Semester 2 awaits

Well it has been awhile since I posted, I was struggling to find the time to do the assignments for 504 let alone the time to blog. It looks like I have passed the subject, fairly comfortably but not into high results, which is a bit of a let down. I found it very disconcerting the lack or conflicting information out there and little elaboration on the expectations of the criteria. But I am through it and onto the next subject!!!

505 - of which I have heard lots of things about, especially the specificity of it and that it is time consuming. That will be interesting as I have picked up another 4 days work for 3 months, right when the assignments are due of course! So I will be working full time and trying to study and looking after my two kids, 6 and 3. It will be an interesting time to say the least.

I was getting concerned because I don't have the text, there isn't anything up on the website yet to organise our study but I have found Hider's chapter in the subject reserve so have printed it off to read and mull over. So I will go do that now and hopefully blog again soon about it!

Assignment 2 continued....

I have moved over to the outline for strategic planning process (Balnaves, p. 86) just because at this stage it looks a little simpler to begin with and gather my thoughts as to where I want to go. The guidelines have helped clarify the points I want to focus on and now I want to look at the preparing for a cycle of planning.
Design the process and calendar
Well for starters as it is for the assignment I am looking at a 3 year vision
some of the components have to be achieved before I can do others e.g. Information literacy document - this needs to be completed so I can use it as the impetus to further collaborations with teachers to actually be fully involved in team teaching and assessment. I feel with this document I can achieve a basis to indicate what I fully can do in line with what has to be achieved. And having a year to year document for each grade will clarify for teachers what needs to be achieved.

So the first part of the process is to work on the document - I think this will take a year to develop if not longer, during this time I want to discuss it further with my princpal - what I do need to be aware of is the issues facing the staff at the moment - that is the DLP and ACARA. This is also what I have to push with the staff - the link this will have with ACARA and how I can be helping assess through the DLP.

From the information literacy document and keeping the principal and staff informed as it starts to develop I want to start to model how I could collaborate looking at the document and using units of work that may have been done or are being looked at. This collaboration process will take another 2 years at least to build upon. At this time there would need to be a look at my time and its use within the school as this limits the number of teachers I can work with during this time and maintain a functioning library.  This process really focuses on leading from the middle and working towards a 21C information literate student. We have a number of computers in the library already, I would like to see these pushed to a bank of laptops and an IWB installed - this is on my plan for the next 3 years too - through pushing it in my budget, using and demonstrating aspects of use with staff and students.

Part of this component will also require resourcing - as such more digital and 21C technological devices are required. Such things as flip cameras perhaps, podcast capabilities - whether sourcing free and also looking at requirements of computers.

Another aspect I am looking at is readers and the best way to resource them now and into the future, this is an important aspect of learning and supporting reading is vital in today's society with the move to more technological devices and different forms of reading - so I would be looking at considering e-book readers perhaps and their use in the reading program, whether we can look at it for the guided reading or  can it be utilised in the take-home reading or does this link in with promotion of literacy within the library. With this in mind - I am looking at focusing on some key events through the year and promoting them avidly throughout the community, after the first year this would then expand into maybe looking at providing activities out of hours/workshops for parents etc. Then in the 3rd year making sure this is running through the entire school.

Lots of ideas at the moment and I have to consider them against the criteria and the assignment task to make sure they match. Oh well enough for the moment - I will have to print this out so I have the ideas when I am working on them.

Assignment 2 ramblings

It is quite difficult to consider where to go with this assignment, there seems to be so much with it that it can be difficult to know where to begin with it. I know it is meant to be a vision for the next 3 years and how to implement it. But it seems like a big job, multiple readings to consider - it seems like a whole semester assignment rolled into 4 weeks, especially to do a good job on it.

