Tag: role of TL

ETL503, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

WEEDING…IS IT REALLY THAT HARD?

Louise

ETL503 – Module 5 – Weeding the Collection

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Weeding has been on my mind lately and that’s because I have been wanting to genrefy the fiction section of our primary school library. It has been a goal since I began in the role of TL. I have focused research on the topic, done surveys with the students, and had discussions with the school principal about it. I realised through this process (which another discussion entirely) that weeding had to be at the top of the list before any reorganisation can occur.

It seemed like a huge and overwhelming task and I didn’t want to dispose of any books that may add value to the collection. So I began with what I was familiar with, the teaching resources. I began by collecting and discarding the many outdated syllabus documents (I kept one of each) that had been superseded by new documents. I had the Principal’s approval to recycle them. But, by doing this, I knew I was just avoiding the task ahead of me. After reading through the resources in this module, I began to think about the process a little more clearly. I knew I had to establish the criteria first. Then I decided that I would tackle a couple of shelves at a time, beginning with the Fiction section (rather than the Junior Fiction). I would start at A and work my way through the alphabet when I could. I began with just a physical and visual motivation, removing damaged books and establishing if they could be restored or not, and any that were not appealing to students. I then took these titles to the Library Monitors (who are made up of about 20 Year 5 and 6 students). Who then went through them to see if they agreed with my deselections.

I then printed out a list from the Library Management System of books that had not been borrowed in the last 5 years, then I changed it to 10 years because the library itself has been inaccessible to students for many reasons during this time, including COVID and school rebuilds (where the library was used as a classroom for 2 years and the TL had to share a small classroom with the music teacher and had a limited amount of books for loan). Then COVID hit and I was not able to have the children borrow, to begin with, and then they were not allowed to be in the library at all. I was going from classroom to classroom for library lessons and carting trolleys of books with me. This meant that the time I spent physically in the library was very limited and when I was in there, I was restocking the trolleys for children to borrow (when this became allowed).

I see much value in having the students involved in this process of weeding and I hope to use the weeded books for a week of “book tasting”. Students from years 3 to 6 will get the opportunity to look at what has been removed from the shelves and establish (using given criteria) whether or not deselection is justified. Fostering a love of reading is part of my mission as TL and I feel that when this is strongly established, reading for enjoyment increases within the school community.

I loved reading Jennifer LaGarde’s blog post about this topic where she states, “We are educators. We are not curators of book museums” (LaGuard, 2013). This is what I feel I am currently in, a holder of many old and outdated books, many of which have not been borrowed in many years. Weeding in not going to be an easy process, but starting with one section at a time is the way forward for me. I hope that this year will be the year to get the genrefication goal up and running. I also hope to establish a Collection Management Policy in the near future to ensure that there is written evidence for the decisions being made in the school library and a clear framework for the future of our school library, one that I am very passionate about!

https://www.librarygirl.net/post/keeping-your-library-collection-smelling-f-r-e-s-h

Reference

LaGarde, J. (2013, October 2). Keeping your library collection smelling F.R.E.S.H. The Adventures of Library Girl. https://www.librarygirl.net/post/keeping-your-library-collection-smelling-f-r-e-s-h

ETL503, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

INTRODUCING CREATIVE COMMONS

Louise

ETL503 – Module 4 – Educate your community about Creative Commons (CC)

This module is all about legal and ethical issues of collections, including copyright and Creative Commons. The task was to present information to teachers and students to teach them about CC, how to access, or how to attribute. I began by using Canva to create a digital presentation to share with my staff (and their students) about the concept of CC. I envisaged using this at our weekly staff meeting, with a follow-up the following week about how to access CC materials.

Understanding Creative Commons by Louise Foyel

ETL503, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

COPYRIGHT and MUSIC in SCHOOLS

Louise

ETL503 – 4.1 Music Copyright in the Primary School setting

https://pixabay.com/photos/turntable-music-laptop-audio-1109588/

Teachers regularly use music in the school setting, but what are the copyright laws in Australia that must be adhered to? According to Smartcopying, the official guide to copyright for Australian schools and TAFE, music in schools refers to “both musical works and sound recordings” (Smartcopying, Music, 12 August 2021).

In my particular primary school setting, we are blessed to have a specialist music teacher who provides lessons to students each week. Although as part of my TL role I provided the outline for copyright when it was updated this year, all staff were also made aware of these updates too as we were needing to teach remotely. As part of this challenging time of online learning, all staff needed to be aware of the implications of using music in the digital environment, especially when recording themselves or creating videos for their students. In addition, on returning to school, uploading school events such as award presentations were also necessary, as was liturgies and masses (being that we are a Catholic school).

