Information Literacy

I find it amazing that there is so much information on ‘Information Literacy’, I also find it amazing that there are so many definitions. It is undoubtedly important for Long Life Learning as stated in ‘The Australian and NZ Information Literacy Framework’ people who are information literate ‘know how knowledge is organised, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them’.

The major difference that I have found with the definitions provided in this module as opposed to the definitions proposed in earlier modules is that they are more in-depth and focused more on individual needs within individual communities. These definitions identify many standards of information literate people but more specifically they identify that information literate people take part in independent learning and lifelong learning.

These recently proposed definitions differ from previous definitions as they highlight Information Literacy as the ability or understanding of knowing how to learn.

Information Literacy and Transfer

Herring (2011a) identifies many assumptions made about Information Literacy (IL), in particular, its transfer across subject areas. Herring (2011b) findings in the study of the use of concept maps as a tool to assess students transfer skills across time and subject areas highlighted an important issue. Students see the school as compartmentalised and did not see the importance of IL transfer skills even though the teachers in this particular study thought the student were capable of doing so (Herring 2001b). To overcome this hurdle and to encourage students to transfer IL skills and practices TL’s and teachers can:

-          Work collaboratively with other staff members to address this issue.

-          Make it a whole school approach.

-          Increasing teacher awareness across subject areas highlighting IL’s role in helping students gain new knowledge and be reflective practitioners (Herring 2011a).

-          Increase student awareness of the importance and skills obtained to be effective lifelong learners.

-          Take into consideration sociocultural perspectives, how your students learn in their particular environment (Herring 2011b).

-          Identifying effective information Literacy skills such as concept maps that are easily transferred across subject areas (Herring 2011b).

-          Developing strategies for students who lack the willingness or ability to transfer information literacy skills (Herring 2011b).

Referencing:

Herring, J. (2011a). Assumptions, Information Literacy and Transfer in High Schools. Teacher Librarian, 38(3), 32-36.

Herring, J. (2011b). Year Seven Student, Concept Mapping and the Issues of Transfer. School Libraries Worldwide, 17(1), 11-23.

The role of the teacher librarian in curriculum development.

The latest research suggest that there are three pedagogical initiatives that have been linked to improved student outcomes:

Intellectual Quality: pedagogy focused on deep understanding.

Quality Learning Environment: pedagogy focused on student and teacher working in an environment focused on learning.

Significance: pedagogy focused on making learning important and meaningful to the student.

(NSW DET’s Quality Teaching, https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/areas/qt/)

The links provided on this module all had a common theme of IBL or PBL. These forms of constructivist learning I believe have a direct link to the above pedagogical initiative as they focus on deep understanding, provide an environment that is focused on learning and allows for student centre teaching to occur making outcome important and relevant to the student.

 

TL’s are able to enhance the curriculum through their knowledge and resourcing ability. A TL’s technical knowledge (media specialist) is in invaluable to the creation of quality programs and units of work to aid students meet outcomes and become competent digital citizens.

Principals’ should encourage teacher to work collaboratively with the librarian to create effective programs and units of work as research from previous topics indicate collaboration within a school can enhance student outcomes.

I don’t think the exclusion of the TL from curriculum development will lead to poor programs or units of work as there are many super competent teachers. The inclusion of the TL in curriculum development, I believe, will result in outstanding programs and units of work that will encourage students to be lifelong learners and critical thinkers preparing them for the real world in the 21^st century.

 

ACARA New Curriculum

Not sure if viewing the videos on ACARA was part of the module but I found them very interesting as they outlined the new Australian Curriculum. What a great opportunity for TL to cement their unique attributes within their school and community with the implementation of this new curriculum and the development of new programs and units of work. Collaboration!

21st century teacher topic 3

Inquiry and problem based learning I believe is one of this most significant challenges that I will face as a 21st century educator. I understand the importance of critical thinkers and helping students seek knowledge to solve 21st century problems, however as time pressures continue to grow personally, I'm not sure that time will permit for the development of these awesome program's. The geography activity by Collins 'supporting location based inquiry learning across schools, field any home contexts' I thought was great and I started to get ahead of myself thinking that I could do this type of activity tomorrow. As I continued I was then brought back to reality as an activity like this takes time and collaboration. I also wondered about the ability of the student at my school and realised that I would have to spend a considerable amount of time preparing them for such an activity. Also, will i be able to meet all of the outcomes for the current unit of work with such an activity. i think this anxious feeling will subside as i look further into this and become more familiar with how to develop and implement pal activities.

