Engaging and Empowering School Libraries

The school librarians role in organising an author visit

This podcast was recorded on Twitter Spaces in May 2022. Ruth Maloney and Elizabeth Hutchinson chatted to author, Ann Bryant about the role the school librarian plays in making an author visit something memorable for both the visiting author and the students. 

We had a wonderful conversation about how to make sure the questions your students ask are of value to everyone. Some great ideas to ensure this happens. 

Ann Bryant. https://www.annbryant.co.uk/

Find out more about me on my website https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/ 

World Book Day: How do we balance silliness with seriousness

This podcast is about World Book Day, a day when many schools take the time to celebrate books and reading. Over the last few years, the interest in World book day has been dominated by the craze of ‘dressing up as your favourite book character’ and whilst this is fun it can cause much angst among parents and children who don’t have the time or money to join in. We have many school librarians who do love this practice so tonight's chat is not about saying we should not be dressing up but exploring other ways to celebrate world book day. 

Tonight I was joined by school librarians Ruth Maloney, Sabrina Cox, Emma Whiting and Cath Skipper who shared some wonderful ideas for WBD that we hope you will take and use as your own.

If you want to listen to the podcast about author visits mentioned in this podcast you can check it out here https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-g4dpp-13b58a9 

My membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership  

 

ChatGPT, School libraries, inquiry and questioning skills

This podcast is about ChatGPT and how the skills needed to navigate it well are part of the skillset that school librarians already have. 

I want to welcome back Domonic Sunderland Headteacher Capella House school who joined me a few weeks ago on my previous podcast about  ChatGPT and my other two guests who have got up rather early to talk to us from Australia, Andrew Herft who is a curriculum advisor and Leon Furze who is an Educational Consultant. 

Webinar - A beginners guide to ChatGPT for school librarians 

Leons resources:-

Blog - full of useful information and resources https://leonfurze.com/blog

PD February 16th will be live and recorded: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/practical-strategies-for-chatgpt-in-education-tickets-528941106087 

 

My membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

 

Graphic novels and their role in supporting literacy

Are graphic novels just comics and do they have a place in our school libraries? In this episode, Ruth, Sabrina and I unpack the power of graphic novels on students reading and are joined by experts Paul Register, school librarian and founder of Excelsior awards and Rebecca Simpson-Hargreaves, Lecturer in Education, University of Manchester. 

Resources mentioned in the podcast:-

Richard Ruddick https://padlet.com/rruddick9zra/graphic-novels-73uh2srzpbia 

The Excelsior Awards https://www.excelsioraward.co.uk/ 

Some favourites graphic novels from Rebecca :-

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (2 vols)

Minecraft  Stories from the Overworld – different authors in the anthology

When Stars are Scattered- Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

The Weirn books - Svetlana Chmakova

Beowulf – Stern, Steininger and Studabaker

Hilda (any of them)-Luke Pearson

Pilu of the Woods - Mai K. Nguyen

Tom’s midnight garden by Edith

The Animation Game Alan Turing Decoded – Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis

Darwin: An exceptional voyage - Fabien Grolleau and Jeremie Royer

Coven – Jennifer Dugan

Information about my membership can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

 

School libraries - too essential to lose

Today I talked to guests Sean McNamara, CEO of CILIP Scotland, Dr Dorothy Willaims, Emeritus professor from Robert Gordon University and school librarian Anne De’Ath about the essential role of school libraries and librarians within education looking at the impact of school library closures across Scotland. 

Great School Libraries Campaign website https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/

 

Some of the research that Dorothy was talking about:- 

Lance  K.C. and Kachel D.E. (2018)  Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us.  Phi Delta Kappan, 99 (7), pp 15-20.   Available at:  https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Teravainen, A & Clark, C. 2017 School Libraries:   A literature review of current provision and evidence of impact. National Literacy Trust, 2017 https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/school-libraries-literature-review-current-provision-and-evidence-impact-2017/          

Williams, D A, Wavell, C and Morrison, K  (2013) Impact of school libraries on learning.  Critical review of published evidence to inform the Scottish education community. https://scottishlibraries.org/about-us/our-publications/special-studies/impact-of-school-libraries/  Or  https://scottishlibraries.org/media/1211/impact-of-school-libraries-on-learning-2013.pdf  (Also available via the School Library Association website and RGU’s OpenAIR repository)

Research portals to USA studies

• Overview of USA studies https://antiochlis.libguides.com/schlibcert/research
• The Lance studies - https://www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies/
• The Todd studies - https://cissl.rutgers.edu/research/impact-studies/

School Library Association - Impact of school libraries.   Links to research reports, summaries and infographics from the School Library Association’s webpage: https://www.sla.org.uk/impact

Membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership

Supporting school libraries from the top. Can senior leaders make a difference?

Do head teachers have a responsibility to ensure that their school library and librarian are understood and valued in their schools? We talked to two esteemed leaders in education. Richard Gerver, an award-winning speaker, bestselling author, and School Library Association President, and Peter Middleton Headteacher of Oswestry school about the critical role senior leaders have in supporting their school library and librarian.

My membership packages can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership

 

ChatGPT for teachers and school librarians.

What is ChatGPT and AI? Where do you start with it? Is it a passing fad or here to stay?

Tonight, I am joined by Domonic Sunderland Headteacher of Capella House School to chat through some of the possibilities for teachers and school librarians. 

If you want to join my Webinar on Wednesday 18th January here is the link for more information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/service-page/chatgpt-and-ai?referral=service_list_widget 

Today is a special edition as I am on my own with only one guest. If you join me normally, I have two co-hosts and usually 2 or 3 guests. But due to the fast-moving pace of ChatGPT and AI I didn’t want to wait to get everyone together so here we are.

School libraries and digital resources on a budget

(Start at 4.54 to miss set up chat). Elizabeth, Sabrina and Ruth chat with school librarians Emily, Hayden and Susan about the importance of digital resources and the school library. Here is a link to some of the free resources we discussed during the chat.

https://wakelet.com/wake/dKdRDqTmVe5ZFth6a8BHx from school librarian Clare Brumpton

Search coach https://www.bigtechwire.com/2022/06/14/microsoft-announces-new-search-coach-feature-in-microsoft-teams/?amp=1

Carot2 https://search.carrot2.org/#/search/web

Unpaywall https://unpaywall.org/ 

If you want to know more about how I can support school libraries check out my website https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/ 

Host: Elizabeth Hutchinson - School Library Specialist (https://www.twitter.com/Elizabethutch)

Co-hosts Sabrina Cox 💙🎓📕 (https://www.twitter.com/WyrmbergSabrina) Ruth Maloney (https://www.twitter.com/RuthMaloney30)

Speakers Emily Stannard (https://www.twitter.com/copyrightgirl) Hayden Gigner @ The Forge Valley School LRC (https://www.twitter.com/ForgeLrc) Susan Merrick (https://www.twitter.com/merrilibrarian)