A critical synthesis of your reflection on how your view of the role of the teacher librarian may have changed during the subject. This should include examples captured form you personal blog and from your contribution to and reading of the ETL401 forum.
Upon completion of my blog I have feelings of inadequacy about my ability to fulfil the role of teacher librarian as each day of reading seemed to bring another skill that the teacher librarian was to bring to their role. In reviewing the historical and present day issues I was pleased to confirm that the school library plays an important role in addressing issues of social and economic inequities for children as these reasons were my initial motivation for becoming a teacher librarian.
I had feelings of being overwhelmed by the amount of information I was confronted with. I was reading so much and yet felt anxious that I wasn’t making any written progress with my assignments. After receiving an extremely disappointing mark for my first assignment I then lacked a huge amount of motivation to complete the next. I thought that I couldn’t have done anymore as I was working fulltime and trying to keep up with the readings/assignments for the other subject. However, I started my work on Kuhlthau and learnt of the six steps in the information seeking process. I could readily identify with her observations of students in their approach to assignment work and felt much better for recognising those feelings in others. As students used talking to assist them in their search process I felt sorry that I couldn’t talk with others. I know the forum and chat room meets this need but I love to interact with others verbally. I feel that I will approach students doing research tasks with more support.
I was almost embarrassed when I approached the information processes as I did not have a great deal of understanding or knowledge of their significance, yet I have been teaching fulltime for three years and teaching as a teacher librarian for six months. In light of the understanding and knowledge that I have acquired it will be necessary to completely review the school’s scope and sequence of library skills and the staff’s understanding of the processes. There is a need to initiate staff development. This will be an involved and lengthy school based task. But one that is critical to improve our school as an information literate community.
I was interested to learn of the significance placed on the influence the principal has on the success of the library program. It motivated me to work hard at our professional relationship, placing more importance on my role in this area. After handing in my program this term to the principal he came back to me and said, “I think it is important that you give our staff professional development in your role and the processes that you are implementing”. An opportune moment had just opened up for all members of the school community to collaborate in regards to my role. This subject obviously not only changed my perceptions, but by implementing things I have been taught in the classroom, it has changed the perception of my principal. He seems to want to learn more himself as well as share that knowledge with the staff.
I feel encouraged to go into the new school year with the aim of developing collaborative planning and teaching practices with my colleagues. This will be a definite change in my present role. As I researched this topic for my assignment I felt a sense of confidence in my ability to be able to work alongside teachers in a partnership role. I find this part of my role very rewarding but I have done it on a very small scale so far. I see this as a way to be of practical assistance to teachers who feel overloaded with the demands of their job. The challenge will be to deliberately seek out those teachers who are poor library users and to find sufficient time to meet with teachers to plan units of work.
At the beginning of the research process I felt my understanding of the readings very limited. As my knowledge base grew, I became comfortable with the terminology and the concepts that each author was trying to convey. This has given me the confidence to articulate my ideas and to take more of a leadership role this year. As I developed my understanding of what my role should be it is definitely time for a reality check of what is happening in the library and to prioritise the steps that need to be taken to bring about change. This is an exciting thought but fills me with apprehension that I will be disappointed in what I achieve. Many of the authors have advised that it is wise to begin your endeavours to make changes in a small way so I will try to remember that.
Through reading the messages on the ETL401 forum the range of jobs, concerns and activities confronting the teacher librarian is immense. The biggest shift in my thinking has been to move beyond the daily routine, the comfortable profile and no risk-taking to become more of a leader with a vision, willing to take risks and initiate change. It has been a journey outside my comfort zone, but well worth the experience, continuing my commitment to lifelong learning and passing that on to my students.
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