My formal experience as a teacher is limited to the two terms and two weeks that I taught two classes a circus elective in a secondary school in Canberra. During my Graduate Diploma of Education I was inducted into the library system used by the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School, I observed library lessons at The Southport School, and utilised the hardware resources during my practicum at the school that eventually employed me.
During my education studies I saw the library was the schools hub of technology. Whether accessing trolleys of Ipads, seeing lessons utilising sharing across multiple google apps, or being the site of the most effectively functioning Interactive Whiteboard. The library is not only the repository of information but of interfaces in software and hardware.
The school librarian I worked with was managing cloud based systems of resource booking as well as traditional literacy promotion through the coordination of parent volunteers doing co-reading and the posting of physical book reviews by teachers on the library walls.
The library space was utilised by a wide range of school needs, and this was facilitated by the teacher librarian, including whole staff professional development, parent teacher interview nights, and the live streaming of performances from other states for my circus elective classes.
My understanding is that a teacher librarian must facilitate a flexible space in which multiple uses can occur simultaneously. This includes the breadth, medium, and conservation of resources for learning suitable across the entire age range using the library. Due to the inevitable limits of capital expenditure it also involves understanding the compromises that a library faces and being able to coherently argue for the best outcomes for your community based on your perceptions of the various opportunity costs involved.
One of the most exciting roles I perceive for teacher librarians is that they are not merely reactive to technology, though they are willing to take direction and requests from the community they serve, but also predictive; of what tools and skills will need to be accessed by their students in the future. This leads to opportunities to involve Makerlabs, programming, robotics, and the tools that do not exist yet and will not have been developed till I finish my own Masters qualifying me in librarianship.
My experiences in being a formally qualified educator has seen me spend more time in museums than schools and every museum I have worked in has had a library to support its wide variety of staff. These libraries and their enthusiastic staff have aided me in researching for programs I have devised, facilitating my self directed professional development, and in diving deep into new domains of knowledge when changing institutions. I believe that a teacher librarian is well suited to this context and it is where I would like to make my contribution to the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector as an experienced museum worker, qualified teacher, and ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) registered librarian.
I enjoyed reading your reflection and you perspective of where you see your role fitting in, within your own professional future. You have mentioned some of the key features that epitomise the kind of work that we do, and I think you will also discover more as you go through your study. Your interests will let you choose electives to help hone your focus, and make your study worthwhile. Good job with the blog setup, and establishment of the use of categories. Make sure to keep up your blog writing. Good luck.