ETL401 Assignment 2, Task C

Task C: 742 words
There has been a running theme through my learning, and that is a movement from simplicity, or vagueness, to complexity and clarity regarding the role of the TL. My previous views were formed largely by my experience of many casual employment days in the library of one school. My first blog entry (Kokic, 2011) shows that initially my opinion of the TL was one who instils a passion for reading in children, team teaches, and handle books. I was limited by what was observable, and even then it was only cursory observation.

Purcell’s article soon enlightened me that the TL had to balance the roles of leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator (2010, p. 31). I was then perplexed by how a TL was to juggle these roles effectively. Bonnano’s (2011) insights on prioritising were helpful (Kokic, 2011, blogspot). My first subforum entry (Kokic, 2011) relates to the time-management techniques I learnt (“Time Management Success”, 2009) where I particularly found the 80/20 rule beneficial. Purcell (2010) was helpful too: TLs cannot possibly get to every student in the school, and so investing in teaching the teachers information and technology skills is smart use of time.

Originally, I also thought that TLs provided assistance for students to create their own work, avoid plagiarism and steer away from questionable sites. This course has taught me that the TL’s role is much more involved, particularly regarding IL. I concur with Herring (2007), that the key role of the TL is to develop information literate students. Furthermore, I now feel I am aware of this issue to the depth required by doing this course. My views on the value and necessity of IL as a lifelong goal (Candy, in Langford, 1998) (Kuhlthau, in Langford, 1998) are strengths of my learning.

An issue I encountered regularly in the literature, of which I had no knowledge, is the question of the future of school libraries and their educational value (Hay & Todd, 2010, p.30). A big theme was pro-activity (Kokic, 2011, blogpost) through collaboration, team teaching, seeking teachers out and finding out what they need, communicating regularly with the principal and being passionate about the principal’s vision for the school. These are some of the things I have learnt about being a great TL and staying relevant. But they are also the things necessary to “justify” the TL’s existence. At first, this seriously concerned me. However, by the end of the course, I realised that if we are doing these things and producing our best work, then our work and skills will speak for themselves and make a difference, particularly to student achievement (Todd, 2003).

Another strong theme in the literature is adaptability to change. Herring (2007, p.40) and Purcell (2010, p.33) agree that TLs will continue to be relevant if they are willing to adapt to change, particularly in information and technology.

Earlier this year I saw the benefits of ‘Inquiry Learning’ as my own children worked on their school assignments with interest and vigour. Now having studied the theory, I am convinced of its benefits (Kokic, 2011, blogspot) particularly through Kuhlthau’s work on Inquiry Learning (2003) and Guided Inquiry (Kuhlthau, Caspari & Maniotes, 2007). Having only taught casually for several years, I knew little about it, to my detriment. It is important to keep up with professional literature and pedagogy regardless of employment choices. Specifically, constructivism (Kokic, 2011, subforum post) which allows students to reflect more on their own learning and may make them more engaged in learning (Carnell & Lodge, in Herring, 2007, p. 28).  Spence’s (2005) argument, that the vast sum of information sources can only be effectively harnessed when driven by a constructivist pedagogy, was helpful (p. 136).

I was always a believer in collaboration, but my knowledge has expanded, particularly regarding the difference between genuine collaboration and contrived collegiality (Kokic, 2011, subforum post) The latter is an environment limited to anecdotes, assisting only when asked and circulating existing ideas without challenging or extending them. Most importantly, I have grasped the importance of the relationship between collaboration and student achievement, and collaboration and IL (Montiel-Overall, 2005, p.24).

Finally, it was very reassuring to learn about the supportive and collegial TL communities that exists through online professional networks, from which one can offer and receive support, ideas and resources. Immediately I think of the enormous contributions of Joyce Valenza (2011) of which I am already a beneficiary.

How does one manage all the tasks of a TL?

From my reading, the message seems to be to work smarter, not harder. For example, recognise that you cannot do all of it, so prioritise and ask yourself, “what is the best use of my time right now?” (from Bonnano). Some things may need to be dropped, particularly if they are of low value, and delegation is another option.
I liked Spence’s approach as well, particularly her point about joining professional associations and using things like ‘oztinet’. Again, this is working smarter. No need to reinvent the wheel. Learn from your colleagues.
Spence also tells us that sometimes diplomacy and listening skills are called for, and sometimes “NO” is called for.
Today, show me a successful school library, and Ill show you a TL who is not behind her desk shooshing kids, but out there interacting, helping, guiding, teaching, and most importantly, making sure the Principal knows about it.

ETL401: Collaboration

When I think of collaboration, I think of proverbs and of social anecdotes, “two is better than one”, “don’t re-invent the wheel”, “it takes a village to raise a child”, “work with me not against me” etc. So it is those things, but more
We know that students thrive and perform better in a collaborative environment. To add some thoughts from a reading by Hargreaves, kids do better when classroom teachers, specialists and administrators pool their skills, but also plan, teach and evaluate together. He makes a distinction between collaboration and contrived collegiality. The latter is an environment limited to anecdotes and only giving assistance when asked, and pooling existing ideas without examining or extending them. This behaviour can sometimes merely lead to confirming the status quo. A collaborative environment differs in that it creates interdependence, shared responsibility, collective commitment and participation in review and critique, which is not always easy. In this environment, student achievement is positively affected.

