ll Wait, Mr Panda by Steve Antony https://www.readings.com.au/products/21441628/ill-wait-mr-panda

Miss Understood by KATHRYN APEL, Beau Wylie https://www.readings.com.au/products/35003178/miss-understood

Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe https://www.readings.com.au/products/27630367/pokko-and-the-drum

Graphic Novel

Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen https://www.readings.com.au/products/33759137/garlic-and-the-vampire

Adult Books Discussed

The Nancys by R.W.R. McDonald

Hanya Yanagihara – all

The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe

Hannah Gadsby’s biography – Ten Steps to Nanette

SLAV Online Book Club May 19th 2021 – Graphic Novels

Posted on May 24, 2021 by SLAV Connects

Our thanks to those of you able to join us for our third book club meeting for 2021 to discuss graphic novels. As always, so many of you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us, and it is very appreciated.

Below is the list of titles and series shared and discussed. Some titles may have an indicated suitable age range next to each title, however this is merely a guide and we encourage you to use your own judgement, as you know your students best.

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Thursday June 17th to discuss Speculative Fiction.

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and students needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson
Lumberjanes Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson
Over The Garden Wall by Jonathan Case and Patrick McHale
Pawcasso by Remy Lai
When Stars are Scattered by Omar Mohamed, Victoria Jamieson
Amulet Series by Kazu Kibuishi
Wings of Fire Series by Tui Sutherland
My Hero Academia (Manga)
Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone – great for secondary readers, girls or boys.
The ‘I Survived’ Series by Scholastic looks like a sure-fire winner for kids who like graphic novels and true stories.
London: New Burlington Books, 2016 – suitable for boys or girls, good readers because the language can be challenging.
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Robert Smith’s illustrations and layout are crisp, arresting, and quite remarkable.
Seance Tea Party by Reimena Yee
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries
Witchlight by Jessie Zarbasky
Lightfall by Tim Probert
Tyranny by Lesley Fairfield
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Flamer by Mike Curato
Directly from the chat:
Horror – Locke & Key series Romance/LGBTQI – Heartstopper Series, Bloom, Mooncakes Manga series – My Hero Academia, Bleach, Assassination Classroom, Fairy Tail, Manga Dogs

Sheets by Brenna Thummler (Best book ever! according to one reluctant reader)
Doug TenNapel books (Ghostopolis, Cardboard) Grimoire Noir by Yana Bogatch

The graphic novels of Vera Greentea Anne of Green Gables : the graphic novel Meg, Jo, Beth by Rey Terciero.

The Graphic Novels of – To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Great Gatsby, & The Handmaids Tale are very popular

These are really popular in our Primary Library –
Dogman by Dav Pilkey, Big Nate, Super Sidekicks, The Odds by Matt Stanton, Percy Jackson and Wings of Fire graphic versions, Asterix, TinTin, Geronimo Stilton graphic versions, Mighty Robot, Catstronauts, Legend of Zelda.

What if We Were by Axelle Lenor

Just read ‘Animal Farm: A Fairy Tale Graphic Novel’ beautiful illustrations

The graphic novel of Anne Frank’s Diary

The Deep (Tom Taylor)

Fruits Basket Series by Natsuki Takaya (Manga)

Guts, Smile, Drama, Sisters, Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

Babysitters Club graphic novels

Meg Dunley set up a Padlet for anime/manga recommendations. You can find it here https://padlet.com/09297081/13hww6jduitzv95f

White Bird by RJ Palacio (class text year 7 & 8)
Maus (class text year 10)
Coraline (class text year 7)
We have a GN for Macbeth
Illegal by Eoin Colfer
Romeo and Juliet
Speak by Laurie Anderson
Sapiens Graphic Novel

OMG Shakespeare’ which are retelling of plays in ‘twitter’ format – e.g. ‘YOLO Juliet’ and ‘srsly Hamlet’ – very funny and has hooked a few reluctant Year 10s doing Macbeth

Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings

The Dark Matter of Mona Starr by Laura Lee
Long Way Down
Future Girl by Asphyxia
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Parvana by Deborah Ellis
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci – Goodreads

graphiclibrary.org – curated by sarah smooth – site recommended by Jo Menzies for ratings of graphic novels

ALIA have a graphic novel book club – aliagraphic.blogspot.com
Non-fiction graphics for primary – Graphic Library titles and Illustrated History. Wheelers good for ordering non-fiction graphics for primary.

