Assignment looming

The assignment questions are out - now I am getting really worried! Need to put my head down and my tail up and really get some work done this week...

Reflection: ETL505 Assessment 2 and Life

My second assignment for ETL505 was due and submitted on the Monday just past. I have been very busy and have not had a chance to write about it until now (and can't really afford to dwell too much now, as I need to get stuck into the next module!). I tend to immediately forget/block out assignments after I have submitted them, but I actually rather enjoyed this one so it should not be too hard to remember what I did for it. In fact, I would say it is the best time I have had completing an assignment that I can remember - even though I know that thinking that may make me a strange  person! I know a lot of people had trouble with the concepts - and I'm not saying I thought it was easy and that I am confident I got a perfect mark (I am fairly certain I didn't!), but most of the concepts just clicked, and even when they didn't, it was like a puzzle trying to figure it all out. It has made me realise once again that there are so many paths this course could take me down. I could actually picture myself working for SCIS one day, as a part of the team who come up with these subject headings. I think that I would enjoy that.


cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by B G

I have opened so many doors of late, and this course has only encouraged me to do so. In hindsight, this is rather surprising. I think if you asked me two years ago what I thought I would get out of doing a Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship), I would tell you that I would expect to become a qualified teacher librarian, that I would be better at teaching library concepts, and that I would be able to run the administration side of a library as well. The things I have gotten out of the course have been quite different to what I expected. I am now working in a library two days a week, and am having to learn a lot on the job as far as teaching (though I have lots of big ideas and understand the important concepts like information literacy and digital citizenship that I need to encourage/teach), and definitely as far as running the library goes, but I feel that I am a more well rounded person from this course. I feel that I have learned important skills that I did not expect to gain: leading from the middle, how to create an engaging PowerPoint presentation, how to create an effective weekly plan, and perhaps most useful of all: I have realised that my options really are endless. This course does not narrow my options to fit with the study I have completed, but broadens them.

I am currently working in a school libary on a temporary basis, working in a public library system on a casual basis, and teaching on a casual basis, and I would be happy doing any of these things and others along this spectrum of information and people related career paths. The only thing I know for certain that I would like to have in the near future is for it to be one job, full time. I feel that that day is coming, and I am excited to see what I end up doing, and how much I enjoy it.

ETL505 has been such a different subject to the others that it has made the variety of colours peeping through all those different doors I have started to open seem even more vibrant and exciting. I wonder which door will open fully first...

The following is the slideshow I created for my first ETL523 assignment (uploaded onto SlideShare). I am far from completely happy with it, and am yet to know what mark it received. I will be presenting it next week, in the scenario of a teacher librarian presenting to a school staff meeting. I feel that it was rushed, as I did not have nearly as much time as I would have liked to spend on it. If you download it you can see the notes to go with it as far as I am aware (be warned that the notes needed to be written in an academic style, and are quite extensive!).

Now to prepare myself for the actual presentation... preparations so far making me more concerned rather than less! I am not sure whether to condense what I have written into notes, or to speed read what I have got as I present it. Will practise both ways and hopefully that will give me a good idea about what I should do.

The library without walls

View more presentations from jessthomas49.

PS - those pictures on the first slide were joined perfectly when I made it, I'm not sure why there is a gap between them now :(

Finding my feet (again)

Feeling like things are a little out of (my) control at the moment. Only just starting to get my motivation back up and now we will be going away for the weekend - another spanner in the works. I need to take control of this spanner though, and make sure it is turning the right nuts and bolts... (yes, I know, a poor analogy as usual).

Last week I had my study visit in Sydney. I had an excellent time, learned a lot about libraries, myself, and my abilities to find my way around Sydney in my car and catching buses.I got to spend time with cousins who I do not see very often, and had a fantastic time. But I lost a week of study in regards to my other two subjects. I lost routine (which I guess I have not had for over a month, what with all the travel, weddings, birthdays and assignments) - routine is something that I often come to rely on, and something that I rarely have, weekly let alone daily(considering that I work part time and casually).

What I need to do is to create a routine when it comes to studying. A routine of reading my notes whenever I get the opportunity. A habit of turning my computer on whenever I get home, or when I wake up in the morning on a day off. I need to read my notes when I'm having lunch, instead of my novel. Maybe I should read my notes when I eat breakfast as well. I need to imprint in my head the priority of reading my study material. With the readings more under control I will be able to focus on the assignments when the time comes, without that niggling feeling that I am unprepared to complete them.

Let's see if I can alter my mental routine to fit with this, working towards my goal of becoming the most effective student, and teacher librarian, that I can be.

Jumping the first hurdle.

