Uncomfortable lessons

So the feedback on my last assignment has brought home some uncomfortable truths.

1. Sometimes I try to cut corners with my references.  I skim thru looking for only what I want, then put them in as a quote, when in fact if I read the whole article, it may not be what the author was going on about at all!
2. I have to watch how I insert a reference into my writing.  Sometimes the way I do it can imply that the author has read my assignment and lent their support, when in fact all I'm using is their idea.  It's an easy fix - instead of say "blah blah blah author's idea (author 2009)", I need to do something like:"Author (2009) says blah blah blah"
3. Apparently I end my sentences with prepositions a lot.  Admittedly I then had to go onto Google and find out what a preposition was.  Love to know how i got thru 2 degrees and a diploma without that being picked up before!
4. Same with split infinitives.  "To boldly go" is apparently wrong.  "To go boldy" is apparently correct.  Whatever.  I still want to boldy go. 

I guess learning can't be comfortable all the time.

Searching with style. Well, better than I was!

My search skills have certainly improved.  I'm rewriting the Wiki for EER500 and i need to find some new research based articles for the use of  wiki in education.  Well, back in January this task would have needed quite an investment of time and energy, but tonight - about an hour to basically find what I need, read it, summarise the relevant bits, and put what I need into a draft from for the next part of my research assignment.
Cool.
I found a neat trick.  Sometimes you find articles that are not quite what you need.  However, if you go to their reference section, sometimes you can find a closer match.. Use Google Scholar or onto the CSU library database and odds on it's there! 

Another step along the journey

So here I am again, blogging as well as posting to a Wiki after creating and managing my own.  For a girl who didn't know what a Wiki was before April I'm not doing too badly.

Just posted my first part of my assignment for EER500 - Research.  I sure am glad we did all that stuff learning how to search for articles way back in ETL 401.  It was soooo helpful.  But I still can't get the hang of keywords, although using a thesaurus did help a tad.  Actually what helped the most was asking another person - people are much better at thinking laterally when the thesaurus doesn't help.

Task C: Synthesis and reflection

When I told people I was doing a Masters to become a Teacher Librarian, the most common reaction was one of incredulity.  Why do you need a Masters to be a librarian? At the start of this course I also had a very stereotypical image of a teacher librarian.  Along with many in education (Zmuda & Harada 2008, Oberg 2006, Eisenberg 2006) I had no idea of the plethora of tasks involved, the responsibilities, the influence a teacher librarian had, and the incredible benefits he or she could bring to a school (Oberg 2002).  This image is being corrected, but there is still a way to go and at least one obvious hole in my developing knowledge.

My first attempted definition of a teacher librarian reflected my ignorance: “a Teacher who is also a qualified librarian” (Soon, all will call me Master! 24/02/11). I managed to recognise that curriculum knowledge and relationships are important and vaguely described collaboration on February 25^th (Relationships with staff) before I knew what collaboration was. However it was an extremely basic understanding.  I was still in the mindset that teacher librarians mostly just find resources for teachers, and this is why they need to meet with them.

Module 2 and assignment 1 – examining and defining the role of the Teacher librarian – certainly opened my eyes to how amazing and multifaceted this teacher librarian creature could be and how dynamic the field was. The list of spheres they influence is huge and just seems to increase the more reading I do. The field is dynamic.  It touches areas such as staff development, curriculum, teachers, resources, technological developments, media, storage, and behaviour (Purcell 2010, Eisenberg 2006, Herring 2005) but it is not tied down.  As I read more and more about how important a teacher librarian is (Martineau, 2010, Oberg, 2002) I was slightly stunned that “there is a ... dichotomy between how undefined the role is and yet how vital it seems to be. Everybody says how important and vital they are, yet no-one seems to be able to say exactly what they do”. (Amazed at how vital yet unknown, 16/03/11, para.1). 

A comprehensive definition still eludes me, and maybe it is part of the nature of the beast.  I agree with Purcell (2010) that the role description itself is constantly changing and the ability to learn new tasks and adapt the role to shifting paradigms is needed. “any attempted definitions of the role of a TL could possibly be like photographs in time: they may be very relevant for right now, but in time – a year, a few years, or a decade – they will not match the current needs and expectations.” (Topic 2 forum, 8/03/11, 10:03pm)

Researching for both assignments saw me drawn to authors such as Hassett (2007) and Warlick (2007) who challenge the ‘sacred cows’ of traditional libraries and ways of thinking.  One message I have received loud and clear is that there is a change with not just how ridiculously accessible information now is, but that the next generation see information differently, as raw material to transform or create with.  Libraries cannot be containers to hold information anymore and librarians are no longer gatekeepers.  People must be their own gatekeepers and be guided as how to do this ethically.  I never expected to be teaching ethics as part of the teacher librarians’ role, but I understand why this is necessary.

