ETL 501 Topic 2

Topic 2:

·         I was told by our retiring TL that the Reference books were those not to be borrowed. After weeding (which included 10 sets of world book encylopedias all pre 1990’s) I’m left with around 300 print books that the students and teachers just don’t use. They include books on birds, animals, machines…. Unless I’m missing something, these should be in the NF section.  – I’m leaning towards the “no reference” section side. Why have books that can’t be borrowed.

·         Wikipedia – As a primary school teacher Wiki is set out in an easily read format for 8 – 12year olds. We use it to initially find information – however children know they must then find another source that backs Wiki up before using it.

·         Specialised dictionaries – interestingly enough Wiki provided the best definition of these.

·         Print based dictionaries –our school still has class sets primarily because there aren’t “class sets” of computers available. An older teacher once told me that kids still need to learn the skill of looking up a word in a dictionary – I question if this is the same as saying they still need to learn how to feed paper into a type-writer, or how to use a slide rule.

·         Online atlas: Atlas of living Australia  http://www.ala.org.au/ this was a great one for primary school kids. Tested it with Year 4 -  they loved picking an area of Australia and zooming into until it changed to an arial photo of the streets. Easy to navigate around.

·         VERSO looked great – easy to navigate and find what you are after – a shame it is password protected, I found some books that I would have liked to have a closer look at!

Semester 2 2012

Topic 1

·         ..web based technology opens doors by providing equal access to information. (Wetzel, 2005 in Herring, 2011)

Very relevant to my situation- PSP (Priority School Program – low socio-economic clientele) where over 60% of students do not have web access at home.

·         Collaboration - sharing of knowledge, much more effective than cooperation - providing resources for CT to use. (Herring, 2011)

Can be difficult to foster collaboration between TL and CT when “history” of TL role is that of resource provider. I found that by choosing 1 stage to work with (I chose Stage 2 as I had worked with these teachers for 4 years before moving into the TL role) word of mouth spread what we were doing, now I have CTs from other stages chasing me instead of me chasing them.

·         … students learn neither from teachers nor computers, but rather from thinking in meaningful ways. Thinking is engaged by activities, which can be fostered by computers or teachers. (Jonassen in Johnson et al, 2008)

An argument for Information Literacy – gone are the days when parents/Principals were impressed to see students working on computers. Now they want to know what they are learning, why they are learning it and how they are learning it. Sitting a class of 10yr olds in front of a computer and saying “research” it is just not good teaching practice – and yet we see it so often!

Activity:

 Bloom’s Taxonomy fits so comfortably with QT: moving the teaching focus from a behaviourist approach to a more constructivist approach where individual learning styles are more easily catered for. (Check out Pirozzo if you haven’t already heard of him. He blends Blooms with Multiple Intelligences – a great way to ensure Higher Order thinking and different ways of learning are incorporated when planning a unit of work.)

Activity

1^st – she will need to know what learning outcomes she is addressing in the unit (Syllabus: print copy or online – online is easier for beginning teachers to program with due to copy/paste)

2^nd – she will need to know what resources are available through the library – hard copy and e-resources ( TL to show her how to search the schools catalogue for both hard copy and e-resources – also where they can be physically found in library)

3^rd – she will need to know what the students already know about the subject (KWL chart – either on board, smartboard or online)

References

Herring, J. (2011) Improving students' web use and information literacy: A guide for teachers and teacher librarians. London: Facet Publishing.

Johnson, J.,  Musial, D., Johnson, A.,  Cooper, R. &  Lockard, J. (2008). Introduction to Teaching : Helping Students Learn. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Retrieved July 14, 2012, from Ebook Library.

Part 3 - Reflection

The title of my first ever blog sums up what my journey into Teacher Librarianship has been – a steep learning curve. Having “inherited” a 20th century library in every sense of the word I knew there was a lot of work in front of me, but I was unaware exactly how much there was.


As a classroom teacher of 15 years I felt my IT skills were quite good – I used my IWB effectively, creating and sharing lessons with colleagues, I delivered quality IT lessons to my students and they were among the most computer literate students in the school and we regularly used the internet to assist us with research – albeit using Google. I had heard of Wikis, Blogs and Web2.0 and was planning to get around to finding out more “soon”.

