On October 23rd, we took a guided tour of the Prince George Public Library.
We started our tour by being shown various online resources that were available to us, different websites with videos and movies for us to use, and online resources for different materials and content, and we were shown how we could book resources for use in our classrooms.
After, we were taken on a walking tour of the library, and I was amazed by the resources available to us. Books, games, DVDs, and resource kits of varying sizes, are all available for us to use in our classrooms.
Our guide also explained to us that if there was a resource they may not have but we wanted to access, we could put in a suggestion/request, and the library would see what they could do to help.
As I am not from Prince George, this was my first time at the library, and I was blown away by the amount of resources available for teachers to use. To see the collaboration that occurs between the library and the school district teachers is incredible, and opens the door for so many amazing resources to be shared and used. I found myself distracted while thinking about what resources I would be able to use in my classroom as a future Social Studies teacher, and I was overwhelmed by the thought.
After the tour was complete, Christine asked us to break off and explore the library to find a resource we could use to help write a lesson plan for a class we could teach. I began exploring the books and kits I could use, not sure what lesson I would want to teach, however, after much deliberation, I settled on Science. I went home and explored the online resources available through the PGPL, and I found a docuseries about the Big Bang, which was perfect for what I wanted to do.
The PGPL has endless resources available to teachers, and I had no idea. Being from North Vancouver, I never thought of exploring the libraries for resources to bring into my classroom. However, this experience opened my eyes to that. I could find resources for book groups if I wanted to do a book study; docuseries and movies related to the content I was teaching that week; or even games if I wanted to teach through a different lens. I do not doubt that I will be accessing the PGPL during my practicum time, as these resources will be invaluable to me and my teaching.
