Participation throughout ETL504 has led me to discover how complex leadership can be and that there is not just a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Different styles of leadership will be displayed by teacher librarians at different times, in different situations and in a range of contexts (Haycock, 2010, p. 2) which has been evident throughout the case studies and module readings.
The group work for the case studies provided an interesting insight into the dynamics of groups and how they can successfully work, or not. Group 2’s, case study 4 discussion board displays what was involved for us to become established and have clear understandings about how to achieve our goals. My personal aim was to implement a feeling of collaboration from the beginning (Catherall, 2020, August 30) and ensure everyone knew that their opinion and thoughts were important and could be heard which is important for team building. Transformational leadership which includes a team-building and collaborative approach usually results in positive change (Ingram, 2019). This was somewhat successful however as the result of a team member having a stronger desire to ‘get things moving’, the collaboration did not go as planned and it turned into more of a transactional approach which assists with getting work done in a time frame however does not allow for people to feel valued.
Throughout these case studies I found that some members were possibly not being adequately involved enough as a result of not feeling valued (Catherall, 2020, July 28) and possible lack of transformational leadership throughout activities. I did attempt again in case study four (Catherall, 2020, September 19) to be collaborative but there was no response. In a scenario like this again, it would be worthwhile to try and develop stronger relationships before becoming task oriented as outlined by Tracey Ezard in this post (2018, October 17) about developing relationships with those around you to gain results.
Infrequent communication was problematic, particularly in the final case study (Catherall, 2020, September 28) when no one had volunteered to put the concluding piece together. I had learnt from what I could see developing that I would need to take the lead and ask if someone who had not done this yet would be willing. I reflected upon case study one (Catherall, 2020, July 16) and I recognised through this that it was important for others to take the lead also. I was hoping as a result of particular members modelling behaviours and taking the lead as a transformational leader that others would then do this voluntarily; this was not the case. Expectations from the beginning were not made clear about everyone’s involvement which obviously became a problem.
For future directions, it is important to note that teacher librarians need all staff to know exactly what is required of them and how this benefits the ‘team’ which would have been useful in the beginning of our group case study discussion. Overall, our group was friendly and everyone did contribute. If expectations were clearer from the beginning though, it may have been more collaborative and had higher levels of communication.
References
Ezard, T. (2018, October 17). Do you love you people as much as your purpose? Tracey Ezard: Ferocious warmth leadership, high performance teams. https://www.traceyezard.com
Haycock, K. (2010). Leadership from the middle: Building influence for change. In S. Coatney (Ed.), The many faces of school library leadership (pp. 1-11). Libraries Unlimited.
Ingram, D. (2019, February 4). Transformational leadership vs transactional leadership definition. Hearst Newspapers: Small Business. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/transformational-leadership-vs-transactional-leadership-definition-13834.html
The amount I have learnt throughout this subject has simply amazed me. As a classroom teacher, it has been a great insight into the many roles of teacher librarians. Teacher librarians are helping lead learning and knowledge in interactive environments and there are great opportunities for them to assist students with learning how to use different types of media and working in virtual environments (O’Connell, 2012, p. 1). This, linked with working collaboratively alongside classroom teachers can only lead to positive outcomes for students.
I thoroughly enjoyed researching the literature response strategies, particularly as both that I wanted to use and learn more about involved technology. Each subject I complete throughout this course, further emphasises for me the importance of staying abreast of ways to implement learning using technology. A blog post I wrote (Catherall, May 10, 2020) about applications supporting literary learning aligns with the above statement as technology can provide information and a means of communication between students, teachers and parents in a conducive way which also contributes to literary learning. People who visit libraries in the future will have expectations of librarians to up to date with technology and ways this information can be disseminated and used (Krotoski, 2010, p. 633).
This subject has also reminded me of the importance to find ‘quality’ literature to use with students. When reflecting upon an earlier blog post (Catherall, May 21, 2020) I made during this subject, it is evident that I was aware of resources teacher librarians could go to such as Magpies, however the knowledge of these were very basic and it was not until I began the assessment tasks that I gained deeper understandings of their benefits for literary learning. For example, Magpies has a section where the genre of books can be seen so when collecting resources for classes or teachers, this is very beneficial to help teachers understand what genres they have and to find resources of different genres if they haven’t selected enough variation in their texts to promote quality literary learning.
Genres and formats is another area I have thoroughly enjoyed looking into more deeply which can be seen on my blog (Catherall, April 17, 2020). I have discovered a new love of picture books for older children and realised I had not emphasised visual literacy enough with my students. I thoroughly look forward to getting back into the classroom to discuss and explore colours, textures, sizing and placement of text. Assessment two was an excellent reminder of the literary benefits of choosing a varying range of formats and genres that link into all curriculum areas as it makes the literary learning much deeper and this knowledge can then be transferred into other areas of learning. A good library has resources that are of a high quality (Mallett, 2010, p. 373), a range of formats and genres should be included in this, which then hopefully encourages students to read more and learn more.
This subject has undoubtedly influenced my future practice. The deeper understandings that I now have, have provided me with richer information to be a better teacher, to ensure the library is resourced extremely well with a wide variety of books, implementation of technology programs to further students’ understandings and importantly collaboration between teachers as this will lead to greater outcomes for students.
References
Catherall, E. Strategies to increase professional knowledge of children’s literature. (March 21,
2020). [Emma’s Learning Journal- Blog]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/emmasonlinelearningjournal/2020/03/21/strategies-to-increase-professional-knowledge-of-childrens-literature/
Catherall, E. Reflection on assessment one. (April 17, 2020). [Emma’s Learning Journal-
Blog]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/emmasonlinelearningjournal/2020/04/17/reflection-on-assessment-one/
Catherall, E. Seesaw as an application to support literary learning. (May 10, 2020). [Emma’s
Learning Journal-Blog]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/emmasonlinelearningjournal/2020/05/10/seesaw-as-an-application-to-support-literary-learning/
Krotoski, A. (2010). Technology: Libraries of the future. Nature, 468(7324), p. 633.
doi: 10.1038/468633a
Mallett, M. (2010). Choosing and using fiction and non-fiction. 3-11 a comprehensive guide
for teachers and student teachers. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central
O’Connell, J. (2012). Teacher librarians stepping into the third place. Incite, 33(10).
Retrieved from https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/fullText;dn=803275632680351;res=IELHSS