Hi Tabatha,
It's always interesting to see the path that people have taken to reach their current position. As for a potential research project - do you have any reading programs in place that you could investigate? If not, what about implementing something like a lunchtime bookclub and evaluating it?

Hi Tabatha, It is good to hear about you. I was a History teacher too, graduating with History and Geography as my majors and teaching methods. I taught them for about 20 years before stepping into a TL role. I, like you, joined this group not knowing what I would research. I am still hazy but becoming more focussed on which direction to take first!

Well Tabatha here you are on the precipice of writng your own research for others to read. So take up Di's idea as a start - even research on promoting a certain genre, do the statistics support the promotion. Think what that says about reader awareness. ReaDiscover is BookWeek..what an open opportunity to capitalise on research here.... bringing out the chestnuts, promoting and gathering the data. What would be the research question here? :)

Hooray! Another History teacher - nice to virtually meet you Margaret! Thanks for the suggestions Di and Linda. It's all coincided with an exciting request by one of our English teachers. She has approached me and the Head of Library to be part of a Literature Circle she'd like to run in her Year 8 class. According to this class, heaven is a library period when they have the full hour to read silently (don't they sound fantastic?) We'll divide the class into three groups of 7. The idea is to direct the kids away from dissecting the life out of a piece of fiction, as they have learned to do quite well in a matter of a year and a half. The focus will be on the "Tell me..." style of analysis, which will include assigning reading roles, and encouraging creative reactions to the books, conveyed in a variety of formats and media. The timing of all this is fortuitous to say the least and I can't ignore that - will be spending some time on the weekend pondering possible questions. Still excited!

Well done Tabatha. I think this is the type of thing Ross Todd is talking about with his zones of intervention. Grab the chance and run with it!
We have a simple review sheet which the Head of English drew up for students to fill in during their reading lessons (one period per fortnight). There are a few lines for them to write on and some stars which they colour in. Students enjoy filling them in because they are quick and easy and other students read them. (They are stored in a folder on the coffee table in the reading area).
Our Year 8's are working in literature circles this year for the first time but this takes place outside the library so I am not sure how it is going. Guess I should intervene and ask!

Hi Tabatha. It's great to see how opportunities are presenting for TLs to evaluate their practice. Are you going to write your Literature Circle experience up as a small action research project? Perhaps you could conduct a short interview with the English teacher and the Head of Library to see what their expectations are for this unit? It will be great to follow your progresson this.