Public Libraries More Important Than You Might Imagine

Far from being just a repository for books, libraries play an important role in social learning and the health and well-being of children and society as a , argues Sue Williamson.

‘For me’, she says ‘public libraries matter because they help to give a focus and an identity to the community they serve’. And, what’s more she says, ‘reading is cool again’ thanks to the ‘headliners of the last decade that have made it so: Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Grey, Pride and Prejudice, The Da Vinci Code and Paddington Bear. Not necessarily all great literature, but they have encouraged complete strangers to talk to each other about books and their reading experience….. ‘.

What is a library and why do libraries matter?

Well, if you ask 40 people, the chances are that you will get 40 different answers because libraries mean different things to different people and people use libraries for different things at different stages of their lives.

For me, Public Libraries matter because they help to give a focus and an identity to the community they serve.

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      string(5669) "This month’s FeaturesSupporting thecurriculum with film– a practical guidefor teachersIn a world where the moving image is becomingincreasingly important, film is the richest of educationalresources, with the capacity to broaden young people’shorizons and enrich their learning experiences.  Here, welook at the practical use of film as an educational tool inthe curriculum, allowing art, science and technology tomeet.The ability of film to tell compelling stories of enormous historic, literary,geographic, linguistic, cultural and social value, and speak to people acrossage, class, gender and background, make it an invaluable tool for educators.This is a medium that is accessible to all, regardless of ability, with the powerto bring to life aspects of the curriculum which some students may considerdull, portray subjects from science to Shakespeare in a different light, boostyoung people’s literacy, creativity and critical skills, and inspire disengagedpupils.Despite its many advantages, however, film, unlike art, drama, or music, has never to datefeatured prominently in education. Now, Into Film – an education charity created byFILMCLUB and First Light – is providing a new, UK-wide programme for learning throughand about film, with a raft of opportunities for teachers to use film watching, making and http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Featuresunderstanding to support the educational,cultural, creative and personal developmentof all five to19-year-olds. Its film clubs, free to all state-fundedschools, colleges, youth groups andlibraries, offer access to over 4000 films foryoung people to watch, discuss and review,as well as training and online resources tomake their own. In the next few years, IntoFilm will be developing increasing numbersof resources and possibilities to use film inthe classroom, whilst also gathering existingideas and best practice and disseminatingthese across the UK.How can educators begin making useof the opportunities now and harness film’sbroad appeal to support learning acrossdifferent areas of the curriculum?descriptive, informative and persuasiveskills required at GCSE are as follows:  Foryounger pupils take examples of shots andask pupils to rewrite them as a sentence,for example, an extreme long shot as asentence describing the setting, a long shotas a sentence introducing people and aclose up shot as sentence describing whatpeople are feeling. For secondary, select apart of the film where the camera zooms outand pause it at appropriate points so thatstudents can write to describe a close-up,a medium shot and a long shot  (like theopening minute of Polanski’s Macbeth),before turning it into a cohesive description.Teachers may also ask pupils to writea first person story where one characterfrom a film describes a scene from theirpoint of view, a letter from one characterto another, or a voiceover for a scenethat has no dialogue. Many films containsequences that include several shots toshow the atmosphere of a place or setting– which may be used as a basis for writingpoetry or thinking about metaphor andpersonification. For practice in persuasivewriting, students can be asked may writea formal letter to the British Board of FilmClassification arguing, persuading orEnglish LanguageReviewing films watched in class ortheir school film club is a good way todevelop students’ writing skills and powersof discussion and expression, increaseconfidence in their writing ability andengage reluctant writers; boys, in particular,often engage more effectively with visuallearning and seem more receptive towriting about what they have seen thanabout what they have heard or read.  Thecomprehensive review writing guidesfor primary and secondary, availableto download from the charity’s website,highlight the essential elements of a review– inform, describe, entertain and evaluate– and offer practical tips on how to writeone effectively. Try setting word counts, forexample 100 words to explain the plot and150 words for their opinion, which helpspupils to separate the two and give thereview structure. To increase the challengeteachers may choose to ban certainover-used words such as ‘good’, ‘bad’,‘interesting’ or ‘boring’.Some other ways in which film can beused to support the teaching of Englishlanguage and help students hone theadvising them to alter the certificate forcertain adaptations, prior to which they cancheck the classification guidelines on theBBFC website.Activities involved in filmmakingsuch as writing summaries of the filmstory, treatments in which pupils explainhow they’re going to film it, shot listsand shooting schedules, and notes anddescriptions on storyboards, are usefulwriting exercises.  Pupils could be asked towrite a script or a screenplay, in which theemphasis should be on showing rather thantelling, using appearance and actions todepict characters’ feelings.English LiteratureAnalysing films and writing apt reviews willhelp young people – particularly reluctantreaders and writers – to develop the criticalskills required when studying texts.  Teacherscan challenge students on the differencebetween objective and subjective reasonsfor liking and disliking a film, challenginglearners to say more than that a film isgood and encouraging them to analyse thecomponent elements and which aspects theyenjoyed.Film adaptations of books and plays http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Featuresare powerful tools to support the study ofEnglish literature and inspire young peoplewho find certain texts challenging."
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Digital Learning

