December 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

LGBT+ Mitchell Event: Over the past few months, Shawlands Academy Library, Smithycroft Secondary School, and Hillhead Secondary School were part of an LGBT project funded by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).  The project is aimed to support LGBT+ young people’s wellbeing and digital literacy by creating an online community and safe space, which will develop and encourage digital creativity through sharing experiences and peer support. To do this, each Library created an online community with an equalities/LGBT+ focus across Glasgow Schools that will give pupils an opportunity to share experiences through creative writing and informal communication. Pupils were invited to partake in an LGBT+ book group supported by their School Librarian and share their opinions of the book on the GLOW blog. There were also opportunities for pupil involvement and input throughout the project through participatory purchasing which involves the pupils to select the LGBT+ resources they want in the Library. Authors in Residence were invited to work with students on their creative writing. Authors, Michael Lee Richardson, and Jem Milton, visited our school over October and November to deliver some interesting and thought-provoking workshops as well as create a piece of collaborative poetry to be presented at the Mitchell Celebration event.

December 3rd saw the project’s finale at the Mitchell Library where all three participating schools met to attend workshops and share their work. The event included workshops by Dean Atta, Jem Milton, and Kirsty Logan.

Read more information about the project on the Glasgow Libraries LGBT Blog

LGBT Youth Scotland: Shawlands Academy has been awarded their GOLD charter from LGBT Youth Scotland! It is the first secondary school in Glasgow to have received it and one of a handful in the country to have been awarded it. GOLD Charter is a programme that shows the school champions LGBTQI pupil inclusion and safeguards their rights. Read more about the Charter

November 2019 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

Disco Books:  The Library celebrated Book Week Scotland by throwing a book tasting disco party! Blether was this year’s BWS theme, so pupils were invited to attend a special lunchtime Library club to learn and talk about books. Pupils took a seat along the table. In front of them were books ranging in different genres, lengths, and levels were positioned. The activity involved blasting disco music as pupils handed books around the table. When the music stopped, they had four minutes to read the blub and a section of the book then write what they thought about it, whether or not they’d read it, and who’d they recommend it to. Discoveries were made, conversations were had, and books were shared!

First Minister’s Reading Challenge shelf recommendation cards were distributed to S1 and S2 classes to encourage them to share their favourite book or a title they’d recommend. These were used to inform the books selected for our Book Week Scotland display.

Finally, the Library had a special guest, multi-award winning slam poet Ash Dickinson, to perform and deliver a workshop with one of our S3 classes during Book Week Scotland. Ash is a poet, author, performer, and workshop facilitator who has toured worldwide. Students got the chance to hear some of his performance poetry as well as having a go on creating their own.  

 

The Scottish Book Trust ran a poll to find out the Nation’s Favourite Scots word. Judges narrowed down 30 words from across Scotland that we displayed on our board outside of the Library to encourage pupils to vote on their favourite. The Librarian worked with S1 pupils who spent their lunch break collecting other students vote.  

 

Book Week Scotland @ Rosshall

Leave a reply

Last week for Book Week Scotland, the Rosshall Library Group imagined what the blethering would be like between characters from various books. We had Jamie Johnson and Frodo chatting about football, Katniss tried to get Percy Jackson involved in a revolution, and Lyra got Harry and Ron confused!

Book Week Scotland @ St. Andrew’s

Leave a reply

As Book Week Scotland comes to a close, my first as a school librarian, I can safely say that the week has been a great success and a lot of fun. All week we have been running a book swap station where staff and pupils have been encouraged to bring in old books in return for new ones. We also had a BWS Manga Club Special with the young people designing their own Manga book covers.

However, the highlight was definitely the Reading Lunch on Thursday, run along with our PT of Literacy. The turnout was excellent and it was great to see so many young people and staff come along with their books, ready to discuss them over a spot of lunch. 

Book Week Scotland @ Bella!

Leave a reply

Book Week Scotland is almost here, and to celebrate at Bellahouston Academy I enlisted the help of Miss Johnson and her excellent ESOL class to translate some first lines into other languages. We have Coraline in Urdu, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in Spanish, How To Train Your Dragon in Russian and Belarussian, Pride and Prejudice in Italian, and Skulduggery Pleasant in Arabic and Punjabi.