I am unsure how to proceed, I keep thinking I should use the information from Balnaves' (1996) Appendix C readings but again, with such a variety provided it is hard to look through and consider. I might try and look at that now and see how it goes. Let's start with the Guidelines for strategic planning (p.85). The first point talks about taking the time to what makes sense in my school:

What are the prominent issues?
This is a hard one, being part time and trying to get the library back on track last year and on top of all its own issues I suppose there wasn't much inclination to consider what else was happening or not happening in the school. This year, we have a new LST teacher and Curriculum Coordinator so that is a bonus on what is happening, there is a bit of a renewal process going on in regards to previous expectations. I think looking at this aspect, I am trying to see how the library can be an integral part of the teachers' teaching. This links to issues in whole school approaches I suppose, I haven't been involved in whole school approaches that have been formulated and so the library isn't there in it. Also the school is up for school renewal this year, I am hoping I can be involved in this to look at the library and its role. One area that the LST is taking an avid interest is Reading and Spelling and sees this as an issue, one other area that I see an issue is with the information process procedure, using something like the NSW ISP. One final one is forming a whole school information literacy document for teachers and TLs for the Catholic Schools. This is a year by year document that will allow teachers and TLs to see what needs to be covered to match with ICTs and ACARA. There are issues with the DLP and teachers having their planning on it and the time management of it. Also I am the information specialist and I have expectations of helping maintain the system, I would like to consider more PD in this area to do a better job. Literacy is a concern too, in a broad sense and the role of the library in promoting literacy - I would like to do a better job in this.

I am not sure if this is what they mean about issues but this is what I see at the moment as concerns in my school, there are some big ones but some little ones too.

What do I personally wish to achieve?
1. further collaboration with teachers to work with them in their units
2. using the library to promote literacy for the students
3. whole school information literacy document, linking ACARA, ICTs and information literacies together.
4. leadership within the school - a realisation of the TLs knowledge and abilities in helping affect policy in the school.
5. more specialist knowledge of the information system - technically.

What terminology and style of approach are appropriate?
 This is something that needs further research, I am trying to work more with the principal and I need to look at the idea of leading from the middle I think as Donham (2005) talks about, there is a need to think about transformative leadership but perhaps looking more a the leadership capabilities (Wizenried, 2010; Davies and Davies, 2005) than the style of leadership needed. I think I need to consider that some of the ways will change with what I am hoping to achieve, for example with the collaboration, I am taking a whole school view with trying to get planning sheets set up and giving these at staff meetings or in pigeon holes but then actually talking with teachers individually about what they are wanting, if the library can help either through resources or through team teaching. I can also look at providing leadership in how the TL can help them. The library to promote literacy is for me, my staff and the principal to consider with promotion to students and teachers and the community through the newsletter. So all of these things need to be considered in regards to terminology and style.

What amount of effort is justifiable and can be resourced?
This is key, I only work 9 hours a week and need to consider what I can actually do in this time considering there are lessons to do, meetings with my staff, buying/resourcing discussions, meeting preparations, and because there is a lot of work coming in from other classes this is quite time consuming at the moment. Generally most of what I have to do can be resourced fairly effectively with minimal outlay, there would be some with PD, that would have to be discussed with the principal but the effort is the concern - what is justifiable, what is worth doing? I think the information literacy program, the collaboration are definitely worth it. I think discussions about the others and trying to allocate certain time frames would be worthwhile to achieve this.

So this covers the first consideration of what makes sense in the school - what I can do and what is justificable. Now I need to address the core elements of strategic planning and this is the big component.
I think I will need to do up some surveys for  staff, students and parents, I will need to discuss this with the principal and see what I can feasibly do in the timeframe for this assignment.

Cohen 2002 Seven pillars of negotiational wisdom

Negotiation - a word that can make or break professional relationships. There was a comment that it is not a competitive sport but there is an element of making sure that you get what you want and that you don't lose some of the main points. I think it is necessary to be clear on what you are willing to compromise on and what you really feel needs to be there and why. If you can be clear on why they are needed then that is a way of achieving what is important.

The little box that talks about negotiating with the boss, I would have loved a bigger section on this as this is vital for a TL in a school. The key point with this that resonates continually is establish your credibility (p.175). The other aspect was internal negotiation - selling your ideas to other members, this was something that has been mentioned before, about gathering support from others and presenting ideas together or at different times by different people.

this article provides a number of good constructive questions that allow you to focus on what you are after and the importance of it - being aware of your objective. I also like the idea of having another way to achieve what you want and being aware of it. this article linked with the Mackay article where both of the parties have to be willing to compromise and agree. If they don't want to do that then there will be great difficulty in achieving anything.

Mackay 1998 "Resolving Conflict through listening..."

