Category: ETL504 Teacher Librarian as Leader

The case study group work was a great experience for me to learn about leadership skills that could be used in an informal working team temporarily formed for the project. In my blog post titled “Working with my group for case study 6” (Chen, 2019, September 28) I talked about the importance of communication and building trusting relationships when team work is patchy due to competitive priorities. Belbin (2010, p. 100)’s outlines the first step which is to set up a team goal that states the purpose of the team. Group 12’s communication was slow for the first case study (case study 3 online group response). No one posted their personal responses until three days before the group response was due. I followed Belbin’s strategy and sent out an email asking group members what they wanted to achieve from the group work and how they wanted to organize the group work. Communications started to flow after that.

Belbin (2010, p. 105) set out the steps of team building including identifying needs, finding ideas, formulating plans and following through. These steps provided a clear pathway for Group 12 to build up the team and sustain the team work. I plan to use these steps for managing my school library team. I discovered that effective communication and following the team building procedures are the key to promoting team morale and a more cooperative team thus underpinning future collaborations in the school.

As a teacher librarian, I have been involved in the collaborative team working on projects in partnership with the teachers. This type of team is similar to the group we formed for the case studies. In my blog post titled “Working with my group for case study 6” (Chen, 2019, September 28), I discussed some inspiring ideas of how to improve my collaborative work with the teachers. I had the misconception in the past that only people with personal relationships with co-workers or people with other common life experiences can work well as a group. As a new teacher librarian in the school only for a little over a year, I thought I was not in an advantageous position to collaborate with the teachers. Collay (2011, p. 116) asserted that collaboration is more compelling when it is beneficial to all partners especially when that partnership is successful in producing real outcomes which then becomes a strong foundation for other work. Personality is a factor but not the key factor that makes or breaks a team. I need to make successful collaboration by knowing about the subject contents the teachers are teaching and mapping out a plan with scheduled timeframes which are also flexible to accommodate changing conditions, for example, change of syllabus or teachers’ time tables. Purposeful planning is the key to successful collaboration.

The case study group work was facilitated by using the online communication tools including blog, Wiki and online discussion forum. I have learned the advantages and disadvantages of online learning in a group setting (refer to my post titled “what I have learned from the group work for the case study” (Chen, W. M., 2019, October 15). I plan to create an online learning portal with Google Classroom to reinforce inquiry learning and enhance communication and collaboration when I provide training for teachers to use the library’s databases. I believe the online learning portal will encourage Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and consequently enhance teachers’ knowledge and classroom practice (Goodnough, 2005). I will provide authentic learning experience by asking teachers to use the databases to solve problems their students would have when conducting research for their assignment topics. Group 12 members use their different work experiences to provide analysis to the case study. Sharing expertise is the key benefit of collaboration. In my database training, I will create opportunities for staff from different faculties to share their experiences in research processes in their respective subjects.

References:

Belbin, R. M. (2010). Team roles at work (2nd ed.). Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central.

Chen, W. M. (2019, September 28). Wen Chen Blog: Working with my group for case study 6 [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/wenchen0319/2019/09/29/study-case-6-reflection/

Siegel, E. (2010, November 10). The physics of global warming [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/11/the_physics_of_global_warming.php

Collay, M. (2011). Everyday teacher leadership: Taking action where you are. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central

Goodnough, K. (2005). Fostering teacher learning through collaborative inquiry. Clearing House, 79(2), 88-92. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.3200/TCHS.79.2.88-93

Sampson, M. (2014, April 1). On acting collaboratively. In Michael Sampson: Cultivating productive collaboration. Retrieved from michaelsampson.net/2014/04/01/on-acting-collaboratively/

_{The case study group activities have advantages and disadvantages for learning. The online group space provides the flexibility for the group members to learn through collaboration and communication online 24/7. This relieves the feeling of isolation the students experience when doing an online course. The major drawback is the fact that the quality of learning is largely dependent on the commitments of the team members which may be adversely affected by their family lives and work commitments. Online learning is also heavily dependent on the learners’ self-motivation and initiatives.}

