As a classroom teacher, with no experience in the library, I came into this course with little understanding of the role of the teacher-librarian as stated in my blog (24/2, Residential School). Since then I have reflected on, read about, discussed and analysed the role of the teacher-librarian and my understandings of this have grown and developed.
Initially, when asked to define the role of the teacher-librarian, my understandings were that their role was to buy books for the library, facilitate borrowing and returning and to release teachers from face to face teaching. Right from beginning the readings, I realised that my knowledge was sorely lacking. There have been many critical points along my journey and these are explored below.
I first realised that the teacher-librarian at my school was underutilised (25/5, topic 1 sub-forum, RBL) when reading Haycock (2003, p.34) who stated simply that 'collaboration is the key to getting the most out of the school library'. Having never collaborated with the teacher-librarian, it was a critical realisation for me that this was one of the major roles. Continuing to explore collaboration lead me to believe that it is vital for the teacher-librarian to use their unique qualifications and skills to plan, implement and evaluate teaching and learning programs in collaborative partnerships with classroom teachers.
This collaboration will also lead to the implementation of another role of the teacher-librarian, that of promoting the information literate school community (ILSC). As reflected in my forum posting (20/4, topic 4 sub-forum, Information Literacy- thoughts), I had not previously heard the term ILSC. I see this as a a failure on my part as a classroom teacher, but as stated in my blog (19/4, some thoughts), assignment one was a critical point in my understanding of the ILSC and the teacher-librarian's role within it.
It was with interest that I read the forum post from Yvonne Hodgson (1/4, topic 2 sub-forum) in which she talked about what she would do at the beginning of the school year to set up collaborative practices. In this post she talks about first gaining the principal's support. Many readings were provided on this subject, but it was when I read this post, from a practicing teacher-librarian, that I realised that principal support was vital. Watts (1999, p.29) surprised me by saying that 'significant others who are aware of what teacher-librarians know, do and can do, and are willing to do are very rare.' I did not realise that it was the role of the teacher-librarian to promote their skills and job. In saying that, it makes perfect sense, as I as a classroom teacher for a number of years, was not aware of what teacher-librarians can do. It has become the role of the teacher-librarian to promote their worth using evidence based practice (Hay, 2005, p.17).
Being able to collaborate and understand the information needs of the ILSC, and being able to identify the needs of library users, leads to the next major role of the teacher-librarian, one that I thought I understood at the beginning of this course. My simple understanding of this role, manager of resources, has grown and developed over this subject and ETL503. As reflected in my blog (1/3, Selection Criteria) I looked at policy documents from the NSW Department of Education and Training which are particularly relevant for me, as I work in a NSW Government school. These policy documents reflect the role of the teacher-librarian in shaping the library collection to meet the needs of users. This made me realise what a broad and important role that manager of resources is.
The Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians document lead me to the critical realisation of just how broad the role of the teacher-librarian is. While reading and analysing this document, I developed a greater understanding of what it means to be an excellent teacher-librarian. This document strikes me as one of them most important for the teacher-librarian to follow in order to successfully fulfill their role and is one that I will refer to throughout this course and my future career as a teacher-librarian.
Over the course of this subject my perceptions of the role of the teacher-librarian have certainly changed and developed. Starting with the limited knowledge I brought as a classroom teacher, I now understand that the role of the teacher-librarian is broad, including the teacher-librarian as curriculum leader, information specialist and information services manager (Learning for the Future, 2001, pp. 60-62). The breadth of the teacher-librarian role is slightly intimidating but Herring (2007, p.31) offers some relief, stating that it was '...clear that no teacher-librarian could fulfill all of these roles at the same time...' and they need to '...effectively priorities roles according to the current needs of students, staff and parents in the school community'. I am fully aware that my knowledge of the teacher-librarian role is still in the beginning stages, and reading, analysis and reflection over the course of my study, as well as gaining practical experience as a teacher-librarian, will continue to shape my understandings.
No comments:
Post a Comment