It was interesting to consider my own understanding of conflict with this reading, I had to seriously think about it as the first impressions when I was reading was that conflict was these fights and anger. But once I started to think about it more I realised that conflict could be about constructive feedback - considering issues in a proposal and providing concerns about it. I think if there is a process in place, like the active listening steps then that may help to provide it in such a way that emotion doesn't become the over-riding aspect. I'm not sure about comparing conflict that may occur in a workplace with conflict in marriages or personal relationships as this is a more personal setting where there is an intimacy that may not or usually not apparent in professional relationships. There may be incidences when providing opportunities for feedback through non-face-to-face means are worth exploring too. Giving time to think about it before providing feedback is another option to consider too.

Savage 1989 Commuication

Coming from teaching English I always realised the importance of communication and have taught communication in many forms across many subjects. To see it as a part of leadership is not jaw-dropping but to put a name to the communication that they don't know they are doing - the unintentional communication was a step forward. I had always told students about the way people may see them or respond to them because of the way the act, dress, speak, write etc but to have it formulated so clearly by Savage. There was also the thought that actions speak as loud as the word they espouse and this is so true for all in the school, how we behave in front of teachers, staff, students and how the principal behaves in response to that.

I was also intrigued by the upward and downward communication and hadn't really thought alot of this idea in the school until reading this. I do agree about the two-way process where there needs to be upward and downward flow of information (p. 110) and how upward flow is the difficulty. I must admit this is an area that I need to work on - I think with being instilled about the 'respect your superiors' mentality that I always felt it wasn't my place to disagree or offer alternative choices/processes because they 'knew best' so this is an area I need to work on and not see those above me as not wanting to hear what I have to say. So reading Savage's point number 2 way it is inadequate because there is an indication that the ideas, reactions and criticisms are not welcome (p.110). I think this is my issue more than my superiors at this time. The idea of filtering was revealing and it made me consider what I do in this case and what others would be doing. And the point of prejudice that comes into it, maybe I am naiive or a little optimistic but this was something I found myself not agreeing with, I feel there would be some colouring but to be completely prejudice to change the views about someone, maybe something, but not someone (I hope!). Rumours seems pretty straightforward - seems to be the same as rumour in any other situation. I did like the idea of a plan with dealing with rumour, especially when you have so many stakeholders and children to boot. Some great points about administrators and what they should do.

Balnaves 1996 appendix C

As an appendix it provides some great examples and information but that is its problem too. There is little description for us to look at how it all fits together. It is an accumulation from a variety of sources and to see where it would actually fit into a reference point in the text would be beneficial and advantageous to see.

I do like the 'planning to plan' section (p.84) and the strategic guidelines.

I started out thinking the assignment would be excellent to complete but as I start to read more and think about what to include in it then I realise how much more work is involved in it.

Beare 2001 building a manifesto for the school as a provider

An interesting article - I initially wasn't seeing the point in understanding about charters of different schools in different countries, even different states like Victoria and NSW and I think that is because in Qld I haven't heard of this really happening. The concept of a charter sounds like alot of work and for it to be applied to a school library, I am not sure that a charter would be the way to go. It is good to think about what is required for a school to function and perhaps some aspects could be outlined for a library but this was a very broad article and when it talks about an overarching view that is how I see this article too. The examples were vaguely interesting but I must admit that I did some skimming at parts in this article. Maybe as I am working the assignment I will come back to this.

I do understand the concept that here the school is looked at as a provider and our libraries are providers to those using it too.

Welch 2006 Groundwork

Reminiscent of the Collection development plan readings that providing information about gap analysis so I felt this was quite familiar territory. The only thing here is that it doesn't specifically relate to a school library situation, which means there is some tweaking to do with the plan and worksheets they provide. I do like the set out of the article that provides specific steps to achieve and why. Then it goes through some of the how-to in the use of the ratings but there would need to be some definite rewrites for students and staff for them to work. Again time is a constraint they don't take into account to achieve all of this. I don't like that it is taking a marketing tact but as it is for commercial situations I understand that. I wish there were more articles written for the TL and/or school library, maybe there is and I haven't found it yet. there is some jargon that can make it difficult to follow as we don't come across that in our 'world' as much.

