Final thoughts...??

How has my view of the teacher librarian changed? Let me count the ways…

At the start of this subject, I did not even realise that Teacher and Librarian went together…I thought they were two completely separate roles. Wow was I mistaken!! I also had some preconceived ideas of the role of a teacher librarian, which were; book borrowing, teaching lessons across all KLA’s and stages and reading a new book followed by a relevant activity. In my first post for my blog, the key point that I discovered in the introduction was that I needed to look at and think about the library in much broader terms. http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/thoughts-few-weeks-in_30.html

These preconceived ideas were reinforced during my prac placements, because, it felt like the teacher librarians at the time were, implementing those ideas when I observed them during library time. My blog entry for January 4, 2012, details these experiences.  http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/bit-more-on-tl-roles.html I now realise how small these experiences were and how much more I could have used the TL when participating on Prac.

Moving further into the subject I now understand that the role of a teacher librarian is continually changing. The first turning point in my understanding came via the forum. I engaged in an interesting dialogue with Roy, one of the lecturers, about measurable goals. ‘…this type of statement can be classified as a 'motherhood' statement and we are working in the field of education where what we do must be measurable.’ (Crotty, 2011). It highlighted the importance using correct language when describing the outcomes for TL’s. I stated that I wanted to ‘instil a love of reading’ in students but as Roy pointed out – How is this measured? I now look at this statement as coming off the top of my head without a lot of thought behind it. Now I would say that I would like students to recognise the need to be able to access many forms of media and find some enjoyment.

My ‘A-HA’ moment came when I was researching the various roles of the teacher librarian and came across some YouTube clips that showed how valuable the TL could be to a preservice teacher, Hey….That’s ME!!! The link to the clip can be found at http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/great-advice-from-librarians.html

The TL can (and should) be used as a resource in schools. They have access to the newest resources, relevant programs and have access to all KLA’s and stages. TL's need to have a clear understanding of what literacy entails in today's schools, as literacy is central to teaching most activities. As my blog post for January 7, 2012, shows ‘I took the concept of Information literacy very lightly.’ (Wheeler, 2012) I believe that ‘I tend to look at literacy and think of reading....but I understand now that literacy is reading, composing and more and includes multimedia as well as traditional forms like books, magazines and comics.’ (Wheeler, 2012). This can be found at http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/literacy-in-21st-century.html

Collaboration between teacher librarians and teachers is something that should be obvious but unfortunately is not. There are issues surrounding this concept that I would like to explore further. The advantages of collaboration are that units of work which were developed together can be taught cooperatively with the class teacher and the sharing of relevant resources among the school community. Through collaboration, the teacher librarian actively seeks out new resources to support the curriculum.

For me, the role of the teacher librarian is much broader than I expected it to be. As I have previously stated, I believed that the TL’s role revolved mainly around books but I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the role is deep, rich and an asset to any school.

References:

Crotty, R. (2011, November 24). [Topic 2 - Jacinta Wheeler] Re: Principal's role comments [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL401_201190_W_D_Sub4_forum&task=frameset

Wheeler, J. (2012, January 4). Bit more on the TL role. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/bit-more-on-tl-roles.html

Wheeler, J. (2012, January 7). Literacy in the 21^st Century. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://embracinglearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/literacy-in-21st-century.html