Great stories in any language

Words That Burn

Leave a reply

Pupils from S2 at Cleveden have taken part in their first session of the Amnesty International project Words That Burn. After an introduction to the work of Amnesty International and a discussion around what human rights meant to them, the pupils attempted the Make a Difference in a Minute challenge: Creating a poem that can be performed in a minute or under in response to the theme of human rights.

Invoking their right to freedom of expression, the pupils performed in a brief poetry slam with spoken word pieces (and a full-on rap!!!) focussing on women’s rights, education inequality and bearing witness. It was refreshing to see an awareness of major issues and even better to hear a willingness to use creative solidarity to protest and speak truth to human rights violations.

November 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

Author workshops: Author, poet, and Bafta-award winning scriptwriter, Michael Lee Richardson, returned to deliver two more poetry workshops. Michael had introduced the pupils to ‘cut-up poetry’, a technique popularised by Dada artists Tristian Tzara in the 1920s where linear text is cut up then reassembled to create a new poem. Our version was LGBT themed, using some of Michael’s published text on Ru Paul and Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury. Our final  session with Michael saw us creating poems and creative writing pieces using LGBT photos as inspiration. In the latter part of the session, pupils were instructed to write about colours of pens they’ve chosen using sensory, descriptive words that he would then take away, rearrange and send back in poem form.

A big thank you to Michael Lee Richardson for his time and talent. The group really enjoyed the workshops and felt empowered and proud of the poems they created.

Book Week Scotland:  This year’s Book Week Scotland theme is Blether, so the Library has created a display of pupil suggestions taken from FMRC recommendation cards. Here’s what some pupils are saying about their favourite books:

Does my Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah: You’ll enjoy this book if you like realistic stories that you can relate to.

The Cupcake Wedding by Gillian Cross: You’ll enjoy this book if you like books about cupcakes and humour

S/He by Catherine Bruton: This book is worth reading because it shows the LBT community working together and you shouldn’t have to label someone. You should just be accepting of everyone.

Wonder by RJ Palacio: You’ll enjoy this book if you like realistic books, comedy and emotional text. It has an incredible ending.

Tokyo Ghoul 14 by Sui Ishida: You’ll enjoy this book if you like books full of action

Book Week Scotland Comics: The Library teamed up with the English Department who organised a week-long comic-making activity for all S1 pupils. Pupils were put into teams and given free rein to plan, design, and create their very own comic book. The top four comics were chosen by a teacher and the Librarian and winners would receive Amazon gift vouchers and would have their comics turned into a flip-book. Congratulations to the winners and well done to those who participated.

Book Week Scotland: Book Swap: We also enjoyed a cake, a book, and a blether as part of the Big Book Swap in the library to end an eventful Book Week Scotland. . Students and teachers were encouraged to donate books for the event in exchange for a slice of cake or a free swap. A huge thank you to Miss McLean of the English Department for organising some the event.

Shawlands Favourite Scots Word: As part of Book Week Scotland, the Scottish Book Trust held a poll to find out the nation’s favourite Scots word. Judges narrowed the selection down to 30 words. We thought it would be interesting to run our own poll within the school to find out Shawlands Academy’s favourite Scots words.

Here are the winners:                                                                                                                        Scotland’s favourite: Driech                                                                                                              Shawlands Academy’s favourite: Wheesht!

Hurricane Book Group: The Hurricane Book Group met for their Twitter chat with Muhammad Khan to discuss his book I Am Thunder. Pupils enjoyed pizza and soft drinks and were thrilled to have an opportunity to chat back and forth with a published author. Looking forward to the next term when we will read Sara Barnard’s prize-winning book, Goodbye Perfect.

Author visit: Jem Milton: The Library invited illustrator and author, Jem Milton, to visit some S3 pupils for an LGBT superhero character workshop as part of our SLIF-funded project. Jem introduced the pupils to LGBT identities and taught them how to create their own characters by thinking about their background, personality traits, powers and abilities, and how they identify. Students then had the opportunity to bring their superheroes to life using one of Jem’s templates.

