I’ve always been someone who has to know. My mother used to mock me by saying ‘the nose knows’, implying that I was nosey and in everyone’s business. She wasn’t half wrong. I do love to know what is going on. I want to ‘know.’
Perhaps this is some part of being on the autism spectrum (both my kids are and through them I can see how I may be too), I was very introverted and observant as a child, sucking my thumb until age 11 (possibly to self sooth and to hide and not have to talk if I didn’t want to). I studied people and the world and did my best to learn all the rules so that I could stick to them.
I masked myself. I did what I thought my father or teachers wanted. I studied psychology. I never felt like I fit. Moving to Australia to marry my husband was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. Here I fit better. With him I fit.
I tried several jobs and was successful at them. While studying to become a psychologist and working in retail, I heard: ‘You’re a natural salesperson. Could you train others?’ While working in a call centre but aiming to work in marketing, I heard: ‘You’re great on the phone, can we use your voice on the company auto answering service?.’ While working my way up in the marketing department, I heard: ‘You’re so organised, you should be an executive secretary.’ When I set up in a new school as a teacher, having taught for 6 or so years, I heard: ‘You have an eye for design in your classroom, you should be an interior designer.’
I can’t be cross at these comments. It must have been subconsciously evident that these jobs were not my why…although that last one still rankles…(I don’t want to be an effing interior designer, I’m a teacher and a damn good one thanks!) Obviously that school was not the right fit.
It is hard for me to find myself. It is hard for me to identify my why. But over all of these years I have been getting closer and closer to it.
I can measure my level of ‘finding my why’ success by my joy and sense of accomplishment inside myself. I can measure this also by how challenging I find it…truth be told, I am a good salesperson, I can (with practice) have a nice voice, I am very organised and I appreciate that spaces ‘speak.’ I am good at things but that doesn’t mean they are my ‘why’ or that they are the right fit.
I am all of these things and more: an artist, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a niece, an aunt, a gardener, a cousin, a friend, a beagle carer, a laugher, a reader, a writer, a learner and, possibly most of all, a teacher.
A lot of things are my ‘why,’ depending on who I’m with and the situation. But what stands true and challenges me–let’s not forget that being in our comfort zones is not being true to our ‘why– and what gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment is enabling the accomplishments of others. (AKA: teaching).
Teaching is my why.
Teaching is my why I didn’t quit when I had two children with additional needs. Teaching is my why I didn’t quit when I was told I didn’t have a contract two years in a row. Teaching is my why I am no longer working in sales, or marketing or at schools where I’m not valued.
I just have to change how my teaching job looks for me in this current climate of data collection and standardised testing…in this climate of casualisation and over abundance of principal power…in this climate of funding cuts and library closures.
I might not get a job as a teacher librarian. But I’ll be damned if anyone will stop me from becoming trained to be one. I love to know. I have to know what’s going on. I want to be a teacher librarian.
100 words (actually, I’ve highlighted 65) that summarise the amazing and encouraging ‘Profession at the tipping point (2015) and the keynote speech from the ASLA 2011 Conference, by Karen Bonanno Keynote Speaker ‘A Profession at the Tipping point: Time to Change the Game Plan’:
Due to a Federated Educational Structure, new push for ICT qualifications and other ‘tipping points‘, we are fighting for our jobs and have to prove why we are relevant. (Otherwise we run the risk of becoming endangered).
To do so we must:
Look at our situations as ‘glass halffull’.
‘Let our rhetoric resonate with our audience.’
‘Begin with the end in mind’
Use the ‘5 Finger Plan to Success (Pre-imminence, Focus, Brand, Circle of influence; and surmise the little things we do that count)
We need to use slow seduction rather than expect a seismic shift, aiming for 1% improvement over time, building relationships as we go along every day in our schools, communities and professional networks. And we should be striving for the AITSL Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher Qualifications.
