A Critical Reflection of ETL401

As a classroom teacher with 24yrs experience it was time for a change. I wanted to continue to work in education, but not necessarily in the classroom environment. The potential to combine a love of literature, interacting with other educators and teaching children directed me to teacher librarianship. This reflection will focus on my increased awareness of the teacher librarian’s (TL) role in light of the readings, discussions and critical feedback received throughout this course.

My perception of a TL has changed greatly. I thought they simply read books to children, had minimal contact with parents, didn’t write school reports, provided teachers with resources to support programs, weren’t necessarily required to attend staff meetings and didn’t have to hand in a program reflecting teaching and learning opportunities. This belief was based on cursory observations and limited professional interactions with TLs at the various schools I have worked in.


After reading the work of Haycock (2003) and Skrzeczynski (1999) in combination with discussions I have had with the TL at school, my growing awareness of the role being multi- faceted (Herring 2007) both challenges and inspires me. While reading to children to foster a love of literature is still a valuable function of a TL, I now recognise that commitment to the management of print, multimedia, online and human resources to support school policy and student outcomes is also a fundamental responsibility. The 12 Standards of professional excellence for TLs (ASLA/ALIA) encourage commitment to professional leadership in order to demonstrate the importance of life-long learning, promote the use of current pedagogy to inform teaching practice, encourage the acquisition of excellent references and the provision of information services to meet the needs of all members in the school community. Initially, I questioned the use of the term “excellent” as it seemed to imply that if competency in all areas was not displayed then you could never be considered an excellent educator. Further examination prompted the realisation that the standards serve as challenging yet achievable benchmarks that TLs aspire to rather than a mandatory checklist of skills that should be demonstrated simultaneously.

Not being a TL, I thought it would be difficult to establish contacts within the profession until I realised interacting on the ETL401 forums and in the chat rooms provided me with important networking opportunities. To avoid “occupational invisibility” (Oberg 2006 p. 14) I now recognise that establishing and maintaining strong professional networks with library and classroom teaching associations will generate a greater awareness of the TL’s contribution to teaching and learning policies and practices. Working collaboratively with key staff members, particularly the principal, will also allow a TL to highlight their skills as teacher, information specialist and information services manager.

I had little understanding of what characterised an information literate school community (ILSC) before commencing this course. After examining the readings and in particular the work of James Henri (2005), discussions on Module 2 and the critique of Assignment One, it is clearer to me that an ILSC is more than the teaching of information literacy skills and using inquiry models. Acknowledging the influence of global and social factors, an ILSC requires a holistic, flexible and planned approach to education where the role of teacher and learner is interchangeable. I saw the role of TL as resource provider within this environment. I now recognise that their expertise at locating information resources, providing quality services to develop transferable literacy skills in combination with quality teaching practices is what actually describes an excellent TL.

An aspect of this course I found the most challenging was the use of the forums, chat rooms and blogs to enhance my learning. Having last studied 24yrs ago, I thought that the readings alone would provide me with everything I needed. I was also quite sceptical of the benefits of keeping an online journal. The most important revelation for me was acknowledging that my inexperience and fear of e learning was actually stopping me from developing relationships with peers and was preventing me from attaining the knowledge and understandings I needed to participate successfully in this course. I now consider them as valuable learning tools that give students an opportunity to question, share, recommend and record information. I was particularly grateful to Cooney (2010), Bebington (2010) and Cottermole (2010) who provided valuable insights and references that assisted me in this course. The blog gave me the opportunity to reflect on new understandings, acknowledge the challenges I was facing and record my attempts to overcome them. It is valuable to share these ideas with colleagues and receive their feedback as Drury (2010) and Hashim (2010) have done in my Blog, as they help develop shape my growing awareness of the profession and my place in it.

This course has increased my understanding of research associated with student learning, the process involved in information literacy and the creation of an ILSC and most importantly the critical role an excellent TL has in each of these areas.



REFERENCES

Australian School Library Association and Australian Library and Information Association (2001). Learning for the future: Developing information skills in schools. Carlton South, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.

Australian School Library Association and Australian Library and Information Association (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. Canberra: ASLA.

Bebington, G. (2010, Mar 7) Comparison of Role Statements of Teacher Librarians. Message posted to ETL401 Module 2 sub-forum.

Bowers, B. (2010). http://brid-ateacherlibrarianinthemaking.blogspot.com/

Bowers, B. (2010). Thoughts on Collaboration. Message posted to ETL401 Module 5 sub-forum.

Cattermole, C. (2010, May 16). Thoughts on Standards for teacher librarians. Message posted to ETL401 Assignment 2 sub-forum.

Cooney, P. (2010, April 17). Comparison of seven models. Message posted to ETL401 Assign ment 2 sub-forum.

Cooney, P. (2010, May 16). Thoughts on professional standards. Message posted to ETL401 Assignment 2 sub-forum.

Haycock, K. (2003). The Crisis in Canada’s School Libraries: The Case for reform and Re-Investment. Toronto, ON: Association of Canadian Publishers and Canadian Heritage.

Henri, J. (2005). Understanding the information literate school Community. In The Information literate school community 2, Henri, J & Asselin, M (Eds.), Wagga Wagga, NSW : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administers. Teacher Librarian, 33 (3).

Skreczynski, C. (1999). Breaking the barriers: sculpturing an information literate school community, pp241-258 In The Information literate school community: best practice, Henri,J & Bonnano, K (Eds.) Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW.