Part B Critical Reflection on the
Subject and myself as a TL.
Many things throughout this semester led to my
personal views of the role of a TL changing, developing and synthesizing into a
comprehensive idea of what an excellent TL should look like. The main areas of
change in my thinking were collaboration; information literacy, and the
development of an information literate school community; and the importance of
having principal support. These changes occurred as a result of reading,
research, my own work in the library, and comments made by other students on the
forums.
The final blog assessment and the course modules
helped synthesize my ideas on information literacy and information literate
school communities. The OLJ Blog task made me (and others) think about what our
view on Information Literacy actually was. After involving myself with online
discussion and readings I formed a view based on the fact that Information
literacy has been described as a core literacy for the 21st century, it helps
students form opinions and develop skills (Lloyd & Williamson, 2008).
Pretorius (2013) gave a valid opinion on the forum that most authors mention
that Information Literacy is a process, and is constantly changing much like
the process we take as teachers. I know that my knowledge on all topics in this
subject will constantly evolve.
Before I began this subject I had not considered
the importance of collaboration with classroom teachers with TL’s to plan and
create units that enable students to learn and practice information literacy
skills. As I researched and completed sections of the subject, collaboration
appeared more and more. Whilst researching an idea for assignment item 2, I
became aware that collaboration was not occurring in many school situations
that I have observed and the Standards of Professional Excellence are much
harder to attain with lack of teacher and TL collaboration. I made note of this
in my blog entry, entitled “Week Four” on 25th November 2012. In a
student correspondence on the Forum, Palmer (2013) gave a great opinion about
the lack of support in topic 5 and Tipadalo (2012) about the specific roles of
a TL in topic 2. An article that reinforces Palmer’s view is Todd (2008), which
discusses how collaboration in a school can work, even with obstacles such as
time and unwillingness of classroom teachers. Many entries on the ‘Topic 5
forum’ discussed collaboration as being an obstacle, however it was refreshing
to see that most of them are still willing to try and collaborate with classroom
teachers.
Early on I decided that principal support is
crucial to a TL. Evidence of this learning is found in my blog entitled “Week
Three” on the 20th of November 2012 (TLs within the School Community).
Principals play a big part in what a TL is able to achieve within the school.
It was helpful to see that others agree with the idea of the principal being
critical to library success as indicated in comments on the “Topic 5 Forum”. My
awareness of why collaboration was so important in the role of TL became more
concrete after reading an entry on the Topic Forum 5. In a personal
communication by a fellow student on the forum, Pretorius, (2013) stated “The
Principal should be treated a little differently as there is the expectation
that she/he will be well-read, and that his/her job involves analysis of
current educational trends and theories. I’d invest more time presenting
literature to them whilst simultaneously letting positive comments from staff
filter through.”
My understanding now, after completing relevant
readings, is that it is up to the TL to influence and create change. They can
do this through constant promotion of the value of their role, and by showing
the principal how they can contribute to students learning and achievement.
ETL401 has been instrumental in my knowledge of
the role of a teacher librarian. Although I have mainly discussed
collaboration, information literacy and principal support in this blog entry, I
have gained understanding and knowledge in all aspects of the TLs role. Through
completion of blog entries and participation in subject forums, I have been
able to articulate and see other views about the TLs role, then form my own
opinion. Finally, and most importantly, my learning has inspired me to become
an excellent TL. As I currently have limited experience in the library, I try
to use things I have learnt whenever possible. In terms of my learning, it is
being able to practice and experience what I have learnt that makes it all
worthwhile for me in terms of my ability to become an excellent TL.
References
Lloyd, A., and Williamson, K. (2008) Working towards
an understanding of information literacy in context: Implications for research,
Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Vol 40(1), 3-12. SAGE
Journals, UK. Retrieved January 13th, 2013 from http://lis.sagepub.com/content/40/1/3.abstract
Palmer, A. (2013, January 23). [Online forum
comment]. Retrieved from http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL401_201290_W_D/page/714197e0-4a89-42e0-0095-562a37d6f3a2
Pretorius, T. (2013, January 22). [Online forum
comment]. Retrieved from http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL401_201290_W_D/page/714197e0-4a89-42e0-0095-562a37d6f3a2
Tipaldo, M. (2012, November 30). [Online forum
comment]. Retrieved from http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL401_201290_W_D/page/4cf5bbd9-3e78-4ecd-00e6-01cc20907fa8
Todd, R. J. (2008). The dynamics of classroom
teacher and teacher librarian instructional collaborations. Scan, 27(2), 19-28.
Retrieved from http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au
