I'm very pleased to be this side of assignment one. I will approach it differently next time. I wrote about a 4000 word essay and spent days trying to cut it down, and i always felt like i was cutting some good relevant stuff!! I think i read too much, but since all these concepts, IL, RBT and ILSC were new to me, i really needed to read a lot and broadly to get my head around it. I don't think i was always reading the most pertinent stuff either, which brought my own IL into question.
I felt very pleased when i hit submit and had my own personal party inside my head that evening!!
As i said in the last blog, my learning curve has been huge! I really had no idea what the TL's role was beyond my experience of the TL at Wheeler Heights Primary school where I went some 30 years ago. I suppose I really had a TL down as a resource manager and a passionate advocate of children's literature within the school community. I totally get the connectivity of the role description of a TL in an ILSC. And the role the TL plays in the teaching team, working collaboratively with all teachers obviously leads to this increased connectivity but also makes the position much more dynamic and interesting and keeps the TL abreast of current thinking in teaching and learning, and helps them remain a good teacher. I didn't realise the massive role that ICT's play in the library today, and if I can get past my own reluctance to embrace this new technology, i can see the realm of possibilities open to the TL today. This also adds to the dynamic nature of the job, by the need for the TL to both keep abreast of and utilizing the full potential of evolving ICT's. New doesn't necessarily mean better, but does it mean more relevant?
I think I'm keeping on top of the workload, just but don't know how you would do 2 subjects and hold down a full time job! Seems like there is a huge expectation re the amount of hours you need to spend reading etc for this course!
I'm having a day off study today and walking on the beach at Byron was glorious!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Rapidly Expanding View
My view of the role of teacher librarian is changing very quickly, in fact with every article I read. I think however that I'm coming to a general consensus in my mind, a growing picture of the ideal library and TL, so thought I'd better put it down in My Place.
I was amazed to read about the extensive research that has been done over the last 40 years (Haycock,K 2003) or so that points overwhelmingly to the importance of the role of the library and TL. It suggests a strong link between the amount of funding, the quality of the resources, the qualifications of the TL and the amount and quality of the interaction of each student with the TL with the level of literacy and academic achievements in general of the students. Research even seems to indicate the economic and cultural prosperity of a country has a direct correlation with these variables!!
I'm amazed and pleased. I didn't realise the TL was such a crucial role and could have such a far reaching contribution. I'm excited too, i feel much more enthused by the course and by the prospect of working as a TL.
I love the idea of the library as the "heart of the school", a social, inviting, interactive knowledge hub where students have a flexible and ongoing quality relationship with the TL. This is what I loved about teaching. Engaging the students to the point where they were very motivated and so open to all learning opportunities. Getting to know them each and every one, so that you can tap into what works for them and what it is that will engage them. I think this role of the TL, the "getting to know you" part, the "connecting with" part, doesn't seem to be included in much of the literature I've read so far.
I'm also very interested in learning about the pivotal and supportive role the TL provides to the rest of the teaching staff with prof develop but even more so with curriculum planning and support. The concept of the TL providing a dynamic, flexible and very available support of both skills and resources to the classroom teachers is great. How exciting that the TL can be an agent of change for the whole school and help create a information literate school community.
I can't believe how much I've learnt in such a small time in only one course! I can't imagine that the learning curve can stay so steep. :)
I was amazed to read about the extensive research that has been done over the last 40 years (Haycock,K 2003) or so that points overwhelmingly to the importance of the role of the library and TL. It suggests a strong link between the amount of funding, the quality of the resources, the qualifications of the TL and the amount and quality of the interaction of each student with the TL with the level of literacy and academic achievements in general of the students. Research even seems to indicate the economic and cultural prosperity of a country has a direct correlation with these variables!!
I'm amazed and pleased. I didn't realise the TL was such a crucial role and could have such a far reaching contribution. I'm excited too, i feel much more enthused by the course and by the prospect of working as a TL.
I love the idea of the library as the "heart of the school", a social, inviting, interactive knowledge hub where students have a flexible and ongoing quality relationship with the TL. This is what I loved about teaching. Engaging the students to the point where they were very motivated and so open to all learning opportunities. Getting to know them each and every one, so that you can tap into what works for them and what it is that will engage them. I think this role of the TL, the "getting to know you" part, the "connecting with" part, doesn't seem to be included in much of the literature I've read so far.
I'm also very interested in learning about the pivotal and supportive role the TL provides to the rest of the teaching staff with prof develop but even more so with curriculum planning and support. The concept of the TL providing a dynamic, flexible and very available support of both skills and resources to the classroom teachers is great. How exciting that the TL can be an agent of change for the whole school and help create a information literate school community.
I can't believe how much I've learnt in such a small time in only one course! I can't imagine that the learning curve can stay so steep. :)
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