This week I finished up in my classroom teaching role as I make my transition to the school library. It was a bitter/sweet day as after 16 years as a classroom teacher, my identity was suddenly changing into something that I do not fully understand yet. As I am not filling an existing position I do not have a mentor or role-model to learn from in the school library space. This is both unnerving and exciting. In the past I have been accustomed to collaborating with colleagues and being mentored by others in the same role as myself. I now find myself having to imagine and design the role purely from my studies and research in conjunction with my understandings of the space and the school community. I’m not used to making such big decisions on my own!
I have been finding that with every essay I write and reading I do, I am becoming more and more aware of the significance of the TL role within a school. I had never before considered the influence and impact that the TL could have on the culture of learning, the embedding of values and the strengthening of the community. This week I have been investigating Makerspaces and it has given me an insight into the way a TL and library environment can have on a more holistic style of information access.
I am beginning to understand that there are two distinct roles of the TL, but at the same time, these roles interact and intersect, guided by the same set of values. There is the organisational/resource management side and the teaching/collaborating/facilitating side. All of these are guided by the library, school and community values. Accessibility, access to all, community, diversity, curiosity and collaboration have all been reoccuring themes within my reading.
I am looking forward to being able to directly apply my new knowledge when I commence my new position after the term break.