Author Archives: trisha.templeton

Choice matters.

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I just read a fabulous article on Facebook that was shared by another TL about how much choice matters in recreational reading.  Korbey in her Edutopia article “The reading wars; choice vs canon” presents various perspectives to this scholastic issue.

qimono / Pixabay – which will you choose?

 

The problem lies in that if students are forced to read particular texts, then there can naturally be a resentment towards the task, the book and the activity of reading.  But if a student only ever reads what they want to read then their minds will never be broadened by wider concepts and or cognition stretched.  Korbey goes on to elaborate that leaving all texts to student choice poses challenges.  The obvious challenge is that students are less able to ascertain which reading material is best suited to their abilities.  They often return to old childhood favourites rather than allow their reading material to grow with them.

But what is the happy medium?  In this article Korbey talks about teacher lead explicit instruction and the impact it is having on students.  The answer seems elusive.

One idea is for teachers to select a general theme and or moral objective and then find books that address that theme in a variety of genres and text types.  This way student choice is addressed as well as the need to expand and challenge their growing minds.

This is a definite change in direction but I do think that George Orwell can work with Suzanne Collins; Mark Zusack with John Boyne and Jackie French.  But that also calls on English teachers to be brave and well supported by their colleagues.

Is your school brave?

 

 

Where was that green sheep (cake)?

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Can you see the green sheep (cake)?

 

Getting the word about Book week out.  We have asked the kids to bring in food that has a book theme.  They will be judged and then prizes awarded before selling them to raise money for the Pajama Foundation.  We had a lovely student bring in some a few days early to drum up support.  So far we have had 40 students agree to bring in something delectable for next week.

stay tuned …

Out of the Box!

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How do you teach students about the context behind texts such as Jackie French’s Hitler’s daughter or William Golding’s Lord of the flies to very disinterested teens? 

I am not sure about you but I found both those books dull, dry and depressing as a teen; and I will say they have not improved with age!

Our graduate English teachers were struggling with the rampant disengagement with those two novels.  The indifference was causing the teachers great distress as they were concerned how the students were going to submit their essay assessment task if they would not engage with the book.    More experienced teachers were able to forge through the disengagement but our newest recruits were finding teaching the text challenging.

It then occurred to me that memorial boxes could be the answer!

WW2 Memorial Box set up

I had discovered that the Australian War Memorial had a whole host of educational resources available for loan to schools in the form of memorial boxes.  These boxes contain genuine artifacts from various military events in Australian history. I had requested a box for our 10 History classes earlier this semester as a ‘hook’ factor to engage and elicit interest at the commencement of their World War 2 unit.  

Artifacts from the memorial box

My cognitive connection between our great English dilemma and the memorial box was very much delayed!  It wasn’t until I was unpacking the resources in our library seminar room that it occurred to me that the same artifacts that were engaging our Year 10 history students could also stimulate our year 7 and 10 English students. 

I had an epiphany of sorts!

I was so happy my HOD agreed with my madcap proposal about using the memorial box as a stimulus for English.  The scheme was simple.  The students would come to our ‘library museum’ and view the various artifacts displayed within. Then in pairs, the students would interview each other to create a podcast with an accompanying transcript.  A very clever English teacher quickly whipped up a worksheet  and then, just like that… our immersive experience had begun.

Pictures and Memorabilia

Now I would love to tell you it was all a huge success, but I would be lying. 

The memorial boxes were a great triumph with our 10 History students but success was variable with our English classes.  This lackluster response could be attributed to the inadequate time for the students to complete the activity. The classes that visited the library twice had more success than ones that came just once. 

What we did discover was that students were stirred out of the apathetic stance towards the books because they began to understand the context  surrounding it. The memorial box activity connected the students to the mileu of the books and engaged them in the character’s turmoil.  As the worksheets were collected at the end of the session, the teachers were able to use those responses to formatively assess student literacy and other learning goals.  

The focus of a school library has changed in the past decade from archivist and curator of information to being an active facilitator of knowledge both physical and digital.  This means that teacher librarian may need to think out side the box for some more out of the box thinking!

The in class essays are all occurring this week for year 7 and next week for year 10.  I would be very intrigued to know if the memorial boxes assisted in increasing student engagement with the books and the outcome of the assessments.  I would also like to analyse the results of the English classes that declined to attend our library museum and compare them to the classes that did come.  If there is a significant difference, then I would have sufficient evidence to run this activity for more teachers and students.  

I await reporting time with great avidity.

50 shades of Mr Darcy

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I fell in love with Mr Darcy as a teenager. 

Colin Firth as Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy in 1995 BBC’s Pride and prejudice TV series. Courtesy of Jane Austen Centre, Bath. www.janeausten.co.uk

 

Not the Austen version of Mr Darcy, but Colin Firth version in the BBC mini-series of Pride and prejudice.  His smouldering eyes, broad shoulders and clipped accent was enough to make this girl blush and we all know I am too brown to blush!

With that started the greatest love affair I’ve ever had. 

