I live in Saudi Arabia and this experience occurred while collecting my son from daycare yesterday.

I knocked on the door and stood back to wait. The door opened a sliver and I was greeted rudely. “Yes?”
“I’m here to pick up Olivero,” I said.
The door closed to a crack and I could hear muttering in Arabic.  The door then opened a sliver again. “What?” The voice from behind the door said.

I was shocked and taken aback by the rudeness. Firstly, stop communicating with me through an as-good-as-closed door and secondly, I’m a person; politeness, please. These are the people I leave my son with, to support his growth into a responsible, polite conscientious human being. Have I made a good choice coming here?

“Olivero!” I called through the door, louder this time.
“One minute,” came the muffled response and the door was once again closed.
A moment later, the door opened and my son walked through, delighted to see me.

Reflecting on the experience while driving home, I kept coming back to this question.

What are typically social, cultural and global differences that may be exacerbated through the use of technology for communication and collaboration?

Communicating through a closed door is the same as communicating through technology. You can’t necessarily see the person with whom you are communicating, sometimes you cannot hear them and most importantly, sometimes your shared language is not necessarily spoken at the same level. Communication is a full-body experience, you hear the word choices, pauses and connect that with what you; see, including gestures, smile, eyes, stance; and feel what is said or not, what is emphasised with gestures, pauses or smiles. This lack of full-body experience can exacerbate poor word choice, or pauses in unnecessary places and mutterings.

Yet, reflecting on my experience, I know the lady I was communicating with is still learning English. It is her second language, as such, her word choices are limited – “What?” – and she may often seek help – muttering from behind the door -.

It’s not fair for me to condemn her. Her only fault is she doesn’t speak my language the way I expect.

Digital citizenship – The behaviours and actions that promote responsibility, integrity, global awareness, and ethical and safe consumption and creation of content on the internet.

Students of the 21st century were born into a digital world. I am old enough to recall what life was like before the internet arrived in my home, old enough to recall the chimes of a dial-up connection, yet young enough that I had my own personal computer from age 9 and struggle to fully ‘disconnect’. Digital citizenry taught me how to behave online, what information to share, how to be critical and evaluative of information and how to connect with those outside my ‘physical network’. Thus, I believe digital citizenship plays an integral part in the wholistic development of students in the 21st century. It stands firm in its equal importance alongside wellbeing, academics, culture and physical endeavours.

The school I currently work at has been teaching online for 12 months. As such, at the beginning of the new academic year (September), all students were enrolled in a digital literacy subject. This subject was aimed to address fluency in an online learning environment, teach coding and instruct students around online safety. However, I concur with Richard Culatta in his speech around Rethinking digital citizenship, these concepts being taught at my school, whilst important, do not address digital citizenship, nor does it teach students how to respectfully engage with their community to make the world a better place.

Digital citizenry needs to be explicitly taught and modelled across all subjects and beyond the classroom. If this were the case we would have more people, both young and old, actively engaged in community beneficial activities and local activism.

This local activism could appear by way of using PLCs (Personal Learning Community) to lobby local council for a community garden, or to use social networking sites to build a community of like-minded individuals to help clean up local bushland. These activities are not discriminatory of age, gender or social status and have the potential to benefit all members of the community.

Could we all not benefit for local activism brought about by young digitally engaged community members.

References:

ISTE. (2018, October 11). Rethinking digital citizenship. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/iwKTYHBG5kk

In a post early in the course I outlined how I thought the teacher librarian was a leader. I wasn’t necessarily wrong; my view was, however, significantly limited. Throughout this course I have developed an understanding of leadership principles, management theory and change management. Equipped with this new knowledge I can support bringing my school library into the twenty-first century and myself into the forefront as a leader among peers.

I have learned the teacher librarian can lead from the middle. I did not have the most successful experience of this when I attempted to lead from the middle in the Case Study 3, but perhaps that is simply due to the limitations of the internet, physical distance and the busy schedules we as students and teachers have. As Cox and Korodaj outline in an article on the teacher librarian as a leader, the teacher librarian is perfectly placed to be a leader, whether it be the curriculum, the cross-curricular priorities or the general capabilities (2019, p. 16). The reading I have undertaken in this class and the work of the assessment 2 report has helped me identify an opportunity for me to lead from the middle.

As a bilingual school, it is necessary for students to use both languages in all elements (reading, writing, speaking and listening). Unfortunately, I have identified students do not read in Arabic, and rarely read in English. Hence, I would like to develop a school-wide approach to reading. As I do not hold an official leadership position, this would involve me leading from the middle, developing as a leader and supporting the development of other leaders involved in the program.

I have learned conflict management. In particular I have applied the strategies suggested by Strive! In my Managing Conflict post, I reflected upon how I dealt with conflict. A few weeks later I reflected on an incident at school. I used this incident to practice the conflict management strategies from Strive! While it was a difficult conversation the approach, in particular I needed to change how I manage conflict, it was a rewarding experience. I feel better prepared to have difficult conversations both in school and in my life beyond.

I have found the 2nd assessment discussion paper on developing a twenty-first century ‘future proof’ school library very beneficial. I have already discussed this paper with my principal who is interested in aspects of the ‘future-proofing’ report. With his support I would love to develop the school library to better support students learning needs and prepare them with the skills they need for life in a highly digital world (Liu, 2020, para. 7). I would like to focus on developing empathy, global mindedness and the 4Cs, I believe these to be the more essential twenty-first century skills outlined by Couros in his book The Innovators Mindset (2015). This is of particular necessity in Saudi Arabia as we have been teaching and learning online since March 2020.

