Let's Talk - The Library is Somewhat Safe for Now

Today's blog post is an attempt to cover two topics in a single text.

First, I want to talk ... about talking. Specifically, I want to examine the Forest of Reading talks I hold in the library learning commons. 

One of the main ways the adults at my school determine whether or not a student has read a Forest of Reading nominated book is to talk with him/her/them. These Forest of Reading chats have been a staple of the program at Agnes Macphail Public School for years. It was way back in 2014 when I wrote an article for ETFO Voice magazine describing the process. Here's a quote from that article about the types of conversations:

Students who have completed reading a book check the spreadsheet and then take the initiative to coordinate a time with one of the teachers who have read the book to have a chat at a mutually agreed-upon time. The chat is a conversation, not a test, where two readers share their thoughts and opinions on a text. If the teacher believes, based on the “accountable talk” they’ve had, that the student has read the whole book and understood it, s/he will sign the passport to validate the student claim. Students love the opportunity to talk with their teachers about books in a way that supersedes evaluation and in recent years, we’ve expanded chats to include group talks and conversations via Skype and/or email.

The pandemic, as you can imagine, disrupted this process in several ways. I wrote for Treasure Mountain Canada 7 (the Canadian school library think tank symposium) about how we tried to adapt our Forest of Reading program with COVID restrictions and the results from those alterations.

Now that we are back to in-person learning without interruptions or pivots, we are re-establishing our Forest of Reading habits.

But finding time to talk can be hard!

I had this statistic from my 2021-22 Library Annual Report:

# of chats conducted by Teacher-Librarian for Forest of Reading

For 2022 = 105 (compared to 166 in 2020 and 202 in 2019) 

So far, I've had 125 chats in 2023, with 5 more weeks to go until the end of this year's Forest of Reading program. (I'm lower than I'd like to be because of some personal absences from school, such as for the MES Conference and the EOEC trip.) It was very hard to arrange chats last year because I didn't host recess open visits last year. These are the statistics from my recess open visits from the past:

Library Recess Visit Log & Statistics

2016 – 2017 (Feb. – Jun.) 5 mos	2017 – 2018 (Sept. – Jun.) 10 m	2018 – 2019 (Sept. – Jun.) 10 m	2019 – 2020 (Sept. – Jan.) 5 mos	2020-2021 (Sept.-Jun) 10 m	2021-22 (Sept.-Jun.) 0 m
574 visits	3080 visits	2920 visits	1284 visits	0 visits	0 visits

(Can you tell how much I love data? I like the story that numbers can tell.) This year, I've been able to re-open the library, just at morning recess instead of both morning and afternoon. So far, I think I'm at 600+ visits, with three more months to go. I'm grateful for the time I have, because students are keen to chat so they can qualify. I'm starting to arrange conversations at lunchtime for those who stay at school for lunch to try and accommodate all the requests for Forest of Reading chats. 

The Library Learning Commons and the position of teacher-librarian, especially with flexible, open, collaborative scheduling, is a vital one to the success of the Forest of Reading ... which leads me to my second focus point: school libraries were in imminent danger in TDSB but have been rescued thanks to some recent decisions.

8 billion in lost revenue with @fordnation’s new tax cuts for business. Imagine what 8 billion could do for our long-suffering education system 🫠 #CutsHurtKids #OntEd

Source: https://t.co/acfeO8dgwC pic.twitter.com/qnDKjoX5X1

— 🅹🆄🅻🅸🆄🆂 (@CallMeJulius) March 23, 2023

TDSB warns of cuts to student programs if Ontario does not reimburse pandemic-related costs. https://t.co/iV2J47A3w0

— CTV Toronto (@CTVToronto) March 22, 2023

I've copied two tweets that refer to TDSB funding shortfalls due to provincial government foot-dragging. Those potential cuts nearly included all elementary school teacher-librarians. When schools were given their staffing numbers last week, under library allocation was a mysterious "TBD" - "to be determined". 

 Thankfully, there was some good news - a memo released Friday afternoon indicated that, despite the lack of support from the province, the board plans to continue having teacher-librarians, although they are going to examine a different model for determining the percentage a school would receive. 

I'm also thankful that there's a group ready to take action: the ETT Library Committee. Formed less than a year ago today, these volunteers have been active in monitoring activity and planning next steps. 

I won't say much more, since nothing has been officially confirmed or set in stone (budget committees are still meeting and board approval is pending) but I am relieved that, currently, the school libraries in TDSB are still standing.