Part A – Statement of personal philosophy:
As a teacher librarian, it is important to create a space where students will feel comfortable and safe. Students must know that they are supported in the library environment and that they can go up to any member of the library and feel that their needs have been met.
The teacher librarian is there to create that environment for the students and to help them build the skills that are necessary through their schooling, and in life. If those skills, such as appropriate researching techniques and effectively using the library, are not engrained in their learning, the students will be at a disadvantage.
Part B – Evidence of growth:
ICT:
The idea of technology in the classroom and the library has shifted dramatically in the last ten years. I can remember when I was in year twelve back in 2010, the thought of all the students having a device supplied by the school was a luxury, where as in schools today, it is expected that students have a device or at least access to one. That sharp pivot in the space of ten years has equated to large expectations being placed on the teacher librarian and their library space. This is even more prevalent this year when, for a good portion of the year, schools had to switch to remote learning due to the pandemic. I have been fortunate enough to have experience in both a physical school and a virtual school, sometimes referred to as a distance school, so I am able to see the importance of technology and its seamless integration into the school and library.
As I have progressed through the course, I started to take more of an interest in the digital aspects of teacher librarianship and how that could possibly be translated in my day to day teaching practice as I am not yet in a library. It is important to consider that the way that we are consuming literature is constantly changing and the way that it can be presented to students is evident in the now abundant use of technology in the library and classroom (Boeti, 2020). Yes, the technology is there to consume said literature, however, the way that it is advertised and presented to students and teachers is integral in its successful use in the school community. The final assignment for Teacher Librarian as a Leader, was focussed on the idea of future-proofing the library and making it a more important feature in the school community. The main point of discussion in that for me was the proper inclusion of technology and the continual use of it rather than it being a sometimes option for students. Teacher librarians, along with their teams provide the missing link between the rollout of a technology feature, to helping get that feature off the ground at the school and making sure that it is effectively used in the school community (Pelletier, 2019, para. 2).
The concept of 21st century learning and digital citizenship are important factors to consider for me given the current climate that we are in due to the pandemic. Students are more reliant on technology now than ever before and more than ever, the library needs to be assessable for them. While I was on placement, I was able to create a space for the grade four students that I was working with where they could easily and safely research the First Fleet. It was hosted through Oliver library systems, which was a new program for the school, so it was also an educational session for the teachers as well as the students.
First Fleet Homepage on Oliver LearnPath, link to view the whole site https://tinyurl.com/y3kozud4
There is also a need to approach online collaboration, not as a substitute for face to face learning and collaboration, but something that can be intertwined with day to day practice, some cases it is more appropriate to work online than it is face to face (Samuel, 2015, para. 15). Working through a pandemic has made me realise that the structure of the average classroom is going to become vastly different in the coming years. To meet these needs, the direction that the library takes needs to be in relation to the needs of the students and the evidential changes that come about in relation to technology (Boeti, 2019, pp. 3).
An important factor that I found while completing the course was the importance of being a good digital citizen in an online learning space. With lessons now taking place online, although this was a common form of instruction at my current place of employment. It is important to make the students aware of the appropriate ways to act in an online classroom. One of my tasks for Digital Citizenship in Schools was to create an online learning module for Netiquette. As that was something that I was in the process of teaching my students at the time, it was quite fun to explore further. I created the video below as a teaching tool for that module, but for my students as well, as a different way to present the appropriate behaviours for an online class.
Video created for Netiquette online learning module. Boeti, A. 2020.
It was fun to explore the importance of technology further and to expand on what I was already doing in my own setting at the virtual school. I was able to explore ideas and concepts to better my understanding of its importance and the need to stay up to date with the advancements that are coming out.
Collection Development:
Collection development and maintenance was not something that was on my radar when I first started the course. I knew that there had to be a way to build the library collection, but I did not know what that process looked like or what it involved. One element that I was aware of going into the Resourcing the Curriculum Unit was that of banned book lists. I was only aware of the list because an author I like has a book on it, however, I did not know that that was part of collection development and maintenance.
