ETL 401 Assignment 2 Part C: The Reflection

Critical Synthesis

My initial views of the role of the teacher-librarian (TL) consisted of the following elements.

1. Reading to students
2. Lending books out and chasing them up when not returned on time
3. Working with the library support person in getting books on shelves
4. Finding books for class sets for teachers
5. Supervising students out of class time and at lunch
6. Setting the library up for meetings and events
7. Maybe helping student with their PowerPoints
8. Maybe helping staff with their lessons when in the library
9. Maybe contributing to school committee meetings
10. Maybe attending library network meetings

The biggest change in my views would be that my ideas are more organised and focused.

I have discovered that the teacher-librarian role is meaningful through these items,

1. The posting by Douglas-Dowling (2010, July 24) in which she details the strengths and weakness of Resource based learning (RBL) and my blog entry (Herbert, 2010, July 28) in which I now understand through reading of Haycock (1991) that RBL facilitates learning (and isn't necessarily a method of learning). I also took this point up on the CSU forum when I posted in Topic 3 subforum (Herbert, 2010, September 21) concerning younger students and Professor Ross Todd's guided inquiry (Todd, 2010). This makes sense to me now as I understand that the role of the teacher-librarian is fundamental to facilitate learning of students.

2. The duality (well actually 'triality') of the teacher-librarian role has simplified in my mind the various hats the teacher-librarian role encompasses that of teacher, librarian and teacher-librarian. In my blog posting of (Herbert, 2010, August 9) I copied the diagram by Herring (2007) as it shows all the hats/jobs that a teacher-librarian can be expected to perform. When I apply my triality I see that the roles listed by Herring make perfect sense in terms of teaching, librarianship and teacher-librarianship. The teacher-librarian role is not as nebulous as I thought but a consistent, organised role with meaning.

3. I have learnt about the information literate school community (ILSC) and can see my role in its creation. In particular, I have learned about the leadership role that I should take within the school as the information expert. This had not occurred to me before that teacher-librarians have this opportunity because of the unique position they have in schools. In my blog posting Herbert (2010, August 30) I quoted the reading by Henri (2005) as instrumental in the understanding I now have of the role of teacher librarian in bringing about an ILSC. I pointed out in the blog entry that support from the Principal is required. I also see now that a common purpose is also needed. I also posted Herbert (2010, September 21) in reply to Bruce (2010, September 16) on the CSU forums about my concerns on teaching only low level information skills. From these posts I can see now that it is important to teach students higher level information skills so they can adapt to changing versions of software (for example).

4. I have learnt the importance of the collaboration role between teachers and the teacher-librarian. In particular, the relationship between creating meaningful tasks and the assessment of student outcomes. This allows for the library to become central in improving student outcomes. I now understand the importance of this direct connection. Reading over my blog entry (Herbert, 2010, September 15) concerning information process models (IPM) I now see how working with teachers and incorporating IPM's into curriculum is an important aspect to the role of teacher-librarian.

5. In my blog posting (Herbert, 2010, August 17) I complained that Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA, 2004) teacher-librarian standards of excellence required decoding as to how they might inform the teacher-librarian. After completing ETL401 Assignment 2 Part B (Fitzgerald, 2010) I find the decoding a lot less difficult. My learning has enabled me to understand the standards of excellence and I find little difficulty in coming up with applications that are informed by the standards.

These are my views on the role of the teacher-librarian now after completing ETL401.

Three roles - Teacher, Librarian, Teacher-librarian

Teaching Role
1. Team teaching, collaborative planning; working with teachers.
2. Whole school literacy initiatives, accelerated learning programs, information skills model.
3. Leadership

Librarian Role
1. Collection development policy
2. Reading for leisure
3. Library management

Teacher-Librarian Role
1. Lead on the ILSC
2. Model life long learning

References

Australian Library and Information Association / Australian School Library Association. (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm

Bruce (2010, September 16). Info Literacy Policy [Online forum comment]. Retrieved http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201060_W_D_S ub4_forum

Douglas-Dowling, M. (2010, July 24). I've seen this work [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.a/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201060_W_D_Sub2_forum

Fitzgerald, L. (2010). Teacher Librarianship [ETL401 201060 Subject Outline]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL401_201060_W_D

Haycock (1991), "Resource-based learning: a shift in the roles of teacher, learner', NASSP Bulletin, vol. 75(535), pp. 15-22.

Henri, J. (2005). Chapter 2: Understanding the information literate school community. In Henri, J. & Asselin, M. (Eds). The information literate school community 2: Issues of leadership.pp 135-145. Wagga Wagga, Australia: Centre for information studies, Charles Sturt University.

Herbert, P. (2010, August 9). Role of the TL [Web log message]. Retrieved http://pherbie-etl504learningjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/roles-of-tl.html

Herbert, P. (2010, August 17). ALIA standards [Web log message]. Retrieved http://pherbie-etl504learningjournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/alias-standards.html

Herbert, P. (2010, August 30). ILSC [Web log message]. Retrieved http://pherbie-etl504learningjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/ilsc.html

Herbert, P. (2010, September 21). RBL and Younger Students [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201060_W _D_Sub3_forum

Herbert, P. (2010, September 21). Re: Info Literacy Policy [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201060_W_D_Sub4 _forum

Herbert, P. (2010, September 15). Big 6 Vs NSWDET [Web log message]. Retrieved http://pherbie-etl504learningjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/big-6-vs-nswdet.html

Herring, J. E. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century: Charting new directions in information services. Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Todd, R. (2010). Guided Inquiry. Retrieved from http://icwc.wikispaces.com/file/view/Guided+Inquiry.doc

Big 6 Vs NSWDET

It sure looks like the NSWDET has ripped off the Big 6.

