If you want to catch Krashen it is not too late to jimp in.

Cheers James

I see that some folk have already gotten into talking about reading which according to my co-conspirator Sande Lee is everyones favourite topic.

Wouldnt it be so nice if all those folk out there who influence education policy just jumped on board and listened to Stephen Krashen; they could save countless billions of tax payers money…

Does anyone have a politician for a friend? Get them on board! Now! Yes right now! Lets join hands to save the planet. Get a politician to read…

Cheers James

But our statistics for program participation that summer went through the floor. Hmmmm. It was not as much fun to have to explain that.

The lesson learned from the Club participation and the near obsession with simple/quantitative library statistics was that the real achievement should have been much more than the numbers. And a real gap in the planning was the a lack of substantive objectives. What was the goal of our program anyway? To have a large number of participants? To increase circulation?

The reward was evident in the service we provided, the fun activities we held and the joy of engaging with young people at the library desk to talk about their reading. I appreciate that library management must report to a board and the natural and most effective way to build the perception of a successful program  is to report impressive numbers. And support is largely based on the need expressed through these statistics. I get that. It is also important for us to understand deeply that our role is more than that. And sometimes, it is difficult to capture the outcomes of initiatives. It is important to consider practice too and the need for all librarians, even the ones who report the numbers, to think critically about what we do. Yes, I increased the rate of registration, but did that mean more children visited the library? Even if they visited, it is difficult to determine if they signed out books (and is that a criterion for successful Reading Clubs?) If they did sign out books, I do not know if they were read, or enjoyed, or if they were at a reading level that benefited reading development. And to add an information literacy element here…just because a library user reads, he or she is not necessarily informed. How are we addressing these concerns in our library programs? How can they be measured?

I was reminded of the big picture the following year when I heard a presentation about Stephen Krashen’s writing about free voluntary reading. The importance of FVR should be an emphasis of Summer Reading Clubs and other structured (sometimes over-structured) programs. Reading research should be informing our reading programs and should also be informing our colleagues, library boards and communities.

So thank you Stephen Krashen, you made me a better librarian! I look forward to your presentation at YSL4.

This is the first time YSL has called for presentations. It was fascinating to hear from people from across the globe and to hear what they are doing in their schools. We can look forward to presentations from Hong Kong, Peru, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, UK, Germany and South Africa.

Stay tuned as we finalize the list. Check out the course details page where you can read the abstracts and bios for YSL4 presenters.

Program:

• Reading and Writing about ‘Rithmatic: Breathing Life into Math and Science Lessons through Literature
• Start Small, Aim High!
• Have You Tried ‘em?: Promoting Reading Through Graphic Novels with Struggling, Reluctant or Non-Readers.
• Do Author visits make a difference to reading interest?
• Graphic Novels: Purveyors of Evil or Promoters of Literacy?
• A collaborative teaching approach to inquiry project-based learning with Web 2.0 at upper primary levels in Hong Kong
• Public School Libraries as Safe Harbors:  Using Reading to Reach the Marginalized Students Who Enter Our Doors
• A Playworlds Approach to Learning Design: What Role for Youth Librarianship?
• StoryTubes: Kids Go Live With Books
• Promoting Reading Through the use of Popular Magazines: Printed Stuff that is just not Dying
• Roosevelt Reads!  Creating a culture of reading in a K-12 international context
• E-books and Audio books; do they assist with learning to read?
• Spreading the word about good books
• Boys and Books:  Building a Reading Community
• Tall tales, Gigglecritters and IT: A global literacy project for 21st century children

Sub-topics

1. Reading research
2. Boys and books
3. Success stories: Integrating fiction across the curriculum
4. Promoting reading through graphic novels
5. Using author visits to promote reading
6. Comprehension competitions, special reading contests, literature festivals
7. Reading to advance social justice
8. Bibliotherapy: New trends
9. Reading and digital libraries for children
10. Writing for children

Guidelines for proposals

Deadline for proposals: March 28
Notification by: April 4
Presentations due: May 20

Submit proposals to: abstracts.ysl@gmail.com

For more information: abstracts.ysl@gmail.com

Pat