 

October 2019 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

National Poetry Day:   National Poetry Day – an annual UK-wide celebration of poetry now on its 25th year. This year’s theme is ‘Truth’. We’ve handed out FREE official National Poetry Day postcards. As it’s the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages, the featured ‘truth’ poems are written in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic alongside their English translations. We’re also promoting these amazing YA titles written in verse. Download the list here: Books in Verse Reading List

Participatory Workshops:  Over the course of October, the Library worked with various S2-S4 English classes on selecting books for the library. This year’s emphasis is on acquiring more accessible stock that will appeal to a broad range of readers. We targeted publishers Barrington Stoke and Badger Learning websites.

Barrington Stoke is a Scottish company who publishes books written by well-known authors that are suitable for different types of readers using specially designed dyslexia-friendly font and layout as well as printing the text on cream paper to reduce glare. The stories are short length than standard novels and designed for Reading Ages and Interest Ages. The language is specially edited to improve accessibility.

Badger Learning is a UK-based publisher who specialise in shorter length fiction for Young People. Like Barrington Stoke, stories are designed for Reading Ages and Interest Ages. Teen Reads, Two Sides, and YA Reads are different series published by Badger that includes a range of genres and themes.

Classes logged onto the Library’s PCs and were guided through the websites by the Librarian. Pupils were instructed peruse the titles and features of the website then list what books they thought would be good for the Library to stock. The Librarian correlated the data. See February’s post for the results. Pupils found the activity fun and made them feel included in the decision making of the Library

 Bookopoly –St Oswalds: The Library has been working with St Oswald’s English Department as part of the school’s FMRC. Bookopoly has been rolled out to all St Oswald’s pupils. This reading challenge encourages participants to explore genres and non-fiction subjects. Pupils are given their Bookopoly board. Each ‘property’ (or, ‘genre’) is colour coded on the board. Participants must read two books per genre (or one non-fiction book per subject) to collect their genre badge and have their name put into the end of the year prize draw. Further chances to win can be achieved by completing a ‘Chance’ block. This could be a recommendation from the teacher, the Librarian, a book that’s over 300 pages, etc. Participants can record their progress and opinion on the books they’ve read on the back of their Bookopoly board.

October 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

October was a very eventful month here at Shawlands Academy Library. Catch up with our highlights or keep scrolling to find out more info!

National Poetry Day: National Poetry Day – an annual UK-wide celebration of poetry now on its 25th year. This year’s theme is ‘Truth’. We’ve handed out FREE official National Poetry Day postcards. As it’s the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages, the featured ‘truth’ poems are written in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic alongside their English translations.

We’re also promoting these amazing YA titles written in verse. Download the list here: Books in Verse Reading List

   

                                  

Black History Month: Black History Month is observed in the UK during October to celebrate the achievements of African and Caribbean people at home and abroad. It is an opportunity to honour those who fought for equality and civil rights against racism, discrimination, and colonialism as well as to highlight the societal contributions of black individuals and communities. Black History Month works to ensure that Black History is included in History and recognised in mainstream education throughout the year.

For Libraries, BHM is another opportunity to spotlight and promote some fantastic literary talent and books. Shawlands Academy helped support BHM by facilitating pupil-led information sessions and activities throughout October including BHM presentations by S4 pupils, a bake sale, and a pupil curated display in the library. The students involved created beautiful posters to be used for the display and throughout the school. Books were selected by the students. Click here for a full list of BHM + Beyond books available in the Library. Black History Month and Beyond 2019 Reading Lists

Shelf Help in the Library: October is Mental Health Month and  World Mental Health Day is celebrated on the 10th to raise awareness, education, and advocacy against the social stigmas attached to mental health matters. To coincide with these observances, the Library has launched a new non-fiction collection relating to mental health and welling as well as books about physical health topics. With a reported 1 in 8 children having a diagnosable mental disorder (NHS,  2017) as well as a significant increase in the number of specialist referrals  (22% between  2013/2014 to 2017/2018) (Audit Scotland, 2018), it is vital that Young People have access to relevant information.

The School Library can play a role by providing reliable literature to pupils. This year, we are promoting the Reading Agency’s Shelf Help and Reading Well Books on Prescription programme who supply a list of reliable, well-researched mental health literature endorsed and/or written by experts. We have invested part of our budget to purchase the remainder of the titles from the list that will be arriving later on in the year.

 

The Shelf Help and Books on Prescription Fiction titles are found in the Fiction section.