ETL401: Transliteracy

This term is a fairly new concept and its definition is still in a state of flux. Its concerned with mapping meaning across different media. Its NOT about learning text, visual or digital literacy in isolation but rather its about an interaction between the diffenrent literacies.
Its intricately associated with being literate in the 21st century. It analyses the relationship between people and technology, particularly social networking.
As the definition is so new, it is likely to evolve, as has ‘information literacy’. In fact it is so new that some TLs have yet to hear of this word.
It is concerned with how people are currently communicating across various media, how they produce informatioin in multiple formats and establish rapidly forming social networks.
It is concerned with the social meaning of literacy, the way people participate in new forms of communication.
Transliteracy is about a levelling the information playing field. It brings hierarchical structures into question, particularly the privelege of the printed text. It is not alone in doing this; media literacies have tried to raise the profile of non-print material. However, transilteracy expresses no preference of one over the other.
Transliteracy can enhance knowledge sharing, for example when professionals pool their knowledge and experience about a particular issue on a networking site.

ETL401: What does it mean to be literate in the 21st Century?

People are communiating differently: cell phones, facebook, skype, etc. Its much easier to reach a global audience easily and quickly. With the changing nature of literacy, we need new skills. It is so much more than just reading and writing today; we are required to have fluency is visual, textual, digital and aural literacy, as we receive information through these different communications. A big difference is that the printed text is one-way communication, where as 21st century literacy interacts with the audience. 21st century literacy is inevitable changing the way we learn, and therefore MUST change the way we teach. It will be impossible to reach the students of today if we do not keep up with understanding and using the tools of the 21st century.

ETL401: From Inquiry to Guided Inquiry

Inquiry Learning is a constructivist approach to learning; moves from passive instruction to active construction. Students take owneship of their learning, find and use a variety of sources, print and non-print, in order to gain a deeper understanding of a curriculum topic. So how does this differ from Guided Inquiry? Guided inquiry takes this concept further and builds on it. An instructional team, usually a teacher and a TL, help students develop their research skills. It prepares kids for life long learning. It is not based on additional subjects but rather based on curriculum content but also connects the curriculum to the students’ world, particularly by equiping the students with transferable information concepts. The instructional leaders collaborate and bring their areas of expertise to the table, working together rather than in isolation. The students are actively involved in every part of the process, selecting, investigating, formulating and presenting the final product. Guided Inquiry, if done properly, takes time and commitment but creates an environment that motivates kids to construct their own meaning and gain a deeper understanding of the issue. The students learn skills that they can transfer to other inquiry based projects.

Info Literacy: how one school measures up

The school where I have been teaching casually does not officially have an info lit policy as such. However, we do have an information specialist, who, in collaboration with the TLs, does the following:-
* teaches computer programs, word, excel etc
* how to find authentic websites with valid information
* how to cross reference websites
* digital fingerprints last forever, so how to avoid them on social networking sites etc

They use a really useful website called “Help save the endangered pacific northwest tree octopus” to primary classes. We all know that the octopus cannot live in a tree, but the purpose of the website is to show that just because a websites looks authentic and has all the bells and whistles, it can be far from containing authenticity.

Information Literacy: does it come naturally?

It is very interesting to read about Abilock’s building blocks of research. As I read through each step I came to the realisation that, never having been taught any building blocks or information search processes, I use those steps/ building blocks without even realising it. Certainly there are areas I can improve on, and the one that comes to mind immediately is the last step, evaluation. By then we are tired and we have had enough! Nevertheless, the steps come “naturally” to me.
However, I am a postgraduate student and have obviously had time to work out what works best, and what may come naturally to me/ us, certainly does not come naturally to all / most of our students. And I am reminded of what Langford said, and that is that in order to teach information literacy, we must first be information literate ourselves.

ETL401 Defining Information Literacy

As with many other topics in this course, I have found that I have started off with a notion of what “information literacy”, only to realise that the issue is much deeper and more complicated than I originally thought. I started by thinking that basically it is the ability to navigate information and communication resources and get the most out of them.
The concept of information literacy is dynamic and changeable. Authors cannot agree on a meaning for it. And the question is posed, do we have to agree? I propose that there has to be some kid of uniform understanding otherwise I will be talking about apples while you are talking about oranges.
I like Candy’s definition, “to cope with, and to take advantage of, the unprecedented amount of information which surrounds…us in our daily life and work (quoted from Langford, p.10).
Lanford concludes that Info literacy is a means to an end, and that end is what the society needs it to be. I agree to the extent that we, as a society, can agree on at least a loose definition of the term.

16 Habits of highly intelligent people

Click to access 16HOM.pdf

I found this article incredibly interesting. It not only described the habits and attributes of clever people, it also gave me some tools to help engage students who are switched off, by helping them to engage in some of these behaviours. For example, number 6 is ‘striving for accuracy and precision.” Some kids are happy to hand in sloppy minimum work, so I can encourage precision, pride in work etc.

It had a particular emphasis on the behaviours displayed by people who are effective problem solvers. And the people were from all walks of life, not just the ones that wemight think of like academics, high achievers etc They included mechanics, parents and entrepreneurs.

I think the constructivist approach very much lends itself to precision by having to go through several steps. It is much harder to take shortcuts with this approach.