Reading Cultures @ Fernie Secondary School

Photo by Karla Germaine: Library Bulletin Board at Fernie Secondary School

In my role as a teacher librarian and as an English teacher at Fernie Secondary School, I have promoted reading cultures in a variety of ways, from the creation of attractive bulletin boards to book displays, to author visits, to partnerships with senior centers and elementary classrooms, to novel studies, to discussions and student book reflections in class.  I'm currently using on-line discussions for a classroom novel study, but would like to make use of technology more frequently and find ways to invite students to take a lead in the promotion of reading. 

In the library I've worked to frequently change our bulletin boards, using them to promote literacy and books through word play.  The boards often contain seasonal themes or celebrate special days,  months or events such as Black History Month (We did a bulletin board on Black Writers) or Orange Shirt Day.  I've created new book displays and used posters to promote popular books and classics.  We have a "Just In" table in the library to display newly acquired books and posters which show the 100 Best Books for BC Students, selected by BC teachers.  The posters are hung in English Language Arts' teachers' classrooms.  At Christmas I created a Christmas tree out of culled books and hung lights, colored balls, and ribbon to decorate it.  For Valentine's Day I hung huge hearts with catchy expressions such as, "Fall in Love with Reading." Working collaboratively with other teachers, I've helped promote school wide reading contests.  We partnered with local business, who provided prizes, to run a Fernie Secondary School Reads Across Canada event.  For every book the school logged a kilometer in an imagined trek across Canada, from Fernie to Newfoundland.  Students submitted a record of each book read (along with the student's name) and these submissions were also used in draws for prizes. 

Photo by Rylee Whitson:  Fernie Secondary School Library

I've organized author visits to classrooms and within the library.  Angie Abdou, a local author, has come into Fernie Secondary classrooms on several occasions, and this week she will be bringing and interviewing Andy Sinclair, author of Breathing Lessons.  This visit has been arranged in partnership with the The Fernie Museum as part of our town's Pride celebrations.  I've also partnered with our public library and have taken groups of students on field trips to learn about what the public library has to offer and to enjoy the space while having time to find and enjoy reading books in its beautiful space (it's located in a beautiful historic building with stunning views of the mountains).  I've sometimes partnered with the elementary school and with a nearby seniors' center to have students read with younger children and with senior citizens.  These partnerships have been possible due to the proximity of both the seniors' center and elementary school to our high school.  

The new curriculum, outlined in English Language Arts, emphasizes self awareness and meta-cognition.  In my English classrooms one of the earliest writing assignments I have students do is a reflection on their lives as readers.  I ask them to tell the story of themselves as readers, including such things as their earliest memories of books, childhood experiences of books, their memories of elementary school reading, significant books or turning points in their reading, and a reflection on their current reading lives and their feelings around reading.  They also write about their current reading interests and reflect on their reading habits and ability.  After students do this reflection and also share some of their thoughts during class discussions. I sometime play the video, below, of my sister reading to my nephew.  (My sister has given me permission to use this video). The clip shows how positive reading can be for children, even as early as age one.  We talk about the type of language in the book and talk about what it is about the story that this little boy responds to. 

Mom Reading to Baby

Every day students are given 10-15 minutes to read books of their own choosing, and I make time to take them into the library to select books in the first week of school.  Then, as a student finishes a book, he or she is allowed a quick visit to the library to make an exchange.  I occasionally ask my students, "Who is reading something really good?" and we take a few minutes for the student to share a little about their book with the class.  I also make a point of talking to a few students each day to ask, "What are you reading?  What do you think of this book?" and when I see that someone is enjoying a certain genre, I might say, "Oh, if you like this book, you might like...."  A couple of times during the year we do more formal book talks.  I will sometimes bring in a few novels and give a brief talk for each one.  

In English 11 I am trying, for the first time, to run four different novel studies and six different on-line discussion groups using our School District No. 5, Southeast Kootenay Portal.  My students tell me they are enjoying this platform. They are able to ask their peers questions about the novel and share their thoughts on their reading. The platform has allowed me to tailor the book study a little more closely to individual student interests and needs.  I was able to help students select a book which would match their ability level and interests and I can still manage six different groups because it is easier without paper.  These online discussions have been the result of my research for  my inquiry project done in the first phase of LIBE 477.

Something I have not tried, but would like to try, is the creation of a library website which could promote various books and advertise library events.  I could also look into using social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - in a similar way.  Social media would allow students a chance to comment on the content presented.  My worry, though, is that it would be difficult to keep this type of promotion happening regularly due to the time needed to create and manage these sites.

Another way I hope to better foster reading cultures in our school in through the careful selection of library resources to adequately reflect the interests and diversity of our students and staff.  If students do not see people like themselves reflected in the pages of the books they read, they will be less inclined to identify with the stories and less inclined to read.  That is why it is important to know your students and staff.  In my English 11 classroom I was able to help my students make good novel study choices because I first spent time getting to know them as readers. An area of our collection which could use more attention is in representing the LGBTQ community.  We recently purchased the novel When Everything Feels like the Movies by Raziel Reid which features a transgender character, but I think this novel is the only piece of fiction we have which does provide a mirror for this community.  We are rapidly adding indigenous content to our library and to the reading in our English classrooms.  Our library does a good job of providing resources for reluctant readers with plenty of highly attractive, high interest, easy to read books including many graphic novels, but I have recently noticed we do not have any books for students who are in our life skills stream - students who require reduced text, picture book stories.  I agree with Mardis's book, The Collection Program in Schools-Concepts and Practices, which presents the idea that a diverse collection serves the needs of not only the students who are the primary focus, but also for the entire school community, because it is promotes inclusiveness and helps to educate and open all students to the greater world around them.

Work Cited

"100 Best Books Chosen by BC Teachers." BCTF 100 Celebrating a Century.  bctf.ca. 

         2017. Web. Accessed September 2017. 

British Columbia.  Ministry of Education.  “English Language Arts/ Building Student 

         Success BC’s New Curriculum.” curriculum.gov.bc.ca.  Accessed 06 October 

         2018. Web.

“Fernie Secondary School Reads Across Canada.” The Free Press, 2 February 2016. Web. 

         Accessed 06 October, 2018.

Froehler, Kim (Teacher of Transformative Learning, SD5). "Using the Portal and Creating

Classroom Small Online Discussion Groups in the Classroom." Inverview by Karla

Germaine,  September 2018.  

Germaine, Karla. “Fall into Reading: Library Bulletin Board.” 2017. Photograph.

Hutton, Richard. “Literature Review: The Affects of Online Discussion on In-class 

          Discussion." MA Thesis. Center for Teaching Excellence, United States Military 

          Academy, Westpoint, NY. 2017. Web. Accessed 22 September 2018.

Literacy Teachers. “Do Online Discussion Boards Increase the Quality of Students’ 

          Discussions?"  Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 20 May 2018. Web. 

          Accessed 20 September 2018.

Mardis, Marcia A. 2016. The Collection Program in Schools-Concepts and Practices, 

           6^th Edition. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

Germaine, Lianne. “Mom Reading to Baby.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. July 

          2015. Web. Accessed 20 July 2015.

Southeast Kootenay.  “Portal.”  Fernie Secondary School.  Sd5.bc.ca.  Accessed 2 May 

         2018. Web.

Whitson, Rylee. “FSS Students Reading in Library."  2016. Photograph.