Library – Page 3 – Musings of a Teacher Librarian and Puppet Builder

Reflecting on the role of the Teacher Librarian

misshannaford Learning to be a Librarian May 23, 2011May 23, 2011Becoming a TL, Information Skills Project, Library, University 0 Comment

Purcell (2010) and Williams (2011) made the excellent point that the classroom teachers of today don’t really know what a Teacher Librarian does. As a former classroom teacher and subject specialist, I didn’t truly understand or appreciate the role a Teacher Librarian plays within a secondary school when I decided to retrain. All I saw of the role of the Teacher Librarian was a teacher who borrowed books out, returned books in, helped students to find books and information for an assignment and showed me how to use the Library photocopier/ printer. I also had no idea that the Teacher Librarian was available to collaborate with me to develop my lessons and incorporate information literacy skills.

I now have a better idea of what a Teacher Librarian is, Purcell (2010) described the role as leader, program administrator, information specialist, instructional partner and teacher but I would also add from my own experience, the roles of interior designer, technology designer and help desk, functions manager, and recreational activities facilitator to name just a few. In order to highlight these roles to the whole school community, Williams (2011) described in an online forum comment that a 21^st century Teacher Librarian must be “active in self promotion of him/herself as well as the library”.

The area that has most shaped my expanded view of the role of the TL in my school has been using the power of evidence based practice and collaboration with the community of schools that my school is part of, to affect change in the schools’ learning goals (Todd , 2002). I had no idea that a Teacher Librarian could make such a large impact not only in one school but through collaboration the impact would be felt in three schools. Our community of schools identified the need to develop a common metalanguage and iconography of information literacy across the primary school and the high school to help with the transition of information literacy skills from primary school to high school. It was my role as the Teacher Librarian to develop the common iconography and resources for use in both the Primary schools and the high school.

Another demanding aspect to my role of Teacher Librarian in a combined selective/ comprehensive school has been the process of challenging the assumptions of teachers regarding the role that information literacy plays in the whole school not just half of the school. The assumption is that these students, because they have been identified as ‘gifted’ already know the information literacy process. Dr Liz Lamb, in an article on Information Literacy and Gifted Students (2003) discussed whether the explicit teaching of the NSW model of Information Literacy had a positive impact on the education of gifted students. The result of that research showed that the gifted student’s ability to analyse their task, use a broader range of sources as well as evaluating the information they were using all improved after explicit and extended instruction in information literacy skills. To this end, the common resources I developed for the information literacy program all have higher order thinking questions built in to challenge the gifted and talented students as well as the comprehensive students of my school.

Purcell (2010) described the role of the Teacher Librarian/ Media Specialist as “constantly changing and they must be able to accept new tasks in order to perform their duties successfully” nothing makes this clearer than as summed up by Wundersitz (2011). As described by Wundersitz, today’s definition of the role of the Teacher Librarian is a photograph of how our libraries meet the needs of our learning community and our role in our schools today, but the role the Teacher Librarian and the school library will be completely different within a few years’ time as the way information is processed and accessed, the role technology will play in everyday small tasks and the way that pedagogy are all in a constant state of evolution. If the Teacher Librarian does not adapt to this evolution, then the role of the Teacher Librarian plays now will become irrelevant and extinct.

So- what do I do now? My first step is to lead the teaching staff of my school through professional learning on the role of the Teacher Librarian so that they know what the role of Teacher Librarian means. I need to demonstrate to the teaching staff that “Teacher Librarians have a vital role in helping teachers find their way through the rich and complex online environment and meeting students’ information needs” (Karen Bonanno quoted in Australian Educator 2011 p. 25). My second step is to work with the Teacher Mentor and the practicum coordinator so that there are ongoing sessions for new staff, early career teachers and practicum teachers (Southern Cross University Library, 2011) on what is a Teacher Librarian and developing ongoing professional learning on integrating Information Literacy into the curriculum.

References

Lamb, L. (2003). Information Literacy and Gifted Students. Scan, 22(2), 29-34. Retrieved from: http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/fullText;dn=127444;res=AEIPT

Purcell, M. (2010). All librarians do is check out books right? A look at the roles of the school library media specialist. Library Media Connection 29(3), 30-33. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Rance, C. (2011). Brought to Book. Australian Educator, Autumn(69), 24-25.

Southern Cross University Library (Producer). (2011). How all public libraries can help you [YouTube]. Australia: Independent Productions. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY1Z8ukzkzM&feature=player_profilepage

Todd, R. (2002). Evidence based practice II: getting into the action. Scan, 21(2). Retrieved from

Williams, J. (2011, March 9). My ever-changing thoughts on the role of a TL [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201130_W_D_Sub2_forum&task=frameset

Wundersitz, E. (2011, March 8). Initial thoughts on Purcell reading [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http: http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201130_W_D_Sub2_forum&task=frameset

Celebrating International Women’s Day in the Library

misshannaford Reimaging the Library April 13, 2011April 13, 2011Celebrations, Decorating, Library 0 Comment

The IWD morning tea 2011 — The 2011 IWD morning tea with colour coordinated decorations

8th of March is International Women’s Day. Here in the library, we make a week of it. In 2011 IWD was on a Tuesday so we started decorating on the previous Friday by blowing up balloons and plaiting streamers.

The colours of International Women’s Day are Green White and Violet/ Purple. If you did not know why these colours represent IWD the reason is simple- Green represents Give, White represents Women and Violet/ Purple represents Vote- Give Women the Vote. The three colours were used by Women protesting for suffrage- the Suffragettes.