_{The exercise of online group work allows team members to assume our leadership role while no one is assigned as the authoritative leader but each of us can become a leader at some point of the learning journey. This leadership role was evident in our Group 12 work when team members facilitated learning by proposing directions or processes for the work. Some members provided guidance and suggestions as responses to other’s posted comments. Distributive and instructional leadership was evident when team members supported one another and took the lead in the learning journey.}

_{The collaborative learning experience was rewarding as we all benefited from the different responses from our members who possess knowledge and skills gained from their various work experience. The issues studied in the six case studies covered a wide range of areas including communication, dealing with conflicts, strategic and operational planning and work and life balance. It was great that we could pool our various knowledge and expertise together from which each member could draw upon to enhance learning.}

_{Delivering professional knowledge and expertise that are beneficial to the teaching and learning in the school is an important role of teacher librarians. A Teacher librarian sits as the middle leader in the school hierarchy. It is not often that they are present in the appointed senior executive team. Yet teacher librarians take on the important role of being curriculum leaders and information specialists when they run the information services for the whole school community. Teacher librarians need to proactively advocate what they can offer to the teachers and be perceived and valued as  leaders who share knowledge and skills which teachers need for teaching information literacy. This can be achieved by delivering professional learning programmes.}

_{Cole (2012) illustrated a model for implementing effective professional development programme. In the model, reflecting and seeking feedback to improve practice mastery is an integral part of a PD programme. Considering the workload and time constraints of the teachers, it may be challenging for them to meet up face-to-face for collaborative learning. On the other hand, teachers often feel isolated working within their own faculty. A Teacher librarian is in the perfect position to become the leader of the learning hub in the school community to bring all teachers together for professional learning. An online platform for teachers to share their thoughts to enhance learning can help overcome those challenges. However, the online platform is an effective assistance to the learning process only after explicit instructions in relation to the skills have been given to the learners (Semadeni, 2009). Therefore, an initial face-to-face training workshop will be needed to provide instructions before teachers could participate in the online learning. In addition, some face-to-face discussion workshops are needed after the initial workshop to summarize the learning contents generated from the online platform discussions and to add depth to the discussions.}

_{I am planning to purchase subscriptions for online databases for student information research and assignments. The usage of online databases is heavily dependent on the users’ knowledge and skills in using the databases. Training the teachers to use the database is as important as training the students because the teachers have the vital role as the instructional leaders to guide students in every lesson. I have found that giving a couple of information research lessons to each class isn’t enough to teach them the skills of using the databases. The teachers have to be trained to become capable users of the databases so that they can help the students in the lessons. I will provide face-to-face training sessions to teachers as well as starting an online space on Google classroom where teachers can discuss and share their experience of using the database and ask questions in relation to it. I will act as an active facilitator to monitor and help the teachers on the online discussion. The online space is a perfect venue for teachers to share their experience of using the database because sharing a link or information can be achieved quickly with a click on the link. This feature makes the online space a time saver for the learners.}

 

_References:

_{Cole, P. (2012). Linking effective professional learning with effective teaching practice. Retrieved from https://ptrconsulting.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/linking_effective_professional_learning_with_effective_teaching_practice_-_cole.pdf}

_{Semadeni, J. H. (2009). Taking charge of professional development: A practical model for your school. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central.}

 

Case study 6 required students to take a different approach from those of case study 1 to 5. Students were asked to brainstorm together in the group space before individual sharings under the group thread in the discussion forum. All 12 members in the Group have decided to post their individual responses in the group blog and also the discussion forum. Due to the pressure of everyone working on the completion of assessment 2 at the same time, there was a limited amount of sharing in the group space. This situation shows that team work may become patchy when facing competitive priorities and demands.

During stressful times, great library leaders need to utilize their leadership skills to facilitate team work, especially when team work is facilitated in an online communication environment. The traits of great library leaders are discussed in Hall’s (2013) article. Communication and empathy are the most important qualities. Having a clear vision owned by all team members is also crucial. The reason why communication is important is because when team members know one another well, they tend to be more open to give comments and support one another. Although getting to know one another can be challenging in an online team work environment, it is not impossible to achieve through positive and constructive feedbacks to one another’s posts and maintaining a professional and courteous manner in the online communication environment.

