That time of the month again; to look back and reflect, to look forward and plan.
The LiS team had its monthly meeting today.
As a team, we’ve been functioning largely as 2 halves; the Aldona team and the Panjim team. In between the 2, beyond meeting and discussion there was not much else. I’d hear recounts of things that are happening in that school and react to it rather impassively. The Panjim team would talk about ‘so-and-so child who did this’ and the Aldona team would talk about ‘xyz child from that class who did that; but the other team had no face to put to the name.
Well this week, the faces got names, the distances travelled to each others schools were travelled and the other’s struggles were finally understood up close and personal; each team took a walk in the others shoes.
The LiS teams have spent the week working together in true S.W.A.T style. Sujata, Isa, Flavia, Sheena, Priya, Nagappa and myself; we divided the bulk of the schools amongst us, and teams set off to the schools, often doing parallel classes and parallel schools. This meant that scheduling required to be more detailed, (yes, that somtimes meant colour coded charts), lesson planning became more intense with multiple people working for a class at a time, reports became more frequent….and at the end of just 7 days that flew very quickly, ‘A’ LiS team evolved.
It’s on that note that I am writing this post. As practitioners at Bookworm, we are constantly learning and reflecting on our work- what could be improved and what works well, what we need to do and how much further we have to go. In the last month, we have been talking about and discussing what it is that makes a good library session. This question has been at the back of my mind, with the added consideration of the fact that as story transactors and practitioners, each of conducts our classes in an individual and unique manner. Each brings a different magic of their own and each find a different way to bring the magic of the story to the class.
So what is it that makes for a good library session? With this thought being at the fore, a part of our monthly LiS team meeting included a segment where we unpacked this concept.
And what a session it was! For all the times that we didn’t pull together and that we worked as two separate teams, this Monday afternoon, was not one of those moments.
Split up into 3 pairs, the points that came back to the table when we regrouped could have all come from the same people! For me, this is when the LiS team truly emerged and took a stand and stated their case on what a good library session entails.
Yes! Yes! Yes! There was agreement all around the table as the team settled on the fact that the the atmosphere was the most crucial part of the library class- a warm, happy, fun environment where children enjoy learning is the start of it all….and what makes this possible- the human factor. We all agreed that activities are a fantastic way to engage a child. We agreed that children are the heart of it all…and the heart of a good library session is the books we select and that the children engage with.
This is the first step towards a cohesive team and working towards our aim. It means that we are all on the same page. Though we have a long way to go, we know that whatever twist and turn will come our way when the page is turned; we’ll pull through it.
A new term is coming up….and the team is looking forward to those moments when the kids are LiS-tening to stories and reading their own!