I INHALED the TV series, read the book, devoured any adaptation,version and variation I could find.  I looked for sequels, hunted for parodies and searched for spin offs. I realised that my infatuation had gone beyond just the Austen version. I watched and read anything that remotely was associated with this book including ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ and the Bollywood adaptation of ‘Bride and Prejudice”.  

But this new subject of mine made me ponder how the various versions and adaptations would be organised.  Then I came across an acronym – FRBR that boggled my mind. 

FRBR – Functional requirements of bibliographic records is a conceptual model of thinking about resources that are similar (Hider, 2018).  The model seeks to separate resources on different levels depending on their relationship to the original version. As a theoretical model rather than a standard, FRBR forces the cataloger to identify the line in which a new work differs enough from its original form.  

In perfect truth, this whole concept was so puzzling to me at first.  I struggled to understand how the pieces all connected together. Then whilst on my winter break I started to read another adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ but from Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy’s point of view.  I thought that if I placed all the versions in a table, I would maybe understand it all a bit better.

IT WORKED!  

Equivalent  Derivative Descriptive 
Original  Same work Catalogued as new work 
Original  Variations or Versions Adaptations Change of Genre Reviews, criticisms, evaluations, commentaries
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Arawa Edition, 2016

Oxford University Press, 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

Penguin English Library, UK Edition, ebook 

 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame Smith and Jane Austen

Emoji pride & prejudice by Katherine Furman, Chuck Gonzales and Jane Austen

Darcy swipes left by Courtney Carbone and Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, BBC TV mini series 1995

Pride and Prejudice, film, 2005

 Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

The Independence of Mary Bennett

By Colleen McCollough

Bride and Prejudice, film, 2004

Bridget Jones Diary, film,  2001

 A study guide for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Cengage Learning Gale, 2017. 

Pride and Prejudice SparkNotes Literature Guide by SparkNotes, 2014. 

It made sense to me, that line between original work and versions be organised under the original author’s name but adaptations, parodies and commentaries need to be catalogued with citation to the creator that did the ‘new work’.  But this is where tagging comes in use. Cataloging needs to be precise and organised so that the source can be easily identified and found. Tagging/Subject headings, when indexed, allows the user to search for similar items even though the author and or titles may vary.  For example, on the right side of this webpage, you can see the tags that are linked to various blogs on this site.  The tag allows the user to search up all related posts to that tag.  It is less specific than a title and or author search in finding a resource. 

I broke down three resources further to illustrate how the metadata varies between them.  You can see that the tags “women in England – fiction”as well as some others would be useful in finding Austen adaptations.

Title Pride and Prejudice Emoji pride & prejudice: Epic tales told in tiny texts Darcy swipes left
author Jane Austen Furman, Katherine.

Gonzales, Chuck.

Austen, Jane.

 Jane Austen

Courtney Carbone
SCIS no 1534030 1838651 1838656
ISBN 9780198329961 9781631063244 9781101940532
Publisher Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010 New York, New York, Race Point Publishing, 2016 New York, Random House Children’s Books, 2016
Publication date 2010 2016 2016
series Rollercoasters Condensed classics OMG classics!
Edition Hardback edition. 1st edition
Subject tags Women in england – fiction

Social classes – fiction

Family relations – fiction

Dating (social) – fiction

Brothers and sisters – fiction

England social life and customs – 19th century – fiction

 Women in England – fiction

Austen, jane – adaptations

Austen, jane – parodies

Women in england – fiction

Brothers and sisters – fiction

Social classes – fiction

Family relations – fiction

England social life and customs – 19th century – fiction

 Austen, Jane – adaptations

Austen, jane – parodies

Women in england – fiction

Brothers and sisters – fiction

Social classes – fiction

Family relations – fiction

E-books,

England -social life and customs – 19th century – fiction

This whole exercise has been very useful for me to understand this task and subject.  It also has helped me find some other versions of Mr Darcy.  I am not yet quite up to the 50 shades of Fitzwilliam Darcy, but I am definitely getting closer!

 

Hider, P. (2018). Information resource description: Creating and managing metadata (2nd ed.). London: Facet.

Are Classroom libraries a real option?

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It would come as no surprise to any of you that education budgets are constantly being stretched.

The slow erosion of funding has led many schools to debate the value of their resources to determine which ones need to be cut in order to survive fiscally.  Unfortunately, school libraries are the department that is being most adversely affected. This adverse effect can be seen either by the absence of a qualified teacher librarian and or the complete absence of a school library. Cook (2018) suggests that libraries are robbed of their funding because they are deemed useless in this internet age. I have spoken previously about the importance of a teacher librarian so this post is not about that.  But some schools, overburdened by numbers, convert their library spaces into additional classrooms. When this occurs, most often than not, these schools sometimes set up classroom libraries to combat the loss of a school library.  

According to Cook (2018), libraries are essential to a school’s success. 

But are classroom libraries the same as having a school library with a qualified teacher librarian?  We are all aware that exposure to books is positively correlated to improved literacy (Neuman, n.d.).  We are also know that not all households have the same bibliophilic tendencies. This means that there are a proportion of students who are not exposed to books in the home.  Neuman (n.d.) elucidates that it is the presence of books in close proximity that correlate directly to increased literacy.  

