Introduction
The purpose of this portfolio assignment is to reflect upon the development of my knowledge and understanding over the past three years of my study. When I began the course in mid 2011 I had a vague comprehension of the role of a teacher librarian, having spent a few weeks in a school library on a short contract, but while I enjoyed the teaching I did in that position I was aware that my planning lacked any long-term direction, and also that there were significant portions of the role that I was not required to do. Since then I believe that my understanding of the roles and issues faced by a teacher librarian has progressed somewhat. In order to chart the development of that progress I shall consider it chronologically, discussing how each subject contributed in the order that they were studied.
The purpose of this portfolio assignment is to reflect upon the development of my knowledge and understanding over the past three years of my study. When I began the course in mid 2011 I had a vague comprehension of the role of a teacher librarian, having spent a few weeks in a school library on a short contract, but while I enjoyed the teaching I did in that position I was aware that my planning lacked any long-term direction, and also that there were significant portions of the role that I was not required to do. Since then I believe that my understanding of the roles and issues faced by a teacher librarian has progressed somewhat. In order to chart the development of that progress I shall consider it chronologically, discussing how each subject contributed in the order that they were studied.
Initially I studied ETL 401 and ETL 501 at the same time, but to keep thing simple I shall first consider how ETL 401 impacted on my development.
ETL 401 Teacher Librarianship
ETL 401, as the core subject, was both challenging and rewarding. It was a great introduction to the profession, presenting all the major issues that currently face teacher librarians alongside an overview of the role as a larger whole. At the time I felt that I would like to spend more time on learning about the librarianship side of things, as I already saw myself as having proficient teaching skills. Despite this my early reflections show that I was benefitting from revisiting teaching theory and reflecting upon how to improve my teaching practice (Farley, 2011a). This is, I consider, a recurring benefit of my study and reflection throughout this course. As I progressed with my reading in each new subject I was keen to try out new ideas and tools in my own teaching. Whilst it would have been nice to be working in a library, my position as a classroom teacher did present me with the time and opportunities to experiment. One of the things I gained from this subject was the value placed on constructivist learning. Readings on the various process models such as Herrings PLUS model (Herring, 2011) encouraged me to design lesson tasks that focused more on the students being able to discover knowledge for themselves and reflect upon that experience.
Beyond the realisation that teacher librarians are still teachers, and that they also benefit from teaching theory, this subject introduced me to a number of other issues facing the profession today, many of which have recurred throughout the course. A big one is the problem/opportunity presented by technology. This is an area that could easily be discussed for many pages, but I will attempt to be a little briefer.
As I mentioned in my blog (Farley, 2011b), access was a serious factor at that time. While technology undoubtedly presents fantastic opportunities for collaborative and creative work, and is actively promoted by the school library association (ASLA, 2013), there are problems to be overcome. Since that time my personal experience would suggest that the situation has improved, but access issues remain a thorn in the side of most schools. Even where there are sufficient devices there are often network problems. For example, during the ETL 507 study visit to All Hallows’ school in Brisbane, we were informed that YouTube had been blocked because it was slowing the whole network down too much. In smaller, less well-funded schools the difficulties can be much greater.
ETL 507 visit to All Hallows' School, Brisbane
So, why are these access challenges an issue that is particularly significant to teacher librarians? Readings such as Killeen (2009) showed me that teacher librarians have always seen themselves as leaders in technology (Farley, 2011c). While I am happy to see myself this way, and over the past few years I have become increasingly the person to whom other come for advice, this is not the same as being an IT professional. There is a big difference between knowing how to use functioning technology well and being able to solve the problems of non-functioning technology. While these difficulties present problems for most teachers, the challenge for teacher librarians seems to me to be that they set themselves up as the driving instructor and are then expected to also be the mechanic. This is not an insurmountable problem. The real question is whether or not most teacher librarians are sufficiently skilled to instruct in the face of the rapid development we have seen over the past decade. My reading of the House of Representatives report (2011) inclined me to see the profession as one in crisis with a disgruntled and ageing demographic (Farley, 2011c). While younger, freshly qualified teacher librarians should be more knowledgeable about opportunities for online learning and proper search skills it is certainly questionable as to whether all those approaching retirement would be sufficiently motivated to upskill to the same degree. Having said that, those older members of the profession are surely in possession of a great wealth of experience that newer graduates such as myself would benefit from exposure to.
