Reflecting on my learning in ETL503

Through being actively involved in learning throughout this subject, ‘Resourcing the Curriculum’ and this final assessment, I have established knowledge and understanding of what the term ‘collection’ actually means in the school library context and the role that a collection is expected to play in supporting teaching and learning in a unique school community (CSU Interact Material ETL503 2013 & ASLA/ALIA policy statements).

This policy task has been challenging, as I had to build a basic understanding of collection management. I have needed to interview the TL at the primary school, where I am volunteering, and carry out a physical evaluation of the collection and observation of student and teacher use of the resources.

From my informal interview, I evaluated that materials are selected if they are appropriate to the primary age group, support the curriculum and generally seem to reflect the interests of the school’s students. It was at that point that I needed to explore the professional literature and tools, to learn more about the reason for written Collection Policies.

I discovered that the literature supports the need for a written collection policy. It is vital to cater to the needs of its users, in terms of planning for growth, providing impersonal and unbiased guidelines for collection practices and to secure and allocate funding (Hughes-Hassall & Mancall, 2005, Debowski, 2001, Morrisey, 2008).

My process of inquiry reminds me of Kuhlthau’s (2007) guided inquiry, especially in the feelings of anxiety at different stages of the information seeking process. However, I can now confidently say I understand what defines a library collection, why there should be a written policy and the elements that should form part of a Collection Policy (Hughes-Hassall & Mancall (2005), Debowski (2001)and Morrisey (2008).

It has been enormously satisfying to develop a written Collection Policy for my own children’s school library. It has been a lengthy process, involving going back and forth between the subject modules, forum posts, readings, professional tools and other literature.

Completing this assessment and the whole subject has been an extremely worthwhile undertaking, as I have come to develop my knowledge and understanding of the librarian part of the teacher librarian’s role.

When I gain a position as a TL, I will be looking for a Collection Policy. If there isn’t one, then I won’t panic, I will gather an advisory committee together and start writing one.

References

ASLA/ALIA joint policy statements

Charles Sturt University Interact Material for ETL503 2013

Debowski, S. (2001). Collection management policies. In K. Dillon, J. Henri & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less : collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 126-136).

Kuhlthau, Carol C. 2007, Guided inquiry: learning in the 21st century, Libraries Unlimited, Westport CT.

Hughes-Hassell, S., & Mancall, J.C. (2005). Collection management for youth: Responding to the needs of learners. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Are you a Scoop.it!, Stumble Upon or Pin it, kind of teacher?

About a year ago, my husband made me a Tumblr account. It didn’t mean anything to me. It was like getting an offer from an alternative communications provider. I already have one of those – that is Facebook.

His tumblr account flourished and he has greatly enjoyed sharing his interests there. I don’t know what happened to mine. A lonely empty place in the virtual world.

But now, I have had an awakening. Thanks to my husband for opening my eyes to these ways of sharing images and ideas, outside of Facebook.

I now realise the potential of these social curation sites or “Pin-boards” and I can’t get enough of them!  ” I have joined Scoop.it! and Pinterest.

Here’s my Scoop.it! address;

http://www.scoop.it/t/learning-to-be-a-teacher-librarian

Scoop.it! is a pinboard or would you say corkboard? It works the same way other similar sites do, such as Pinterest. But it is a site mainly for professionals or businesses to share articles on their main interest or topic. You can create your own topic and “scoop” other people’s articles for your topic. You can also follow others and this will assist you in scooping ideas for your own topic. You can share it across most other social media platforms, such as facebook, Twitter, Google and Linkedin. You can link Scoop.it! with your blog and I am just working out how to do this.

I also have a pinterest account and just love the visually appealing images you can collect and repin on your board. This is my address;

http://pinterest.com/jmschmude/favorite-places-spaces/

I can imagine using Scoop.it! for this Teacher Librarian course and working as a TL. Whereas, I can see that Pinterest would be a great platform for students to view what is happening in their school library. Using the colourful images and posters to promote book clubs, e-books or Book Week in the library.

There’s another one that might interest you, it is Stumble Upon.I haven’t explored it yet, but it looks good.

Managing the kiosk on the information superhighway

This is for the Model 2.1a forum post

How is a TL’s role in selecting resources for the library, different to teachers?

The TL’s role is of leader and guide in the selection of resources, that will support the school’s learners. Whereas the teacher’s role is to communicate with their fellow teachers and the TL on the resources they already have access to, share those resources and seek further assistance from the TL in selecting new resources.

The TL’s role has changed says Hughes-Hassell and Mancall from the information expert to the information guide, as the nature of information has changed from print to digital and the sheer abundance of information now available means there cannot be one expert in a school.

