ETL504: A Reflection on Learning
ETL504 has encouraged me to think beyond the walls of the school library to how I can influence and lead school-wide change. In this blog post, I reflect upon my past experiences with teacher leadership and change management. I will also identify strategies I can use in the future to solidify the school library and teacher librarian’s place within the school hierarchy.
During my time as a classroom teacher, I had taken on additional roles beyond my classroom teaching, however I never considered myself a leader. ETL504 has taught me that I was actually enacting the characteristics of a teacher leader. Crippen and Willows (2019, p. 172) defines a teacher leader as someone who “inspire[s], encourage[s], and empower[s] their colleagues”. I demonstrated this by hosting lesson observations in my areas of strength, presenting mini professional learning sessions to staff, and writing a proposal to overhaul how we teach phonics. With the knowledge that I have now, I understand that the characteristics I possessed aligned with a servant leadership style. This leadership style has given me a foundation from which I can further build my leadership skills when I move into the role of teacher librarian in the future.
Reflecting specifically on my proposal to overhaul my school’s phonics program, I realised this was an example of me trying to embed pedagogical change. However, at that point in time I did not have the change management theory knowledge that I now possess to guide me. Using Kotter’s (2017) eight steps for organisational change, I can identify the strengths in my proposal and areas that needed improvement. I was successful in forming a powerful coalition with my executive teacher and creating a vision for change that I presented to the principal for consideration. A step I could have implemented better was communicating the vision to my fellow teachers. I have since considered the communication factors that need to be taken into consideration when embedding change in Module 4.3 (Wilson, 2025, April 24). Next time I want to embed change within my school, I will be better equipped to effectively communicate this with the school community.
This unit has also taught me the importance of strategically aligning the library’s vision and mission with that of the school’s. When the school library explicitly articulates how they can assist the school in achieving its overarching vision and goals, the school library will become more valued (Kemp, 2017, p. 7). By critically analysing the vision and mission statement of another school library, I was able to identify the elements that make these statements strong and articulate how they could be improved (Wilson, 2025, April 27). This task explicitly broke down how to create an effective vision and mission statement, which is a skill I can use as a future teacher librarian to demonstrate support of the school’s vision and mission.
Isolation within the school hierarchy was a common experience shared by many of my peers in Module 1.2. Knowing that I could experience a similar scenario in the future, I reflected upon what I could do to mitigate this (Wilson, 2025, March 8). I determined that a priority should be placed on building relationships with staff across all leadership and teaching teams to cement my place within the school hierarchy.
References:
Crippen, C., & Willows, J. (2019). Connecting Teacher Leadership and Servant Leadership: A Synergistic Partnership. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), 171-180. https://doi.org/10.12806/V18/I2/T4
Kemp, J. (2017). Ten ways to advocate for your role as a teacher librarian. Connections, 103, 6-7. https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-103/ten-ways-to-advocate-for-your-role-as-a-teacher-librarian
Kotter, J. P. (2007). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review, 85(1), 19-29.