Special Topics in Teacher Librarianship

     In order to build a culture of reading in schools, children need to encounter many engaging opportunities to develop a love of reading and be surrounded by other who they perceive as being readers. Librarians, administrators, and teachers must work together to build a school and community culture in which reading is accepted as a socially acceptable practice (Merga & Mason, 2019) to overpower the “negative stereotypes connected to reading [that] bombard kids: readers are intellectual snobs, socially inept nerds, and bookworms” (Kelley & Miller, 2013, p. 91). It is the responsibility of all adults within a school to help develop a reading culture. I have reflected on what I am already doing in my classroom to foster a culture of reading and have also considered other strategies to try in my classroom and school community.  Strategies for Fostering a Culture of Reading – Classroom strategies  Book Twins - Each student was assigned a Book Twin (or Trip...

Hirsh-Pasek, Z. J. K. M. (2022, March 9). A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-whole-new-world-education-meets-the-metaverse/       Hirsh-Pasek et al.’s article outlines the educational opportunities within the metaverse and through their vision of students engaged in a fully immersive virtual reality experience of Ancient Greece led by their classroom teacher. Hirsh-Pasek et al. argue that educators cannot fall behind on emerging technologies such as the metaverse, as their expertise in pedagogy and content knowledge is needed to ensure that virtual worlds for education are developed with meaningful, valuable learning opportunities. Hirsh-Pasek et al. articulate the potential for the metaverse in education through setting clear and specific learning goals and connections to the 6 Cs (collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, confidence).       This a...

 I anticipate the Metaverse will be an arising topic of interested in my teaching that will be an important topic to develop a better understanding of. Metaverse spaces targeting children are already created and, I expect, will continue to be created. As educators, I believe we need to be on top of these emerging technology trends to ensure we provide students with the tools and strategies they need to be safe and appropriate. While the idea of the Metaverse makes me uncomfortable, I would like to step out of my comfort zone in my research to learn how I can support other teachers in meeting this developing issue with lessons on keeping students safe in the Metaverse. Miller and Bass’ statement, “school isn’t the only place where values are created. Hobbies and interests that aren’t valued in school are often highly valued in other areas of the community” (2019, p. 61) reminds me that avoiding the technology that makes me uncomfortable, such as the Metaverse, in school doesn’t mean...