Those who subscribers to the OZTL_NET will already be aware of this site that links to podcasts about teaching Information Literacy in libraries. It might be of interest to ETL 401 students.
This is a great idea! Adventures in library instruction is a monthly hour long podcast (available in mp3) ”about teaching information literacy in libraries.”
http://adlibinstruction.blogspot.com/
and this one for both ETL 401 and ETL 501
http://www.rusq.org/2010/06/23/instructional-strategies-for-digital-reference-methods-to-facilitate-student-learning/
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Reference, The Net and the Nature of Truth
In ETL 501 we have been considering the future of reference material. Of first interest is the multi-faceted nature of reference material. On one hand, it is the books that are not available for loan and can only be used in the library itself. The State Library of NSW is a reference library in keeping with this definition. In school and public libraries, the reference books tend to be the most expensive books or books of which there may be only one copy. Print encyclopaedias, some dictionaries, year books and so on are classified as reference books because they are unavailable for borrowing and can only be used within the library.
Somehow, this means that the term "reference" has also come to mean those books, such as encyclopaedias, that have been designed for easy reference to information, facts and images. It has also come to mean academic or authoritative texts to which one refers for reliable, verifiable facts and information.
However, post-modernism does not sit comfortably with the notion that there is such as thing as reliable, verifiable facts and information. According to post-modern thinking, the authority or reliability no longer lies necessarily with an academic researcher, expert author or even scientific paper. It lies with the individual reader and their experience and understanding. If it's true for them, then it's true.
There is a positive and negative aspect to this. One the positive side we have come to recognise and respect the authority and reliability of other traditions, such as the oral tradition of indigenous cultures as having equal standing with Western academic knowledge. We also acknowledge that not all knowledge and wisdom lies in the realm of academia or rational modernism.
On the negative side, there is no longer a consensus of what constitutes an objective, testable truth. The growing awareness that observations and records can consciously or unconsciously influenced by the observer or author themselves has led to mistrust of much that would have been taken for granted as fact in years gone by.Scientific measurement may suggest an objectivity but the purpose and design of the experiment or empirical observation or the use, projection and interpretation of the measured observations have left contemporary citizens less inclined to view the results as infallible.
While this situation perplexes neo-Darwinists such as Dawkins and Hitchin, science has itself to blame. Ordinary citizens see the result of the arrogant assurance of science in the arms race, the space race and the dehumanising effect of technology. They see the champions of scientific progress choosing between a sterile, anti-spiritualism and a fanatical and fervent religious belief in the ability of science as the saviour of humankind.
This post-modern view of knowledge is evident in a resource such as Wikipedia. Obviously, there is also a financial saving to having willing contributor share their knowledge for free but the key element is the democratic approach that honours the knowledge of each individual and the ability of the collected readership to approve or correct the knowledge being provided.
At one level it serves the original purpose of the world wide web, to allow researchers around the world to share their knowledge but the pool of knowledge and expertise has been expanded or democratised. Somehow the arbiter of truth or fact is now the collective mind of the world.
Where does that leave the internet and Wikipedia as a reference source? It is a product of the desire to make information instantly available to whoever wants it. It is also a victim of the scepticism that underscores post-modern society. If it taken with these characteristics in tension, then Wikipedia and similar online references deliver exactly what they were created to provide.If we can educate our students to use them with this understanding AND to seek information and verification from a number of sources then we are contributing to their development as successful users of online information.
If we can reinstate trust both through our relationships with them and through the quality and usefulness of information and resources to which we direct them, we will do them an even greater service.
Somehow, this means that the term "reference" has also come to mean those books, such as encyclopaedias, that have been designed for easy reference to information, facts and images. It has also come to mean academic or authoritative texts to which one refers for reliable, verifiable facts and information.
However, post-modernism does not sit comfortably with the notion that there is such as thing as reliable, verifiable facts and information. According to post-modern thinking, the authority or reliability no longer lies necessarily with an academic researcher, expert author or even scientific paper. It lies with the individual reader and their experience and understanding. If it's true for them, then it's true.
There is a positive and negative aspect to this. One the positive side we have come to recognise and respect the authority and reliability of other traditions, such as the oral tradition of indigenous cultures as having equal standing with Western academic knowledge. We also acknowledge that not all knowledge and wisdom lies in the realm of academia or rational modernism.