EER500 Assignment 1, Part A has been submitted (via wiki). I must say, I am fairly pleased with myself for once - it is not due until tomorrow!

Then draft research question that I eventually formulated was as follows:
"What can a teacher librarian do to have the biggest possible positive impact on student learning, and to make this impact clear to everyone?"

The next step will be to decide which other student's response I will use for Part B of the assignment. There were some interesting posts, in a whole range of areas. The ones that have caught my eye so far are about teacher preparation for teaching reading, impact of IWBs (Interactive Whiteboards), and Asperger's/Autism Spectrum. IWBs and NAPLAN seem to be popular topics.

I will let you know what I decide to go with. So many options :) So much time spent reading at the moment! At least I am mostly reading things that interest me.

Speaking of reading, I had better go and catch up on my ETL523 readings...

Back from who knows where...

You may wonder where I have been (though likely not, as I doubt anyone is following my blog with real interest at this stage... for interests sake I have decided to imagine an audience - hopefully this will help my writing to become more interesting). To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what my journey has been these last few weeks. After the chaos of the last assignments, combined and shortly followed by the challenges of moving house, I think my mind retreated into its own little bubble, only dealing with things that were immediate and obvious. I created a mind map to gather my own thoughts. It helped (though was it worth the time spent on it...?).



Now I am starting to read the things my lecturers have suggested and I am realising once again there is so much that I do not know! So many terms that I do not know the meaning of. And where is the time to find out about them all? With a new routine in mind, and a new mindset and motivation, I am hoping to get on top of these things in the next few weeks - to get my assignments completed, and then to spend some of my spare time investigating the things that are bugging me now if my questions have not been answered during the assignment completion phase. I will record questions as I come up with them, then when I get a chance, I will find the answers. If I feel that they are interesting or important, I may even share them with you, so be prepared.

I had better begin...

Pending assignment doom

Once again things are looking grim. Once again the lesson I am learning is to be more organised, have more self-discipline, and to keep on top of my studies early instead of leaving things until the last minute and then going into panic mode. Problem is, I don't seem to actually learn these lessons, as I find myself repeating the same mistakes. My intentions are good, but I don't seem to be able to implement them properly. We can always hope for next time I suppose. Well, plan for next time!

I have done a bit of reading this week, starting to get a more well rounded understanding of the things we are learning about in ETL504 TL as Leader. I just worked on the PowerPoint for a while, and can see myself getting that done tomorrow. Problem is I also need to get part B of that assignment, as well as ALL my readings for ETL501 Information Environment done and Assigment 1 for that subject completed - all by Friday morning (when I'm going away to return Monday morning...). Four days (minus SES meeting, and tutoring including planning). It's times like this I am glad I do not have a full time job and have a supportive boyfriend who is willing to support me at these times - encourages me to focus on my studies and not worry about work if I need extra time for assignments.

Off topic... Okay, I will get a good night's sleep, get up early tomorrow and knuckle down all day. I will also blog about the things I have been learning in my readings tomorrow, about being a leader and working in teams.

Critical Synthesis

Part C – A critical synthesis of my reflection

As a child imagining myself as one day becoming a librarian, I had a very limited view of what this would involve (see blog post, ‘Then and now’, http://tlinthemaking.blogspot.com/2010/03/then-and-now.html). My observations as a student and as a casual teacher had given me some ideas about what a great teacher librarian looked like, and how empty a school felt without one. I had observed a teacher librarian (who was respected though she was still obtaining her Masters degree) who I had perceived as being great at her profession. I noticed the care she took to cater for student needs, and that she put effort into compiling digital resources on the school’s network, so was already becoming aware of the multiplicity of roles a teacher librarian can take on before I began studying – little did I know, I still had so much to learn.

Towards the beginning of the course I began to notice a shift in my thinking – I was beginning to think like a teacher librarian (see blog post, ‘Starting to think like a teacher librarian’, http://tlinthemaking.blogspot.com/2010/03/starting-to-think-like-teacher.html). I began thinking about the roles that I would play, what people’s perceptions of teacher librarians are, and what kinds of work environments I might end up working in. I found myself reading newspaper and journal articles, such as the article by Riley (2010) and wondering ‘what will this mean for me as a teacher librarian?’

