Audiobooks
I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. As a kid I read all the time. I have memories of sneaking out of bed to read another chapter and summer visits to the library and the piles of books I would take home each visit. I was an avid reader all through high school as well, but once I entered the adult world there never seemed to be enough time for pleasure reading. In university I was too busy trying to keep up with all my academic reading and when I started teaching, that took up most of my time. Pleasure reading became something I could only fit in during the summer, but at least there was some reading in my life. When I became a parent, there was no longer ANY time for reading. And then came audiobooks...
Audiobooks were a huge game changer. During the first two years of my kid's life I managed to read a book a year. And one was about feeding babies and the other was about potty training. Not exactly soul nourishing stuff. One day a friend introduced me to an app that could play audiobooks from the public library on my phone.
Since then, I've gone from reading one book in a year to listening to an average of three books a week. Having that many books in my life again has brought me so much joy. As well, it helps me feel more connected to the world around me and has become a way of staying informed on issues that I care about. I have always loved fiction, but audiobooks have opened me up to non-fiction as well. For the first time in my life I am 'reading' non-fiction books unrelated to teaching or my studies. Audiobooks have made books accessible to me during a time in my life where I hadn't been able to make time for them.
Audiobooks also make books accessible to non-readers or reluctant readers. Audiobooks are readily available at public libraries and school libraries in my district are starting to build their ebook and audiobook collections. As a future Teacher Librarian, a goal would be to help students get connected to audiobooks.
Graphic Novels
I love graphic novels and there are so many great ones for kids and adults of all ages and in every genre imaginable. I regularly TOC in a high school library and I have noticed that the graphic novel section gets a lot of readership. The librarian at the school recognizes that it is a popular type of book at her school and she has built a large and diverse collection of both fiction and non-fiction graphic novels. Like audiobooks, graphic novels can also be great for struggling or reluctant readers.
Author Talks
When I was in elementary school, we had authors visit or school each year. I loved these talks and I noticed how having meeting an author would build excitement about their books. Meeting those authors inspired me to read their books even when they were genres or topics that I wouldn't normally be drawn to. It was so interesting to hear authors talk about the ideas behind their books and about their writing processes. When I am in the position to, I would like to give my students that same experience.
This post shares good ideas for fostering a reading culture. I appreciate the title of your post - this really draws the reader in. I agree with your thoughts on audiobooks. We need a better solution for this in my district. For your next post, please include ideas from outside reading and research in addition to your reflective narrative.
ReplyDeleteHi Shani,
ReplyDeleteI so relate to being too busy to read. I am always optimistic and bring a book camping with me, but I have not really been able to read it as I am always watching my 3 little ones.
I have had the pleasure of covering two maternity leaves in two different elementary school libraries. In last year's library, they had a big collection of audio books on CD that were shelved in a prime space. They were used on a weekly basis, but many kids would say that they cannot take them out because their family does not have a cd player, even in their car! In the second library, they have a small collection of audio books that are kind of hidden away, and are mostly only used by teachers. I don't know if they were hidden away because they were unused, or if they were unused because they are hard to find.
Do you plan to have audio books available for download at your library? Are you planning to teach your students how to connect with their public library's audio books? In my last course I found out that having audio books and e-books in your collection for download is super expensive as you have to rebuy them frequently.