I feel this could be adapted and could be worthwhile to look at but it is very theoretical and mathematical in their ratings which could make it difficult to fulfil when you have students as clients of the library.

Strategic leadership - Davies and Davies

I like the idea of looking at the characteristics and how they are broken up into organisational and individual. Being strategically oriented but enabling conversations, I think when we are the only information specialist in the school we can often forget to have these debates about where we want the library to go in the future, if we even think about that instead of being reactive to the situation in the school. Getting feedback first from those that use the services and what they would like to see can be the catalyst for devising a plan for the future of the library.

I like the use of the terms used by Tichy and Sharman (1993): awakening; envisioning; rearchitecturing which are the normal jargon used with leadership theories but are terms that the majority of us would have a clear understanding of their meanings. The difficulty is that it is still written for the leaders of the school and there is still a gap in understanding the role of the TL as a leader in a lot of schools and this is an area that requires a lot of hard work to change and may not change for many years.

There is the idea of shared values to work together and to work with teachers and staff to achieve but this will require time and research to make sure that where the library is going is where the staff also want it to go - I know this is part of aligning people but I feel that there is a big gap here that could be too big to overcome considering all the other job apsects that still need to be done too.

There is a need to understand ourselves and what values we hold to be able to move forward but there is little on going ahead with this self-analysis and coming out with something worthwhile.

What seems to be reinforced throughout this article is that there needs to be connection and application between thought/theory and action. that as Pietersen (2002 p.181) suggests "a culture of giving" to work together to share knowledge, learning and build teamwork. That to work together there needs to be setting goals and creating meaning for those goals (p.11).

I found the strategic intervention the hardest to reconcile with a TLs role - identifying key points to intervene to develop these. We are moving into ACARA and I must admit I hadn't really thought of this as an opportunity to intervene until now, reading this article. This could be the perfect time to hold discussions with the principal to look at the role of the library in this new curriculum - to identify new ways of working with staff and leading. We are having a TL conference later this month on the TL and ACARA and looking at how they intersect and this could be useful to go with to the principal to discuss this as a new way of the TL working with staff. Worth a shot anyway.

The difficulty with strategic capabilities is that they are fundamental changes across the school and without the principal in this there would be little chance of the TL managing some of these. Not to say it couldn't be done but it would be easier with the principal onboard or leading with support from the TL - the TL is leading from the middle perhaps with this more than leading from the front????

The dissatisfaction with the present can be a number of people, I think the key with this aspect is the 'envisioning the strategic leap' (p. 13) and being a passionate advocate for change. The one area I think I am strong in is with the absorptive capacity - to absorb new information and assimilate it, learn from it and apply it. What I have to do is learn to be the passionate advocate - working towards leading to change. This is connected with the adaptive capacity, again an area I think I am strong in and definitely have the motivation to continue, where I can change when nedded. I have to work on the 'strategic opportunism' (p.14) component to take the opportunity as it arises. I am doing it in small areas but have to look for the bigger picture opportunities.

With the leadership wisdom and the practical, analystical and emotional intelligence components to be be a leader and to have personal qualities such as empathy, motivation and communication - again communication is a key issue in leadership - and social intelligence is a key aspect in today's working world of education. Being able to determine/discern emotion in others and 'read' them. I also liked the conclusion where they talk about the idea of being too focused with the approach and outcome of the day whereas it is more important to look at what skills are needed in a leader to drive change - it is this that can survive different brands of leadership styles and doesn't need to be defined as a specific style.

Assignment 1b thoughts

Assignment 1b submitted - not the greatest of jobs but with my husband having some surgery and not able to deal much with the kids and then getting violently ill took about a week out of my time, then my son getting ill, getting better and going in for dental surgery, this took another 4 days out and then having to look after him when he was out. So all in all I think I had around 4 days before the due date to work on the assignment. As long as I pass I think I will be happy for this assignment. Now to focus on the next one - but first I really want to spend some time on the readings that are in the unit. I feel like I have missed some points about the main thrust of the articles and the unit and want to relook and write something about them. A little time consuming but it has to be done. I do have Saturday to do some work, my wonderful husband is taking the kids to his mother's for the night (although there is an ulterior motive there - he is going to a concert!) so even though I won't wake up with my son on his birthday on Sunday I will have some time to work on my studies for a day. Then Sunday morning I will get everything ready for his party!