Module 5 (Collaboration) and parts of Module 1 (The Role of a Teacher Librarian, Principal Support) started the development of a recognition that many factors determine exactly what a teacher librarian can do within a school. A perfect school where the teacher librarian is valued and supported is rare. In reality, the exact role a teacher librarian will have within a school will probably be determined by “the school and its priorities”. (Topic 2 forum, 12/03/11, 4:43pm). As with teaching, one will still aim and strive for perfection but realise that one may have to settle for less.

The journey cannot be over there are still gaps.  I approach being a teacher librarian very much from the perspective of a teacher.  Much is said on my blogs and forum posts about how it is like teaching, or how to make the teacher’s job easier, or how teachers can be helped by teacher librarians.  Very little is said how the teacher librarian interacts with or influences students or other staff members – a gaping hole.  I now know that these are also the clients of the teacher librarian that need to be included in time and effort – especially students (Hassett, 2007).

Role of TL again

So the TL is also the person who is trying to increase the information literacy of not just students but staff as well. 
IF inquiry based learning is being used in the school
THEN staff and students will need to know how to find and filter the info they need or don't need
AND the TL is probably going to have to provide models, resources etc.

Now info lit is sounding like the new science.

Hey reading

Made another connection after reading my second article about info lit.  It contains a list of skills students are supposed to be using for information literacy, as listed below.  And while reading them, I thought they sounded an awful lot like the skills listed in the Science strand of the new Australian Curriculum.

Here is what was on the second article:

Student Skills and Strategies

The student uses habits of mind:

• recognize problems
• formulate hypotheses
• make good predictions
• ask important questions
• locate, analyze, interpret, evaluate and record information and ideas
• assume multiple stances
• apply heuristic strategies
• develop complex understanding
• extend understanding through creative models
• apply understanding to new problems
• Taken from "Information literacy: building blocks of...."

Here is what is in the new Australain Curriculum.  Go to the science inquiry skills and click on each one - a lot of parallels!
Year 2 science Australian Curriculum

The History strand has a bit too but does not tie in as obviously or as easily as the science strand does:
Yr 2 History Australian Curriculum

SOOOOO can we use science to cover/teach/reinforce our info lit skills?
Hmmmmm.....

Information literacy thoughts

So after reading just one article about info lit, a few thoughts have occurred to me.
First it sorta sounds like stuff I was doing in my early years of teaching.  I figured that the kids are going to know how to read or interpret more than books, so I was showing them how read posters, the phone book, adverts etc.  All stuff they were going to need to function properly in the world outside of school.  All before the www was invented.  SO now that we have a www, my thought is that we just extend literacy into these areas.  Include how to read and interpret websites, social media, texts, emails etc.
If I was going to present the concept of info lit to techers who had been teaching for ages, I'd take that angle - stuff the kids are going to need to know how to read and interpret to function outside of school and not get ripped off.
Second trying to find a definition for info lit sounds very similar to finding a definition for the role of a TL - they're a great, research-backed and you'd better have it, but exactly what they are or do is still a bit of a mystery!

The Laptop Fallacy - dense article re info lit

So what's information literacy then?

OK, before I have done any readings here is an attempted definition:
Information literacy being able to access, interpret and make decisions about the usefulness of information.

So therefore you will need to be able to:

1. get to the information.  This may mean books, posters, Internet, online, talking to people.  All sorts of places.  Can you get to the info?
2. figure out what the info is saying. 
3. Do all those higher-order processing skills like evaluate, interpret, classify - decide if this info is what you want or not.

So there we go.

So let's see if this changes as I start reading a bit more.

Thought on Inquiry based learning

I wonder....way back when I did my teaching degree, we were taught that the best learning occurred when the student thought they had made a new discovery or learnt something new by themselves.  In fact, the teacher had been in the background all the time, guiding and directing the student to take a certain path, blocking off certain ways, opening up other ways, so the student ended up about where the teacher had intended they be all along.  If the teacher was successful, the student doesn't see what the teacher has been doing in the background - they think they've done it all on their own and have this "new discovery".  This learning sticks, because the student thinks it's "theirs", they found it, they discovered it. 