Schools historically are known for exposing young minds to the wonderful world of imagination and literature via the school library.  But with no school library, is the alternative a classroom library? But what if the classroom library is poorly executed? By executed, I mean poorly stocked and unable to meet the needs of the students.  This can lead to limited student engagement with the classroom materials and if there is no school library, then there is no safety net for these disengaged readers. Implementing an assortment of books in a box is not equivalent to the presence of a qualified professional. After all, teachers are not trained in information management and resourcing, and it seems foolhardy to leave the resource management to at the hands of an already overburdened classroom teacher.  

One suggestion is that the classes each have their own classroom library but they are managed by a teacher librarian. 

So rather that rather than a random assortment of materials, the books are carefully curated by the teacher librarian to meet the evolving needs of the students.  An example of this would be a box of books are rotated in regular intervals and that the reading levels within are appropriately aligned to the needs of the students (Sacks, 2018).  But whilst in theory is outstanding, the practicality is far more complicated. Sacks (2018) surmised that consistency and equity are the largest issues with classroom libraries as the titles will vary between classes.  The primary problem is that schools would need to almost double their collection for them to adequately service the needs of all their classrooms. This would incur extra costs for the school. There would also be greater difficulty in tracking the books and ensuring that they are maintained.   

The downside of having a teacher librarian manage physical classroom collections is that they are then limited in their ability to create, manage and implement information literacy programs.  

Lance & Kachel (2018) indicate that the research is clear about the correlation between high quality library programs and increased student achievement. Frierson & Virtue (2013) believe that it library programs that need to be embedded into classroom practice.  They go on to illustrate that this improvement is not just for affluent schools but for all schools. In fact, arguably the lack of a school library is discriminatory to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, that do in desperate fact, require regular access to libraries, their programs and books in order to engage equitably with educational practices.  

There are currently teacher librarians in Australia that are creating LibGuides that are specifically relevant to units of work and use the school’s learning management systems to reach their audience.

This method also means that students that are away from school due to ill health or other personal reasons are still able to engage with their learning off site.  An example of this would be the class novel study with appropriate supporting materials and related works. So with our Year 7’s currently studying the Jackie French novel “Hitler’s Daughter”, the LibGuide contains the ebook version as well as; study notes, worksheets, supporting extracts from other similar novels such as “Boy in a wooden box” by Jim Boyne, “Book Thief” by Mark Zusack and “Dollmaker of Krakow”by R M Romero.  I have also created an online museum with images relating to the book where students can view artefacts and watch short video-clips.  

All of this take time.  Time that I have because I am not curating classroom library boxes.  But if I was not there, or if the position of teacher librarian was not there, then students would not have access to these resources.  Yes, there are teachers who do have the time and energy to go beyond the normal to create amazing learning experiences for their students.  But with 50% of teachers leaving the profession within 5 years, and nearly ⅓ of employed teachers suffering from a mental illness and or addiction, overburdening them further is foolish.

If prisons have mandated librarians to ensure that their collections are servicing the needs for their community, then I think our children can have the same access.  Removing school libraries to minimise costs is short sighted.  It is not beneficial for the teachers, the students and society.  

Cook, H., (2018) Extending the shelf life of the school library in the internet age. SMH. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/education/extending-the-shelf-life-of-the-school-library-in-the-internet-age-20181016-p50a0l.html

Frierson, E., & Virtue, A. (2013) Integrating academic library services directly into classroom instruction through discovery tools; Bringing library resources into the online classroom. Infotoday.com. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-345277685/integrating-academic-library-services-directly-into

Lance, K., & Kachel, D. (2018) Why school librarians matter: what years of research tell us. Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved from https://www.kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Neuman, S. (n.d.) The Importance of a classroom library. Scholastic Teacher Resource. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/paperbacks/downloads/library.pdf

Sacks, A. (2018) Why school librarians are the literacy leaders we need.  Teaching the whole story [blog].  Retrieved from https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/whole_story/2018/05/why_school_librarians_are_lite.html

Dewey this…

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Dresses galore

 

My closet is a veritable rainbow of pretty dresses, skirts, tops and cardigans.  Each item is lovingly washed, ironed and replaced in its place with care. Starting from the right, the dresses start as formal, and work their way to day dresses, before moving on to skirts, tops, cardigans and jumpers. In each subsection they are further organised by colour.  At a glance, I can see what I have hanging up and locate an item with ease.

Then my husband comes along to ‘help’.  He ‘helps’ by putting away my carefully washed and ironed dresses by shoving them into the wardrobe in whatever spot seems available.  Needless to say this causes me mild panic when I cannot find my ‘Florelle’ (orange cotton dress) which should be in between ‘Neroli’ (yellow print dress) and ‘Melody Rose’ (orange print dress).  Instead ‘Florelle’ been shoved between ‘Cascade’ and ‘wish upon a star’ (both black and white patterns). 

I was horrified.  How on earth was I supposed to find my precious dress buried in the wrong spot???  

My husband was miffed.  Here he is helping me by putting away my clothing all I am doing is complaining. 

