My critical synthesis of my reflection on how my view of the role of the TL has changed during ETL401

At the beginning of ETL401 I had already been to a number of ASLA and ALIA and local network meetings, conferences and training days and I thought that the TL role incorporated the teaching of information literacy skills - preferably collaboratively but any way is better than none - (Davidson, 2005) and library management, including policy writing, budgeting, collection development and curriculum resourcing.
As recommended I started with Topic 6. The need to advocate for the role was a big shock (Weeks, 2009a, blog post, Are we crazy?). I had heard about advocacy before but considered that it was the domain of those very knowledgeable ones in executive positions to which I could never attain. Being so up-front about the necessity of it seems embarrassing. Here I am training for this job but if I don’t learn to negotiate and fight for it, it will probably disappear by the time I’m qualified. As a pacifist by nature and not liking confrontation, I almost gave up there and then! Reading Sanders (2004, ch. 13) on conflict resolution and negotiation was a real turn-off. I tried negotiating with my teenagers in years gone by and while we have all survived I cannot claim to have experienced anything like the win/win scenario eulogized by Reece & Brandt (1993, pp. 355-359 cited in Sanders, p. 129). Lundin (1981) was quite depressing in describing the long hard battle relating to school libraries and the need for appropriate funding and staffing. Although there were many structural positives it felt like there was still too far to go and so in my first draft for Assignment one I wrote:
“Becoming a TL is a bit like climbing Mt. Everest. As you struggle past the frozen bodies of those who’ve tried to scale the heights before, you wonder why you bother, to put yourself through all the pain and frustration, until you hear over the crackling radio the delight of those who’ve reached the summit. Not many really succeed, but we all continue in hope.”
Then came Herring (2007) exhorting us all to be leaders within our schools, taking a pivotal role in developing curriculum. I’m not even a teacher yet – who knows what RBL might be? (Weeks, 2009b, forum post, Resource based learning/Inquiry based learning). Thanks Lyn (Hay, 2009, forum response)! I started to read the forums in an endeavour to gain some insight from the learned ones about these mysterious terms. It was comforting to read that they were confronting lots of new things too! Linda Blake’s (2009, forum post, RBL) post about the challenges to collaboration were of particular interest and helped me to understand the teacher’s perspective on collaboration and RBL – the crowded curriculum and fear of chaos, etc. Then Chaan Wadley (2009, forum post, RBL) on the same day highlighted what real collaborative teaching is – having two teachers in the room to provide better learning through one-on-one interactions. Things were starting to look up – I was learning helpful new things (Pymm, 2007 cited in Weeks, 2009c, blog post, Reflective learning).
I told my boss about the ideals (Weeks, 2009d, blog post, With fear and trepidation) but in my heart I was thinking that it doesn’t matter whether I complete this course of not, I will never have that level of credibility in a school (Weeks, 2009e, blog post, RBL by any other name). Then along came Biskup and the ever present lack of funding and misunderstanding of the role and I could really empathise with Fullan’s (1999, p. 34) “any sense of urgency that teachers have turns to despair as they struggle with the cognitive and emotional dissonance of repeated frustration”. Hazell (1990) and Haycock (2003) rang out ‘we need a paradigm shift and it needs the principal’s support’ but somehow Henri’s (2000b cited in Henri, 2005, p. 12) contention that an information literate school is “a school community that places a high priority (policy, benchmarking, funding, and evaluation) on the pursuit of teacher and student mastery of the processes of becoming informed” relieved the pressure a little. After all, this doesn’t all depend on me – others can share the load if I feed the principal some relevant information which he can use. Then Bruce (1997, p. 34) provided new hope by citing Behrens (1990, p. 357) as saying that “IL gives control over the way one communicates, works and lives – it is a tool for personal empowerment” – that’s something worth fighting for. So while it may require a paradigm shift in my nature – and lots more study and training - I will persevere with these, to me, newly discovered facets of the TL role because nothing gives me greater delight than helping students and teachers to become empowered to learn.

