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...