Professional Development for Casual Teachers

Casual Teachers find access to professional development to be challenging, even at the best of times. This would also involve forgoing work and income just to complete any professional development that is essential to their work.

Fortunately, even before COVID-19 stretched its tentacles around the world, there were providers already providing on-demand professional development for casual teachers.

I am going to share three providers that will provide professional development to casual teachers. Some of these providers are also available for full-time teaching staff. Some full-time staff may even find courses for casual teachers useful in their everyday teaching. Win/Win.

Relief Teachers Association

Yearly membership is $99 but there may be offers that allow for reduced fee membership. It is the main provider of professional development for casual teachers. While there are some curriculum and technology offerings, options may be limited. Curriculum offerings are limited across all key learning areas and focus on essential skills, pedagogies and technology that is provided as part of the curriculum. However courses relating to classroom management are excellent. Some courses are also NESA accredited. Those seeking more in-depth professional development may need to go elsewhere.

Teacher Learning Network (TLN)

At this stage, a yearly subscription costs $350 but they do charge pro-rata rates after March 31. If you can hold off until after March 31, and you have the time, it becomes better value for money. Even at the full rate, I believe its great value for money. I signed up early this term after finding it while investigating on-demand PD options and have completed nine courses so far. Some of the areas covered include leadership, professional network/learning, diverse learners and technology. For casual teachers, there is also a portal with even more courses available designed for casual teachers. The courses featured are initially presented live to members but are available for viewing up to two years after they have been presented. Certificates are available on request and will be handy for a professional portfolio.

TTA

Do not let the $299 annual fee deter you from accessing this site but caters to all key learning areas. You can attend individually but note that individual courses cost the same as a yearly subscription. All courses are delivered online. I am exploring taking a one year subscription.

Finally, did you know its easy to become an Apple Teacher. All you need is an iTunes account and you can complete modules to become a certified Apple Teacher. I took it this year, and though good with technology, discovered some new ways that I can intergrate technology into my teaching.

Click here to visit the Apple Teacher Website.

Learning to facilitate Professional Development

The Teacher Learning Network (TLN) has delivered quality professional development courses for a number of years. I came across it recently as I was seeking providers that can provide on-demand professional learning. You can either attend a live or recorded course, complete an evaluation and you will receive a certificate.

One area of interest has been their courses focusing on the delivery of professional development to colleagues.

In my practice, there have been several occassions where I have presented professional development workshops, whether it may be a ten minute session in a whole school staff meeting or spending an hour with colleagues guiding them through the application of a resource in their teaching or learning.

But there is scope to further develop and refine my knowledge and skills in the delivery of professional development and do an even better job. The feedback that I receive has been good, but I aspire to do better.

So far I have done one course on presenting profssional development to colleagues. While it might be targeted to those who may want to be a provider of professional development, the knowledge presented is applicable to conducting it with fellow colleagues at school level such as planning the session itself, persuading the school executive to allow the presentation, organising time to prepare and undertaking the presentation. 

I also have completed a course on how to present professional development online. I learnt how to structure a presentation or course that engages with the audience i.e. encourage attendees to undertake short activities. This is based on the structure that the TLN follows.

I would recommend that teacher librarians sign up to TLN. It usually costs around $350 for 12 months but I think there are benefits to be gained. There are also courses relating to leadership which I intend on doing to brush up on my leadership skills. 

Teacher Librarian as Leader - Kay Oddone

Recently I read a blog entry by Kay Oddone of the University of Southern Queensland. I had been lacking literature relating to Leadership and how it may relate to the Teacher Librarian Role. Also I have been wanting to reflect on how I have demonstrated and applied leadership within my professional practice. 

By viewing her entry, there is a reference list that has been provided for anyone who may be searching for literature for themselves that is related to the topic and is worth pursuing. 

Reflecting on this article, I did not know that I have demonstrated capacity as a leader and more than likely have not noticed it until now. It has been more difficult to lead when you fill in for an absent colleague, but I have been presented with opportunities in various roles to demonstrate leadership.

Developing a positive reading culture within a school community has been an example of leadership, creating wide reading programs for schools or coordinating wide reading initatives e.g. NSW Premier's Reading Challenge. Even if filling in for colleague, I can still easily show leadership through my engagement amongst staff and students during a wide reading session. 

Modelling appropriate and safe use of technology is another example of leadership that I have applied. I have explained to students the purpose and role of copyright and how it relates to viewing material e.g. asking students to delete audiobook mp3 files off their devices once the loan period has expired. Also, I have provided workshops to teach students how to evaluate websites for their usefulness an reliability. 

