ETL401 - A Reflection

When I began this subject for the first time in February 2011, I was fresh out of my undergrad teaching degree with a total of 6 months relief teaching under my belt.  I knew that I had a passion for literature and sharing books with children and adults alike.  It felt like it was a natural progression from working in a bookshop and wanting to teach to teaching in a school library setting.

My knowledge of the work of a teacher librarian was limited to my own school experiences and a few glimpses of the workings of some small school libraries on my relief teaching days.  I knew that the job was much more than accessioning, shelving, recommending books, managing the circulation desk and reading stories to classes of children, but I did not know how much more. 

Reading Purcell (2010) made me more aware that the administrative “librarian” roles that I believed to be a major part of the role of the teacher librarian are really the ones that make the least impact on the lives and learning of our students.  The importance of information literacy and supporting the development of multiple literacies are much more desirable focus points in the work of the teacher librarian.

By exploring the plethora of hats that the teacher librarian wears on a daily basis, I now understand what the job of the school library is really about.  A great school library and an amazing teacher librarian can inspire students and prepare them for life in the 21^st century.

It has become clear to me that school libraries are changing rapidly in light of new technological advances and the way that students and teachers use information today.  Technologies such as e-books, tablets, laptops, audio books, web pages, wikis and pathfinders are flying into both primary and secondary school libraries and the challenge that technology presents to teacher librarians excites me.   I now understand the importance of information literacy in shaping tomorrow’s leaders and know that information and communication technologies are going to play a large role in the world of the future.  I am ready to embrace the challenge that they present.

So much of the literature I have read throughout the course of this subject talks of how under-appreciated and even “invisible” the work of the teacher librarian is (Cooper & Bray, 2011).  There is talk of how important the role ofadvocating for the profession is to pull the teacher librarian out of the shadows and into to view of the whole school (Herring, 2007; Purcell, 2010).  I have seen this through personal experience over the past 18 months and constantly find myself having to defend my choice to move into what I continue to hear being called a “dying profession.”  Amazingly, many of the people who question my move from the classroom to the library are primary school teachers which really highlights to me the need for teacher librarians to make their voices heard by their school executives and start to change the way their school views them.  I know that this subject has really helped me to convince people that the school library and the teacher librarian are alive and kicking and getting stronger every minute.

The day before I enrolled in this degree, I was talking to a colleague about the school library.  She described this vibrant energised place which was, when the teacher librarian was there, the “heart of the school.”  The concept of the school library as a “vital part of the school” and “a centre of learning first and a centre of resources second” (Herring, 2007) is one that has really inspired me and motivated me on my journey to becoming a qualified teacher librarian.

When I started out in this subject, I always expected for my views and understandings to grow, change and be challenged, and I am every so pleased that they have.  18 months on I have learned so much more about the role I am going to undertake and proudly advocate for my profession both in the school setting and in the public domain.  I truly believe that a good teacher librarian can change the lives of the students and the teachers in their school.

  

 References

Cooper, O., & Bray, M. (2011). School Library Media Specialist-Teacher Collaboration: Characteristics, Challenges, Opportunities. TechTrends, 55(4), 48-55. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11528-011-0511-y

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher Librarians and the School Library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century : charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Purcell, M. (2010). All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist. Library Media Connection, 29(3), 30-33. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=55822153&site=ehost-live

The Role of the Teacher Librarian

Now that the first assignment has been submitted, I feel I should do a bit of catch up on this poor abandoned blog.

I slipped behind on the readings and attempt to summarise some of the key points garnered from module 2.

The Role Of the Teacher Librarian

After the multitude of readings on this subject, I have come up with my own mini definitions of the 5 main roles of the teacher librarian (Melissa Purcell's headings).

Information Specialist - deals with information.

 Both it's acquisition and it's use.  As information specialist the teacher librarian primarily assists students and teachers in locating information and then ensuring that they are effectively using this information.

Program Administrator - keeps the library running. 

As program administrator the teacher librarian is concerned with the day-to-day running of the library.  This encompasses everything from staffing to managing the computer system to collection management to  promoting and supervising all programs run by the library whilst ensure that the library is meeting the needs to the school community.

Leader - promotes the library.

The continued existence of the school library can be attributed to the unfailing work of the teacher librarian as leader.  They work with the school executives and the school community to ensure that the library offers programs that meet the needs of the entire school community.  As leader the teacher librarian also ensures that the teachers within the school are getting the most from the library.

Teacher - ensures learning occurs in the library.

During class library sessions, the teacher librarian takes on the role of teacher to ensure that all students within their school become information literate.  This task encompasses the teaching of book skills, research skill and even technology skills.  In this role the teacher librarian can sometimes co-teach with classroom teachers or may take on this responsibility individually.

Instructional Partner - knows the curriculum.

As an instructional partner, the teacher librarian must collaborate with teaching staff at the school to assist in the development of units of work that accurately support the curriculum and the needs of the school community.  They can assist with the writing, teaching and resourcing of the curriculum for the whole school.

