ETL504 Assignment 1 B: Reflective Critical Analysis

     As a fairly young educator, I was very new to the field of leadership theory at the start of this subject. When I began reading about leadership styles, I believed that you had to choose one and that was the way you operated. Planning out a concept map and a reading by Stewart (2006) has helped me to see that highly effective leaders will employ multiple leadership styles in order to successfully lead their teams towards their desired outcomes. This task has enabled me to see leadership through a new lens.

     When exploring the many different styles of leadership, I was immediately drawn to the idea of servant leadership (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). The concept of leading from the middle of an organisation, in my case a primary school, was completely new and in many ways reassuring. Teacher librarians (TLs) act in leadership roles when they support their colleagues and their students achieve particular goals. As a servant leader, one can act as a mentor, confidant, tutor, resource guide, cheer squad, and possibly even inspiration. It is a role where it is possible to make a real difference, without the added responsibilities of being part of the school executive.

     The leadership skills required for all styles of leadership resonated with me. In my short time in the classroom and the library, I have seen examples of strong leaders and weak leaders. The thing that really differentiates the two are the strength of their interpersonal skills (BenBrocker, 2012, March 22). Teachers and TLs generally have great technical skills in the fields of educational theory, pedagogy and curriculum knowledge. Most also have solid conceptual skills, such as problem solving and decision making. But the one area that some have a serious deficit in are the interpersonal skills, primarily those of trust, authenticity, honesty, and clear communication (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009). Without a solid foundation of these skills, people do not follow leaders completely which can cause barriers and complications on the path to making the school a better place for its students.

     Transformational leadership hold a lot of promise. I really like the idea of ensuring that a school begins moving towards the future with a vision that will surpass a single solo leader (Avolio et al., 2009). A goal of the ideal school environment is admirable, however only really functional if there are achievable and realistic steps set out to make it a reality. I feel that transformational leadership is likely to be difficult to attain when there are so many external pressures and limitations imposed upon schools by government bodies and other external parties. Therefore, I view transformational leadership as only one of the pieces of the leadership puzzle that fit together for TLs and the school environment.

     Through the extended reading into servant leadership and transformational leadership, I have become more inspired by the impact I may have on my colleagues and the overall school environment. I think I will be happy to lead without any other formal title than that of ‘Teacher Librarian’.

References

Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(Paper 37), 421-449. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163621

BenBrocker. (2012, March 22). Leadership theory and critical skills [video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY

Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). Some theories and theorists on leadership. School leadership that works : From research to results (pp. 13-27). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/Read.aspx?p=280397.

Stewart, J. (2006). Transformational leadership: An evolving concept examined through the works of Burns, Bass, Avolio, and Leithwood. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, (54). Retrieved from: http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/pdf_files/stewart.pdf

Don Tapscott: Four Principles of an Open World.

I have just finished watching a TED Talk by Don Tapscott (2012) on the "four principles for the open world." The following is a reflection on his talk and how I feel these principles apply to a school library.

Tapscott (2012) has been exploring the concept of openness and the way that technology is driving a change towards a more open modern world. He discusses how the internet and contemporary technology are going to be what brings society out of the industrial era in the same way that the printing press moved society from the agrarian society of the feudal system into the industrial age.

Previous models of organisation are beginning to fail and he likens this to a "burning platform." There comes a time when there is a greater cost to remain where you are , doing what you have always done, than the cost of moving on to something different, even it is very new or experimental.

The four principles that Tapscott (2012) identified were collaboration, transparency, sharing, and empowerment, with each corresponding to a different definition of openness.

Collaboration: We are more successful at many pursuits, including in the business world, where we are more productive when we collaborate with others. By taking a risk and seeing help from others, it may be possible to completely exceed the possible outcomes that could be produced by the people in your immediate organisation. Social media can play a large role in this field, as we can gain knowledge from people on the other side of the world to us.

Transparency: No longer, can you count on anything staying hidden from the public eye. It is imperative that organisations are transparent in all of their actions and that they communicate pertinent information with all of their stake holders. Transparency places great value in trust and integrity. Tapscott (2012) summed up the effect of being transparent when he said that "sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Sharing: Mainly concerned with intellectual property, more businesses are giving up their private assets and moving towards more innovative business models. The example of the record industry highlighted this point. Rather than changing the way they do business and creating an innovative way of distributing their products, they instead sought legal action against those they felt were infringing on their intellectual property. It is time to reinvent business models and become "a rising tide that lifts all boats."

Empowerment: Simply put, knowledge and intelligence is power. The internet has made access to up-to-date information much easier to obtain.  The open world is bringing freedom with it. Taspcott (2012) gave examples of how technology is becoming a tool for military advancement and has saved countless lives from being lost.

After watching Don Tapscott (2012) discussing the principles required for an open world, my thinking has shifted towards how these principles apply to a school library environment.

• Collaboration is key in a school environment. Teaching cannot occur in a vacuum and it is imperative that teachers collaborate with their colleagues, their leadership team, and their teacher librarian to plan teaching units of work that inspire and engage their students. We should also being to explore the possibility of collaborating with other teachers and teacher librarians from around the world.
• Transparency and accountability are things that cannot be ignored by schools. As educators, we are accountable to our students, their parents, our colleagues, our executive, our governing body, our state government and the federal government. We have to account for all of our actions and make sure that our teaching and learning intentions are clear and explicit. As teacher librarians, we are accountable for all of the resources that we provide access to and the information that they contains, as well as being responsible for budgets and other administrative components of the business side of schools.
• Sharing goes hand in hand with collaboration. As teachers and teacher librarians, we are in the market of information and knowledge. We need to ensure that we are providing our students with information in ways that are easily accessible to them. This may soon lead to the need for new ways of transferring this information and knowledge, as we move away from the classroom structures of the industrial age and into the unknown.
• It is a teachers job to empower their students. Children are the leaders of tomorrow and it is vital that we equip our students with the knowledge and skills required to harness the freedom that immediate access to information brings. We need to encourage innovation and creativity and school libraries can play and important role in this.