Team workers who are willing to take the lead and inspire their co-workers can help the team work processes progress much more productively and fruitfully during stressful times of multiple competitive priorities and demands. Lubans (2010a) described that successful middle leadership is commitment to bring out the best in each person, to make decisions collaboratively and is able to anticipate and respond to challenges. A member from Group 12 showed this quality by calling for group members’ opinions of how the work should be processed to complete case study 6 so that the group members would not be lone practitioners of their own but support one another and work collaboratively to come up with outstanding responses for case study 6.

My work as a teacher librarian in a school library is always busy and can sometimes be overwhelming. My daily task list is long and can be changed at any time depending on the needs and demands from the senior executive team, my supervising head teacher or classroom teachers walking into the library or approaching me. It is easy to lose track of the important things and priorities during busy times. Connecting to teachers and building a trusting relationship with them may be overlooked. I am planning to enhance my communication skills and increase my empathy in my interactions and dealings with the teachers or else teacher librarians could easily become the lone practitioners in schools.

As I am now more aware of the limitation of online team work communication through my experience gained from the case study for the ETL504 subject, I plan to make regular visits to the faculties throughout the term instead of just relying on emails and phone calls which seem to be a time-saving method of communication. Teacher librarians bear the role of curriculum and information specialists. Therefore, I will take my ideas and plans to the teachers by attending their faculty meetings. While I understand the demands of syllabus requirements on teachers and the various priorities they have to deal with within their faculties, I can still propose creative ways to integrate information literacy learning into students’ learning through working collaboratively with the teachers.

 

References:

Lubans, J. (2010a). “Leading from the middle”, and other contrarian essays on library leadership. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

Lubans, J. (2010b). Leading from the middle. Paper or plastic? Library Leadership & Management, 24(4). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/llama/publications

Hall, R. (2013). Traits and training: Attributes and skills of Pennsylvania academic library managers. Pennsylvania Libraries Research and Practice, 1(1). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.5195/palrap.2013.12

 

 

Case study 6 scenario depicts a weary and worried library manager, the Director of Information and Services. She is suffering from poor health as a result of working long hours and worrying about the complicated staff issues of her team and her upcoming performance review. One of her first priorities now is to deal with her health issues.

Great leaders exhibit many important traits in common such as interpersonal skills and empathy, integrity, flexibility, creativity and communication skills, etc. (Chow & Rich, 2013). Empathy is regarded as one of the top qualities amongst the others. It is defined as a quality that emphasizes compassion with a focus on people because employees live their own private lives and have interests outside of work. Whereas great emphasis has been placed on leaders’ empathy for their team workers in a lot of literature, there isn’t much discussion on the subject of empathy for themselves. Leaders can be generous to their co-workers but have put a lot of pressure on themselves and have unrealistic expectations of themselves which may lead to burnout.

I started my new job as a teacher librarian a year ago. I can relate my own experience to case study 6. I experienced burnout and exhaustion intermittently during busy periods and suffered from insomnia because of the stress of the new job and my commitment to study this course. I worried about the comments from staff especially from those who were outspoken and highly critical of the many things I did including the changes I wanted to implement. I agree with John’s response (Group 10) written for case study 6 in relation to the point that work and life balance is a big thing. A good balance between the two will ensure a high quality of living long term both in our work place and our family life. Long term work place achievements and effective planning for the future will also be possible if such high quality of living could be sustained. Adam’s comments (Group 5) suggested that we seek support from our families, friends and health professionals to keep ourselves in good mental and physical health so that we could work to the best of our abilities as  good leaders .

 

Chow, A. S., & Rich, M. (2013). The ideal qualities and tasks of library leaders: Perspectives of academic, public, school, and special library administrators. Library Leadership and Management, 27(1/2), 1-24. Retrieved from https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm