I’m not a huge fan of blogging. I had a blog once. Didn’t enjoy it. So I stopped. But that’s beside the point. This is more of a journal. A series of thoughts, hopefully in a coherent manner. Welcome inside my head.

I have worked as a teacher since graduating in 2013 from Griffith University with a Graduate Diploma in Education – Spanish & English. My first year was tough, so tough I almost didn’t return from my Vietnamese summer holiday. I worked in a low SES school in a rapidly growing area north of Brisbane. The school employed mainly first or second year teachers. The distinct lack of leadership and good educational practices led many first year teachers to give up. I was lucky, my desk was surrounded by experienced teachers, who knew positivity and camaraderie would help us get through even the toughest of times.
My career moved on several years later to a private school south of Brisbane. I enjoyed teaching there, however when I didn’t give a student a ‘deserved mark’, the mother started spreading rumours in the carpark. There was no support from my principal, the opposite in fact. Several intense meetings about what I was doing/not doing and what parents were reporting about my classes. The eventual outcome was my resignation. Teaching wasn’t for me. Maybe I’d sign up for the military..

My wife – also a teacher – and I discussed our future often after this. We’d always talked about making ‘the leap’ and teaching internationally. Thankfully she persuaded me to give it ‘one last shot’. We took up roles in a school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, myself as a language teacher, my wife as a wellbeing co-ordinator. When we arrived, I was offered the opportunity to step sideways into the library. I saw the value immediately and jumped at the opportunity.

As a child I saw the librarian as a central figure in ones educational journey – even as a student I saw this. I spent a great deal of time in libraries, both the school and public libraries around my home, reading with a voracious appetite. I learnt that libraries are a repository of knowledge and stories and that librarians are facilitators of everything within and beyond. They didn’t necessarily know everything, but knew where to direct you to find the information you were looking for.
As a teacher I saw the library/ian as the source of teaching technology support, the ‘go to’ for help when students were researching, and a support teacher to help energise my teaching.
As a librarian – albeit an inexperienced one – I see the librarian as a facilitator of learning opportunities and knowledge. Yes I scan books, and I often find myself sighing as I straighten books and rotate them so they are spine out. But I do not ‘shush’ students, or expect silence in my library. I expect respect both for students and for myself, and for my colleagues and students to collaborate and give every lesson their best.

In closing, I expected this to be far more difficult than it was. I found it a somewhat calming experience. I wish you all good luck in your studies, and would gladly welcome any comments you may have.