Literacy

1.  Revisit the issue of loaning audiobooks
1. In a recent edition of Booklist, the title "Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature" offers sound evidence and support for listening as a alternative reading option for students. 
2. Mary Burkey in Booklist also recommends mysteries as the genre of choice for audiobooks and suggests promoting Booksontoape.com and Recordedbooks.com as sites that highlight the educational advantages of audiobook listening. Also, Sync YA Listening audiobooksync.com offers two free weekly downloads throughout the summer
3. She recommends: 
1. Alexander McCall Smith and "The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case"
2. Gertrude Chandler Warner's Boxcar Children series "Bicycle Mystery: The Boxcar Children"
3. Charlie Higson's Young Bond "Blood Fever"
4. Nancy Springer "The case of the Gypsy Good-Bye" featuring Sherlock Holmes' younger sister Enola
5. Maryrose Wood's "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place" series
6. Libba Bray's "The Diviners"
7. Barry Lyga's "I Hunt Killers"
8. Elizabeth Wein's "Code Name Verity" 
9. Daniel Krauss "Rotters"
10. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
11. Maggie Stiefvater's "The Raven Boys"
12. Rudolfo Anaya "Bless Me, Ultima" 
13. Pam's Pointers for Increasing Listening in Your School
    by Pam Spencer Holley
    Past President, YALSA (ALA's Young Adult Library Service Association)
    • Ensure that a varied collection of audiobooks is available, from titles on school reading lists to the latest works of middle grade, YA and adult authors
    • Have the necessary listening equipment available for checkout — CD players, MP-3 players, Playaways
    • Subscribe to a service that offers digital downloads to patrons and students
      (i.e. NetLibrary)
    • Set aside areas for joint or shared listening
    • Allow listening to an audiobook as an acceptable basis for a book report, perhaps even letting students record their reports
    • Highlight narrators by organizing a display or providing listening opportunities to the stars of the audiobook industry
    • Build your collection with award-winning audiobooks selected by these ALA committees: the ALSC Notable Children's Recordings and YALSA Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults
    • Share reviews so students understand the qualities that make a good audiobook production
    • Suggest audiobooks that will further classwork, such as biographies of authors or historians, works about major events in American history, or titles recorded in a foreign language
    • Let students see you listening as you walk to lunch, work in your office, or head to a school event
     
2. What sequence of skills are required to ensure that all students are able to effectively and efficiently search library collections?
1. It appears that these skills are no longer being addressed in elementary library programs
2. A scope and sequence of these skills for Humanities classes is required - will include a transition to  the post-secondary Library of Congress classification system
3. What sequence of skills are required to ensure that all students are able to cite references accurately by the time they reach grade 12?
1. A scope and sequence of these skills for our English classes is required
4. What strategies and tools will engage learners in reading? 
1.  Booktalking; book displays; Book Club; author visits
2. Thanks to the excellent librarian Judith Comfort at Dr. Charles Best Secondary for these suggestions
1. Sample Lesson - Chrysalids in the 21st Century 
2. Online Books link
3. Authors Link
4. Resources for Teacher-Librarians 
5. Lesson Pages
5. How and why do graphic novels encourage literacy? 
1. For junior students?
1. Graphic Novel Workshop   
2. Read Write Think - Graphic Novels
3. Most circulated manga titles @ PGSS
2. For senior students?