Deborah's reflections

My journey to becoming a K-6 TL.

ETL507: Final Reflective Portfolio

Final Reflective Portfolio

 Just_Call_Me_Library_Girl.jpg

Part A

Personal philosophy: What do you think makes an effective teacher librarian (TL)?

An effective teacher librarian (TL) is creative and adaptable in the support she gives students and colleagues. A strong and consistent school-wide promotion of the importance of literacy, reading, knowledge, inquiry, and creation is essential. This is demonstrated through leadership as an information professional and extensive collaboration with teachers and students in the areas of curriculum, content curation, literature support, and digital literacy. TLs are also creators of unique and inviting spaces to promote learning, inspiration, and safe havens to explore and escape into a story. More importantly, TLs know their communities. They learn the nature of their students’ likes and interests and their teachers’ preferences, and teaching styles. The graphic above lists a myriad of roles a TL performs in a school but Joyce Valenza (2013) in her list of what we will lose if TLs are taken away, also reveals what we can gain from continuing to properly fund and support school libraries.

Part B

Free-Photos / Pixabay

This section is divided into three major themes identified as significant areas of learning in the Master of Education (Teacher librarianship) course. The themes I have chosen are technology, collection development and literature, and leadership.

Theme one: Technology

Information and communications technology (ICT) is central to education and school libraries. Grantham (2007, p. 5) states that students will see libraries as irrelevant if TLs do not harness the capability of new technology. She goes on to describe two types of guidance that are crucial.

  1. Proficiency in 21st-century information skills and,
  2. Well-designed online environments.

Every day in my work as a primary school library teacher, technology as a tool, guides my work and the explorations of my students. It also provides the opportunity to manipulate and share information using web 2.0 tools. This ability to gather information, then share it has become central to ICT in school libraries. In this respect I have endeavoured to increase collaboration in library ICT tasks.

ETL501 and ETL402 both presented a myriad of possibilities in quality online tools.

In the last eighteen months our library has gained a set of 30 laptops in addition to the 30 ipads that are shared between library and our French and Italian teachers. 1:1 access for our students has enabled me to up-level our digital and information literacy programs from a rudimentary level to a more sophisticated list of skills. Rather than stand-alone lessons, these information literacy skills are integrated into units of work that support classroom units of work. ETL501 – The Dynamic Information Environment, was key in developing more sophisticated search strategies and website evaluation and exploring web 2.0 tools to enhance student engagement and learning. My assessment reflection Nicklin, (2020, September 26), explains this further. However, the release from face to face (RFF) structure for library lessons downplays the significance of our value. I continually advocate by ‘muscling in’ on grade meetings and communicating with grade coordinators formally and informally to promote my value in a primary school library. An example of informal advocacy I have implemented is to mention a significant moment that occurred during the lesson such as an astute observation by a student.  This small measure while teachers pick up classes from library lessons, along with building up communication and consistent support, will strengthen the foundations of advocacy.

For the first assessment in ETL501, I wrote a proposal to the principal for the development of a library website to support the community. A carefully curated library virtual website will increase our connection with the school community and broaden the landscape of authentic 21st education. A virtual website’s purpose is to create confident, active and informed citizens who are successful learners (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, n.d. para 1). However, this website is still a work in progress. During lockdown in 2020, I created a basic Google Site for the library, but I was neither satisfied with the outcome nor felt it offered enough content to be useful for our school. Gambrell (2015, December 8) suggests seven simple considerations to maximise student successful usage of a library website. The challenge for me is to create a site that is navigable by five- and six-year-old students to ensure the entire school will achieve search success for information. By referring WAG 2.0 guidelines, I will ultimately support all users and covers the broad range of accessibility tools to create an inclusive site.

The second assessment to create a pathfinder for a unit of work was immensely satisfying as I had a group of teachers and students, I tailored the pathfinder for a year four class. My explorer’s pathfinder for Stage 2 was useful for teachers and students and provided a starting point for the unit. It was immensely satisfying to support staff and students digitally having just returned to school after online learning during a Sydney lockdown in March/April 2020.

Year 4 research guide 2020. Created by D. Nicklin

This gave me the confidence to look at further pathfinders to integrate with grades. Levitov (2015, p. 4), states that TLs must embrace leadership in their role as information professionals requiring active visibility. This was demonstrated in the teacher and student use of these pathfinders and has directly improved student information literacy skills and visibility of the TLs role.

