LIBE 477 Reflection of Vision Artifact and Course Learning

  

For my Future Vision Artifact, I have created a website where teacher-librarians, teachers, and

other educators can learn how to start a creative writing club for students in their schools. The

embedded link to the website, Starting a Creative Writing Club for Students, is here:

 

 https://claudproctor7.wixsite.com/mysite

 

The website contains advice, lesson plans, and resources for any educator to use to start an

extracurricular student club or for classroom activities. In this final blog of LIBE 477, I will

discuss my reasoning for creating this website, the process of this project, challenges that I faced,

my key learning from this course, and how I will share this website with my colleagues.

 

Snapshot of my website's homepage

     I wanted to create a website where educators can access lesson plans and resources to host a

writing club for students. I have led one in an elementary school in the past. It was a success;

many students and teachers loved it, but I wish I had done more. I also noticed during my

research on creative writing clubs that there weren’t many lesson plans available for educators.

So, I decided to create three lesson plans to display what the first few sessions would look like.

My hope is to support educators to encourage students to write for fun and creativity.

 

     The process of this project was an interesting endeavour. During the first phase of research, I

had fun learning of new activities, prompts, digital programs, and templates that I could see

future students using for their writing. I also was intrigued by the many stories of librarians and

teachers who led a creative writing club in their school. I learned how they developed the

extracurricular activity into a successful club that students frequently attended. After gaining so

much inspiration and ideas, I moved on to writing the lesson plans, setting up page, and resource

page. The last step was designing a website on Wix that will display the content I have created. It

was tricky at first since I’m not familiar with deisgning a website, but after watching tutorials

and playing around with the tools, I found a design that best showcases my artifact.

 

      The challenge that I faced while developing this artifact was designing the website. The last

time I designed a website was 6 years ago while I was completing my Bachelor of Education at

UVIC. When starting this project, I had little idea in designing a website and worried that its

appearance won’t fit with the project. It took time for me to relearn these skills through watching

tutorials and reading Wix’s instructions. After editing and reviewing the website, I finally found a

presentation of quality. I hope to continue practicing website designing since it may fall to me to

build a virtual library learning commons in the future.


   Image from "What is web design (and how do I get it right)?" :https://99designs.com/blog/web-digital/what-is-web-design/


     My key learning from this course is digital literacy, realizing how important it is to teach

this to students. I have learned so much about digital literacy by using these skills firsthand, as

such with this vision project. I’m now able to design a website, post blogs, attach a forum page,

and share information in a digital space. I feel more confident now to teach digital and media

literacy to students. Of course, I will continue to research different digital tools and formats to be

more knowledgeable in this area. Then, I will be able to properly teach this subject to students

who need these skills for the 21st century world.

 

     I will share this website through word-of-mouth with educators when I substitute at different

schools. There are schools in my district that I often sub for and familiar with many educators.

The next time I’m in a staff room for lunch, I will promote my website to my colleagues.

Especially at the same school where I hosted the creative writing club during my practicum. I

hope to introduce this website to my previous mentors who may be interested in hosting a similar

club or borrow ideas for their classroom lessons.



Image from " What is Effective Communication: Examples, Benefits, and Process" : https://clearinfo.in/blog/what-is-effective-communication/


     The primary goal of this website is to help educators encourage students to write for fun and

develop their literacy skills. I’m very happy how my artifact has turned out. I hope it will be of

great use for others. I think I will add a blog page on the site for further engagement with the

teacher librarian community and to continue to learn from them. After learning how to blog

from this course, I will continue to blog any new ideas, experiences, tools, and activities I come

across onto the creative writing website regarding student literacy.

 

This course has been a wonderful experience! Thank you everyone and good luck with your endeavours in the new year!

 

 

                                                                      Resources

 

Educator Websites and Blogs

Rupe, Adam. “Valor Academy Kicks-off Creative Writing Club.” KIPP DC, 18 Dec. 2018,

           www.kippdc.org/valor-academy-kick-off-writing-club/. 


Wrigley, Jenifer Smith and Simon. “Writing Club – How to Set One Up.” Teachwire, teach co, 

          10 May 2023, www.teachwire.net/news/set-up-a-school-writing-club-and-boost-childrens-confidence/.


Barrett, Lindsay. “25 Ways to Build Your School’s Reading Culture.” We Are Teachers, 11 May

            2021, www.weareteachers.com/build-reading-culture/. 


Girvan , Calum. “Top 10 Creative Writing Club Ideas .” Twinkl.Ca, 25 Feb. 2022,

www.twinkl.ca/blog/top-10-creative-writing-club-ideas. 


Moore , Rachel. “Writing Inspiration for Children - 20 Ways to Encourage Kids to Write

Creatively.” Twinkl.Ca, 22 Sept. 2020, www.twinkl.ca/blog/09-22-20-writing-inspiration-for-children-20-ways-to-encourage-kids-to-write-creatively. 


Library, Skokie (Ill.) Public. “Write Stuff Writing Club.” Programming Librarian, 23 May 2016, programminglibrarian.org/blog/write-stuff-writing-club. 

 

Dowell , Francis. “Librarian’s Tipsheet: How to Start a Creative Writing Group in Your Library.” How to Build a Story, 22 Sept. 2020, howtobuildastory.com/resources/starting-creative-writing-group-library/. 

 

Jacobson, Linda. “Strategize: Great Ideas for Library Writing Programs.” School Library Journal, 2 May 2016, www.slj.com/story/strategize. 

 

MacKenzie , Trevor. “Sketchnotes.” Tmac , www.trevormackenzie.com/sketchnotes. Accessed 23 Nov. 2023. 

 

Taylor-Bessent, Mel. “Creative Writing Ideas – How to Run Your Own Club.” Teachwire, 27 Sept. 2022, www.teachwire.net/news/creative-writing-ideas-how-to-club/. 


“Elementary School Writing Apps and Websites.” Common Sense Education, www.commonsense.org/education/lists/elementary-school-writing-apps-and-websites. Accessed 23 Nov. 2023. 

 

 

Academic Journals and Studies

Göçen, Gökçen. "The Effect of Creative Writing Activities on Elementary School Students’ Creative 

Writing Achievement, Writing Attitude and Motivation." The Journal of Language and 

Linguistic Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, 2019, pp. 1032-1044   

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1230224.pdf

 

 

Chen, Yu-Ting, Ming Li, and Mutlu Cukurova. "Unleashing Imagination: An Effective Pedagogical 

Approach to Integrate into Spherical Video-Based Virtual Reality to Improve Students’ Creative 

Writing." Education and Information Technologies, 2023 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-023-12115-7

 

 

 

Uslu, Ali and Uslu, Nilüfer Atman. "Improving Primary School Students’ Creative Writing and Social-

Emotional Learning Skills through Collaborative Digital Storytelling" Acta

Educationis Generalis, vol.11, no.2, 2021, pp.1-18. https://doi.org/10.2478/atd-2021-0009

 

 

Knapp, Nancy, “Using Technology to Foster 'Real Reading' in the School Library and Beyond,”  

Department of Education, Volume 48, No. 1,September 2019,         

 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1227429.pdf

 

 

Educational Standards

 

Canadian School Libraries “Leading Learning:  Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.”   http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca


 “2. Educators.” ISTE, iste.org/standards/educators. Accessed 23 Nov. 2023. 


“Curriculum.” BC’s Curriculum, curriculum.gov.bc.ca/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2023. 


“Future Ready Librarians® Framework.” All4Ed, 13 Apr. 2022, all4ed.org/publication/future-ready-librarians-framework/. 


 BC Digital Literacy Framework PDF document:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/resources-for-teachers/digital-literacy#:~:text=The%20Ministry%20of%20Education%20defines,create%20and%20communicate%20with%20others%E2%80%9D.

 

“Standards Framework.” National School Library Standards, 7 Feb. 2022, standards.aasl.org/framework/. 

 

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