Nostalgic memories of reading literature was at the forefront of my mind when I began this course (Piper, 2020, March 14), with the Teacher Librarian (TL) exposing students to a world of books, encouraging and facilitating a love of reading and research. Reflecting on my learning has shown me that while this is correct, it was a limited understanding as the role of the TL is multifaceted and complex. Learning about Lamb’s PALETTE acronym (Lamb, 2011) reinforced my understanding that the TL role embraced many aspects of teaching, guiding and facilitating an environment that enables students to investigate and explore concepts in literacies.
My essay on makerspaces helped me understand the current trend of libraries as ‘third spaces’ (Slatter & Howard, 2013). Reading about Jackie Child and Megan Daley’s (Daley & Child, 2015) experience providing a space filled with tools and equipment for students, showed me that students need to be well equipped to use a multitude of skills to interpret, analyse and use information that they come across. I have always valued the concept of a holistic learner but reading about multimodal literacy and empowering 21st century readers (Sly, 2014; Kalantzis & Cope, 2020) has me wondering: how might I change my teaching practices to facilitate and enhance the understanding of multimodal communication?
Information surrounds us in many different forms and we interact with it on a daily basis (Carlito, 2018). I did not appreciate the complexities of information and how a working understanding could inform teaching practices (Piper, 2020, May 3). However, reflecting on Combes’ depiction of information using an iceberg (Combes, 2014) illustrates that we can only realistically access a small part of what we deem to be known information. To interpret the many forms of information that we can access we need to understand Information Literacy (IL). Again, I found Combes’ infographic (Combes, 2016) helpful in illustrating the many facets of IL that I need to be thinking about when I teach my students. Further reading led me to appreciate how IL can be applied to all aspects of life, be it in the home, at school, in the workplace or even applying it to our own personal health (CILIP The Library and Information Association, 2018).
As a beginning TL I am familiar with the concept of programming research tasks. As a NSW teacher I was aware of the ISP (NSW Department of Education, 2020) but I have never used it explicitly in any program. Reading about Information Literacy Models (ILMs) has developed my understanding of the processes used in inquiry-based tasks and how these can be applied to suit a variety of learning styles, learners and school contexts. Analysing and comparing models such as PLUS (Herring, 2006), the Big6 (TheBig6.org, 2014) and Braxton’s expansion of the ISP (Braxton, 2014), has taught me that at the core of each model is the same end goal in creating an information literate learner. A learner that can identify their prior knowledge, find a purpose for research, be critical when locating information, use the information in a relevant way and reflect on their learning and understandings.
Now that I have a greater understanding of ILMs I can see how they support the reflective learner. The Australian Curriculum identifies specific general capabilities (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2017) that focus on key elements. By implementing an effective IL program I can support students to develop knowledge, skills and behaviour that is essential of a cooperative and reflective learning style.
As a TL I now know that it is beneficial to integrate ILMs into my program where possible. In discussion forum 5.4a: Information Literacy, I acknowledged the difficulties faced by TLs when implementing ILMs. Every school context will vary and present their own challenges. Observing the ILMs, I realised they can require many lessons, embed different capabilities, and demand the use of many different resources.
Library lessons can often be compressed due to administration, change-over, borrowing and behaviour management leaving little time for teaching and using ILMs. However, if school staff support TLs implementing ILMs then the GCs can be addressed and assessed in a more effective and cohesive way.
IL is so important for our students and now that I have implemented an ILM in a program, I know that I can take this learning and apply it within my school context to support my students to become effective users of multimodal texts.
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2017). General capabilities. Australian Curriculum. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/
Braxton, B. (2014, January 6). Information Literacy Process. 500 Hats the Teacher Librarian in the 21st Century. https://500hats.edublogs.org/information-literacy-process/
Carlito, D. M. (2018). Supporting multimodal literacy in library instruction. Reference Service Review, 46(2), 164–177. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-02-2018-0015
CILIP The Library and Information Association. (2018). Definition of Information Literacy. Information Literacy Group. https://infolit.org.uk/ILdefinitionCILIP2018.pdf
Combes, B. (2014). Chinese whispers: The nature of information and the future of libraries. International Library Symposium.
Combes, B. (2016). Information Literacy: Competencies, skills, making meaning & thinking. http://www.literacymatters.org.au/uploads/1/0/0/1/100124268/information_literacy_aug_2016.pdf
Daley, M., & Child, J. (2015). Makerspaces in the school library environment. http://tinkeringchild.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Makerspaces-in-the-school-library-environment-1yl39z1.pdf
Herring, J. E. (2006). A Critical Investigation of Students’ and Teachers’ Views of the Use of Information Literacy Skills in School Assignments. School Library Media Research, 9. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol9/SLMR_CriticalInvestigation_V9.pdf
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2020). Multiliteracies. New Learning Online. https://newlearningonline.com/multiliteracies
Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with Potential: Mixing a Media Specialist’s Palette. TechTrends, 55(4). 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-011-0509-3
NSW Department of Education. (2020). The information process. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/teaching-and-learning
Slatter, D., & Howard, Z. (2013). A place to make, hack, and learn: makerspaces in Australian public libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 62(4). 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2013.853335
Sly, C. (2014). Empowering 21st century readers: Integrating graphic novels into primary classrooms. In K. Mallan (Ed.), Picture books and beyond. Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
TheBig6.org. (2014). Getting Started. TheBig6.Org. https://thebig6.org/resources-1