New to me was the idea of blogging in a primary school setting. However, the use of my own blog to complete this degree has demonstrated the effectiveness of the space to teach critical and digital literacy. Sheko (2019), describes the elasticity and stretchiness of the TL role and encourages libraries to experiment with blog spaces. My blog post (2020, August 24), further lists examples of blog usage for our library. My colleague (who is about to return from maternity leave) and I are in the planning stages of creating a blog for stage three students to share and promote literature they have enjoyed. We are building into this the importance of online etiquette when sharing a digital space as well as giving students a real readership rather than just their teacher.

I will continue to improve my use of digital tools to keep our library relevant in an increasingly digital world. Students and teachers are rapidly upskilling themselves digitally in our current situation of a Sydney lockdown in July 2021. My challenge is to keep up with an ever-increasing role description list, and an ever-changing learning environment. The Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course has opened the door and given me a map to achieving this ideal.

Theme two: Collection development and literature.

This is an increasingly complex area in my work. Fulfilling

the requirements of meeting the needs of the community in which I work on a limited budget is challenging. Johnson, Huille & Reed (2009. P. 103), suggest TLs need to be increasingly selective due to the vast numbers of literature that is published each year. ETL503 demonstrated the importance of creating a collection development policy to guide management in this respect and explored the need for inclusivity of several factors. Diversity, reading levels, censorship, disability guidelines, curriculum focus, digital literacy, appropriateness, relevance, durability, and reading freedom are a few of the significant considerations. Narrowing down selection within a budget has become an ongoing series of compromises. There was no collection Development Policy at the library where I work, so I embarked on the daunting task with the support of the principal. I have recently revisited this document to update inclusions relevant to a lockdown scenario.

 

  1. 2. Library reshelving. 2019. D. Nicklin

Our library in 2019 held many outdated titles in poor condition. This was particularly the case with the non-fiction collection. Examples of books on a particular country from before the year 2000 were plentiful and searching the loan history in Oliver revealed these titles were infrequently loaned if at all. New shelving in 2019 was the perfect opportunity to extensively and ruthlessly weed the entire collection. Unfortunately, this occurred before I studied ETL503, therefore my weeding was somewhat ad hoc. Titles in poor condition, those not loaned in the last two years and a non- appealing appearance only went part-way to properly evaluate each item. ETL503 has highlighted so many more considerations detailed in my reflection (2020, January 23).  

My understanding of the two concepts of literature and literacy have deepened considerably. ETL402 provided a broad and succinct appreciation of the intrinsic value of literature and literacy in education. It’s generally accepted that reading is important for education and pleasure, however, Barone (2010), aptly describes below the true value of reading,

“When teachers cultivate reasons for reading, children move beyond the single focus of deciphering print. Their interactions with literary language and images in books support creativity, connections, and criticism as they participate in conversations centred on them. (p. 5).”

It is not simply good enough to buy books, accession them and plonk them on the shelves. Neil Gainman (2016), an author of many books for adults and children encourages us to shift our thinking and he promotes libraries as not places with shelves of books, but places of freedom. As TLS we are in a unique and privileged position to show students the truth of these words and to reveal the power that literature and literacy have for all their futures.

Students have access to a wide range of texts in our school library; however, the enthusiasm varies when they walk in. While some rush to the new books shelf, others dawdle around and linger with their hands in their pockets. If a Minecraft book isn’t available, they say, “I can’t find anything I want.” These students are my greatest challenge. Donalyn Miller (2013, October 10), describes in the video below how she attempts to create lifelong readers, rather than simply good readers.

3 Donalyn Miller (2013, October 13). reading in the wild.

After reading her book, Miller inspired me to look for reasons why these students opt out of literature. I have conversations with these students during borrowing time and look for an interest or a spark of enthusiasm. I realise that encouraging them to read is far more significant than what they are reading. I order more ‘low brow’ texts if it means that these students show an inkling of interest in reading at all. A small number of staff say some books such as Captain Underpants should not be on school library shelves! This goes against the concept of freedom to read.

Book promotion, displays, reading aloud and immersion in stories are important roles of a TL. However, with experience, I find allowing students to share their enthusiasm and passion for literacy is one of the most powerful drivers of encouragement. Student promotion via book trailers, book bentos, and conversations around story are powerful influencers to engaged and un-engaged readers.

