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