Opinion: Softlink 2022 Report

The 2022 Softlink report has been released! Each year, Softlink invites school libraries and Teacher Librarians (TLs) around Australia and New Zealand to respond to their annual survey. Each year, Softlink produces a report with their findings. I’ve had a good look at the 2022 report and thought it might be fun to draw out…

Opinion: Teen Reading in the Digital Era Report Update

The Teen Reading in the Digital Era project is a fabulous project that is run by a team of researchers from Deakin University and is all about understanding teen reading habits. Findings of this research provide valuable insights into the reading lives of teens. They have recently released a report with an update on their…

One year of being an academic

Today marks my 1 year anniversary in my not-so-new job. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed this year. So, instead, I’m going to list a five big things that I’m proud of. 1. I am a PhD candidate Most of you would already know that I passed my Confirmation of Candidature process…

2022 Intentions

My long-time readers will know that I’ve developed a bit of a habit in reflecting on the year that’s been and writing my intentions for the year ahead down. I’m a little late to the party this year as it’s the last day of January and I’m only just getting around to this… Oops! Better…

Wrapping up my teaching career

It’s usually about this time of year when I start to write my “Year in Review” posts. This year’s is a little different though as I’m moving on to different things. On the 13th of December, I will be started at Charles Sturt University as a Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship. This is a massive change…

A brief history of school libraries and teacher librarians in Australia

I’ve been doing some reading into the history of school libraries, teacher librarians, and the different School Library Associations around Australia to better understand where I, as a teacher librarian, come from, the continual fight for school libraries and teacher librarians, the structures of these organisations and how they support teacher librarians within their states…

Reading Efficiency

I recently came across the concept of the “Matthew Effect” and how it applies to reading, and so I thought I’d share some of my learnings here and combine it with some of the literature I’ve been reading. Firstly, the Matthew Effect is a concept that has been around for a very long time –…

Looking back at 2020

By now, you’re probably all sick of reading posts that highlight how horrible 2020 was and how much people either did or did not achieve during the year. However, I have gotten into the habit of listing the good and bad of the year in reflection so you’ll just have to suffer through another post…

Diversity matters

For a long time I have been tossing up whether or not to write about the importance of reading diverse stories. I’m taking the leap because this is something that I am very passionate about and I think needs discussing. I will contain my focus for this post specifically on books and stories. Without getting…

That moment I realised I knew almost nothing

It has recently come to my attention that I have lived a very sheltered life. I never thought of myself as someone that was naive and ignorant, but during the last couple of months I have discovered that there is a lot of things in the world that I have no idea about. I won’t…