Engaging and Empowering School Libraries

FOSIL, Education and School Libraries (5)

This month Darryl and I discuss the importance of Blanchelande's Year 9 Signature Work and its impact on student learning. The conversation highlighted the challenges of measuring academic attainment through signature work and explored the difference between student engagement and academic attainment.
Key Takeaways from this podcast
  • The impact of the year nine signature work on student learning and engagement, highlighting the challenges of measuring academic attainment through this approach.
  • The discussion explored the change in students' attitudes towards learning as a result of their engagement with signature work.
  • Future directions and implementation strategies for the year nine signature work.
  • The conversation emphasised the importance of an early introduction to inquiry-based learning and its potential impact on the quality of work and attitude towards inquiry in the future.
  • We covered the role of habit in the learning process, drawing parallels between the development of information literacy skills and inquiry skills.
  • The conversation also highlighted the starting point of inquiry as an attitude of wonder and puzzlement, emphasising the importance of cultivating a desire to learn.
Note: We did not explain fully why it is called 'signature' work. The short and simple explanation is that students are asked to produce something they would be happy to sign or put their signature to... Understanding that this is their work and should be proud to sign it. Darryl's explanation can be found here https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/year-9-grade-8-interdisciplinary-signature-work-inquiry-blanchelande-college/#post-81808 
Other resources:
LibGuide NewsLetter: https://blanchelande.libguides.com/LibraryGuide/News/The-Future-Needs-You-Living-Well-in-a-World-Worth-Living-in
see Year 9 Individual Project and Year 9 FOSIL Inquiry Skills Project
Don't forget to subscribe to all of the forum post in order to be notified if there are any new posts or replies https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/subscribing-to-the-forums/ 
My membership information - https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership
 
 
 
 
 

FOSIL, Education and School Libraries (4)

Darryl and I continue our monthly chat about FOSIL, education and school libraries. This month we are continuing where we left off last month and are going to delve deeper into Darryl’s chapter for the IFLA digital literacy book.
The highlights of this podcast focus on:
The importance of school librarians gaining clarity about what they do and why.
The importance of school librarians understanding what education is and their role in it. 
"Our goal is not to get our children to the end of school but to equip them for what happens beyond school" 
Links
Making school libraries integral to the education process https://www.sla.org.uk/product/making-school-libraries-integral-to-the-educational-process
IFLA 2023 WLIC, Digital Literacy: Necessary but not sufficient  https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/ifla-2023-wlic-digital-literacy-necessary-but-not-sufficient/
IASL 2023 Recovering the educational promise of inquiry https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/iasl-2023-recovering-the-educational-promise-of-inquiry/
Constitute of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch 
ChatGPT et al https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/chatgpt-et-al/ 
Evolution of portraits https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/a-theory-of-the-role-of-the-library-in-the-students-intellectual-experience/ 
Membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership

Bookish Banter: From Book Clubs to Blue Peter

We decided we would like to talk about book clubs on this podcast due to the fact that we had heard that Blue Peter Book was launching a book club on the 9th September. There was and probably still is much excitement around being able to get your hands on a Blue Peter badge created by Sir Quentin Blake. Unfortunately for those of us who would love to get our hands on a much coveted Blue Peter Badge, they are only available for children between the ages of 5 and 15… yes I did check! 
Tonight we are joined by Lou Morrish, Secondary School librarian and author and Sally Hamerton, Primary school librarian and this year's winner of primary school librarian of the year alongside my usual co-hosts School Librarian Ruth Maloney and bookseller Sabrina Cox
Membership Information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership
Resources talked about in this episode
Blue Peter Book Club https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/blue-peter-book-club 
Information Book Awards https://www.sla.org.uk/information-book-award Hampshire Book Awards https://sls.hias.hants.gov.uk/course/index.php?categoryid=127 
School Library Service UK https://sls-uk.org/ 
Chatterbooks - Reading Agency https://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/chatterbooks/ 
Federation of Children's Book Groups https://fcbg.org.uk/ 
UKLA Book Awards https://ukla.org/awards/ukla-book-award/ 
Summer Reading Challenge https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/ 
 
 
 

FOSIL, Education and School Libraries (3)

Today Darryl Toerien and I continue our monthly chat, FOSIL, Education and School Libraries.
This month we are chatting about the IASL conference, the need to have leadership for school librarians and why inquiry skills should support students learning how to learn, as well as learning knowledge. 
IFLA presentation - Digital Literacy necessary but not sufficient https://fosil.org.uk/forums/topic/ifla-2023-wlic-digital-literacy-necessary-but-not-sufficient/
Membership information -https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

