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Heeru Bhojwani
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Professional Learning

Jan 08 2023

Are You a NEP Ready Librarian?

By NEP2020, Professional Development, Professional Learning No Comments

What are NEP 2020 expectations for Librarians?

When NEP 2020 was released, I expressed my views from a librarian’s perspective on the Impact of NEP 2020 on Teacher Librarians (India)

After that, I am considering how we can take this forward and how librarians can be NEP-ready to support and build all forms of literacies for students to become meta-literate.

What does NEP 2020 say for Libraries:

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a policy document released by the Government of India that outlines the vision and goals for the education sector in India. It covers many topics, including early childhood care and education, school education, higher education, and vocational education. The NEP 2020 has several provisions that relate to librarians and library management.

  1. Use of Technology

One of the key expectations of the NEP 2020 for librarians is to promote technology in library management and make libraries more accessible to users. This includes using digital platforms and tools to manage library collections and services and provide users with access to a wide range of electronic resources.

     2. Use of Open Education Resources.

Librarians are also expected to play a key role in promoting the use of open educational resources (OERs) and other free, high-quality resources available online.

     3. Ethical Use of Information

Computer Communication

Librarians to support Information and Media Literacy

The NEP 2020 also emphasizes the importance of librarians as information literacy educators. It encourages them to collaborate with teachers and other educators to teach students how to access, evaluate, and use information effectively. Librarians are expected to play a key role in helping students develop the skills they need to be responsible digital citizens and use information technology safely and ethically.

      4. Best Practices

Finally, the NEP 2020 expects librarians to be proactive and adaptable and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in the library and information science field. This may involve continuing education, professional development opportunities, and staying informed about new technologies and best practices in library management.

NEP 01: 

Enjoyable and inspirational books for students at all levels will be developed, including through high-quality translation (technology assisted as needed) in all local and Indian languages, and will be made available extensively in both school and local public libraries.

 Recommendations:

Librarians believe that they work hard to ensure they curate the best collection of books, print and digital, based on the budgets offered to them. But the question arises what can we librarians do to raise the bar of enjoyment and inspiration? How can we make our read – aloud of picture books lead to critical thinking? How can we build motivation through stories? How can we engage students and use higher-order thinking questions & discussions with our students? How can we engage in collaborative teaching and learning? How can we use visible thinking routines to develop open-minded thinking and a spirit of empathy? Liferarian Association is coming up with different workshops under the label – Are you a NEP-ready Librarian? Please fill out this form if you are interested in joining the coursework for building Literacy

NEP 02 

Public and school libraries will be significantly expanded to build a culture of reading across the country.

 Recommendations:

  1. Make sure the library is well-stocked with various books that reflect the interests and diversity of the school community. This can include fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, magazines, and more.
  2. Create a welcoming and comfortable space for students to read and study. This might include comfortable seating, plenty of natural light, and quiet areas for individual or small group work.
  3. Encourage students to visit the library regularly by offering regular programs and activities, such as book clubs, writing workshops, or author visits.
  4. Partner with teachers to integrate the library and its resources into the classroom. For example, the librarian could work with teachers to create reading lists or suggest books that tie into the curriculum.
  5. Promote the library and resources to the entire school community through newsletters, social media, and other communication channels.
  6. Make it easy for students to access books and other materials by offering flexible borrowing policies, online resources, and other convenient options.

NEP 03

Digital libraries will also be established. School libraries will be set up – particularly in villages – to serve the community during non-school hours, and book clubs may meet in public/school libraries to further facilitate and promote widespread reading.

 Recommendations:

  • Host book clubs for different age groups or interest areas, such as a mystery book club or a graphic novel book club.
  • Offer a summer reading program with incentives for students who read a certain number of books over the break.
  • Partner with local bookstores or libraries to host author events or book fairs.
  • Host a “reading marathon” where students, staff, and community members take turns reading aloud from a favorite book or series.
  • Create a “reading buddy” program where older students are paired with younger students to read together and discuss books.
  • Invite community members, such as local writers or business owners, to come and speak about their careers and the role reading has played in their success.
  • Host a “reading challenge” where students can earn prizes for reading a certain number of books in a given time period.
  • Offer a book swap program where students can bring in books they have already read and trade them for new ones.
  • Set up a “reading corner” in a high-traffic area of the school, such as the main office or cafeteria, with comfy chairs and a selection of books for students to browse and borrow.

NEP 04

A National Book Promotion Policy will be formulated, and extensive initiatives will be undertaken to ensure the availability, accessibility, quality, and readership of books across geographies, languages, levels, and genres.

