It is all very exciting - features of technology.

As I read about Quality management in education, I realise it is all very well to have the technology - for example each student from Year 9  receiving a laptop, which I see as a potential feature of education. What good is this feature if we do not have the quality teaching to go with it!

Organisational theory- Bennett

Bennett (2001) has given some useful insights of the effectivness of organisation theory in schools, and looks at the element that can be missing - power. "Surprisingly" there is no clearly defined view of an organisation, but one definition is given above and another by Greenfield (1989) who reports organisation have members and it would fold without them. The structure of the taks, the purpose and resources are all elements of an organisation Bennett (2001, p.101- 103),shows an organisation should be a dynamic place such as our school environment.

A point that Kerri pointed out which was also a hightlight for me in Bennett (2001,p. 111) was that power need not be a negative element. Foucalut (1984?) relates power to self discipline and achieving personal and collective successes, here this could potentially be talking about empowerment.

I am still contemplating whether a school should be called an organisation!

Leadership

The teacher librarian (TL) is positioned well to take on a leadership role within in the school. Having the knowledge of the curriculum and the students of the school gives the TL get advantages of developing whole school policies.

Warren Bennis (1999) in the Donham  (2005) article discuss the attributes of successful business people could be transferred to the library. These attributes include:

• technical competence
• conceptual skills
• people skills
• judgment and
• character

These are all excellent skills, but I see these skills in people who are good at what they do, no matter what career they have taken. So, what sets people or leaders apart? Donham (2005) goes on to discuss is the more important element is "leaders act from an internal locus of control" (p.296).The person has the power to overcome obstacles such as negative teacher and proceed to link in what will work with that teacher to provide the best teaching for the students. This can be inspiring for all those involved.

Another term I like is "proactive". Hartzell (2000,p.15) suggests that proactive people look for opportunities for change, they anticipate and prevent problems and they take actions and they don't give up. To make this proactive attitude work, people need to work together as a good and value each others strengths and weakness. For it is impossible to be an expert in all areas, but collaboration will bring on the most success.

Leaders need to begin with a vision. Fullan (1996) tell us of three attibutes for a sound vision:

1. "Sharedness' - the degree to which it is shared.
2. "Concreteness" - the degree to which people have some concrete image of what it will look like
3. "Clarity"- the degree to which people are skilled in carrying it out.

Lao Tzu, a Chinese Taoist philosopher said, "When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it  ourselves.'"

References

Donhan, J. (2005). Leadership. In Enhancing teaching and learning: a leadership guide for school library media specialists (2nd ed.) (pp. 295-305). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers

Fullan, M. (1996). "Professional Culture and Educational Change."School Psychology Review 25 (4): 496-500

Academic Writing

Over the break between subjects I decided to improve my writing skills by participating in a course offered by CSU entitled SSS022 Writing at University. I have found it very helpful and here are some of the points I have learnt:

After receiving an email back from Joyce, I realise that a thesis statement does not need to be controversial! It is just a statement on what you think of the topic. The focus should then be on the task works "describe" and "explain''.
It is a valuable learning process, which I hope I can implement in this assignment 3 and in the following assignments to come.
Reflecting on Module 2, I now have a better understanding of "critical" thinking and writing.  Critical thinking is much more successful if it has some strength, and, by gaining access to the evidence, being able to evaluate it, you find that you have the substance to support your ideas convincingly when you write.  Germov (2000) maintains that:

The tertiary essay has to do more than simply describe a topic: it's not just a summary of your reading; you are required to critically question or analyse your material.  Being critical doesn't mean criticising just for the sake of criticising something.  In academic work, being critical means making an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the theories and research findings that are relevant to your essay topic.  Such an approach is sometimes called critical analysis. (pp. 36-37)

How can you learn to do critical analysis?? As stated in this module a good way to answer a question is to continually ask yourself how each piece of research, theory, evidence, concept, definition or criticism that you come across in your reading fits in with what you already know about the topic. I feel this is a type of cross referencing, picking out the similar thoughts/ideas from a number of authors you have read. It gives the point more authenticity if it is supported by a collection of authors.  Analysing is important to establish common points and points that conflict .
 Going back to Learning Activity 2.7: Task Word Analysis, I think this is a good way to analyse and unpack an assignment question. The use of the framework below could be very useful.

Topic =
Focus =
Task =
Limitations =
A great site to look at as a guide to essay writing is:
 http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/my-studies/learning/guides/essay/intro which contains the summary below:
Your thesis is a statement, not another question and sits in the introduction.
An introduction containing these features might look like this:


I will definitely be using these skills in my future assignments!

Critical Synthesis - ETL401

Task C A critical synthesis of your reflection on how your view of the role of the teacher librarian may have changed during the subject. This should include examples captured from your personal blog and from participation in the ETL401 forum (about 750 words).

I have gained tremendous insights into the role of the teacher librarian (TL) since starting this course in March 2011. My background has been teaching Outdoor Education and PE for the last fifteen years, but my love for children’s literature and teaching has led me to this course. My initial views of the role of a TL were to read children a story and help them borrow their books - see blog entry The journey has begun. As a relieving TL for a term in 1998 that is all I covered. I realise now how naive I was.

