Supporting adolescent literacy

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

One local English teacher has taken it upon herself to try to instil a lifelong passion for books and reading in her students through the construction of her own classroom library.
Wheatland Crossing School, which opened in the spring of 2017, was built with a modern learning facility concept in mind – one that did not include a traditional library but instead a multi-purpose learning commons, used as a study room and classroom with some books on hand for students to read.
Without access to a traditional school library but with the goal to provide her students the opportunity to do daily reading, writing and talking about books of their own choice, Amanda Ellis set for herself the task of procuring a variety of novels to be displayed in her classroom for her students to read.
The classroom library concept initiated after Ellis attended a three-day literary institute created for English teachers. The Golden Hills School Division (GHSD) sent Ellis and two other teachers to the program in Saskatoon, Sask. two years ago after they submitted proposals on how attending would benefit their students.
“Their philosophy, if I could just boil it down, is daily reading, writing and talking about books. Kids have to be doing those things every day and that made a lot of sense to me,” said Ellis. “The other piece was you need classroom libraries and here is the power of that … the (books) are right here and you can hold them and look at them and read them.”
Ellis’s passion for books and reading was also rejuvenated by realizing she could lead her students by example by continually reading new books and including book talks in her classroom, instead of continually reading core texts year after year.
When the four rural Wheatland County schools – Standard, Rockyford, Hussar and Gleichen – amalgamated into one, all the books from the original schools were shipped to Wheatland Crossing School and teachers volunteered their time to cull books they did not deem fit or relevant anymore before organizing the books they decided to keep into the learning commons. Afterwards, the school was opened to the public, colony schools and other teachers to take what they wanted from the originally culled books. Eventually the school plans on adding more books to the learning commons; however, they need to be mindful of the books added as it is not an overly large space and will most likely cater towards elementary-level texts.
“I’m hoping to partner with the learning commons here and see how we can make that work so we are not duplicating things. It will just take a little bit of teamwork,” said Ellis, who is still trying to find the optimal organization system for her classroom library.
So far, she has a juvenile reading section, a section on books made into movies, female heroines, animals, classics and non-fiction, among others. Her “check-out” system is also primitive – using a binder for students to write down the books they borrow on the honour system in hopes they return the books once finished.
One of the largest challenges Ellis has is procuring current and relevant novels that students have an interest in reading. Non-fiction is also an area she is looking to expand and one that she is growing an appreciation for.
In her course outline, she now requires students to read core texts, Grade 12 students to read a play as per the provincial outline, and for all classes to read three books of their choosing, one which must be non-fiction – something that differs from past years teaching when classes read novels chosen for them. Ellis has worked many activities into her classes that require students to handle the books along with reading them – such as creating poems using the titles on the spines of books and by building in everyday independent quiet reading.
Although this is only the second year of the project, Ellis has noticed an increase in interest for reading among her students. She said some students she taught last year are stopping by her classroom to check out books to read – something she describes as very rewarding. She speculates there will always be some hard-core readers as well as students who are reluctant to read and who prove to be the greatest challenge.
“That’s where the greatest satisfaction comes – if you can match a kid to a book, that might be the book that changes (their) view about reading,” said Ellis, whose goal is to get every student reading.
Currently Ellis is fronting most of the project with help from community groups such as the local Lions and Lionettes groups who helped get the project off the ground. Along with funding grants from them, she bought one bookcase and many books on her own, and she is constantly scouring second-hand shops looking for deals and hidden gems. The school has also been supportive and she was able to work with the school’s woodshop teacher to turn some old cupboards into bookcases for her classroom.
Ellis is continually looking for other ventures to help support and grow her project. She hopes to keep purchasing and receiving donations of relevant and exciting books to keep her students’ attention and interest in reading.
“To have a really functional classroom library you’ve got to have optimally 1,000 to 1,500 books. I’m not sure I’m even close to that. I really, really believe that we have to keep things interesting and fresh and current and alive, so that does require funding,” said Ellis, who will also be starting a book club for interested students this year.
Ellis said although in general people are reading, younger generations aren’t reading as much. As a teacher, as a school and as a community, she hopes to encourage adolescent literacy and to encourage reading because it’s fun, there is a lot that can be learned, that books must be valued, and they must be present and easily accessible for youth.
Ellis is happy to accept any book donations from people looking to clean out their book shelves, as well as funding so she may purchase books on her wish list.
“Funding of course is always welcome and I can honestly say I’m good at what I do and I’m passionate about it and I want to serve our students,” said Ellis. “They live in our communities and so maybe they will teach their kids in the future.”
Those with questions about the project or who are looking to donate can email her at amanda.ellis@ghsd75.ca.
“The more students who read these books the more they’re going to talk to others about them,” said Ellis. “I think it’s been very successful if I can measure it by a student’s enthusiasm.”