Think
From each of these readings, identify three ideas that are new to you.
Based on your understanding of what the writers have said what is one thing you could do right now that would make you more productive in your work place?
As a read these articles, I struggled to identify any ideas that were new to me as a teacher. Much of what is said in these articles are repeated over and over again in other research and it is this repetition that makes these ideas important to the success of he teacher librarian.
I am the first admit that my strengths do not lie in time management. Like all teachers, time doesn’t seem to be a commodity that is freely given to us and lately it seems, our time has been filled with other responsibilities. Many times, I have felt overwhelmed with the amount of management required to run a school library – managing my time between admin work, creating meaningful content for students and making myself relevant as well as running two HSC classes with major works has mean that many areas in my library have been left unattended. I am incredibly lucky to be able to engage with my library administrators in order to take the burden off, but it has been very difficult for me to manage my time effectively.
In the article ” the four habits of effective teacher librarians” (2007) it mentions collaboration. I think that this could be key to be able to scaffold my time and effectiveness appropriately within the school. With collaboration, we can identify a starting point in which we can actively breakdown and scaffold tasks appropriately.
Gilman, T. (2007). The four habits of highly effective librarians. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved Nov. 2016
Think about how a teacher librarian, who is the only professional teacher librarian in the school, makes decisions about devoting time to aspects of library management such as managing the physical space, collection management and access, and using the library management system, and also devoting time to planning for and teaching information literacy in the school.
In this module, it mentions persons who have found themselves in the teacher librarian position before they have received their TL qualification. I am one such person.
Personal experience has shown me that, although we are not really described as head teachers roles, we do follow many of the skills required to run a good and well oiled faculty. We are masters of our domain and as the master of this domain often have to juggle our time between resource management and admin, budgeting ( this is particulars difficult if you have never managed one of these before), student behavior and the library space itself – sometimes all in just one day! I know from my experience over the last 12 months that managing my time has been incredibly challenging. I went into the role wanting to make many changes, wanting run innovative and creative programs to engage students in the library space and also to increase the digital presence of the library – however, with half a load of senior classes (one with a major work) this was not feasible and I had to accept this.
A famous line from the television show “Parks and Recreation” illustrates my reflection on this very accurately. If I could give anyone any advice started this role this is the advice I would give.
I believe that as TL’s, we need to reflect and prioritize what is important and relevant to our role. Sure, some of us are blessed to be supported by knowledgeable admin staff or, in my case, another Teacher librarian to collaborate with, it is still our responsibility to make the big decisions. Teacher librarians are not only information specialists but also learning managers capable of organizing their role effectively in the school.