Month: January 2023

Throughout my studies in ETL401 I have been quite surprised by how limited my understanding of information literacy and inquiry learning actually was. Prior to this subject, I felt quite confident that I could explain and deeply understood ‘information literacy’. As a classroom teacher my days are spent helping students hone their literacy skills, and developing resources and strategies to achieve school literacy targets. Throughout the ‘Information Literacy’ module I discovered that much of my understanding was rooted in the traditional perspective of literacy.

 

As I reflected on how information literacy is embedded both within the curriculum and my school context, I found that my experiences and thoughts were mirrored by many others studying the course. One post to Forum Activity 3.1. summarised the challenges of developing information literacy in the classroom perfectly, stating that the focus “seems to be more on content coverage at the expense of skills teaching due (in for the most part) to timetabling constraints and the ‘crowded curriculum’ (Nott, 2023). This is a major barrier I have encountered at my school and particularly in my subject area of History. In fact, I have come to see that whilst I have been developing students’ information literacy through the development of source analysis with a focus on identifying the reliability and value of primary and secondary sources, to be truly information literate I also need to further develop the ability of my students “to structure a search across a variety of sources and formats to locate the best information to meet a particular need” (American Association of School Librarians & Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 1998 pp.2, 1998).

 

Similarly, the module exploring inquiry learning also further expanded my understanding of how such an approach could be embedded within the school’s curriculum. In my experience as a classroom teacher I have witnessed a number of Project Based Learning initiatives that have had limited success. However, as I read the material, I realised that their shortcomings were largely due to deficiencies in their planning and design, rather than a failing of the approach itself. Interestingly, in my blog post (1/12/22) I observed that the advice and assistance of a TL being integral to the success of a PBL activity, however, in the PBL initiatives I have experienced the TL was not involved in the development of the process but simply utilised once the project had commenced. As I commenced preparing my own inquiry learning unit for Assessment Task 3 I was initially overwhelmed by the different inquiry learning models and approaches, finding it difficult to select the one that would suit my unit best. I found all had their merits, but settled on the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle as the suggested resources and explanation of the process were well suited to the learning needs of the target cohort (The Fosil Group, n.d.).

 

Overall, it has become exceedingly clear that I have still only scratched the surface of what the role of a TL can be within the school setting. The importance of collaborative practice and the need to work in partnership with the classroom teacher became apparent as I designed my inquiry unit for Assessment Task 3. As enjoyable as this process was, I can see how working in partnership with colleagues to design a unit would further enrich this exercise. As the 2023 school year rapidly approaches, I am looking forward to collaborating with my school’s TL to develop an inquiry learning unit for the Year 9 History Australians at War topic, expanding upon the one-off research and referencing lesson that the TL currently delivers to go from simple cooperation to genuine collaboration (Langford, 2008). I found the discussion posts about the role of the TL in curriculum planning and programming quite enlightening. A key strategic focus at my school over the past 3 years has been program renovation, and the inclusion of the TL has been very minimal. A number of interesting proposals as to how the TL could be included in the programming process were presented in Forum Activity 4.3. In particular, the suggestion that the TL be consulted in relation to resourcing, embedding guided inquiry learning, and as a source of professional development are recommendations that I intend to explore in 2023 (Watts, 2023).

 

References

 

American Association of School Librarians, & Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1998). Information literacy standards for student learning: Standards and indicators. American Association of School Librarians.

 

Langford, L. (2008). Collaboration: Force or forced? Part 2. Scan, 27(1), 31-37. https://search-informit-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.3316/aeipt.166077

 

Nott, J. (2023, January 3). Do you see information literacy being embedded effectively in the curriculum, or is it an add on that is left up to the individual teacher? [Comment on the post “Forum Activity 3.1: Understanding Information Literacy”] ETL401 Discussion Board. https://tinyurl.com/2p9bcw2a

 

The Fosil Group. (n.d.). Fosil Cycle. https://fosil.org.uk/fosil-cycle/

Watts, J (2023, January 13). What is an appropriate role for the teacher librarian in curriculum development? [Comment on the post “Forum Activity 4.3: The TL and curriculum”] ETL401 Discussion Board. https://tinyurl.com/2rexssb8