Transforming Teaching Practice
- S.Shaw
- Oct 13, 2017
- 2 min read
I initially started my blog talking about books, this is a passion of mine and I am always on the look out for new and exciting children's books. Growing up my house was full of books and somebody would usually find time to read to me or with me. I too have a house full of children's books and I usually find time to read to or with my own three children.
When I was teaching I always had a new book to share with the students and made time for a story at some point most days. I learnt that an engaging title and carefully crafted illustrations on the front cover could instantly have a full class of 30+ 5 year olds eating out of your hand in 5 seconds, hanging off every word.
As I am looking to the future and thinking about my return to teaching, a profession I love, I realise that many things have changed over the past 11 years within the education system for example, the curriculum, digital technologies and assessment. However one component that doesn't seem to have changed is the POWER a good book can have on our students.
I am in the initial stages of planning a future learning space within a challenging global environment as part of the last assignment for my University course. As I sat pondering how I as an educator in Australia could help the people of Haiti I had a lightbulb moment!
I know that books can be a powerful tool to transfer information, provide opportunities for students to explore their own and other worlds and create awareness. They could also be used to transform social change in teaching practice and contribute to discussions surrounding:
diversity, empathy, equality, respect, trust, compassion, adversity, awareness and understanding to name only a few.
We are teaching the "future" of Australia today, let's create change together through the power of story!
I have found a number of great picture books that could be used across the primary school to help students in Australia gain an understanding of many global issues. Click on the links below for ideas of picture books that could be introduced to your school.
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