Simon's Reflective Journal

Confident and Creative Individuals

Posted on March 17, 2019

While exploring the pedagogical initiatives at the end of Module 1 this week; I decided to focus on the Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians (Curriculum Corporation 2008). I found that this declaration had 2 specific educational goals for the learner to work towards. The one aspect of goal two that I connected with was the creation of confident and creative individuals. I mainly focused on this aspect as I love when students and people in general are creative in their way of thinking and expression.

While reading the declaration it stated that students “have the knowledge, skills, understanding and values to establish and maintain healthy, satisfying lives (Curriculum Corporation 2008).” I started to contemplate what this might mean in regards to how students would gain this knowledge and skill set when learning in a school library environment. The school library strongly encourages the use of creativity particularly when practising reading and writing in literacy. The job of the Teacher Librarian (TL) therefore is to engage the interest of these creative students particularly when participating in research activities. In my experience primary aged students are encouraged to use their own skill set when presented with a topic to research.

Organising elements for Literacy (Australian Curriculum n.d.)

Therefore the TL has the task of engaging students in these research tasks particularly when displaying the relevant information used in literacy lessons. For example if a student is asked to create a presentation about rainforests then the TL can provide physical textbooks or digital links for students to use in order to interpret any relevant information. The element that I believe is most relevant to creative students however is the composing of texts through speaking, writing and creating across all their schooling. Each student is different but the Australian Curriculum states that they can: “create formal and informal texts as part of classroom learning experiences including group and class discussions, talk that explores and investigates learning area topics, and formal and informal presentations and debates (Australian Curriculum n.d.).” This provides the student with all manner of learning areas to explore as well as encourage them to become more confident in areas that they enjoy like public speaking or creating digital media (PowerPoint or i Movies) that expresses their learning in different forms.

References:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/literacy/

Curriculum Corporation. (2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Melbourne: Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

The many roles of a Teacher Librarian

Posted on March 12, 2019

School libraries are awesome! There I said it. I honestly loved every visit as a primary aged student and I still marvel at all the creativity and organisation that goes into a school library. However the school library wouldn’t be near as impressive without the Teacher Librarian (TL) who has many roles within not only the library but the entire school. The Australian School Library Association (ASLA) states that the key roles of a TL are “learning and teaching, management, leadership as well as collaboration and community engagement.” (ASLA, 2016)

Learning and Teaching

The central part of a school library is the promotion of literature and reading. I continually promote reading whenever I’m teaching as I think it’s the best pastime and so if a teacher believes it to be true then students will have a model leader to base off. Classroom teachers and TL have access to several types of online programs that encourage reading stories but display this information as well as providing expression and emphasis on each sentence makes it all the more exciting for the students.

Management

Current school libraries are providing the opportunity for more Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to be integrated into literacy lessons. The TL is now able to incorporate ICT into more engaging lessons which encourages the student to become even more creative in their way of thinking. However I still think that physical copies of textbooks or novels are a fantastic way to enjoy literature even though we can now instantly access information using ICT programs. I also believe that every TL has a set system that they follow so that the library runs smoothly. I have observed different ways that the TL manages their library (including the assistance by wonderful student library monitors) but each method provides more opportunities to visually engage with literature.

Leadership

My first experience of true leadership in a school library was on my rural teaching placement at Mudgee Public School. I was absolutely astounded by the way the TL would deliver the content that was required during a staff development afternoon session. She provided each stage group with a series of resources that corresponded with a new unit of work that would be covered later in the term, listing off required and recommended texts that the teachers could look into. From this first experience I have gained a better understanding of the communication that takes place between classroom teachers, executive members of staff and the TL.

Community engagement

My absolute favourite time of the school year that gets the entire school community involved is Book Week. I love seeing the creative decorations from both the library and each classroom as well as all the costumes the students and parents come up with. I also think it’s fantastic when parents and caregivers are encouraging their child to read outside of school. Once you have that strong reading ability it’s yours for life and I appreciate the TL that I had at school as they encouraged every student to read.

Reference:

ASLA; Australian School Library Association. (July 2016). Statement on Teacher Librarians in Australia. Sydney, NSW. Retrieved 11/03/19 from: https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/policy_tls_in_australia.pdf

A New Step for Me

Posted on March 8, 2019

My name is Simon and I am a primary school teacher that works in Newcastle and the Hunter Region. I decided at the end of last year that I wanted to explore this new side of teaching literacy particularly in school libraries. I absolutely love the creativity that literature can create particularly in all manner of fiction that allows children or even adults to expand their imagination.

Apart from my original degree I haven’t studied online this much before. I look forward to taking this new step and journey towards becoming a teacher librarian.