Using music for videos or presentations can be incorporated when it is uploaded to a password-protected intranet or school website. It can also be shared to the school community via email or message through an educational app (such as Compass, but excludes apps such as Snapchat or TikTok). It is pertinent to mention that the school CANNOT upload the content to any social media platforms such as Facebook. Music recording companies may request the event be taken down from the social media platform.

The making and recording of school events is allowable under Australian copyright if it is performed or played and must display ‘This recording has been made under a licence from AMCOS and ARIA for school purposes only’ (Smartcopying, Music, 12 August 2021). For Catholic schools. under section 106 of the Copyright Act, permits schools to play sound recordings in public, such as at school events. In religious services our school often uses music to engage students, when we returned to school during term 4 this year, important celebrations, such as end-of-year mass needed to be live-streamed, to accommodate parents who could not attend the school grounds at the time. Since 30 March 2021, Smartcopying the Religious Education Coordinator needed to be aware of the implications of live-streaming and recording the service when music was involved, since this was a school-based event, and not held in the church, the national schools music licenses were applicable.

 

 

ETL503, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

LIBRARY SUPPLIERS

Louise

ETL503 3.2 – How do you choose?

https://pixabay.com/photos/books-choosing-hand-bookshop-2566812/

It is something that I have put a lot of time into thinking about. What do library suppliers need to offer and how do they become a preferred choice for the school setting? Here are some of my thoughts from this module.

  • Library suppliers need to offer a wide range of resources, including both fiction and non-fiction.
  • Certain suppliers would need to procure books from various publishers too, like obtaining books as part of the CBCA shortlisted books.
  • It is also appealing if booksellers offer bulk or school discounts off the RRP and you can also support local businesses too.
  • Ease of ordering and fast response and postage is also another key factor in acquiring books for a school library and keeping up with the demand from both students and teachers.
  • Some publishers/book suppliers offer book fairs to promote their resources and gauge student and teacher interests. They have the added bonus of a kickback for the school, which leads to repeat business with them and incentives to purchase with them in the future.
  • Recommendations from other TL’s in the area are another factor when determining who or where to obtain library resources.
  • Often with religious schools and other schools with unique needs, there are texts that are recommended resources and may be required to purchase to use as part of the prescribed curriculum. In this case, specialist suppliers are required and as a result, are often more expensive than mainstream suppliers.
ETL503, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

PACKAGING IT UP…is it really what they want?

Louise
ETL503 2.2 – Are bundled sets worth considering?
https://pixabay.com/photos/search/box%20book/
This is definitely something that has plagued me for the last 2 years as I have taken on the role of the Teacher-Librarian (TL). I have had some experience dealing with prepackaged bundled sets. This was an initiative to support Lexile levels and the new online ebooks program with 3-6 students in our school. Its conception was from school leadership, and as TL I was to accession each of the 50 books per term (this included a Lexile sticker for each too). The idea being that students could borrow books at their level. It did create books for students to read in class at specific levels for a purpose, however, some class teachers expected I select books for their entire class with specific Lexile levels, an onerous task for a class of 30 students with varied reading interests in a 40-minute time slot for their library lesson. The way forward was for students to come into the library with a preselected list of books at their level, using the program in class to select books first. 
From my perspective, although I promoted the new titles, it did not necessarily change the borrowing habits of students, nor did the Lexile level sway their choice of text. I was also asked to buy new titles that were not part of this particular publisher’s selection.
I have considered below some pros and cons of bundled sets. This was part of a task in ETL503 Module 2.2 and I drew from these experiences. I added to the list below several times over the course of the week.
I had requested last year that these sets ceased, however, the deadline had been missed and I had been signed up for an additional year.
When I completed this task it again prompted me to address leadership staff and request the bundled sets stop in 2022 so that we could assess the current collection, have time to weed, and only purchase books that are needed for our collection. 
Pros and cons of bundled sets
Pros  Cons
latest publications books may not suit or target the student needs/wants of topics or genres
keeps collection current expensive
already analysed for classroom use (eg appropriate language, topic, theme) many resources may not be borrowed
pre-levelled (eg Lexile) time-consuming to accession each term 
appropriate for primary aged children (ages 8-12) takes up a lot of shelf space and weeding becomes necessary more frequently
new books motivate many students yearly commitment
many popular series are provided does not target whole school use
many popular authors represented not selected by teacher-librarian
range of fiction and non-fiction books need to be promoted each term to ensure they are circulated
range of genres leveled books may not appeal to students or be a factor in borrowing choice
variety of levels class teachers may not access these books as they are no part of a set for their group reading in class

 

Assessment Task, ETL401, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

Sentence first, verdict afterwards!