Whilst studying ETL 401 the emphasis seemed to be largely upon educating students about how best to use the online environment as a resource, and although the need for teacher librarians to educate about the dangers of digital technology did arise (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment, 2011, para. 2.86) it was not discussed as a major role. Reflecting upon this now, I would consider that this is an area in which the teacher librarian should be proactive. My impression at the time was that we were being encouraged to be more forthcoming in our self-promotion (Farley, 2011d). I have since been involved with two schools attempting to achieve eSmart status, in response to the growing concerns of school parents. By positioning themselves as leaders in programmes such as these I believe that teacher librarians would be both fulfilling a fundamental duty and raising the profile/perceived worth of their position in the eyes of school leaders and the wider school community.
References
Australian School Library Association (ASLA) (2013, October 07) Top 10 Reasons to use Technology [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/blog/ten-reasons-to-use-technology.aspx
Farley, A. (2011a, July 22) Friends, Romans, Countrymen… [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/friends-romans-countrymen.html
Farley, A. (2011b, September 18) Time, Time, Time, see what’s become of me.. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/time-time-time-see-whats-become-of-me.html
Farley, A. (2011c, October 02) The Evolution of My Views on the TL Role [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/evolution-of-my-views-on-tl-role.html
Farley, A. (2011d, July 26) Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Librarians of War! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com/2011/07/cry-havoc-and-let-slip-librarians-of.html
Herring, J. E. (2011) Improving students’ web use and information literacy: a guide for teachers and teacher librarians. Facet publishing.
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment (2011), School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in 21st Century Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Killeen, E.B. (2009) Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: transitions of the work but not the mission.Teacher Librarian, 36(5), pp.8-13.
ETL 501 Information Environment
My experience of ETL 501 was both positive and negative. While I loved exploring the internet for the multitude of tools, and my appreciation of the need to evaluate the reliability of each website was enhanced, there was also much frustration. I repeatedly confessed my fears that the sheer volume of material was overwhelming (Farley, 2011e and 2011f). To some extent this was the result of my feeling the time pressures of studying two subjects at once, but now that the web has become even more interactive the sense of being swamped is never far away. Reading an article by Lamb and Johnson (2012), they seem to suggest the use of so many different collaborative applications it can be hard to know where to start, but it does highlight to me the need to stay in touch with current trends and new opportunities. If the teacher librarian is to be the person who can recommend specific web 2.0 tools to teachers, then the teacher librarian needs to have spent time using those tools to discover their benefits and limitations. I do not intend that they should be a proficient user of every tool, but they should know what is out there and be able to demonstrate the use of a preferred number of options. While it is obviously impractical, and counter-productive, to try and use every tool available, the ideal situation is one in which an informed decision is made about which tools should be used to best meet the needs of the teachers and students. Again, I consider that this is a situation in which the teacher librarian should be able to promote their worth to the school community. It is, upon reflection, an area which I have attempted to make a strength, yet even so I still feel ignorant about many applications that are available and I can only strive to keep improving my knowledge.
References
Farley, A. (2011e, August 26) Cloud Cuckoo Land [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/undiscovered-country.html
Farley, A. (2011f, August 29) Hooray for Hollywood! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/hooray-for-hollywood.html
Lamb, A. and Johnson, J. (2012) Technology Swarms for Digital Learners. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), pp.67-72.
ETL 503 Resourcing the Curriculum
I was enthusiastic about embarking upon ETL 503 because it promised to open my eyes to the librarianship side of the profession. Also, who doesn’t like the opportunity to choose new things. This ought to be the fun part of the job. I’m not saying that my eyes were opened to a different reality, but the selection process is not as simple as might be imagined.