Apparently my wardrobe organisation is too complicated to understand, and I have too many dresses that look exactly the same.  

Now I was miffed.  I certainly do not.  There are nuances between them and I definitely do not have too many clothes.  (note that picture of my wardrobe was from January 2019 and I can honestly say I have added a few (maybe more than a few) to that collection since then.  

But I digress. 

This blog post is not about my dress acquisition nor my marital disagreements about my wardrobe organisation or Imelda Marcos tendencies. 

Instead, this post is a prelude to the subject that I will commence tomorrow morning. ETL 505 will open my mind to how resources are cataloged.  I will learn how the records are created and use that information to benefit the users within my community. This knowledge will also help me with giving constructive feedback to metadata specialists as part of my role as a TL.  

Last semester in ETL 401 I learned about what the role of a TL encompasses as a whole.  In ETL 503 I learned how important it was to correlate the resources within the library to the curriculum.  This is simply because the point of a school library is to address the needs of the curriculum. This semester, it appears my learning is aimed more at the librarian aspect of a TL than the teacher component.  As an information specialist and information services manager, my role involves ensuring that the collection is easily accessible by the student population using the information management system available.

To sum it up succinctly.  I need to learn how a library is organised so that the kiddos can use it successfully. 

The point of organisation is to easily find and locate an item when you wish to use it.  How it is organised depends on who is doing the work, but the underlying point is ACCESS!  If the item cannot be found and used when it is needed, then the system is broken. The resource is underutilised and the monies wasted.  In school libraries this is a travesty when budgets are often stretched and funds scant. 

Libraries are famous for their organisation. 

Neenuvimalkumar – Pre computerised Library management system

 

Dear ole Mr Dewey revolutionised the information world with his Dewey Decimal System.  Known famously as the ultimate in organisation and classification, DDS organises the information within a library into groups and then further divisions for specifics areas (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).  Due to its comprehensive and adaptive nature, the system is universally used across the world (OCLC, 2019). A bibliophile in New York city can find a book about Bonnie Prince Charlie in the same location as they would in a suburban library in Melbourne’s suburbs.  

But information isn’t so simple in this modern day.  Gone are the days where libraries only stocked books and maps.  A modern day library will have shelving of books, but will also have access to other formats such as videos, audiobooks, eReaders and images.  All of these resources need to be catalogued and organised so that they can be accessed by the user. They also need to be differentiated within the catalogue records so that the user can easily identify that their request for ‘The Odyssey’ includes versions of the epic tale, even if the creator and format differs.  

So as the last day of my uni holidays draws to a close I ponder the knowledge I will gain from this subject.  I am a bit apprehensive as the assessment tasks are not essays but rather more practically based tasks. I am far better at blathering out epochs than being useful.  So this may be a steep learning curve for me. Also, I burnt out a bit last semester so I am just doing the one subject now.  

 

Bring on Session 2, 2019.  

References

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018). Dewey Decimal System. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/Dewey-Decimal-Classification 

OCLC (2019) How one library pioneer profoundly influenced modern librarianship. Retrieved from https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey/resources/biography.html

Language matters.

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Tumisu / Pixabay – Languages matter

Language. 

What language/s do you speak?

For many people the language they use is indicative of their nationality, culture and geographical placement.  Language, especially a mother language, has the ability to motivate the individual to raise their strongest voice. 

My life is a linguistic soap opera.  Born in Mumbai, India, I completed the majority of my schooling in Brisbane before living sporadically along the eastern seaboard of Australia.  Currently based in Canberra, I am a Mumbaikar by birth to Goan parents that never lived in Goa. By this convuluted history, I should possess the linguistic arsenal of Konkani, Marati, Hindi and English from my childhood years; and be reasonably fluent in Yugara, from my time spent in Brisbane and be commencing to learn Ngunnawal, the language of Canberra.

But no.  Sadly I am only fluent in English, accented as it can be and possess a smattering of inappropriate words in a few other languages.   Think more like a sailor and less like a teacher, if you get my drift!

I am also sure that I am not the only emigrant with this linguistic dilemma with a dismal knowledge of my native tongue.  As new citizens, my parents so keen on assimilation that they discarded all linguistic connections to the motherland to ensure we settled in as quickly as possible. 

Unfortunately, this discarding of language has lead to feelings of inadequacy as an adult.  Besides feeling like a ‘fake’, the saddest aspect of my own inadequacies of language is that I cannot teach my children their heritage.  This death of language diversity can be attributed to numerous reasons, with emigration as mine. Other reasons include, political persecution, globalisation and civil war (Strochlic, 2018).  In Australia alone, over 100 Aboriginal languages have disappeared since Philipsy and his ruffian filled boats docked in Sydney (Strochlic, 2018).  You don’t have to try too hard to imagine why… do you? 

Strochlic (2018) reminds us all that over 200 languages have become extinct since the end of WW2, with every fortnight another language dying a silent death.  It is predicted that by the end of this century, another 90% will disappear.  This loss is tragedy for current and future generations. 