Blake, L. (2009). RBL. [ETL401 Topic 1 – School libraries in Australia Forum posting]. Available from: Saturday, February 28, 11:06 pm.
Bruce, C. (1997). The Seven faces of information literacy. Adelaide, Auslib Press, pp. 20-41.
Davidson, V. (2005). Success, motivation, thinking and self-awareness. Access 19(3), 9-12.
Hay, L. (2009). Resource based learning/Inquiry based learning. [ETL401 Forum posting]. Available from: Tuesday, March 3, 9:30 pm.
Haycock, K. (2003). The crisis in Canada’s school libraries: The case for reform and re-investment. Toronto: Association of Canadian Publishers.
Hazell, A. (1990). School library and information services in Australia. In Promoting learning: challenges in teacher librarianship. Library challenges series: 2. Nimon, M & Hazell, A. (eds.). Adelaide: Auslib Press.
Henri, J. (2005). Understanding the information literate school community. In The Information Literate School Community 2: Issues of Leadership. Henri, J. & Asselin, M. (eds.). Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies.
Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In Libraries in the twenty-first century: Charting new directions in information services. Ferguson, S. (ed.). Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies.
Lundin, R. (1981). School library development in Australia. In School librarianship. Cook, J. (ed.). Sydney: Pergamon.
Sanders, R. (2004). Australian Library Supervision & Management. 2nd ed. Topics in Australasian Library and Information Studies, 21. Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies.
Wadley, C. (2009). RBL. [ETL401 Topic 1 – School libraries in Australia Forum posting]. Available from: Saturday, February 28, 11:23 pm.
Weeks, R. (2009a). Are we crazy? [E.A.K. blog post]. Thursday, March 5. Available from: http://expawakno.blogspot.com/2009/03/are-we-crazy.html
Weeks, R. (2009b). Resource based learning/Inquiry based learning. [ETL401 Forum posting]. Available from: Monday, March 2, 9:49 pm.
Weeks, R. (2009c). Reflective learning. [E.A.K. blog post]. Tuesday, March 17. Available from: http://expawakno.blogspot.com/2009/03/reflective-learning.html
Weeks, R. (2009d). With fear and trepidation. [E.A.K. blog post]. Thursday, May 7. Available from: http://expawakno.blogspot.com/2009/05/with-fear-and-trepidation.html
Weeks, R. (2009e). RBL by any other name. [E.A.K. blog post]. Monday, April 20. Available from: http://expawakno.blogspot.com/2009/04/rbl-by-any-other-name.html

Exciting opportunity

A year 7 teacher asked me to 'introduce her classes to lifelong learning'! So I revised a scaffold I developed several years ago based on the DET model and showed it to her. She said that was exactly what she wanted and when I presented the model to her classes she was very complimentary. The scaffold is available online for students to copy and use and I also gave them a print version which she said they would use in class. The next morning one of the boys came to me in the library to thank me for the presentation and show me something he had written based on part of the scaffold. Very encouraging and exciting. I have now decided that I need to create a contents page for the online version to facilitate navigation.

Feelings...

Up until last week I have worked excessively hard to complete the 2nd assignment for my other subject so that I could take a week off to spend with visiting family, especially a brand new grand child. Having completed the final draft the night before they arrived (it was due tomorrow but there is a message from the lecturer tonight to say that the due date has been extended for everyone) I have been feeling more in charge of my life. I was able to meet a personal goal and it felt good. Kuhlthau (1989) says that better planning regarding the specifics of the task and the initiation stage increases confidence and I have been experiencing this quite strongly. At the same time I have been a bit nervous about it, concerned that I might be 'riding for a fall' but hoping that my marks will justify the positive feelings.

With fear and trepidation...

I finally mustered up enough courage to make an appointment with my boss and share what I have been learning in this subject. He was very receptive, saying that what I was sharing lined up with some of what he had been reading. So now I have the task of finding some whole school information literacy policies for him to have a look at; and to inform our development of our own.

What are the implications for the role of TL?