Hughes-Hassell and Mancall also argue that the TL’s role has changed because of the change in educational theory – from textbook learning or a behaviourist approach to a learner-centred or constructivist approach. In the new learner-centred approach, information texts and primary sources are now used widely by teachers in their lessons. Therefore teachers have needed to become more involved in selecting resources and using them in their library lessons.

How might the TL collaborate with the school community to support their learners?

The TL needs to be seen outside of the library, talking with teachers about their units of work and involved in school curriculum planning committees. If this was not possible in a school with limited assistance in the library, perhaps a staff library social media group could assist in communicating within the school about selection of resources. Ongoing conversations, both face to face and online, could help the TL to demonstrate their leadership skills and commitment to student learning.

How could a TL engage their learners in collection of resources?

I liked the wishlist idea that one of my fellow CSU students in the current TL subject (503), outlined. Students are able to submit their wish for certain books/resources on a library blog. When I described this to my 9 year old boy just now…he said, “Cool….I would wish for more Wimpy Kids”. I wonder if a self-reflection exercise at the end of the library lesson may assist with weeding out resources that are no longer useful or providing insight into the brilliance of another resource.

Who should have the final say on what is included in the school collection?

Hmmmm…..I believe it should be the TL that has the final say in the school collection, but only after extensive collaboration, that is guided by the library’s collection management policy.

Reference
Hughes-Hassell, S., & Mancall, J.C. (2005). Collection management for youth: Responding to the needs of learners. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Available as an ebook (full text) through the CSU Library.

Panning for gold

I was washing up after dinner, when I heard a wonderful comment made by our 9 year old son, to my husband while they were watching TV. “He’s the Little refugee,” he said enthusiastically, pointing at the TV. “We did a project about him at school. I found out he grew up in Vietnam and because of the trouble there he had to leave”. He is in Kuhlthau’s “third space”, I thought excitedly. Thanks to my first teacher librarian (TL) subject, I now recognise my son’s authentic learning. But it has taken the whole semester to get to this point.

Lee Fitzgerald explains that Kuhlthau describes the ‘First Space’ as student’s local and cultural knowledge and the ‘Second space’, the school curriculum. To enter into the Third space, students are guided in their research, using their “out of school knowledge” to make sense of the curriculum. (Fitzgerald, 2011, p.26). My son was just doing it in reverse! That is using his knowledge of the guided inquiry he was involved in at school, to his out of school experience.

I now understand what Fitzgerald’s comment meant on my first essay, that I did not demonstrate, that I understood Guided Inquiry. I was just using the term.  I have now reached a new stage in my learning, as through my readings for Assignment 2,  I have read in-depth on the Guided Inquiry, based on Kuhlthau’s Information Process Model and a constructivist approach to learning.

I can see how crucial an information literacy model and guided inquiry approach is to a TL’s teaching role. Just as in the study led by Ross Todd at Sydney’s Independent Schools, including Loreto Kirribilli, where Lee Fitzgerald is the TL (Fitzgerald, 2011). A Guided Inquiry is just what it says – teachers guiding students through a task.

As Kuhlthau explains, an important aspect of the guided inquiry is the way students are asked to self-assess their learning. (Kuhlthau, 2007, p. 125) Reflecting on their learning throughout the teaching, such as in my blogs and forum posts, and also at the end, such as in this assignment, helps me to understand my learning more deeply. The interventions made by my lecturers, Lyn Hay and Roy Crotty and fellow marker and leading TL, Lee Fitzgerald, has given me the chance to reflect on my learning and improve my learning as I go.

For example, when Lyn Hay advised me through her comment on my first blog post topic on “Constructivist learning and the curriculum” that I spoke about the curriculum in very general terms, and did not consult up-to-date journal articles, I learnt a great deal about my own research – or lack of it! (Hay, 2012). Using Fitzgerald’s analogy of the “research river” to describe the experience of the guided inquiry, Lyn Hay’s comment brought me swiftly around a bend in the river to reveal a wider landscape.

This is along the same lines as the forum comment I received from Roy Crotty, explaining that while I had raised a good question in saying, “Are we feeding our students the information?”, there are many difficulties with leaving young students to their own devices in research. They do need to be guided to formulate their own research questions and to search for information. (Crotty, 2012). Crotty gave the example of using pathfinders for young students to ensure the searches are guided and successful. I thought this was insightful and has informed my own ideas of how I will work as a TL.

Participating in an e-learning environment is one of the best ways to build up one’s information fluency skills, says Lorenzo. (Lorenzo,2007, p. 10) I quite agree! It has changed so much for me already. I feel so much more confident with understanding what a TLs role is all about. I also have my own blog. Knowing there are so many old-fashioned views on what a teacher librarian’s role is in a school, has even made me question if “I Wish I Had Glasses”….but I think I still do. As another leading TL, Jenny Luca commented to me, after following her blog, there are some great styles out there! (Luca, 2012).

