Human Library Day!

Human Library Day has finally come...and gone!  I am both relieved and suffering from a certain let down.  So much work has gone into the organisation of it and now it is all over.  I've asked the students to start working on their reflections and I suppose that I should do so now as well.

What Would I Do Differently?

I need to ensure in future that all students understand that they must have any visuals or notes printed well in advance,  just in case the printer doesn't work on the day.  Though I thought that I had made it clear that ours was a "print" book library, students still turned up on the day with laptops.  I am sure that some of those who hadn't printed, didn't intend to print, hoping that I would let them use their electronic devices.  They now know that I mean what I say!

A number of the students failed to bring in visuals or artifacts and so their presentations weren't as engaging as they might have been.  Next time, I will model a presentation with visuals and an activity.  I will encourage all students to have some sort of activity as part of their presentation.  The most effective presentations in our library were the ones with an activity, such as learning to knit, playing chess for the first time, and making Lebanese food.

I need to emphasise the importance of finding a topic you are passionate about at the beginning of the process.  It was the students who spoke with passion who really ignited their 'readers'.  To assist students I should spend some time developing activities to assist them in identifying their passion!

I wasn't properly prepared for students to do reflections and though I gave them 3 guiding questions to use I think that those questions could have been better thought through.

What Worked Well?

I created a book report for each reader to fill out after their session and that worked well.  We had lots of positive feedback from the readers and will share it with the 'books' in a few days time.

The room layout worked well.  We had 35 students participating, 18 in the first session and 17 in the second.  For each session, each book had a grade 9, grade 4 and adult reader.  In some cases there may have been more readers when we had more grade 9s or 4s than sessions.  The tables and chairs were set up as in the picture below.

Though there was no formal assessment for this project, most students 'got' the fact that not all assessment comes in the form of marks on a report card.  In fact, having immediate feedback from your audience of 'readers' can be far more intimidating feedback than a mark.  Grade 4s are quite blunt as well!  However, next time I will have a self assessment form for students to fill out and share with us.

(As I think of more to add to this reflection, I will do so.)