All Marvel -Superman, Spiderman, Batman are popular with Manga. Simpsons, Snoopy, Garfield
‘Great Lives in Graphics’

A Beginner’s Guide to Manga

Manga for libraries – VIZ Media Catalogue has titles listed under age groups – got a copy from our book supplier

ADULT – what we are reading
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Scars like Wings by Erin Stewart
A Million Things by Emily Spurr
Love Objects by Emily McGuire
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
Born Into This by Adam Thompson – (Tasmanian, indigenous short stories)
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Amy Tan – short stories
Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Where we Begin by Christie Neiman. Coming of age story includes domestic violence and racism.
The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte
First Person Singular by H.Murakami.
Sunburnt Veils by Sara Haghdoosti
The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall
Young Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

Weaving the Future – Inquiry based learning & DigiTech curriculum

Posted on March 10, 2017 by SLAV Connects

On Friday, 17 March, School Library Association of Victoria conference Weaving the Future: Inquiry Learning within a Digital Curriculum will feature, Dr Mandy Lupton from QUT and Paula Christophersen formerly of VCAA. Focus of the day will be the Digital Curriculum and the role of School Libraries can take in its implementation and execution.

Dr Mandy Lupton is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at QUT and well known to library and literacy professionals through her blog Inquiry Learning and Information Literacy. Mandy teaches units in the Master of Education (teacher-librarianship) and has undertaken a number of research projects into inquiry learning and information literacy. She will present a number of tools for the design of inquiry learning curriculum including questioning frameworks, process models and Mandy’s GeSTE windows model for information literacy. Delegates will have the opportunity for hands-on application and evaluation of these planning resources. This is an opportunity to work closely with a renowned Australian information literacy specialist.

Ms Paula Christophersen (formerly of VCAA) is a familiar presenter at SLAV conferences having introduced ICT in the curriculum and general capabilities. As a major architect of the new Victorian Digitech curriculum, Paula is the ideal person to present Ways of thinking in Digital Technologies. Through this Paula will explore the essential features of the Victorian Digital Technologies curriculum, paying particular attention to the different ways of thinking in the curriculum, namely computational, design and systems thinking. Exploration involves teasing out the breadth and depth of content associated with this curriculum, and how meaningful connections can be made with other learning areas. As schools seek methods of integrating the new digital curriculum into both primary and secondary schools, this session gives library staff background and understanding to support digital learning through the STEM curriculum, makerspaces, coding clubs etc.

SLAV is pleased to be starting the year with professional learning support for Victorian teacher librarians, teachers and library staff generally. Don’t miss out. Register here.

Slow Reading: the Power to Transform

Posted on May 27, 2016 by SLAV Connects

Reading programs and the support of a culture of reading is a common commitment in school libraries. As teacher librarians, and librarians, we promote reading for enjoyment as a means of raising literacy levels through activities such as reading classes; engaging children in the Premiers’ Reading Challenge; running Book Clubs or supporting English teachers. To this end, the Synergy article Slow Reading: The Power to Transform by Dr Pam Macintyre, Senior Lecturer in Portfolio of Design and Social Context in the School of Education at RMIT is of particular interest.

In this article Pam says it’s logical to state, ‘greater understanding produces greater pleasure when reading’. To fully understand and learn the skill of reading she encourages us to take time and to give students time, through a process of ‘slow reading’ saying:

Students need us to slow the reading, to model and facilitate the enjoyment of contemplation and the sharing of responses and interpretations. We need to share our enjoyment of language, and the delight in the places reading can take us well beyond the physical, geographical, emotional, intellectual boundaries of our daily lives. We also need to share our knowledge and pleasure about the how of what is said, not only the what.

