Highlights of Connections 94

Here are the highlights from the latest issue of Connections, which is now available online.

Story Dogs
© 2015 Story Dogs

Lending an ear for literacy
Leah Sheldon and Janine Sigley share how their not-for-profit organisation, Story Dogs, uses Dog Teams to engage students struggling with literacy in Australian schools.

Addressing reconciliation in a school setting
Teacher librarian Jan Poona examines reconciliation and how she has been able to address this in the library. She also includes an excerpt from a chapter she wrote for Reconciliation and Australian Social Work (Magpie Goose Publishing, 2015) titled ‘Teacher librarians, SCIS, and reconciliation’.

Promoting literature to students
Based in New Zealand as a literacy consultant, Bob Docherty offers his knowledge and passion for children’s literature to promote reading and literacy in schools.

Technology
Image credit: Chelsea Wright

Engaging students with new and emerging technologies
Chelsea Wright, Library and Learning Resources Leader at Salesian College Rupertswood VIC, discusses how a library-run Tech and Gaming Club can benefit students and schools, as well as achieve top-level library objectives. She also outlines a number of suggested activities.

From the desk of a cataloguer
SCIS cataloguer Julie Styles reviews some cataloguing decisions made by SCIS, and presents some of the issues librarians face when downloading records from other catalogues and using them to supplement SCIS records.

Highlights of Connections 93

Here are the highlights from the latest issue of Connections, which is now available online.

Cybersmart Detectives in the Principal's Office (c) Commonwealth of Australia
© Commonwealth of Australia

Cybersmart Digital Citizenship
Kellie Britnell, Senior Education Advisor for the Cybersmart Outreach program–a national cybersafety and cybersecurity education program managed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority–looks at how the program can be used by children, young people, parents, teachers, and library staff to understand the rights and responsibilities of a Cybersmart citizen.


The end of an era
Michelle Harvey, Content, Marketing & Projects Coordinator at Education Services Australia, presents the history and highlights of Curriculum Press in the lead up to its closure on 30 June 2015.

Reading like a girl
Bec Kavanagh, Coordinator for the Stella Prize Schools Program, looks at the unconscious gender bias present in the literary world, and how the Stella Prize Schools Program is trying to combat this.

Cheryl shows the teachers the new library. Image courtesy of Cheryl Lopez & Amanda Huxtable
Image courtesy of Cheryl Lopez & Amanda Huxtable

An African library journey
Teacher librarian Cheryl Lopez recently spent a month at The School of St Yared in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Students at the school come from the poorest of homes and their education is sponsored, mainly by Australians. Here she discusses her experience working with staff and students to set up the school library.

Positive promotion of the school library
Australia’s favourite librarian (as voted in a competition run by ALIA) Jae Rolt talks passionately about the innovative ways she uses to promote the library at Cessnock West Public School and get children excited about reading.

ABC Splash website. © Australian Broadcasting Company & Education Services Australia Ltd
© Australian Broadcasting Company & Education Services Australia Ltd

Get the best out of ABC Splash
Leanne Robertson, Senior Manager at Education Services Australia, presents the latest free resources produced by ABC Splash (www.splash.abc.net.au)–a partnership between Education Services Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Supporting Australian book creators
Laura Armstrong, Communications & Projects Coordinator for SCIS, answers some frequently asked questions about the Educational Lending Right school library survey.