Well another couple of weeks have passed and my head is finding it increasingly hard to contain all the “stuff” I am learning.
These past weeks we have begun learning about The Role of The Teacher Librarian. History shows that TLs and school libraries are relatively recent thing. However, as the Inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools (2011) shows, Libraries and Teacher Librarians are vitally important to schools and student learning.
I, however, am a little overwhelmed about all the different things a TL is supposed to do.
Teacher Librarians are expected to be many things. Herring (2007) sees the role of Teacher Librarian as multi-faceted including being a teacher, librarian, website developer, information literacy leader and instructional partner. He advocates that teacher librarians must be innovators incorporating literacy skills into curriculum areas and be instrumental in developing information literate students. Meanwhile Purcell (2010) sees teacher librarians as Leaders, Instructional Partners, Information Specialists, Teacher and Program Administrator and Lamb (2011) believes teacher librarians should have a ‘palette’ that covers people, administration, learning and more.
Everyone however agrees that teacher librarians should be collaborative partners who work with teachers to provide quality learning programs for students. This is something I can do and relate to. As a lover of team teaching and collaborative learning I think my first step when starting as a TL will be to encourage collaborative planning with my fellow teachers. Starting form an area of strength will allow my peers to see my value, and that will allow me opportunity to grow into all the things a TL should be.
References
Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries in the twenty-first century : charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga , NSW : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. Retrieved from https :// www . csu . edu . au /division/library/ ereserve / pdf /herring-j. pdf
Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with potential: Mixing a media specialist’s palette. Techtrends : Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 55(4), 27-36
Parliament of Australia, House of Representatives committees. (2011) Inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools
Purcell, M. (2010) All librarians do is check out books right? A look at the roles of the school library media specialist. Library Media Connection 29(3), 30-33
