Last week when I met with Barbara to observe there were several interesting interactions. Both related to readers advisory, which is the topic for discussion in this weeks class. It's also something I'm very excited about and the thing I look forward to most.
The first interaction was with a TA who stopped by to return a book. As she was returning it, she mentioned to Barbara that she had really enjoyed the book and said if there were any more like it should would love to know. Barbara then walked over to the shelves with her and asked what she liked about the book. She mentioned she liked the setting of Pakistan. They found another book that the TA was interested in which she checked out. As she was leaving, the TA mentioned "I don't like reading that much, but I want to read more. If you have any others you recommend, please let me know." Barbara mentioned she would look for a few more books and they could talk more when the she returned the book she just checked out.
The interaction was great, and all though she didn't use a readers advisory tool, she did a great interview. The thing I noticed most about it was that it walked the line between professional and personal. They had a genuine conversation about books and things the liked but the things Barbara did and said seemed to draw out more useful information from this self proclaimed reluctant reader without overtaking the conversation with what she (Barbara) liked to read. I'm glad I was able to witness such a great readers advisory interaction.
The second situation came when one of the avid readers came to return a "The House of Scorpion". The student walked up and said, I finished the House of Scorpion" and Barbara asked, "What did you think? Did it make you think about cloning?" They continued this conversation a bit more talking about what the book was about and Barbara continued to gently try to get her to analyze the book a bit more. Soon the student moved on to the new book she had just picked out. Again, this was a great interaction to watch as Barbara was able to continue to build rapor with her students.
The first interaction was with a TA who stopped by to return a book. As she was returning it, she mentioned to Barbara that she had really enjoyed the book and said if there were any more like it should would love to know. Barbara then walked over to the shelves with her and asked what she liked about the book. She mentioned she liked the setting of Pakistan. They found another book that the TA was interested in which she checked out. As she was leaving, the TA mentioned "I don't like reading that much, but I want to read more. If you have any others you recommend, please let me know." Barbara mentioned she would look for a few more books and they could talk more when the she returned the book she just checked out.
The interaction was great, and all though she didn't use a readers advisory tool, she did a great interview. The thing I noticed most about it was that it walked the line between professional and personal. They had a genuine conversation about books and things the liked but the things Barbara did and said seemed to draw out more useful information from this self proclaimed reluctant reader without overtaking the conversation with what she (Barbara) liked to read. I'm glad I was able to witness such a great readers advisory interaction.
The second situation came when one of the avid readers came to return a "The House of Scorpion". The student walked up and said, I finished the House of Scorpion" and Barbara asked, "What did you think? Did it make you think about cloning?" They continued this conversation a bit more talking about what the book was about and Barbara continued to gently try to get her to analyze the book a bit more. Soon the student moved on to the new book she had just picked out. Again, this was a great interaction to watch as Barbara was able to continue to build rapor with her students.
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