  1. 5. Students borrowing at HNPS. (2020)

Our school is in a diverse area of Sydney so awareness of inclusivity, cultural literacy, and cultural schema (Ross-Johnson, 2014, p. 536) have been a focus. A collection review comparing the school population and the diversity of the collection showed a dominance of Anglo-Saxon characters and ideologies. With guidance from ETL503, I was able to include a statement within the Collection Development Policy to raise awareness of cultural literacy and balancing the collection to reflect the current student population. My growth in this area is enormous. I feel our collection continually moves from a general assemblage of titles to a more curated and appropriate collection for our community. My next challenge is to increase the bi-lingual books available.

Theme three: Leadership  

The idea of leadership in a school library context was an idea not considered by me. Judy O’Connell introduced this idea in ETL401 in module 3. A pivotal article by Bonanno (2015), opened my eyes to the advocacy role TLs must take to “play it forward.” (Bonanno, 2015, p. 20). This means to advocate for the absolute importance of the role the school library and its staff have in outcomes by students in a variety of literacies. I admitted in my blog post (2019, July 15), that leadership was creeping up on me in my new role as a primary school TL. Experience was and continues to teach me that Bonanno’s emphasis in her article is a large part of our role, particularly in a school library environment.

ETL504 defined leadership and the various styles that are present in organisations. The first assessment task challenged me to locate the leadership style and role a TL holds within a school situation. Creating a leadership map was a very difficult task and challenged me to consider the viewpoints of the whole school community.

Change Leadership Concept Map D. Nicklin (2019).

Change Leadership Concept Map D. Nicklin (2019).

I had no role model to emulate in my limited library experience. Additionally, all the staff I worked with had no leadership expectations of me. Goslin, K. (2011, January 18). The video below describes seven practical steps to affect change within an educational organisation. With this roadmap in hand, along with many readings in the modules, I was able to begin to re-position the library and its unique value to the community.

6 Goslin, K. (2011, January 18). Instructional leadership for 21st changes in teaching    and schooling.

This new mindset has adjusted how I advocate for the services our school library provides. However, this process is long and arduous. At times it resembles an uphill battle and with a combination of subtle and not-so-subtle methods, I am making in-roads. A current example is to add Wheelers Eplatform to our collection in addition to another online eBook platform we have. World Book Online provides good access to non-fiction titles with a few fiction titles. However, the current lockdown in Sydney in 2021 has greatly limited our students access to fiction books. Ultimately, my goal is to increase staffing. I have no library assistant, which ties me to daily administrative tasks such as shelving, weeding, and accessioning. In a small school this would be expected, however, in a primary school of nearly one thousand students, a vast majority of my time is administrative.

The leadership styles explored in ETL504 allowed me to reflect on my experiences working in schools. Bush & Glover (2014), clearly highlight the significance of leadership styles on student learning and the moral of staff in response to leadership styles. I resonated with the following statement:

“Leadership is a process of influence leading to the achievement of desired purposes. Successful leaders develop a vision for their schools based on their personal and professional values. They articulate this vision at every opportunity and influence their staff and other stakeholders to share the vision. The philosophy, structures and activities of the school are geared towards the achievement of this shared vision.” (Bush and Glover 2003, p. 5)           

The leadership theories described in ETL504 apply to a variety of roles in a school, however, not all apply to the role of TL. The phrase ‘leading from the middle’ was used widely by Jennie Bales and students in comments in the discussion forums, particularly to describe TLs. This equated particularly with the theories of servant and instructional leadership. Greater experience in the TL role and changing teaching and learning circumstances with lockdowns, has opened the opportunity for me to practice leading from the middle. This Master of Education (Teacher librarianship) course has allowed me to understand the nature of leadership, and the impact of the differing styles of leadership. Instructional leadership is increasing as I help some of my colleagues locate resources and navigate the home learning platforms of Seesaw and Google Classroom. I am no expert, but a different lockdown workload for some of our classroom teachers is causing much anxiety. They feel they are being left behind in a technological world. I have been able to step up and gently help these teachers with the technology support that the executive are overlooking.