But all is not lost. Modern Hebrew, made a dramatic reappearance in the 18th century.  Conversational Hebrew had all but disappeared in the 4th Century and was revived in the late 18th.  As aspects of the language were preserved in copies of the Torah and Talmund across the world, the words and phrases within could then be extrapolated to frame conversational Hebrew (Bensadoun, 2015).

Another memorable reincarnation are the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were decoded using the famous Rosetta stone.    This stone was paramount in aiding academics in understanding the amazing wonders of that ancient empire. The stone helped construe the pictorial script into ancient Greek, which could then be further translated into modern day English (British Museum, 2017).  

But what about languages with no written component?  What will happen to those mother tongues? The speed in which languages disappear is heightened when they are only exist in an oral form as there is no documentation to ensure preservation.  Communities with distinctive languages will become extinct and this death is a blot on society.  

What can we do about it?  

Well, there are several groups around the world that are seeking to preserve rare dialects and languages using wikis.  These groups use available technology to record, store and transfer these conversations for preservation purposes.   Noone (2015), additionally advocates the use of technology as a preservation tool to document and record languages for future generations.  Other ICT tools such as Skype or Facetime, can be used by people to converse with greater ease even if separated by large distances.  Language, like all other skills, becomes rusty with lack of use and regression is quite common when unused for extended periods.  By using these tools, people all over the world can converse and practice their skills. 

As teacher librarians, we can assist students and teachers access these audible resources.  Libraries are no longer just archives for the storing of information. Instead, they are centres of ‘resourcing’ information. The same technology that permits us to document and preserve these languages also enables us to access and share them.  

The State Library of Queensland has an impressive collation of Indigenous language resources on their webpage.  They are working towards preserving and documenting the various dialects of the region and are drawing these word lists from their range of historical texts within the collection (SLQ, 2019b).     I like the word lists.  It is a simple way for me to learn some common use terms for myself and then share them with my children.   SLQ also has another challenge on their portal called the ‘ Say G’day in an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Language’.  As 2019 is UNESCO’s Year of Indigenous Language, SLQ is challenging Queenslanders to use an Indigenous language to greet their mates in an effort to help raise awareness and promote Indigenous cultural awareness.  

SLQ (2019) Languages of Queensland – including the Torres Strait

 

This sentiment is shared by this years NAIDOC’s them of “Voice, Treaty, Truth” as it places great emphasis on the importance of giving voice to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.  But as indigenous languages fade into the history pages, the voices that speak these languages are then also muted. There cannot be a treaty if voices are not heard. For voices to be heard and understood, we must understand that Australia is more than just English. 

NAIDOC 2019 – Voices need to be heard

 

Whilst I do regret my inadequacy of mother tongue, I also regret not learning the language of land in which I stand on.  It never crossed my mind to learn the local Indigenous dialect. That in itself is something I need to resolve as I forge my way through this M. Ed. 

So I leave you with these greetings as I acknowledge that the language heritage and knowledge reside with the traditional owners, elders and custodians of the various nations. So from me to you,

G’day (English)

Galang nguruindhau (Turrbal)

Jingerri (Yugambeh)

Wunya (Yugara) 

Deo boro dis dium (Konkani)

Namaskar (Marathi)

Nameste (Hindi)

  

REFERENCES

Bensadoun, D. (2010) History: Revival of the Hebrew language. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved from https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/This-week-in-history-Revival-of-the-Hebrew-language

Brtish Museum (2017). Everything you wanted to know about the Rosetta stone. British Museum Blog post. Retrieved from https://blog.britishmuseum.org/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-rosetta-stone/

Crump, D. (2015) Aboriginal languages of the Greater Brisbane area. SLQ Blogs. Retrieved from http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ilq/2015/03/16/aboriginal-languages-of-the-greater-brisbane-area/

Noone, Y. (2015) How technology is saving Indigenous languages. NITV. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2015/11/11/how-technology-saving-indigenous-languages

Strochlic, N. (2018) The Race to Save the World’s Disappearing Languages. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/saving-dying-disappearing-languages-wikitongues-culture/

State Library of Queensland (2019b), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander word lists.  Retrieved from https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-cultures-and-stories/languages/word-lists

State Library of Queensland (2019), “Say G’day in an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Language”.  Retrieved from https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/SLQ%20Say%20G%27day%20Wordlists%202019.pdf

 

“Its the Skills that matter” – 401 – Task 3 – Part C

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The ability to seek, use and create information successfully is an imperative in this modern world.  I have previously discussed this societal change and I have spent an inordinate amount of words prophesying the importance of fluency in information literacy (IL) to the point where I even wrote an essay on digital literacy, its impact on pedagogy and the role of a teacher librarian.

I thought I had exhausted this topic, but then it occurred to me that I have not reflected upon my own understanding of information literacy and how that impacts the role of a Teacher librarian.

…….Eh… What? More words?

 

Let us review what I have learned this semester… (briefly, I promise!)