References

Crotty, R. (2012). Comment on Topic 5 Forum for ETL401

http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL401_201260_W_D/page/0c40893e-c40b-42d4-004c-fc85f056d190

FitzGerald, L. (2011). The twin purposes of guided inquiry : guiding student inquiry and evidence based practice. Scan; v.30 n.1 p.26-41.

FitzGerald, L. (2012) Comment on assignment 1 for Jane Schmude

Hay, L. (2012) Comment on blog post – Virtually up for the real world challenge

https://iwishihadglasses.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/virtually-up-for-the-real-world-challenge/#comments

Kuhlthau, C. C., Caspari, A. K., & Maniotes, L. K. (2007). Assessment in guided inquiry. In Guided inquiry : learning in the 21st century (pp. 111-131). Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited.

Lorenzo, G. (2007). Catalysts for Change: Information Fluency, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the New Education Culture, Clarence Center, NY: Lorenzo Associates, Inc.

Luca, J. (2012) Comment on blog post, I can really see you as a teacher librarian

https://iwishihadglasses.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/i-can-really-see-you-as-a-teacher-librarian/

 

The gatekeepers hand key to students as information flows willy nilly!

There can be no doubt that Information literacy is more than a set of skills. As society changes in terms of its information needs, so does the meaning of literacy, explains Langford (Langford, 1998). In the 21st Century learning environment, our students will need to learn more than a set of information skills, to use in a physical library.  Information literacy or ‘meta-literacy’ in schools should now be embedded in an inquiry based approach across all subjects, which will assist our students in developing the dispositions and critical thinking skills needed to manage in a complex world.

TLs must look beyond essential information literacy, as the only teaching role of the TL, if we are to help students develop the general capabilities, as outlined by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2011). Students will need to develop these capabilities, including, literacy, information and communication capability, creative and critical thinking and ethical behaviour, to cope in what O’Connell aptly describes as a “multi-literate, multi-modal environment” (O’Connell, 2012, p.7).

These ‘21st Century literacies’ require a pedagogical approach that essentially promotes active learning, argues Lupton in her blog. (Lupton, 2012). Inquiry learning is the new information literacy, as is reflected in the new curriculum, shares Lupton (Lupton, 2012). Warlick agrees that as information is “flowing willy nilly”, TLs will need to guide students in how to manage information rather than being the “gatekeepers” of information. (Warlick, n.d).

Exciting times are evolving! So what is happening in practice? I asked my 9 year old son, who I would describe as a ‘networked’ kid or who Groom would say is in a world connected by games and virtual worlds. He loves to play in the backyard with a ball, but is also very happy playing with friends on ‘Club Penguin’ or ‘Minecraft’ – both virtual worlds.

At school, my son explained, his class is mainly limited to using printed books in the school library, that have already been selected for research on a particular topic. Further, the research questions are devised by the TL and the students return work from their note-taking in a “published” format that is in pencil.

While my son’s school has a good reputation, as a leading public school in the area, it still has a long way to go in creating a 21st Century library that focuses on student’s developing the ICT and creative and critical thinking skills to deepen their learning, as conveyed by Hay & Todd from the School Libraries 21C discussion blog (Hay & Todd, 2010, p.21).

But if it isn’t happening in his school now, why is it difficult for the TL to put the theory of 21st Century literacies into practice?

Melissas and Burgess, as TLs themselves, agree that it is difficult for teachers to put all of these new requirements of students driving their learning, in a digital context, into practice. (Melissas & Burgess, 2004, p.39). However, they created a working scaffold for teachers and TLs to assist students in constructing their own research questions on a topic. It’s called “Making a Difference – a research guide” (Melissas & Burgess, 2004, p.39).

Other leading TLs, such as Jenny Luca at Mt Toorak College in Mt Eliza, has also shared her ‘Information Fluency’ program, which reflects the inquiry-based learning approach, the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education and the merging of literacies as in the new curriculum (Luca, 2012).

It is great to know there are leading TLs, like Luca paving the way for us.

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Authority, (2011).The Australian Curriculum
Retrieved from:http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

Groom, D (2012). Evolvability : a world of persistent ambient digital culture. Scan. v.31 n.1 p.14-17.

Hay, L & Todd, R.(2010) School Libraries 21C: The conversation begins. Scan. Vol.29 No.1 p.30-42.