One thing that helped that thinking to change was my increase in knowledge as I read through the modules of my subjects. I found that there were quite a few important concepts that I did not have knowledge or understanding of, even though I only graduated with my teaching degree at the end of 2008. I had not heard the term ‘information literacy’, let alone ‘information literate school community’. Not only do I now understand what these terms mean, but that information literacy is vitally important for our students. I understand that there are many things I will be able to do to create and extend students’ information literacy as a teacher librarian, such as scaffolding them as they learn the information process, giving them opportunities to conduct their own research, and collaborating with teachers to plan resource based learning (RBL) units. RBL was another concept I had not heard of before studying this subject. I knew about integrated and inquiry based units from my university studies, but learned from this subject that these can and should incorporate resource based learning, where the teacher and the teacher librarian collaborate and students are able to access resources that suit their learning style and ability. My learning about this concept can be clearly seen in the Module 1 forum (Thomas, 2010), where I profess confusion about what RBL is – I am able to say that I have a greater understanding two posts later, stating how reading Module 3, particularly the Campbell, Flageolle, Griffith & Wojcik reading (2002), helped me.

Reading what others wrote in the forums also helped to change my view of the role of the teacher librarian. An example of this, and of a major point of my learning journey, was the post by Graham Bebington (2010) about ‘evidence-based research’. My response to his post shows the impact it had on me – I now understand the importance of collecting evidence to show that the role I am playing is an important one, for job security, job satisfaction, and respect from colleagues.

Another learning tool which has shaped my learning journey has been the assignment – completing assignments has not only consolidated the learning from reading the coursework, and improved my referencing skills, but has created moments of deep learning in itself. In completing Assignment 1, I became aware of many of the obstacles in the way of information literacy in a school I know. I realised what potential challenges I face, and was able to think of ways I might combat them. This increased my confidence in my ability to be a leader in this area in the future if it is needed – I can encourage the school community to understand the importance of information literacy, and I can encourage classroom teachers to collaborate with me as teacher librarian to support student learning – these are things I would not have thought about doing before starting this subject. The second assignment allowed me to analyse information skills models, and to think about how I will apply them in the future. It also cemented in my mind the image of the teacher librarian I wish to be by asking me to evaluate the standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians (ALIA/ASLA, 2004) – I wish to be a professional who refers to these standards on a regular basis and strives to achieve them, with student learning at the heart of all I do as a teacher librarian.

I no longer just imagine myself in a lovely big room with books (though this is still an appealing part of being a teacher librarian), helping people to find them. I imagine myself making a difference to student learning, as well as to their passion for the written word. I have always known that my passion for sharing my love for reading had the potential to make a difference to the attitudes of children – now I understand it is through my actions as well as my attitude that I will show my passion, and help to pass it on. I understand that being a teacher librarian is being a professional, with many roles to play – even more than is suggested by the title itself.

References:

ALIA /ASLA (Australian Library & Information Association and Australian School Library Association). (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm

Bebington, G. (2010, March 10). Re: evidence-based research. Message posted to ETL401 Module 2 sub-forum.

Campbell, L., Flageolle, P., Griffith, S., and Wojcik, C. (2002). Resource-based learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Riley, K. (2010, March 8). Why take the teacher out of the librarian? In Education: journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation 91(3), p19.

Thomas, J. (2010, March 19). Is it a question of terminology? Message posted to ETL401 Module 1 sub-forum.

ETL503 Assignment 2

I have finished assignment 2 for ETL503. I feel like I put a lot of effort into it, but that perhaps I could have put more in. It has left me exhausted though. Well something has. Perhaps it's the weather. Perhaps there is something wrong with me. I just do not feel like doing anything. I feel weak and like curling up and reading a book. I now have another entire assignment to write in less than a week so I really hope I can get myself into gear soon...

I am really unsure as to how I went with the assignment. I know I was way over the word limit (and perhaps less worried about that fact than I should have been...). I do not feel confident that I completely understood what was expected of me. I think the task was one that required a lot of interpretation, I just hope I interpreted it how the person who is going to mark it will interpret it...! I was more careful this time to pay attention to what the outline was asking for, to ensure that I covered all the elements of the assessment.

I found it really challenging to start with a document and to change it. It was hard to know how much work you had to go, and it was difficult to decide what to change, what to delete and what to leave at times. I feel that perhaps I went around it the wrong way and should have clearly outlined what I wanted in the document for myself before adjusting the policy I was given to work with, rather that starting with that policy itself. To do this ideally though I would have needed to give myself more time. I really hope that I can stick to my intentions next semester and keep on top of the coursework so that I am prepared when assignment times come around...

Anyway I had better get stuck into this next assignment, lots to do! I hope the motivation and energy levels increase as I go...

Learning all the time.

In the middle of my first assignment. Well, I don't think actually that I am even halfway yet which is concerning but that's a different matter... I just wanted to comment on something that I had learned whilst working away.