Pam mentions the Australian research, the Children and Reading literature review which reports a 4% drop in the number of children reading for pleasure between 2003 and 2012. As a passionate advocate of adolescent reading, she notes the opportunities for further research in this field as reading formats change from hard copy to digital.

In promoting a reading culture Pam quotes Terry Eagleton’s, How to Read Literature (2013) and urges us to encourage in students a peculiarly vigilant type of reading, ‘one which is alert to tone, mood, pace, genre, syntax, grammar, texture, rhythm, narrative structure, punctuation, ambiguity’ (2013, p. 2).

This article, published in SLAV’s professional journal Synergy, provides teacher librarians and educators involved in raising literacy levels through a formal reading program, with a thoughtful approach to developing skilled readers. Synergy is published bi-annually and is freely accessible online, apart from the two most recent editions. It is a valuable source of research relating to school libraries.

Financial literacy – ASIC’s MoneySmart

Posted on May 4, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Purchasing a mobile phone is one of the first mature financial commitments a young person will make. Before reaching that stage, however, most will have had experience with online shopping, including in-app purchases which are often impulse buys with minimal prior thought. Financial literacy instruction that begins in primary school and gradually builds over time will equip students with the skills to confidently manage these transactions.

As one of the key initiatives of the National Financial Literacy Strategy. the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has developed the MoneySmart Teaching program, a comprehensive financial literacy resource for use by educators.

This is an impressive resource with units such Mobile Phone security designed for a 15 minutes time-slot making it ideal for teaching alongside other content or within a homeroom class. On the other hand is the more comprehensive financial training course for VET students consisting of 5 online units.

MoneySmart has been developed for the Australian community. It’s valuable, not only to teens and young adults, but as a resource for Australians of all ages. It’s worth checking out.

Periodic table of story telling – story starter activities

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Linda Angeloni

The Periodic Table of Storytelling is one of those special treats that comes through your feed and gets your mind buzzing with ideas of how it could be used with students.

As well as being pretty funny, the table covers most of the major story types and character arcs, making it a great tool for engaging students in creative writing.

Each story element has an identifier, name and is grouped under one of the following categories – structure, setting, modifiers, plot devices, heroes, villains, archetypes, character modifiers, meta tropes, production and audience reaction.

Ideas for use with students

Give each student in the class one story element, making sure that all categories are represented. (You could make coloured cards for each element).
Ask them to form small groups (3-4) and collaborate on a story that incorporates all their individual story elements. This could easily be a homework assignment or even a competition with time limits
You could mix up the activity by asking them to write in different genres or mediums – film, play, poem, short story, tv show etc.
To make this an individual task, give each student three cards and ask them to include all three elements
You could also use these story elements to describe the books you’re reading. This would be a great way to build a shared vocabulary for understanding story and transferring knowledge of one story to other narratives
The story elements could be a prompt for a library creative writing challenge – how many story elements can you get in your story? or even a weekly writing challenge with one element as the focus each week
Put story element cards into a box and students choose one (or more) to prompt a free writing task

These kinds of forced association activities are a great way to get kids (and adults!) thinking creatively. If you have any other ideas or find something that works well for your students, let us know.

Text to speech – supporting online information access

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Catherine Hainstock

There are a growing number of online tools to support students in need of literacy support. As part of a new series on web based literacy aids, this post from Catherine Hainstock talks about how text-to-speech programs can support students’ reading online.

Implementation of the Australian Curriculum is in full swing across the nation and as a result schools are committing more resources towards their Literacy programs. The demands and opportunities for TL’s to support this literacy focus may vary, but as information specialists our core business is to ensure our students can effectively find and interact with information.