Just cataloguing a couple of new Geography text books and noticed that they have built-in information skills.

Geography for Global Citizens

3rd ed. p. 40 has a section on using mind maps, p. 48 a section on using the internet.

Geography for Australian Citizens

3rd ed. includes information about how to design a webpage (p. 177) and criteria for evaluatiing a webpage (p. 278).

Is this an impact/the result of lack of TLs in schools already?
Will teachers be confirmed in their perception that a TL is not necessary if they are doing this themselves anyway?

RBL by any other name

Was interested to read (Haycock, C. 1991, p. 16) that RBL is not mentioned in education literature but is very similar to Student Centred Learning.

Although Haycock says that "teachers are not trained to facilitate" and basically that the TL must be instrumental in helping them to restructure the learning process, learning environment and student/teacher relationships (I read 'retrain' the teachers); and warns that the teacher will fear not meeting learning objectives, and classroom management chaos.

Well I'm not surprised that the teachers are scared - it sounds as if the TL is taking over the school. Even though the principal's support is emphasised as being critical to the development of an ILSC - the TL must negotiate and advocate, sounds like the TL is or wants to be a very powerful person.

I'm not sure that the 10-20% improvement in student outcomes (Haycock, K, 2003, p. 9) is worth all the agro - stress, angst, pussy-footing diplomacy.

I know the results sound wonderful and I honestly really enjoy the satisfaction students experience when I assist them to find and use information more effectively but in the real world I think that most of the literature is aiming way beyond where we'll ever get to.

New ideas - to me anyway!

Some things have surfaced during the last couple of weeks of readings and networking that have been rather like 'the light coming on' - aha moments (?Hay), if you will.

Bruce's (1997, p. 22) idea of "co-existing literacies" has clarified role discrepancies which have been making me feel uneasy for several years. At a school I know well, the library is managed by someone who has undeniable organisational and entrepreneurial skills but no formal TL qualifications. The principal appointed a specialist ICT teacher to collaborate with the class teachers in putting the technology aspects into their programs. They plan collaboratively but the lessons are separate/isolated and I now comprehend that this is placing the focus on only 1 or 2 literacies out of the many, although this is where the NSW Board of Studies has also placed major emphasise.

The lack of collaborative teaching also disadvantages the students in that they miss out on the benefit of having two teachers in the room guiding them in their information gathering and coaching them in their development of relevant skills.

I now believe that this ICT specialist (who has also evolved into the website developer/manager) is a substitute TL. It appears obvious that there is either no school-wide information literacy policy incorporating the role of the TL, or the principal has not been aware of the content of the policy, or perhaps previous TLs have been too pre-occupied (through lack of support staff) with Librarian/Manager/Administration aspects of the role that the T part has completely slipped through the cracks.

A comment from a casual teacher who was visiting the school (and who has completed this subject last year) also highlighted the fact that the staff at this school do not appear to really understand the concept of collaboration. Each stage (group of teachers) allocates one of their number to write each unit of work - they also incorporate resources which they believe should be used, but which often turn out to be their own individual resources which are no longer available when they leave, and are often unavailable/out of print, etc.). The school works on a two year teaching cycle and when each unit comes around one teacher is allocated to teach every class in the stage for that particular unit. Again, no real collaboration.

This also means that the resources are very specific - little provision is made for students finding their own information, or collaboratively constructing their own new knowledge.

An attempt at modelling resource based learning with a stage 3 class during a library lesson highlighted the fact that some students do not accept the concept of group work at all. This would indicate a need for further training and practice for these students.

Disturbing thoughts

I have been pushing myself very hard to complete ass. 1 before Easter to take the pressure off time with family. Have now got a reasonable draft which I can just add to/amend as I continue to read over the break without feeling panicked. Have been thinking about constructivism v. behaviourism. Am disturbed about the implications of the former. Especially after reading an article by Judy O. about blogging, twittering, etc. during lectures/presentations. My behaviourist background says that when someone has taken time and effort to prepare something then the 'listeners' should pay attention out of respect - maybe make some notes for later review/discussion. I also find it hard to comprehend how one can be discussing the presentation (either face-to-face or online) while the presenter is still presenting. How can you be sure that you hear the rest of the presentation accurately? You may miss some really important point - perhaps they were just warming up in the first part?

