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!
Showing posts with label Assignment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assignment. Show all posts
Monday, July 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 9, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, April 8, 2011
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...
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...
Monday, May 31, 2010
Part C: Critical Synthesis for Assignment 2 ETL401
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/
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/
Sunday, April 18, 2010
ETL401 Assignment
For something I was meant to do straight after the assignment, this is coming a little late. I have been thinking about it but trouble with the internet and kids make it difficult to find a quiet niche to write something but here I am finally.
The assignment was quite thought provoking - a number of the ideas I had made it difficult to narrow it down to what I wanted to write about. I did find it hard clarifying an ILSC, I think because I had all the pieces but couldn't see the overall picture [a bit like Senge (2007) was talking about I found]. So when I was researching about an ILSC I was thinking I know this but when it came to writing about it I came a bit unstuck. I think the main aspect I gathered from an ILSC was that everyone needs to be involved in creating and maintaining one. Not just the teachers and students but the parents and support staff as well. That it isn't just about having the information available but that an information process is being used by all in everything that happens in the school.
The role of the TL needs to be clear and outlined to all staff - fine detailed role descriptions need to be accessible and the TL needs to be seen as a specialist teacher with clear attributes that can be used by the staff in the school. Such as integrated units being created by teachers and TLs, including assessment and evaluation. The TL needs to be adequately trained to meet these requirements in a school - I have even found that by doing this subject I am trying to make some changes in the schools I work in. Little changes to begin with due to being at each school only one day a week, but changes nonetheless.
My obstacle I focused on was the principal's support in making the TL a leader in collaborative practices as I found in all my schools that this was not happening to the level it is required. The readings were quite clear on schools benefiting from having principal support but there was minimal literature on what was happening in schools that did not have this support and how TLs were achieving change. I used most of the readings in our course outline to support my solutions, which were mainly on the TL's role. The TL needs to be making the prinicpal aware of the possibilities in curriculum where the TL can benefit the school's vision. Through leadeship roles, ongoing PD and evaluation and some funding.
Overall I found the topic interesting and consolidating in its nature. A clarification of the place we have in our schools at this point and of where we want to go with our role in the future.
The assignment was quite thought provoking - a number of the ideas I had made it difficult to narrow it down to what I wanted to write about. I did find it hard clarifying an ILSC, I think because I had all the pieces but couldn't see the overall picture [a bit like Senge (2007) was talking about I found]. So when I was researching about an ILSC I was thinking I know this but when it came to writing about it I came a bit unstuck. I think the main aspect I gathered from an ILSC was that everyone needs to be involved in creating and maintaining one. Not just the teachers and students but the parents and support staff as well. That it isn't just about having the information available but that an information process is being used by all in everything that happens in the school.
The role of the TL needs to be clear and outlined to all staff - fine detailed role descriptions need to be accessible and the TL needs to be seen as a specialist teacher with clear attributes that can be used by the staff in the school. Such as integrated units being created by teachers and TLs, including assessment and evaluation. The TL needs to be adequately trained to meet these requirements in a school - I have even found that by doing this subject I am trying to make some changes in the schools I work in. Little changes to begin with due to being at each school only one day a week, but changes nonetheless.
My obstacle I focused on was the principal's support in making the TL a leader in collaborative practices as I found in all my schools that this was not happening to the level it is required. The readings were quite clear on schools benefiting from having principal support but there was minimal literature on what was happening in schools that did not have this support and how TLs were achieving change. I used most of the readings in our course outline to support my solutions, which were mainly on the TL's role. The TL needs to be making the prinicpal aware of the possibilities in curriculum where the TL can benefit the school's vision. Through leadeship roles, ongoing PD and evaluation and some funding.
Overall I found the topic interesting and consolidating in its nature. A clarification of the place we have in our schools at this point and of where we want to go with our role in the future.
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