Studying Introduction to the Teacher Librarianship subject helped me develop a better understanding of the Information Literacy and Inquiry Learning models as well as the role of the Teacher Librarian (TL) in the process of inquiry. 

I came to this subject with the background of an ESL teacher and a Classroom Teacher having no experience of working in the library and in the beginning I did not think that the subject would have so much in common with what I was doing as an IB PYP teacher. 

When I started learning Model 3 about Information Literacy I began to see clear connections between what TLs do in the library and what teachers do in their classrooms. In my blog post “Understanding Information Literacy” I wrote about the need for collaboration between TLs and classroom teachers so that TLs would be included in the unit planning process from the very first stage (Kaigorodova, 2022, Dec 16). I think that in my school context, individual teachers understand the principles of Information Literacy well and apply them in their classrooms, however, there is no centralised approach to that and the TL is not in charge of this process. In Module 3 of ETL401, I came to the understanding that the TL should lead the Information Literacy at school and I added this point to my Teacher Appraisal Document at school, which underpins my goals for this academic year. 

Later in Module 3 I looked at Information Literacy and Inquiry Learning models and found some similarities and differences between them. In my discussion forum post I compared the NSW ISP Model and the Inquiry Cycle that we follow at school (Kaigorodova, 2022, Dec 16). I only knew about one inquiry model before, which was Inquiry Cycle, and it was interesting to look at other models and analyse what they have in common. 

In my reflective blog post, I wrote that information society uses information as an economic resource and that there is a constant demand for information services and facilities, which brings us to the need of being information literate to be able to trace the source of information and define the credibility of the author (Kaigorodova, 2022, Dec 4).  I inquired more into the aspects of Information Literacy when I was working on Assessment 2 for this subject. I looked at the interrelatedness of information literacy and teacher self-efficacy and it gave me a new perspective on the topic from the viewpoint of educating teachers about information literacy and not only the students. The research by Williams and Coles showed that some teachers had not enough competencies to locate and evaluate information (Williams & Coles, 2007, as cited by McKeever et al., 2017, p.52). I realised that while some teachers have a very high level of information literacy, others might struggle to develop their understanding which impacts the role of the TL as a leader in organising professional development sessions about information literacy. 

In the discussion forum for Module 4, I wrote a post about the connections between Inquiry Learning and General Capabilities (Kaigorodova, 2023, Jan 6). In that post, I said that there is an opportunity for the TL in my school to help teach communication and collaboration skills that are essential for inquiry learning. 

Working on this assessment I studied deeper the Information Literacy Models and learned how to embed them in the Unit of Inquiry. The development of a unit based on the framework of FOSIL information literacy model helped me clearly see the connection between Information Literacy and Inquiry. Now I feel as involved in inquiry learning as I was when working in the classroom. I will start using the FOSIL model with our Grade 5 students to prepare for Exhibition research projects. 

This subject helped me find the direction in my teaching practice now as I feel responsible for the development of Information Literacy skills as a TL. I also feel confident about the implementation of the Information Literacy model in my school. 

References:

McKeever, C., Bates, J., & Reilly, J. (2017). School library staff perspectives on teacher information literacy and collaboration. Journal of Information Literacy,11(2),51–68.http://dx.doi.org/10.11645/11.2.2187