My reflection on who should be responsible for selecting resources (Farley, 2011g) was fairly resistant to the idea that library resources should be selected by those outside the library. While I am not opposed to this idea of collaborative selection I still remain unsure that it is truly practicable. However, I would like to think that I would be more helpful than the teacher librarians I have encountered over the past couple of years, who have simply ignored my requests for particular items that I thought would be helpful. My personal experience of library selection is that teachers are not consulted about new resources, except for textbooks and subscription websites. While I am not currently working in the teacher librarian role I believe that I would like to remedy this situation. Teachers do not want to be hassled to make selections, but they would certainly like to be able to make suggestions on occasion. A simple device such as leaving out resource catalogues and a box in the staff room for requests, or a suggestions area on the website might yield positive results.
The process of selecting resources was also more frustrating than I had anticipated, largely due to the restrictions of the task given (Farley, 2011h). While I am as keen as anyone to make use of online resources, the reality was that there was far more available in offline formats for this particular topic. My thoughts on this now are that my selection in practice would be more likely to be based upon my perception of the usefulness of the resources, taking into account the format and the setting. Working in primary schools as I do, there is still a great demand for books for research, and for schools where electronic devices are limited in number the books are often the only realistic option. Mitchell (2011) states clearly that selected resources need to be fit for the purpose of meeting curriculum needs, and format therefore should be a secondary consideration.
Other areas I found quite interesting in this subject were the matters of copyright (Farley, 2012a) and censorship. Like most teachers, I do not think that I gave much thought to these issues before I began this course. Most of the time we are more concerned that students learn to find the information, without also worrying about the legal niceties. However, I have altered my practice, making use of creative commons myself and integrating it into my teaching. Thus copyright is an issue that can be practically taught to and experienced by students, and I think it has a positive effect when they see how their own work can be protected.
Censorship, however, remains something of a mystery to me because it is so invisible. There have been numerous times over the past few years when others have declaimed materials as unsuitable for particular age groups or particular schools because of religious affiliations, and on many of those occasions I have felt that these were clearly cases of censorship. But while my instinct is to push back against such practice, I can also see that it may be warranted on occasion, and also that I may be guilty of the same crime myself without even realising it. When I select a book to read to my class I try to choose one they’ll be interested in, but equally I consider matters of content, language and age-appropriateness. I still remain unsure about where to draw the line in the sand regarding this matter and I would like to improve my awareness of the thoughts of others.
References
Farley, A. (2011g, November 05) A Muse in the Cloud [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/muse-in-cloud.html
Farley, A. (2011h, December 01) Bibliography Blanket [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/bibliography-blanket.html
Farley, A. (2012a, January 03) Copyright, aaaah! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/copyright-aaaah.html
Mitchell, P. (2011) Resourcing 21st century online Australian Curriculum : the role of school libraries. FYI : the Journal for the School Information Professional, 15(2), pp.10-15.
ETL 504 Teacher Librarian as Leader
I shall deal with this subject briefly, as I have already made several mentions of the need to promote the role of the teacher librarian within the school community and my views upon this. But, as I mentioned in my blog (Farley, 2012b) the position of the teacher librarian is not always secure, and evidence elsewhere suggests libraries are often in the firing line when budgets are tightened (Klinger, 2006).
What I think is still worth reflecting back upon are the ideas of leadership styles (Farley, 2012c) as laid out by Goleman (2000). I believe that these ideas are equally applicable to leading a class. My mind is often on the task of how best to motivate my students, and I believe that it a useful exercise to periodically self-assess my own leadership style and to consider which styles would best meet the needs of individual students. I do not consider that I have mastered all the styles, but consciously going through this process allows a more focused reflection on how to improve my teaching practice. I have not yet employed this to the idea of my being a leader within the teaching community, but I think that this would also be useful.
References
Farley, A. (2012b, February 24) Gossip [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/gossip.html
Farley, A. (2012c, April 20) Change a la mode [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/change-la-mode.html
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), pp.78-90.