The physical space that is the library has changed over the years to suit the needs of the students and teachers, but at the heart of it, its core has stayed the same (Boeti, 2019). There is always a need for texts, both in the physical form and the digital form. An idea that has stuck with me since that unit came from Hughes – Hassel and Mancall who suggest that there needs to be a shift in the selection process from what is the best to what is appropriate and how it all fits into the context of the school when it comes to selecting resources for the library (2005, pp. 43). This is something that I have considered when completing assessments and tasks for other units. The resources that we choose to house in the library, both physically and digitally, need to be appropriate for the students to use and fit well with the content that they are learning. It is all good and well to have the best resources that are available, but if they do not meet the needs of the students and the teachers, they are just wasting valuable space and money.
In previous decades, policies around collection development were mainly a vehicle for communicating the libraries strategies for potential collection development and how to also manage said collection, however, it is ever more important today to communicate those steps and strategies as we shift in to this more technology reliant world (Demas & Miller, 2012, pp.170). I do admit, policy creation is something that I have to work on more, but it is an integral part of the teacher librarian role. It is something that we need to create to ensure that the collection of resources that we have in the library are relevant and being used by the students and the teachers and that is something that has stuck with me. When selecting texts to review for assessments, I have thought of the students at my school and if it would meet their needs.
When selecting texts for the grade four class that I taught on placement, I had to keep in mind the varying abilities of the students in the class and if it was appropriate for them and the topic that they were looking at. In a way, it was like I had my own mini selection criteria in my head to create the resource collection for those students. It made me realise that those skills are quite transferable and can be used in a multitude of different ways. I have found that over the course of my Masters, I am assessing resources that I use in the classroom and in my assessments with the mindset of using and making it available in a library.
A very clear point of this was when it came to completing the Experiencing Digital Literature assessment for Literature in Digital environments. The texts that I chose for that were based on the context of my previous school as well as elements of my current school. By having this idea of a cohort of students in my mind, I was able to assess if the resource would be worthy of a spot in the library or used in the library. However, there was an element of self-censorship as there was a range of texts that I would have liked to have used but there was an element of fear as if was to be used in an actual library or classroom setting, there would be potential for those choices to be challenged. Dawkins, noted that when it comes to the principal challenging a selection choice, it often results in the text being restricted or removed (2018, pp. 8), and that is not something that I want in my library. I would prefer that the students are able to explore all types of texts and themes rather than be limited by what other people think and prefer. A library collection should be vast and varied to allow students to explore all the ideas that they have.
Information Literacy Skills:
Throughout the course, there has been a strong emphasis on the need to develop student’s information literacy skills. This is an important skill that students will call upon at all points of their learning adventure. Initially, my understanding of information literacy was quite limited as I had not heard of it prior to starting the course. My first blog post for the unit, Introduction to Teacher Librarianship noted that my understanding changed as the unit progressed and mentioned that the UNESCO definition of Information Literacy showed it as a “more holistic approach to education” (Boeti, 2019) and is something that is more than just in the classroom. It had me thinking that had a Teacher librarian been more involved, or at least included, in the inquiry program that was run at the previous school that I had worked at, there would have been a better outcome in the results of the student’s work. Teacher librarians can, and should, team up with classroom teachers to build and support the research skills and language skills that are necessary throughout life.
The thought of information literacy skills started to make its way into my standard teaching practice and was part of my work at my placement school. Having this idea in place, it was important that I maintain it and grow it into something that can be taken from a grade 1 level all the way to year eleven and twelve. Information literacy skills form the basis of lifelong learning and is transferable across subjects and that means that the library is not limited to working with the English and Humanities departments in a school.
When it came to my opportunity to assist with a unit of inquiry lesson while I was on placement, it was important to me that I showed the students the right and wrong ways to research for a task and what were the key things that they needed to look for, such as when the website or book was published, who published the website or book and are they a reliable person or group to get our information from. This then led them to a little bit of a scavenger hunt to find an interesting fact about the First Fleet. As this was a lesson for grade four students, it was quite simplified in language, but the key skills were brought across and met the requirements that the teachers needed.
Image of script used for the grade 4 research lesson (A. Boeti, 2020).
