Claire Palmer

Claire Palmer

Librarian, International College Hong Kong

Melissa Cooper, a Teacher Librarian at Renaissance College in Hong Kong, is passionate about all forms of literacy but especially information and digital literacy since she has a Masters in Technology and Education. She has been an international educator for two decades and been a PYP classroom teacher, MYP Art and Design teacher, a Tech and Literacy Coach as well as a primary and whole school librarian. Being in a diversity of roles helps her to understand the delights and challenges of teaching critical literacy skills.

Mel believes that the library should be a home for students and the community; a place for people to feel safe and welcomed but also a place to study and explore. As a librarian who is actively engaged in collaboration, she will integrate into classes to co-teach lessons on research skills or literature, develop curated resources for units and plan with year levels how to incorporate research skills. She believes in the importance of community, so she will host events in the library (and sometimes her home) to help develop literacy in the community.

This session will explore how we can cultivate a library environment that fosters critical literacy and empowers readers to recognise and challenge grand cultural narratives, and why this matters.

Join us as we share our experiences, insights, strategies and practical tools designed to update critical literacy practices in an international school library setting. Our goal is to inspire and encourage collaboration around topics such as identity, bias, power and inclusivity across literature, media and AI.