Carley Timmins TL in Training.

My Critical Reflection..

Let me be up front. What a steep learning curve this semester has been. I think I’ve felt every possible emotion towards my quest to return to study after finishing my undergraduate degree many, many moons ago. I think I felt pressure right from the get-go as I was accepted into the course on the day that the session commenced. To get my head around the student portal took an extra week and then I had to hit the ground running with the course content. Even then, I don’t know I felt confident in where to locate everything. I just had to spend the time getting to know my way around. I have enjoyed the Zoom sessions that have been facilitated by Liz and Lori. I am a real people’s person. I thrive on seeing faces and hearing other people share similar experiences or feelings. I didn’t feel like such an alien. I also valued that it was a safe space where no question was a silly question. That is so comforting when you have so much running through your mind. A real struggle for me over the subject is that I’ve not been able to connect with anyone in the course despite asking to be part of a study group and trying to create one myself and reaching out to a student local to me. Anyway, that in itself has been a real learning curve as I’ve had to ensure I am vigilantly reading through all the discussions to see what fellow students are querying.

I feel so empowered already about the knowledge I’ve acquired from the course material readings and the literature I’ve researched on the modules/topics. My understandings of Information Literacy, Inquiry Learning Models and the role of the TL in the Inquiry Learning (IL) process has most certainly evolved during this time. Looking back, I really knew little about any of these.

Information Literacy

In viewing the course content and discussion around Module 5, Information Literacy. I read Mandy Lupton’s article, Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum (2014). I found the article to be insightful and it deepen my knowledge around IL.

Lisa Gammel, responded to 5.3 Information Literacy Model which took you to her blog post. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/mastersmusings/2021/04/09/information-literacy-in-the-school-context/.“If teacher librarians see their role as curriculum innovators, then integrating the Australian Curriculum strands into a coherent inquiry learning framework that explicitly integrates information literacy may be one of the most significant ways we can contribute to the implementation of the Australian Curriculum” (Lupton, 2014, p. 18) was a quote on her blog that I found that could be a real opportunity for TL with the inconstancies that exist in the Australian Curriculum around Information Literacy.

Inquiry Learning Models

Through the subject I have learnt about several Inquiry Learning Models and found ones more suited to different contexts. Thinking personally about the school in which I work, I would like to see the Guided Inquiry Design model take shape in library inquiry lessons. Other models such as The Big Six, The Information Process (ISP), The PLUS model, The Model of Information Search Process and the I-Learn Model all have steps that are divided into achievable sized work processes. According to Laretive, J (2019), the article examines young learners and information learning models in the contexts of school environments. She observed that information seeking behaviour and the purposes around which children use the internet have a huge effect on the process in which students learn to organise information. For the TL, choosing the correct model for the students in front of you will determine whether the process is successful.

The role of the TL in Inquiry Learning

Before I worked in the Library, my understanding as a classroom teacher went so far as I knew the teacher librarian planned for the inquiry unit but I didn’t know much more than the topic that my class was studying as Library was always taken as Relief- from face-to-face teaching (RFF). My understanding has deepened now that I am aware of the effectiveness that Inquiry Learning (IL) has with both the teacher librarian (TL) and the classroom teacher (CT) being involved in the facilitation. The TL will ultimately plan for the IL unit after the CT has consulted them about goals for the topic. In viewing content in Module 4, The Teacher Librarian and Curriculum, a quote from Tucker states, “Schools and teachers are no longer the only source of knowledge. They have to assume new roles. Students should become active learners, teachers should become learning facilitators, technologies should help liberate learners and schools should become an environment conductive to genuine learning.” (2014, para.1) With the nature of education changing, it is imperative that TL’s are guiding students in these information skills around a Guided Inquiry model that is suited to their context.

REFERENCES

Module 4, The teacher Librarian and Curriculum, School of Information Studies, CSU

(Gammel, L, 2021)

Laretive, J., Infomration Literacy, Young Learners and the Role of the Teacher Librarian. (2019), 68, p225-235.