I found the self assessment interesting to look at and to try and focus it on myself, I wonder if it would have been worth it to do a group assessment too? Not sure, it is easy to be critical of others in the group but hard for you to look at yourself and critique your participation and work load. The annotated bibliography was fine but the word limit was a concern to try and convey an appropriate evaluation of the work. Oh well on to looking at the articles now.

Group collaboration

What an interesting and vibrant aspect to an assignment - group work across distance and sometimes time! The first thought was how was this going to work, where the other group members as keen as me? And all the other thoughts that go with working in groups - I remember a number of times hearing and reading that working in groups is the hardest aspect to master, we as teachers love kids working in groups but when we are asked to work in groups in fills us with dread! It is hard to give up the control that is inherent in any person who makes their own decisions, responsible for their own marks, now they are responsible for others and have to come to agreement with other people. Maybe it is a fear that our views are not worthwhile or there will be criticism or maybe it is that fact that we think we know best and others can not know more than we do???

But what I found was that my group were as keen as I was, as eager to trial new ways of working together and that we worked well together. My only criticism would be the ease at which we found ourselves off track and the need to bring us back onto topic. Which allows my thoughts to drift to my EO talking about the construction of video games and the market at which they aimed - there was a need to try and pull in the female market and they wondered how to do that - they found it through social networking - online gaming and suddenly their games increased in sales, even war games because it was the ability to get online and talk that drew the people not the game itself. I found myself reminded of this a number of occasions during out Skype sessions. Oh how I love Skype! If every one were on Skype I could throw out my phone I think!

Another quick note - a lesson on academic and professional was learned - academic = peer reviewed; professional = not as an easy statement.

Concerns and issues

It is interesting to work through this assignment with group members. But the assignment itself is quite vague in what it is after and what we need to do. I have no problems with the readings and topic of leadership and I understand the importance of the TL as leader but what gets me is where is the instruction in Educational leadership that principals do for TLs and the role they play in the school? We know what we can do, we are specialist teachers but principals often don't have the understanding that the TL as a specialist teacher is and should be part of the leadership team. A lot of principals don't see the relevance of the TL in leadership and I know we should be our own advocates but when is there the time to do this? A lot of the time they see us as 'copping' out of the teaching stream, we don't do the same work - in fact I think it would be thought that we don't have the same workload as a teacher. Yet here we are doing a Masters degree to gain the qualification that TLs should have and it is underrated by a number of staff, both within the school and within the education system. I think there should be a broader look at the role of the TL as leader, not just in the course with ambiguous assignments but in other courses for other leaders in the school. We shouldn't have to be pushing our role, constantly justifying our inclusion in leadership decisions across the school. This would tie in with government views on the time allocation for TLs - every school should have at least a TL working 0.5 load and in a school of 200 or more it should be heading to a full time TL for all the jobs we are meant to be doing. Advocacy is all well and good, educating is all well and good but as new staff come the cycle starts again.

Back to the assignment - a ppt about an aspect of Organisation Theory, in a group where you have to find alternate ways to communicate. Again I understand the purpose for it but in a time where people are working full time and can't use the day to communicate then have to find a time at night where people have different commitments and a short time frame to achieve it I am unsure how effective it is. The purpose of the assignment is still a little unclear and at times it seems like it is too easy at times and that we are just regurgitating information without getting into the deep thinking about the theories.

I have enjoyed a number of the readings, especially Donham's and I like reading the Visionary... text as these are relating directly to schools and TLs as a number of others are really aiming it at the Prinicpal or Manager. Still going through some of the readings so back to the grind stone...

General thoughts at this stage

Just thinking randomly at the moment - it is strange looking at this group assignment, I have an underlying sense of urgency but am unsure why. Maybe because I would be looking at this myself and planning the different components but with group members there are others to consider and making decisions together. Skype is interesting and it is good to be able to talk but there were only 3 of us last week doing the Skype session so I am wondering if an extra person in the group trying to talk makes a difference. I can understand how chat can possibly be more effective as you have to take time to read then have time to comment and can have a written log immediately. I am still struggling with the concept of leadership, not with the relating it to my role, I can see that in every article I read, but in the relationship with principals to get this rolling so to speak. I think I have to try to instigate some of these myself and then present this to the staff and hopefully work my way from the back to the front, get the teachers on board so the principal comes too. might work, might not but it is worth a shot, but where to start? I think I have to do what some of the articles are looking at, make a vision/mission and work from there, what do I see as the preferred future, work out the goals, look at the path and the possible barriers, look at the steps to achieve this and off I go....