After giving a brief demonstration on advanced Google searching to our school’s Literacy Support teacher, I wondered about other ways to improve access to online information for students who may be struggling. Many of the mainstream tools students use for accessing information such as Google Search and Wikipedia do not support students with literacy needs as well as they could. There are a number of ways we can help improve this experience. First I turned my attention to browsers; I found they offered very different experiences and levels of assistance. Text-to-Speech support is available on most browsers (you can read about the options here). When I tried them I found:

Bing relies on Microsoft Window’s software being installed on your computer. The system was complicated and required a lot of reading to work out. The version we had installed on our computers used a very robotic voice
Firefox’s add-on Text to Voice app plays MP3’s of selected text so it’s very slow. Any words it doesn’t recognise, it spells out. Again it was a very robotic voice
Google’s Chrome Speak app (available from the Web Store) was easy to install and provided options for varying the rate, pitch and volume but once again the voice sounded very robotic
Once I added Google’s US English Female Text-to-speech voice extension to Chrome (available from the Web Store) and activated it in Chrome Speak’s options (found under Chrome Settings – Extensions – see image below), the voice offered pleasant web reading support.

It’s important to note different schools run different versions of software, different implementation programs and have preferred devices including mobile devices and BYOD programs. In mycase, I used desktop computers in a school library for testing. Every school is unique so it’s important to investigate and experiment with your own equipment.

Many schools in Victoria are also restricted to only one browser, usually Internet Explorer. As information specialists, it is vital that we recommend and push for technical decisions to be based on educational criteria, so explore browser tools and lobby for programs if you think they will benefit staff and students.

In the next instalment I’ll look at improving access via search engine tools and options.

Image credit: Chinese children in class with Australian kids at Carlton State School, H2002.199/1074, State Library of Victoria Pictures Collection

What’s Technology For, Anyway?

Posted on August 12, 2013 by slvadmin

In this guest post, Kristin Fontichiaro, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, School of Information highlights key ideas from her upcoming presentation at SLAV’s, Transliteracy, multiliteracy, makerspaces: how can I parti cipate? on Friday, 16th August.

The other day, I heard a story. A parent of young children heard that the oldest children in the school – ages 9 and 10 – were going to be having an end-of-year technology celebration to which everyone in the building was invited. Eager to hear what her kids would be experiencing in a few years, she dropped by. The students filed in front of the assembly and, without a word, held up an A4 printout of a presentation slide.

That was it.

The whole school had been pulled out of class to gaze at small pieces of paper dozens of feet away.

Ahem.

Now, I have no doubt that the educators behind that project had great intentions and worked hard. (Anyone who has ever tried to get an entire primary school class to print out a project without mixing up whose is whose knows what a feat it is that each kid actually ended up with anything.)

But how did a tool meant to serve as an illuminated backdrop for public speaking end up as a small paper rectangle held up by a silent child? How did a faculty make a decision that seeing these faraway papers merited pulling every other child out of class? What was this project supposed to accomplish?

It’s hard to know. Maybe the technology curriculum focuses on the acquisition of specific skills and behaviours (“the learner will print from software,” “the learner will format a presentation slide”). Maybe the educators were pressed for time. Maybe something else.

I would argue that the crux of the issue is this: there were not clear, aspirational expectations for how technology could transform, extend, and deepen student learning. I would bet that this faculty did not have a clear understanding of what it meant to teach and learn with technology and how to use technology as a game-changer. I have a hunch that the administration pushed for its staff to use technology without talking about how and why to use it.

I quote an extreme example, but (I fear) it probably resonated within the realm of possibility for you. In this madcap Web 2.0 world, where there are endless “creative” tools, just waiting for you to type in a few words and pick a template, how do we move the conversation from “teachers need to use technology, period,” to, “technology needs to transform the teaching and learning and take students further than they could go without technology.”

Next Friday, we’ll gather to talk about this phenomenon. We’ll look at a possible vocabulary and framework for planning and discussing student work, and we’ll draw inspiration from Alan Liu’s Transliteracies Project as we collaborate to articulate what it means to do robust “reading” and “writing” in multimedia. At the end of the day, we’ll dip quickly into two alternative ways to use technology with kids: digital badging to track learning in formal and informal spaces and the makerspace movement. Come roll up your sleeves and dig in with us!

Image credit : cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Brad Flickinger

School Library Association of Victoria

Tag Archives: Literacy