I think an appropriate role for the teacher librarian in curriculum development should be one that is highly regarded and valued in the school setting. TLs play such an important role in their schools and the collaboration process, and can certainly enhance student learning and outcomes, as the evidence suggests. TLs should have their ‘finger’ in every pie. Being across the curriculum and working closely with heads of faculties and teachers, TLs can be involved in the development of curriculum, unit planning and the development of resources and assessment. Schools benefit from this involvement on so many levels, and not from just an information and digital literacy perspective. Their knowledge and indeed collegial support can create authentic relationships and a level of trust, and provide teachers with the support they may not necessarily receive from other colleagues or even administration. I’m not sure I can state whether a principal should expect teachers to work with the teacher librarian, but I think a TL who is friendly, encouraging and supportive and offers their services, opens many doors that hopefully some teachers will take advantage of.

Improved literacy outcomes have certainly been documented in schools where there is a qualified TL. In fact, research conducted both overseas and in Australia reports that students’ learning outcomes and achievements improve when there is a qualified teacher librarian on staff (ACT, Government Education).

ACT Government Education. (2019)
https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/916301/School-Libraries-21st-Century.pdf

The role of the teacher librarian is fulfilled in a school that believes in collaborative practice and where teachers are leaders. But many teachers see working with other teachers as a major challenge. In fact they might fight against this.

Share your thoughts about the following:

1. In such circumstances what would be an appropriate response from the teacher librarian?
2. From your reading so far, can you build a convincing argument for collaboration between the teacher librarian, principal and teachers at a school that you know?

My school is incredibly collaborative across our faculty teams. I belong to the English and Modern Languages faculty and we are very much a team in resourcing, planning and assessment creation. We have started using Microsoft teams this year, and it’s even better than email, in terms of communication. We chat throughout the day, share resources, share documents and ask questions; it’s proved to be very effective and has created a supportive, collegial environment. Our TL, who worked at our school and who has since retired, found that staff weren’t forthcoming in seeking help and assistance from the librarian or library staff. The library is almost isolated from the collaboration that exists amongst the teaching faculties.

In my role this year in the library, I have been engaged in some on-line training with the databases our school subscribes to. In particular, EBSCO host, which gives us access to a range of incredible resources. I am able to run reports that deliver usage statistics and unfortunately, they are very much underutilised in our school. In passing conversation I have had with some colleagues, I asked them if they were aware of how to use these resources and what their capabilities are (ie, read aloud function, translate into other languages function etc). Nobody seemed aware of what we had on offer. We had a student free day last Tuesday and I bravely put my hand up to run a session for teaching staff on our e-resources. I can’t tell you how nervous I was, and volunteering to stand in front of my peers and present is something I never, EVER, thought I would do.

But I did.

The response and feedback was overwhelmingly positive and I have had so much feedback and praise thanking me for sharing our resources because teachers didn’t even know what we had access to and what capabilities were possible with the different databases. I had 3 sessions booked with me by the end of that day to work with senior Physics and Biology classes, to provide an orientation lesson to our e-resources because they have upcoming assessment which requires a great deal of research. It felt so good to know I was able to share information and provide some insight into how I can help and assist teachers and their students. I think you just have to put yourself out there and communicate what you can bring to your colleagues and students….even if you’re terrified, like I was!

I think that users – our students – will require different literacy skills to make meaning from different formats and delivery modes, but I think they are an extension of traditional literacy skills.

What has changed is how students access information and how we assess it. Students are now required to listen, speak, create and articulate understanding in a range of ways. For example, my EAL students are currently working on an imaginative multi-modal text. To allow my students an opportunity to present these without the utter fear they have when presenting publicly (whilst this is still an important skill and fear to overcome!), I have set the assessment to be a recording for a short story collection for Audible. However, because it’s a multimodal task, students will need to demonstrate not only an understanding of the concepts of the play we have studied, use that as a springboard to create an imaginative piece, they will also need to engage in multimedia literacy skills to include sound effects to enhance meaning and record their spoken task as an .wmv file. They will engage in range of different literacy skills to demonstrate understanding and make meaning, including computer literacy, oral literacy, literacy with ICT, multimedia literacy and technology literacy.

So even though my students are using traditional literacy skills to deconstruct the text (reading) and write a short story (writing), they are using multiple literacies to accomplish the many facets of this task to demonstrate they have made meaning of the studied text and created a way of clearly demonstrating that.

I found a great article entitled ‘Macmillan History – Guided Inquiry in action’, written by Charlotte Forwood. Forwood is a teacher, speech pathologist and author, and is the co-designer and lead author of the Macmillan History series for Years 3 – 6. This article discusses Forwood’s approach to using Guided Inquiry when developing an educational resource.

I found this article very interesting because it consolidated my understanding of Guided Inquiry, as Forwood discusses the processes she employed and how she created this publication, using the Guided Inquiry framework. She breaks down the guided inquiry process into 8 stages which I found articulated how I would approach my next assessment task. Forwood acknowledges the incredible work of Kuhlthau, Maniotes and Caspari and one of my own heroes of the educational world, Professor John Hattie, who has published work on the meta-analysis of influences related to achievement, which are key features of Guided Inquiry (Hattie, 2015). Forwood also cites the New Basics Report from the Foundation for Young Australians (2015) that articulates the key skills employers of the future will be looking for. Those skills include digital literacy, critical thinking and creativity – skills developed through the Guided Inquiry Design Framework that Forwood uses in her publication (Forwood, 2016). In her publication series, she includes a range of links and resources for teachers, so teachers are not spending precious time resourcing inquiry units (Forwood, 2016). Of course – this is exactly the work TLs could be doing, in terms of supporting teachers and the curriculum. Whilst this article could be perceived as a promotional ‘plug’ for her series, I liked it because she explains the research and processes she engaged in to creative an innovative resource for students and teachers using the Guided Inquiry framework.

Forwood, C. (2016). Macmillan History — Guided Inquiry in action. Access (10300155), 30(3), 14–20. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=118450998&site=ehost-live

Hattie, J. (2015). Visible Thinking meta-analysis. Retrieved from
http://visible-learning.org/nvd3/visualize/hattie-ranking-interactive-2009-2001-2015

I think the Evidence Guide for High-Accomplished teacher Librarians is an excellent document for TLs in ensuring they aim for the standards considered to make a proficient and competent TL. It is a bit overwhelming and daunting when you consider not only the multi-faceted role, but the incredible importance this role plays in a school. This evidence guide will hopefully inform me throughout my study and my work as a TL, and hopefully one day I can hold my head high and say this is what I can do!

I think 2.6 Highly accomplished teachers model high-level teaching knowledge and skills and work with colleagues to use current ICT to improve their teaching practice and make content meaningful and relevant, necessitates a leadership role. I think TLs need to think very carefully of how they can support their teachers in this way. As the nature of teaching is incredibly busy, teachers are time-poor and don’t always engage with PD opportunities provided by the TL. ICT skills or even the basics of engaging with the e-learning and databases available, is something that in the past has been offered by our TL, and it was an opportunity I didn’t embrace because I was overwhelmed with marking and planning. I think we need to approach this with great enthusiasm, consideration and sensitivity to the teaching body and think about how best we can support our teachers.

Many of the standards suggest creating units of work and lesson plans/learning activities. I understand this is part of our role, but as I am currently working as a TL in my school (a secondary school) and teach 3 classes (senior classes!) as part of my combined TL role, I realise how incredibly busy I am going to continue to be. In a perfect world, it would be fabulous if TLs could just focus on the library and promoting digital literacies, ICT skills, e-learning and support our teachers and the curriculum. One day….