I appreciate the opportunities this subject has provided me with. It is a heady experience to reflect upon my learning over the past three months and see the potential directions it provides me with.

References

Couros, G. (2015). The innovators mindset. Dave Burgess Consulting Inc.

Cox, E. & Korodaj, L. (2019). Leading from the sweet spot: Embedding the library and the teacher librarian in your school community. Access, 33(4), 14-25.

Liu, C. (2020, September 23). Beyond the 4Cs: Empowering youth in the 21st-Century. Getting Smart. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2020/09/beyond-the-4cs-empowering-youth-in-the-21st-century/

Strive!. (2013, June 12). How to have a courageous conversation. [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/CoFe_NRRITQ

Recently in a whole school newsletter, I was referred to by the head librarian as the ‘library assistant’. While I am assisting in the library and I have not completed my teacher librarianship degree, I am still a teacher. This belittling, whether intentional or not, had steadily progressed from making ‘suggestions’ to my work in grade level planning documents, to editing my work in whole school documents; without permission.

Why am I telling you this?
Well, I needed to have a courageous conversation. From my readings throughout ETL-504 I have come across multiple useful resources. I took advice from Strive! and had a courageous conversation.

Following the 7 steps I participated in a meaningful discussion and was able to outline the issue I – not being treated as a competent professional – and together we were able to come to a resolution. I occupy the physical space and role of the teacher librarian, however in title and role, I am a teacher.

In past experiences I have been unable to have courageous conversations, instead I held the issues in until they grew to the point that principal intervention was needed. This time due to my studies I was able to effectively solve the communication issue without principal intervention.

References

Strive!. (2013, June 12). How to have a courageous conversation. [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/CoFe_NRRITQ

So this is a summation and reflection on how my group participated in Case Study 3.

When I received an email from Liz letting us know that our groups were live, I logged into Interact2 and as it was only early afternoon for me (Riyadh time), I took the lead, introducing myself and leaving the floor open for others to respond. When some had responded, I suggested we read through the case study and type some notes (I thought doing this in Draw.io would be a good idea – I needed the practice).

I typed up my notes and submitted it to the Draw.io. Nobody else submitted until we received an email from Liz. I realised my error and copied my notes from Draw.io onto the group wiki page. This was updated throughout the rest of the week by the group.

Upon reflection, as I had assumed the leadership role, I should have clarified what was expected and by when. I did not do this, which led to the group sharing thoughts in a very ‘last minute fashion’. One group member unfortunately did complete the required work, however they submitted it 2 days after the Case Study was due.

My mistake was I assumed everyone was on the same page. Everyone (I thought) knew when the Case Study was due, and as the turnaround was 1 week, when I said Thursday, it would mean Thursday this week, not in a months time. Furthermore I didn’t assign specific roles. This however wasn’t a major issue, as group members contributed to wherever they wanted.

To summarise, I took the lead, but failed in my communication with my team.

My approach to managing conflict differs in settings. In the home setting, unfortunately I force my opinion. Watching Campbell and Clarke’s TEDx talk Conflict – Use it, don’t defuse it has definitely been a lightbulb moment. I don’t want my sons to grow up afraid of conflict because of my poor reactions.

In the work scenario I tend to yield, I think due to a personal conflict of not being good/smart enough. I often feel ambushed and lacking time and space to appropriately think through the scenario.

This module has been interesting, I certainly will be using some of the communication techniques, while STR!VE’s model is overly complicated, the suggestions of vulnerability and curiosity from Campbell & Clarke I feel will suit me best.

References:

Campbell, C.M & Clarke, S. [TEDx Talks]. (2015). Conflict – Use it, don’t defuse it [Video]. YouTube.  https://youtu.be/o97fVGTjE4w
[19.13 mins]

STR!VE. (2013). How to have courageous conversations [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/CoFe_NRRITQ
[9.38 mins]

The past few weeks I have been reading on leadership theories and change management. I have held full-time teaching positions in 4 schools and seen and experienced change with many of them. To be honest, I have not always been so adaptable and flexible to change. Especially in my earlier years of teaching when everything additional to teaching was a burden an additional cause of stress.

As the new school year dawns I am busy planning implementation of an Information Literacy (IL) program. Previously I would have selected a class and approached the homeroom teacher, explaining what I wished to achieve. I can see how this would place undue stress on that teacher particularly as half of the homeroom teachers are new to the school.

Instead I will use Reinsel Soulen’s ‘continuum of care’ approach to welcome new and returning staff to the library. Show them key resources and be sure not to overwhelm them. Build a strong positive relationship with them that will be the foundation of a collaborative teaching practice.

Schools are a place of change. It is inevitable. I’ve come to realise how we as educators adapt and how this change is delivered – both to educators, leaders and students – is essential for the success of this change.

References:

Reinsel Soulen, R. (2020). The continuum of care. Knowledge Quest 48(4). 36-42.

Leadership within the library and beyond is about:

• humanity
• relationships
• connections
• shared values
• empathy

Colvin’s (2000) article in Fortune Magazine resounds with my beliefs; if one feels valued, they’ll often go above and beyond their ‘role description’.