The module this week asked us to summarise the take home message presented by Karen Bonanno in her key note speech, ‘A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan,’ (2011). For me the overarching message that she reiterates throughout the speech is, “your rhetoric must resonate with your audience”. That the TL must become indispensable to the school community through maintaining a leadership role in accessing and resourcing curriculum and supporting staff and students in accessing these.
Bonanno opens her address with the statement, “you will only be an endangered species if you allow it to be,” (2011).  She goes on to emphasise the importance of Teacher Librarians within their school contexts and how the previously invisible profession needs to move forward with the advancements of the curriculum and the professional standards presented by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL).

Our roles as Teacher Librarian have adapted to become more than just the stereotype of a middle aged woman, shooshing students for being too loud and demanding over due books.

References

Bonanno, K. (2011). A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/31003940