References:
Bonanno , K. (2015). A profession at the tipping point (revisited). Access, March, 14-21
Beautiful doesn’t always mean new. (Photo by Christy Roe)
(Reflection on ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum Module 2)
When ‘resourcing the curriculum,’ as a teacher librarian I will need to remember lots of information as mentioned in the module. I will also need to remember two things:
Beautiful doesn’t always mean new, (see image) and
Sometimes patron/student needs outweigh their wants. (*See below)
1. New things aren’t always the best things. My grandmother’s recipe for chicken and dumplings far outweighs any new dishes that my mother or my aunts dreamt up for our yearly Thanksgiving or Christmas feasts. Old buildings using engineers, fine brickwork, stone masonry or intricate carpentry far outweigh cardboard or plastic construction-particularly in times of natural disasters like earthquakes.
Should digital resources replace physical resources? If new is perceived as better, then will Artificial Intelligence replace teachers? Guilherme (2019) goes into this with a powerful depth. We are facilitators, but we are also teachers. We are providers of information but we also teach the skills to interpret the information and utilise it in life.
2. A key factor in ‘resourcing the curriculum’ is that it reinforces the concept of ‘information as a commodity.’ As much as we’d like libraries and information to be free, the fact is that neither are without cost. (Whether that cost is paid by taxes or individuals is a political debate for another day.)
In terms of ‘information as a commodity,’ this has some powerful landmines. The idea that information can have ownership has led to a strong community of hackers whose primary function is to provide information that someone or a corporation has deemed ‘a commodity’ and opportunity for profit.
For librarians, ‘information as a commodity’ is also full of landmines. We are adults, we are educated, we have a job to facilitate the education of students. We are also, gendered, cultural, geographical, and loaded with our own personal string of internal bias.
*Does the student voice of their needs or wants, outweigh what society (and the teacher librarian) view as student needs or wants or vice versa?
I would like to review my personal bias and society’s bias towards the voices and contexts of students as discussed in Shirley Steinberg’s most recently edited book: Kinderculture (2018)
I am having a lot of colliding thoughts about ‘engaging learners’ and fulfilling ‘needs’ of the learners &/or the school community and ‘who has the final say’ in resourcing the curriculum.
I say colliding because I have taught at so many different schools (South West Sydney, Far West, casually and through temporary engagement, RFF, classroom teaching, job share, etc) and can see a common lack of consideration for sociocultural context of students for programming and planning. If programming and planning were a building, the foundation is the sociocultural context. Without a sound knowledge of the school’s foundation, the building / educational program will crumble and resourcing the curriculum becomes moot. The library starts to fail or becomes irrelevant. The funding decreases. The principal sees no point in allocating a qualified TL. People start throwing around the idea of getting rid of a library altogether. In the distance: sirens.
Yesterday I worked at a geographically isolated and drought affected primary school with a large number of students from very low SES, high evidence of trauma (large ATSI population, witnesses of or suffers of domestic violence, neglect, alcohol / drug / physical / mental / emotional abuse / deaths in the family), higher than state average numbers of students with diagnosed and undiagnosed disabilities (including lead affected disabilities due to historical mining practises) and the students in this area are, overall, not meeting state expectations based on NAPLAN results. In my area, there are a statistically higher numbers of these things in all of the schools but in this particular school, the statistics are more visible.
As a result, most of the students are coming to school to feel or express love. (See Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as explained by McCloud, 2018 in the reference list below). They have some basic human needs that are not being met at home and they come to school to have these needs met.
However, the main push from the teacher of the class I was on yesterday, was to teach content that was not adjusted to meet the needs of the students as individuals. It was straight from the stage based syllabus and so difficult that the students were not just disengaged but were actively protesting and having meltdowns before my eyes. When I suggested deviating from the plan, everyone agreed and calm was restored.
