Tales of the Library: Children’s Creative Endeavors in Reading Journals

“Sshhhhhhh….. Ngeeeek…. Syuuuuh…..”

“Siapa itu yang mencakar jendela? Haaantuuuu???”

A teacher is reading a book entitled “Ketika Listrik Padam” (When the Light was Out) to her students. She rises and then rapidly lowers and prolongs her voice and intonation. Her students are engrossed in the story. They put their attention on the pictures page by page while listening to their teacher reading the story. The teacher continues reading. Her gestures makes the children’s eyes widen even more. Some hide behind their friend’s shoulder because they’re scared. The story unfolds as the mesmerized children listen.

The teacher’s name is Mrs. Ermilinda Wea or Mrs Ermin as she’s usually called. She has just been assigned at Olaewa Elementary School exactly a month after the child-friendly library at this school was opened. Initially, she used to be a kindergarten teacher, now teaching as a homeroom teacher for 4th grade. Feeling the need to learn many things, Mrs. Ermin learns about approaches and reading activities in the library through the librarian and fellow teachers at Olaewa Elementary School. “I asked many questions to the librarian, my colleagues, and even my own child who goes to school here because there’s still a lot of things that I haven’t figured out yet. I joined the school with the library program already in place and there’s a routine schedule,” said Mrs. Ermin.

“Initially, I felt burdened because I didn’t know what to do and what to read. It turns out that there are book leveling that I need to learn, which is very interesting. There are reading levels from beetles to elephants so the books can match the children’s reading abilities. Even my students memorize the levels better. I can see that the children are so happy to go to the library now, so I’m even more motivated to learn, especially learning about reading aloud for children. Because I have to use intonation and be expressive, I have to learn even more so that the activity becomes enjoyable, and gradually it’s fun too,” said Mrs. Ermin.

In addition to learning and continuously learning about reading activities in the library, Mrs. Ermin has an innovative program in the classroom to monitor the books borrowed by the children. The children are asked to rewrite the books they have read from the library in the form of children’s reading journals. “At first, I asked the children to write down the titles of the books they have read. On the next week’s occasion, I asked them to tell the story through that reading journal. But they are still children. Sometimes there are still problems with punctuation or they still copy the story from the book, so I ask them to write in their own language style. I started teaching them to write stories in more organized paragraphs. Now, they are diligent in writing and have already told stories in their own words. I always check and encourage them to read more and more,” said Mrs. Ermin.

The children are happy to read, and some of them have hobbies of rewriting their stories like Anjel and Silvi. They report the results of their reading journals to Mrs. Ermin. When asked by the TBP team about their impressions of the books in the child-friendly library at Olaewa Elementary School, interestingly they said that they really like the collection of children’s storybooks in their library. They can borrow 4 to 6 books per week. Anjel’s favorite book is “Kota Petualang” while Silvi’s favorite book is “Lezatnya Rendang Padang”. “Reading is very important, so that our children have a better future. I hope my students can maximize their talents and hopefully become skilled writers. I will also study hard so that activities with them become even more enjoyable,” said Mrs. Ermin. Let’s wait for the next good story to unfold.