Through undertaking professional development especially in recent times, I have discovered that I have applied innovative pedagogies and this has been without noticing it too or have had experiences where I have shown at least capacity to apply those pedogogies.

I also have provided at times professional development within school settings and have been exploring getting involved in providing professional development to fellow Teacher Librarians within my professional networks. 

I have set myself a challenge in the short term which is to promote the leadership aspect of my role. How can I promote to others that I am a leader in what I do. 

SLANSW Professional Learning Summit: Digital Design & Delivery: Using Digital Technologies to Support Reading Programs

The School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) held its second professional learning summit for 2021 and was not left disappointed by what was offerred and what I learnt from it.

I was introduced to three elements that before attending I lacked familarity with in terms of research but upon reflection was already applying or experiencing it without noticing:

• Digital ecology of teen reading
• Fan Fiction
• Micro-credentialling

The digital ecology of teenage reading focused on the use of social media platforms to promote literature. Reflecting on it, I had identified at least one situation where I had already applied it in practice - Starting a Goodreads Group for students at the MLC School in 2014. 

I think promoting and sharing content is straightforward, especially if it is curated and can be embedded into a wide reading lesson. My recent completion of the Apple Teacher courses for Macbook computers and iPads opens up scope for content to be created by the students. My view has been that recommendations by peers are more likely to encourage others to read. I should select students to record their content and then provide it through a suitable channel e.g. YouTube.

I may not have known the concept of "FanFiction" in research but have been practicing it. I consider my decisions to order literature tied to popular media e.g. Star Wars and Minecraft. I agree that it bridges popular media/culture and reading. If a person has a particular interest, it is that interest that should be used to motivate them to read.

Micro-credentialling also interested me, especially in terms of information literacy skills development because I can create a program e.g. incoming Year 7 cohorts and they can complete activities to earn certificates and attain skills in an area. I would like to investigate it further. I had also encountered tools that could support this such as badgr while undertaking a Google Fundamentals Course through Catholic Online Learning recently. 

I am currently a member of the SLANSW Management Committee and this month was re-elected for a two year term at the recent Annual General Meeting. 

The Alice Miranda Project

Author Jacqueline Harvey is behind the Alice-Miranda series. I recently heard of her interactive reading project while completing an Apple iPad course that was being facilitated by Catholic Learning Online. 

Click here to access the website.

Harvey created a learning journal that is based on her book Alice-Miranda in the Outback and was used as an example of digital storytelling. While the novel is a printed book, the activities set around the novel are digital in nature.

To maximise the learning experience, the learning journal can be completed on an iPad using Pages software. However pdf worksheets can be printed off if iPads are not available. 

I have looked at the activities, and I think you could incorporate the activities featured in the novel to any novel that is being studied in class.

Even though I may be secondary trained, there is great scope to embed this at secondary level and make the study of a novel more engaging for students. 

Apple Teacher Courses

I recently completed two courses that are provided by the Apple Teacher Learning Centre focusing on Foundational skills for Mac and iPad. 

I confess to being a big fan of Windows due to their availability and simplicity along with their famous office software which can easily be utilised on either Windows or Apple operating systems without the integrity, layout and formatting of files being comprised. Microsoft have removed those problems in recent years.

From doing both Mac and iPad courses, I was impressed by the options that software such as Pages, Numbers and Keynotes offer. I found that content can be more interactive than Microsoft office such as the easiness in embedding audio and media files and with Keynotes - animinations.

I found iMovie to be incredibly easy to use, even when editing some TV clips that I sourced for enjoyment and Garageband makes recording audio or creating music to be an easy process. 

You can view my learning logs by accessing the following links:

Mac

iPad

I have been advised that courses undertaken through the Apple Teaching Centre can count towards your Teacher identified PD hours as part of maintaining accreditation at Proficient Level in NSW.

For Catholic School Teachers in NSW, Catholic Learning Online also provides courses. You can either complete the ones provided online for 2021 or you can wait for 2022, when they intend to provide the courses again. 

But what does it mean for me? If a school has Macs as part of its device program, the opportunities open up. I can see myself sharing my knowledge with my colleagues, particularly in encouraging interactive presentation of information in the classroom. Students can record their own videos, take photographs or audio and embed them into their work. 

I can see that digital storytelling has the greatest scope, because Apple software allows creativity in the drafting and publication of books. They can be shared online too. It also makes me think of the school where Year 7 students as part of their English studies, are required to prepare a picture book. They should use Pages to prepare their book. 

