Topic 2 - Collaboration and a dying breed

Wow! It has taken me a week now to wade through all the readings for Topic 2. So much information..... so little time to take it all in! The importance of collaboration was something mentioned time and time again. These quotes really stood out for me, "The Principal holds the power either to make or break collaborative efforts.." (Principal support for Collaboration: Morris, 2007)and "Teacher Librarians need to align their efforts with the school's mission and the Principal's vision." (Principals: Catalysts for Collaboration: Farmer, 2007) For me, after reading the roles of T.L - collaborator is an extremely important, yet largely under utilised part of the job.

Reading the House of Representatives findings in School libraries and teacher librarians in the 21st Century Australia (2011), a few things jumped out at me including, "...the profession appears to have been in a state of decline for some years and, in some states, is on the brink of extinction." It cited the Lonsdale review a number of times with quotes such as, "Teacher librarians are viewed by their teaching colleagues as support resources, rather than fellow-teachers [or collaborators]" To me it appears that the view of the T.L is in need of a huge revamp. We don't want to be seen as a dying breed. We need to be making fellow teachers, principals and parents aware of what an important job the T.L has and how, if allowed to work in collaboration with classroom teachers, the students will benefit greatly.

Webinar 1 and my thoughts on the role of a Teacher Librarian

Well, after a few technical glitches, I finally listened to and watched Webinar 1 - Introduction to Teacher Librarianship. The Webinar gave a brief overview of each topic, highlighting some of the key points in each topic. I am really looking forward to reading the Australian professional standards for Teacher Librarians at www.asla.org.au/policy/standards/htm. Before I do that, I thought that first I should do as Lyn Hay suggested and jot down a few of my initial thoughts about the roles of a Teacher Librarian and what thoughts or preconceived ideas I may have had coming into this. So, here goes. My memories of the T.L when I was at school are not really pleasant ones. I remember having to sit and listen to her tell us things about the Library. She told us about Fiction and Non-Fiction books, she told us about the Dewey Decimal system, she told us that the Library was a place to be quiet and not disturb others and she told us if we couldn't put the books back in the right place then leave them on the trolley and she would do it herself. Hmmm..... a very Behaviorist way of teaching. Last year I had the chance to do 2 days of casual teaching in the LARC of a local school. Book week had been a few weeks earlier so I decided to do some activities with the students (K-6) based on the Books from Book Week. In 45 minutes I managed to squeeze in the reading of the book, an associated activity and have returning and borrowing of books. It was a true test of my Time Management skills, my I.T skills and my lesson planning skills and I loved it!

Thinking about returning to a full time job when my daughter starts Kindergarten in 2013, I wanted to up the ante and offer something to schools that not many other teachers could. I decided that a Masters in T.L might be for me. I love reading myself, have tried to instill a love of reading in both of my children and have always been keen to pass that love onto my students as well. My preconceived ideas about the role of a T.L really centered around that; instilling a love of reading in students and getting them excited about finding out new information. Very simplistic to say the least!

I must admit when thinking about a the role of T.L, media specialist and collaborative negotiator were never part of the job description. When I was a classroom teacher, I had very little to do with the T.L, sure she asked about our topics for the term and at the end of Week 1 there was usually a pile of books in your pigeon hole that had to do with the topics but there was no discussion, no collaboration at all. I also had no idea that the T.L worked so closely with the Principal. To hear Lyn Hay say that, "The Principal can make or break the T.L's role in the school" was indeed something I had never thought about. In thinking about Principals at different schools though, each one has something that they are passionate about and they make that their 'project'. My job as T.L (when I become an employed one!) as I see it now, is to make the Principal as passionate as I am about the Library so that the Library and the learners within it become that project.

My first Webinar

   Today I had the chance to listen and be involved in my very first Webinar. It was run by Lyn Hay and featured Dianne Lane who was presenting us with effective search methods when using the CSU Library database, EBSCO (an international database),and Informit (an Australian database). WOW! All this time I have been searching on Google and the like with no real clear direction  and just coming across information, hoping that I would find what I needed. Look out - now I know how to search effectively! :)
    I must admit that it took me 30 minutes to set it all up and then I still couldn't see the chat box at the bottom. Apparently Firefox has issues with that particular program and it is best to run it with Explorer. Thanks to my hubby for figuring that out or I would have missed the whole thing!
   For those who missed it, it will be archived and it really is worth your while to check it out. Now, if I can only figure out how to access the archives and see Webinar 1 ......

You DO learn something new every day!

   Yesterday my hubby took the kids out for the day so that I would have the chance to study in a quiet environment. At the time I thought I was doing so well, reading and taking in the information, stopping for a coffee only once! I went to sleep last night very pleased with the amount of work that I had done. Then came today................ First off, the family helped sell sausage sandwiches at the local Bunnings to help raise money for the Scouts (my son is a Joey). After chatting with the Public for a while, eating our own sausage sandwiches and swapping over with the next team, we came home and played some games together. Foolishly I thought, I'll just have a quick look at the Forum on ETL401 since I mainly worked on 501 yesterday. Sigh! I thought I had worked the Forum out. Much to my horror, the sub-forums that have been mentioned by the lecturer (and I thought just not added to the main page yet) have been there the whole time - in ANOTHER section. Sigh (again) - I need to keep reminding myself, you learn something new every day.

My thoughts.......

 I listened to the 2007 presentation that Dagmar Schmidmaier AM (President of ALIA) gave at the State Library of Victoria. Some of the things that I got out of this were: * a need for the modern Library to mesh with modern technology; * in the 21st Century there needs to be a clear message from the Library - there are friendly, easy to use services that identify the needs of the people coming into the Library; * ALIA needs to work with key employers to ensure that all Librarian positions remain with tertiary qualified professionals.

It was interesting to listen to Ms Schmidmaier reflect on her training as a Librarian where the main focus was on organisational methods in a Library. I remember going into the Library when I was younger and the first thing you noticed when you walked in were the cabinets with the catalogue cards. Those and the Dewey Decimal system charts were hard to miss. I always felt the need to be overly quiet and had the feeling of being watched.... didn't want to get any books out of order on the shelves. Now, taking my children into the Library is a totally different experience. They love to go there and are excited to see if there are any new books on the shelves. They are so proud to have their own Library cards and are thrilled when the Librarian points out something about the books they have chosen. It seems a more welcoming place!

A Little Nervous........

So, why am I a little nervous you might ask? Well, when I recently decided to go ahead and sign up for my Masters in Teacher Librarianship, the last thing I really expected to be doing was creating my own blog. But, here I am, typing away on my very own blog spot! Funny how things work out.

This blog will be a reflection on my journey through the course and who knows what other fascinating tidbits may show up on here as well. If you are reading this, you may be sharing a part of the journey with me or you may have stumbled across my page by accident. However you got here, welcome and enjoy my ramblings (oh, I mean, reflections)!