Deborah's reflections

My journey to becoming a K-6 TL.

Apr 25

6.1 Look at the influential teachers among your colleagues. What advanced skills do they have in these two areas? What will help you be more productive as a teacher librarian in your school community?

by debnicklin1

Confidence, Confidence and more Confidence…

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They are efficient at completing a task and appear to have more time than others. They communicate well with the principal in a formal and informal level and can make a coherent point simply and logically. As Wilson (2009-2016) suggests we can look at the zones of our day that are non negotiable such as teaching or playground duty time. Then use efficiently the time we can complete work in. Confident colleagues don’t appear to be flustered, they reprioritise as they negotiate their day.

The days I am more productive is Thursdays when our new Library assistant is in so I can focus more on teaching tasks while she attends to circulation and shelving. I am more attentive to the students and I can plan/prepare for classes without the little interruptions. I can focus more on small groups and individuals and be available for their queries and Orbit search questions. Our assistant is a godsend and is very willing to learn and keep things ticking over. This is also the day when I scan my program for the next week, make adjustments and improvements, find resources and take a moment to reflect on how to proceed. Imagine what I could achieve if we had a library assistant every day…

 

Wilson, T. (2009-2016). Time management for teachers – essential tips if you want a life outside school. Time Management Success. Retrieved from: https://www.time-management-success.com/time-management-for-teachers.html

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Apr 25

5.4b Information Literacy at my school.

by debnicklin1

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The term information literacy is difficult to define. UNESCO.(2006) describes the traditional definition of moving from a process of acquiring basic cognitive skills, moving towards a definition that includes social awareness and critical reflection. (p.147) These added factors move learning to a deeper level of cognitive thought.

*There is no information literacy policy at the school where I work. It is only this year that a Scope and Sequence for the library was drawn up by my colleague and I. The Information Literacy policy is on our ‘to do’ list. I am very pleased we haven’t started developing our policy before I found the link in our notes in module 6 from ASLA titled, Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Libraries. This guide is brilliant! It even includes a template of headings for TL to ‘fill in.’ I feel like our task is considerably easier.

*Information literacy at our school varies depending on the grade and experience of the teacher. Guided Inquiry is a keen focus in science however class teachers tend to have a more traditional approach to information gathering.

*Digital citizenship was taught well to our stage 3 students a few years ago before a previous teacher retired. Casual teacher librarian staff  up until last year have barely scratched the surface in this area, however they were ‘flying blind’ with no scope and sequence guidance. We have reintroduced a program on Digital Citizenship, however we are trialling which topics for which grade are suitable for our students.

*Transliteracy is in a random experimental phase at our school. Year 5 are using Google Forms for spelling tests, K are trialling Seesaw for home/school communication, a few classes are using Google Classroom for various tasks. Office 365 has been used by year 3 to write collaboratively. Various apps are used for maths and English work. Year 5/6 are playing with the new Chromebooks. All of these uses by class teachers  can be a source of information gathering for my colleague and I as we consider how we will formulate an information literacy policy in the future. As yet we are not sure how much detail to include. We do need to gather more information before we put pen to paper…

 

Australian School Library Association (ASLA). (2016). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres.

UNESCO. (2006). Understandings of literacy. Education for all: Literacy for life. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt6_eng.pdf (26/4/2019)

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Apr 21

5.4 a Information literacy Fitzgerald, L. & Garrison, K. (2017) ‘It Trains Your Brain’: Student Reflections on Using the Guided Inquiry Design Process. Synergy, 15/2 How might the TL help the school move towards integrated information literacy instruction? What challenges lie in the way of such instruction? How teacher librarians and teachers might encourage students to transfer information literacy skills and practices from one subject to another?

by debnicklin1

A TL will probably move a school to a IL approach slowly. Begin with your most willing participant or grade team and plan from there. Sharing the advantages and the alignment with curriculum as well as offering to collaborate will motivate a team and Principal to be involved. Teacher education and sharing pre-written GI units to model the process as well as a scaffold such as the Guided Inquiry Design Process by Kuhlthau, C. C., Caspari, A. K., & Maniotes, L. K. (2015) will hopefully enable the process.

Challenges for this process can be allowing teachers time to consider the GI process and additional time to collaborate with colleagues. (Fitzgerald and Garrison, 2017) Teachers need to understand and support the process before valuable time will be allocated to plan GI units.