Klinger, D. (2006) School libraries and student achievement in Ontario. Ontario Library Association.
EER 500 Introduction to Educational Research
This subject was interesting and it deepened my understanding of the thought processes required for a truly detailed research process. The research proposal that I put together was concerned with the behavioural benefits to improving children’s sitting posture in the classroom. While I did not actually undertake this study, it did encourage me to try out some of the ideas. Hinckson et al (2013) studied the practicality and benefits of introducing standing workstations to a primary classroom. I also experimented with this by introducing a two standing workstations into my classroom and found that the benefits were positive for most of the children. More recently I have also experimented with using exercise balls instead of chairs, although I have found this less successful.
Whilst studying ETL 401 the emphasis seemed to be largely upon educating students about how best to use the online environment as a resource, and although the need for teacher librarians to educate about the dangers of digital technology did arise (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment, 2011, para. 2.86) it was not discussed as a major role. Reflecting upon this now, I would consider that this is an area in which the teacher librarian should be proactive. My impression at the time was that we were being encouraged to be more forthcoming in our self-promotion (Farley, 2011d). I have since been involved with two schools attempting to achieve eSmart status, in response to the growing concerns of school parents. By positioning themselves as leaders in programmes such as these I believe that teacher librarians would be both fulfilling a fundamental duty and raising the profile/perceived worth of their position in the eyes of school leaders and the wider school community.
References
Australian School Library Association (ASLA) (2013, October 07) Top 10 Reasons to use Technology [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/blog/ten-reasons-to-use-technology.aspx
Farley, A. (2011a, July 22) Friends, Romans, Countrymen… [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/friends-romans-countrymen.html
Farley, A. (2011b, September 18) Time, Time, Time, see what’s become of me.. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/time-time-time-see-whats-become-of-me.html
Farley, A. (2011c, October 02) The Evolution of My Views on the TL Role [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/evolution-of-my-views-on-tl-role.html
Farley, A. (2011d, July 26) Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Librarians of War! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com/2011/07/cry-havoc-and-let-slip-librarians-of.html
Herring, J. E. (2011) Improving students’ web use and information literacy: a guide for teachers and teacher librarians. Facet publishing.
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment (2011), School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in 21st Century Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Killeen, E.B. (2009) Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: transitions of the work but not the mission.Teacher Librarian, 36(5), pp.8-13.
ETL 501 Information Environment
My experience of ETL 501 was both positive and negative. While I loved exploring the internet for the multitude of tools, and my appreciation of the need to evaluate the reliability of each website was enhanced, there was also much frustration. I repeatedly confessed my fears that the sheer volume of material was overwhelming (Farley, 2011e and 2011f). To some extent this was the result of my feeling the time pressures of studying two subjects at once, but now that the web has become even more interactive the sense of being swamped is never far away. Reading an article by Lamb and Johnson (2012), they seem to suggest the use of so many different collaborative applications it can be hard to know where to start, but it does highlight to me the need to stay in touch with current trends and new opportunities. If the teacher librarian is to be the person who can recommend specific web 2.0 tools to teachers, then the teacher librarian needs to have spent time using those tools to discover their benefits and limitations. I do not intend that they should be a proficient user of every tool, but they should know what is out there and be able to demonstrate the use of a preferred number of options. While it is obviously impractical, and counter-productive, to try and use every tool available, the ideal situation is one in which an informed decision is made about which tools should be used to best meet the needs of the teachers and students. Again, I consider that this is a situation in which the teacher librarian should be able to promote their worth to the school community. It is, upon reflection, an area which I have attempted to make a strength, yet even so I still feel ignorant about many applications that are available and I can only strive to keep improving my knowledge.
References
Farley, A. (2011e, August 26) Cloud Cuckoo Land [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/undiscovered-country.html
Farley, A. (2011f, August 29) Hooray for Hollywood! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/hooray-for-hollywood.html
Lamb, A. and Johnson, J. (2012) Technology Swarms for Digital Learners. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), pp.67-72.
ETL 503 Resourcing the Curriculum
I was enthusiastic about embarking upon ETL 503 because it promised to open my eyes to the librarianship side of the profession. Also, who doesn’t like the opportunity to choose new things. This ought to be the fun part of the job. I’m not saying that my eyes were opened to a different reality, but the selection process is not as simple as might be imagined.
My reflection on who should be responsible for selecting resources (Farley, 2011g) was fairly resistant to the idea that library resources should be selected by those outside the library. While I am not opposed to this idea of collaborative selection I still remain unsure that it is truly practicable. However, I would like to think that I would be more helpful than the teacher librarians I have encountered over the past couple of years, who have simply ignored my requests for particular items that I thought would be helpful. My personal experience of library selection is that teachers are not consulted about new resources, except for textbooks and subscription websites. While I am not currently working in the teacher librarian role I believe that I would like to remedy this situation. Teachers do not want to be hassled to make selections, but they would certainly like to be able to make suggestions on occasion. A simple device such as leaving out resource catalogues and a box in the staff room for requests, or a suggestions area on the website might yield positive results.
The process of selecting resources was also more frustrating than I had anticipated, largely due to the restrictions of the task given (Farley, 2011h). While I am as keen as anyone to make use of online resources, the reality was that there was far more available in offline formats for this particular topic. My thoughts on this now are that my selection in practice would be more likely to be based upon my perception of the usefulness of the resources, taking into account the format and the setting. Working in primary schools as I do, there is still a great demand for books for research, and for schools where electronic devices are limited in number the books are often the only realistic option. Mitchell (2011) states clearly that selected resources need to be fit for the purpose of meeting curriculum needs, and format therefore should be a secondary consideration.
Other areas I found quite interesting in this subject were the matters of copyright (Farley, 2012a) and censorship. Like most teachers, I do not think that I gave much thought to these issues before I began this course. Most of the time we are more concerned that students learn to find the information, without also worrying about the legal niceties. However, I have altered my practice, making use of creative commons myself and integrating it into my teaching. Thus copyright is an issue that can be practically taught to and experienced by students, and I think it has a positive effect when they see how their own work can be protected.
 |
| Nina Paley, 2014 |
Censorship, however, remains something of a mystery to me because it is so invisible. There have been numerous times over the past few years when others have declaimed materials as unsuitable for particular age groups or particular schools because of religious affiliations, and on many of those occasions I have felt that these were clearly cases of censorship. But while my instinct is to push back against such practice, I can also see that it may be warranted on occasion, and also that I may be guilty of the same crime myself without even realising it. When I select a book to read to my class I try to choose one they’ll be interested in, but equally I consider matters of content, language and age-appropriateness. I still remain unsure about where to draw the line in the sand regarding this matter and I would like to improve my awareness of the thoughts of others.
References
Farley, A. (2011g, November 05) A Muse in the Cloud [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/muse-in-cloud.html
Farley, A. (2011h, December 01) Bibliography Blanket [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/bibliography-blanket.html
Farley, A. (2012a, January 03) Copyright, aaaah! [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/copyright-aaaah.html
Mitchell, P. (2011) Resourcing 21st century online Australian Curriculum : the role of school libraries. FYI : the Journal for the School Information Professional, 15(2), pp.10-15.
ETL 504 Teacher Librarian as Leader
I shall deal with this subject briefly, as I have already made several mentions of the need to promote the role of the teacher librarian within the school community and my views upon this. But, as I mentioned in my blog (Farley, 2012b) the position of the teacher librarian is not always secure, and evidence elsewhere suggests libraries are often in the firing line when budgets are tightened (Klinger, 2006).
What I think is still worth reflecting back upon are the ideas of leadership styles (Farley, 2012c) as laid out by Goleman (2000). I believe that these ideas are equally applicable to leading a class. My mind is often on the task of how best to motivate my students, and I believe that it a useful exercise to periodically self-assess my own leadership style and to consider which styles would best meet the needs of individual students. I do not consider that I have mastered all the styles, but consciously going through this process allows a more focused reflection on how to improve my teaching practice. I have not yet employed this to the idea of my being a leader within the teaching community, but I think that this would also be useful.
