Shelfie Talk has become an important platform for educators to connect, explore literature and share their love for reading.
“It’s creating a culture of curiosity,” said Kim Stewart, a co-founder of Shelfie Talk.
Shelfie Talk was started by Stewart and Jill Davidson on Twitter in 2015, after a lot of thought and passion and a long drive returning from a conference. They worked together to find a way to connect with teachers, promote literacy and share titles. For the first year they started with a virtual book club, where people signed up to get a copy of the book and then came together for one hour on Twitter. Since then, Shelfie Talk has continued to grow.
“[It is] a way to share sources,” said Davidson.
Now they meet every Wednesday at 9 p.m. where they read and share their opinions on different books.
She added Shelfie Talk is a project that the community have come to “appreciate and rely on.”
The platform is not only a way to promote professional learning in dialogue, but also a way to add more books to classroom libraries.
“We try to be the model for making your reading life visible,” said Davidson. She added they have a hashtag that participants can use as they read. Teachers can post their reading using the hashtags and other people can look for it and start a conversation around that.
Davidson and Steward said they tried to include a variety of authors and books such as Braiding Sweetgrass and Poetry by Young Immigrants.
“The goal is to continue to do monthly chats and provide a diverse range of authors,” said Stewart.
Stewart described her eight years working on Shelfie Talk with Davidson as a “great partnership.” They were colleagues for four years and this project made it possible to keep building that relationship as they work together and continue to collaborate.
“[Our community] needed Shelfie Talk for connectivity. Also to promote readers and foster that love for reading,” said Stewart.
