For the Love of Books

At the end of last year I spent a lot of time reflecting on my teaching career thus far. I graduated in 2008 from a Graduate Diploma in Primary Education, and have spent the last four years casual teaching in one form or another. I spent my first year of teaching in London teaching in a variety of different schools, some of which were quite different to what I had become accustomed to in Australia. Upon returning to Australia in 2010, I have spent two full years casual teaching, and one year teaching full time in a Turkish School south of Wollongong. All of these experiences have been rewarding and exciting, and I have truly enjoyed them all, but I couldn’t help but think that there was something missing. I hadn’t found that niche that would keep me satisfied for the rest of my career. What was it about primary teaching that appealed to me in the first place? Which part of teaching did I enjoy the most?

Eventually it came down to the two things I also enjoy exploring in my spare time – Reading and Technology. When I am in the classroom, I feel most at home with a book in my hand, reading to the class. I love that look of enchantment that comes over a child’s face when they are completely enthralled with the story I am reading. I also love listening to students’ interpretation of the story, and how it relates to their lives. As simplistic as it sounds, it was this that drew me to the Masters in Teacher Librarianship. To be able to spend so  much time nurturing this love of stories and storytelling would be wonderful.

Over the past couple of weeks as I have begun to read some of the introductory modules in the course, it has become more and more apparent that I will be able to call upon my love of technology in my new role as Teacher Librarian as well. Researching information is becoming more and more digitally focussed because the information can be kept current, and it is also quicker and easier than flipping through pages in a book. I am looking forward to teaching my older students how to use this technology more efficiently, as well as helping them to understand which sources are credible, as this is one of the biggest issues with online research. However I am particularly excited about the prospect of helping students create their own stories online, using websites like Storybird.com, after learning to use them myself of course. There is a whole world of new technologies out there waiting to be discovered, and I hope as part of this course I am given the opportunity to explore these options, and then use them in my teaching later on.

So let’s get started!