In the article, It Trains Your Brain (2017) students reflected that it became easier to follow the process with repeated projects. A practical approach might be to display the GID process clearly on the library wall and classroom walls as an available reference for the students and teachers. The Guided Inquiry units I have seen so far appear to be a full term in length (minimum 10+ lessons) I wonder if there are shorter, more manageable units of work that take less time that don’t loose the integrity of the GID steps? This might be a good place for the less confident TL and class teacher to begin?

Fitzgerald, L. & Garrison, K. (2017) ‘It Trains Your Brain’: Student Reflections on Using the Guided Inquiry Design Process. Synergy,    15/2

Kuhlthau, C. C., Caspari, A. K., & Maniotes, L. K. (2015). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition : Learning in the 21st Century (Vol. Second edition). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1061481&site=ehost-live

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Apr 21

5.3 b Guided Inquiry Share your views on Guided Inquiry (GI). What advantages, challenges and/or disadvantages do you see for a teacher librarian wishing to implement a GI approach?

by debnicklin1

Guided Inquiry is explained by Kuhlthau (2015) as a method of teaching that adjusts the culture of learning in a school including the way teachers work together. It’s focus on deeper learning and higher student engagement works towards a more authentic experience. (p.15)

This approach to learning is emphasised in the Australian Curriculum and NSW curriculum. GI is a method whereby TL can assess their own teaching as well as support the classroom teacher. Implementation however has it’s difficulties and the IL approach truly requires a common purpose amongst teachers and TL. A thorough understanding of the process including time allocated for assessment and evaluation is essential in order to ensure success.

Advantages of GI Challenges of GI
*Lead students to a deeper understanding of ideas. Students can verbalise and clarify their findings in group setting. *Take longer than behaviourist methods to implement.
*Students more prepared for future work/leisure. *Colleagues and Principal who prefer to work less collaboratively.
*Constructivist rather than behaviourist. *TL and /or class teacher who is unwilling to embrace digital technologies.
*Prepares students to think for themselves. *NAPLAN supports a behaviourist approach.
*Motivation, interest and emotional involvement by students. *TL and teacher knowledge of the process of GI not thorough.
*Many sources are used to support learning instead of textbook only.

Kuhlthau, C. C., Caspari, A. K., & Maniotes, L. K. (2015). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition : Learning in the 21st Century (Vol. Second edition). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1061481&site=ehost-live

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Apr 21

5.3a Discuss either of these two analyses and their potential impact on the need for an IL model in your school.

by debnicklin1

F-10 Inquiry Skills Scope and Sequence by Karen Bonano and contributions by Lee Fitzgerald is a good guide for teachers to develop a Guided Inquiry unit of work. The guide covers the General Capabilities and the Creative and Critical Thinking areas of the Australian Curriculum and focuses on K-year 10. The document is easy to follow and lists a selection of specific tasks possible for each stage. On page 33 there is also a table to suggest technology tools for each step of the Inquiry Process. This document allows teachers an easy transition to creating a Guided Inquiry unit of work. It’s impact could be quite significant as it applies to the History/Science/Geography and Design Technologies areas which are mandatory areas for all primary school teachers. The document is based on the theory in the book called Guided Inquiry Design (2012) “The Guided Inquiry design framework offers a way of teaching many things at the same time within a meaningful and integrated context.” (p.1) This book is a ‘how to’ guide for teachers developing units of work.

My school certainly needs an IL model, particularly for our stage 3 students. We have high achieving students, many who are highly motivated and enjoy learning in an independent manner. Collaboration is an area that is spoken of as successfully implemented however the work I see produced by students in class is very often an individual product whereby the students research and answer the same questions. The individuality appears through presentation choice of the same information rather than students taking hold of their learning and directing it. Collaboration in future projects could deepen their knowledge and skills and give them more independence to direct their learning. Our community of parents however are generally highly focused on achieving good NAPLAN results, entry into local selective schools and a university education. So although an implementation of an IL model would be successful at our school, it isn’t a high priority due to success with standardised results which indicates we are performing well.

Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2012). Guided inquiry design : A framework for inquiry in your school. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

 

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Apr 21

Reflective Practice Your thoughts: Discussions of information literacy in this module are diverse and interesting. In your journal (Thinkspace), reflect on what you can take from the discussion of information literacy to your IL role in school.

by debnicklin1

Information Literacy is a TL bread and butter. We are the managers of the information in the library and we need to ensure our students and colleagues are literate in the methods to retrieve that information. This has always been the case however recent and rapid technological development has thrown our mostly behaviourist approach on it’s head. This approach is lacking when looking towards our student’s future functioning in their work and leisure lives. Abilock,D.(2015) lists a design process whereby updated approaches or units of work can be structured to reflect a constructivist outlook. Ideally, units of work would be planned with classroom teachers. Realistically, it depends on the nature of how groups of teachers collaborate and the expectation of the Principal and executive staff at individual schools. In my own situation I need to move more towards a constructivist approach. I certainly have elements of this design process however I need to revise and improve some areas, particularly the evaluative and reflective stages. These stages need to be incorporated throughout the research task.

Abilock, D. (2015). Information literacy. Building blocks of research: Overview of design process and outcomes. NoodleTools.

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Apr 16

What is an appropriate role for the teacher librarian in curriculum development? What benefits can a school obtain from the active involvement of the teacher librarian in curriculum development? Should a principal expect that teachers would plan units of work with the teacher librarian? How are students disadvantaged in schools that exclude the teacher librarian from curriculum development?

by debnicklin1

TL should undoubtedly by involved in Curriculum Development and in a greater capacity than fetching the resources. TL can combine their experience of promoting information seeking and gathering skills to support and enhance student performance in learning tasks. Using print and ICT platforms, a constructivist approach can encourage positive and student led exploration of a topic.

Curriculum development school wide is essential for the TL to be involved in. TL can support class teachers with developing ICT and research skills for students to competently complete tasks. Students must have Digital Citizenship knowledge inbuilt across the curriculum to improve their use and access to information in all subject areas.

Principal’s should expect TL and class teachers to collaborate on units of work where appropriate. Our school has 2 staff meetings a term whereby staff are given grade meeting time to plan collaboratively. This inbuilt time is invaluable for the TL to join various grades to peek into their world and plan with teachers.

Excluding TL from curriculum development can disadvantage students and teachers from the expertise of an information specialist. The direction education is moving towards has a 21st C learning focus and students under prepared for this may struggle to in an information environment.

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Apr 16

Link to GI units for Primary

by debnicklin1

http://guidedinquiryoz.edublogs.org/practice-2/primary-guided-inquiry-units/

Useful Links

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Apr 16

Australian Government, Department of Education (2014) Figure 6: Analysing the flow of policy and practice in curriculum (source: Professor Brian Caldwell) p88 In Discussion forum 4.3_1, discuss ways in which curriculum is created and delivered in your school, particularly looking at whether teachers in the school have the freedom and capacity to tailor the curriculum to the needs of the school and its students.

by debnicklin1

I believe teachers in my school have the freedom and capacity to create and deliver curriculum as they professionally deem fit. Mostly teachers focus their attention on the NSW Syllabus documents and only a few take a cursory glance at the Australian Curriculum. Our senior science teacher does correlate programming with both documents and aligns outcomes with the NSW syllabus. Grade teams are mostly quite adept at sharing the load and work together and pool resources to implement curriculum. Our Principal encourages collegiality and collaboration and certainly promotes trying new things. An informal recess discussion about how much focus should we pay to the Australian curriculum concluded with an executive staff member saying NSW Syllabus until we hear otherwise. The rest of us are still on the fence… Any thoughts as to where our focus should lie at the moment?

 

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Apr 15

Discussion Forum 4.2

by debnicklin1

rawpixel / Pixabay

Start small. Offering a link or a book to something the teacher may find useful may open up doors. A strategy that has worked for me in the past is to offer the reluctant teacher a brand new resource: who can resist a new book! Building on from here is to share the evidence of collaborative teaching. The results as experienced by the students and their work may be a strong influence in the success of attempting a collaborative approach. 

Fullan, M.(1999) describes the characteristics of a collaborative approach. He lists four attributes; diversity and trust, provokes anxiety, connection and open endedness, fusion of the spiritual, political and intellectual. (p.38) Fullan goes on to describe how passionate teachers generate ideas and thrive in shared communities. Recently this occured in my workplace with the WeDo lego kits on loan from the Dept of Ed. The few teachers who had some experience of implementation were given time by our Principal to collaborate with class teachers to demonstrate the kits in classes. So many teachers commented positively and said it was ‘do-able.’

Fullan, M. (1999). Chapter 3: The deep meaning of inside collaboration. In Change forces: The sequel, (pp.31-41). London, Falmer Press, available CSU Library

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