Supporting the curriculum with film – a practical guide for teachers

7 Apr 2014

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(Children’s Society 2008).We and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) worked with a wide range of medical experts and a panel of young people who have had experience of mental health issues to help tackle this problem. Shelf Help, the Reading Well scheme, is part of the hugely successful Reading Well Books on Prescription scheme. It provides 13 to 18 year-olds with high-quality information, support and advice on a wide-range of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm, and difficult life pressures, like bullying and exams. 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Family

The Reading Journey

10 Sep 2018

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      string(383) "... own theories, literature and practices, is further evidence of this profound change.  To its greatcredit, the Labour government has led the charge on the cultural learning role of museums and has funded outreachprogrammes, like Renaissance, to link national and local museums to communities and schools. This has elevatedtheir hitherto marginalized ..."
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      string(5771) "�www.teachthinking.com EditorialTeaching Thinking&Creativity  Summer 2004 �Teaching Thinking&Creativity  Vol 9:4www.teachingtimes.com   EditorialMuseums and schools convergeMuseums, schools and families all have one central role in common: to conserve and reproduce cultural knowledge and skills. But it is one of the remarkable aspects of our society that these three pillars of cultural learning have been so isolated from one another.In a sobering reminder of how things can go backwards, David Anderson, on page 30, points out that the V&A wasoriginally considered a public education institution with learning as its core mission. The V&A, like other museums,retreated from its education role as the great public-minded adventurousness of the Victorian epoch ended andthe growing alarm of the middle classes at the rise of Mass Culture took hold. They became fusty conservatories,dominated by an academic, curatorial ethos, instead.Families, particularly those at the Mass end, ceased to have much to do with museums. Their directors were oftenmore keen to create an image of their institutions as august centres of study and research …nearer to universities…than family friendly entertainment and learning venues.The professionalisation of education created a similar disdain for parents and for their role in child development.This is beginning to seem a little bizarre now, but in practice it still results in parents being excluded from any realinvolvement in schools and their child’s formal education. As schools are beginning to recognise the importanceof families and informal learning, so museums are re-discovering their role in education and learning, and theimportance of the child and family audience.The existence of three new major reports on the role of museums and the emergence of the museum-basededucation, with its own theories, literature and practices, is further evidence of this profound change.  To its greatcredit, the Labour government has led the charge on the cultural learning role of museums and has funded outreachprogrammes, like Renaissance, to link national and local museums to communities and schools. This has elevatedtheir hitherto marginalized museum educators to a new centrality within the museum movement. Numbers offamily visits have risen dramatically as museums have taken their new role to heart, and school museum visits haverisen threefold in the last decade.But does learning necessarily take place on every visit to a museum? It’s a moot point, but targeted learningwhich is conscious and knowing and satisfying enough for a child to want to keep on learning and returning to asubject, and to museums, is certainly not a given. Christopher Russell, on page 40, points out that exhibits can bearranged in a way that limits engagement. They often follow some de-contextualiased dateline, which assumesserious pre-knowledge, does not encourage interaction and does not stimulate any investigative or active learning,or social engagement.The new movement in museum-based education is to create exhibitions and education projects which includeactive discovery, team-working and the use of local exhibits and local knowledge to link ideas with children’s ownsense of location and identity. Mick Walters, of the QCA, describes one great example in the IPPR ‘Learning To LiveReport’. In this, children look at past marriages in their locality. By plotting and overlaying the origins of partners inmarriage they uncover the startling fact that until the arrival of the train, and the mass availability of the bicycle, allpartners to a marriage came from within the same parish.The arrival of the internet has been used by museums and libraries to open up their exhibits to popular view. AndWebquests,  developed in the USA as a sound pedagogic approach of using the internet to support guided, discoverylearning, have been linked, brilliantly, to museum artefacts and knowledge by the National Museums Online LearningProject, (see page 33). The Project has developed the software to enable children to pursue a Webquest from exhibitto exhibit, crossing museum boundaries without even realising it, so they can uncover their own information abouta subject. The Webquests have the great advantage of imposing some order on the vast number of artefacts andpieces of information with museum exhibits and linking them to an online, discovery process.  The Webquests takeplace within a closed environment and are a little too guided and unchallenging, but they make a great start inlinking the social revolution that is the internet to cultural learning and museums.The debate about how guided or open, how formal or informal museum education should be, mirrors the debatesabout teaching and learning inside schools and shows how the two are converging. Both are making intenseovertures to the family as the repositories of cultural traditions and delivers and supporters of informal learning.Both are seeking to bring back adventure and imagination into learning. It’s the beginning of a great partnership,which Teaching Thinking and Creativity will be returning to in the future.Howard Sharron, editor Teaching Thinking and CreativityReferencesIPPR Report, 2009, ‘Learning to Live: Museums Young People and Education’.The Clore Duffield Foundation Report, 2007, ‘Space for Learning: A Handbook for Education Spaces in Museums,Heritage Sites and Discovery Centres’.Demos, John Holden, 2007, ‘Logging On: Culture Participation and the Web’."
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Museums and schools converge