Your digital LIbrary

 

7https://www.yourdigitallibrary.org/about-us.html

Practically, to engage in many of the more significant and more visible avenues of leadership studied in ETL504 is quite beyond the staffing and time constraints in my current school. I suspect it is outside the realms of most NSW Department of Education. An overloaded class load and full library administration responsibility at a large primary school equate to constant prioritisation. This leaves me with too many obligations. Therefore, I need to be efficiently strategic to achieve and advocate for aspects of my role as shown in the graphic above (yourrdigitallibrary.org. n.d.).

Part C

The Standards for Professional Practice of Teacher Librarians (2004), outlines the highest standards to which all TLs should aspire. These guidelines can be adapted to a variety of school library circumstances and are appropriate for K-12.

The Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course at Charles Sturt University (CSU), has supported me significantly in all three of the areas. At the commencement of this course, I had a rudimentary notion of the TL role, and was unaware of the depth and scope possible. The guidelines are a place to measure my current practice. Also, a place to identify areas I need to improve and work on. My practice has improved immensely over the last few years however I feel that I have a while to go before ‘excellence’ can describe my practice.

Standard 1: Professional knowledge

Standard 1.4-knowledge of library and information management is particularly significant to my learning. My understanding of how the library fits into the context of the whole school and its significant contribution of information literacy has changed my emphasis in my role as TL. Further work for me is to refine our information literacy scope and sequence further and to ensure I keep up with current practice and techniques. Journals such as SCAN and belonging to professional associations will achieving excellence. This standard is the area in which this course has supported me the most. The scope and depth of content across the subjects I studied and chose has prepared me significantly. I am better prepared for the nature of the role in a school context and the study visits have demonstrated the scope of the information industry.

Standard 2: Professional practice

I work in a primary school library which is advantageous to achieve these goals. I was able to immediately consider how to improve practice and locate areas that are lacking. Such as reviewing my programs and identifying areas of improvement. An area for me to continue to improve is my use of ICT in programs. I am beginning to use web 2.0 tools, however there are more opportunities to explore in this area. Applying theory to my practice has resulted in improved outcomes, but this needs to further develop. Collaboration is another opportunity for me to improve in the future. ETL504 has supported my confidence and knowledge to advocate for our library and to spruik our value via different styles of leadership.

Standard 3: Professional commitment

Advocates such as Donalyn Miller and her passion for the absolute necessity for a lifelong love of reading have inspired me. Through careful collection development, reading promotion and a consistent approach to literacy, I now have a 21st century collection of tools to raise outcomes. The principles and underpinning theories I’ve learned in this course support me to confidently realise the unique place of the TL and the library in the school. I also now understand how my role is to support and work with others to create a collegial community of practice who work towards the same vision.

I have reached the end of this course a far better TL and I have broadened my perspective on every aspect of my daily practice in a school library. I will continue my learning journey towards excellence as a TL and I am grateful for every opportunity the Master of Education (Teacher Librarian) has provided me.

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (ACARA). (n.d.). Learning areas. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/

Australian Library and Information Association and Australian School Library Association. (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians.  https://read.alia.org.au/alia-asla-standards-professional-excellence-teacher-librarians

Barone, D. M. (2010). Children’s literature in the classroom : Engaging lifelong readers. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Bonanno, K. (2015). A profession at the tipping point. https://kb.com.au/content/uploads/2015/03/profession-at-tipping-point2.pdf

Bush, T. & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: what do we know? School Leadership & Management, (34)5. pp. 553571, DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2014.928680

Gaiman, N. (2013, Oct 16). Why our futures depend on libraries, reading, and imagination. The Guardian. (Australian Edition). http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Gambrell, K. (2015, December 8). 7 best practices for creating a user-friendly library website. Ebsco. https://www.ebsco.com/blogs/ebscopost/7-best-practices-creating- user-friendly-library-website

Goslin, K. (2011, January 18). Instructional leadership for 21st century changes in teaching and schooling. [YouTube]. https://youtu.be/H-lkQF4vhCc

Grantham, C. (2007). Virtual library: e-ssential. Access (10300155), 21(3), 5–8. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=2a6176fc-8a6f-4c6b-9f52-beb8fc6527d9%40pdc-v-sessmgr02