Too often in today’s educational realm, the needs of students are filled with a top-down mentality. Schools start at what the administration identify as a need-based on Australian or state benchmarks and societal goals (eg. NAPLAN, national curriculum or state syllabus documents). They then look to the local administrators to identify needs, such as recent literacy or numeracy training or strategies (eg. L3 or TEN). Then the teachers weigh in (eg. Sport or Creative art or Social-Emotional-Learning – which may or may not be sourced from evidence based practises). Parents and families sometimes get to have a say – and it is interesting to note the capability of the families to engage with the form of communication method chosen by the school as often low SES families cannot get to meetings and cannot access digital forms of communication or are too illiterate themselves to fill in a form – (eg. ‘I want my child to learn how to do public speaking so they can become a prefect or school captain’). Then, almost as an addendum, a little box is put out in the library to gather the student’s identified needs or wants (a system designed to preference students with high enough literacy skills and levels of engagement already to participate).
I prefer to value the student’s needs first – identified by them, identified through a authentic TL relationship with the students, and identified by a thorough a collaborative study of the socio-cultural context (Farmer, et al 2018) of the school. The library and classrooms in the example of the school where I worked yesterday, need to focus on being places for students to have voice and to feel loved and express love. The school needs to be a safe shelter and offer warmth and basic physical comfort. It needs to have a teacher librarian who is acutely aware of the ‘kinder culture’ (Steinberg, 2018) of students in the school and resources the library to embrace the ‘kinder culture’-which is the main key to engagement, particularly with students from low SES, high disability or who’ve been traumatised.
Once these areas have become the main priority for resourcing the curriculum and are working well, and the students are engaged, then the questions can be asked of parents and carers and the community of what they identify as ‘needs.’ Teachers can also weigh in, followed by the local teaching community and administrations. Finally, a little box can be put out for the state and federal needs so that they can have their say.
References:
Farmer, S., Dockett, S., & Arthur, L. (2014). Programming and planning in early childhood settings. Chapter 6. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Guilherme, A. AI and education: the importance of teacher and student relations. AI & Soc. (2019) 34: 47. Retrieved from: https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1007/s00146-017-0693-8
McCloud, S. (2018). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Steinberg, R.S. (2018). Kinderculture : The corporate construction of childhood. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
(Reflections of Introduction to Teacher Librarianship Module 2.3)
Knowledge is power. While I most definitely believe that I will become a librarian at some point I will always be a teacher and this amalgamation of ‘teacher librarian’ means that I am a facilitator of education. This is a key component of my teaching philosophy.
I am most disturbed by the concept of inequality and injustice and as such, I am uncomfortable with the idea that information is, as discussed by WebFinance, 2016, in Module 2.3:
“the (1) pervasive influence of IT on home, work, and recreational aspects of the individuals daily routine, (2) stratification into new classes those who are information-rich and those who are information-poor, (3) loosening of the nation state’s hold on the lives of individuals and the rise of highly sophisticated criminals who can steal identities and vast sums of money through information related (cyber) crime (WebFinance, 2016).”
The growth of technology in our lives has created, in some ways, more questions than answers:
Why is technology so pervasive? (How do I get my husband to put the phone down and look at me when I am speaking to him???)
What can we do to stop it from creating a new class system or intensifying the status quo? (Particularly given the first question which makes me want to go live in the Amazon and leave technology behind. And if I didn’t have technology who is to say that I would be disadvantaged? Would my life have greater quality rather than quantity?)
Does it really ‘loosen the nation’s hold’ on our lives? (Is it a bad thing that ‘the nation’ hasn’t got a ‘hold’ on ‘us?’ Who is it exactly that has a hold on ‘us’? Governments? Special Interest Groups? Corporations? Computers?)
Why does it increase the occurrence of identity and other theft? (Why are people so horrible to each other on the digital sphere?)
Proposed questions (and my answers) from Module 2.3:
“Who or what is driving technological change–Is it the inhabitants of the landscape or the technology?”
I believe the drive for change and continued growth of technological advances has to do with the people and the pursuit of democracy (Coccia 2010) as well as the economy (mainly capitalism as noted by Schiller in Webster 2014, p. 149) and competition between countries-most notably in the ‘space race’ and the Cold War (Godwin, 2006).
I also think the need of all humans is to improve the world in which we live, even if it is a small way, is an important factor towards careers that drive change, be they careers that drive technological change or societal injustice change or both.
This need to be of value to the world is a key factor of a Japanese concept called Ikigai (Garcia & Miralles, 2017) which is a principle of life that can exist without being consciously aware that it exists.
Does technology itself drives the agenda (and rate of change) or is society in control?
I hope we are still in control but I honestly could not say for certain and perhaps that, in itself, should be cause for alarm.
Should teacher librarians be considered part of the ‘Information Society’?
As I said at the start of this post, I am (or will be soon) a teacher librarian. My skills as a teacher–as a Quality Teaching Framework trained, NESA Proficient (and maintained) Teacher is not negated by the need to ensure that information is made available to the students and school in which I teach.
My teaching philosophy may grow and change and I may be part of an information society–but one thing will always remain: Teachers are facilitators of education (more than an transmitters) of information.
References:
Coccia, Mario. (2010). Democratization is the driving force for technological and economic change. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248497849_Democratization_is_the_driving_force_for_technological_and_economic_change
Garcia, H. & Miralles, F. (2017) Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. London: UK. Hutchinson.
Godwin, M. (2006) The Cold War and the Early Space Race. Retrieved from: https://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/cold/articles/godwin.html
Web Finance Inc. (2016). Information Society. Retrieved from Introduction to Teacher Librarianship Module 2.3: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42380_1&content_id=_2633951_1&mode=view
(Reflection of Module 2.2 Introduction to Teacher Librarianship)
Western society has easy access to information. It might not always be up to date or relevant to our individual contexts but it is available.
5 positives of the digital age:
It is faster than doing research using a library or non-fiction text that has been purchased.
Levels the playing field to some degree for economically disadvantaged communities.
Levels the playing field to some degree for geographically disadvantaged communities.
More people have a venue for having a ‘voice.’
Creates an avenue for collaboration that was not there previously.
4 negatives of the digital age:
Relies on the assumption that the entire world are having equal input when that is not true.
Opens the gate to misinformation (eg. propaganda) to reach a larger audience for the sake of another’s personal gain.
It takes a lot of time to weed out the stuff we don’t want or need to see (this having previously been done by editors and publishers or researchers in their fields). [Search engines try to help with this by programs where ‘the tool directs the user’. These algorithms try to guess what you-the user-want to see. However, this places inhuman limitations on the information that we seek and can often miss the mark. The intelligence is artificial and cannot offer clarification the way that a human can].
People (eg. teachers) will most often see only the good things that others (in their profession) put on the internet and not the reality.
Following the readings for Introduction to Teacher Librarianship Module 2.1 (2019) regarding the ‘Information hierarchy’ it occurs to me that the information sequence suggested could be described or represented as a 2D spiral as occurs in mathematics and a 3D helix, as occurs naturally in nature.
[Sidebar: For more information on the Fibonacci Sequence, and how to teach the idea to students here: https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html]
When discussing powerful words such as, ‘data, knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, instructions, and messages’, I agree with Module 2.1, that information is a complex idea that is often subjective and correlational.
I think of information in ‘classical’ terms, and related to physical entities such as energy and matter, and agree with the idea that there is a ‘data-information-knowledge-wisdom continuum’ (AEW, 2008). While we live in modern times, there is still value in ‘classical’ information, knowledge and wisdom.
My idea of an information ‘continuum’ is that, instead of a linear model, if you picture the shell image above as a person’s mind, each line represents a continuing time sequence of learning: data (D), information (I), knowledge (K) and wisdom (W) regarding a topic or train of thought. Some lines (building, much like DNA in their repeating DIKW sequence) are weak and so light (‘misinformation’) that they cannot replicate the sequence and fade away. Every shell is unique, although there are commonalities, as is found in humans.
[Sidebar: The four inherent junctions or properties of DNA can be further researched here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4537162/]
I like the idea from Module 2.1 that states: “information creates more information” as this supports my helix view of information.
However I believe that the “self-multiplication” of information as mentioned in Module 2.1 generally only causes an overload when one cannot release an old idea or old information in favour of the new or when a person’s capability to research information highways is limited.
Further thoughts about information:
Can the DIKW sequence be varied in itself, just as DNA is varied, eg, WDKI?