I think that RBL can be a very effective tool and really like the idea of learners discovering things for themselves - much more meaningful/lasting but there must be an introduction/setting of the scene (RBT) to start from - there has to be someone who is the 'sage on the stage' (?McKenzie) who then becomes the 'guide on the side' - supporting and encouraging discovery and synthesis.

Assignment lodged...reading again

Well I actually got the assignment for my other subject lodged on Sunday night. Phew! Am back to madly reading again for this subject. Very interesting readings. Friend loaned me "The Information Literate School Community 2: Issues of Leadership" edited by James Henry & Marlene Asselin. Excellent resource for Assignment 1!

Have had two needles this week - whooping cough booster and flue vaccine. ugh.

Am slowly catching up at work - we got a new library management system installed in January and I've been paddling very fast ever since trying to keep our heads above water and figure out how to make the various modules do the things we want them to; and how to modify our procedures when they don't. ;) One of my casual staff lost her mum this week - very distressing.

Integration, enhancing the role of the TL?

Integrated units of work which focus on the same theme across all the key learning areas are of concern due to their limited focus. Surely students need opportunities to expand their horizons? There is so much to learn and discover one would think that using a different topic for each KLA would provide more scope for students to explore more topics; give them a smorgasbord so that they can taste lots of different things and will be more aware of possible choices as they go through life. Apparently this is not in line with current educational theory so it seems like a tremendous opportunity and challenge for the TL to provide lots of interesting resources so that when students do come to the library (either physically or virtually) they can explore new vistas. Selecting wisely is of paramount importance to ensure that young imaginations and hungry minds are provided with lots of stimulus and lots of options for wide reading. The Premier's Reading Challenge and similar programs can be helpful as they encourage students to read outside their normally favoured genre and topic areas. What do you think?

Challenges to the school librarian

Also in Access September 2005 pp. 15 -17, Malcolm Gillies highlights the transition of the last 30 years from the role of "keeper of the keys of boxed knowledge" to "co-worker with teachers and students, helping them to maximise information access and advising on good and bad practices". He sees 4 challenges/opportunities -
(1)accountabilty, including documenting;
(a) the contribution that a TL makes "as [a] facilitator of powerful teaching, powerful learning", (b) how the TL develops information literacy (IL) in the clients (c) research on improvement in IL that results from the activities of a TL
(2) "contribution to learning how to learn" - basis for lifelong learning
(3) "contribution to global citizenry" - freedom of information, freedom of expression and intellectual liberalism - leading to tolerance and plurality of perspective.
(4) "maintenance of the library as a place apart" - a quiet refuge for reading, thinking, listening to music or looking at books, a place of order and mutual respect.

Success, motivation, thinking and self-awareness

Victor Davidson in Success, motivation, thinking and self-awareness, Access September 2005, p. 9-10 talks about various literacies, including listening to music from a variety of sources and formats and cooking (recipes, food groups, etc.) as being useful tools to engage students with the concepts, tools and skills that are needed to be information literate. An example I have used in this regard is selecting the exact item when a hypothetical Mum asks a hypothetical student to purchase some margarine on the way home from school. When you walk into the supermarket there are sometimes dozens of pots and pats of various sizes, and with a multitude of different ingredients. Unless you have asked 'Mum' the right questions, e.g. is it for baking a cake or spreading on bread, has someone in the family an allergy/intolerance to a certain ingredient, etc. you'll be lucky to come home with the exact item that is needed. It's the same when a student comes to the library and says "I need some information about XYZ". They need to ask themselves a few leading questions first so that they can be more specific and end up with exactly what they need rather than a plethora of trivia. Asking the right questions is an important skill for lifelong learning, and it doesn't just happen; it has to be taught and developed through practice.