The teacher librarian wears so many different hats, it often amazes me that it all falls under one job title.  Though, when you think of the number of different roles you fulfil as a classroom teacher, I guess it isn't really too different.

  

Key Readings

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher Librarians and the School Library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century : charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2008). School library media specialist 2.0: a dynamic collaborator, teacher, and technologist. Teacher Librarian, 36(2), 74-78. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=43699030&site=ehost-live

Purcell, M. (2010). All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist. Library Media Connection, 29(3), 30-33. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=55822153&site=ehost-live

ETL 401 Attempt Number 3

Hopefully this year, life won't get in the way. Teaching, nannying, having a life of my own and studying. It is quite a lot to juggle.

I am back again for another attempt at ETL 401, the second subject of my Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship) at Charles Sturt University.  After a year of withdrawing from subjects I have finally completed ETL 503 over the summer session.  ETL 503 was an immense challenge and the assignments were very challenging for someone who was not working in a library.

This year though, things are looking up and I have found myself in a primary school library at least 2 days a week.  I am acting as Teacher Librarian in a small sized primary school in the ACT and find myself teaching all of the students in grades 3 to 6 and undertaking all of the admin tasks in the library.  The schools normal TL is working in an executive position within the school and is taking all of the junior grades for their library sessions.

I have also been lucky enough to work a relief day in a library at another school and it was great to get the chance to compare and contrast the library set up and organisational methods. It has given me a few new ideas.

To round off this post before I get back into my study this rainy weekend, I wanted to share this beautiful video that has been going around, particularly  after it has done so well at the Oscars. Looks like it is soon to be turned into a picture book!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore by Moonbot Studios

Currently Reading: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (book 2 of The Hunger Games trilogy).

Post-literacy causing the end of school libraries?

All this discussion about a post-literate society has gotten me thinking.

A few months ago, I went to the UK to visit some friends. 

My friends twin boys, who are 12 and at the end of their first year of high school, are not big readers. 

One of the boys has dyslexia and struggles to make text work for him.   What amazed me though was how many books and the level of the material that these two boys were getting through. 

Both boys have their own mp3 players and smartphones.  When at home and not doing their homework, both boys can frequently be seen wandering around with headphones plugged in, pottering around or snuggled up in a comfortable chair.  Both boys are avid audio-book "readers" or, I guess more accurately, "listeners." At the moment Ben is making his way through Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy while Alex is almost finished JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit.

What astounded me most was the amount of content that they were actually taking in and could quite happily discuss major and minor plot points with you in a very animated discussion.

They have access to a number of speech to text programs both at school and at home, but as yet there are few text to speech options when it comes to their school material.

If only they had access to their school textbooks in audio format.  It might make it easier for them to negotiate the next few years of their academic lives. 

Since my return from this trip, I decided to  give audio books a try for myself.  In the past week I have finally finished the seventh Harry Potter book in audio format.  I enjoyed the whole experience immensely but have come to the conclusion that I would only use audio books for books that I am already familiar with as I miss too much content when my brain wanders.  My auditory processing is obviously not quite as advanced as these boys.

I think the important thing to consider in all of this is the fact that everyone has a different learning style.  I know that I am a visual learner and struggle to remember things  I hear.  These boys are obviously more aural  (or linguistic-verbal) learners.  I think the dominance of certain learning styles are starting to shift in this digital post-literate society.

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For a while now, I have been curious about how the digital reading revolution is going to impact the primary school library. 

I can see how secondary school libraries are likely to move across to digital text books and see a diminishing number of print resources available on the shelves.  It is much easier to visualise students in high schools and college (year 11 and 12 in the ACT) as students are more responsible and can be trusted to look after their own laptops or tablets (and by tablets I include everything from iPads to e-book readers).

What I cannot see is how pre-school and early primary school students can be expected to care for and safely manage a laptop or tablet when they struggle to look after a single book at the moment.

Digital collections are likely to filter through to the primary school environment in one capacity or another, but I think we are a long way of all print resources vanishing from the primary school library altogether.

As for those who are questioning whether or not school libraries are still needed have obviously not witnessed the joy of preschool and early primary school students when they share a book with an adult and have the freedom to choose their own book to take home for the week.  Children just learning to read are often ravenous for stories, eager to find one that they particularly enjoy and start to develop their own personal tastes.

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After my ranting though, I did just come across this video by Library Ireland.  It's a book domino video titled "Smart people use smart libraries."  Enjoy.

Dewey Decimal Rap

Just watched a video courtesy of one of my fellow ETL401 students.

A rap about the Dewey Decimal system and where you can find some information. I think that sections of it could be useful for introducing upper primary students to the filing system of their non-fiction books.

Reflecting on my school libraries

Now that the first assignment has been submitted, I think it is time to reflect on my memories of school libraries.

I vividly remember the library and librarian, Mr Arthur, from my first school.

It was in a separate building of its own, joined to the rest of the school via closed tunnel.  It was split across three and a half levels with walls covered by student artworks and displays. 

The upper floor was a large open space, surrounded by the fiction shelves, sorted into junior and senior books along the walls.  Along the open balcony were a number of soft benches and each class’ book pockets.  These book pockets were still used to hold the book cards with the title and due date of any books that you currently had borrowed, despite the fact that on the middle entry level of the library was the computer based cataloguing system that was used with every loan.  I can remember the joy of being the library monitor for a session where you got to either scan the other students names and books onto the computer or got to date stamp their book cards.

 The lower level of the library was the non-fiction reference section.  This floor had books along all of the walls and a number of desks clustered on the main floor.  As a class we used to come in to research for assignments, making particular use of the encyclopaedias.  At the end of this lower floor were two small rooms with giant windows.  If I remember correctly, these contained a few computers which were the schools only computer labs.

 There was also a mini mezzanine level above the upper floor that contained a class set of personal tape decks and headphones and acted as a language listening lab for our Italian lessons.

I remember that we had a few visits from well known Australian authors.  The one that sticks out the most in my mind was Margaret Wild.

I don't remember much about the library at my second primary school.  I remember that there were stacks for the non-fiction books and I think the fiction books were around the edges of a small open space. There were also a number of tables scattered around.

My high school library and librarian, Miss Gershon, also stick in my memory.

It was a large space with the fiction books around the outer walls and the non-fiction books in tall stacks.  Around the fiction books were small circle of comfortable lounges and there were a collection of computer "nook" clustered in the middle of the library, effectively dividing the fiction and non-fiction.  Popular paperback fiction was also stored on rotating wire stands and there were a few small study rooms along one wall as well as a number of study carrels along the back wall.  To enter into the library, I can remember lining up as a class in front of the electric gateway in a small dark passageway where everyone had to leave their bags.  There was never enough space for everyone's bags on the shelves so people were always tripping over ones scattered on the floor.

The Google Generation

I have been thinking recently about the way that we no longer say that we are going to search for something on the internet.  We now say that we are going to "google it".  It scares me the way that Google has become synonymous with the term to search.

This video, entitled "Digital Literacy in the Google Generation" was mentioned by a fellow classmate on the university forums. It poses and interesting question about what we need to teach our students so that they become more informed critical thinkers.

This image was in the above video. It is one of my favourites.

Starting Again

After another slow start to the semester (assisted by the fact that I was overseas) I am back for my second attempt at ETL 401. I am still struggling with the whole work/life/study balance but am starting to learn to say no to things so that I can actually get on with some study.

After taking the time to explore the introductory module of this unit, I am starting to form a more concrete image of the role of the Teacher Librarian within the school environment. To me, the "role of the school library as the information centre of the school and the role of the teacher librarian as the school’s information specialist" (CSU ETL401 Introduction 2011) is a new perspective on how the library fits into the school context. Herring (2007, p27.) explains further that "school libraries do not, like many other libraries, merely support the community in which they exist, nor do they merely serve that community, but they are a vital part of the school. The school library should be seen as a centre of learning first and a centre of resources second."

However it comes as no surprise to me that to be an effective TL, one must have knowledge in a broad range of fields as noted below.

• library and information management
• education
• children’s and young adult literature
• educational administration
• organisational behaviour
• inquiry learning and information literacy
• information and communication technology (CSU ETL401 Introduction 2011)

I adore the way that Herring (2007, p28.) explains the value of the school library. "Using a school library well and learning from a teacher librarian can be a vital part of students’ education." Herring later summarises the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) School Library Manifesto where it states that ‘The school library equips students with lifelong learning skills and develops the imagination, enabling them to live as responsible citizens’ but it can be criticised for putting services before this in a preceding sentence (International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) 2006, paragraph 1).

The role of the Teacher Librarian within the school context encompasses many different roles, which must be prioritised in order to be effective. The TL in a school environment wears a plethora of different hats that cover the many different roles required to effectively run and manage a school library. The TL uses the knowledge from the fields stated above to effectively manage all of the different roles.

Now that I am beginning to understand more about the role of the Teacher Librarian in a school context, I am feeling more confident that I am heading in the right direction for assignment 1.

Currently reading: A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French 

Getting Started (posted March 17 on old blog)

After a slow start to the semester, I am finally getting into the swing of studying online. This blog has been started for the first subject of my Masters of Education (Teacher Librarian) and will hopefully continue to be used as a learning journal for the rest of my degree.

I am in my first year out from my undergrad degree of Bachelor of Education (Primary) and have decided that I prefer working with a variety of students across a school rather than sticking with one class the whole time. I have always loved books and my spare room at home is currently looking more like a library than an office. I worked for a few years in a large bookstore and my favourite part of the job was recommending a new title to another bibliophile.

I am struggling to find a balance between working part-time as a relief teacher during the days and working 6 nights a week as a nanny. The challenge now after my slow start is to catch up enough on the readings that I can start on my first assignment as soon as possible. That way I can stop having melt downs about whether I made the right choice to continue studying.

Currently reading: The Book of Lies by James Moloney