etl401 – A Novel Idea

ETL 401 – Assignment 1 – Part C

4th March 2018karla_oAssignments / ETL 401Leave a comment

For Part C of the assignment, here is my peer review on Tyler Ashcroft’s post:

Hi Mr Ashcroft,

Your blog appealed to me for a few reasons. Firstly, the use of white space in the choice of theme made it easy on the eye to read, consider and respond to the thoughts you expressed.

It also used engaging language appropriate to a blog post. For example “…the local community for many schools seem to have little to no involvement with this learning centre oozing with knowledge and resources.” I felt this personalised the writing. However, I am aware that it is also being viewed from an academic perspective so I would perhaps consider when and where you use this in future posts.

In terms of your discussion on the role of the TL, I liked the angle that you took exploring the TL role: how humour contributes to instruction in the library. It was something I had not considered because I too have had similar memories of libraries not being particularly humorous places. Your article further prompted me to consider, should they be? Your discussion I felt, looked at teacher pedagogy and is something I would argue all teachers must contest with at present. The article and quote you cited earlier in the reflection connected with your initial thought about how humour could be used, however stronger context was needed to strengthen how supportive the quote was to your argument.

Your use of the anecdote to conclude your reflection and support your thoughts created some strong imagery of the TL in a pastoral as well as management role. To strengthen the impact of this anecdote, a specific example of one aspect that had strengthened the community and therefore highlighted the complex role of the TL would have worked well.

Overall, I enjoyed reading your post as it made me consider the role in a way I had not done before.

[305 words]

References:

Griffin, S. (1990), “Joy riders: comedy traffic schools eye state”, Phoenix Gazette, March 13, p. A1.

Thinkspace.csu.edu.au. (2018). Assessment ETL401: Online Reflective Journal | MrAshcroft, Imagination Overlord. [online] Available at: http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/tyedashash/2018/02/26/assessment-etl401-online-reflective-journal/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2018].

Zucco, T. (1997), “A ticket to laugh”, St Petersburg Times, January 22, p. 1D.

ETL 401 – Assignment One – Part B

4th March 20184th March 2018karla_oAssignments / ETL 4012 Comments

Reflecting on your experiences of school libraries thus far, write a 500 word piece about how you think the role of the TL is perceived by parents/community in schools.

When considering my response to this question, I immediately thought of this popular meme:

Source: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/250521-what-people-think-i-do-what-i-really-do

I felt a meme was appropriate in helping to articulate my thoughts on this topic as they are often used today to reflect popular thoughts on ideas relating to culture and stereotypes.

The Oxford Dictionary defines it as:

Meme (noun):

An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.

There were various versions of this meme but I selected this one mostly because I felt a couple of the pictures summarised, for me, common misconceptions about librarians.

Namely, the picture of the woman with a stern expression, glasses and the caption, “What my friends think I do.” It captures what I believe is a common idea: that librarians are old, grumpy and spend most of their working day telling people to be quiet and/or joyfully giving out library fines (see picture one).

The other images I connected with included the last two: the image of the children, riding a rainbow into a book, with the caption “What I think I do” and the last image, “What I really do” which sees the librarian almost tearing her hair out at the incompetent patron.

Having now read the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians (Asla.org.au, 2018) it is evident that the Teacher Librarian’s role is more than the sum of an internet meme. In some ways, I feel a Teacher Librarian is a super human teacher. They have the qualification of a teacher first and foremost. This means they must comply with the Australian Teaching Standards (Aitsl.edu.au, 2018) and ensure they maintain their proficiency in these areas. They utilise those skills in teaching literacy, inquiry learning and information literacy in a classroom setting and have the same requirements of any competent teacher: know your students and how to teach them.

In addition, they must comply with the ASLA standards and have evidence to support that they comply with these standards. This aspect of the role has a whole school focus: understanding the curriculum and collaborating with various areas of the whole school to do this as well as managing the library resources and the space as a learning environment. Purcell (2010) explores in her journal article that Teacher Librarians are working in a micro and macro environment within a school.

This, to me, is an idealist approach to the role and correlates with the second last image, “What I think I do.” It is one TLs should strive for however, TLs must work against these persistent, simplified community perceptions. I also believe if the role isn’t viewed positively from within the school environment: as being multi-faceted, dynamic and necessary in its assistance of the whole school’s achievement of outcomes, then unfortunately, I think these commonplace stereotypes will continue to persist.

References:

Aitsl.edu.au. (2018). Teacher Standards. [online] Available at: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards [Accessed 4 Mar. 2018].

Asla.org.au. (2018). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians :: ASLA. [online] Available at: http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx [Accessed 4 Mar. 2018].

Purcell, M. (2010) All librarians do is check out books right? A look at the roles of the school library media specialist. Library Media Connection 29(3), 30-33.