Langford, L. (1998) Information Literacy: A Clarification  Retrieved from http://www.fno.org/sept98/clarify.html

Luca, J (2012) Information Fluency Program
Retrieved from http://jennyluca.wikispaces.com/Toorak+College+Information+Fluency+Program

Lupton, M. (2012) Information Literacy is dead: Long live Inquiry Learning!
Retrieved from http://inquirylearningblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/il-is-dead-long-live-il/

Melissas, S., & Burgess, L. (2004). Turning theory into practice in the classroom. Synergy,
2(2), 39-43.

O’Connell, J (2012). Learning without frontiers : school libraries and meta-literacy in action. Access; v.26 n.1 p.4-7.

Warlick (n.d )   Wiki Retrieved from http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ClemencyWright

Are you thinking what I’m thinking B1?

My 3 year old daughter and I are lying on my bed, listening to a chicken laying an egg, in our neighbour’s yard. I whisper to her, “Listen”…berk, berk, berk…then an iphone on the bedside table interrupts our special moment with a beeping notification of a new message. My little one swoops for it. She quickly swipes her tiny finger across the small screen and finds the Bananas in Pyjamas bubble game app.

Hmmmm…oh well…clever girl.

I ponder on the fact that my little girl will probably never be concerned with this blog topic on the convergence of literacies in the 21st Century, as it will simply be a part of her life. But in 2012, the concepts are evolving and have taken on peculiar names, such as; ‘transliteracy’ which Ipri explains essentially relates to being literate in the 21st century and focuses on the social use of technology. (Ipri, 2010, p.532).

Ipri points to a study that has shown many librarians are not that familiar with the term, ‘transliteracy’ but when explained the concept of a convergence of literacies; they are already observing this happening in their libraries (Ipri, 2010, p.537).

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards, (devised about two years after the major shift in social networking began with the dawn of Facebook and YouTube), has provided teacher librarians (TL) worldwide with a model for teaching Information Fluency in a new learning environment. Their standards incorporate learning and sharing from social networks and the ethical responsibilities of Web 2.0 (ALA 2007).

Guided by these standards, I can see how a TL will be able to teach my daughter in learning to find, use, synthesise, evaluate and responsibly share information in this 21st century style, without being conscious of using ‘technology’. It just has to be a whole lot more exciting than the way I learnt!

O’Connell agrees it is more interesting for our students to work, think, play and learn in a multi-modal, multi-literate 21st century environment. (O’Connell, 2012, p.7) Groom argues that this is not just a new way to learn, it is a completely new and significant culture. (Groom, 2012, p.15).

O’Connell argues that TLs have a big role to play in this new interactive world of information to assist students in coping with the complex skills needed to “juxtapose text, sound, media and social connections in real time” (O’Connell, 2012, p.5).

A great example of the convergence of 21st century literacies, in practice, is in a study by Edwards-Groves which involved encouraging teachers, in a small rural primary school in NSW, to use technology as a resource, to promote interactivity and creativity, in teaching writing skills. (Edwards-Groves, 2012, p.105).

I can clearly see a role for the TL in being a teaching partner and leader, in these types of 21^st century style lessons.

It was noted that during the study, teachers moved from traditional ways of teaching writing, such as, designing posters, to explicitly teaching students how to read and write in digital contexts. One class created their own ‘video text’ of the history of their town and were engaging in “reading, writing and learning multimodality” explains Edwards-Groves. (Edwards-Groves, 2012, p.105).

How exciting for us as TLs! We can collaborate on projects such as these to improve our students’ literacy and information literacy skills in digital contexts, while teaching them how to be responsible in this 21^st Century learning environment.

References

American Association of School Librarian standards (2007) Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf

Edwards-Groves, C. (2012). Interactive creative technologies : changing learning practices and pedagogies in the writing classroom. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy; v.35 n.1 p.99-113.

Groom, D. (2012). Evolvability : a world of persistent ambient digital culture. Scan; v.31 n.1 p.14-17.

Ipri, T.(2010). Introducing transliteracy, College & Research Libraries News vol. 71, no. 10, pp. 532–567.

Lorenzo, G. (2007). Catalysts for Change: Information Fluency, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the New Education Culture, Clarence Center, NY: Lorenzo Associates, Inc.

O’Connell, J. (2012). Learning without frontiers : school libraries and meta-literacy in action. Access; v.26 n.1 p.4-7.

Background reading

Grimley, M. (2012). Digital Leisure-Time Activities, Cognition, Learning Behaviour and Information Literacy:  what are our children learning? E–Learning and Digital Media 9 (1).

Gorrod, T. (2011). Digital citizenship : what’s the drum? Scan; 30(2), p.34-36.

Lamb A & Johnson L 2010, ‘Divergent convergence Part 2: Teaching and learning in a transmedia world’, Teacher Librarian, 38 (1) pp. 64–69.

Warlick, D. (2007). Literacy in the new information landscape, Library Media Connection, 26, 20-21).