Davidson also says that "In an ideal world, we would collaborate with all the [teachers] and team-teach to integrate information skills" but in the interim he will "embrace" those teachers who come and "subvert" those who don't "by teaching around" them in all sorts of creative ways. That seems to be the reality in a lot of school libraries.

Expectations

Some years ago I worked with a newly qualified TL who emphasised the L part of her role by saying that while she had a double degree, which gave her credibility within the school environment, she was primarily a Librarian who therefore did not have to work after hours and especially during school holidays. Needless to say, there were no information literacy initiatives introduced from or within that school library during her tenure.

The minimal level of staffing in most school libraries, and the culture of teaching (there is always preparation and marking to be done at home)does not allow committed TLs to enjoy the 'luxury' this lady maintained as her right.

The reality for the vast majority of TLs is that they prepare lessons, display materials, pathfinders, etc. at home or after school hours.

Reflective learning

In his rationale for work placements for librarianship students, Pymm (2007) cites Alderman and Milne, (pp. 11 & 12)as they quote David Kolb's "experiential learning" propositions:
*Learning is continually modified by experience
*Learning is about testing and examining, then building the results into what is already known
*Learning is continuous
*Learning is about resolving conflicts between the practice and theory; concepts and experience

Pymm further says that reflection is of major importance - "that it involves students...thinking about what has happened, how it fits in to their experience and how they respond to this knowledge (eg. by changing behavious, broadening understanding etc) (Alderman and Milne, p. 16)". Pymm also contends that having a mentor is highly beneficial as, as well as providing challenges and insights to stretch the student's learning experience, it enables a student to debrief in a caring and supportive environment.

Prioritising - the 3rd generation (Covey, 1990)

I have been feeling really stressed because I am getting further and further behind. My other subject for this semester is Introductory ICT and I can't get my head around the Boolean algebraic expressions, truth tables and digital gates already and the next topic has to do with algorithms and binary numbers, etc. Assignment 1 is due on 30 March. Over the past 9 years I have attended lots of TL conferences and read lots and feel very passionate about teaching skills for lifelong learning; and assignment 1 for ETL401 is not until after Easter, so I'm just going to put it on hold while I get all the reading done for ICT. Then I will probably need to find a tutor/coach to help me with the mathematical side of it while I prepare to write ETL assignment one.

Engaging students

This week (as a follow up to an initial ppt presentation on Assembly) I have been visiting classrooms to inform and encourage students K to 9 to take on the Premier's Reading Challenge, for the first year in our school. In the first primary and secondary classrooms (year 2 and year 9) I spoke and used the data projector to demonstrate logging on to the website and looking up Booklists, etc. Subsequently, the kindy teacher, who is fairly tech. literate, showed me how to use the interactive whiteboard software to create a wmv? file - a recording of everything that happens on the screen while I do the searching, logging on, etc. So I made the recording - alternately typing, searching, logging on, etc. I have now used it with years 7, 8, 9 and stage 3. I can pause the movie and answer questions and the kids love it. They all watch intently while it plays (I made a couple of spelling corrections within the recording and that really caught their attention!). I am very pleased with the way the kids got really involved with the presentation.

Are we crazy?

Interesting that one of the first readings for the subject Teacher Librarianship is "Conflict Resolution" (Sanders, 2004, ch. 13).

Anecdotal evidence (and on OZTL_NET) is that many students are going right through school to university without even the basics of how fiction and non-fiction are stored differently. I hear so often of the frustration suffered by practicing TLs who experience a glass wall between themselves and class teachers when it comes to collaboration. Most TLs seem to compromise and focus on teaching Information Skills and hope that some of it ignites in the kids minds when they start doing their assignments. 'Crumbs under the table' come when the class teacher books the class into the Library for research sessions. The TL can then prioritize to work alongside the students as they start to look for sources and resources.

So, the consensus is that it is worth all the negatives, to see when the 'light comes on' and the students experience the satisfaction of finding good quality information.