When given the opportunity to work in a library in a school, I would like to set up a program that goes across the different domains in a school to build on those skills and show students that the library is solely connected to the English and Humanities domains, it is a space that can be used for all subject and that the skills can be used in all subjects, this falls in line with the American Library Association’s (ALA) definition that was presented in the final report from the ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy (1989). Instead of being overwhelmed with information, students will know how to find, evaluate, and use the information at had effectively to solve the problems that they have or to find information for tasks that they are doing (ALA, 2006).
I would say that my overall perception of information literacy skills and its place in the library and the classroom has progressively changed as I have moved through the course. It has moved from the pure understanding of literacy being around word understanding and reading, to that of a holistic approach to a lifelong skill that students will build on and use throughout their progression in their school lives.
Teacher librarians are seen as the catalyst of this form of instruction and guiding the students, but in a way, it is a whole school approach as well. It is important for the classroom teachers to carry on what the teacher librarian does in the library to maintain those skills and interest in the students. The teacher librarian is the start of the information literacy process and build the foundations and the interest among the students and the classroom teachers continue that work. Teacher librarians and classroom teachers are a team and that is something that I would like to instill in the library environment that I would eventually work in.
Part C – Growth through the course and beyond:
Coming into this course, there was much excitement for the adventure I was about to take. I had decided to leave a toxic work environment and decided to pursue this idea that I had for a while. When I was still at that school, I had timetabled sessions in the library where I would man the front desk, loan out items to students and teachers as well as returning books and shelving them. The library was my one place of solace at the school and added to the realisation that working and just being in the library was something that I wanted to pursue.
I had always been fascinated with the library and to be able to learn more about the finer workings of it was exciting to me. Starting the course was a bit of a shock as I did not think that I was going to go back into study, let alone in an online environment. I will admit, I do not have the best time management skills, so it was a huge learning curve for me along with the fact that I was doing this all completely on my own and with not a lot of connection to other people in my state undertaking the same course. However, once I started to get into a momentum, that trepidation fell to the wayside.
As I progressed through the course, I started to realise that I wanted to focus on the student and their experience in and with the library. Coming from a school that undervalued the library and all of its resources, it became important to me, when I eventually had my own library space to work in, to create a safe and supportive environment for the students to go and research tasks and to just explore what was on offer. I also started to realise the importance of technology in the library and the everchanging landscape that we are in. The underfunding of libraries in some schools means that students are at a disadvantage when it comes to developing their digital researching skills and just the general expansion of the library.
When I was looking through the Australian Library and Information Association’s standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians, I come to the realisation that I had already implemented some of the standards in my general teaching practice, however, I do need to improve on my library and information services management as policies and policy development are not my strong suit. In the future, it will be important for me to go to learning days around policy development and management to build on though skills and to also improve the library environment for students and staff. If the library is not well maintained and supported, it will become a wasted resource within the school. I am also very community minded, so I would very much be excited to create a space in the future where students are welcomed and encouraged to use the library as more than an add on to the classroom.
References:
American Library Association. (2006). Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential
Boeti, A. (2019, May 25). Reflective Practice [Thinkspace blog]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/adeleboeti/2019/05/25/reflective-practice/
Boeti, A. (2019, May 27). Reflection [Thinkspace blog]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/adeleboeti/2019/05/27/reflection/
Boeti, A. (2019). ETL504 Assessment 2: Future-proofing discussion paper and reflection.
Boeti, A. [delii93]. (2020, April 24). Netiquette and the online classroom [Video file}. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/AEBsvAH4wW0
Boeti, A. (2020, July 26). Digital Literacy and Me [Thinkspace blog]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/adeleboeti/2020/07/26/digital-literacy-and-me/
Dawkins, A. (2018). The decision by school libraries to self-censor: The impact of perceived administrative discomfort. Teacher Librarian, 45(3), 8-12.
Demas, S. & Miller, M. E. (2012). Rethinking collection management plans: Shaping collective collections for the 21st century. Collection Management, 37(3-4), 168-187.
Hughes-Hansell, S., & Mancall, J. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners. Chicago: ALA Editions. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=289075
Pelletier, M. (2019). Libraries are a vital educational technology resource. Retrieved from
https://www.educationworld.com/libraries-are-vital-educational-technology-resource
Samuel, A. (2015). Collaborating online is sometimes better than face-to-face [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://hbr.org/2015/04/collaborating-online-is-sometimes-better-than-face-to-face