It was interesting to see the changes in my thinking when I started reading over my blog about my role as a teacher librarian (TL), whether it was new ideas, expanding on what I already knew or consolidating my own knowledge for clarity. Initially my thoughts were centred on the limited time I had in my schools - one day a week and that this was a draw back to doing what was required (King, 2010). As the unit progressed I realised that I could still manage to achieve goals in my schools even with the limited time I was there, in fact I could advocate for more time. The first time I started to realise this was with Covey (1990) where I started to see that saying 'no' was a positive attribute to have (King, 2010). Being able to say 'no' and prioritising tasks allowed me to see beyond the day-to-day management to the school's need for a focused teacher librarian. This was further cemented through Anne Randall's forum comment (Randall, 2010) about the complexity of TL expectations and Catherine Desanti's reply (Desanti, 2010) about the need to prioritise. Suddently I could reflect on my own practices and my understanding of the role I was in, the complex nature of the position (King, 2010a) and that I was the specialist (King, 2010b). Finally the confidence emerged and I could focus on the TL position of collaborating and teaching.
This confidence continued to grow as I started to read more on the TL as a leader and then had the realisation that I was not just a librarian, I was the specialist and I was a leader in my schools (King, 2010). I was being inspired by the readings and by what other TLs were doing and saying what could be achieved, such as Martineau (2009) who reinforced this view of leadership through examples. This merged with my understanding of prioritising and how being clear about my role, my time and expectations I too could be a leader within my schools. This was a turning point for me after one year of flailing about in the unknown land of teacher librarianship, I started to open my eyes to the possibilities in my schools' libraries. This awakening continued when reading about principals and their support of our role in the school and I started to consider how my principals acknowledged the role of the library. This lead to even further understanding of my role as a leader, especially after reading Hartzell (2002), where I could inform the principal of the latest research, I could promote my role to the principal and could, as Haycock (1999) pointed out, enhance the principal's position through what I did in the library. I thought to myself, this is where it starts - really getting into the idea of the TL in the school and what we can do but I thought with my limited time, where do I start? This is when I read Page (1999) and suddenly I could see my pathway, finally a specific look at a development approach to developing a school library, my light bulb went off! It was Kim Carter's (2010) response to Page's article that resonated within me about the views of starting small and that it takes time. I think I had stagnated, jumping from one task to another that I forgot to step back and look at the big picture (King, 2010) and it was this article that ignited the passion for moving forward that I needed.
Finally, entertwining this response with an information literate school community has been a major point of contention and one that I am still wrapping my head around. I think that the clearest point for me was Wolf's (2006) article about the view of using an information process as a scaffolding pathway, which links to a metacognitive tool. I realised the potential of the TL in the school context to be a driving force behind establishing a clear information literacy program across the school into the wider community and it is with this in mind that I am currently discussing literature with one of my principals and the current information literacy program (or lack of one), a proposal for increasing literacy through the library to be linked with our reading schemes within the classrooms. I have also planned to discuss the standards expected of me by using ALIA/ASLA (2004) professional standards and will definitely be having a large copy on display in the library. It is utilising my increased confidence in the specialist nature of this role that I feel I can work with the principal to create a future pathway for the library to be the central learning environment to all members of the school community. This is the first step in working towards a collaborative system within my schools and I know, but feel confident, that there will be many more to come.
References:
ALIA/ASLA. (2004). Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians. Retrieved from Australian School Library Association: http://www.asla.org.au/
Carter, K. (2010, April 15). Reflection on Page's article. Message posted to ETL401 Module 5 sub-forum.
Covey, S. (1990). Principles of personal management. In The seven habits of highly effective people : restoring the character ethic (pp. 145-164). NY : Simon & Schuster.
Desanti, C. (2010, March 20). Re: Henri (2005). Message posted to ETL401 Module 2 sub-forum
Hartzell, G. (2002). Why should principals support school libraries? Eric Digest, November (EDO-IR-2002-06).
Haycock, K. (1999). Fostering collaboration, leadership and inforamtion literacy: Common behaviors of uncommon principals and faculties. NASSP Bulletin, 83(605), 82-87.
King, A. (2010, February 27). Covey reading. Message posted to http://tlliterate.blogspot.com/
King, A. (2010a, March 6). In the beginning.... Message posted to http://tlliterate.blogspot.com/
King, A. (2010b, March 6). Thoughts on being a TL. Message posted to http://tlliterate.blogspot.com/
King, A. (2010, March 20). Own role statement vs. National role statement. Message posted to http://tlliterate.blogspot.com/
King, A. (2010, April 26). My Journey. Message posted to http://tlliterate.blogspot.com/
King, A. (2010, April 26). Re: Reflection on Page's article. Message posted to ETL401 Module 5 sub-forum.
Martineau, P. (2009). School librarians: Vital educational leaders. In California School Boards Authority. Retrieved from www.csba.org/CASchoolNews.aspx
Randall, A. (2010, March 20). Henri (2005). Message posted to ETL401 Module 2 sub-forum
Wolf, S. (2003). The Big Six information skills as a metacognitive scaffold: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/
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