  1. Society has evolved from product based to information based (Ricaurte, 2016) and people are not coping with this information overload (Thomas et al. 2016).   Check out my amazing ‘Porridge pot’ analogy in Module 2.1
  2. Literacy levels are reducing (Lanning & Mallek, 2017).
  3. IL is poorly articulated and not embedded across national curriculum (Farmer, 2014; Lupton, 2014)
  4. …an attempt was made (Bonanno & Fitzgerald, 2014) but it was poorly planned and executed (Why not review my review of Lupton’s review 2014?).
  5. IL needs to be explicitly taught and assessed so that students see its value (Jacobson et al. 2018; Qayyum & Smith, 2018, p257; McGrew et al. 2018)… and please don’t say just do a research task and the skills will be accidentally learned.  It won’t (McGrew et al. 2018).
  6. Evidence shows that Inquiry learning improves information literacy (Kuhlthau et al, 2012) as well as boosting…
  7. student motivation and self-regulation (Buchanan et al. 2016).
  1. Curriculum embedding of IL is important (McGrew et al. 2018; Berg, 2018)  and
  2. classroom integration of IL boosts IL competency (Kong, 2014)
  3. Lack of IL leads to poor decision making skills and life outcomes  (Berg, 2018; Wood, 2017; Kachel, 2016)

The lightbulb moment came about…. NOW!

Donna did phrase it better when that light switched on.  BUT I do digress…

Anywhoo… back to the task.

So from  the readings and modules in this semester I can deduce:

  1. There is a need for a IL framework in schools.
  2. IL needs to be a planned learning experience
  3. that allows students to build new IL skills upon prior knowledge.  (Christy reckons from kindy and I agree!)
  4. Therefore, IL needs to be embedded across the curriculum and year levels,
  5. As  IL is cumulative (Carolien explains this far better). 

BASICALLY – Schools and education departments need to have a  framework that addresses IL and implement a school-wide approach for the best outcome… on an aside, I find it amusing that P E Island on the Canadian east coast has such a policy. Anne Shirley would have been so proud!!

There are numerous ways that IL can be implemented in schools but for the sake of efficiency and word count, I am going to fast track the the conversation to what matters to TL in schools.

Inquiry learning is a method of increasing information literacy and promoting soft skills.  There are several models of inquiry learning available, and I could spend another inordinate number of words describing and analysing these different models but Yvette has ‘taken one for the team’ with her analysis of the various models.   So read hers.

My preference is the Guided Inquiry Design (GID).  Why?

  1. It is based upon extensive research.  As a practicing scientist for many years, I am a great believer in basing my practice on research and evidence.  GID is considered the GOLD standard, which is AMAZING for my neurotic brain!
  2. GID  places equal importance on the cognitive and affective aspects of the ISP.  Affect plays a strong role in student (and my) motivation.  So by understanding when students are having low affect, guidance and mediation can help them overcome this hurdle successfully
  3. Naturally,  there are difficulties in implementing Inquiry learning in schools.  The presence of standardised testing, is a big prevention of authentic teaching and learning within schools (… there is an elephant in the room…).  And unless ACARA and government bodies realise this, then inquiry learning may always struggle to gain a strong presence in all the KLAs.

Oh look – The elephant’s name is NAPLAN!

So what does this mean for me?

A TL role in schools is no longer just about books, referencing and plagiarism lessons (Lanning & Mallek, 2017).  Rather, the role has become more dynamic in nature, much to my surprise.

 

The role of a TL has evolved from

TL can affect IL by:

  1. Creating and implementing  an IL framework that executes ACARA’s general capabilities across the curriculum (working on one now at work!!)
  2. Co create and or collaborate to create: (see my GID task – NAILED IT!)
    1. Units with embedded IL
    2. Inquiry units  IL with skills
      1. Embedded within
      2. Taught explicitly
  3. Providing resources that
    1. Support content
    2. Support inquiry skills
      1. Connecting students to resources
  4. Explicitly teach information literacy skills  ie referencing, bibliographies, search terms. (Ntuli, 2016)

Trombetta (2017)

As you can see, a TL does more for IL than just occasionally teach a class about referencing.  Rather, a TL  implements a framework that embeds important literacy skills into and across the curriculum.  This makes the role of a TL extremely important to students, schools and the wider community.

(Now guess who is feeling smug?)

What’s your skill? This is mine.

 

References

Berg, C., Malvey, D., and Donohue, M. (2018). Without foundations, we can’t build: Information literacy and the need for strong library programs. In the Library with the Lead pipe.  Retrieved from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/strong-school-library-programs/

Bonanno, K. with Fitzgerald, L. (2014). F-10 inquiry skills scope and sequence, and F-10 core skills and tools. Eduwebinar Pty Ltd.

Buchanan, S., Harlan, M., Bruce, Christine S., and Edwards, Sylvia L. (2016). Inquiry based learning models, information literacy, and student engagement: A literature review. School Libraries Worldwide. 22(2), pp. 23-39.

Garrison, K., and FitzGerald, L. (2016). ‘It’s like stickers in your brain’: Using the guided inquiry process to support lifelong learning skills in an Australian school library.  A school library built for the digital age. 45th IASL Annual conference. Japan.

Jacobsen, R., Halvorsen, A., Frasier, A., Schmitt, A., Crocco, M., and Segall, A. (2018). Thinking deeply, thinking emotionally; how high school students make sense of evidence. Theory & Research in Social Education. 46, 232-276. DOI 10.1080/00933104.2018.1425170

Kachel, D. (2015). The calamity of the disappearing school libraries. {Blog Post} Theconversation.com. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-calamity-of-the-disappearing-school-libraries-44498

Kong, S. (2014). Developing information literacy and critical thinking skills through domain knowledge learning in digital classrooms: An experience of practicing flipped classroom strategy. Computers & Education. 78, pp.160-173,  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.05.009

Kuhlthau, C., and Maniotes, L. (2010). Building guided inquiry teams for 21st century learners. ZZ School library monthly.  Volume 26: 5.

Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L. & Caspari, A. (2012). Guided inquiry design: A framework for inquiry in your school. Libraries Unlimited. USA.

Kuhthau, C., Maniotes, L., and Caspari, A. (2015). Guided inquiry: learning in the 21st century. 2nd Edition. Libraries unlimited, USA.

Lanning, S,. and Mallek, J. (2017). Factors influencing information literacy competency of college students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 43: 443-450.  DOI: 10.10.16/j.acalib.2017.07.005

Lupton, M. (2014).  Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum v6, Access, November

Lofton, J. (2016) Students are makers! Building information literacy skills through makerspace programs. CSLA Journal.  40 (2). Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-4305515741/students-are-makers-building-information-literacy

Maniotes, L., and Kuhlthau, C. (2014). Making the shift. 43:2. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1045936

McGrew, S., Breakstone, J., Ortega, T., Smith, M., and Wineburg, S. (2018). Can students evaluate online sources? Learning from assessments of civic online reasoning. Theory & Research in Social Education. 46, 165-193, DOI 10.1080/00933104.2017.1416320

Qayyum, M., &  Smith, David. (2018). Changing research behaviours of university students with progression through a course. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association. 67: 3 pp256-277 DOI: 10.1080/24750158.2018.1502243

Ricaurte, P. (2016). Pedagogies for the open knowledge society. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. 13:32 DOI: 10.1186/s41239-016-0033-y

Thomas, J., Barraket, J., Wilson, C., Cook, K., Louie, Y., Holcombe-James, I., Ewing, S., and MacDonald, T. (2018). Measuring Australia’s Digital Divide: The Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2018. RMIT University, Melbourne, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25916/5b594e4475a00

Trombetta, S. (2017). 17 quotes that prove librarians are the best. Bookbub. Retrieved from https://www.bookbub.com/blog/2017/01/19/quotes-about-how-much-we-love-librarians

 

 

“It is in the DNA” – Assessment 2 – Part B

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“It is in the DNA” – Assessment 2 – Part B

Whats on the shelves?

 

School libraries (SL) are more than books on shelves.  To a fledgling teacher librarian (TL), libraries often imagine warehouses, where books awaits death and then reincarnation at Lifeline.   The reality is different; collections are not inert. SL are dynamic; they constantly evolve to suit the needs of their community.  

Framework = DNA

What makes a SL so dynamic?  Well, like any organism, it’s all in the DNA, or for SL, it’s in the Collection Development and Management Policy (CDMP).  The CDMP is the DNA of a SL and contains strategic data for growth in today’s splurge and is flexibliity in tomorrow’s freeze.  If the DNA of a SL is without clear direction and missing data, then its ability to thrive, or even survive is in jeopardy. Consequently, TL need to be aware of the duality of a CDMP that prepares the collection for today’s needs, and tomorrow’s growth.

Not faint hearted

A school CMDP exists primarily to address the curriculum, the teaching and learning needs of its community as well as provide well-being (IFLA, 2015; ASLA & VCTL, 2018).  Therefore, the policy needs to clearly reflect those needs when framing the purpose, selection principles, acquisition and censorship procedures. Along with other maintenance endeavours such as deselection and collection evaluation; all whilst staying within budget, bolstering literacy and well-being.  It is not a small task and definitely not for the faint hearted. But then TL are not faint hearted (Templeton, 2019a).

The development and management of a collection involves many facets.

Print or Digital?

  1. Understanding the information evolution and its implications on education and wider society is crucial.  TL need to be aware that previous resource acquisition has evolved now into information facilitation paradigm (Kelly, 2015). With publishers rapidly changing their delivery from print to digital formats (Templeton, 2019b), the repercussions on formats and licencing are momentous.

  2. Online Subscriptions – Cheaper? or Not?

  3. Being able to select resources using criteria to ensure the collection is balanced and addresses the needs of the community. (Templeton, 2019a)
  4. Knowledge of how resources may be packaged for cost efficiency, and evaluating that against the value of each of those titles is a challenging task (Templeton, 2019c; Templeton, 2019d.  (Module 2 – Online Access) (Module 2 – Bundling together)  
  5. Being able to manage collections thriftily is necessary when SL budgets are constantly squeezed (Softlink, 2018; Templeton, 2019e). 

    Shrinking Budgets

     

  6. Information literacy is an essential aspect of future focused learners (MCEETYA, 2008). The CDMP policy needs to make provision for information literacy to ensure that students have the skills to access and utilise the collection.  The inclusion of literacy programs only further strengthens a SL position within a school (Templeton, 2019l; Templeton, 2019f).  .  
  7. Awareness of censorship and its role in SL (Templeton, 2019g).

