My initial thoughts on teacher librarian as a leader was quite different. Principals, head teachers, coordinators are considered as leaders. With changing educational settings, the role of teacher librarian is also changing. During the course, I came across the term ‘Middle Leaders’. This is a form of distributed leadership. I found it very interesting that teacher librarians lead from the middle and are therefore ‘Middle leaders’. Leading from the Middle is about the power we all have to build something together that none of us can accomplish on our own. It is the power to bring out the best in others (Gottlieb, 2012)

I learnt about different leadership styles and how unknowingly we work as an instructional leaders, servant leaders and transformational leaders by motivating self and others. I would like to ease the workload of classroom teachers by supporting and extending with work they do in classrooms.

This subject also gave me an insight into how teacher librarians can also acts as change agents and contribute effectively in creating a twenty first century learning environment through activities such as makerspace and flexile seating arrangements. The role of teacher librarian also includes educating students about digital citizenship. Teacher librarians should be risk takers and encourage change and innovation. Oberg (2009) believes that if teacher librarians are knowledgeable about school culture and the change process, they will be more able to set reasonable and attainable goals for themselves and for the school library program, and  this knowledge will also enable them to critique proposed innovations or reforms, for the school library or for other aspects of the school’s program of learning, in terms of the mission of the school: that is, the goal of making a difference in the lives of all students.

I also gained the understanding how important it is to promote and advocate our role by participating in newsletter, conducting professional developments activities, participating in staff meetings, writing blogs.

I found the discussion forums very helpful. A lot of the questions were answered through forums. This form of communication brings collaboration and will also be useful in our work culture. I had a very positive experience with my case study group but I must admit I was not able to contribute for the last two case studies because of personal issues. The case studies scenarios gave me insight into real work life situations and also in reality how sometimes it becomes hard to find a balance between your personal and professional lives. Despite all the ups and downs, I thoroughly enjoyed the subject and I wished I was able to contribute more.

To be an effective teacher librarian, I will remember the 3 c’s that I learnt in this subject; collaboration, communication and connectedness.

References

Oberg, D 2009, ‘Libraries in schools: essential contexts for studying organizational change and culture’, Library Trends, 58(1), pp 9–25

Gottlieb, H. (2012, October 30). Leading from the middle: Bringing out the best in everyone [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://creatingthefuture.org/leading-from-the-middle-bringing-out-the-best-in-everyone/

Group 6. (2019, November 4). Case Study Group 6. [Discussion Forum Post]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/conference?action=list_forums&course_id=_42385_1&nav=group_forum&group_id=_49716_1