Topic 1 – Using Learning Tools – just meant “soon” came a little sooner than I thought it would. My excitement and sense of achievement at setting up my first Blog is clearly evident in my forum post and my first blog post. Herring (2007) and Purcell (2010) both elude to the role of Information Specialist as being where the TL introduces emerging technology to staff and students. When I read this I realised I had a lot of catching up to do with “older” technology before delving in to emerging technology.

I have since set up class Blogs and Wikis for 8 Stage 2 and 3 classes at my school and class teachers are regularly checking them to see what their kids are doing in library time.

I found Topic 2: The role of the teacher librarian to be extremely inspiring, in particular the Standards for Professional excellence as they provided me with a clear outline of what I was meant to aspire towards. However I found it frustrating to read so many negative responses to the readings.

My forum post clearly reflect this frustration as does my blog entry. I found myself questioning my fellow 401 students suitability for the job as most comments were centred around the many roles of a TL and the impossibility of covering all of these roles. On further reflection I reminded myself that many of these comments were coming from students who had never been a teacher and had no idea just how many roles every staff member has in a school setting.

I found the many roles of a TL an exciting prospect especially that of Information Specialist as this is perhaps my greatest challenge. My years as a classroom teacher have provided a strong framework to build on my curriculum knowledge and I regularly collaborated with fellow teachers to provide quality curriculum but after reading Morris & Packard (2007) and Haycock (2007) the importance of collaboration with the Principal was brought to my attention.

I have since approached my principal with a “plan” of my vision for the library and a budget for making this vision a reality. I have requested, and received a library assistant 1 day a week which has freed up my “admin time” allowing me to team teach with 2 stage 3 teachers twice a week . This has led to wonderful collaboration between myself and students and teachers which Purcell (2010) states is vital. Further collaboration between myself and classroom teachers has come about due to an assignment on resourcing the curriculum.


If I am truly honest with myself, I have found the past few months a struggle and I had no idea at the beginning how much time and effort I would need to put into my studies. My stress levels have risen in way they never did when I was younger and studying and my ideas and thoughts seem to take so much longer to formulate. I have discovered that I have little time or patience for others views if I feel they are not relevant to my own needs – a somewhat arrogant and selfish finding.

I also have a much greater understanding of the fear, stress, uncertainty and apprehension school students must face at some point during their school years when faced with seemingly impossible tasks. This fact alone has made this process worthwhile as it has given me a greater understanding of the importance our role as educators can have on their lives and how important it is to provide clear, concise scaffolds to aid them in their learning.

I am amazed looking back at my blog entries just how much I have achieved in a few short months. As for the steep learning curve…. I don’t feel as though I’m anywhere near the top yet, but I have begun the assent.

Collection Policy

Showed my collection policy to staff today at staff meeting - most were very suprised that I produced somthing so professional with so many professional references (I decided to leave these in to show staff my decisions were based on professional reading not just my own whim).
What I thought would be a quick 3 minute run through turned into around 20mins with most staff really interested in all sections especially the selection criteria. Had a few comments about how what I have been doing "chucking" things out now made sense to them. I came away feeling that the rest of the staff now have some kind of understanding about what I do in my admin time and it was a great chance to share my vision for our library with them.

Interesting Times

I was talking to Pete. our IT guy, today and had a really interesting conversation about cloud storage, QR codes as book reviews, ebook storage, databases of websites and an interactive library web page on the school site. Not only was he impressed with what my vision for the library was, he was impressed that we were even having the conversation. Somthing that I wouldn't have been able to do 6 months ago. Can't wait for the study to be over - roll on November - when I will have more time to develop these ideas.

One person....many names

Information specialist, curriculum leader and collaboraror. These are the 3 roles that I would like to be referred to by both staff and students. Curriculum leader and collaborator are the easier ones for me as I've come to the TL role after 10 years of classroom teaching. During these 10 years I have taught in P6, P5 and larger schools where I needed to know all areas of curriculum. I believe my knowledge and interest in curriculum is extensive and this was one of the things I was going to miss most when I applied for the TL role. After Ass.1 I can now see how my knowledge is an advantage - a necessity if you consider how poorly resourced the library collection is in all areas of supporting curriculum. Collaboration is also a strength of mine - with students, staff and community - and I have always taught in a collaborative way with co-workers and encourage this approach in the library - show me a TL who does not acknowledge the expertise of others and I'll show you an arrogant TL!!! Information specialist....now there's the challenge.