Recommendations:

To meet the NEP 04, it is important to revise the library policy to include the following:

  • Increase budget for libraries
  • Introduce a virtual library website (not google slides)
  • Automatize the library collection using OPAC
  • Provide access to the catalog online in the library and outside
  • Curate a collection of print books and ebooks to reinforce 21st-century skills 
  • Open access to resources to ensure the availability of resources
  • Provide a variety of books in different languages
  • Provide different genres for all age groups of the school community
  • Invite volunteers 
  • Yearly professional development to be provided for Librarians (50 hours as recommended by CBSE)

I look forward to your comments or interested in joining the Are you a NEP Ready Librarian Coursework, please email me at librarymatters6@gmail.com, or you may fill out this form. (For more details, check out course 04)

Customized workshops are available for NEP Ready School Librarians email: ceo@liferarian.com or coachingliferarian@gmail.com 

Assisted by Ai

 

 

 

 

Mar 20 2022

Banning Books & Reconsideration Policy

By Collection Development, General, Library Policy, Professional Learning No Comments

Here is my story: 

Fantasy Fairy Tales Child Girl Forest House Queen

A long time ago, when I was a Primary School Librarian, a parent came up to me in the Library and asked me to take off all the fairy tale stories from our primary collection. She remarked that the fairy tales were full of violence and were inappropriate for children. Many fairy tales have evil parents who send their children away, ugly beasts that kidnap children and mistreat them. She said, “These stories place parents in poor light, especially the story of Cinderella, where the stepmother is evil.” She questioned me, “do you think all stepmothers are evil? Is the goal of Cinderella to only marry the Prince and live happily ever after?”

In Hansel and Gretel, the father asks the children to leave their home? The children are stranded in the forest with an evil witch who wants to boil the children? What about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? It belittles the role of parents. These are just a few examples from 100s of examples that we encounter. 

What do Librarians do for building a collection?

A dynamic librarian will provide a variety of books that include fairytales, becoming of age stories like Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, Talking Of Muskaan by Himanjali Sankar, Slightly Burnt by Payal Dhar, Daddy Come Lately by Rupa Gulab, Asmara’s Summer by Andaleeb Wajid are just a few examples. Check out other additional titles.

As librarians, we include picture books with unconventional stories like  The Tree Boy by Srividhya Venkat, Nayantara Surendranath, Puu by CG Salamander, Samidha Gunjal, Sadiq Wants to Stitch by Mamta Nainy, Niloufer Wadia Ritu weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar and more titles. 

Discussing sensitive topics that deal with gender and the caste system is very complex. However, we must find ways to address them with an open mind without sharing our strong opinions by providing a platform for discussion, where there is respect, kindness, and acceptance of different views and voices. Stories like these will give healthy discussions while igniting empathy. Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land: Dignity of Labour in Our Times, Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability, and here is another list of nonfiction for older students in secondary school.

Evolving School and Growing Libraries

If schools need to transform, the library collection must evolve and create a collection of print and digital resources that provide different perspectives that include historical and current ideas.

Students are curious. Children want to read books that reflect different communities, lifestyles, and perspectives. The library collection provides opportunities to learn new things. As librarians, we want to bring in a unique collection of books stories that provide perspectives and courage to change and evolve.

Evolving Society and Libraries

As our society evolves, we as librarians want to rise above hypocrisy and double standards. Librarians want to grow and provide a progressive collection of resources to meet the students’ changing needs. What can librarians do to ensure they are progressive and meet the needs of the students while supporting the school and parent community.

Our modern children want to learn about present-day problems, ways of life about gay rights, same-sex marriages, gender equality, and the treatment of privileged versus the unprivileged classes. Schools and libraries want to introduce new literature. However, some parents who find these topics uncomfortable and challenging resist these stories. 

What can Librarians do?

Some of the considerations to evolve as a progressive librarian, we must

  1. Learn and read the school’s school vision, mission, and culture.
  2. Understand the national textbooks. Use the Preamble of the constitution embedded in the textbook to develop your school’s collection to build an inclusive collection.
  3. Identify the curriculum of your school.
  4. Create a selection policy that says that the collection development meets the school policy’s needs and the progressive expectations of a global community.
  5. Create a reconsideration policy for individuals who want to restrict books in the Library

What is the Reconsideration Policy for withdrawing books and Why?

A reconsideration policy is created to ensure that there is transparency in the process of banning or stopping the circulation of books to a particular class or for circulation. 

Librarians are often confronted by community members, either parents or teachers, to ban or withdraw books from their class or the school library. Creating a reconsideration policy for removing books from the collection will allow an open discussion to hear the community member’s voices and allow a democratic process of including books or withdrawing the books from the Library.

The librarian and the curriculum coordinator can draft a document called the reconsideration policy procedure to allow members of the community to voice their opinion of individuals who desire to withdraw or ban particular titles from the collection or stop the circulation of books.

Taking the reconsideration in a very optimistic view, the librarian must keep the larger picture in mind because India is a secular democratic country. Most education system promotes open-mindedness, critical thinking, and cultural competency. It is imperative to create a tolerant mindset if views and opinions do not match your own. Each individual is entitled to their perspective. 

Here are details in Creating a challenge/reconsideration of resources for withdrawal.

Oct 21 2020

Professional Growth and Learning

By Librarian's Role, Professional Development, Professional Learning 2 Comments

What is Professional Growth?

Growth and learning are essential facets of professional life. As I begin, reflecting on my personal, professional experience, I realize the only thing constant thing in my professional life is the desire to learn and grow so that I can continue to support the school community. I am grateful to the many people in my professional life, the professional development opportunities I have received to grow, learn and give back to the educational community.