Johnson, P., Hille, J., & Reed, J. A. (2005). Fundamentals of collection development and management. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Just call me library girl. (2014). [Image]. Flickr. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/- HyxvI4md288/Tb4XqL1fmrI/AAAAAAAAAMo/DvN6Rb3dP1U/s1600/Just+Call+Me+Library+Girl.png

Levitov, D. (2015). Leadership Is Necessary. School Library Monthly, 31(5), 4. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=9d067ed6-b36b-4db1-af99-aa19932f1332%40sdc-v-sessmgr03

Nicklin, D. (2019, July 15). Leadership thoughts. [Blog post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/debnicklin/2019/07/15/leadership-thought/

Nicklin, D. (2020, January 23). ETL503 Assessment 2: Reflective practice. [Blog post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/debnicklin/2020/01/23/etl503-assessment-2-reflective- practice/

Nicklin, D. (2020, August 24). Explore the Edublogs site and identify a way you could use a             blog in the school library or classroom. Discuss and reflect on your Thinkspace. [Blog post]. Deborah’s reflections. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/debnicklin/2020/08/24/explore-to-the-edublogs-site-and-identify-a-way-you-could-use-a-blog-in-the-school-library-or-classroom-discuss-and-reflect-on-your-thinkspace/

Nicklin, D. (2020, September 26). ETL501 A2: Part B critical reflection [Blog post]. Deborah’s reflections. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/debnicklin/2020/09/26/etl501-a2-part-b- critical-reflection/

Nicklin, D. (2020). Year four research guide: Explorers. CSU Thinkspace. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/researchguidesexplorers/

Ross Johnston, R. (2014). Literary literacies: Digital, cultural, narrative, critical and deep literacies. In G. Winch, R. Ross Johnston, P. March, L. Ljungdahl & M. Holliday (Eds.), Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature (5th ed., pp. 556). Oxford University Press.

Sheko, T. (2019). Using the medium blogging platform to teach critical and digital literacies in art. SCIS Connections, (110). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-110/using-the-medium-blogging-platform-to-teach-critical-and-digital-literacies-in-art/

Valenza, J. (2013). School library story. https://vimeo.com/82208025

W3C. (2008). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.        http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Wiley. (2013, October 10). Reading in the wild 047090030X [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IZsZ4PrhiBo

Yourdigitallibrary.org. (n.d.) [Image]. https://www.yourdigitallibrary.org/about-us.html

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ETL402. Assessment 2, Part B: Reflection

geralt / Pixabay

This semester, I have refined my concept of what literature is (Nicklin, D. 2020, November 15) and why it is important across all subject areas. Initially, I assumed non-fiction books would be the focus of Literature across the curriculum, however, the power of fiction to support all curriculum subjects, as well as English was established in module one.

In my own professional practice, I have successfully connected students with books (Nicklin, D. 2021, January 1) I now consider connecting students and teachers with literature for all topics to be an even more crucial aspect of my role. The first assessment: Rationale for fiction cemented my understanding that fiction is valuable for its learning potential. Well-chosen books and digital literature not only enhance classroom learning programs but are central to supporting deeper knowledge and understanding of topics as well as support outcomes in all key learning areas (Haven, 2007, p. 97). In the past, collection development for other subjects centered around non-fiction support, however, research and course readings have demonstrated to me that fiction supports learning, comprehension, artistic expression, creativity, connections and critical thinking (Barone, 2011, p. 5).

One of my favourite discussions in module 2 has reviewed picture books and their many uses in the K-12 classroom. Thread 2.2a gave us the opportunity to share interesting books and new discoveries. Sophisticated picture books for older readers can offer many layers of meaning from visual literacy to non-traditional structures and multiple layers of complexity (National Library of New Zealand, 2013). My own discovery of a quite unique picture book hidden in the shelves of the library where I work has multiple uses across grades and genres (Nicklin, Discussion forum. Thread 2.2a).

Greater experience of online learning due to home learning for six weeks in 2020, focused my attention on digital literacy. It was a challenge to locate good quality and suitable reading material. I over-relied on Storyline Online and YouTube videos of a person reading a book. My exploration of what’s available (Nicklin, D. 2021, January 1) left me disappointed that some of these platforms didn’t offer more elements than a shared classroom reading experience. Reading digitally can offer enhanced features such as sound, movement, read-aloud and dictionary links. Studying ETL402 has encouraged me to more efficiently locate enhanced fiction online with a literary and digital focus. I am more attuned to elements that constitute quality digital sources with a broader application.