On the negative side, there is no longer a consensus of what constitutes an objective, testable truth. The growing awareness that observations and records can consciously or unconsciously influenced by the observer or author themselves has led to mistrust of much that would have been taken for granted as fact in years gone by.Scientific measurement may suggest an objectivity but the purpose and design of the experiment or empirical observation or the use, projection and interpretation of the measured observations have left contemporary citizens less inclined to view the results as infallible.
While this situation perplexes neo-Darwinists such as Dawkins and Hitchin, science has itself to blame. Ordinary citizens see the result of the arrogant assurance of science in the arms race, the space race and the dehumanising effect of technology. They see the champions of scientific progress choosing between a sterile, anti-spiritualism and a fanatical and fervent religious belief in the ability of science as the saviour of humankind.
This post-modern view of knowledge is evident in a resource such as Wikipedia. Obviously, there is also a financial saving to having willing contributor share their knowledge for free but the key element is the democratic approach that honours the knowledge of each individual and the ability of the collected readership to approve or correct the knowledge being provided.
At one level it serves the original purpose of the world wide web, to allow researchers around the world to share their knowledge but the pool of knowledge and expertise has been expanded or democratised. Somehow the arbiter of truth or fact is now the collective mind of the world.
Where does that leave the internet and Wikipedia as a reference source? It is a product of the desire to make information instantly available to whoever wants it. It is also a victim of the scepticism that underscores post-modern society. If it taken with these characteristics in tension, then Wikipedia and similar online references deliver exactly what they were created to provide.If we can educate our students to use them with this understanding AND to seek information and verification from a number of sources then we are contributing to their development as successful users of online information.
If we can reinstate trust both through our relationships with them and through the quality and usefulness of information and resources to which we direct them, we will do them an even greater service.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Bloom, Gardner and Pirozzo
In ETL 501, we're looking at the educational foundation for research. Bloom's Taxonomy has been suggested as a common starting point for learning, thinking and research. One of the forum posts referred to the combined Gardner/Blooms Matrix and the work of Ralph Pirozzo. I have attended two workshops with Ralph and I find his approach and his published material very useful. However, I always take the time to make the observation that combining Bloom and Gardner was originally set out in a book by Helen McGrath and Toni Noble, entitled Seven Ways at Once. The first of which was published in 1997. No doubt they will update these at some stage to include the eighth, Naturalist, intelligence. The McGrath and Noble books contain matrices of General Classroom Tasks and Starting Points. You can also find Blooms units and these Multiple Intelligence for a range of school stages and subjects (including Maths) in the TalentEd publication from the University of New England (UNE).
The point of these expanded grid is to remind us that, as James has said in the notes, that different students learn in different ways and that reference material is more than printed text. So the 42-grid reminds us that an image or an animation or even a site with sound is an important alternative for some learning styles.
By way of interest or maybe clarification here are three variations of the Blooms Taxonomy levels. I've used rows as there is no formatting available to make columns. The terms in the second row may help clarify the meaning of each level.
Bloom: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation
Mean: Remembering, Understanding, Using, Breaking Down, Creating, Judging
Pohl: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating
You will note that the third row, by Australian author Michael Pohl (who has written lots of useful Thinking Skills books), has the "top" two levels swapped around. An interesting variation that is worth pondering if and when you have time.
In some ways Bloom would have expected that students moved beyond an external reference for synthesis and evaluation to their own thinking and creative skills. However, as we have found, finding a reputable scholar or researcher who has published findings to support your thinking. So Google Scholar, or the Research Assistance section of AskScott or Newscan for the older students OR Study Search Australia for both Primary and Secondary Students would be useful for the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Here's a link to Study Search
http://www.studysearch.com.au/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
The Six Thinking Hats and the Thinking Caps (which I think are Pohl's variation but I could be wrong) overlap with Bloom in that they separate facts (White) from Evaluation (Positive and Negative, Yellow and Black) and Action (Green. Creativity). They also include the affective or emotional aspects (Feelings, Red) and metacognition (thinking about thinking, Blue).
The point of these expanded grid is to remind us that, as James has said in the notes, that different students learn in different ways and that reference material is more than printed text. So the 42-grid reminds us that an image or an animation or even a site with sound is an important alternative for some learning styles.
By way of interest or maybe clarification here are three variations of the Blooms Taxonomy levels. I've used rows as there is no formatting available to make columns. The terms in the second row may help clarify the meaning of each level.
Bloom: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation
Mean: Remembering, Understanding, Using, Breaking Down, Creating, Judging
Pohl: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating
You will note that the third row, by Australian author Michael Pohl (who has written lots of useful Thinking Skills books), has the "top" two levels swapped around. An interesting variation that is worth pondering if and when you have time.