Don't forget to breathe

Just sent off Ass 1 401.....time for a quick breath and start looking at Ass 2 503. Learning so much so quickly - however the forum is not helping me much. With so many readings for both units, I find I have little time for the social chit-chat that goes on - however I do enjoy reading the thoughts that othres have regarding the readings. Thank God it's holidays..... a week left to catch up before I get snowed under in Term 2.

Snowed under

OMG. I can't believe how many hours I have been putting in to this course. I flew through High School and Uni with minimum effort and foolishly thought this would be the same - but whether it's an age thing or a huge gap in between studying, I'm finding this really, really stressful and difficult.

My W/E's now consist of going into Matt's office - where I know I won't be distracted - and putting in 9hr days - noone in my family believe me when I tell them.

Just spent the 1st week of school holidays in Melbourne - where my daughter Molly was dancing at the Aust. Ballet school - and spent 6hrs each day in my room working on assignment and catching up on readings!!!! What is happening to me?

HOWEVER.... what I'm learning is so useful and inspiring it almost makes it all worthwhile. Having to critically analyse the many roles of a TL makes the role  - and what my priorities in the role are - has made it much more defined in my own head and has given me a clear direction for next term.

Am I missing something?

While I'm finding the readings interesting - I'm also feeling that I must be missing a fundamental element to this course. The forum posts from fellow students, discuss in-depth their views on what a TL's role is perceived as, and how we need Principal support. There are also alot of posts bemoaning the amount of different roles a TL is expected to have and how this is too hard. As a classroom teacher for the last 15 years I know that EVERY teacher in a school environment is busy and is expected to juggle many balls at once. Our role as TLs is no different. If we want our role to be seen as vital to a school's learning plan, with support from execs and fellow staff members we must make sure we are providing engaging, student centred lessons which have deep knowledge and understanding inbuilt. If we follow the Quality Framework - as all teachers should -  we cannot do anything BUT suceed in our roles - thereby gaining respect of peers and execs for the vital role we play at our school. If this respect and support is missing - perhaps we need to examine our own teaching practice before blaming others!

Not falling behind

It's only Wednesday, but already I have done more reading and "study" than I did for my whole HSC - many, many, many years ago. I am really scared that I will relax for a moment or 400 and find myself so unbelievably behind that I can't catch up. My husband says this is a good thing that will keep me on task, but waking up at 2.30 in the morning worrying that I haven't done enough yet is not going to do me much good. I guess it's about finding the happy medium - somthing I hope to do soon.

2nd attempt

After almost 1 hour, I think I've finally made it to the writing bit!!!! I knew I should have waited for my teenage children to come home to help me, but I guess I wanted to show them that I could do it by myself - as all 3 think it's simply hillarious that their old mum is attempting something like this.

I'm feeling very nervous, frightened, and to be honest sh*t scared at the moment. I haven't studied in 19 years and I really don't know where i'm going to find the time in my very busy and full life. I used the timetable tool in ETL401 to see where I can find time, but it is nowhere near the reccommended 20hrs a week.

Guess I'm going to have to sacrafice some relax time and family time to get this done - after all, it is only 8 months!!!

Attended a 2 day training course in Sydney for DEC staff - SO glad I went. It really helped me get my head around what is required of me this year - it also helped to know that what I did in our library last year was right on track with 21C libraries - was beginning to doubt this after feedback from the older members of staff - "...but Joyette never did that!!!!"

I have a real vision as to what I want our library to look, sound and feel like over the next few years - which is quite different to how it has been over the last 25 years according to the afore mentioned staff, and I feel good knowing that the subjects I am studying this semester will help me achieve this - I was quite worried that, like most of my earlier teaching degree, the subjects would be all theory with little relevance to actual teaching. But after the 2 days in Sydney I can see how useful and practical they will be.