Online Learning Journal creation & Blog Task1

A Teacher Librarian has many roles within a school, but the focus for this reflective piece will be to identify the TL’s role with regard to the TL practice of Principal Support.

Fundamentally, the TL’s (media specialist) role with regard to the TL practice of Principal Support is to ensure collaboration and support occurs between the classroom teacher, teacher librarian and Principal. As stated by Morris (2007, p. 1) “Principal support is the key to successful collaboration between classroom teachers and media specialists.” This collaborative and supportive work environment, as the research suggests, is also directly related to enhanced student achievement.

 “Collaboration is a trusting, working relationship between two or more equal participants involved in shared thinking, shared planning and shared creation of integrated instruction. Through a shared vision and shared objectives, student learning opportunities are created that integrate subject content and information literacy by co-planning, co-implementing, and co-evaluating students’ progress throughout the instructional process in order to improve student learning in all areas of the curriculum.” (Montiel-Overall, as cited in Haycock, 2007, p. 26). It is important for the teacher librarian to maintain this collaborative and supportive work environment with class room teachers and Principal to enhance students’ achievement.

Everhart (2006, p. 38-51) highlights the effect a Principal’s support has on effective media programs run by the teacher librarian and states that a lack of support from the Principal can be to the detriment of these programs. Everhart’s study investigates the frequency and type of evaluations used by some Principals to evaluate the effectiveness of the school library and media specialists. This study highlighted that school Principals tend to use their own methods of evaluation rather than reports from their TL (media specialist) making it important for the TL to ensure that collaboration and support occurs so that the roles of the TL are understood by the Principal. As Lesley (2007, p. 60) indicates, many Principals do not understand the role of the TL.

Haycock (2007, p.32) identifies collaboration between staff members as the single professional behaviour that most affects student achievement and leads to growth of relationships improving experiences of all members of the school community. I believe that the TL is the catalyst to this effective collaboration and students’ achievement and should promote their unique skills and competencies to the Principal and classroom teachers to obtain their support and trust.

Morris and Packard (2007, p. 32) also identify Principals as being crucial to the success of a media program run by a teacher librarian and that the Principal has a responsibility and ability to develop a school environment that enables collaboration to exist as a teaching and learning strategy. Research has also identified that student achievement improves when collaboration occurs between Teacher Librarian and classroom teachers (Morris & Packard,  2007, p. 37). This increase in students’ achievement, I believe provides evidence for the TL to actively seek out the Principal and other staff members and promote a supportive and collaborative working environment.

Therefore, from the readings and research conducted and the evidence collated that provides a direct link between collaboration and enhanced student achievement, I believe a TL’s role in regards to the TL practice of Principal support is to ensure effective collaboration occurs within the school community between all staff members and the Principal.

 References:

Everhart, N. (2006). Principals' evaluation of school librarians: A study of strategic and nonstrategic evidence-based approaches. School Libraries Worldwide, 12(2), 38-51.

Farmer, L. (2007). Principals: Catalysts for collaboration. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 56-65.

Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35.

Morris, B.J. (2007). Principal support for collaboration. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 23-24

Morris, B. J., & Packard, A. (2007). The principal's support of classroom teacher-media specialist collaboration. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 36-55.

How do you think a teacher librarian might make his or her priorities both clear and palatable to the school community.

A TL’s priorities can be made clear by working collaboratively with executive staff and Principal to achieve whole school outcomes. This will help identify on a needs bases allocation of time, money, expertise, and allow flexibility for the TL to allocate these resources to other essential TL roles.

This above statement would be great in an ideal world. However, from these readings I have formed the opinion that TL’s are forever under the hammer to prove their place within a school community. After looking at some of the research (not all as I’m a slow reader) it all seemed legitimate that decisions are based on evidence, a holistic approach is taken to obtain the evidence and continual evaluation and decision making occurs. It appears to me that TL’s will forever be defending their jobs and in the process having to allocate time, time and more time to justify their position through this type of research. This research is important, I would rather it be used to effectively allocate time, money and expertise for the betterment of students, not to the justification of the TL position.

Principal Support

what sort of role do you see yourself fulfilling in the school as a TL (Herring, Lamb, Purcell and Valenza)?

There are numerous roles indicated by the mind maps of Herring and Purcell, Lambs PALETTE acronym and Valenza's manifesto. All roles I believe are important, however I would like to see my role as a Collaborative Information Specialist, resourcing, incorporating higher order thinking skills into programs and helping students critically evaluate digital forms of information encouraging life long learning.

within your experience, how do principals perceive the role of the TL?

Difficult for me to answer as I am not in a TL role. I do however see a positive relationship between my principal and current TL.