In some ways Bloom would have expected that students moved beyond an external reference for synthesis and evaluation to their own thinking and creative skills. However, as we have found, finding a reputable scholar or researcher who has published findings to support your thinking. So Google Scholar, or the Research Assistance section of AskScott or Newscan for the older students OR Study Search Australia for both Primary and Secondary Students would be useful for the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Here's a link to Study Search
http://www.studysearch.com.au/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
The Six Thinking Hats and the Thinking Caps (which I think are Pohl's variation but I could be wrong) overlap with Bloom in that they separate facts (White) from Evaluation (Positive and Negative, Yellow and Black) and Action (Green. Creativity). They also include the affective or emotional aspects (Feelings, Red) and metacognition (thinking about thinking, Blue).
Saturday, June 19, 2010
ETL 401 Assessment 2 Reflection
As with many of those who have posted forum comments I'm happy with the result. I also agree that my marker's feedback was clear and helpful. There are two comments that I would make for the interest of those attempting this task in the future. The first is that two observations that I made about the practical use of the Information Literacy Models were questioned for not having a supporting reference. These were observations from my experience as a teacher. Obviously, I couldn't say, "From my experience ..." in such an assignment (it wouldn't be in the third person) but it appears that, even at this level, a scholarly paper must have more received wisdom than original thought and that critical analysis must carry the authority of published research rather than first-hand observation. I wonder if it would have been more acceptable if I had found the time to conduct my own research, following the advice of Ross Todd. One small postscript is that I used the term aspirational to describe the ASLA twelve standards, the later found an article in which the author of the standards used exactly the same term, so I added the reference. Does this make the observation any more valid?
I would, therefore suggest, that students select three Information Literacy models for which they can find published critical analysis. Obviously the ones that spring to mind are the Big6, Kulthau's Model and the Herring PLUS model. The Alberta model is another that falls into this category and is one of three that I chose. I obviously needed to make more of the studies of this and the Big6 (another of my choices) and less of my own critical analysis.
The second piece of feedback is that it's important to include specific curriculum-related observations in the analysis of the ASLA twelve standards. If these aren't apparent from the readings, then use the SCAN periodical which makes practical suggestions about teacher librarians and curriculum in just about every issue. In hindsight I would have said more about the collaboration of teacher librarian and class teacher in design, implementation and assessment of curriculum programming.
As always, I hope these reflections may assist others.
I would, therefore suggest, that students select three Information Literacy models for which they can find published critical analysis. Obviously the ones that spring to mind are the Big6, Kulthau's Model and the Herring PLUS model. The Alberta model is another that falls into this category and is one of three that I chose. I obviously needed to make more of the studies of this and the Big6 (another of my choices) and less of my own critical analysis.
The second piece of feedback is that it's important to include specific curriculum-related observations in the analysis of the ASLA twelve standards. If these aren't apparent from the readings, then use the SCAN periodical which makes practical suggestions about teacher librarians and curriculum in just about every issue. In hindsight I would have said more about the collaboration of teacher librarian and class teacher in design, implementation and assessment of curriculum programming.
As always, I hope these reflections may assist others.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Reflections on ETL 503 Assignment 2
I expect that you, like me, may well be receiving back your second assignment soon. I thought that I'd reflect on the marker's comments as they may be of use to those attempting this task in the future. There is no gripe here, just things that I could have done better that may assist others, especially as it is not always easy to interpret the guidelines in the assessment task itself.Firstly, although I used two measures of collection analysis I should have included other methods, or possible methods, that could be used to measure the usefulness of the collection in the learning/teaching process. There are a number of these given in the readings, for example the Bishop reading.
The needs of the curriculum are paramount in shaping the curriculum and I did not identify these well enough in the opening. I also failed to refer to enough sources, even if they may have said the same thing. I can see that me knowing that is not readily apparent to the marker unless I include the reference for a similar point. I also omitted to refer to Debowski with relation to budgeting in Part A. (Well I had and then I moved it to keep within the word limit. In fact, the same could be said of the extra measures of collection, which I included in the reflection in Part C). I certainly referred to Debowski specifically in Part B and Part C.
I also got into trouble for using an old edition of Learning for the Future. I know that a 2001 edition exists and our library catalogue says that we have it but it couldn't be found. I suppose it shows I'm limited in how far I will search out resources.