References
Farley, A. (2012b, February 24) Gossip [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/gossip.html
Farley, A. (2012c, April 20) Change a la mode [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/change-la-mode.html
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), pp.78-90.
Klinger, D. (2006) School libraries and student achievement in Ontario. Ontario Library Association.
EER 500 Introduction to Educational Research
This subject was interesting and it deepened my understanding of the thought processes required for a truly detailed research process. The research proposal that I put together was concerned with the behavioural benefits to improving children’s sitting posture in the classroom. While I did not actually undertake this study, it did encourage me to try out some of the ideas. Hinckson et al (2013) studied the practicality and benefits of introducing standing workstations to a primary classroom. I also experimented with this by introducing a two standing workstations into my classroom and found that the benefits were positive for most of the children. More recently I have also experimented with using exercise balls instead of chairs, although I have found this less successful.
Students in my class working whilst sitting on exercise balls
The important thing that I think I have taken away from this subject is that it is important to stay up to date with different areas of educational research, and not to be afraid to try out ideas that may seem outlandish to the establishment if you believe they will have a positive impact. The school library is perhaps the ideal area to trial some of these ideas, and again this will bolster the image of the teacher librarian as a leader.
References
Hinckson, E. A., Aminian, S., Ikeda, E., Stewart, T., Oliver, M., Duncan, S. and Schofield, S. (2013) Acceptability of standing workstations in elementary schools: A pilot study. Preventive Medicine, 56(1), pp.82–85
INF 506 Social Networking for Information Professionals
Again, I will not spend too much time here, as I have already considered technology and the need to integrate collaborative work online into the curriculum. What I will say though, is that this was an excellent next step after completing EER 500. I was imbibed with the desire to try new things, but my personal experience of social networking online was fairly restricted (Farley, 2013a). This subject encourage me to explore new ground personally and to then implement it into my teaching. Fortunately for me the Head of e-Learning at my school was also keen to see teachers blogging, so a class blog was a natural project to undertake. In my blog (Farley, 2013b) I discussed the need for a planned marketing strategy when blogging, and I think that what I really took away from this assignment was the need for preparation. When the blog worked really well it was because I had planned out what I was going to put on it and allotted time for that purpose. By keeping updates regular, attractive and varied the interest level was maintained and both the students and their parents were engaged.
References
Farley, A. (2013a, March 08) Social Networker.. Me? [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/inf506-social-networker-me.html
Farley, A. (2013b, March 08) Marketing Strategy (Don't Fall Asleep Yet!) [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/marketing-strategy-dont-fall-asleep-yet.html
ETL 505 Bibliographic Standards for Education
I am tempted to say about this subject that my head is still reeling a year later. My thoughts both before (Farley, 2013c) and after (Farley, 2013d) the assignments were that cataloguing is a complicated business, difficult to master. Nevertheless, this was a worthwhile subject and I did enjoy it. I am aware that I have a basic understanding of this process and would need much more experience to feel competent. But I now have a much better grasp of what the constituent parts of a dewey number mean and how to use subject headings to search a catalogue. During my placement for ETL 507 this was a useful grounding to have attained and helped make greater sense of what I was shown. In the future I am sure that this is an area I would like to deepen my understanding of further.
References
Farley, A. (2013c, August 17) Time to Catalogue a Few Thoughts [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/time-to-catalogue-few-thoughts.html
Farley, A. (2013d, September 26) Calling all Numbers.. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/calling-all-numbers.html
Conclusion
The past three years of study have certainly seen a number of changes to my understanding of my role as a potential teacher librarian. I think that I largely got to grips with the size of the role during ETL 401, but each subject since then has built upon that foundation, to make the experiences of the study visit and professional placement more rewarding.
I think that the major messages that I take away from the course are the need to be a leader within the school community, which I have to confess does not come naturally to me, and also the need to be collaborative with the other teachers once I am in the library. I can easily see from where I am now that the teacher librarian can easily miss contact with the majority of staff members, so it is important to get out there and show them that you want to support them and work with them.
