In my time in the school library, I have noticed a trend in the way teachers and students go about commencing inquiry projects. By inquiry projects, what I actually mean is ‘information finding’ projects, as they very rarely follow a sequence of inquiry.
Students are usually asked to pick a topic without first investigating what type of information is available to them. Students come asking for books on capybaras, axolotls and coyotes. This in turn makes the information gathering process that much more difficult as some students find so many sources of information, whilst others only have 1 or no sources.
The issues I identify here are:
Teachers needing to develop confidence in clear and systematic approaches to inquiry.
Students and teachers knowing which resources are available to them.
And a refocusing from information gathering to information seeking skill building, developing these skills before being asked to apply them.
Collaboration and clear communication are key in this scenario. Teachers communicating the learning sequence and working closely with the TL to determine the information sources available to students and which type of source the teacher was hoping students would learn to use. This also will enable opportunities for collection development in critical areas. It would also help the teacher to narrow down the options of choice for students, resulting in a focus on information finding skills, rather than content.
For the TL to take the lead in this scenario the TL takes a role of servant leadership with a focus on collaboration with the class teacher, with teacher and students increasing their engagement and teamwork through this style of leadership. Greenleaf (1970) explained that the outcome of servant leadership is those who have been served grow as people, either healthier or wiser or more autonomous, and that they will one day become servant leaders themselves. If we put this in the scenario described above, the TL takes the lead in collaborating with the teacher to create a framework for approaching the planning of inquiry units. They collaborate with the teacher to plan ahead by determining the resources available to students and build the collection where needed. They identify key skills they want the students to gain from their information searching and work together to provide the best conditions in which the students can learn these skills. This in turn helps the teacher to transfer this into other areas of their teaching and shows the students how to be thoughtful in commencing inquiry projects.
The TL leader can also be proactive in leading professional learning for all teachers, so they can have a framework for approaching these tasks. They can share information about inquiry-based learning frameworks and make efforts to make inquiry-based learning visible in the library through displays and info panels. They can work in collaboration with school curriculum leaders to ensure a school-wide approach is established.
Recommendations for this scenario:
- TL to raise their profile by advocating for their expertise- Teachers need to know what the TL can do for them and WITH them and how this will lead to increased outcomes for students.
- TL needs to work closely with teaching teams to map out learning sequences so they can support the curriculum with useful resources.
- TL to instigate collaborative planning with an inquiry focus.
- Whole School PL on inquiry process.
- TL to work closely with curriculum leaders to determine a consistent approach.
Greenleaf, R. (1970). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, IN: Robert K. Greenleaf Center.