The role of the Teacher Librarian is one that I thought I had a grasp on before embarking on my Masters journey. I quickly became apparent that there was more than meets the eye, which I wrote about in one of my early blogs From Book Custodian to Book Wizard. A lot is asked of the Teacher Librarian, and it is a very dynamic role within a school setting. A Teacher Librarian can make or break a school. I have learnt that good Librarian is not just a reader of books, but an Information Specialist who supports curriculum, teaching and learning who understands student in a different way to their classroom teacher – by supporting them through literature. The Information Specialist are leaders in schools who connect curriculum and learning together. Teacher Librarians are more than readers of books.
As mentioned in other blogs, Are School Librarians an Endangered Species, I spoke about an article written by Karen Bonanno, who has since become a wonderful role model for me and my career. While this was a brief blog, I highlighted that there is a place for teacher Librarians in schools. This particular assessment task has given rise to my support for what Teacher Librarian do because with the Information Age, the development of Inquiry in both the curriculum and pedagogy in schools. The role of the teacher librarian requires much more skill and development that I thought was possible. To conclude this first unit with an integrated unit of inquiry plan has given me more passion to develop my programming skills, promote better collaborative teaching and learning practices and model this for my staff and students.
During Module three we looked at the Australian Institute for Teacher and School Leadership (AITSL) teacher standards and compared them to the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) teacher librarian standards. I remember thinking “I can’t possibly be all that both AITSL and ASLA are asking of me”. I spoke briefly about this in a Forum for 3.1. After rereading what I wrote I can already see how my knowledge has changed. In this forum I spoke about the collaborative work I do with the classroom teacher to ensure inquiry flows from the classroom to the library and back again. Now, I have come to realise what I do in my school, meeting twice a term to discuss the Unit of Inquiry and see how I can support, is not a collaborative partnership. My role is merely cooperative in my school context. This further affirms the idea that a Teacher Librarian is seen as a supportive role not a specialist or integral role within schools.
While developing my ideas throughout the modules, and speaking with colleagues at work, throughout the process of this final assessment task I have noticed a few things along the way.
Firstly, I have realised that I need to promote my role as a Teacher Librarian more. Sell it to the staff, if you like, let them know what I can do to achieve the best learning opportunities for our students. I also, need to be more of a presence in staff planning discussion, particularly with Executive. This will ensure that my role is better articulated. Information Literacy needs to be embedded in teaching and learning.
Secondly, I am still working in parallel with staff, I am not working collaboratively with the classroom teachers. Although, there is an element of budgetary constraints, it doesn’t make sense that as a Teacher Librarian I am not more involved in the planning and implementation of Inquiry Units within each grade.
Finally, this is fun! Being a Teacher Librarian, planning integrated guided inquiry and learning how to be better than I was is an invigorating and fun experience. We really can support and change the learning of our students and encourage them to be lifelong learners.
The Information Literacy journey, will be a long one, yet. Individually, I believed I understood what Information and Literacy were. After reading all the content for both definitions, my head all but exploded. With so much scope there is more than meets the eye. From what I understand, these words once had very simple definitions, but with the rapid development of the Information Age, their definitions have grown, shifted and even multiplied. Understanding concepts, comprehending multiple literacies and applying our knowledge for them is a huge part of being literate in the 21st Century. Information Literacy are necessary skills our students to be able to be lifelong learners. Even though the younger generations are ‘born into technology’ it doesn’t make them able to use it appropriately and effectively.