The suggestions about the Policy itself are helpful. As many others indicated on the forum, it was very hard to fit in with the word limit. Interestingly, under Ashley's advice I dropped all the specific school standards and vision statements. The marker wanted these included in my policy, even though they were in the Appendix A and I commented more than once on their effectiveness.
I did not include enough aids to selection (I had heaps more from Ashley's study guide and left them off due to the word limit) and I ignored the School Library Bill of Rights, although I knew that others were including this. Once again, all of its statements appeared in some form or another in the original library policy (Appendix A) and I left them out in this form due to space.
I failed to include collaboration in the policy, specifically collaborative development and review,even though I did nominate teachers and head teachers as part of the selection team for resources (as is the case with the present school policy). The policy needed to specify the collaboration taking place in the decision-making process and the benefits of this for ownership of the collection development by all staff. I know that I did use this almost exact phrase somewhere in my four assignments – I think ETL 401 Assignment 1. It's useful to make the cross overs.
The final omission was not to include a policy review date (as, of course, we have on every other school policy document) and reference to the approval by Principal or school Board. I did discuss the need to review in Part C. It is worth noting that, in the Board of Studies inspection, every policy except the Library policy had to be submitted for detailed scrutiny.
As I said this has been for the purpose of helping others with their future assignments. The rest of the detailed comments will help me to go back now and polish up my own library policy – without the pressure of a word limit!
The needs of the curriculum are paramount in shaping the curriculum and I did not identify these well enough in the opening. I also failed to refer to enough sources, even if they may have said the same thing. I can see that me knowing that is not readily apparent to the marker unless I include the reference for a similar point. I also omitted to refer to Debowski with relation to budgeting in Part A. (Well I had and then I moved it to keep within the word limit. In fact, the same could be said of the extra measures of collection, which I included in the reflection in Part C). I certainly referred to Debowski specifically in Part B and Part C.
I also got into trouble for using an old edition of Learning for the Future. I know that a 2001 edition exists and our library catalogue says that we have it but it couldn't be found. I suppose it shows I'm limited in how far I will search out resources.
The suggestions about the Policy itself are helpful. As many others indicated on the forum, it was very hard to fit in with the word limit. Interestingly, under Ashley's advice I dropped all the specific school standards and vision statements. The marker wanted these included in my policy, even though they were in the Appendix A and I commented more than once on their effectiveness.
I did not include enough aids to selection (I had heaps more from Ashley's study guide and left them off due to the word limit) and I ignored the School Library Bill of Rights, although I knew that others were including this. Once again, all of its statements appeared in some form or another in the original library policy (Appendix A) and I left them out in this form due to space.
I failed to include collaboration in the policy, specifically collaborative development and review,even though I did nominate teachers and head teachers as part of the selection team for resources (as is the case with the present school policy). The policy needed to specify the collaboration taking place in the decision-making process and the benefits of this for ownership of the collection development by all staff. I know that I did use this almost exact phrase somewhere in my four assignments – I think ETL 401 Assignment 1. It's useful to make the cross overs.
The final omission was not to include a policy review date (as, of course, we have on every other school policy document) and reference to the approval by Principal or school Board. I did discuss the need to review in Part C. It is worth noting that, in the Board of Studies inspection, every policy except the Library policy had to be submitted for detailed scrutiny.
As I said this has been for the purpose of helping others with their future assignments. The rest of the detailed comments will help me to go back now and polish up my own library policy – without the pressure of a word limit!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Critical Synthesis
I don’t think that I have ever subscribed to the librarian stereotype featured in the item about the Gillard enquiry into school libraries on the 9th April 2010 edition of Channel 10’s The 7pm Project. I think that I have long had a view of the librarian as a resource person to whom one went as a class teacher for assistance with locating, acquiring and organising resources for class assignments. More recently, I have appreciated the key partnership and leadership of the librarian in introducing and supporting online resources and digital literacy (Cooney 2010).
There are three aspects of the role of the teacher librarian that this course has brought into clear focus. The first is the pedagogical foundation for the teaching strategies and resources that my teacher librarian has helped me adopt in my teaching. These are Inquiry or Resource-based Learning and Information Literacy. By understanding these learning strategies and models more completely, I am able to better appreciate the teaching role and collaboration of the teacher librarian as well as more effectively employ them in my own teaching (Cooney, March 13th, 2010).