29 Jul 2009

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      string(5776) "ResourceTHE CASE FOR CULTURAL LEARNINGOriginal DocumentImagineNation – The Case for Cultural Learning. The Cultural Learning Alliance believes that the arts and heritage have the power to transform young people’s lives. This document sets out how, and why. It argues that the knowledge, skills and experience made possible by the performing and visual arts, by museums, libraries, archives, and by heritage organisations are essential to young people’s development.KeywordsCultural Learning, young people, cognitive skills, thinking visual arts, museums, heritage, social developmentSummaryThe Cultural Learning Alliance believes that the arts and heritage have the power to transform young people’s lives. This document sets out how, and why. It argues that the knowledge, skills and experience made possible by the performing and visual arts, by museums, libraries, archives, and by heritage organisations are essential to young people’s development.Main Points:· What we are taught in school is essential, but learning involves a great deal more. It is central to the development of social values as well as the transference of formal knowledge and skills. The knowledge of culture that young people gain becomes active through personal experience: in the home, in public spaces, through entertainment, and through the informal and formal activities that shape our ways of life.· Personal experience is enhanced and enriched by the teaching of arts subjects, by educators and artists, and by our museums and galleries, libraries, literature, historic sites, theatres and music venues.· In partnership, schools, arts and heritage organisations share a responsibility to unlock the potential of young people through cultural learning.· Cultural learning enables children and young people to form a richer sense of themselves, their communities and the world around them.· Cultural learning is not a passive process: it is an active engagement that invites children and young people to make their own stories and images, poetry and music.· There is clear evidence that cultural learning produces positive educational and social outcomes. It helps young people to learn more effectively, developing their cognitive skills and inspiring new ways of thinking. It also helps them to achieve more: participation in the arts helps children to do better right across the whole curriculum. By embedding the arts in their school, teachers have demonstrated that they are able to improve literacy and numeracy. They are also able to harness young people’s passion for culture and create environments where they feel valued, empowered and motivated – attendance, attitude and wellbeing are all improved by engagement with culture.· It is essential that children and young people have the fullest possible access to diverse forms of art, culture and heritage.· The future prosperity of this country depends on the creativity of its citizens. Training of the hand, eye and ear is also training for the mind. Children and young people who are imaginative, articulate, and emotionally mature will be more intellectually curious and physically inventive.· Cultural learning as a young person is the gateway to cultural enjoyment as an adult.Key Principles:1. Every child and young person should have equality of access to a baseline of quality cultural learning opportunities.2. Cultural learning happens inside and outside of schools and colleges, and in a wide range of settings.3. Families, parents and carers are important providers of cultural learning.4. Young people shape the cultural landscape and are the arts professionals of the future. They should be empowered and supported to engage with, lead and drive the cultural learning agenda.5. Cultural learning involves diverse practice and encompasses the arts, heritage and knowledge valued by all individuals, cultures and communities.6. Arts subjects taught in schools and other settings as part of the curriculum have depth, rigour and an established canon of knowledge. They are of equal weight, status, value and importance within the curriculum as other subjects, and require equal resource and provision.7. Partnership, collaboration, a shared commitment and a collegiate approach from those who use cultural learning in their work with young people are key to its successful delivery.8. Cultural learning enriches our national life and intrinsically makes a contribution to our society. It is critical to the development of our economy. Through cultural learning young people gain the skills to become creative and cultural professionals and to contribute effectively to the wider workforce.9. It inspires civic engagement and helps neighbourhoods to make positive changes through collective ownership of culture. This leads to personal, social and community benefit and a shared sense of place.10. 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Leadership

The Case for Cultural Learning

17 Nov 2011