Friday, July 1, 2011

e-Books and School Library





Last post, I wrote about the importance of JK Rowling books to captivate a new public of readers at school.

"All educators of Languages curriculum can assure that the "Harry Potter 'folie' brought enormous number of new readers in the Languages courses in the school, since we as educators understood the importance of reading the Harry Potter books in the curriculum of Languages and Literature."


As I read five books Harry Potter in the Literature | Language classroom with my students, I can say having a Master degree in Literature and Linguistics that the story world of Harry Potter is vastly detailed and believable enough for a young-adults fiction.
  
Almost every character had flaws to overcome which made them fascinating to read. The mysteries were masterfully produced by Rowling and cleverly explained.  All of these things drove the story forward.  They were all great elements to help create the whole.

And JK Rowling wrote for the present. As her audience grew up so did the story.

Education:


Diversity in children and adolescents' books had long been a complex issue. Despite good  efforts and some big strides forward in the last years, children's books remained disappointingly short of enough culturally diverse stories.

So, in the 90's, Eragon and Harry Potter were the first books that contained a suitable number of pages and a good story to captivate youngs really absorved into a book.

I can't be so helpful about books which challenge gender stereotypes. Whenever one is published there is a media storm of protest. But this is another point not included here.
Though there are not enough, there are some and they are excellent.

The idea of JK Rowling transforming her books in e-books on Pottermore.com bring to my thoughts another important matter: Best practices in school library.




Interactive children’s books for the iPad are becoming more engaging and, in some cases, are visually stunning. Remember Alice in Wonderland for iPad or iPad features & Education?

The Kindles, Nooks and iPads, Oh My! Implementing eReaders into the school libraries program is about more than just jumping on the latest technological bandwagon or attempting to reinvent the library in order to stay relevant. It’s about good practice in school library, an impressive support to students.

So. let's follow Buffy J. Hamilton, an teacher librarian, and her ideas to understand how eReaders have helped them provide students with: 

a) access to the most up to date titles, 

b) the unique ability to efficiently link works of fiction with non-fiction resources and, 

c) the opportunity to interact with texts in ways that are simply not possible with traditional, library owned, books – all in an environment that both appeals to and enhances their skills as 21st century learners.

Now! My question is: Are school libraries prepared to introduce innovative devices? Sometimes, teachers librarians are conservative. And directors are not so open to new ideas.

And there is another point! A very important one! The chidren's preparation for e-Readers, especially children and adolescents students from disadvantaged social backgrounds

So, perhaps the Jennifer LaGarde slideshare below might help...

Conclusion:


The critical thing that is happening is students are living and breathing, within a much larger sphere of information and knowledge. That critical openness to knowledge, that is something we had better address, or we are ill-serving our students. Seeing students utilize the information literacy skills we have previously taught them in a new context and independently without it being a mandate is probably one of the most joyful experiences as an educator.  

We pay attention! Always!

G-Souto

01.07.2011
Copyright © 2011G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Credits: video Jennifer LaGarde

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e-Books and School Library by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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