Starting the course I felt quite nervous and overwhelmed with the extent and diversity of information to get through, and discovered many other students had similar feelings, see forum ETL401 post, 'Overwhelmed' by Kathy Douglas (March 16th, 2011). After some initial reading on the role of TL, a major concern was my lack of detailed ICT knowledge. After speaking with Ashley Freeman (Course Director at CSU) at the student orientation in Melbourne I was reassured that if I had the internet and a willingness to learn I would get there. Olivia Bisgnai-Piepers forum post in the role of TL (3 May, 2011) alerted me to the concept that a TL needs to keep abreast of emerging technology but also that it is crucial to choose the right technology for the particular student needs, see blog An essential role of the TL.

The Herring (2007), Lamb and Johnson (2008) and Purcell (2010) articles revealed the multifaceted roles of the TL, see blog  The extensive role of the TL. Purcell's (2010) article identifies several roles of a TL  -a leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher and programme administrator. This multitude of roles made me question if any person existed with all of these attributes. My knowledge of these roles has begun to unfold, on my journey to a better understanding of the work of the TL.

Within my fourth blog entry, titled The Role of the TL continues, I inserted a Youtube video by Eisenberg, (via a forum post by Williams (10 March, 2011) titled, “You Gotta Check This Out!”).  Eisenberg’s presentation highlighted a major mission of the TL is to ensure that our students are effective users and producers of ideas of information and are information literate!

What is information literacy (IL) and how do we teach students to become information literate? One issue surrounding information literacy is that there is no clear and agreed definition -see blog  Information Literacy - A definition in progress. Through this course I am developing my own definition, but I am sure this process will continue to evolve. Reading other perspectives on the Topic 4 forum, such as Irene Lu post titled “My view about Info Lit” (14 April, 2011), assisted me in strengthening my own thoughts on information literacy. IL is more that just skills and must include critical thinking and attitudes for lifelong learning. The IL models are a valuable resource, see blog IL processes and ISP, as they not only provide school students with a vital scaffold for critical and lifelong learning but also provided me with a process that I can use for my own information seeking process.

There are many people studying this course who are currently working as a TL or a teacher in a school. I have found their contributions in the forums extremely insightful in creating a picture, both positive and negative, of what is happening in schools. Collaborative schools are essential for success Fullan (1999). An excellent example of positive collaboration was posted by Rebecca Taylor, Topic 5,  'My lucky experience' (10 May, 2011) and how “it is NOT hard to be part of a well oiled, efficient team who have the needs of learner at their hearts”. The forums provide a type of networking and peer learning, which can be extended by joining professional TL networks and working collaboratively once in the school.

On reflection, I find a common thread through all the roles of the TL is developing relationships – with teachers, administrators, principals, students and parents – the whole school community. In Topic 2, The Role of the TL, the Vivan Harris post titled 'Relationship is a key role of TL' (27 March, 2011) was informative and I followed this up with my blog TL developing relationships. Surely creating a shared vision, policy making, curriculum planing and transfer, collaboration and evaluation would be a lot smoother and more effective if strong relationships are established. I am amazed at how much I have learnt over the few months of this course and I am excited to what the future learning of teacher librarianship holds.

References
Fullan, M. (1999). Deep meaning of inside collaboration. In Change forces : the sequel (pp.31-41). London : Falmer Press

Herring, J. (2007). “Teacher librarians and the school library” in Ferguson, S Ed, Libraries in the 21st century: charting new directions in information services. Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW

Purcell, M. (2010). All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist. Library Media Connection, 29(3), pp. 30-33.

Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2008). School library media specialist 2.0: a dynamic collaborator, teacher, and technologist. [Article]. Teacher Librarian, 36(2), pp. 74-78.

Web 2.0 Tools!

An interactive book, how amazing!

 

TL developing relationships

"Developing relationships must be a constant goal of that school librarian" Howard (2009, p.44). When the teacher librarian portrays or more importantly shows a genuine interest in the school community he/she will develop stronger relationships that will assist in the implementation of the library program.

The nature of a TL’s work is empowering others, and building relationships with other educators, which can be limited by their physical isolation in the library and by scheduling. To overcome this, TLs can organise regular workshops for school staff at staff meeting or PD days to help them develop their information literacy processes and continually improve how IL can be developed across the curriculum. Provide useful handouts with tips for using the best sources of information; how to evaluate information in a variety of formats, including the Web; and how to guide students learning. Provide an orientation session for new school staff to inform them of IL across the curriculum and the school IL policy. TLs need to work with the principal and school executive to establish a shared vision and an information literate school policy. A close alignment between the principals vision and the teacher-librarian's vision is of benefit to all parties involved Oberg (2006).

TLs need to be  trained in effective collaboration and work on relationships with the teachers in their school. It is important for the TL to be a good leader and work with the leadership team of the school to develop a shared vision, effective communication across the school towards building a mutual trust amongst the whole school community Oberg (2007).

References
Oberg.D.,(2006) Developing the respect and support of school administrators. Teacher Librarian; Feb 2006; 33 (3) pg 13-18


Haycock.K (2007) Collaboration: Critical Success Factors for Student Learning.School libraries Worldwide; Jan 2007; 13 (1) pg25-35

Howard. J., (2009) Advocacy through Relationships. School Library Monthly/Volume XXVI, Number 2/October 2009