School librarians and the DfE Reading Framework

The Updated DfE Reading Framework has been talked about a lot over the summer, Elizabeth and Cathi even wrote a blog about it so this week we are turning things around a bit, Ruth Maloney interviewed Elizabeth Hutchinson, trainer and advisor for school libraries and Cathi Woods, School librarian. We were also delighted to welcome back to our podcast English and History teacher, literacy coordinator and school library advocate, Alice Visser-Furay. 
When we started reading the framework it wasn’t immediately obvious that this was a document for school librarians this meant it was an important discussion for the new school year. We hope you enjoy it. 
Reading Framework Link https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1178136/The_Reading_Framework_2023.pdf
Estyn's Welsh report on reading - https://www.gov.wales/developing-pupils-english-reading-skills-10-14-years-age-html  
Elizabeth and Cathi's blog -  https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/post/unpacking-the-dfe-reading-framework-for-school-librarians More information about Engaging and
Empowering School Libraries membership https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
Upcoming webinars
AI: The future of school libraries - https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/service-page/ai-future-for-school-libraries?referral=service_list_widget 
Unpacking the DfE Framework https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/service-page/unpacking-the-dfe-reading-framework?referral=service_list_widget 

FOSIL, Education and School Libraries (2)

Darryl Toerien and I continue our monthly chat, FOSIL, Education and School Libraries. This month we are chatting about what you can find on the FOSIL Group website and developments coming up over the summer.
The topics we cover are:-
- FOSIL Group website and why you set it up.
- What can you find on the website?
- Where would you suggest they start?
- Why is the discussion forum so important?
- If someone wanted to join in a forum discussion what do they need to be aware of? ( importance of subscribing to the conversation to see replies).
- Future developments
Books mentioned:-
Principles and Practice: Learning and Libraries in an Information Age (Edited by Barbara Stripling in 1999!)
Carol Kuhlthau’s chapter is called Literacy and Learning for the Information Age. "Inquiry requires information literacy skills. When library media specialists and teachers collaborate to create an inquiry approach to learning, students develop dual competencies in subject content and information literacy" (p. 11)
Empire State Information Fluency Continuum https://slsa-nys.libguides.com/ifc/gradeassessments
FOSIL explained - Youtube https://youtu.be/VDLScPK3YGY
The FOSIL Group Website overview - https://youtu.be/bvT0m23NFfw
Courses available to explain the FOSIL cycle in more detail - https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/payperview?Category=The+FOSIL+Cycle
Membership information - https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

AI: Friend or Foe? The School Librarians Perspective

Today we revisited our discussion around ChatGPT and AI. As this new technology unfolds it is important for us to continue talking about our new learning and the impact these new tools will have on education, especially for school libraries. We were joined today by my co-host school librarian Sabrina Cox and our guests were Darryl Toerien, Head of Inquiry Learning and Jenny Toerien, School Librarian and EPQ Co-ordinator both at Blanchelande College in Guernsey and Dr Kay Oddone Course Director and Lecturer, Master of Education: Teacher Librarianship, Charles Sturt University, Australia. 
IFLA School Library Guidelines https://www.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf 
The Golden Threads of Your School Library https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-5ir4s-1416762 
More information about Engaging and Empowering School Libraries membership https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
 

The benefits of a cohesive Senior Leadership/Librarian partnership

In this episode, we talk about the role that senior leaders play in not only creating a good school library but helping ensure that it is used across the curriculum too. As always I am joined by my co-host Sabrina Cox and we are delighted to welcome back Peter Middleton, headmaster of Oswestry School alongside his school librarian Claire Livsey. They were joined by School librarian Ruth Maloney who some of you may recognise as my other co-host but is wearing a different hat this evening alongside her deputy head Joe Jardine-Viner. 
Great School Libraries campaign https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/
Engaging and Empowering School Libraries membership https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
As always if you would like to comment on anything you have heard this evening we would love to hear your thoughts.  

FOSIL, education and school libraries - What is it all about?

Once a month I'm going to talk about FOSIL, Education and School Libraries with Darryl Toerien originator of FOSIL. We hope to help you engage with the content on the FOSIL Group Website, introduce you to people who are using FOSIL in schools and most of all just have a conversation about the role of school librarians within education. 
The FOSIL Group Website - https://fosil.org.uk/ 
FOSIL explained - https://youtu.be/VDLScPK3YGY 
IFLA School Library Guidelines - https://www.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf 
Engaging and Empowering School Libraries Membership -https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

International collaborations via your school library

Tonight I was joined by my friend and colleague Stony Evans. We have been working collaboratively for nearly 7 years, starting when we were both ready to open the doors of our school libraries internationally for the benefit of our teachers and students. Tonight we are going to share our journey of international collaboration, highlighting the benefits as well as giving some ideas that you may want to try yourselves. 
Find out more about my membership https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/post/4-online-tools-used-to-engage-teachers-in-collaboration-and-information-literacy