The second aspect is the importance of research-based reporting. Here’s my forum posting about this from March 7th:
"Having read the extended list and description of excellence in teacher-librarianship from the ASLA site, I was somewhat concerned about the suggestion that TLs [teacher librarians] should be involved in evidence-based research to justify the effectiveness of their role" (Cooney 2010).
Fellow student, Graham Bebington’s, response put my naïveté into sharp perspective.
"I tend to agree with you that it is strange that we have to justify and try and prove that we are effectively doing a job that for us we can see the tremendous benefits on student achievement and learning outcomes. However in this day and age there is a massive demand and an expectation of accountability and proof that we are facilitating and having a direct link to student academic growth" (Bebington 2010).
While working on assignment two I have come across a similar reference to research in Elements 6 and 7 of the NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards (NSW Institute of Teachers). However, I still think that the type of research described for teacher-librarians is different from that prescribed for teachers in general. The use of the same word may be misleading. When a graduate teacher explores “educational ideas and issues through research” or a professionally competent teacher explores “educational ideas, issues and research”, I suspect that this means locating, reading and evaluating professional literature and reports, whereas the ASLA standard – if the work of Ross Todd (2003, 2007) is to be the exemplary model – involves empirical research. I found the Delaware Case Study provided a compelling argument (Todd, 2009).
This is related to the third aspect that participating in this course has made clear: the precarious budgetary situation and the uncertain future for school libraries and teacher librarians. Whether the sobering budgeting guidelines of Debowski (2001), the case against invisibility set out by Oberg (2006) or the many stories set out by subscribers to the Australian Teacher Librarian Network (OZTL_NET) and the daily newspapers such as the Courier-Mail (2010) and The Age (2010), this has been a revelation. It has led to illuminating discussions with our own teacher librarian about the state of our school library collection and the effect that tighter budgeting has had upon it. These were certainly different from the views I expressed in an earlier blog from March 13th (Cooney, 2010). Having had to fight for many years for funds to resource my own subject area, I am no stranger to this situation but seeing the library as a central hub of the teaching and learning mission of the school, I had little or no awareness of the overall impact that this was having. I’m pleased that I kept note of the suggestions from Dianne McKenzie (McKenzie, 2009, 2010) in my blog entry from April 2nd (Cooney 2010).
I think that this is an issue that has genuine consequences for current teacher librarians and those of us who aspire to this profession. Without action to raise awareness and recognition of their role and effectiveness within the school, teacher librarians will be under threat (Cooney, May 9th, 2010). Those of us training for this role need to also be aware of the situation and ensure that our training and professional practice (including on-going training) enables us to lead in the making and monitoring of effective change and a positive difference in the learning and lives of our students.
References
Bebington, Graham. (2010, March 10th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 7th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Past and Future of School Libraries. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Guided Enquiry Learning. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Topic 2 Teacher Librarian Rules and Standards. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, April 2nd) ETL 401 Readings. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010. April 8th) Assignment Reflection 2. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, May 9th). Future of Teacher Librarians. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Debowski, S. (2001). Collection program funding management. In K. Dillon, J. Henri, & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less: collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 299-326). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Libraries at Risk. (2010, March 30). The Courier-Mail, p. 40-41.
Mckenzie, Dianne. (2009, June 27th). Importance of creating an annual report. Message posted to http://librarygrits.blogspot.com
MPs to hear school library concern (2010, April 27). The Age. Retrieved from:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/mps-to-hear-school-library-concerns-20100426-tnci.html
Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. In Teacher librarian. 33, 3. 13-18.
Todd, R. (2003). How to prove you boost student achievement. In School Library Journal, 4/1/2003 retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA287119&publication=slj
Todd, R.J. (2007) Evidence-based practice and school libraries. In S. Hughes-Hassall & V.H. Harada (Eds.). School reform and the school library media specialist (pp. 57-58). Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited
Todd. R. J. (2009). School libraries and continuous improvement: a case study. In Scan. 28(2). May. 26-31.
There are three aspects of the role of the teacher librarian that this course has brought into clear focus. The first is the pedagogical foundation for the teaching strategies and resources that my teacher librarian has helped me adopt in my teaching. These are Inquiry or Resource-based Learning and Information Literacy. By understanding these learning strategies and models more completely, I am able to better appreciate the teaching role and collaboration of the teacher librarian as well as more effectively employ them in my own teaching (Cooney, March 13th, 2010).