NSWDET: Defining, Locating, Selecting, Organising, Presenting and Assessing

Big 6: Information seeking, Location and access, Use of information, Synthesis, Evaluation

Looks like a straight mapping to me.

Although the NSWDET 'Presenting' process really suits nsw schools and their assessment procedures.

ILSC

The Information Learning School Community.

On reading a number of times.....

Henri, J. (2005). Chapter 2: Understanding the information literate school community. In Henri, J. & Asselin, M. (Eds). The information literate school community 2: Issues of leadership. Available CSU Library Reserve.

... it seems to me that the expectation on the role of the TL is enormous.

Certainly it doesn't seem possible without the support of the school principal.

ALIAs Standards

I recently read, "Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2004).".

And I must say it seems a lot of DECODING is required to see how it can be applied (or how the TL can be informed).

I suspect it will become clear when doing Assignment 2 and the standards are evaluated in depth.

Roles of the TL

This amazing diagram is from Herring, J. E. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century: Charting new directions in information services. Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

It has really made me think about the various hats the TL can, if they choose, wear in the 21st century.

RBL

On reading Haycock (1991), "Resource-based learning: a shift in the roles of teacher, learner', NASSP Bulletin, vol. 75(535), pp. 15-22. I can see that the library can be viewed as an extension of the classroom. Moreover RBL facilitates learning it isn't a method of learning.

This particular makes sense if you value Guided Inquiry. (As it is NOT an odds with RBL).

Priority Action Matrix - Welsh

I was surprised by the effectiveness of this technique as a driver for change.

I certainly will be using again.

Beare and vision statements Reading 16

I really enjoyed this article in particular how vision statements when suitably arrived at can form the basis for objectives and action plans.

I think that is very clever. And makes sense too.

More TQM and Dheeraj Mehrotra

I am really impressed with

and her article which can be viewed here.

http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c020626a.asp

This has enabled me to get a handle on TQM

Finally!

TQM

I am totally confused by the terms.

Total Quality Management and Quality Management and Quality Learning.

I have decided to treat them to mean the same thing and will try for consistency to only use 'Quality Management'

Dr Todd and Action Research

Hello.

I can recommend any readings by Todd on Action Research aka student directed learning or teacher directed learning.

I think telling students 'go research something' lacks direction, meaning and purpose.
A waste of time.

Students, I think, require a scaffold, direction for their learning.

This provides a greater opportunity for students to be engaged in higher order thinking.

There is nothing wrong with finding all the facts about the solar system. Thats fine. But it is NOT research. It is fact finding, brain storming.

Students being involved in active research are engaged in higher order thinking.

There is a difference.

http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~rtodd/home.htm

Chapter 1 Moral Purpose and Fullan

I think this is the most important think I have learned in ETL504.

It has provided me with focus and direction.

Asking 'What is important?' is a great question.

Procrastinating....who me?

I admit it..I am a major league procrastinator! I can think of a million menial chores to attend to in order to put off the (academic) task at hand. Be it a leaky tap, blown light bulb, a spot of weeding or even cleaning the car - all seem like important tasks that must be done immediately ....and then I'll commence my readings ,etc.
Which all leads me to explain why my blog posting has been so abysmal. So, here's an overview of my progress up to this point.
1) Found a copy of the Fullan text " Leading In A Culture Of Change" on the interact site. Settled on a price ($40). Found the address in inner-city Sydney. When I went to pay for the text the seller said "No worries mate, make it $20". Sweet!
2) Got placed in my group and made contact...we're a gang of 3. Got a really good group dynamic happening...meaning that I'm trying to keep up with their good ideas!
3) Arranged to Skype and low and behold..it actually worked!
4) Subsequent Skyping was not so successful......didn't help that I got the time wrong and that the connection kept dropping out. Nevertheless, we arranged to contact each other again tomorrow night.
Got to admit that it's been slightly overwhelming..and up to the point where I got to speak with the others in my group, I felt like I was making little or no progress.
O.K. On to my readings now..I promise!

My Knowledge of: communication, organisational theory, and strategic planning.

1. Communication
Staff in schools are involved in meetings of various types. Meetings involving whole the whole staff, faculty meetings, learning team meetings and of course impromptu and informal meetings where staff share ideas. I have seen Email used too by staff in sharing ideas and experiences and also in letting staff know of upcoming events and the implementation of policy and practice.
2. Organisational Theory
Meeting led by a facilitator in which groups members 'own' the recommendations or initiatives I have seen work but the effectiveness varies usually with the motivation, it seems, of the group members.
3. Strategic Planning
Vision and Mission statements I have seen plenty of noise, yet I have not witnessed any perceivable 'culture change' from creating such documents. Additionally I have seen 'surveys' of staff and parents being interpreted to a particular preferred outcome creating discourse in the school community.

heheh, Perhaps I have a great starting point as I have much to learn about how Leaders can effect change in schools. I only hope that as a TL I am not marginalised and can make a positive contribution to all my clients students, staff and the greater school community.