Tag Archives: Understanding

Reimagining the library for 21st century learning

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I often thought of leadership as a weighty title to hold in any context. My first understanding of school leadership was a hierarchical model from the top position of the principal, to executive team, to class teachers then students and the wider school community. Observing key personnel within my school structure has helped me to understand the distributive nature of leadership amongst school staff (Wieczorek & Lear, 2018). In my observations, principals and the school executive team plan, negotiate and drive support for the implementation of program initiatives for the benefit of the school (Bustari, 2020). However, it is the contribution of other key roles such as the teacher librarian (TL), that combine to create a successful and innovative learning environment.

Having already acted in a teacher librarian role for a short time, I have had a glimpse of the valuable role TLs play within schools (Piper, 2021a). In collaboration with key members of my school community I partnered with class teachers to plan units of work, with the executive team to review and evaluate student learning and programs, and with the principal when initiating changes to the library. Although I recognised my experiences as one of collaboration, I was not aware of the leadership qualities that I already display and those I need to further develop. I was not fully aware of the leadership capacity in which I found myself.

I pondered the question, what makes a leader? Reading about leadership styles has made me understand the attributes of different leaders and how these can have a positive impact on organisational areas within the school (Lynch, 2016). I now have a greater understanding of the importance of collaboration and negotiation when working with members of the executive team, and how my knowledge as an information specialist can upskill and motivate classroom teachers (Merga, 2020). When I reflect on the many inspirational figures in my career that display leadership qualities, I can now identify specific leadership styles that contribute to the successful achievement of their roles (Piper, 2021b).

Learning about leadership has taught me to understand and appreciate the purpose of strategic planning. Strategic planning identifies the processes that need to occur for changes to happen within the school (Crowley, 2011). As part of the course content, I completed an exercise observing a range of school library vision and mission statements (Piper, 2021c). This highlighted the importance of being clear and succinct when writing these statements and how their differences are important for creating memorable statements that set the tone for strategic plans. I now understand that strategic plans are essential for negotiating and actioning change and improvements within school libraries.

A deeper understanding of leadership from a TL’s perspective has prompted me to question: how might I take this knowledge and apply it to my library and my role? Schools need libraries that are facilitated by qualified TLs (Australian School Library Association, 2019; Kammer et al., 2021). By recognising and sharing my expertise as an information specialist and intrinsically valuing the contributions I offer to my school team, I know I can make changes that will benefit students and staff alike in my school. By embedding general capabilities within my library program, I can share my knowledge in team teaching practices that will benefit our students who are learning essential skills for the 21st century. My focus on implementing strategies and tools, such as makerspaces, will ensure my students build confidence in information and digital literacies necessary for 21st century learning, (South, 2017).

Having now learnt about leadership qualities that are present and necessary in TLs, I now have specific ideas for change and innovation within my school library. I now feel better prepared as a TL leader to successfully navigate challenges and any resistance to change in developing a future ready library.

 

References

Australian School Library Association. (2019). What is a teacher librarian? ASLA: Australian School Library Association. https://asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian

Bustari, M. (2020). The principal roles in making an excellent school library. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 511, 123–127. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201221.027

Crowley, J. D. (2011). Developing a vision: Strategic planning for the school librarian in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Libraries Unlimited.

Kammer, J., King, M., Donahay, A., & Koeberl, H. (2021). Strategies for successful school librarian and teacher collaboration. Research Journal of the American Association of School Librarians, 24, 1–24. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1292862.pdf

Lynch, M. (2016, August 7). 4 major types of educational leadership. The Edvocate. https://www.theedadvocate.org/4-major-types-of-educational-leadership/

Merga, M. K. (2020). School librarians as literacy educators within a complex role. Journal of Library Administration, 60(8), 889–908. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2020.1820278

Piper, J. (2021a, July 21). Observations of leadership in the TL role. Lines of Thought: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2021/07/22/observations-of-leadership-in-the-tl-role/

Piper, J. (2021b, September 22). Leading by example. Lines of Thought: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2021/09/22/leading-by-example/

Piper, J. (2021c, September 22). Planning strategically. Lines of Thought: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2021/09/22/planning-strategically/

South, S. (2017). School libraries as incubators – where good ideas hatch! Scan: The Journal for Educators, 36(1), 14–19. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-36–2017/school-libraries-as-incubators-where-good-ideas-hatch-

Wieczorek, D., & Lear, J. (2018). Building the “bridge”: Teacher leadership for learning and distributed organizational capacity for instructional improvement. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 9(2). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1202334.pdf

Understanding leadership

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My previous post suggests a naivety when understanding and recognising the leadership qualities and traits evident in schools and in particular to my role as TL. Reading about leadership theories has developed and expanded my understanding of attributes that are evident in leadership styles.

Key leadership styles were identified as: situational, transactional, transformational, servant, distributed and instructional. Initially I wrestled with the task of trying to identify one leadership style that was evident in my school. Clearly, attributes and traits from many of these styles are evident and applied to various situations so that depending on the position of a staff member within any one school, multiple examples of leadership can be displayed.

It is clear that some traditional styles are evident in some schools, however, increasingly more transparent and transient styles are becoming the norm. Could this be a mark of change within educational standards and needs? Is it evidence of generational change occuring within our work place? Are the expectations of future workplaces demanding change in the learning environments of our students, and thus, creating a reevaluation of leadership styles within schools?

Leadership styles observed in my school, seemed to point to instructional and transformational. Instructional because the principal and executive team focus on the big picture and instructs/ guides staff to specific professional training and ultimtely makes decisions for the school community; and transformational because whilst instructional, members of the executive team do plan and set goals that classroom teachers can work towards and achieve in order to improve their work output.

But I wonder whether I have understood this all correctly. I see the TL as a transformational leader, paving the way for change, collaborating with colleagues, promoting new intiatives and building key teams with staff from different levels of leadership. A concept map I devised, illustrated such. However, feedback from markers suggest I perhaps need to reevaluate my understanding. Revisit descriptions, and critically analyse scenarios within the school. Perhaps instead, the TL is more of a servant style. A style where collaboration is important and serving the needs of teachers and executive teams are valued when resources and expert literacy knowledge is provided. It is interesting to note that discussions will always draw up various responses dependant on who you talk to and what aspect of the situation is being viewed. Clearly revisiting leadership theory and analysing a school situation would be of benefit to understanding how many layers of leadership can be present in one institution.

Part C Reflections

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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

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Approaches to information

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When I think of the word ‘information’ I think of the knowledge, understanding and skills that are presented to me in a variety of formats. These formats can be visual, text, aural. Increasingly the information we have access to is multimodal.

I hadn’t thought about approaches to information. Though I dare say we consume information with these approaches but on a sub-conscious level.

What are those approaches I hear you ask?
Behaviourist, sociocultural, phenomenography approaches.

The behaviourist approach lends itself to a fairly self explanatory definition. The behaviour in which one approaches and uses information to build on their skills from a range of sources. It is interesting to see how the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy framework clearly illustrates how the information gained is used and built on which lends itself to the concept of lifelong learning.

The sociocultural approach deals with the aquisition of information. How do I aquire information? I mentioned earlier that information can be found and consumed in many different ways. Listening to audio podcasts, reading text in papers or books, viewing a multimodal webpage, immersing oneself in an interactive experience are all forms of knowledge attainment. This is a valid illustration of the sociocultural approach.

Phenomonography. Such an interesting word. My understanding of phenomenography is that it is the method whith which one interprets and understands information. By interpreting, analysing and reflecting on the information gained, one has gone through a process that spurs on further investigative projects.

With these approaches in mind, I then begin to think which of these approaches are my students using? Are there gaps in their aquisition of information? What can I do to ensure all students are not only gaining information, but interpreting and being critical in their analysis to apply new information and skills to other areas of their learning. Now I am understanding the bigger picture of information literacy and the importance for the TL to scaffold and provide learning and immersive opportunities for students to build on their skills.

I’ve always used the term ‘lifelong learning’. And I like to think I understood that term. But understanding these approaches has shown me that there are aspects to learning that come together to form an overarching idea. A process of development that occurs over a period of time and should be facilitated correctly throughout a students journey in education.

The information landscape.

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My previous post looked at understanding information as a ‘thing’. Something to be gained, manipulated and used for purposes hopefully with wisdom. I likened the current state of affairs as the information environment being an overgrown jungle. So many different platforms and modes accessible to users.

I was challenged to explore the different aspects of the information landscape. When you consider the  formats available and the delivery modes, one realises that information is a constant in our lives. It is everywhere, every day, every moment of our waking lives.

Information comes to us in all forms of carriers: the internet, books, recordings, manuscripts, etc. This fact of course is liable to change in future. The concept of the World Wide Web is relatively new when you think of the history of the industrialised nations. In future who knows what will exist that doesn’t exist today! It is no wonder then that the definition of information is undergoing change on a regular basis, or at the very least being extended to include new definitions.

McCreadie and Rice discusses access to information utilising 4 conceptualisations. Information is a resource or a commodity that can be produced, purchased and manipulated; information is environmental as it provides perceived data in our surrounds; information is representational; and information is a communication process. The concept of environment really struck a chord with me. Yes I was aware that information is around us, but I hadn’t thought consciously that our environment is providing ‘data’ that we need to analayse on a consistant basis.

This leads to the equally interesting illustration of the Shannon model. Could information presentation and communication be a bit like Chinese whispers? I know too well the obstacles and challenges that come with Chinese whispers. As a hearing impaired citizen, gaining information can be challenging when relying on audio alone. All the more reason to double check what I have heard, and investigate environmental data to confirm my understandings.

Navigating facts and seeking reliable information leads us to consider different levels of information available. As Masters students, we were asked to investigate the deep web and interact2. Such vast domains with even more information that forces us to carefully analyse and use wisely. Information presented in the digital sense, is truly layered, dense and complex.

With information at our fingertips and increasingly accessible to people from all walks of life, what are the ramifications of this reality? Reflecting on my own use and access to information, I can identify three benefits and negatives.
The benefits:
1) Availability. As a teacher, I am striving to ensure my students are  informed and guided young citizens. I therefore need to have access to current and relevant information with which to inform and educate my students no matter the topic. Information that I need is there when I need it. If I don’t know something, I can search and find it.
2) Accessibility. I can inform myself as a teacher, student and citizen on current news and data that will be relevant to my life. I can learn new skills by accessing instructions and procedures. I can entertain myself by accessing visuals, podcasts, and literature. I can educate myself by logging in to my online learning modules at any time or place.
3) Currency. Having access to information all the time means we can be armed with current information and be in the present. When researching topics, whether it be as a student or teacher collating useful sources for my students, I can access information that is recent, relevant and up to date with the latest research.

The negatives:
1) Constant. My previous post talked about the realities of living during the world pandemic that is COVID-19. Daily, the news blares out new statistics, images of doom and gloom and a sense of hopelessness. We wake up to a radio spewing information. We turn on our computers to open up emails to access information. We check noticeboards for information. No matter what we do information is in front of us, whether we are deliberately accessing it or not.
2) Overload. For me, information overload is a new sensation that is proving negative. Interestingly it is making me understand how my mind works in more detail. Being a citizen, a parent, a teacher and now a student, I am having to access all sorts of information in all sorts of places. With dates and information to remember, calendars are very useful tools for keeping track of engagements and so on, but still there is so much. Come Friday’s, it is not uncommon for me to say “My brain is just too tired”. Surely a sign of information overload.
3) Higher expectations. With greater access to the information landscape, the expectation to perform to a higher degree increases. I listed my roles earlier, all of these roles have different expectations. With information at every turn, the pressure to keep up to date, perform and evaluate is always there. Beginning this course, I knew I would have to prioritise my time differently and complete more work. With this fact, the pressure to perform definitely increased. Without ready access to information, I don’t think I would be up late completing readings online, comparing my work to other examples online to ensure I am performing well, receiving multiple emails to complete the next task whatever that may be. Yes, constant accessible information certainly means we pressure ourselves with higher expectations.

Yet the information I access is just ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Combe’s infographic clearly illustrates how much we use and access.

Information will always be in our midst. How we access, interpret and use it however will, I’m sure, be an ever changing realisation.

Understanding ‘information’.

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I call myself ‘old school’. Why? I tend to use pen and paper a fair bit when jotting down thoughts, ideas, questions and taking notes from readings. But therein lies my downfall. Another assignment looms in the not too distant future and so I must add my thoughts here.

The last few weeks have been a huge challenge for everyone right around the world. The reason? COVID-19. I often find myself questioning the reason for undertaking this course now, but of course none of these challenges could have been imagined at the beginning of the calendar year. And so, here I sit, my mind feeling like a computer screen with about 100 tabs opened, too many thoughts and ideas to categorise effectively and reflecting on my readings.

I realise then how paramount it is to be studying the TL course. Information. It is everywhere! It is being delivered on so many different platforms. It is being presented in so many different modes. It is challenging our understanding of intended meanings.

Yes, the information environment at present reminds me of an overgrown jungle.

Information was a word I always thought I understood. Simultaneously I view it as: complex, simple, informative and critical amongst a list of other adjectives. I never really questioned the complexity of the information environment, except to understand that it was something humans needed to know in order to navigate educational opportunities.

My first challenge was realising just how many understandings of information there are. Semantic, classic and data-knowledge continuum. That it could be broken down further on so many levels. That it could be visualised as a part of a continuum in which information could be seen as chaotic and, when understanding is realised, it could lead to wisdom and sensible applications.

I’m very much a visual learner/ individual. To help me understand concepts I’m often drawn to diagrams, graphs or draw my own images to understand my thoughts. I really liked the information heirarchy illustrated in the module. However to understand it clearly I stretched it out on a horizontal continuum. In doing so, I could better visualise the direction data, being objective facts, can develop into wisdom, having a higher purpose.

That there are different types of knowledge and the fact the attributes vary depending on use of information is also important. As teachers, we are constantly running pre-tests to test students individual knowledge. When sharing the responses, we take this individualised understanding to a group level. By applying our teaching content to student tasks, we share the societal knowledge that forms the basis of global, historical, cultural and identity understandings.

So what have I learnt? I think the better question for me is: What have I realised? I realised that I do know more about information than I thought I did. Or better, I understand the complexities of information even more so because I have been challenged to think about it consciously. As teachers we are being exposed to, manipulating and experiencing information every day. We are assisting our students to do likewise. It is part of human nature. The behaviour of information affects how we communicate our knowledge and how we learn to use it to make necessary applications. It is multi-faceted. It is ever-changing and challenging our thinking processes on a daily basis. If we find it complex, how much more so is it for our younger generations?