I do not believe that my technology skills have increased significantly, but I know that my deliberate exploration of web 2.0 tools and ability to utilise them to enhance learning has vastly improved. I am more aware than ever of the need to be a leader in technology, not only because this is the future of education, but because that is the role the teacher librarian has forged and can garner respect from the community at large.
Obviously there are many other important things to take away from this course, but at heart it has all been about the ability to assist others in their search for information. That is what I need to bear in mind at all times. No matter how important all the different tasks around the library may seem in themselves, they are all secondary to the primary goal of serving the user.
References
Hinckson, E. A., Aminian, S., Ikeda, E., Stewart, T., Oliver, M., Duncan, S. and Schofield, S. (2013) Acceptability of standing workstations in elementary schools: A pilot study. Preventive Medicine, 56(1), pp.82–85
INF 506 Social Networking for Information Professionals
Again, I will not spend too much time here, as I have already considered technology and the need to integrate collaborative work online into the curriculum. What I will say though, is that this was an excellent next step after completing EER 500. I was imbibed with the desire to try new things, but my personal experience of social networking online was fairly restricted (Farley, 2013a). This subject encourage me to explore new ground personally and to then implement it into my teaching. Fortunately for me the Head of e-Learning at my school was also keen to see teachers blogging, so a class blog was a natural project to undertake. In my blog (Farley, 2013b) I discussed the need for a planned marketing strategy when blogging, and I think that what I really took away from this assignment was the need for preparation. When the blog worked really well it was because I had planned out what I was going to put on it and allotted time for that purpose. By keeping updates regular, attractive and varied the interest level was maintained and both the students and their parents were engaged.
References
Farley, A. (2013a, March 08) Social Networker.. Me? [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/inf506-social-networker-me.html
Farley, A. (2013b, March 08) Marketing Strategy (Don't Fall Asleep Yet!) [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/marketing-strategy-dont-fall-asleep-yet.html
ETL 505 Bibliographic Standards for Education
I am tempted to say about this subject that my head is still reeling a year later. My thoughts both before (Farley, 2013c) and after (Farley, 2013d) the assignments were that cataloguing is a complicated business, difficult to master. Nevertheless, this was a worthwhile subject and I did enjoy it. I am aware that I have a basic understanding of this process and would need much more experience to feel competent. But I now have a much better grasp of what the constituent parts of a dewey number mean and how to use subject headings to search a catalogue. During my placement for ETL 507 this was a useful grounding to have attained and helped make greater sense of what I was shown. In the future I am sure that this is an area I would like to deepen my understanding of further.
References
Farley, A. (2013c, August 17) Time to Catalogue a Few Thoughts [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/time-to-catalogue-few-thoughts.html
Farley, A. (2013d, September 26) Calling all Numbers.. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://adamf-anabasis.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/calling-all-numbers.html
Conclusion
The past three years of study have certainly seen a number of changes to my understanding of my role as a potential teacher librarian. I think that I largely got to grips with the size of the role during ETL 401, but each subject since then has built upon that foundation, to make the experiences of the study visit and professional placement more rewarding.
I think that the major messages that I take away from the course are the need to be a leader within the school community, which I have to confess does not come naturally to me, and also the need to be collaborative with the other teachers once I am in the library. I can easily see from where I am now that the teacher librarian can easily miss contact with the majority of staff members, so it is important to get out there and show them that you want to support them and work with them.
I do not believe that my technology skills have increased significantly, but I know that my deliberate exploration of web 2.0 tools and ability to utilise them to enhance learning has vastly improved. I am more aware than ever of the need to be a leader in technology, not only because this is the future of education, but because that is the role the teacher librarian has forged and can garner respect from the community at large.
Obviously there are many other important things to take away from this course, but at heart it has all been about the ability to assist others in their search for information. That is what I need to bear in mind at all times. No matter how important all the different tasks around the library may seem in themselves, they are all secondary to the primary goal of serving the user.