Modules 5/6 and assessment two challenged me to extend literature responses with deeper reflections of text and the literary learning that can occur. I am excited to rejig my library program in 2021 integrating literacy circles, book trailers, book bento boxes, and moving towards a more transliterate approach across all grades and subjects.

With three years in a primary school library, I considered myself familiar with the collection. However, my aim in 2021 is to read more of the fiction titles that are particularly suited to curriculum areas and are popular with students (Nicklin, D. 2021, January 1). This will assist me to advocate for the fiction collection, collaborate with teachers on the value of fiction for their classroom themes, and to locate multimodal links to support the reading of a text.

In short, I can enhance and deepen the various library services to uplift the reading experiences for all in our wonderful library.

 

References

Barone, D. M. (2010).  Children’s literature in the classroom: Engaging lifelong readers. Guilford Publications. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=581948

 

Gaiman, N. (2013, October 16). Why our futures depend on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

 

Haven, K. F. (2007). Story proof: The science behind the starting power of story.  ABC-CLIO, LLC . https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=329134

 

Nicklin, D. (2020, November 21). Re 2.2a: Picture book for older readers [Forum post]. ETL402, Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_49764_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_96426_1&forum_id=_218302_1&message_id=_3317113_1

 

The National Library of New Zealand. (2013). Sophisticated picture books. Services to Schoolshttps://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/childrens-and-youth-literature/sophisticated-picture-books

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Think: Choose a level of teaching and a curriculum topic and explore that area. Consider how you might go about resourcing that topic. What types of resources would you provide? How/where would you find them?

At the end of my second year in the library, I have a little practice in finding resources for students and teachers. However, I’m not complacent in the fact that I have a long way to go to be truly efficient at finding ideal resources. Before this however I have needed to be proactive to assist teachers as some tend to ‘google’ their next topic to locate resources for curriculum units of work. (Who hasn’t!) Another area where teachers are finding resources is teacher published sites e.g. TeachersPayTeachers and twinkl. They tend to be very worksheet based and although there are some freebies, most are for a small fee. As good as these are for occasional use, I have found they do narrow down the scope of resource use and often tend to ignore the range of digital tools available.

Unit: How has our local area changed? (Stage 2)

  • Collaborate with teachers teaching the unit to determine any specific queries/requests they may have.
  • Oliver search for what is in our school library. Fiction and non-fiction.
  • Local library website and online resources.
  • Local council website-history of our area, significant sites, photographs.
  • Local paper archives (online)
  • School archives-photographs of opening and early classes/events of our school.

 

 

 

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Module 7: TL as leader mindmap

I have created a very basic mindmap for TL as leader. I focused on the TL and the qualities as described in Chow and Rich (2013). It is simple and doesn’t do justice to the position in relation to other stakeholders in the school management structure. This map merely describes the behaviours and traits of a TL who is successful and proactive in their position within the school.   

Where will I be in 5 years?

In 2024 I’d like to be in a permanent job instead of temporary in the library where I work now. Following is a list of how I’d like this library to look:

  • Students and teachers sitting at tables working together on shared projects and other students working alone reflecting on their work/learning.
  • Books on shelves and students reading for pleasure in comfortable, soft seating. Students are also borrowing and returning books.
  • Portable laptops and tablets available for student and teacher use.
  • Displays showcasing Authors/student work/new books/themes/ideas for contemplation.
  • Student access to ebooks and online curated lists of resources.
  • TL desk has a collection of materials relevant to the latest collaboration with a group of teachers in the next term’s curriculum area.
  • Timetabling is more flexible.
  • Students are building up their digital literacy skills.
  • Library is seen as cool and students are happy to visit during their breaks and with their parents before and after school.

Perhaps I’m being ambitious for a mere 5 years from now. We shall see…

Reference

Chow, A. S., & Rich, M. (2013). The ideal qualities and tasks of library leaders: Perspectives of academic, public, school, and special library administrators. Library Leadership and Management, 27(1/2), 1-24. Retrieved from https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm

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5.4b Information Literacy at my school.

congerdesign / Pixabay

 

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 literacyEducation for all: Literacy for life. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt6_eng.pdf (26/4/2019)

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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?

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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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?

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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