Now just to find the time to do all these wonderful things. I would love the time to go back over my subjects and the resources and points that were in them and work through some of them too - I might have to do a vision of having a vision/mission I think, use all my subjects so far to help formulate it. Oh well back to readings..

Leadership assignment

What did I learn today?

I am learning more about the role of leadership and what I as a TL should be looking at. I have considered myself a leader but I think I restricted myself to library issues and haven't looked to far beyond being a leader in that area. Some of this was time restrictions but now I am starting to see where else I can be a leader.

Whom did I nurture?

Today it was myself, my own understanding of my role and where I could go with it

What challenge did I confront?

My view of what I can do in the school, my own issues with approaching others in my school and being the leader I should and can be. I have placed barriers in my way and I am starting to look at what I am putting up and saying that it isn't good enough to do this.

How did I make a positive difference?

I am experiencing acceptance of what a powerful and unique position I have and where I can take it.

Cheng, Y. (2002). Leadership and strategy.

This was an interesting article and one of the first that I could start to see where the TL can push forward as a leader in other areas on the library's radar. I like the 5 dimensional model and the break up of different components that make a leader. That we are transformational leaders and can utilise this in our position in a number of ways. The key word was proactive here and this tied in with Donham's article and that we can shape beliefs, attitudes and values to development opportunities for the future. This can be done from a single staff member, to a group to the whole staff. I really enjoyed looking through this article as it really compounded what a TL can do and that is adapt, adapt our behaviour to the situation but that we can transform the situation too and armed with our knowledge this is something I can see occurring.

Reflection

What did I learn today?
Nothing is as scary as you make it in your mind so go ahead and do it.

Whom did I nurture?
LA learning a new procedure to do with Scis and inloading/extracting images

What challenge did I confront?
Minimising the difficulties in my mind through preconceived notions

How did i make a positive difference?
Students are excited about the new feature and about their library lessons, they are enjoying learning.

Organisational Theory

I do view my school as an organisation but a special organisation. It contains structure - in Cath. Ed. there is the Bishop, Director, school board and Principal that form the top structure of a school. The school's mission statement and motto lend it to its purpose and underpins the educational philosophy. There are clients that are there to 'get' something from us - the students intrinsically and the community (including families), workplace extrinsically. They all have an interest in the school organisation. Each person's job is defined and outlined for requirements and there are checks in place to ensure this is happening. There are measurable outputs - e.g. syllabus/work program documents, unit plans, school policies and so forth, this is done through various connections within the organisation some whole school some are selective participants meaning collaboration and power and cultural aspects are at work. There are reviews in place and an action plan to implement what is lacking/changing/refining. Financial issues are there from year to year and managed from the top. I found myself agreeing with Bennett's view of school effectiveness and improvment through structure, power and culture (2001).

As stated in the first line, schools are a special sort of organisation and even stated in Bennett (2001) and Beare (1990) adaptations to the organisational theory needs or does occur for the principles to work effectively in a school. One aspect of this is that we are working with a hostile participant in the student, they are made to be there and if you are made to do anything quite often this starts a negative feeling. I liked the idea that was mentioned in the forums of everyone thinks they know a school and how it works or should work because they have all been there. But there is little awareness of how the school changes in response to new concepts/educational theories/syllabus materials. I think the idea of people making the policies being out of date applies to the Government especially, looking to our Ministers of Education there are few and far between that have education degrees in any area and yet they are making decisions for all our schools effectively. This needs to be reviewed - do people in organisations have to keep up to date with qualifications or courses?

Change is always occuring and often not at the school level - we are finding little consultation with the 'coal-face' of teaching as to the teaching and learning processes and the changes expected at various times. I also liked how we aren't about teaching anymore we have so many other facets to include that the teaching often gets left behind, lets teach about bullying, about weight and self-esteem, about values. Where is the teaching for academic and they wonder why students' literacy and numeracy is dropping - look at how much time is actually spent teaching these days and see. So I think it should be the case that schools are seen as a different organisation we are dealing with a multi-faceted area that is juggling a bombardment of extras.

