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Helping literacy learners: the vital role of librarians

By Kerrie Shanahan

Issue 122, Term 3 2022

sed in a novel or an interesting biography. As educators it’s also wonderful to see children immersed in books when they too have developed a love of reading.  For this to happen, it’s essential that students develop the skills needed to become independent readers in their early years. Teaching th

Let's talk about literacy

By John Parsons

Issue 95, Term 4 2015

s not teaching practices or the curriculum that should be under the spotlight. I firmly believe it is the levelling, nature, and quality of classroom reading resources we need to examine. Here's why. I'd like to share my watershed moment. Like most of my classmates, our school's traditional reader

Lending an ear for literacy

By Leah Sheldon, Janine Sigley

Issue 94, Term 3 2015

The mission of Story Dogs is 'To make reading fun for children, so they become confident lifelong readers. No child should be left behind in literacy.' Earlier this year Connections approached Janine and Leah to share how their organisation is helping to address the issue of literacy in Australi

Promoting literature to students

By Bob Docherty

Issue 94, Term 3 2015

rience can surpass. Taking good literature to students in schools is not only essential but also the best way to get children interested in books and reading. They need to know what they can read and that reading is worthwhile. This is especially true for boys, but not exclusively as girls are dropp

Reading like a girl

By Bec Kavanagh

Issue 93, Term 2 2015

girls, or with pink covers, or about love, because these are 'small' subjects. When we talk about and to girls, we tell them that although they like reading, they have to be more open to compromise and coming second. We tell them by fictional example that they will often have to settle as the sidek

Building a buzz with book snaps

By Susan Stephenson

Issue 104, Term 1 2018

from a book and creating a shareable image about it. Typically, people take a quick snap or screenshot (if the text is digital) of something they are reading. Once it is an image, they add to it other images and text, then save and share it. While Snapchat has often been used for the sharing aspect,

1,000 reasons to support Australian book creators

By Jackie French

Issue 97, Term 2 2016

Dear Jackie French, What I have learned from your book is to be wary of anyone who tries to make you angry. Love James James was 14, and Hitler’s Daughter was the first book he had ever read. Yet he had found the truth behind a question I had been hunting for ever since I was ten years old: h

To inspire or to instruct

By Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu

Issue 91, Term 4 2014

many students find life at school tough and often lonely. Some students are having their own 'midlife' crises. The very least we can do is to provide reading materials that have some bearing on what is happening today. If you are finding it hard to influence reading or to increase student literacy,

Read, respond, celebrate: engaging with the CBCA short list

By Josephine Laretive

Issue 102, Term 3 2017

ajor event of Children’s Book Week during August. The five CBCA short list book categories offer schools an abundance of opportunities to engage with reading, responding to, and celebrating literature. Exploring the short list books aligns with the Australian Curriculum and provides important opport

Stories make us: in conversation with Morris Gleitzman

By Nicole Richardson

Issue 105, Term 2 2018

r 2018–19. As laureate, he will join his predecessors, Leigh Hobbs, Jackie French, Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor in promoting the importance of reading. Morris kindly shared his time with us to discuss the laureateship; why the need for stories is more important now than ever; how he will ad

A national celebration of storytime

By Brendan Eichholzer

Issue 105, Term 2 2018

ools, preschools, childcare centres, family homes, and bookshops. Now in its 18th year, NSS is a fun, vibrant event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children’s book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the Australian Cur

The cathartic experience: understanding grief through the written word

By Nicole Richardson

Issue 106, Term 3 2018

t her writing novels since she was 14 — along with the love of the craft. Eliza’s debut novel, In the Quiet , landed her on the shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and on the longlist for the Indie Awards and ABIA Awards. Eliza’s fir

Dyslexia: can we read with our ears?

By Sarah Asome

Issue 106, Term 3 2018

xic students get lost in the sea of words, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The Five from Five website  explains why the following five keys to reading are needed every day for all children from the age of five, and offers activities for parents and teachers, and resources for principals and p

Stories that matter

By Helen Stower, Krystal Gagen-Spriggs

Issue 107, Term 4 2018

ng of their story and this clarifies both societal attitudes and the personal experience of being transgender. The glossary, resources, and suggested reading also provide wonderful tools for those wishing to better understand gender fluidity. Conclusion The power of YA fiction is that young read

Promoting reading for pleasure in school libraries

By Emma Suffield

Issue 108, Term 1 2019

I have been a school librarian for five years now and what a journey it has been. The reason I applied for this role was to promote reading for pleasure and share my love of reading with young learners; there is nothing more satisfying than turning a reluctant reader into an avid one. When I star

Emily Rodda on treasured stories

By Nicole Richardson

Issue 108, Term 1 2019

elop their own love of stories. His Name Was Walter Emily’s most recent book   His Name Was Walter   explores the power of stories, of shared reading experiences, and of long-ago hidden books as sacred as buried treasure. Weaving together fairytale and historical fiction, entwined with the m

So, you have established a reading culture: now what?

By Catherine Barnes

Issue 108, Term 1 2019

ffect on students, with the majority of them being enthusiastic readers. For a secondary school, we have an amazing completion rate for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, with some classes achieving 100 per cent. We are well aware that in some areas of our community there is not so much good fortune

Supporting Australian book creators

By Aaron Blabey

Issue 108, Term 1 2019

When I began writing books professionally in 2006, I had never heard of the Australian Lending Right Schemes. My publisher just handed me a form, which I blithely filled out and promptly forgot all about. Then, after a hair-raising period filled with newborn children, an elephantine mortgage, and

The appropriateness of age-appropriate reading levels

By Eric Neuman

Issue 108, Term 1 2019

As an educator, especially one who works with books and literacy, it feels taboo to not use or appreciate the value of reading levels, but we have chosen not to apply them in our library. For those not familiar with what they are, reading levels are a measure used by teachers to see how well thei

Leading whole school literacy from the library

By Dr Margaret Merga

Issue 124, Term 1 2023

Literacy is a general capability to be taught across all learning areas in Australian schools. Students use literacy skills to learn and demonstrate their learning across the curriculum, and they need to learn both cross-disciplinary and discipline-specific literacy skills to achieve their academic