Marking the day with a Balloon tree and signage

As the Librarian, it was delegated to me to organise the IWD staff morning tea- we held it on the Friday of the week when we normally have staff morning tea.

The decorations are balloons, crepe ribbon, plastic tablecloths and the music included Sister Sufferagette from Mary Poppins.

Here are the photos

Celebrating Lunar New Year in the Library

misshannaford Reimaging the Library February 23, 2011February 23, 2011Celebrations, Decorating, Library 0 Comment

Many of the students in my school celebrate Lunar New Year or Tet. This year is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Lunar calendar. I found the decorations in my local variety store for just a few dollars each including the Lanterns which came in packs of 2 for $5.

I bought the gorgeous red satin fabric at a local fabric store for $5 per metre. The best thing about the satin is that it allows us to make a quick transition from Lunar New Year to Library Lovers Day on February 14.

Red satin Banners with decorations in front

I have also used a machine called Craft Robo to design circles of rabbits using an image I found at : http://nearnessofdistance.blogspot.com/2011/02/chinese-new-year-rabbit.html

I put the image into Adobe Illustrator and used the craft robo machine to cut them out in red and gold cardboard. I put all the circles on the windows at the front and back of the library.’

Here are some of the other decorations:

Prosperity Knot decoration on Banner- detail

Using Adobe Acrobat Security to Protect copyrighted documents

misshannaford Learning to be a Librarian February 13, 2011Adobe Acrobat Pro 9, Becoming a TL, ebooks, Library 0 Comment

Today I learned how to access the Library at Charles Sturt University as I spotted a reading in my course outline that sounded relevant to my first assignment and that it was an ebook format so I could have it straight away through download.

I started reading and I wanted to highlight information. All the commenting tools were disabled and I noticed a padlock symbol above the normal bookmark symbol. Clicking on it, I discovered the security features you can put on PDF documents. This got me thinking about the e-resources I have in the school collection that I want students to access and use if I can make sure that they don’t make illegal copies. Here is what the security settings look like:

These are the security settings for an ebook from uni. Note commenting is turned off but copying is turned on.

I want to do more research on these settings- I am really interested in being able to get our e-resources out to students.

Playing with an iPad

misshannaford Learning to be a Librarian January 4, 2011January 4, 2011ebooks, iPad, Library 1 Comment

Just this week I went to a Get to know your iPad workshop at the Apple Store in Sydney. If I apply KWL (what I Know, what I Want to know, and what I Learned) this is what happened:

K- I already know what the home screen is and the home button since I own an iPhone. I already know what the iPod app is for. There was no differentiation there between people who have just turned the iPad on for the first time and those who have been playing for a while and have come to get the most out of it.

W- I wanted to know how to get rid of the ‘permanent’ apps on screen such as contacts and lock the apps in place so students cannot delete any apps. The Apple store’s ‘facilitator’ said you can’t but all the demo models on the tables had apps locked so you can’t move or delete them. I need to do more research on this.

I also wanted to learn how to add books to the iBooks app. Apparently the school iPad needs a software upgrade so that pdf ebooks can be directly downloaded from the internet

L- I have learned that you can download an app called ‘pages’ part of the iWork collection. It behaves just like Word- that would be a good app for students. I also learned that you can group apps in folders by dragging one app on top of another. You can even rename the folders eg Maths games.

I spent my travel time on the train reading a very interesting ebook ‘From the Creative Minds of 21st Century Librarians’ problem was that I could not download it directly to the iBooks app so I could not bookmark it. The book contains wonderful library lesson plans linked to the Information Literacy standards in America but those standards are very close to our own Australian Information Literacy standards.

Point is that I have been reading this ebook on the iPad. I found it very easy to read and I could change the text size from small to very big by ‘pinching’ or ‘pushing out’ the screen

Miss H

Outfitting a teacher librarian for the 21st century. Here’s what it takes.

misshannaford Learning to be a Librarian January 4, 2011January 5, 2011Information Skills Project, Library, Web 2.0 0 Comment

Today thanks to my Professional Learning Network I have found a wonderful site that outlines what Web 2.0 tools I should know about to be an effective TL in my school community. I am already using most of the tools in my teaching practice (I have been teaching Middle School History in the last 12 months) but I was not sure how I could apply these tools to the library operations. Here is the site:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/888448-312/fully_loaded_outfitting_a_teacher.html.csp

I have been thinking about how I can overtly and covertly teach Information Skills to both students and staff. So far my covert ideas are bookmarks with a search engine tip on each side and index cards with tips displayed on the windows near the computers. Once I come up with some designs I shall post some photos. The idea is that students and staff will notice them casually (unless I point them out).

Miss H

What is Digital Literacy?

misshannaford Uncategorized December 22, 2010December 22, 2010Digital Literacy, Information Skills Project, Library 0 Comment

I am currently working on a project to foster Information Skills and Digital Literacy among students in my school. Looking at the data gathered from surveying my colleagues and students, the project needs to explicitly train teachers in Digital Literacy but what is it?

According to Wikipedia: “Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current high-technology, and an understanding of how it can be used. …”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_literacy accessed on 22/12/2010

So… now that I have a definition I need to plan tools to help train teachers to do each of those things as well as organise worksheets or lesson tools that could be adapted to any faculty area and any year group- simple right?

Miss H

Welcome

misshannaford Uncategorized December 21, 2010December 21, 2010Library, Puppet, Puppetry 1 Comment

Hello there,

This is my first ever blog post on my first ever blog. What do I want to do?

Firstly I want to write about how I go about running a school Library. I also want to write about my world of puppetry and share many of the tricks and research I have been doing.

Bear with me while I learn to edit the page. I want to make it user friendly yet fun.

Miss H