There is so much more to explore about these 4 principles. I would love to explore the role that a teacher librarian can play in empowering our students more in the future.

TED. (2012, June 28). Don Tapscott: Four principles for the open world [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfqwHT3u1-8

My Personal Leadership Style

As part of Module 1, I have completed a couple of leadership style quizzes. Here are my results.

ProProfs - "Reveal your Leadership Style" Quiz

Type Cs are the EARTH GREEN category. You lead by consensus and involve the team in a gentle consultative manner. You are quietly determined and get things done apparently without effort. In reality, this is not the case as you are always quietly working away for and on behalf of people. You find it easy to highlight other people’s strengths and spend a great deal of time 1-1 with your team members. But be careful, some people won’t notice you as you can be quite quiet except when someone treads on one of your values. Then you turn into some stubborn beast that no-one can believe is you. Sometimes involving other people in all your decisions can slow things down and other types (reds and yellows) will be driven nuts by this behaviour. 

The leader in you You’re the calmest type of leader and you get results through empowering and supporting others. Your quiet determination engenders great loyalty and following. Sometimes you might need to speed up to be more effective and concentrate less on how you feel about decisions. Examples of leaders that use a lot of green energy are Sir Terry Leahy, Gandhi, Al Gore.

From <http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/personality/quizreport.php?title=discover-leader-in-you-quiz&sid=Mjk2MzQxODY=>

Buzzle - "Leadership Styles Quiz"

Your style of leadership is democratic, a.k.a. participative. It is considered as one of the most effective leadership styles in ideal situations. As the name suggests, democratic leaders consider the suggestions and opinions of group members and involve group members in the decision-making process. But they make sure that the final decision is taken by them while being in sync with the majority. This kind of leadership motivates the followers and encourages the group members to participate in the process. It ultimately improves the creativity and productivity of the members. It is one of the ideal leadership styles in an education system.

From <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/leadership-styles-quiz.html>

ProProfs - "Leadership Quiz"

The Nice Leader You've got great potential for being one of the best leaders on your team. You're understanding and always willing to help out. The only problem you might face is the acceptance flaw - you need to be liked. While it's great to be everyone's friend, you find it hard to deal with serious issues or confrontations. To help overcome this problem try approaching issues or conlfict in a sensitive and honest manner instead of 'giving in' to the idea of being friends. Your teammates will respect and look up to you for it!

From <http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/personality/quizreport.php?title=leadership-quiz_7&sid=Mjk2MzQ0MjY=>

None of these results surprise me at all. They are definitely me to a tee.

ETL504 Teacher Librarian as Leader - Module 1

My current understanding of leadership.

As a young, fairly new teacher my experience with leadership within a school has been fairly limited. I see the typical leaders of a school being the Principal (SLA), Deputy Principal (SLB) and our team leaders (SLC). Each has a unique role within the school and lead in very different ways.

School Principal - Makes the big decisions within the school and everyone reports to them. Has a responsibility to the School Network Leader and has to consider the financial needs of the school as well as the best educational interests of the students.

Deputy Principal - Reports to the Principal and acts as an intermediary on many things. Sometimes they feel they lack the authority to make the tough decisions because they have to report to the Principal. Usually more active in the day to day running of the school and the needs of the teachers. Often presents the views of the staff to the Principal.

Team Leaders - These are usually the most supportive and understanding leaders. They are often the ones who understand the issues that you are facing and present these to the Principal and Deputy in order to be solved. Sometimes they are teachers and sometimes they play a more specialised role within the school. They are the teachers first port of call when they are facing a challenge in the classroom or behind the scenes.

My current understanding is very hierarchical with clearly defined roles. Every person in the chain reports to a leader who is more superior than they are and any decisions made have to be justified to these leaders. However, each of these roles suit a different style of leader.

That being said, I have also seen a number of different leadership styles, some more successful than others. It is easy to lose faith in leaders when they do not support your ideas or values, if actively work to undermine you, or if they do not display the traits of a good leader.

Good leaders often exhibit the following traits:

• Clear, open, honest communication
• A good listener
• Provide timely feedback and constructive criticism
• Follow through with commitments made
• Inspirational and a good motivator
• Innovative - demonstrate some degree of risk taking
• Supportive
• Confident - in their own abilities
• Trustworthy - they don't betray confidences
• Teach and improve the skills of others
• Organised
• Passionate about their job and their school/organisation
• Approachable - with an open door policy

Whilst I do not see myself pursuing a position of traditional leadership within the school structure, I can see the value of having leaders within the school. As a teacher librarian, I see the opportunity to support and guide teachers within the school. This may be additional guidance to resource curriculum areas, support in planning teaching units, or team teaching. I can also see the role as a leader in educational technologies, being able to experiment and test out a range of technologies and assist in their implementation across the school

How do I show leadership within my school?

I feel that I support my colleagues in any way that I can. That can be by listening to the issues they are dealing with and offering advice, speaking to the executive on behalf of others, finding additional resources to support their teaching program, being a sounding board for new ideas, etc. I have also had the opportunity to present small mini-presentations to colleagues to build their capacity in new technologies.

I also hope that I act as a leader to the students within my school. I try to be a neutral ear when they are having issues in the classroom, encourage a love of reading, provide individualised recommendations of what to read next, and expose the kids to new and different things and ideas. I hope that I broaden their thinking.

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