Library Procedures Handbooks

A recent posting on the OZTL-NET forum focused on what to include in a Library Procedures Handbook and I decided to respond to the posting. 

During my work at Waverley College in 2015-2016, the library team drafted a Library Procedures Handbook with procedures to guide library staff in the management of the library collections, spaces, catalogue (including how to add new items and undertake a stocktake), communications, programs and initatives. 

In 2018, while filling in for Carolyn Mock at Strathfield Girls' High School, I also had access to her manual that she created for her library. Carolyn also made the decision that year to share it through a NSW Public School Teacher Librarian Messageboard (Independent of the NSW Department of Education) and is popular with Teacher Librarians.

I suggested to Teacher Librarians in my posting based on what I had experienced to consider the following if creating a handbook:

• Your existing library policies if already prepared (otherwise create them)
• Procedures for ordering new items e.g. what steps are needed to purchase a new library book through the school
• How to catalogue items using the Library Management System e.g. OLIVER including screenshots.
• Stocktake procedures
• Opening and Closing the library each day
• Overview of library collections
• Procedures for organising specific library programs and activities e.g. NSW Premier's Reading Challenge
• How to book library spaces and manage them.
• How to operate library equipment
• Copies of forms e.g. Permission form to borrow from the senior fiction collection

Margaret Sinnott, Learning Resource Centre Coordinator & Teacher Librarian at Emmanuel College in Warrnambool responded with a resource from the Australian Library and Information Association that can also be used to in assist in the creation of a handbook. Click here to access the link. Thank you Margaret for sharing this with me. 

10 Must Reads - Posters

Last Term, while relieving for two teacher libarians at a Sutherland Shire High school (they share one full time position and took separate periods of leave ), I decided to create posters to promote literatuer featured in the different genres that comprise of the fiction collection, excluding the general fiction collection.

Normally, I would have created a "Recommended Reads" brochure to promote literature but decided to attempt a visual approach through the posters and identify ten items that would be suitable and enjoyable for the students. If there the item was part of a series, I would promote the first book and then list the series underneath to open up further reading options, should the student enjoy reading the first book.

Click here to access the Google Drive folder.  

The library assistant did a great job in creating a book display to promote the items featured. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, remote learning, but also the conclusion of my work at the school, I cannot provide any feedback on the success of it, but it is a step forward.

Inclusive School Libraries

I have been working on the Advocacy Sub-Committee of the School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) a flyer with strategies to develop a school library that is inclusive of the learning needs and interests of students, focusing on students with disabilities or additional learning needs.

This has built up on the OLT courses on Autism and Personalised Learning that I have undertaken with Sydney Catholic Schools. It has given me scope to learn and reflect on what I have learnt from those courses and what I can do within a library capacity. This was supported by drawing on.academic literature.

As the flyer is a benefit available to SLANSW members, I can only reflect on it briefly.

What I can point out is that I realised that I was already doing it in practice, even in a mainstream capacity such as acquiring high interest literature but contains text with low/limited vocabulary and knowing interests and needs. Visual signage can make a big difference as well but also the approaches to signage. It was broadened further. 

For students with learning needs, they love having a special or responsiblity and encouraging them to step up to roles can make a bigger difference than a student who is mainstream.

"Just Read" at Queenwood

I thought I'd share two articles relating to a wide reading program - "Just Read" by Sydney independent school - Queenwood. It is an initaitve that is working effectively in developing a whole school wide reading culture. Every staff member is also required to participate.

• Queenwood News Weekly - Article from 21 February 2020
• 'Sense of urgency': One school's bold plan to get teenagers reading - The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 2020

At the end of April, I attended a presentation by Gabrielle Mace (author of the article from Queenwood News Weekly) and was very encouraged by the results of "Just Read" to date particularly embedding the wide reading time in the school timetable but also the motivation it gave the students to read for enjoyment. I was also impressed by allocating the time on Friday to sharing book reviews within their groups as well. I think student recommendations go a long way to encouraging one to read. 

Suitable Geography Books for school libraries.

About one and half weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with a student undertaking the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) Degree who is currently employed at a school that I work for. We have had some discussions about the coursework as they are in the early stages of their study, and were keen to find out some insights into my experiences ten years ago.

They currently have an assignment that requires them to organise a lesson (or lessons) focusing on inquiry skills and also have to apply relevant pedogogies that have been explored in their coursework. While I'd help them with resources etc or share examples of work that I have done, 

I also investigated suitable resources for the unit of work being covered. It is from the unit Place and Livability in the Stage 4 Geography Course. Students are also undertaking project based learning as part of the unit.

The school library lacks any resources to support the students including books on urban spaces but also referene books such as Almanacs which can provide basic yet useful and accurate statistics for research. I challenged myself as well to locate and recommend suitable books for future acquisition. Many of the items that I located were well above their reading level and would usually be read by adults or those at tertiary level. Even searching for items through Educational Booksellers was also difficult and again, not many items to be found, if not nothing.

It's disappointing that no publishers or authors have stepped up to provide books with factual information that can be used by students for this unit of work that reflects the reading level etc of the students. I hope that I am wrong on this.

My concern though, is that there will be too much reliance on Google for this unit of work. 

Concerns over Reading for Pleasure

Yesterday, The Australian published an overview of the findings from OECD, 21st‑Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World.

It was concerning for Australia. The research established that increased internet usage was leading to a decrease in students reading for pleasure. 32% of Australian teenagers felt that reading was a "waste of time" and 58% read because "I have to". 

Reading for pleasure has been linked to performance in reading scores. Those who read for pleasure received scores up to 86 points higher than those who dont read. 

With Australia slipping against other OECD countries in reading scores and rankings, this is suggesting that engagement with reading amongst children is on the decline.

The research also identified that teachers contribute towards higher reading scores if students were required to read texts e.g. set text or read one book per fortnight and if the texts contained more than 101 pages. It also encouraged reading for pleasure.

Click here to view the article (You will need to be a subscriber to The Australian) to access the content.

Literature Circles

I have been a opportunity to fill for a Teacher Librarian for the next few weeks. One initative that their school has been doing with a very small group of selected students in Years' 8 and 10 is to engage in a fortnightly literature circle. 

I met two groups this week and was encouraged by their participation. The Year 10 group focused this week on the concept of the literature circle, its conventions and the roles that each member will have as they commence reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I am looking forward to what they have to say in less than two weeks time. I will be reading alongside them as well which is my main reading challenge for the next fortnight.

The Year 8 group were one session ahead and for a first session, did well. Generally they were fufilling their roles well. There are areas to work on, but this will be developed over time. They definately had read the part of the book that they were required to read. Even though I have not read the book, I was listening and was interested in the discussion and was able to even pose questions to the group, because I was keen to engage with them and find out more about the book.

Literature Circles have a core benefit in encouraging critical thinking about a text that a person has read and scaffolds guide discussion, which should eventually become free flowing. The requirement to think critically also fuels their comprehension skills as the reader/s have to explore their text in greater detail. 

Vicki Courtenay Presentation - SLANSW Presentation

Last night, I had the opportunity to attend an online presentation by the School Library Assocation of NSW (SLANSW) Teacher Librarian of the year - Vicki Courtenay. Vicki is a Teaching and Learning Librarian at Trinity Grammar at Summer Hill (Sydney). 

I enjoyed listening to some of the work that she has engaged in but also provided insights into the work of the team at the Arthur Holt Library at their main campus in Summer Hill.

I was impressed with the idea of a booking sheet that teachers can use to book for Teacher Librarians to undertake research skills workshops with their classes. I was left wondering why I never had the idea in my head in previous years. I could have even created a flyer that could have provided an overview of ideas for possible research skills lessons. I believe that it could even be used for wide reading lessons etc if the English teacher wanted to focus on a specific aspect of wide reading.

It left me with better ideas as well on how to collaborate with teachers in the preparation of assessment tasks and also educating students in skills associated with academic integrity. Reflecting on it, I think I may have missed opportunities for collaboration even though I did collaborate actively with colleagues focusing on their students specific needs.

Finally I was interested by her insights into wide reading and promoting a positive reading culture. There are many ways that one can promote a positive reading culture, but did enjoy hearing insights into how Trinity Grammar has promoted reading and literature e.g. the book that changed my life. I actually liked the idea that they applied because it makes one reflect on the impact that reading a particular book has changed their lives and how it has changed for the better. Books can inspire us to make the decisions that ultimately shape our lives, whether it may be to change our behaviour, our lifestyles, our perspectivcs, develop our interests or even shape the career path that we choose to take. It may have even had an emotional impact in our lives or help us to discover something.

I could relate to one aspect of the wide reading program that they implement there - sharing reviews of books that have been read as part of wide reading sessions. I have encouraged this. I believe that students are more likely to read a certain title if a friend recommends it than that of a teacher. I think it also helps others to be aware of the books that are popular or are available. I know personally that hearing reviews by other people has even helped me decide what to read next, especially if I am uncertain about it.

The Laureate & The Literacy Leader - SLANSW Summit

Last Saturday (March 13), the School Library Association of NSW (SLANSW) presented its first blended summit where attendees could either attend in person or online. Instead of the State Library of NSW, it was hosted by The Kings School. 

For those who enjoy attending face to face, it was the first time in one year that we could gather in person for a summit or conference. Last year, SLANSW were fortuante to have one face to face summit prior to COVID-19 Restrictions and presented an online speaker series instead of a second face to face summit.

Providing it online enabled those in regional areas to participate or for those in the city, participate from the comfort of their own home. 

Karen Yager was fantastic in explaining how we can use Australian literature to encourage students to improve their writing by focusing on landscapes then collaborating actively on creating lists of resources to share with English Teachers.

Ursula Dubosarsky (Author & Australian Children's Laureate 2020-2021) shared her insights in the role of libraries in engaging children with reading and how we can support them. I asked her a question based on experiences where schools do not have a wide reading program and students have presented statements such as "I don't like reading" and "I don't read" and what we could do. She admitted that she could not answer the question, but she had her concerns about schools that have not encouraged a positive reading culture. I for one have concerns for schools that do not have a wide reading program or encourage reading for pleasure. Ursula and I have common ground on this.

Also we had an opportunity to discuss different wide reading intiatives and programs applied by different schools and I was encouraged by the opportunity to share within a small group some of my successes to date with wide reading programs and the interest attendees within that group had.

I hope to comment further once resources are finalised but found the day to be well engaging. 

I am a currently a Metropolitan Representative on the Management Committee of SLANSW. If you wish to join, please feel free to contact me at fabian.amuso@syd.catholic.edu.au

My Reading Goal (Resource)

I created a resource last year that I did not end up using, but based it on my work at the MLC School back in 2014 where I challenged students to set a reading goal for the term ahead as part of wide reading lessons. 

With the school I worked for last year, I had intended to undertake the activity during the first wide reading lesson of each term, collect them and return to them at the end of the term to determine whether or not they had met their set challenge.

The objective of the activity was to encourage students to determine how they could challenge themselves with their reading and work towards attaining that goal. I believe that it would foster better reading habits. 

I have decided to share this resource. Please feel free to download and use or modify as needed. 

If you would like a word.doc of this resource, please email me at either fabian.amuso@syd.catholic.edu.au or famuso.teachlib@gmail.com. 

What I Like Reading (Handout)

Last year, I created a resource for Teacher Librarians that could have two uses:

What I Like Reading

It can be used for either (or both):

1. Finding out reading preferences of students.
2. Genrefication of library fiction collections

I ended up using the handout for both reasons. 

Firstly, I needed to know what they enjoyed reading so I could help each student select suitable books to read given that the students I worked with had experienced difficulty locating books that they enjoyed reading. It helped me make more informed recommendations to students during their wide reading sessions. This provides a diagnostic assessment of student reading preferences. I scanned student responses and emailed each English Teacher a copy for their records. As we start the year, this will be a good resource to use in wide reading sessions. 

Secondly it helped me to plan and advise the school on how the fiction collection could be genreified. I tallied the results for each wide reading/English class and provided me with a broader indication of what the student body at the school enjoyed reading. You may notice that I mostly used genre labels from RAECO in the handout as I was proposing to utilise their labels when genreifying the collection. However, labels (custom made or accquired from any supplier) can be used. 

There was an additional benefit in that it better informed me on resources to be accquired for the library. For instance a number of students indicated that they enjoyed reading sports fiction and the library had very few books catering for their interest in this genre. In response, I had to order additional books encompassing sport. I also needed to expand our collection of humour novels/stories as it was identified as one of the most popular genres by the student body and some series e.g. Diary of a Wimpy Kid was in very high demand. 

If you would like a word.doc of this resource, please email me at either fabian.amuso@syd.catholic.edu.au or famuso.teachlib@gmail.com. 

New Year - Back in the mood

It has been six months since I decided to post on my blog.

Why the break? It had been a period for me of trying initatives and practices at the school that I was working with.

The appointment with the school is now complete and I have had time to implement and reflect. 

Some practices built up and consolidated on previous practices and experiences while trying new practices for the first time. 

I will look forward to sharing some of my work in upcoming entries. I am hoping that I can share an entry once a fortnight during 2021.

Also, I have prepared a flyer to promote my services as a Teacher Librarian in 2021 especially schools may be looking for a qualified person to undertake work in either a casual, temporary or permanent capacity. Contact details are included for those who wish to get in contact with me. 

To our readers who may know someone or a school who is looking for someone, please feel free to forward the flyer to them.