2 of 4 drafts found! Things I started but did not finish. I added the last paragraph to clear this post up from back in Module 3.
In reading the various descriptions of teacher librarians or school media specialists this week, I am struck by the amount of urging for self (role) presevation which exists in the literature. While much of the reading I have done goes back ten years, Hartzell, Purcell, Lamb, Herring and Kachel all stress that a TL must play a much more dynamic role outside of the library doors in ways which positively support student achievment and, thus, become indispensable to schools in the same way a classroom teacher is indispensable. TLs must advocate for themselves by explicitly participating in the same rigours of scrutiny and success of which the rest of the school are a part.
This is an area I am just beginning to become more conscious of, not because I feel my role is being scrutinised, but out of a growing need to quantify the success the library has had and to set new goals. In reading the various role statements and challenges from organisations and experts, I have been doing a mental checklist. Yes to this and yes to that and feeling confident, but also wondering, “Who actually recognises this and that as something I do, and is it valued?” Early on, I began using our management system to generate reports on increasing borrowing rates, and using Premier’s Reading Challenge participation rates as evidence of success. But how to quantify or chart the advocating for, and integrating of digital technologies and ICT? What about the various clubs and programs or events promoting literacy? There is also the matter of whether this is something the head of curriculum and principal consider important or effectual.
I remember sitting in a TL conference many years ago and hearing reference made to Bonanno’s 2011 ASLA address (“A profession at the tipping point…”) and there being a substantial muttering and visible discomfortiture through the room, but also a lot of nodding heads. But after 9 years in this role, I am more and more aware just how much I am allowed to operate without much scrutiny and am understanding more and more that this, while not something I have sought, is a pitfall. Bonanno and many others in the teacher librarian camps of academia want us not to just champion what we do, but to be aligned with pedagogical developments, curriculum demands, and the particular needs of our school. We must not just be present but leading the way in areas like information literacy models (guided inquiry).
There’s much more for me to learn and much for me to do, but the vision for this is much clearer as this course goes on and I am acquainted with some seminal ideas and people in this profession.