    Challenging the censors

  8. Linking budget to student population is an effective manner to secure funds that suit the growth/decline of the school community (IFLA, 2015, p.6) versus being dependent on yearly fixed sums.

Besides building a collection, a CDMP contains procedures that maintains its value and  its ability to service the needs of their community.  

  1. Measuring outputs and outcomes are useful in analysing the effectiveness and efficacy of a collection (Templeton, 2019h).
    1. Being able to link the collection value to qualitative and quantitative data validates the collection and program (Templeton, 2019i). A recent study by Sutton et al., (2017) show that altmetrics are useful in the evaluation of collections. Power (2019) suggests that both qualitative and quantitative methods are used.
    2. Linking educational outcomes to collections as evidence for continuing financial support for resources, especially digital subscriptions, is judicial.  Journal subscriptions are very expensive and a TL would need to prove value if there is insufficient evidence to indicate positive outcomes (Jubb et al., 2017). Journal databases, like many other electronic resources, may be economical up front, but often require long term subscription.

 Technology is rapidly changing and consequently now, the same information is available in multiple formats.  TL need to be aware of this paradigm when committing to subscription resources as it is more than just a commitment for the current cohort of students (Anderson, 2008).  It is a financial commitment for future generations.

A strong CDMP ensures that a library collection addresses the needs of their community, and the rewards are high resource outputs and user outcomes.  What TLs all over the world do not want are libraries with numerous books that are not utilised or under utilised. Tsundoku is the affliction of purchasing resources that no one uses (Templeton, 2019j).    

An unused collection is an ineffective collection.  It is very hard to justify a collection that has failed to prove their value their community.  It is even harder to justify the presence of TL with a collection that is not relevant.

 

REFERENCES for BLOG

Anderson, R. (2008). Future proofing the library; Strategies for acquisitions, cataloguing and collection development. The Serials Librarian. 55 (4). doi:10.1080/03615260802399908

ASLA & VCTL (2018). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resources centres 2nd Edition.  ALIA. Retrieved from https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/policies-procedures-manual_ed2.pdf

IFLA (2015). School library guidelines.  Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf

Jantti, M., and Cox, B. (2013). Measuring the value of library resources and student academic performance through relational datasets. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. 8 (2), 163-171. {Conference Paper}

Jubb, M., Rowlands, I., and Nicholas, D. (2013). Values of libraries: Relationships between provisions, usage, and research outcomes.  Evidence Based Library and Informative Practice. 8(2), 139-152 {Conference Paper}

Kelly, M. (2015). Collection development policies in public libraries in Australia: A qualitative content analysis. Public Library Quarterly. 34, 44-62

MCEETYA (2008) Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Curriculum Corporation. Australia. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

Power, K (2019) Forum 5.1 – Methods of Collection Analysis. ETL503 Discussion Forum. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147540_1&message_id=_2304873_1

Softlink (2018) Australia and New Zealand school library survey. Retrieved from https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2018_Softlink_Australian_and_New_Zealand_School_Library_Survey_Report.pdf

Sutton, S., Miles, R., and Konkiel, S., (2017) Is what’s “Trending” whats worth purchasing? Insights from a national study of collection development librarians. The Serials Librarian. Vol 72 (1-4) pp.134-143. DOI 10.1080/0361526X.2017.1297593

Templeton, T. (2019a) Benign or Malignant. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/03/24/benign-or-malignant-how-do-you-diagnose/’

Templeton, T. (2019b) Shatzins files – publishers to perish. Forum 1.1.  ETL 503 Discussion Forums. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147529_1&message_id=_2152285_1

Templeton, T. (2019c) Online access. Forum 2.3.  ETL 503 Discussion Forums. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147533_1&message_id=_2185290_1

Templeton, T. (2019d) Bundling resources. Forum 2.3.  ETL 503 Discussion Forums. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147533_1&message_id=_2185169_1

Templeton, T. (2019e) Module 3 – Managing collections thriftily. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/04/20/managing-collections-thriftily/

Templeton, T. (2019f) Module 5.3a– Information literacy. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/05/21/module-5-3a-information-literacy/

Templeton, T. (2019g) Modules 2 & 6 0 13 reasons why – censorship and selection. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/03/12/13-reasons-why-censorship-and-selection/

Templeton, T. (2019h) Forum 3.1.  ETL 503 Discussion Forums. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147536_1&message_id=_2249448_1

Templeton, T. (2019i) Module 5.1 – Evaluating the collection.- Keeping it real. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/04/29/evaluating-the-collection-keeping-it-real/

Templeton, T. (2019j) Module 1 – Library collections. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/03/11/library-collections/

Templeton, T. (2019k) Module 1 – Curriculum + information + access = Superhero. Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/03/13/curriculum-information-access-superhero/

Templeton, T. (2019l) Reluctant readers – would fact be better than fiction? Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/03/11/reluctant-readers-would-facts-be-better-than-fiction/