The second aspect is the importance of research-based reporting. Here’s my forum posting about this from March 7th:
"Having read the extended list and description of excellence in teacher-librarianship from the ASLA site, I was somewhat concerned about the suggestion that TLs [teacher librarians] should be involved in evidence-based research to justify the effectiveness of their role" (Cooney 2010).
Fellow student, Graham Bebington’s, response put my naïveté into sharp perspective.
"I tend to agree with you that it is strange that we have to justify and try and prove that we are effectively doing a job that for us we can see the tremendous benefits on student achievement and learning outcomes. However in this day and age there is a massive demand and an expectation of accountability and proof that we are facilitating and having a direct link to student academic growth" (Bebington 2010).
While working on assignment two I have come across a similar reference to research in Elements 6 and 7 of the NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards (NSW Institute of Teachers). However, I still think that the type of research described for teacher-librarians is different from that prescribed for teachers in general. The use of the same word may be misleading. When a graduate teacher explores “educational ideas and issues through research” or a professionally competent teacher explores “educational ideas, issues and research”, I suspect that this means locating, reading and evaluating professional literature and reports, whereas the ASLA standard – if the work of Ross Todd (2003, 2007) is to be the exemplary model – involves empirical research. I found the Delaware Case Study provided a compelling argument (Todd, 2009).
This is related to the third aspect that participating in this course has made clear: the precarious budgetary situation and the uncertain future for school libraries and teacher librarians. Whether the sobering budgeting guidelines of Debowski (2001), the case against invisibility set out by Oberg (2006) or the many stories set out by subscribers to the Australian Teacher Librarian Network (OZTL_NET) and the daily newspapers such as the Courier-Mail (2010) and The Age (2010), this has been a revelation. It has led to illuminating discussions with our own teacher librarian about the state of our school library collection and the effect that tighter budgeting has had upon it. These were certainly different from the views I expressed in an earlier blog from March 13th (Cooney, 2010). Having had to fight for many years for funds to resource my own subject area, I am no stranger to this situation but seeing the library as a central hub of the teaching and learning mission of the school, I had little or no awareness of the overall impact that this was having. I’m pleased that I kept note of the suggestions from Dianne McKenzie (McKenzie, 2009, 2010) in my blog entry from April 2nd (Cooney 2010).
I think that this is an issue that has genuine consequences for current teacher librarians and those of us who aspire to this profession. Without action to raise awareness and recognition of their role and effectiveness within the school, teacher librarians will be under threat (Cooney, May 9th, 2010). Those of us training for this role need to also be aware of the situation and ensure that our training and professional practice (including on-going training) enables us to lead in the making and monitoring of effective change and a positive difference in the learning and lives of our students.
References
Bebington, Graham. (2010, March 10th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 7th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Past and Future of School Libraries. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Guided Enquiry Learning. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Topic 2 Teacher Librarian Rules and Standards. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, April 2nd) ETL 401 Readings. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010. April 8th) Assignment Reflection 2. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Cooney, Philip. (2010, May 9th). Future of Teacher Librarians. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com
Debowski, S. (2001). Collection program funding management. In K. Dillon, J. Henri, & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less: collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 299-326). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Libraries at Risk. (2010, March 30). The Courier-Mail, p. 40-41.
Mckenzie, Dianne. (2009, June 27th). Importance of creating an annual report. Message posted to http://librarygrits.blogspot.com
MPs to hear school library concern (2010, April 27). The Age. Retrieved from:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/mps-to-hear-school-library-concerns-20100426-tnci.html
Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. In Teacher librarian. 33, 3. 13-18.
Todd, R. (2003). How to prove you boost student achievement. In School Library Journal, 4/1/2003 retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA287119&publication=slj
Todd, R.J. (2007) Evidence-based practice and school libraries. In S. Hughes-Hassall & V.H. Harada (Eds.). School reform and the school library media specialist (pp. 57-58). Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited
Todd. R. J. (2009). School libraries and continuous improvement: a case study. In Scan. 28(2). May. 26-31.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Professional Practice
Whether or not my evaluation of the ASLA Standards is found to be satisfactory, one personal note is that I find them describing much of what I aspire to do in my own teaching, both with my students but also as a collaborator and leader of innovative educational practice with my colleagues. While there are still aspects of the teacher librarian role that I find daunting, the opportunity to promote lifelong learning and engage in professional discussion and collaboration about our profession is something that I enjoy. If only there were more time for such things. This is one reason why I take the opportunity to contribute articles to various publications. I hope that this will allow an exchange of ideas in a manner that is convenient for others to engage with in their own time.
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