For a more detailed list of mental health-related literature available in the section as well as a wider range of fiction dealing with mental health topics and/or containing characters experiencing mental health issues, click here: Mental Health Book List. For more information about the Reading Well with Books on Prescription titles, click here. Many of these titles are also available from the Community Libraries and can be reserved on the catalogue

Find more mental health information for Young People on the following websites:

Glasgow Association for Mental Health, Mentalhealth.org.uk, Mental Health Network Greater Glasgow, SAMH , See Me Scotland, Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, Support in Mind, Young Minds

Sources:

Audit Scotland (2018) Children and young people’s mental health

NHS Digital (2017) Mental health of children and young people in England, 2017

Scottish Government (2018) Children and young people’s mental health taskforce: delivery plan

Author Visit: Shawlands Academy Library has invited author, poet, and Bafta-winning scriptwriter Michael Lee Richardson to deliver a series of poetry workshops to the school’s LGBT+ group as part of a project between Hillhead and Smithycroft secondary schools as part of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) school library improvement funding. Michael introduced himself and his work to the group and very generously donated copies of Proud, compiled by Juno Dawson, which features one of his short stories.

Our first exercise involved Michael displaying a lemon, three stones, a pair of plastic hands, and a Pride flag along a table. Unbeknownst to the group, each item represented an emotion. Pupils were instructed to write descriptive words about the objects relating to senses. The result…..

JOY (Lemon)

Joy is softish and round with no smell.                                                                                                    Joy looks like a lemon, yellow, tastes sour, feels lumpy, and smells questionable.                         Joy tastes of acid and citrus, and joy smells fresh.                                                                                Joy is round with a bumpy texture, smells very potent.                                                                        Joy is a luminous yellow baseball-like plant with a soft nip surrounding the Satanic, squishy, radioactive emblem stood there with a grace like 1,000 red angels.

ENVY (Stones)

Envy feels cold, it has nice colours and interesting shapes. It smells like absolutely nothing.       Envy is hard, round, flat and shiny.                                                                                                        Envy is disformed shapes smooth but gritty.                                                                                       Envy is vinegary, cold and smells like salt.                                                                                            Envy makes the sound, ‘thunk!’                                                                                                               Envy is calming seabed quartz it lights up the room with a relaxing aura.

FEAR (Plastic hands)

Fear smells like rubber feels like rubber it has a cool shape and details.                                           Fear is squishy, rubbery, and creepy.                                                                                                     Fear wouldn’t really make a noise.                                                                                                          Fear is a smooth plastic baby hand.

LOVE (Pride flag)

Love is a flag.                                                                                                                                                 Love is colourful it feels like fabric and smells like Skittles.                                                               Love is plastic and smooth. and smells like air.

Instagram: Some of the School Librarians are using the Glasgow Life School Libraries Instagram account to highlight some of the work they do. Over the course of the week, I’ve been asked to show what we get up to over my two schools: Shawlands Academy and St. Margaret Mary’s Secondary School.

Hurricane Book Club: The Library is one of three participating Glasgow secondary schools piloting a Young Adult version of Hurricane Book Group. Hurricane Book Group was originally started as an adult book group in Orkney Libraries that gave an opportunity for readers to connect with each other remotely and chat with the author online. This term we’re reading the 2019 Branford Boase award-winning book I am Thunder by Muhammad Khan which questions how far you will go to stand up for what you believe in.

“Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is used to being invisible. So no one is more surprised than her when Arif Malik, the hottest boy in school, takes a sudden interest. But Arif is hiding a terrible secret and, as they begin to follow a dark path, Muzna faces an impossible choice: keep quiet and betray her beliefs, or speak out and betray her heart”.

Our first meeting was a chance to discuss our thoughts on the book so far and come up with questions to submit to the author for when we meet again in November and chat with Muhanmmad on Twitter. Pupils engaged in lively conversation and debate about the themes and the book and how they apply to our everyday lives.

 

S1 Library Cards!!

Leave a reply

It has been a long time coming, but the S1s have finally been getting their library cards this week. Our 1st Years have been frequent users of the library and seem to really value it as a space in which they can read, do homework or even just have some quiet time away from the crowds during break time!

It is apparent to me that just having a library card makes the pupils feel like the library really is for them and I have already seen a massive increase in borrowing over the last couple of days. Above all, it is great to see so many young people keen to read and borrow books. Long may it continue!