Is the Information hierarchy or continuum more of a triple helix representing the individual, group and societal knowledge, rather than a helix as represented in the shell image above?
References:
AEW. (2008). Community of practice: Part B. The Information Hierarchy.[slideshare] Retrieved from: Introduction to Teacher Librarianship Module 2.1 (2019) https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42380_1&content_id=_2633951_1&mode=view
Introduction to Teacher Librarianship Module 2.1 (2019) https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42380_1&content_id=_2633951_1&mode=view
Math is Fun (2016). Fibonacci Sequence. Retrieved from: https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html
When I reflect back to when I was a child, the local library was a place of peace and organisation, a place of welcoming and quiet during what was a lonely and poverty-stricken time in my life.
When I was a young adult the local library was a place that I went to be free of expectations and demands and could read and research relevant and up to date young adult novels and magazines to learn more about how to exist in the world.
When I grew to be an adult, the high school and college librarians were the most efficient and helpful people that I knew, and I trusted them to have the most quality and noteworthy resources to support my education.
Perhaps, for some people the Internet offers peace, organisation, welcome, quiet, freedom, research, trust, direction, and quality resources, so long as they have the Internet skills to find what they need (USC Marshall, 2019).
It does not, however, always offer these things for the majority of students with any consistency and requires a human to help them navigate.
Does the world still need school libraries or libraries in general?
I myself have worked at a school that debated this issue and very nearly voted in favour of changing the library to a book-less computer lab. There have also been articles regarding the topic, such as (Preiss, 2014; The Conversation, 2015 and Dring, 2014).
After experiences that I’ve had, and following articles such as those listed above, the lack of support for the library possibly stems from some systematic employment decisions, which have resulted in the library becoming out of date with modern times.
Let’s create a hypothetical 2019 NSW Primary school library:
What had previously been a full time position may have been dropped to part time because of a decrease in student enrolments, funding cuts or the needs of the librarian. The previous librarian, who had possibly been at the school for many years and who possibly had specific Librarian qualifications, may have moved on or retired. A teacher who wanted to work part time because of health or family reasons perhaps then filled the role. Thus, that teacher my have then remained as the librarian for the next few years, unaware and under-skilled—changing very little, despite the world changing all around them.
It is understandable then that the hypothetical library would be seen as out-dated and irrelevant: it had failed to change with the times.
What is the role of a 2019 Teacher Librarian in reality?
According to the NSW Department of Education (2018), the school library is central to teaching and learning and the role includes: “Collaborative teaching support, Information services, Personnel and Materials and equipment systems.”
Food for thought: Conspicuously missing from the NSW DET Role information is the requirement for Teacher Librarians to have or be attempting their Masters of Education degrees. (Pop over to the forum topic in Interact2 and lets discuss it!)
What about the 2019 digital environment in which we all live?
Teacher Librarians have a workplace that is within a changing information and digital landscape and must therefore be flexible to change. Just as classroom teachers have had numerous changes and growth, so should teacher librarians.
This means that librarians need to actively manage the collection resources including and beyond paper texts and pro-actively research and implement online resources across schools to support teachers and engage students.
This need for a 21st century approach is supported by research from Softlink (2017), which concludes:
“Continued investment in school libraries is vital for the development of literacy and improved educational outcomes. Librarians and library staff play an important role in student academic development. It is clear there is a growing requirement for digital and online resources and that school-wide access and integration is important for engaging students in learning.”
Hi, I’m Christy Roe and this is my first blog post. I chose this name for the blog because I’ve operated a closed Facebook Group with the same name since 2013 for teachers or lecturers who’ve worked with me all the way back to when I started Primary teaching in 2007.
The Teacher’s Who Know Me blog is a reflective device for my thoughts and learning relating to education. It was created as part of my Masters of Education in Teacher Librarianship to keep track of the things I learn, reflect on them and to share them with teachers or lecturers who know me or who have worked with me over the years.
All images and opinions are my own or used with permission, and will be referenced and supported by research or evidence wherever possible.
Thank you for interacting with me, now and into the future,