I do understand that some organisations are like this in that they have their shareholders, their clients who don't always want help or the help the organisation can provide but schools are different.

Leadership by Jean Donham

This article was brilliant in its application to TL's leadership in the school. The clarity of the attributes and that Donham applied them specifically to the TL in the school made relating them to my role easy. I liked the idea that 'leaders act from an internal locus of control' (p. 296) and that we are in control of our actions and outcomes but no one elses and that we should be focusing on others but on ours.

The other aspect I liked was the concept of pursuing what we are passionate about (p. 298) and this will generate enthusiasm and inspiration, which like the circle of life continues to perpetuate the other. I liked Fullan (1996) suggesting there were 3 attributes of sharedness, concreteness and clarity.

There were a few things I thought I could be working on and that included establishing one's expertise and processes for continuous reflection and assessment. I feel that I am one that enjoys the state of constant learning as long as there are opportunities to apply that learning and it is not going to waste (nearly stepping away from the 'can-do' mentality a leader is meant to have!)

I want to help the principal see the benefits of library media in school decision-making groups and really focus on the "leading from the middle" position (p. 301). I suppose the hardest thing I find is finding the time to achieve this, I will find alterative ways around this but it is an issue, between work, family (2 young children) and study there is little time to add in extra things to do but I want to look at my work and see if there are areas that I can refine that will allow better time management so I will have the time to do extra things.

And with reflection we do a reflective cluster day in Term 4 every year that is both looking back and looking forward as the 3 questions state (p. 303). I think I will print these 3 questions out and have them up for me so they remind me what I should be considering. I do think I can be reactive at work but it is very difficult to change that when every week there are different issues to sort out or refine and so forth. BUT I will do it!!

So here is my first journaling effort:
What did I learn today?
I learnt that reflection is as important as doing the job at hand

Whom did I nurture today?
This I feel was my staff (LA), students who were in the library at lunch time and other staff with technology issues.

What challenge did I confront today?
Fitting what I needed to into the time I had available.

How did I make a positive difference today?
I worked with staff, moved further in creating opportunities for me to show my expertise, initiated actions from my conference days and worked towards making my (or the students') library a more inviting place to be and easier to find information.

A short journaling entry today and I am sure they will get longer the more I do it.

Finally, from the article I also what to look at the action strategies more closely and plan towards achieving these in a little more detail for my libraries over this course.

Reference
Dohnam, J. (2005). Leadership. In Enhancing teaching and learning: a leadership guide for school library media specialists (2nd ed.) (pp. 295-305). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers

Visionary - Scenarios

I have just finished reading the first scenario in Arthur's book and I must say it scared me a little and fascinated me with where the future could be going and the role of the TL in it. I am not sure how I feel about the concept of no print at all and have a few queries in regards to 'space' that the internet has to hold all the information that will be out there. I think my biggest thing was that the lecturers/teachers where up with where the students were as were the parents to some degree. I am not sure in today's world that this would be the case. As was pointed out in the introduction the issue is not the technology and getting it to the schools it is skilling the teachers in the system that haven't been exposed or involved in it to a high degree that is needed to skill students and make it a worthwhile tool in the classroom.

I do see the concept of schools changing that there will be less time in the classroom and I would love to see the role the TL is playing in this but I fear that if the views of TLs doesn't change this won't be happening and if the future schools end up like this then it could be without TLs.
Well off to read the 2nd scenario now.

The start to another year...

Here we are again, 503 is over and 504 is beginning. I didn't end up posting much over the last unit, maybe because it was so hands on or maybe because I was juggling kids home on holiday, 2 subjects from two different Masters...who knows? But here I am again as I have to resurrect the blog for this subject, get on Skype, which is a newie. After the summer session I think I have a wiki with every free wiki available, blog/web pages set up all over the place and sometimes I don't know where anything is.

My little boy started a new school for Grade 1 this year and that was a big move, I have a new school and new hours so now I work 0.5 of a full load across two primary schools, this reduces my time down a little for work commitments but increased in school commitments for the kids!

Well I had better get posting with responses to readings and activities I suppose!