In my introductory post to the ETL504 discussion forum, I said I hoped to gain more knowledge and tools to advocate for the teacher librarian (TL) role and how I could have the most positive impact on our school (Doherty, 2019, July 21). As we now come to the close of the subject I am pleased to say that this is most certainly what I have gained from ETL504.
While my own blogging and forum posts have been minimal, this was a conscious decision as a time management strategy. Completing this subject during a time of great personal difficulty, I prioritised commitment to my group for the case studies and my own personal readings. As my response to case study six demonstrated, putting strategies into place to avoid burnout is essential (Doherty, 2019, September 29).
I found the case study scenario to be slightly frustrating as it was far from my own library experience where I am the sole practitioner, not even an administrative assistant or library technician for me to manage, let alone a number of TLs. Having said this, I can see the massive collaborative effort the TL must make with staff across the school, where many personalities, priorities and levels of expertise collide just as in the case study scenario.
In our Group 12 response to case study four (Group 12, 2019a) we began to explore the need for TLs to collaborate with staff on planning for the library as well as on teaching and learning programs. Further reading and completion of assessment items one and two has confirmed collaboration as an essential TL requirement. From the beginning of this subject (and indeed my entire time as TL) I was floundering a bit with what value add I could bring to the school and the best way to so. Now I feel I am best suited mainly as servant leader. With the wide range of personalities and expertise in the school, the level and type of support and professional development I provide may be vastly different for each staff member. I have been motivated to begin a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to inform the development of a strategic plan for our library (Group 12, 2019a; Group 12, 2019b).
I have definitely felt the lack of understanding from school leadership and staff for the role of the TL that our response to case study five addresses (Group 12, 2019b). I hope that from the strategic plan I am able to create a clear vision for our library that will get staff on board with common goals such as collaboratively planning, teaching and assessing using guided inquiry design. Working closely with the principal to enable such initiatives will be vital.
What ETL504 has made very clear is that being new to the library provides great timing for these changes to occur but the management style I adopt will be key to their success (Doherty, 2019, July 30).
References
Group 12. (2019a, September 6). Group 12 [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42385_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78888_1&forum_id=_164189_1&message_id=_2468010_1
Group 12. (2019b, September 20). Case study 5 -Group 12 [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42385_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78888_1&forum_id=_164188_1&message_id=_2499678_1