Louise

ETL401 – ASSESSMENT 3 – REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 

Down, down, down the rabbit hole she went. Curiouser and curiouser things became, but on and on she went, nevertheless. (Carroll, 1907/1985)

I delved headfirst into another world, one full of potential for future endeavours. My life changed and adapted to a new normal, immersed in new challenges and many “doors” of the teacher librarian (TL).

Was I drowning in a ‘pool of tears’ (Carroll, 1907/1985, p.20), where infowhelm flourished? I crawled into a warren of information about information. Reading upon reading and finally, when I crawled out, I realised that the light on the other side was illuminating my ideology of the role of the teacher librarian. It was Merga (2019) that had me question my initial thoughts about a teacher librarian being “marginalised” and not seen as “real teachers” (Foyel, 2021, February 21). My understandings about the TL role were narrow and took on the perception of a magical and fanciful job, flitting about in the calm and quiet of the library, tending to books and the students that ventured into the library. With a seemingly endless amount of time to organise resources and parades for the rest of the school (Foyel 2021, March 8).

So began the caucus race…module 2, this fast-paced information environment, where the TL is entangled and is required to stay current in this ever-changing world (Foyel, 2021 March 13). When did my view of the TL role begin to change? Well, it came with reading Webster’s Theories of Information Society (2014) where I began to view of the TL role in a broader sense, by examining his five non-mutually exclusive definitions of the information society; technological, economic, occupational, special, and cultural and the various roles that the TL has within these areas (Foyel, 2021, March 17).

Hutchinson (2017) also challenged my thinking about the information environment, where she showed how information literacy was at the centre of the curriculum, though overlaps with other terms, including academic literacies, new literacies, media literacies and digital literacies. Thus, moving away from the whimsical view of the TL role to one of information specialist and curriculum leader. Being ‘adaptive and innovative’ (Foyel, 2021, March 18, para. 3) and really understanding learners and their needs in this ever-changing world.

So, who are you? mused a caterpillar…(Carroll, 1907/1985). In module 3 I discovered the AITSL Standards. How did I not know about these? Was the role of the TL peripheral in my school like Merga (2019) pointed out earlier? I began to reflect on each standard and identified some future goals as a TL (Foyel, 2021, March 21) and how I might bring this to the attention of the leadership team in my current school setting. So where to from here? Well… I guess it “depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” sage advice from a cat I expect (Carroll, 1907/1985, p.75).

Thereafter, I began to investigate the “multifaceted and constantly evolving” (Foyel, 2021, March 27) role of the TL and how the perspective of the school principal could influence the value and attitudes held by the school in general. Like Lupton (2016), I concur that the TL role should be seen as a professional, collaborative, expert teacher first and librarian second (Foyel, 2021, March 27). When a positive rapport is established with the principal and staff, collaboration can become a “long term vision” (Senge, 2007, p.12, cited in Foyel, 2021, April 21).

So is this just a mad tea party? Like the White Rabbit, are we always out of time? (Carroll, 1907/1985). Teaching in the 21st Century is about finding the unique ways that the TL can support and collaborate with staff. Where students become critical and creative thinkers in this new paradigm (Foyel, 2021, April 19). Maybe the issue of time be overcome with a collaborative, constructivist approach (Foyel, 2021, April 29).

Module 5 unlocked a fascinating view of teaching curriculum collaboratively with a classroom teacher and incorporating inquiry learning via a guided inquiry (GI) model. I pondered various GI models and those best suited to my K-6 setting. I began with a list of criteria, key elements for selecting the most suitable model for enculturation. One that was current, relevant, and considered the audience and purpose. With a clear process, beginning with background knowledge, easily linked with the NSW Syllabus and General Capabilities. (Foyel, 2021, May 14).

So, with all the evidence in and considered, it seemed a verdict would ensue. It has certainly been a journey where I began at the beginning and went on until the end… “with the dream of Wonderland of long ago” (Carroll, 1907/1985).

References

Carroll, L. (1985). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Chancellor Press. (Original work published 1907).

Hutchinson, E. (2017). Navigating the information landscape through collaboration. SCIS https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-101/navigating-the-information-landscape-through-collaboration/

Lupton, M. (2016). Adding value: Principals’ perceptions of the role of the teacher librarian. School. Libraries Worldwide. 22(1), 49-61 https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.14265.22.1.005

Merga, M. (2019). Librarians in schools as literacy educators: Advocates for reaching beyond the classroom. Springer International Publishing AG.

Senge, P. (2007). Chapter 1: Give me a lever long enough … and single-handed I can move the world. In The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, 2nd ed. (pp.3-15), available CSU Library Reserve

Webster, F. (2014). Theories of the information society. 4th ed. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

 

ETL401, Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)

Information Literacy and the TL

Louise

ETL401 – Module 5.2

Reflective Practice

Your thoughts: Discussions of information literacy in this module are diverse and interesting.  In your journal (Thinkspace), reflect on what you can take from the discussion of information literacy to your TL role in school.

