Contributing to my Thinkspace blog throughout this session has allowed me to develop a further understanding of the different leadership styles that Teacher Librarians (TL) display in their school community. When commencing this course I wanted to identify the other tasks that a TL undertakes as part of their job in the school library (Burns, 2019a). For example, at the start of the course my main interaction with the TL involved being part of weekly professional development sessions that they would run. I now have a better understanding that the TL is an individual who collaborates with so many people as they strive to become a transformational leader and support staff when changes are being made to 21st century classrooms and the school library (Burns, 2019d).
I have always appreciated the TL for being driven and passionate to assist teachers and students in their school community. I really enjoyed learning about the important qualities that these leaders are able to possess. Some of these qualities include vision, courage, judgement and resilience which encourages the TL to be constantly collaborating with their colleagues (Burns, 2019b). It also means that the TL is seeking to extend their connections to leaders in other areas of the school community, including the technology team, and how they can contribute to making the school library relevant for the 21st century.
While working on case study scenarios, I found it incredibly useful to communicate through the use of emailing and the discussion board in our group forum (Group 13, 2019). Judith in our group demonstrated great instructional leadership at the start and throughout our case studies. Most of the contributions that I made can be viewed through a servant leadership perspective as I always made sure to contribute continuously to our group discussions and provide my individual thoughts when creating the final responses.
Our group agreed to take turns in organising and submitting the final response for each case study. I always strived to be organised and respond efficiently to whole group messages. I found it incredibly useful to have everyone contribute their own thoughts and often first-hand experiences, as we worked together to come up with a constructive response.
I appreciated that the case studies could allow for a more practical application to many of the tasks that a school librarian has to perform as part of their leadership role. Following the submission of our group response for case study 3, I documented my thoughts on my Thinkspace blog to evaluate the qualities that every group member was able to display (Burns, 2019c). Unfortunately one of our group members didn’t contribute in our discussion, although I understood that we all work in an incredibly busy profession and sometimes we can’t attempt everything.
Overall, I enjoyed hearing the different perspectives that were brought forward from each group member throughout the case studies and appreciated the range of literacy articles that were depicted throughout the module readings. I’ve been able to develop a new understanding for how the TL can lead throughout a variety of roles as well as knowing that it’s okay to ask for help from colleagues and students too.
References
Burns, S. (2019a, July 18). Re: Introductions [Online discussion 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=_164193_1&message_id=_2359025_1
Burns, S. (2019b, August 4). Important attributes for a teacher librarian [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/simonb/2019/08/04/important-attributes-for-a-teacher-librarian/
Burns, S. (2019c, August 16). New online experience [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/simonb/2019/08/16/new-online-experience/
Burns, S. (2019d, September 5). Changing the library environment in the 21st century [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/simonb/2019/09/05/changing-the-library-environment-in-the-21st-century/
Group 13. (2019, September) Case Study 4 [Online discussion forum]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/forum?action=list_threads&course_id=_42385_1&nav=group_forum&group_id=_49723_1&conf_id=_87669_1&forum_id=_170446_1
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