I see parallels with inquiry based or constructivist learning.  Students think they are making their own discoveries, but in reality it is the teacher who is setting up the learning opportunities, guiding and directing.

Stuff in common? - I am inclined to think so.

First assignment in, Legos and Sandboxes

Well I am feeling very proud of myself - first assignment in for my Masters.  First tertiary paper in 15 odd years or so.  It did give me quite a feel for what is possible for teacher librarians.  i particularly liked an article by Bob Hassett - Playing with Legos in the Sandbox and other Uses For  Library.  Love the way he practically and realistically says we need to take a cold hard look at what a library does and "make re-invention continuous" (p.24). And then the bit where he quotes Paul Miller who says the library should be like Lego - build the model you want, not the one on the box.  Moving beyond the walls of the library, and letting people play with information, to build with it, create with it.

Makes me think more of a community library then a school library though.  People who come into a community library are there because they want to be - they may have a goal in mind or they may not.  But they are there and are open to using whats in the library.

However, a school library faces the challenge of actually getting students in, or getting the info to the students.  Plus, probably a lot of the clients in the school library are there because they HAVE to be - they have an assignment, they need something to read, the teachers there need a new resource, poster or idea.  Much less voluntary attendance in a school library - so I guess this is when you have to take it beyond the walls.  Community library patrons know they have a need - that's why they are there.  But students and teachers may not look to the library as a port of call and may rely on Google, thinking that will answer every question everybody ever has in the entire world. 

Hmmm.  Would rather work in a community library then.

However, love this quote at from the article: -
"The Library is a sandbox...a space where friends and strangers come together in community, to try things out and play with things and smash things together, and nobody gets hurt and nothing gets broken (and when we do we say we're sorry and put things back together and keep playing)." (p. 25)

Amazed at how vital yet unknown

As I'm reading more and more about Teacher Librarians (or Media Specialist or what ever you want to call them) there is a growing sense of a dichotomy between how undefined the role is and yet how vital it seems to be.  Everybody says how important and vital they are, yet no-one seems to be able to say exactly what they do.

On one hand, although there are many highly esteemed and educated persons trying to define the role of a TL, there is no one definitive definition.  One says this, another adds this aspect in, yet another says this is the most important thing and so on and so on.  Added to that is that not many people know what a TL does - and if we can't define it, no wonder!

On the other hand, even though we can't figure out exactly what a TL does, there is so much saying that having a good TL in your school has a dramatic effect on student learning, achievement etc etc.

So, even if no-one actually know what a TL does, you better get one anyway!

Hmmm. 

How should TLs prioritise the roles they play in schools?

How should TLs prioritise the roles they play in schools?
These are my thoughts after comparing the Johnson and Lamb article with that of Purcell and Herring.

A lot will probably depend on the school and its priorities. If they just want a person in the library who will occupy the students for 45 mins so teachers get the required amount of release time as stipulated in their enterprise bargaining agreement, then what you initially do may be quite separate from what goes on in classrooms.

There would be things you could do to increase the collaborative aspect – simply emailing teachers and asking what their units of study are for that term would at least tie it in with the classroom learning.

Much would also hinge on the sympathy of the head of the school as to how they see your role and how sympathetic they are to a change in that. For instance, your requests to run staff PD sessions showing the usefulness of Kidspiration may depend on the HOD saying yay or neigh.

I like the idea suggested in Johnson and Lamb where you Show teachers how using IT can make their job easier and Fit in with what is already being taught, rather than have isolated, stand-alone lessons.

I guess then, that the first few steps in working out your priorities would include working out what the current role of the TL is, finding a school mission statement, stock taking what you have so far in terms of Info Lit resources, talking to staff regarding their views on what a TL should be doing – that is, get a feel for what is already there.

Once you’ve done that, compare that to your list of what a TL should do, decide what is achievable, then work out a plan to get there.

Thoughts?

Thoughts on Purcell reading - All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books Right?

Do you agree with Purcell?

After reading Purcell's article, think about a) whether you agree with the roles Purcell identifies and b) whether you would change the order of the roles she identifies e.g. should teacher come first?

Do I agree with the roles Purcell identifies? Hmmmm.....