Information Literacy (IL) is a complex and multifaceted approach to teaching and learning. It can be seen as a set of skills, this behaviourist approach where skills are learnt or acquired or conversely,  as a sociocultural approach, a way of learning, collaboration and information exchange. Both viewpoints are correct, both have merit and both have their place in the teacher librarian role, it is primarily the context and purpose for which the participants define the information, because ultimately ‘people see teaching and learning differently’  (Bruce, Edwards and Lupton, 2007, p. 1) and secondly, ‘people see information literacy differently’ (p. 2).

So how does the complexity of IL transfer to the school library and to the teacher librarian role?

I think Kutner & Armstrong pose an important question in their journal article, a question I have often pondered myself as I take my K-6 classes for their 45 minute lesson each week,

“HOW DO LIBRARIANS AS PRACTITIONERS ENGAGE IN THIS EXPANDED NOTION OF INFORMATION LITERACY, GIVEN THE LIMITED TIME MOST HAVE WITH STUDENTS?” (p. 2)

The aspect of “limited time” spoke to me. By the time I bring in each class, settle them, go through the routines of welcoming, returning books and introducing the lesson or revising what we are to continue with, reading a text and then of course borrowing time and task completion…how do I ensure that quality teaching and learning is achieved? How do I ensure that the content stays relevant?

Therefore, I keep coming back to the notion of life-long learners. Not only being encouraging students to strive towards this but to be one myself, lead by example. To empower them to be engaged learners, critical thinkers, and have a connection with the information environment. As the TL on staff I try to lead the way for collaboration amongst staff, sharing a fundamental core set of values and enculturation of these ideals within the school context as a whole. Continuing to ask questions and seek answers and be future leaders.

 

References

Bruce, C., Edwards, C., & Lupton, M. (2006). Six frames for information literacy education: A conceptual framework for interpreting the relationships between theory and practice. Innovation in teaching and learning information and computer sciences, 5(1), 1-18. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.11120/ital.2006.05010002

Kutner, L. & Armstrong, A. (2012). Rethinking information literacy in a globalised world. Communications in Information Literacy, 6(1), 24-33. CSU Library.

Assessment Task, ETL401

Through the Looking Glass – ETL401 Assessment 1 Part B

Louise

 

Alice

One thing was certain, as a classroom teacher the role of the librarian always fascinated me. But it seemed to me that me, the classroom teacher, was on one side of this looking glass and on the other side of the mirror’s reflection, another world which was the library. 

I, the classroom teacher, was the person responsible for educating the future generation, mentoring, nurturing and being a role model. I was accountable for ensuring that “my children” were reading a book at the right level, comprehending what was read and synthesising information. I was in charge of the mundane life of the teacher, programming, report writing and the dreaded parent teacher interviews. I was on the side of the glass that reflected the everyday life of the teacher and the everyday workings of the school.  

As I saw it, the teacher librarian at any school I had taught at “lived” on the other side of this looking glass. Stepping into their world meant a magical look into literature. It was not just the mechanics of checking in and checking out, it was a multifaceted world to motivate a reader’s imagination. 

The teacher librarian role was to also ensure that the garden of books grew into a multipurpose world, where fiction and non-fiction books collided. The teacher librarian made sure that this garden continued to grow by plucking books from here and there to uphold the current nature of the resources. The teacher librarian tended to the garden, ensuring that each book was cared for, covered and kept pristine. It wasn’t until it began to show it’s age or had had a battering, that it was plucked from the garden, maybe replanted or possibly weeded altogether. 

As a classroom teacher, I would occasionally pop my head through the looking glass to borrow some resources and choose some readers. I would not be able to stay there though, as this land was too far removed from my everyday world. It was always quiet and the teacher librarian had established it as somewhat of a refuge for some who were lucky enough to stay through their lunchtimes, reading, drawing, colouring or completing a puzzle, all of which were not the main priorities of my classroom.

There was also Book Week, an extraordinary time of the year when out of the looking glass, the librarian would emerge and the rest of the school would become who they had dreamed to be. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, queens, princesses, all the kings, their horses and men, lion’s and unicorns and of course, Alice. On this magical day, the librarian would orchestrate a parade of children (and some teachers) through the playground and a ruckus of delight would ensue. No prizes were given for “best costume”, it was a celebration of books, reading and the amazing characters we could become for just one day. 

Then, back through the looking glass she would slip, back to her world, but separate to us. So close, yet so far removed from the rest of the school. Her life, what is it but a dream?

References

Carroll, L. (1982). Through the looking glass and what Alice found there. Modern Promotions.