Professional development is not collecting all the certificates to show and prove your growth. Yes, credentials are essential at initial points of your career. Certificates of courses are an incentive and motivation to continue to learn. Certificates do prove a point. As you begin to think and practise your craft of teaching, you understand that learning is an intrinsic part of professional life, where pursuing current practices, updated pedagogical approaches are the only essential aspect of growth.

CC-BY-SA-4.0 Redaksjonelt: Åse Elin Langeland

What do Librarians Learn?

As an elementary and secondary school librarian, I aimed to learn all about new literature that is available, for all children and literature for teenagers. Understanding their interests is important and giving them voice and choice, instead of downing students with what I thought was suitable for children.

Soon, I realized, librarians not only need to know about literature but understand how technology and technology were impacting the learning. Teachers and librarians are learning about information and media literacy, learning how to evaluate sources and teach students how to evaluate news and media. To stay relevant, learning and evolving is a process, and one cannot hold on to the laurels of the past.

Learning can be anything of your interest. I have dabbled in learning new tech tools to deliver and support teaching and learning. Tech tools should merely be the bells and whistles instead should be used to add meaning and value to the teaching, as taught by my teacher, Bernajean Porter.

Recently, I took a course on best practices for online teaching and learning; next, I learned how to create an online newspaper with my students. I took a course on writing blog posts while learning new strategies and techniques in writing. I read philosophy. I took short courses in teaching EAL (English as another language), and now I am taking a short study-course in understanding how one can support the high abilities students.

Are these related to my Library? Is this going to help me in the Library and Information Sciences? Working in a school as a librarian, I believe, it is essential to learn about the strategies and tools that teachers are using in their classes so that librarians can continue to be relevant in the changing needs of the educational landscape. Follow the Liferarian Blog to learn more

Where can Librarians Learn?

Liferarian Association is hosting a Virtual Conference with presenters who are practising librarians in various International Schools, being abreast with new technologies and pedagogies of teaching and learning, they too are active learners. Teaching and sharing is another facet of professional development when individuals hone their skills, deepen their understanding as they share with others.

Join the tribe and learn from this virtual conference on the 21st of November 2020. it is free, hosted by the Liferarian Association. This conference will include more than 20 presentations, author presentations and meet with some book distributors. Registrations will open on the 7th of November, 2020

I love what Gandhi said, ” Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Jun 28 2020

What is PLC?

By Professional Learning One Comment

Professional Learning Community/Cluster is a group of people who meet regularly to share their experiences, learning, expertise and work collaboratively to improve their teaching craft and inturn impact student learning. This is a form of professional development in Education.

According to Edusource, professional development is like a one single shot workshop/s based on the expertise of one individual delivering in the session. It is often target-based and means to address or share one concept/idea or philosophy to a broad audience.

While in Professional Learning Community/Clusters, the group gets together with a purpose to learn from each other, share ideas, have follow-up sessions and implement coaching strategies. It is said, when you teach someone something or explain someone how to do it, you embed your learning deep within you. According to Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1995) Formulation of the Professional Community must include several characteristics for it to be successful.

Characteristics of the professional community are:

  1. Reflective focus: A specific goal, intention or purpose
  2. Collective focus on student learning: The target objective is to provide enhanced learning opportunities for students.
  3. Collaboration: No ONE person is perfect, knowing this and keeping an open mind, viewing ideas from different perspectives can be enriching.
  4. Shared values and norms: Individuals come from different backgrounds and value systems; creating a shared model, helps keep the focus on the task and objective. (NOT about self and egos)
  5. Structured time to meet and discuss:  Fixed time brings commitment and dedication to achieve the goals on time.
  6. Interdependence: Knowing that many hands make light work, and many minds make work simple helps in bringing out a product that is rich and with depth.
  7. Educator empowerment: PLC brings about a change in the educator’s mindset leading to natural professional growth for the individual.

Most importantly, the professional learning community must include the following:

  1. Trust and respect
  2. Supportive leadership
  3. Openness to self- improvement (Growth Mindset)

Steps to a PLC 

  • Create a team
  • Start a collaborative culture of trust and respect by creating essential norms and agreements so that everyone is contributing to the task
  • Start with defining the task or objective
  • Decide and explain how things will be executed
  • Set SMART goals – Specific goals, Measureable goals, Assignable, Relevant and Time-bound goals
  • Consider including outsiders to comment, reflect with the team to add perspective.

All this takes time, patience and courage to sustain this process. 

For us, Librarians, it is very crucial to keep in touch with the changing roles in Education. Most schools have only one Librarian. Therefore it becomes very essential for the Librarian to create a professional learning network, where he/she can build on their skills, knowledge and craftsmanship.

Advantages of a Professional Learning Community

According to Dr. Jennifer Serviss, in her article with ISTE shares the benefits of PLCs.

  1. PLCs make educators better teachers
  2. PLCs build authentic relationships between each member of the team
  3. PLCs help educators stay current with new trends in research, pedagogy and tools
  4. PLCs help educators become thinkers by reflective ideas and conversations

If you are interested in starting or participating in a professional learning community, reach out to me, and we can work together and learn together.