Literate or Fluent?

Migrants to Australia who are not fluent in spoken English may be quite literate but still have difficulty in communicating. My Uncle came from Eastern Europe and worked on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme for many years. He arrived in Australia before I was born and during my teen years we corresponded periodically - in English. He lived alone, and when he died we found that he had hand copied the entire Bible 3 times in order to improve his English.

After retirement, when he came to visit me at boarding school, his accent was still so strong that the other students queried whether he actually spoke English.
He was literate. He could read and write in two languages. He was almost 'able to speak a foreign language correctly and [mostly] without hesitation', but he was not totally fluent, that is 'able to express himself clearly and without hesitation' because his accent was so strong it offended his hearers ears. Thus he was not considered to be 'fluent' but rather awkward and embarrassing.

To live effectively in the 21st century we must all be both literate and fluent. We need to be able to read and write, although not necessarily using the written language conventions of previous generations. (The speed of everything in this generation is developing a kind of sms shorthand, although still requiring uniformly understood print conventions to facilitate communication). Just like my uncle and other migrants, people using 21st century information and communication technologies (which are, or are rapidly becoming, the norm in our everyday lives,) can be 'information literate' in a print sense but not necessarily 'information fluent' in the ICT sense. This lack of fluency causes embarrassment and will continue to do so until overcome by upskilling (or by death as in Uncle's case).

Uncle could have immersed himself in social activities to practice his English conversation and to improve his fluency in the English language. This would have produced many embarrassing incidents in the short term, but would also have helped in the long term. Teaching and learning in schools in the 21st century must involve total immersion in the Web 2.0 environment to produce both information literate and information fluent members of society.

BTW, Uncle probably knew more about the structure of written English than many of my school peers, but they had the advantage of fluency through regular and continual use. Teachers and Teacher/Librarians can/must learn something from this.

Survey results

Surveyed known teachers by email re role of teacher and role of TL. Some very interesting answers. Mainly focused on support to students and teachers in accessing appropriate resources, facilitating resource sharing. No mention of leadership aspects, or acknowledgement of need for familiarity with curriculum documents. Certainly no mention of collaboration with class teachers or teaching of critical literacy. Hence no concept of the need for publicity or advocacy of the TL role or the library.

Obviously, if there is no acknowledgement of a need for collaboration then there is no awareness of the need for any associated publicity or advocacy. It's a bit like travelling in a foreign country and experiencing a totally different culture. The teachers' expectations are not at all like the expectations of professional TLs. Obviously this has lead to the situations where it has been considered unnecessary to employ properly qualified TLs. Why would you need a teacher in the Library?

Perhaps things would change if some TLs made a concerted effort to become Principals?

Keywords from Interact - introduction

a particular focus on the teaching role of the TL, and the importance of collaborative cultures in facilitating resource-based and inquiry learning in schools.

Thoughts while travelling home...

What is the TL role in creating an inf. lit. (or is it inf. fluent) school community?
Resourcing - appropriately - adequately - respecting context (philosophy/world view)-
Curriculum based - BOS
Supporting teachers (and ancilliary staff) in teaching and associated activities which enables students and concurrently facilitates PD goals of teachers and support staff
Supporting parents, grandparents, friends as they hopefully collaborate with the school - parenting guides - disability support guides - modelling reading - hobbies
Tactful diplomat - Facilitator - identify gifts/talents of others and provide opportunities for expression
Publicist/entrepreneur - always 'selling' the role and the resources/programs & activities
Teaching effective & efficient use of resources
Teachable/willing to learn in order to remain relevant in digital age
Stimulating imaginations

Group Activity from Res School - 21/2/09

We chose these as indicative of the 5 key roles of a TL:
Knowledge of Curriculum & Resources/Topics - to enable a match-up
Teach Research/Information Skills including critical literacy
Flexible collaboration with class teachers - IT savvy leader/supporter
Self-motivation/initiative to promote the resources of the library & self
Administration/organization of people and resources/finances