A key statement I underlined is in the conclusion – “Media specialist’s roles are constantly changing and they must be able to accept new tasks in order to perform their duties successfully”

Constantly changing?  This says to me that any attempted definitions of the role of a TL could possibly be like photographs in time: they may be very relevant for right now, but in time – a year, a few years, or a decade – they will not match the current needs and expectations.  Her definitions may have dated by 2021, as may have other definitions we are examining now.  The article is dated Nov/Dec 2010 and so is fairly recent, but it would be an interesting exercise to go back in 5, 10 years time and do a comparison between what a TL was expected in then and now.

Or not. 

They may be as solid as they come and be just as relevant then as now.

Having said that do I agree with her role definition?  Honestly, not having had any TL experience, I myself am a novice with very little idea about what a TL does or is supposed to do.  These articles are defining it for me as I go, so my judgement calls at this stage comes from very shaky ground.  There is no way I have any solid experience to call on.

Purcell says herself in the last sentence – Library media specialists need to do a better job of clearly articulating their roles........

I guess that’s what we’re trying to do.

More thoughts as they come to hand

Role of a Teacher Librarian - thoughts on Purcell reading

Hey all.  Just read All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist by Melissa Purcell.

Here are my thoughts on it:

The TL seems to move in and out of all of these roles as the moment requires, and most seem to converge on the Programme Administrator role (forgive my English rather than USA spelling).  A timeline could almost be drawn through roles as new units of study are introduced to the school community.

As an Instructional Partner they sit beside classroom teachers to assist in designing and resourcing units of study.  They know what is being taught.  (Classroom teacher – what is being taught in their year level and maybe the one above and below.  TL – what is being taught across the entire school)

As an Information Specialist they guide both teachers and students in accessing the information and techniques they need, almost like a portal to information.  However, this portal is not passive but actively develops and expands the higher order thinking and filtering skills so teachers and students can evaluate, filter, retain or discard information.  They make choices about its relevancy or importance.

As a Teacher they use their teaching skills to instruct staff and students how to find, access, and distribute not just knowledge and information, but the methods to do this – be it software, the Dewy Decimal system, websites, databases.  For instance, how do you narrow searches on EBSCO to find what you really need?

As part of the Programme Administrator role, they already have a good handle on their learning community – their interests, their ages, past experiences, level of literacy and aliteracy.

This would then converge in the Programme Administrator role again as the questions would come up:

·         Do we have the current resources to meet the needs now identified?

·         How can these be best presented and distributed?

It seems that, with the exception of the role of leader, all 4 other roles are done to some extent by a good primary teacher on a much smaller and more focused scale.

Media specialists?

OK so I never thought of librarians as media specialists.  There's one I'll have to ponder further over.

Goodness me school libraries have only really taken off since the 1970s.  That's awfully late.  That's in my lifetime.  So the position of TL has only been around since I've been around!  Before that it was just Sunday school teachers and churches providing the education.  Which is probably why so many schools come from churches.

Relationships with staff

Next thought re Teacher Librarians: they've got to have a great working relationship with the staff.  The TL will be one of the ways teachers will get info and resources.  You'll have to know what each year level is covering in their classroom, and at what angle.  So a knowledge of the curriculum will be needed as well.  The new Australian Curriculum springs to mind, as well as access to a scope and sequence for the years in the school.  eg P-7, 1-6, whatever the school is.

So in order to provide the teachers with

• what they need
• when they need it
• in the fashion they can cope with (learning styles!),

you'll need to know:

•  who you are working with,
• what they are working on,
• when they need what stuff, and
•  how they would prefer to get it. 

For instance, Year 2 may be working on local history in term 2 and 1 teacher find IT stuff tricky.  They would need websites directing them to local places of interest that are linked to the past, the local phone books with maps in to locate these, maybe a link to Google maps so the kids or teachers can look up their local suburbs, local history books with lots of pictures the students would recognise as places they had been to locally, and probably old school end-of-year magazines from a variety of years to look and research the age of schools in the area.

Soon, all will call me Master!

So here I am blogging for the very first time, a thing I didn't think I'd ever do.  But I've been dragged into it, not very reluctantly, because I'm becoming a Master!  A Master of Education, that is.  To be a Teacher Librarian.  It's part of the subject I'm doing, so here I go.

First thing - what do I think a Teacher Librarian is?  Hmm....Easy answer is a Teacher who is also a qualified librarian.  Little more thought...a qualified teacher who has the skills necessary in Information Services to organise and convey these skills not only to students but also to any staff working in the library. 

More to come.