Developmental Bibliotherapy:

What is it and why do our students need it?

Presented by Judith Wakeman

Judith’s research into the positive correlation between reading fiction and the wellbeing of young adults began with a chance conversation in mid 2018. Since then she has read thousands of pages of research and consolidated and shared her findings on her blog at Read4life.today, contributed to the Humanities on the Brink symposium hosted by Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment and UCSA (available on YouTube), and submitted a chapter for inclusion in an upcoming publication entitled Literature for Change. Before becoming a teacher librarian, Judith was a teacher of mathematics and information technology in secondary and tertiary settings. She has studied across all areas of the natural sciences, including meteorology and climatology, and has an ongoing interest in psychology and philosophy. She is also an avid reader of young adult literature and Cli-Fi.

Judith has generously prepared an article for SLANSW, in preparation for an Online Meet-Up. 

Cli-Fi EEV for SLANSW Reframing young peoples responses to climate change.pdf

If you would like to find out more please register for Judith's Online Meet-up via: Developmental Bibliotherapy: What is it and why do our students need it?

SLANSW Members will have recently received an email inviting them to attend the 2021 SLANSW Annual General Meeting. 

The AGM is to take place on Saturday 4th September 2021 at 12.40pm. 

The SLANSW Member email contains links to:

• AGM Agenda
• Minutes of the 2020 AGM
• SLANSW Nomination Form: Nominations are to reach the Secretary, by no later than 5pm on 27th August, 2021.
• SLANSW Proxy Form: Proxies will be accepted until 5.00pm Friday, 3rd September 2021

There are a number of positions to be declared vacant at the AGM, please consider nominating to join our Committee. Those members wishing to represent their regions, please visit our website for the latest information: https://www.slansw.net.au/committee. 

In the lead up to CBCA Book Week 2021, Story Box Library is releasing CBCA shortlisted titles from the Early Childhood, Picture Book and New Illustrator categories, and dedicated activities for kids. Find stories via the ‘CBCA Shortlist 2021’ filter option on the website.

With engaging story reads from well-known storytellers, Story Box Library’s CBCA story reads will also be accompanied by Auslan translations, in a project assisted through a Telematics Trust grant.

Story Box Library has designed a special collection of ready-made activities for digital and print use, aligning with the CBCA Book Week 2021 theme ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’ and linking to story reads. Designed to be used independently by children, making reading fun for kids of all ages, and encouraging deeper learning and connection with the stories, activities are available to download here via the website.

This next SLANSW professional learning summit provides participants with the opportunity to engage in a number of workshops, closely linked to the keynote presentation themes of how young people operate in a digital world and how to design online surveys. These themes will be explored to support reading programs in our schools. The SLANSW Micro-credentialling group will present a panel discussion and provide a Q&A opportunity for participants.  

To explore more about our Professional Learning Summit or to register, please visit Digital Design & Delivery

Did you know that one of the benefits of membership is access to an extensive suite of archived Online Meet-up recordings and resources?

Not a current member?

Why not view this recording as a way to see one of the great benefits of being a SLANSW member. This Online Meet-up  was presented to members to showcase evidence-based practice in action. 

Session Description

The session was presented by Helen Stower who is the Programme Leader of Information Services & iCentre at Mt Alvernia College in Kedron, Qld.

One of the cornerstone programs in the Mt Alvernia iCentre is the literature promotion program called Campfire. This program is run formally in Year 7 & 8. The program is well received at the school and the TL team at Mt Alvernia had some great anecdotal feedback about our Campfire sessions.

They also had loan statistics that showed Campfire sessions have dramatically increased the number of books borrowed by students. But is a book borrowed a book read?

It had long been Helen's concern that the TL team did not have any hard evidence that the program has merit and is beneficial to the literacy outcomes of our students. Throughout 2018, the Mt Alvernia TL team endeavoured to gather such evidence. This project is a work in progress and this presentation shares what they have learned so far.

To find out more about joining, visit our Membership page.

Join us on Saturday 5^th June as we take a deep dive into the priority skills of information fluency using the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum’s (ESIFC) scope and sequence, and discover the power of graphic organizers to guide students as they learn new inquiry skills.  You will also be invited to start your own re-imagination journey by glimpsing Stripling’s newest areas of investigation and having an opportunity to develop your own practice in small-group collaboration with colleagues.

Goal for this Workshop

You will discover aspects of inquiry-based teaching and learning that will enable you to continue on your own path to agency and leadership for your school community, through:

* Teaching Deep Reading During Inquiry

* Nurturing the Whole Child Through Inquiry

* Fostering Social and Emotional Growth

* Developing Student Agency

You will explore how teacher librarians can foster an inquiry stance in students that propels and supports their independent reading and learning.

You will be given the opportunity to:

* re-imagine your path toward inquiry-based teaching and learning by fostering both inquiry process and stance

* form a plan framed by key values

* collaboratively draft a plan that builds on current efforts and strengthens inquiry using an information fluency lens.

To register for the ISS package or for this session with

Dr Barbara Stripling, please visit: Events

Dr Barbara Stripling, recently retired, has had a long career in the library profession, including positions as Director of Library Services for the New York City schools, a school library media specialist and school district director of libraries in Arkansas, a library grant program director in Tennessee, and Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University.  Barb has written or edited numerous books and articles and is the creator of the Stripling Model of Inquiry.  Stripling has recently developed and published (in April 2019) a re-imagined version of the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum, a PK-12 continuum of the skills that teacher librarians teach to empower students to be lifelong learners.  Stripling has served the profession as president of the American Association of School Librarians (1986-1987), president of the New York Library Association (2016-2017), president of the American Library Association (2013-2014), and current president of the Freedom to Read Foundation (2020-). 

To explore more about our International Speaker Series 2021 or to register;

 visit our events page.

International Speaker Series 2021

Professional Learning Package

5 June & 13 November 2021

A Professional Learning Package featuring:

Dr Barbara Stripling & Dr Sarah McGrew

This professional learning package consists of a series of two online professional learning events featuring international guest speakers exploring inquiry learning and media literacy issues relevant to teacher librarians and teachers in 2021.

Each session is being held on a Saturday morning from 9-11am, with each 2 hour session consisting of a one hour presentation with Q&A followed by one hour of practical workshop-style activities.

Each 2 hour session will take place in SLANSW's Zoom conference room.

To explore more about our International Speaker Series 2021 or to register;

 visit our event page. 

Amber Sorensen shares some wonderful and successful passive programming ideas with SLANSW members. 

Passive programming is something that most teacher-librarians already do without necessarily knowing they’re doing it. “Passive programming encompasses a variety of types of programs that allow patrons to participate with minimal to no staff direction. Often they allow for varying amounts of patron involvement and/or time commitment.” (Forrester, 2014)

To read the full blog post by Amber Sorensen, click here and login to your Member Portal.

With over 200 Department of Education schools impacted by the current weather event, and we assume just as many private and/or independent schools, it’s timely to bring to the attention of our members, resources available to assist with disaster preparedness. SLANSW, in collaboration with SLAV and Blue Shield Australia, presented an Online Meet-up in 2020 to provide our members with practical strategies to deal with disasters, should their library be directly impacted in the future. A copy of the recording, along with additional resources can be accessed via the SLANSW Member Portal.