Being a reflective practitioner is at the pedagogical core of the teaching profession. Interesting, reflection has been inherently linked to the concept of inquiry, where “reflective practitioners take an inquiry stance in that they actively search for understanding, and are always open to further investigation” (NSW DoE, 2021, para 4). Pondering my ETL401 learnings, it […]
ETL401 – Introduction to Teacher Librarianship
Discussion Forum 6.1 – Influential Teachers and Self-Reflection
Influential teachers have developed good relationships with other members of staff. This is often established through meaningful and genuine conversations, shows of respect towards others, willingness to offer help and support, as well as refined leadership skills that seek to allow others to grow and flourish in their own right, without themselves feeling ‘threatened’. These […]
The Need for an Information Literacy Model in Schools
The readings and learnings from Module 5 provided some interesting takeaways, regarding the need for an Information Literacy model in schools. It has allowed me the opportunity to explore various models I was previously unaware of including Guided Inquiry Design, FOSIL, the Big6 and iLEARN). As a practitioner in a NSW Department of Education school, […]
Discussion Forum 5.3b – Reflection on Guided Inquiry Design
I am really excited about the Guided Inquiry Design model. When understanding the various stages of the process and connecting the affective stages, it felt like a light bulb moment that reflected true to form, my own way of unconsciously approaching a research task. In so much of my past teaching (primarily in a school […]
Integrated Information Literacy Instruction
The reflection prompt invites consideration of the following three questions: How might the teacher librarian help the school move towards integrated information literacy instruction? What challenges lie in the way of such instruction? How might teacher librarians and teachers encourage students to transfer information literacy skills and practices from one subject to another? Firstly, it […]
Discussion Forum 5.3a – F-10 Inquiry Scope and Sequence
I feel that armed with documents such as Bonanno and FitzGerald’s (2014) F-10 Inquiry Skills Scope and Sequence and F-10 Core Skills and Tools, we are in a unique position as expert teacher librarians to be able to map and authentically embed into teaching and learning programs, information literacy skills to assist time-poor classroom teachers. […]
What is Information Literacy?
The National Literacy Trust (n.d.) defines literacy as “the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world”. Furthermore, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) suggest that becoming literate is to “develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to use language confidently” […]
Discussion Forum 4.3 – The TL and the Curriculum
Adding to the ideas already generated in this discussion thread, I also think that the principal is pivotal in providing opportunities for allowing the TL to be able to deliver relevant and specialised professional development (PD) to the whole staff. This will assist in positioning the TL as an ‘expert’ in the field. In particular, […]
The Teacher Librarian and Curriculum Development
The teacher librarian has a relevant and significant role to play in curriculum development. They can be involved in collaborative planning of units across all stages, which can assist in ensuring continuity of skills development (ie. General Capabilities) are uniformly and consistently implemented as a whole school priority and focus. This can be achieved through […]
Measuring Impact
As highlighted by O’Connell et al. (2021), when it comes to evidence gathering for professional accreditation maintenance, it can be ‘tricky’ at times for the teacher librarian as they do not have a set ‘subject’ to teach. However, as discussed in a previous post, exemplars of practice have been developed by the Australian Library and […]
Discussion Forum 4.1 – Information Fluency Framework
It will be interesting to consider whether the Information Fluency Framework (IFF) that is scheduled to come into effect in NSW schools in 2022 will impact upon schools that may have been otherwise hesitant in the implementation of inquiry learning… Set out as somewhat of a ‘progressions’ document (Wall, 2018), the IFF tracks students across […]
A Call for Collaboration
When referring to the notion of collaboration in a professional teaching context, collaboration is defined as “a trusting, working relationship between two or more equal participants involved in shared thinking, shared planning and shared creation of integrated instruction” (Montiel-Overall, 2005, p. 32). I feel that collaboration, when it is done well, can be transformative to […]
Inquiry Learning and the Teacher Librarian
An interesting article I discovered during my quest for a deeper understanding of inquiry learning was Linking Librarians, Inquiry Learning and Information Literacy?, written by Keith Lance and Leslie Maniotes. In the article, Lance and Maniotes (2020) outline the process of inquiry as “help[ing] students [to] develop self-directed lifelong learning skills that will contribute to […]
Connecting the NSW Quality Teaching Model
The NSW Quality Teaching model is an encompassing framework that details the elements of quality classroom pedagogy. It has three dimensions that include intellectual quality, quality learning environment and significance; which are detailed below: Intellectual quality refers to pedagogy focused on producing deep understanding of important, substantive concepts, skills and ideas. Such pedagogy treats knowledge […]
Discussion Forum 4.2 – Collaboration by Design
Collaboration is supremely easier when it is embedded in the school culture and you don’t have to ‘fight it’. I have been in schools where many teachers have a certain unshiftable mindset, where they are their own island and refuse to even entertain the idea of working with others. Other times, collaboration is only a […]
Excitement for the Future… Bring it On!
I am in a particularly unique and supremely fortunate school situation this very moment. Hard to believe, as we are currently in week 10 of Sydney lockdown… but it is time that my school community of teachers have been gifted. Eight weeks ago, my new school was scheduled to open its doors and welcome its […]
Tech Tools for Collecting Evidence
The teacher librarian operates in a unique and dual role – that of teacher and librarian. To exist and align in equal standing with teaching colleagues as professionals in the field, it is necessary for teacher librarians to similarly collect evidence in order to support and maintain accreditation at proficient and lead levels. As previously […]
Discussion Forum 3.3 – The Principal and the TL
I believe having a positive relationship with the school principal is paramount in our role as teacher librarian. The readings give the impression that it is the principal who can ‘make or break us’ and it is up to us to make ourselves indispensable; aligning ourselves to the school’s vision (which is ultimately that of […]
The Principal and the Teacher Librarian
The teacher librarian and the principal are two key stakeholders that should form a harmonious and mutually beneficial relationship. This is to ensure the continued success of the school library program and to guarantee the opportunity for the teacher librarian to continue in their support of classroom teachers on a broader scale as well as […]
Discussion Forum 3.2 – The Antiquated TL?
I found Valenza’s post to be so immensely filled with passion – defending the varied, diverse and complex roles of the teacher librarian. Following her previous blog post – contained in a link within the stimulus post, she was responding to the library having been described as an “anachronism”, with the teacher librarian being “antiquated”. […]