Just now I have been learning about the importance of keeping resources in a centralised area so that everyone has access to them and it is known where they are. The school that I am looking at for my ETL503 assignment has teacher resources and especially digital resources all over the place and they are not looked after by the TL - I think the school should have invested long ago into making sure someone was keeping track of them and everyone was able to find what they need when they need it. I think in the long term that would have saved them money, and it definitely would have made a difference to teacher morale, and student learning experiences.

Now for someone to collect everything and start a centralised collection it is going to be a huge task... and I need to write how they should go about it in my collection policy? I'd better get back to work.... so much to do.

What I learned from ETL401 Assignment 1

This assignment put on a nice front, asking for 1000 words less than the ETL503 one. The first 500 words though took a very long time. I actually felt like I had to drag the words out of me when talking about an 'information literate school community' and I am not convinced that the words I dragged out were very good ones.

I feel like the rest of the assignment flowed better, but as usual I am not confident in how I went (this does not mean I will not be disappointed if/when I get a mark that is below average).

In the assignment I discussed the importance of the teacher librarian in the creation of an information literate school community - I can definitely see the role that a TL can play, the potential that role has to make a difference. I can also see though that there are many obstacles in the way of TLs, particularly the one which I looked at in my paper - that of classroom teachers not realising the aforementioned potential of the TL. Perhaps classroom teachers do not realise the importance of information literacy (perhaps I should have mentioned that in my assignment....), but in the school I was looking at they definitely do not collaborate with the TL for resources, and for the units their students are working on. The students are not given library time to acquire resources for the unit they are working on either.

I looked at some solutions for this, including the TL approaching a small number of staff members and getting them to collaborate and use the library more effectively, with the idea that this would catch on with other teachers over the years. I wonder if this would work. I wonder if this would lead to the importance of hte library being raised in people opinions, and therefore more time and money being put into it in the long run - would this lead to a better library over all? I think many teacher librarians are in a situation where they feel overwhelmed by all the obstacles in their way to creating a better library environment and being the TL they have been trained to be and wish to be - but perhaps if as TLs we choose one obstacle to focus on and see where that leads us. Perhaps if we focus on the right things, the library could eventually become the heart of the school, as I believe it should be.

One of the interesting things I got out of this assignment, was understanding the implications of RFF a bit better, and thinking about how much blame can be laid on the RFF itself. Initially the TL I spoke to suggested the fact that she was an RFF teacher as being an obstacle. The more I discussed this (Roy was extremely helpful) and thought about it however, the more I realised that RFF was not necessarily the problem, but people's attitudes towards it. Every teacher has planning time, and at those times another teacher takes his or her class. Just because they are relieving the teacher does not mean they cannot play an important teaching role. Teachers should respect that role, and the TL herself should know inwardly and outwardly that she is playing an important part in the school community and the students' learning. Also, it does not prevent the TL from making some kind of difference to the information literacy of the students - it is still possible to collaborate with teachers, and for students to use at least some of their 'library time' working on their current unit, as I stated in my paper.

Hopefully this assignment will help me to remember in the future that I can play an important role as a TL, and that information literacy is an important goal for a school. Hopefully it will help me if I am ever in a situation where I am not respected for my knowledge and abilities as a teacher librarian, but am looked at primarily as an RFF teacher, to see myself as the former, and to slowly work on getting others to do the same.

We can make a difference.

What I learned from ETL503 Assignment 1

It has been a while now since I finished assignment 1 for ETL503. As soon as I finished it I had to move onto the ETL401 assignment 1, and then once that was finished I just ignored uni stuff completely for a while... I felt I deserved it... (I probably didn't).

I found the assignment experience rather a stressful one (not unusual at all for me). But I did learn from it. I learned about the selection and acquisition processes that I will need to utilise as a teacher librarian. Actually, I really only learned about the selection process, I am worried that I did not talk about the acquisition process enough... but that is not important now (at least not until I receive the assignment back with scribble all over it...).

Selection:
I learned that I need to make sure I get information from a variety of sources. When I am working in a school I will ensure I get ideas from students and staff, but I will also rely on some of the resources I started to discover when doing this assignment - bookshops/websites, reviews and bibliographies. I now have access to a few of these, and I am sure I will learn about more as time goes on. I know how to use them. I learned to check resources on multiple sites to ensure they are suitable. I learned that suitable means suitable for the context it is being acquired for - this needs to be taken into account at all times. Just because a book has a good review or is in a bibliography does not mean it is suitable for the age-group you are buying for for example.

The assignment allowed me to imagine what it will be like as a teacher librarian, having to be aware of what is lacking in the school's collection, and to carefully work out what resources will address that deficiency. It was quite exciting even imagining the collection I came up with, and the difference it could make - how good would it be to do it in real life one day!

I look forward to it....